This month, we featured  wine pairings and recipes perfect for fall and the coming holidays.   I’ve posted the menu and wine pairings  from the class . I also posted the recipes at the bottom of this post. Hope you enjoy! Let us know if you have any questions.

Check out our current food and wine pairing tips!

Autumn Food & Wine Menu

Aperitif  Wine: Trimbach 2012 Riesling (Alsace, France)
Brussels Sprouts with Toasted Pecans and Cranberries
Paired with Auntsfield 2013 Single Vineyard Sauvignon Blanc (New Zealand)
Mashed Potatoes with Irish Butter
White Wine Pairing:  Novellum 2013 Chardonnay (Languedoc-Roussillon, France)
Red Wine Pairing (our students LOVED this one): Edgebaston 2012 The Pepper Pot Red (Stellenbosch, South Africa)
Crispy Chicken Thigh with Demi Glace
Paired with Matua Valley 2010 Pinot Noir (Marlborough, New Zealand)
OR Southern Right 2012 Pinotage (Western Cape, South Africa). The Southern Right Pinotage was the crowd favorite.

For dessert, we suggest a pairing of a German Auslese Riesling and a wheel of Epoisses

Cooking Classes in Philadelphia

Recipes

Brussels Sprouts with Toasted Pecans and Cranberries

This is a wonderful seasonal recipe for preparing Brussels Sprouts. A great dish for Thanksgiving, it also works well as an easy side dish for all your holiday parties.

• 1 pound Brussels sprouts
• 1/2 tablespoon vegetable oil
• 4 ounces chopped pecans
• 2  tablespoons unsalted butter
• 1/4 teaspoon sea salt
• 4 ounces coarsely chopped dried cranberries

Preheat oven to 350.  Cut Brussel sprouts in half, and toss  in vegetable oil.

Place on sheet tray and cook in oven for 8 minutes, or until caramelized.

Place a saute  pan over medium heat and add pecans, stirring continually, until they darken in color and begin to give off a toasted aroma,  about 2 minutes.

Add the butter to the pan and stir to combine.

Once the butter has melted, add the Brussels sprouts, salt and pepper and cook, stirring continually, until the color brightens and the sprouts are just tender, approximately 6 minutes.

Remove the pan from the heat, add the cranberries, toss and serve.

Classic Mashed Potatoes

Mashed potatoes got very complicated of the last few decades. It’s time to bring them back to the core ingredients: salt, butter, and potato. If you use the right ingredients, you don’t need anything else to make the perfect mash.

• 5 pounds Yukon Gold or Russet potatoes, well-scrubbed
• 2 pounds  unsalted Irish (or European) butter at room temperature.
• 5  tablespoons sea  salt

Boil the potatoes. Don’t bother peeling the potatoes, and add to a 10 gallon pot, and fill with water. The water should be at least one inch above the potatoes. Add 4 tablespoons of salt. Cover and bring to a gentle boil for 30 minutes. Check for doneness. It may take another 15 minutes, depending on how large the potatoes are.

Drain the potatoes.

Mash the potatoes. Place back  into the pot and add the butter and remaining salt. Mash away.

If kept warm and covered, the potatoes can be served up to four hours after preparing.

Crispy Chicken Thighs

In this recipe, we use a new fangled way of cooking: the sous vide water oven. Don’t worry, it’s not hard or expensive. It’s a really easy and safe way to cook. And it’s the way to make tough cuts of meat taste extraordinarily delicious and tender.  At the end of cooking the chicken, we will sear the fat until it is nice and crispy.

• 6 boneless, skin-on chicken thighs
• Salt and freshly ground pepper, to taste
• 2 tablespoons dried thyme
• 2 Tbs. unsalted butter
• 2 Tbs. canola oil or clarified butter

Preheat the sous vide water oven to 150°F.

Season the underside of the chicken thighs with salt, butter, and thyme. Place a single tigh into a ziplock back. Remove water using the water displacement method. Here’s a video on how to do this:

Cook for 2  hours. A range of 1-3 hours is fine, but for the best texture, I suggest 2 hours.  Remove the thighs from the bag and pat dry with paper towels. In a large fry pan over medium heat, warm 1 to 2 Tbs. oil. Working in batches, place the thighs, skin side down, in the pan and cook until golden brown and crispy, 8 to 10 minutes. Transfer the thighs to a plate and cover loosely with aluminum foil. Repeat with the remaining thighs, adding more oil to the pan as needed. Serve immediately.