For this year’s Hanukkah dinner recipe, we turned to our good friend Eden Hensley Silverstein, whose Passover dinner recipe earlier this year was a huge success. You can follow Eden on Instagram @RoadToGoodLife, Facebook @TheRoadToTheGoodLife, or her blog The Road To The Good Life.

When you think of Hanukkah dinner, latkes, sufganiyot (jelly-filled donuts), and maybe brisket probably come to mind. But, Hanukkah doesn’t have to mean oil and heavy fried foods. So, if you haven’t yet added cheese to your celebrations, it’s time.

Why cheese for Hanukkah? Because of Judith. Her tale, less known than that of the Maccabees also involves an invading army. The short story is that Judith lived in a town under siege. She went to the enemy camp, met with their general, and offered him cheese and drink. When he passed out, she cut his head off with his sword, inspiring the Israelites to attack and causing the Assyrians to flee.

We love a good wine and cheese pairing, so we’re embracing the tale of Judith and her amazing cheese for Hanukkah dinner this year. We’re serving a family-style meal of traditional Polish dishes paired with a few favorite Cultivar wines. On this year’s menu is a Golden beet with Fried Apples and Arugula Salad paired with a 2019 Cultivar Muscat, Anderson Valley, and Barszcz (a sour Polish beet soup) and Pierogi (Polish dumplings) both paired with a 2019 Cultivar Pinot Noir, Russian River. If you want a different pairing for your Pierogi, you could pair it with a 2019 Cultivar Bordeaux Blend, Napa Valley. We preferred the Pinot as the earthiness of the mushroom wasn’t overpowered. (We chose to have the 2019 Cultivar Bordeaux Blend, Napa Valley with our slow-cooker brisket.)

Best thing about this Hanukkah dinner meal? It’s completely vegetarian, so everyone will leave your table satiated.

Hanukkah runs for eight nights, which means six weeknights and one weekend. Depending on when you want to celebrate with family and friends, the first night, Shabbat (Friday night after sunset or Saturday before sunset), or a weekend, you won’t have enough time to make all courses of this menu the same day. (The pierogies are very labor-intensive, but so worth it!)

Golden Beets with Fried Apples and Arugula Salad

Ingredients (Serves 4 people)

• 1 1/2 pounds of golden beets
• 1 Tablespoon olive oil
• 1 Tablespoon hazelnuts, chopped
• 2 apples, any kind, sliced with the skin on
• 2 Tablespoons butter
• 1/8 teaspoon allspice, ground
• 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg, ground
• 1/4 teaspoon ginger, ground
• 2 cups arugula
• 1/2 Tablespoon Caspar Estate Olive Oil
• 1 Tablespoon Balsamic Vinegar
• Salt and freshly ground pepper to taste
• 3 Tablespoons feta cheese, crumbled

Instructions (Prep time: 35 minutes; Cooking time: 45 minutes; Total time: 1 hour 20 minutes)

1. Position your oven rack in the middle of your oven if it’s not already there, and then preheat your oven to 400 degrees.
2. Rub each beet with olive oil and wrap in aluminum foil, then put on a sheet pan.
3. Place your sheet pan in the oven and bake for 45 minutes or until tender.
4. While the beets cook, toast hazelnuts. Be careful not to scorch them, stir constantly. Put aside when done.
5. Over medium heat in a non-stick skillet, melt butter.
6. When your butter has melted, add sliced apples, and sauté, stirring occasionally, until they’re nicely seared and tender, about 10 minutes. Remove from heat and let cool.
7. When the beets have cooled, peel the skin off and dice.
8. In a medium bowl, toss arugula with olive oil and balsamic vinegar. Salt and pepper to taste.
9. When your arugula is dressed, add roasted beets, fried apples, hazelnuts, and feta.

Barszcz (Polish beet soup)

Ingredients (Serves 4 people)

• 1 cup dried chanterelles
• Enough boiling water to cover the chanterelles
• 4 medium carrots
• 1 medium parsnip
• 1 leek
• 10 cups water
• 2 Tablespoons salt, divided
• 2 Bay leaves
• 4 whole allspice
• 4 large beets
• 3 cloves garlic, peeled
• 1 apple, any kind, sliced with the skin on
• 1/4 teaspoon marjoram, dry
• 2 Tablespoons white vinegar, divided
• 1 Tablespoon lemon juice freshly squeezed
• (optional) 2 teaspoons sugar
• Freshly ground pepper to taste

Instructions (Prep time: 15 minutes; Cooking time: 60 minutes; Total time: 75 minutes)

1. Place dry chanterelles in a small bowl and cover with boiling water. Soak for five minutes.
2. Rough chop carrots, parsnip, and leek and add to an 8 1/2 quart pot with soaked mushrooms. Cover with 10 cups of water; add a Tablespoon of salt, bay leaves, and  allspice, and bring to a boil. Reduce to a simmer and cook uncovered for 30 minutes.
3. Peel beets and slice into 1/2-inch slices.
4. Toss beets, garlic, apple, remaining Tablespoon of salt, marjoram, 1 Tablespoon of white vinegar, and lemon juice in broth and bring back to a boil. Reduce to a simmer and cook for another half hour uncovered.
5. Add remaining vinegar.
6. Taste and adjust seasoning with vinegar, sugar, salt, and pepper as needed.
7. Discard all of the vegetables and use a strainer to serve your Barszcz into bowls.

Pierogi (Polish dumplings)

Ingredients (Serves 12 people)

• 2 pounds (about 8 small) Yukon gold potatoes
• 3 Tablespoons sunflower oil
• 2 1/2  cups mushrooms, sliced
• 3 medium yellow onions, chopped
• 1 16-ounce container ricotta cheese
• 1 Tablespoon sour cream
• Salt and freshly ground pepper to taste (we used 3 teaspoons salt and about 1 teaspoon pepper)
• 8 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 eggs
• 6 Tablespoons unsalted butter, room temperature, cubed
• 2 cups lukewarm water

Instructions (Prep time: 1 hour 30 minutes; Cooking time: 1 hour 20 minutes; Total time: 2 hours 50 minutes)

1. Put your potato in a medium-sized pot and cover with water. Bring to a boil and cook until tender, about 20 minutes.
2. While your potatoes cook, heat oil over medium heat in a large skillet. When the oil shimmers, add your onion. Sauté until translucent, about 10 minutes, and then set aside.
3. Heat more oil in medium heat in the skillet you just used for the onions. When it shimmers, add your mushrooms in batches. Sauté until the mushrooms no longer release any moisture, about 10 minutes, and then set aside.
4. Remove your potatoes from the heat. Drain the water and let them cool. When cool, use your fingers to peel the skins.
5. Using the grater attachment for your food processor, shred your potatoes. Empty and clean your food processor and then process your ricotta. Your ricotta will be light and fluffy after you finish.
6. Combine mushrooms, onions, potatoes, ricotta, sour cream, and salt and pepper to taste. Set your filling aside until your dough is ready.
7. Measure flour out onto a clean, smooth work surface.
8. Make a well in the center of the flour and crack both eggs into the well. Add the butter and mix with your hands. Gradually add warm water, a couple of tablespoons at a time. As the dough becomes more firm, add just a tablespoon at a time.
9. Knead the dough until it is soft and smooth, approximately 15-20 minutes.
10. Divide the dough into four equal portions. Cover with the portions you’re not working with a clean, damp dishtowel so that your dough doesn’t dry out.
11. Roll one portion into a thickness of 1/8 inch. Too thick of a dough will make it harder to press your pierogis closed around the filling, and the ratio of dough to filling will be off.
12. Cut out circles using a glass or round pastry cutter. Put the excess dough aside in the bowl with the other portions under the clean damp dish towel.
13. Fill each circle of dough with a teaspoon of filling. Fold dough in half over the filling and pinch the edges together to seal. Place in a baking dish or on a plate and cover with a clean damp wet dish towel. Separate layers of made pierogis with a sheet of wax paper to keep them from sticking to each other.
14. Continue rolling out the dough, cutting out circles, filling, and pressing into half-moons.
15. Bring a large pot of salted water to a gentle boil. Add the pierogi in batches, about 10 at a time, and cook until they float to the surface, approximately 10 minutes. Remove with a slotted spoon and place on a plate in an oven set to warm until ready to serve.

With a little pre-planning, you can make your salad and soup the same day you’re planning on serving it. The Golden Beet with Fried Apples and Arugula Salad served with Barszcz is perfect for a weeknight Hanukkah dinner celebration for two to four people. The pierogi are more hands-on; make the filling and dough a day or two ahead of your weeknight celebration and then roll out, fill, and boil. Making the dough is the most time-consuming aspect of the pierogis; it takes approximately 20 minutes to get the dough kneaded into a ball.

Having more people over mid-week for Hanukkah dinner? You can make both the salad and the Barszcz, with the exception of tossing the arugula with Balsamic Vinegar and olive oil, ahead of time. All you’ll need to do to prep is reheat the Barszcz about 20 minutes before your guests arrive, and toss your arugula with Balsamic vinegar and olive oil before serving. You can also make your pierogi beforehand. To reheat, sprinkle a few drops of water on your pierogi and microwave on medium heat for a minute. Flip over and microwave the other side on medium heat for 30 seconds.

You can follow Eden Hensley Silverstein on Instagram @RoadToGoodLife, Facebook @TheRoadToTheGoodLife, or her blog The Road To The Good Life. She is part of Mom It Forward and Blogloving. Eden’s bio on  linked in profile.

As you prepare for your Thanksgiving celebration, whether a small or large gathering we have some tips and pointers to make it memorable and easy. Keep everyone happy during the day by having a platter of healthy nibbles like this board.

Photo by Brooke Lark

You can make several things ahead of time. We use our Caspar Estate organically grown herbs, meyer lemons, and oranges.  We make the herb and lemon zest butter several days ahead of time. We use it to put it under the skin of the turkey and inside the turkey and then coasting all the skin. We also use it for sauting the onion, celery, portobello mushrooms for the stuffing.

Prepare ahead of time: We chop up the meyer lemon, orange, and then cook the cranberries with dried cherries, raisins, with Caspar Estate honey, balsamic vinegar and lots of spices (cinnamon stick, allspice, cloves). We enjoy the additional depth of flavor by using additional items in the cranberry sauce.

We often end up eating at about 2pm on Thanksgiving.We make a roasted butternut squash soup. We roast the squash with Caspar Estate extra virgin olive oil and garlic. We scoop out the squash, and the roasted garlic and put it in the blender and blend it and add vegetable stock. It is creamy and delicious.

We love having leftovers so we make a large turkey about 18-20 pounds. In order to have the stuffing taste the best we like to stuff the bird. To make the bird as succulent as possible we have mastered cooking it in the oven with Cultivar Sauvignon Blanc the bottom of the roasting pan. We put the bird in upside down so the juices flow into that part of the bird and flip it 2/3 of the way through cooking it. Flipping it over requires preparation for a big bird – we have found that having 2 people makes it much easier.

What the turkey looks like when we first put it in the oven. We often put aluminum foil over the wing tips. Below is what it looks like after we flip it over and it is ready.

Pair the turkey with 2019 Cultivar Chardonnay from Oakville, it brings out the best in turkey as well as seared scallops, cheese platters, sourdough stuffing, mashed potatoes and vegetables with hollandaise sauce.

Looking for switching it up? We can recommend the Squash and Burrata that we serve at Cultivar SF with all the flavors of the seasons. Delicata squash & honey nut squash, granny smith apples, pomegranate arlis, pepitas, balsamic reduction, fried sage, lava salt, olive oil. Pair it with the 2019 Cultivar Pinot Noir Russian River.

Another fun first course is the Scallop with Frisse, apples, Pt. Reyes Blue.

For the stuffing we roast chestnuts in the oven. Be sure to score them before roasting. It makes peeling them so much easier. We saute the celery, onions, herbs, portobello mushrooms in the herbed butter or herbed olive oil with lemon zest.

Thanksgiving calls for brussel sprouts! We love ours tossed in Caspar Estate olive oil and then there are several options for how to prepare them.

Pair your roasted brussel sprouts, truffle or portobello mushroom stuffing, seared green beans with scallions with our newly released 2019 Cultivar Bordeaux Blend of Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc and Petit Verdot from renown Napa Valley vineyards create a lush, balanced and provocative wine.
Or serve the Brussel Sprouts the way we do at Cultivar SF with Cultivar Bacon, Gremolata, Parmesan

Do you prefer serving roasted duck to the traditional turkey? We recommend our 2019 Cultivar Oak Knoll Cabernet Franc. On the palate, the flavors of cranberry and red fruit are evenly balanced with nutmeg, ginger, white pepper, and a hint of baking chocolate. A very food friendly wine it will pair well with Mashed potatoes, stuffing and dinner rolls.

Photo by ProChurchmedia

For years we have been making sweet potatoes with marshmallows. This has been a family tradition for quite some time. Do you put it all out on the table all at once or serve your meal in courses? Either way we have found that our dogs are always right there next to us waiting for scraps to fall from the table. Our dogs lie in front of the oven all day, and are especially watchful when we baste the bird.

Photo by Karolina-Grabowska

What do you prefer? Pumpkin pie with whipping cream or pecan pie or chocolate pecan pie? The one thing we can all agree on is pairing your pie with our just released Port! This 2014 Cultivar Anderson Valley Port is a decadent dessert wine that greets the nose with layers of caramel, dulce de leche, and orange peel. Warm waves of spun sugar, maple, and dark chocolate roll across the palate, ending with a creamy, mocha finish that seems to linger forever. What a great way to finish off a wonderful celebration.

Photo by Timothy-Wolff

We are grateful to you! We hope that you will have a wonderful Thanksgiving. Another option is to let the professionals handle it and go to the Silverado Resort. Look at this beautiful meal from Silverado in the Napa Valley.

Photo by Silverado Resort

If you need help selecting wine to pair with your favorite dishes join us online for holiday tips with Deborah. She is lots of fun and has many great ideas! Cheers!