Pea Soup Part 2

So the experiment worked; I pushed the pea soup through a tamis and added a bit of activa, then piped it onto wax paper and let it sit in the fridge overnight (it’s uneven because I don’t have a pastry bag; I just cut the corner off a ziplock.)

Then I cut the snakes into gnocchi and gave them a quick boil just before serving. We had invited friends over, and then two more at the last minute, but fortunately there was enough food. I had braised a pork shoulder with onion, carrot, beer, cider, cinnamon, star anise, bay leaf, cloves, cardamom, thyme, soy sauce, agave nectar, and balsamic vinegar for 5 hours until it was falling apart, and also done more of the cubed turnip from the previous night (but with rutabaga as well this time.) I tossed the soup gnocchi with the roots and served the meat on top of it with the strained and reduced braising liquid thickened with our BBQ sauce. A dollop of cranberry tapenade on top (taken from Aki & Alex) was the perfect finish- sweet/savory, spicy, and tangy.

Chris made a huge pot of their kale that he had hacked out of the snow before dark, and it was incredibly sweet. We drank a 2001 Domaine la Millière Chiateauneuf, then Chris & Sirkka’s 2006 Ridge Three Valleys zin blend, then a 1999 Cakebread Benchland Select cabernet. I had thought to follow the CDP with a Burgundy, but the pork was so rich that the New World sweetness of the Ridge and Cakebread were the right way to go. A really lovely winter meal with great friends.