Is My Blog Burning?
Clotilde proposed the second "Is My Blog Burning?" event focusing on tartines, or open-faced sandwiches. The basic idea is that all the participating food blogs post their own tartine experiments on the same day (that would be today)
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| Our contribution to Is My Blog Burning |
Above is our "leftovers tartine". Here's the recipe:
- Save an extra turkey from Thanksgiving (can be done 3 1/2 months ahead)
- Make turkey stock from other Thanksgiving turkeys (can be done ahead of time; freeze stock)
- Have an elaborate dinner party so that you have leftovers (can be done several days ahead of time)
- Braise a turkey leg in some turkey stock. When the turkey is cooked, remove it from the pan and reduce the stock (I wasn't able to skim the fat that came off the meat, so I ended up with a glisteny sauce)
- Slice an onion thin and caramelize it
- Wilt a bunch of spinach leaves (remember they cook down quite a bit)
- While the spinach is cooking, toast four pieces of a sourdough bread. I used the loaf that I botched for said dinner party, but any kind can be used
- To assemble: lay two pieces of toast on a plate. Spread mustard on each one. Top with wilted spinach. Top with braised turkey. Top with caramelized onions. Ladle sauce over the plate; the bread will absorb it as dinner progresses.
With it, we drank some wine our friends Brian and Anisa brought us from Argentina. The 2001 Trapiche Medalla, which is a Bordeaux-style blend of Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, and Malbec (I don't have any Spanish at my disposal, so I'm inferring from what I could read on the label). It had a lot of plummy, earthy smells, with smoke and vanilla from the oak. The alcohol was very noticeable on the nose. In the mouth its tannins were finely gritty and it had a short finish, though the earthiness lingered a while. It was a bit overwhelmed by the mustard on the tartine (not surprisingly; there are few wines that can stand up to that much vinegar), but didn't do too badly against the food.
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