It was just the two of us this year, so we down-scaled our Thanksgiving feast into a manageable dinner focusing on seasonal, local and wild. I especially like wild dining.
So I picked up a gorgeous filet of wild Alaska King salmon at Dave’s, and a few russets from New Leaf. Designer cheeses from the River Cafe & Cheese Shop would follow the main course. The secret to our meal of wild salmon — partnered by a lovely Pinot Noir 2002 from Trout Gulch — was the side dish of organic collard greens.
I foraged the collard leaves from a secret source — but instead of using sesame oil and sesame seeds, as Jim Leap suggests in his recipe (see “Dish from the Farm” on Homepage), I sautéed mine with olive oil, anchovy paste and garlic. Then I added chicken broth for a ten-minute braise. The bitter greens – like a cross between spinach and broccoli in flavor – were perfect with the buttery salmon.
A gooey, runny St. Marcellin, some Petit Basque and an opulent bit of Stilton, followed by pumpkin pie doused with Jack Daniels.
Now that’s living!
The difference was that without all that ultra-rich gravy, stuffing and cranberry sauce, we didn’t feel bloated and bursting at the seams after our very distinctive Thanksgiving.
