Just right

Needing something clean and healthy, I fell back on maki, always a good way to use up small amounts of leftovers in a healthy way. So the remaining brown rice became rolls around two different fillings: the first, roasted carnival squash puréed with a bit of umeboshi paste and shaken with sesame seeds, and the second kale pesto with fresh arugula leaves in the middle. As an appetizer, 2/3 of a block of tofu browned in a tiny bit of smoked duck fat, then tossed in a reduction of the duck broth/miso soup and some honey. I spun the last of the corn and radish salad plus a few more radishes in the food processor to make a relish of sorts, which went particularly well with the squash maki (and was a pretty pink color.) All this goodness met its match in a 2000 Guigal white Hermitage, which meshed beautifully with the rich tofu and the clean rolls; it has the rocks and candied hazelnuts plus the lovely apricot sweetness to handle everything from umeboshi to the smoked fat.