One Magnum of Pinot Blanc Begets Two Tarts, a Kugel, and a Pile of Choucroute

Some friends generously gave me a magnum of Robert Sinskey Vineyards Pinot Blanc for my birthday, and I decided it was only fair to offer to share the bottle with them sometime at Sunday dinner chez Clink. Knowing that they like French food, I decided to riff on some Alsatian recipes in two cookbooks I like a lot: Joan Nathan‘s Quiches, Kugels, and Couscous and I Know How to Cook by Ginette Mathiot/Clotilde Dusoulier. The tangy, salty, cheesy, porky dishes that ensued were a nice complement to a wine that was as acidic as Anthony Bourdain’s tweets and as lightly floral as your old Laura Ashley bedspread…yet far more fresh and pleasant than either of them.