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For Thanksgiving dessert, try a splash of something different
Marty Olmstead
No secular meal is more rigidly ritualistic as Thanksgiving Dinner. Oh, some may tinker with the stuffing from year to year, or introduce a vegetable which is not on The List. Heaven help the host who messes with the natural order of things – namely turkey, cranberry sauce, sweet potatoes, green beans – in some cases, these absolutely have to be topped with onions in some fried guise, and pumpkin pie. Even hosts who do proffer something else, like cheesecake or pecan pie, sooner or later bring out the familiar perennial favorite.
Only the final course affords any wiggle room. Maybe because at that point, most people can’t eat one more bite. They just have to see some form of pumpkin in a crust. There’s always room for more, though, especially if it’s in liquid form.
Port is a natural choice, but there are other options worth considering. Quady Winery specializes in dessert wines from under-appreciated Muscat varieties, ports and aperitif wines. Its Essensia and Electra made from Orange Muscat and Elysium and Red Electra from the Black Muscat variety can either accompany or replace a dessert and are best if served chilled. Starboard, a port-type wine made in a fruit forward-softer style, is Quady’s euphemism for port. It is made in two styles: Batch 88 for current drinking and Vintage Starboard, for bottle aging.
If you’re still hung up with the pumpkin pie Quady suggests; mixing a few tablespoons of Essensia into either the pie filling, the stiffly whipped cream that goes on top, or just serve the pie straight with a modest glass of Essensia on the side.
When pairing desserts with wines, remember the wine should be a tad sweeter than the dessert. A wine tasting of flowers and fruits complements fruit-based desserts because of the acidity, which creates a palate-cleansing tang. Without the acidity, fruit tastes dull and the wine paired with it tends to taste heavy and overly sweet.
Quady’s Essensia, a full-bodied dessert wine with a spicy orange-apricot flavor, pairs well with many desserts based on summer fruits or cheeses, and has enough acidity to stand up to flavors as assertive as chocolate.
To pair with Essensia, Jim Stacy of Tarts Bakery in San Francisco adapted his own tart recipe and shared it in a recent Quady newsletter. For more information, visit quadywinery.com.
Almond Apricot Tart
For the crust
Ingredients
Prepare a pre-baked tart shell:
1 ½ cups all-purpose flour
¼ teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon butter, softened
2 tablespoons Crisco, chilled
3 to 5 tablespoons ice water
6 tablespoons unsalted butter, chilled and cut into ¼-inch bit
Directions
In a large chilled bowl, combine flour, salt, chilled butter and Crisco. Rub flour and fat together with your fingertips only until they look like flakes of coarse meal. Be careful not to let the mixture become oily.
Pour 3 tablespoons ice water over the mixture all at once, toss together lightly, and gather into a ball. If the dough crumbles, add up to 2 tablespoons more ice water by drops until the particles adhere. Dust pastry with a little flour and wrap in wax paper. Refrigerate for at least 1 hour before using.
Spread 1 tablespoon of softened butter over the bottom and sides of a 9-inch false-bottom fluted quiche pan, 1 inch deep.
Spread wax paper out and dust lightly with flour. Pat dough into a rough circle about 1 inch thick and dust with flour over and under. Cover with wax paper and roll it out from the center to within an inch of the far edge of the pastry. Turn clockwise about 2 inches and repeat until circle is about 1/8 inch thick and 13 to 14 inches in diameter.
Remove wax paper from top of dough and drape dough over rolling pin, with wax paper still attached to other side. Unroll dough slackly over quiche pan, wax paper side up. Remove remainder of wax paper and gently press dough into bottom and around the sides of the pan. Roll the pin over the rim of the pan, pressing down hard to trim off excess dough.
Preheat oven to 400 F. Spread sheet of buttered aluminum foil across tin and press gently against the bottom and sides to support the pastry as it bakes. Bake on the middle shelf of the oven for 10 minutes, then remove the foil. With a small knife prick the pastry where it has puffed up. Return to the oven for 10 minutes, or until it begins to brown. Remove from oven and cool.
For the filling
Ingredients
4 oz. softened sweet butter
3/8 cup sugar
¼ teaspoon grated lemon rind
¼ teaspoon almond extract
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1 tablespoon dark rum
2 eggs
Directions
Cream softened butter and sugar. It is important that the butter be soft. Beat eggs separately for a few minutes then gradually mix into the butter and sugar mixture. Fold in remaining ingredients. Glaze a pre-baked tart shell with melted apricot preserves. Pour in the filling and bake 30 minutes at 375 F until set and lightly browned on top. Cool and brush with melted apricot preserves.
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