Tired of serving the same dishes at every holiday gathering? Try some unique alternative dishes from Chef John Ash and serve a menu that will have your guests asking for more!

• Pumpkin Soup with Wild Mushrooms
• Warm Red Cabbage Salad with Pancetta and California Goat Cheese
• Crab Newberg
• Cider Brined and Smoked Game Hens
• My Grandmother’s Apple Batter Cake
• Pumpkin Soup with Wild Mushrooms

Perfect for the Thanksgiving (or harvest) table, this seasonal soup showcases pumpkin along with another fall favorite – – wild mushrooms. Serve with a glass of the Sonoma-Cutrer Russian River Chardonnay.

Warm Red Cabbage Salad with Pancetta and California Goat Cheese

For the goat cheese, I especially like the Bucheret, Camellia or Crottin from Redwood Hill Farms (www.redwoodhillfarms.com) or the Humboldt fog or Bermuda Triangle from Cypress Grove (www.cypressgrovechevre.com). Serve with Sonoma-Cutrer Les Pierres Chardonnay.

Crab Newberg

Dungeness Crab season begins in Northern California right around Thanksgiving, so we try to use it in as many ways as possible. This is a great dish from the past, and uses a classic egg yolk thickened sauce. It’s traditionally served on toast points but can also be spooned into little puff or choux pastry shells or in crepes. The mineral-ality of Sonoma-Cutrer Les Pierres would be a great match here.

Cider Brined and Smoked Game Hens

This brine works equally well with chicken or turkey. Brining is sort of a magical process that adds both flavor and moistness to the meat. In this recipe, I’m using a covered barbecue to both cook and smoke the birds. Be sure to use the indirect heat method described below in the barbecue and monitor both temperature of the barbecue and the birds with a thermometer. The objective is to cook the birds slowly enough, so that they can pick up a rich smoky flavor and you also want to be sure that they are cooked through. Enjoy a glass of Sonoma-Cutrer Pinot Noir while you are cooking.

My Grandmother’s Apple Batter Cake

This is a simple cake that my grandmother used to make often. I’ve used apples, but any fruit such as peaches, pears, berries or a combination could be incorporated. If possible, serve with Sonoma-Cutrer Late Harvest Chardonnay.