A holiday filled with sparkle

Cooking with champagne is a delicious luxury and will make all your holiday dishes extra special. You don’t need an expensive bottle of bubbly to make a delicious meal, just a decent one. Look for brut champagne; ‘brut’ means the wine will be dry and not sweet, which is perfect for cooking-and, of course, drinking.

Champagne and Vanilla Bean Poached Pear and Apple Salad

An elegant salad that is so much more than greens on a plate, this seasonal salad offers the opportunity to add end-of-summer tomatoes to pair with sophisticated poached pears and apples. Poach more pears and apples later in the fall and add plums and cranberries-and you have a seasonless starter for many meals ahead.

Serves 4-5
2 Ripe Bosc pears, peeled
2 ripe honey-crisp apples (I find this apple works well and holds its shape), peeled
1 vanilla bean, scraped
1 fat strip of lemon zest
1 bottle brut champagne
3 tablespoons honey
1 cup water

1. Simmer pears, apples, vanilla bean and essence, lemon zest, champagne, and honey until pears and apples are tender (about 30 minutes).
2. Cool pears and apples in the poaching liquid. Apples and pears can be stored in poaching liquid for up to 5 days. Poaching liquid can be used several times and should be stored, covered, in the refrigerator.

For the salad

1 head of radicchio, sliced thinly
Several radishes sliced thinly
Pomegranate arils
Heirloom tomatoes, sliced thinly
Poached apples and pears, cored and sliced thinly

For the vinaigrette

2 tablespoons rice wine vinegar
2 teaspoons Dijon mustard
2 teaspoons honey
½ teaspoon sea salt
Pinch of freshly cracked black pepper
2/3 cup best quality extra virgin olive oil

1. Whisk together poaching liquid, rice wine vinegar, Dijon, honey, salt, and pepper. Slowly stream in olive oil until a thick emulsion forms. Store extra vinaigrette in the refrigerator.
2. Assemble the salad on a platter and drizzle with vinaigrette. Pass extra vinaigrette.

Pan Roasted Chicken in Champagne-Mushroom Sauce

This festive feast is ready in a flash: This celebratory dish comes together quickly and all in one pan! Happy new year indeed!

Serves 4
Extra virgin olive oil
Sea salt and freshly cracked black pepper
4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, pounded
3 tablespoons flour
2 shallots
3 cloves garlic
4 ounces button mushrooms, sliced thinly
1 cup champagne
¼ cup chicken stock
Zest of 1 lemon and 2 teaspoons lemon juice
3 tablespoons chopped tarragon

1. Season chicken breasts with salt and pepper. Heat a large sauté pan, over medium heat, lightly coated with olive oil.
2. Dredge chicken in flour and shake off excess. Once the pan is hot, brown chicken on both sides until golden brown. Transfer chicken to a plate.
3. Add a bit more olive oil to the pan and saute shallots and garlic, scraping up any browned bits stuck to the pan as you go. Once shallots and garlic have softened, add mushrooms and continue cooking until mushrooms have wilted and are just becoming lightly golden.
4. Add champagne to the pan and cook, stirring occasionally, until champagne has reduced to about 1/3 cup. Add chicken stock, lemon zest and juice. Continue reducing the sauce until it has thickened and lightly coats the back of a spoon.
5. When you are ready to serve, add chicken breasts back to the pan and simmer until cooked through. Add tarragon and serve. Spoon champagne sauce over chicken.
6. Serve with roasted potatoes, pasta, grains, or vegetables.

Champagne Chocolate Salami

I love serving this with endless variations. The key is to use the best quality chocolate and extra virgin olive oil. With so few ingredients in a recipe, each one is critical to a delicious end result.

1/3 cup brut champagne
2 teaspoons vanilla extract or 1 vanilla bean scraped
¹ / ₃ cup pitted and chopped dates
6 tablespoons best quality extra virgin olive oil
12 ounces good bittersweet chocolate (at least 65% cacao-I like Callebaut or Schmerling’s), chopped
¹ / ₂ cup pistachios- roasted salted & shelled (optional)
1 cup broken but not crushed tea biscuits
Garnish: powdered sugar

1. Place champagne, vanilla, and dates in a bowl and allow to soak and soften the fruit.
2. Bring a pot of water to a simmer. Place a bowl over the water (be sure the bowl does not touch the surface of the water) and melt chocolate and olive oil together.
3. Transfer melted chocolate to a bowl and stir in champagne mixture. Add pistachios if using and tea biscuits.
4. Place parchment paper on a baking sheet or counter. Divide mixture in half and place ½ on sheet. Roll into a log. Secure ends. Refrigerate overnight or freeze for up to 1 month.
5. Repeat with remaining mixture.
6. Before serving, remove log from parchment and roll in powdered sugar.
7. Slice thinly and serve with fresh fruit.

Laura Frankel is a noted kosher chef, a cookbook author, and Culinary Director for a media company. Currently, she serves as Director of Catering at Circle of Life catering at North Suburban Synagogue Beth El.