Thanksgiving Starters & Sips By Linnea Johansson

In an effort to balance out the heavy dishes served during traditional holiday dinners

, Linnea has taken the best ingredients autumn has to offer and created delectable light-bites to pair alongside her seasonal cocktail creations. Going with this, Linnea recommends her pairings as great way to start off a long day of Thanksgiving feasting.

Kale, mushroom, hazelnut & cranberry salad PAIRED W/ a sparkling cranberry Bellini

Why this pairing works: The cranberry bellini picks up the more subtle flavors presented in the salad. Linnea explains that a sparking cocktail like this would be an ideal accompaniment for the dish over a more spirit heavy drink because generally, salads are too light for those types of cocktails.

Recipes:

Kale, mushroom, hazelnut & cranberry salad

1 head of kale

1 cup chopped hazelnuts

1 cup hard cheese, such as parmesan, cut into chunks

2 cups of mushrooms

2 tbsp of olive oil

Dressing:

Juice from 1/2 lemon

3 tbsp of olive oil

Salt/black pepper to taste

Handful of dried cranberries

Preparation

1. On the stove bring a large pot of water to boil with 2 tbsp of salt in the water. Chop the head of kale into thin slices and wash well in a colander. Once the water is boiling, add the kale and let it boil for 2 minutes. Pour into the colander and cool with ice cold water, let dry. Add into a large salad bowl.

2. Chop the hazelnuts roughly, and roast in a pan over the stove on medium heat till golden about 5 minutes. Ad to the salad bowl.

3. In the pan, add the 2 tbsp of olive oil and saut the mushrooms for about 7 minutes over medium heat till golden, salt and pepper lightly to taste. Ad to the salad bowl.

4. Mix the lemon juice and olive oil, salt and pepper to taste. Pour over the salad and finish with the parmesan chunks.

Thanksgiving Bellini

1 oz Russian standard vodka

3 tables fresh cranberry sauce (with whole cranberries inside)

Sparkling Wine or prosecco (on the dry side)

Preparation

In a shaker, combine the cranberry sauce and russian standard vodka. Shake well till the cranberry sauce is completely dissolved.

Pour with cranberrys into a champagne flute, and fill up with sparkling wine and let the cranberrys float as decor.

Linneas Tips

For an all -American meal like a traditional thanksgiving dinner, make sure to use regional ingredients such as apple, cranberry, oranges in the cocktails you make to go along side the meals.

by: Bonnie Carroll

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