With the holidays sneaking up on us, I for one am trying to be as organized as possible so I don’t end up missing the entire celebration as I have in the past. Shopping, wrapping, decorating…it can sap all the pleasure from what should be a pleasurable time of year. I have numerous family members flying in from all over the place to celebrate and am working to get as much done ahead of time–food wise at least so I can eat and drink alongside everyone I’m entertaining. Last week, I found a great resource for all of us to use in planning menus and picking wine; two of my favorite things to do.
Food & Wine online has jazzed up their website and offers a section called Pairing of the Day aimed at providing a recipe and suggesting what wine would work well with it. Taking all the guesswork out, you can put together a meal, know what ingredients you’re going to need and what wine to pick up on the way home. That to me is perfect. Anything to streamline my errands I am all for.
I am sending you to the Chicken Liver Crostini page as I have tried the recipe and loved it–it will certainly be part of our holidays. I’m not sure that I will be able to locate the exact wine they suggest with it (I drank what I had on hand, a Bordeaux from France–I’m easy) but I can use it as a guide and most likely find something comparable.
I have to say that Food & Wine is, in my opinion, the best publication out there for great recipes and wine information. With the economy what it is, extra purchases like magazines that will end up in the garbage have been put on hold but I won’t give up my F&W. I won’t even get a subscription–I buy it at the checkout counter at my grocery store–a little gift I give myself each month. Sounds silly, I know, but I always look forward to it. Like I already said, I’m easy.
Photo credit: zubinscroff@foodandwine.com