As you have probably just read, today was my 35th birthday. I am so lucky--I got some great gifts. Three especially notable things:
1. Julie got me a bottle of wine. Domaine Pegau Chateauneuf du Pape, 2005, Cuvee Reservee. It probably won't be drinkable for at least a decade, and I'm thinking it might be about right when I celebrate my 45th or 50th birthday. We had a bottle of their 1998 vintage last year at my birthday (at the Earle), and I've had a 2000 at a party. This is a very earthy, almost horsey, barnyardy wine, with a ton of complexity. 2005 was an utterly amazing vintage in the southern Rhone, and this should be a classic wine. Looking forward to the passage of years for this beauty!
2. My mother, in the spirit of free choice, sent me the most fungible of assets -- cash. I turned some of it into a splurge--on another 2005 chateauneuf, in this case, produced by Beaucastel. I got it at a relative steal--about 75% of its usual retail cost, from a local boutique grocery with a killer wine program (Think Whole Foods with reasonable prices, unpretentious staff, locally owned, and sane management.). I have never had a true Beaucastel -- they're not an everyday bottle, by any means. But I've had their 2nd wine (coudoulet, which is a technically a CDR), which is a really beauty, as well as a number of others produced by the Perrins (notably, Perrin & Fils, Vielle Ferme). They all seem to represent a certain "honesty" of approach to the grapes, a real finesse in winemaking. So, again, in 10 or 15 years or so, I'll be enjoying this beauty. Thanks, mom!
3. My inlaws sent me books. Both about food/wine. I'll focus on the food driven one--All About Braising. It's a lovely cookbook which is so much more than your average package of recipes. Sure, there are plenty of those, and they are mostly pretty appealing, complex yet approachable. But what I really like are the real descriptions of the dishes--from their history and tastes, to a certain rationale of why you do what you do, this is a serious book. And most recipes have suggested wine pairings, and many - most are Old World wines, which I happen to love. Thank you, Lyn and Debbie!
Thursday, April 30, 2009
Happy Birthday... to me. Part I. Dinner
Today, I turned 35 years old. I guess that means I'm officially old now. Not feeling terribly different today than I did yesterday, but hey, that is a definite milestone. It's been a good day, too, all in all. Julie took me out for a nice dinner at The Earle, a good "continental cuisine" restaurant here in Ann Arbor.
The restaurant has very solid food, and one of the best wine lists in all of the Midwest. The list is probably close to 1000 different wines, and importantly, they have been appropriately cellared, and have had enough time to age really nicely. One of my biggest pet peeves about high end restaurants is the often overpriced list of high end, good wines from recent vintages. Many of them are absolutely wonderfully good wines--arguably, even worth the hideous markup, where they charge 2.2-3.0 X retail. If only they had been aged. But, sadly, holding wines for years is not good for the bottom line, and doing it properly actually costs money, too. So, you end up drinking those expensive, monster wines before they have the time to mature and gain their real complexity. But, The Earle is different. They have a talented, brilliant sommelier who is both a bit old school, and who loves and understands his wines. He's thankfully not pretentious, and he doesn't look down on your if you're not buying that $200 bottle. And, if you know something about wine, and talk about it with him, he likes that, and shares his insights and gives you suggestions on interesting things to try. When you pick an older bottle, in particular, a mid to higher end one, and especially one that may not have been seeing a lot of turn-over, a good sommelier will very much appreciate it if you offer him a taste. Why? No, he's not trying to get drunk on the job. But it helps him to know how a particular vintage of a wine is aging, whether he should be trying to get it sold soon, and what it would pair well with.
So, tonight, we decided on a northern Rhone wine from Crozes-Hermitage. These are dense, serious full-bodied red wines, made almost exclusively with Syrah (sometimes doctored with a bit of Viognier). The bottle was a 1999 Domaine Belle Cuvee Louis Belle Crozes-Hermitage. Crozes is one of the "lowest end" wines of the northern Rhone, a second sister to uber-powerful Hermitage. They typically don't age as beautifully or have the subtle complexity as the Hermitage; they don't come from quite as primo of vineyards in the best sites overlooking the Rhone River. That is not to say they're crappy wines at all--they are usually still extraordinarily complex and will outshine most American or Aussie syrah/shirazes--but they are relatively inexpensive (usually $25-45 retail, $40-90 in restaurant, vs. well into 3 figures for Hermitage).
So, about the Belle? It was a real "belle" of a wine. Upon opening, it had tons of mature plum and cherry, blackberry, tobacco, smoke, some pepper and spice, and tons of slaty minerality. It was very refined, smooth, complex and tasty. This was a very serious wine. As it turns out, the vineyards are apparently within a few meters of "true" Hermitage, and the vines are 80 years or more in age. That all showed in the wine. Now, my one complaint is this. As the evening progressed and the wine was able to breathe, it rather quickly lost some of its bright fruit. This suggests the wine is probably a year or so past "peak"--not a flaw in the wine at all, but this is one that probably better be drunk in the next few years.
As to food: for starters, I went with escargot in a vol-au-vent--a bread-like structure, with a butter-wine-garlic sauce. Tasty, but not great. And the snails were perhaps a bit overcooked. Julie had a chevre on a bed of greens, topped with sesame seeds and dressed an acidic dressing. Tasty. For mains: Julie had filet with roquefort sauce, potatoes and veggie. A very classic dish, it was well-executed, amazing texture on the meat, and a very smooth sauce. My entree, though, just blew me away. Duck breast, seared and cooked to medium-rare, wiht a port wine reduction sauce, strawberries and raspberries. Now, cherries are a classic pair with duck, not so much these berries. But they worked. The port sauce was beautifully reduced, with an unctuous demi-glace built in. Wow. And it was a solid pairing wiht the fruit in the wine. In all, a great dinner! Thank you, Julie!
The restaurant has very solid food, and one of the best wine lists in all of the Midwest. The list is probably close to 1000 different wines, and importantly, they have been appropriately cellared, and have had enough time to age really nicely. One of my biggest pet peeves about high end restaurants is the often overpriced list of high end, good wines from recent vintages. Many of them are absolutely wonderfully good wines--arguably, even worth the hideous markup, where they charge 2.2-3.0 X retail. If only they had been aged. But, sadly, holding wines for years is not good for the bottom line, and doing it properly actually costs money, too. So, you end up drinking those expensive, monster wines before they have the time to mature and gain their real complexity. But, The Earle is different. They have a talented, brilliant sommelier who is both a bit old school, and who loves and understands his wines. He's thankfully not pretentious, and he doesn't look down on your if you're not buying that $200 bottle. And, if you know something about wine, and talk about it with him, he likes that, and shares his insights and gives you suggestions on interesting things to try. When you pick an older bottle, in particular, a mid to higher end one, and especially one that may not have been seeing a lot of turn-over, a good sommelier will very much appreciate it if you offer him a taste. Why? No, he's not trying to get drunk on the job. But it helps him to know how a particular vintage of a wine is aging, whether he should be trying to get it sold soon, and what it would pair well with.
So, tonight, we decided on a northern Rhone wine from Crozes-Hermitage. These are dense, serious full-bodied red wines, made almost exclusively with Syrah (sometimes doctored with a bit of Viognier). The bottle was a 1999 Domaine Belle Cuvee Louis Belle Crozes-Hermitage. Crozes is one of the "lowest end" wines of the northern Rhone, a second sister to uber-powerful Hermitage. They typically don't age as beautifully or have the subtle complexity as the Hermitage; they don't come from quite as primo of vineyards in the best sites overlooking the Rhone River. That is not to say they're crappy wines at all--they are usually still extraordinarily complex and will outshine most American or Aussie syrah/shirazes--but they are relatively inexpensive (usually $25-45 retail, $40-90 in restaurant, vs. well into 3 figures for Hermitage).
So, about the Belle? It was a real "belle" of a wine. Upon opening, it had tons of mature plum and cherry, blackberry, tobacco, smoke, some pepper and spice, and tons of slaty minerality. It was very refined, smooth, complex and tasty. This was a very serious wine. As it turns out, the vineyards are apparently within a few meters of "true" Hermitage, and the vines are 80 years or more in age. That all showed in the wine. Now, my one complaint is this. As the evening progressed and the wine was able to breathe, it rather quickly lost some of its bright fruit. This suggests the wine is probably a year or so past "peak"--not a flaw in the wine at all, but this is one that probably better be drunk in the next few years.
As to food: for starters, I went with escargot in a vol-au-vent--a bread-like structure, with a butter-wine-garlic sauce. Tasty, but not great. And the snails were perhaps a bit overcooked. Julie had a chevre on a bed of greens, topped with sesame seeds and dressed an acidic dressing. Tasty. For mains: Julie had filet with roquefort sauce, potatoes and veggie. A very classic dish, it was well-executed, amazing texture on the meat, and a very smooth sauce. My entree, though, just blew me away. Duck breast, seared and cooked to medium-rare, wiht a port wine reduction sauce, strawberries and raspberries. Now, cherries are a classic pair with duck, not so much these berries. But they worked. The port sauce was beautifully reduced, with an unctuous demi-glace built in. Wow. And it was a solid pairing wiht the fruit in the wine. In all, a great dinner! Thank you, Julie!
Saturday, April 25, 2009
Dinner Party
We got together with some of our friends for a small and casual dinner party tonight. Now, most of our friends are wine and food sorts, so we can pretty much count on a tasty experience. But tonight was really exceptional. Our host is recently back from a month in Sardegna, working with a colleague at a university there. She brought back some wine and liquer from the island to serve as a foundation, and then we each brought some food and drink to supplement, for a 5 course (or so) meal of amazing flavors.
We started with sparkling wines (prosecco, a cremant de bourgogne--not so Italian, but a good rose, and a bottle from Lombardy that we brought) to pair with appetizers and snacks. That amounted to oil cured olives, a honeyed sweet tapenade, Felina olive oil with two types of bread, a focaccia "pizza" of sorts with sausages, capers, sage, tomatoes, pecorino and other delicious items. I was asked to do a risotto--essentially, the "pasta course", and our host suggested we cook at her place so it'd be good and fresh. Thatt worked out well. I did an asparagus risotto with some truffle salt. It came out very nicely, I thought, and it got substantially positive reviews, and we continued with the sparklers. Then, a salad course of arugula, mushrooms, and pecorino cheese with a balsamic and olive oil dressing. and more prosecco.
The host cooked the main course--beautiful t-bone/porterhouse prime grade steaks. They were exquisite, and paired very well with the three red wines she'd brought back, as well as with the 1995 Rioja and a Corsican wine both brought by guests. Both of those were nice, but the Sardinian wines were amazingly interesting. One was 100% monica grapes--rather rustic, fruit forward; the 2nd was a 3-way even blend of monica, grenache (called cannoneau locally), and a third grape I don't recall. The final wine was 100% cagnulari, a varietal with which I was not at all familiar. It was the most complex of the wines, a rather unusual variety with incredible herbal and fruit notes, and tons of minerality. The other two were somewhat simpler, but very beautiful, rather fruit driven, in a very good way. I would absolutely buy any of the three, were they available in the U.S. This is honest wine, made simply by traditional methods, and it was among the most interesting stuff I've drunk in a long while. Some of these local wines of Italy (and I'd be willing to bet of some other European nations) should be both more available and more appreciated. After all, variety is the spice of life, and this is some serious variety. I really don't need another over-extracted, over fruit-bomb, over-oaked California or Aussie "red wine" that could be cab, merlot, syrah, or whatever, as it all tastes pretty much the same. For the same price, give me something new, different, fascinating.
Dessert was a melon granita (AMAZING homemade stuff) and these almond-honey cookies. Yum. And, all of that was chased with a Sardinian liqueur. This was mirto. Now, I'd never heard of it before--and it is definitely something of an acquired taste. It's made from fermenting the berries, and sometimes leaves, of the myrtle plant. It has a big menthol, wintergreen, fruity taste, and was a great after dinner drink. I really loved the taste; Julie was not so taken with it.
In all, it was a really fun night. Perhaps even more amazing was that the host's hot water heater broke this afternoon, so there was no hot water. And, then, as I was finishing off my risotto, the electricity went out due to a substantial thunderstorm. So, we ate by candlelight. And, all the food, and all the drink was at least very good, if not great. And the company was amazing.
We started with sparkling wines (prosecco, a cremant de bourgogne--not so Italian, but a good rose, and a bottle from Lombardy that we brought) to pair with appetizers and snacks. That amounted to oil cured olives, a honeyed sweet tapenade, Felina olive oil with two types of bread, a focaccia "pizza" of sorts with sausages, capers, sage, tomatoes, pecorino and other delicious items. I was asked to do a risotto--essentially, the "pasta course", and our host suggested we cook at her place so it'd be good and fresh. Thatt worked out well. I did an asparagus risotto with some truffle salt. It came out very nicely, I thought, and it got substantially positive reviews, and we continued with the sparklers. Then, a salad course of arugula, mushrooms, and pecorino cheese with a balsamic and olive oil dressing. and more prosecco.
The host cooked the main course--beautiful t-bone/porterhouse prime grade steaks. They were exquisite, and paired very well with the three red wines she'd brought back, as well as with the 1995 Rioja and a Corsican wine both brought by guests. Both of those were nice, but the Sardinian wines were amazingly interesting. One was 100% monica grapes--rather rustic, fruit forward; the 2nd was a 3-way even blend of monica, grenache (called cannoneau locally), and a third grape I don't recall. The final wine was 100% cagnulari, a varietal with which I was not at all familiar. It was the most complex of the wines, a rather unusual variety with incredible herbal and fruit notes, and tons of minerality. The other two were somewhat simpler, but very beautiful, rather fruit driven, in a very good way. I would absolutely buy any of the three, were they available in the U.S. This is honest wine, made simply by traditional methods, and it was among the most interesting stuff I've drunk in a long while. Some of these local wines of Italy (and I'd be willing to bet of some other European nations) should be both more available and more appreciated. After all, variety is the spice of life, and this is some serious variety. I really don't need another over-extracted, over fruit-bomb, over-oaked California or Aussie "red wine" that could be cab, merlot, syrah, or whatever, as it all tastes pretty much the same. For the same price, give me something new, different, fascinating.
Dessert was a melon granita (AMAZING homemade stuff) and these almond-honey cookies. Yum. And, all of that was chased with a Sardinian liqueur. This was mirto. Now, I'd never heard of it before--and it is definitely something of an acquired taste. It's made from fermenting the berries, and sometimes leaves, of the myrtle plant. It has a big menthol, wintergreen, fruity taste, and was a great after dinner drink. I really loved the taste; Julie was not so taken with it.
In all, it was a really fun night. Perhaps even more amazing was that the host's hot water heater broke this afternoon, so there was no hot water. And, then, as I was finishing off my risotto, the electricity went out due to a substantial thunderstorm. So, we ate by candlelight. And, all the food, and all the drink was at least very good, if not great. And the company was amazing.
Sunday, April 19, 2009
Lamb Riblets
We'd had some lamb riblets in the freezer for a few weeks that'd I'd been wanting to cook before it got too hot. And, as today was relatively cool and rainy, it was an ideal day to cook some meat low and slow. Initially, I was thinking maybe doing another take on barbeque, maybe even a curried barbeque style. But that just wasn't screaming out as what I was after. I was kind of thinking some Spanish flavors might be nice -- some smoked paprika, maybe, onions, maybe tomatoes? So, I used Google to good effect, and came upon another blogger who was rather taken with a Dean and Delucca recipe for Spanish lamb stew. Now, it called for cubed stew meat cut from lamb shoulder, decidedly NOT thin, flat riblets. On the other hand, the riblets have a ton of fat and connective tissue, making it good for a similar approach. So, I cut each slab into individual ribs with some meat, seasoned 'em, and browned them off. Then, I cut up some smoked sausage, browned that, added a couple sweet onions, sliced very thin, and garlic. Deglazed with wine, some sherry vinegar, and then some stock. smoked paprika and some marjoram and a couple bay leaves for seasoning, and in to cook. I added some garbanzo beans and served it all wth some couscous. Very yummy!
The wine pairing was a serendipitous event, indeed. A day or so ago, we'd drunk part of a bottle of Spanish wine from Navarra--a blend mostly of tempranillo wth some grenache. it's a tasty, fairly fruit driven wine, not hugely complex, but very nice. But, with this rustic dinner, it just came to life, and showed off amazing earthy complexity, and brought out the sweetness of the lamb. It was a really beautiful pairing--one of those, 'oh wow!' moments--and one I had no expectation of being so exquisite.
The wine pairing was a serendipitous event, indeed. A day or so ago, we'd drunk part of a bottle of Spanish wine from Navarra--a blend mostly of tempranillo wth some grenache. it's a tasty, fairly fruit driven wine, not hugely complex, but very nice. But, with this rustic dinner, it just came to life, and showed off amazing earthy complexity, and brought out the sweetness of the lamb. It was a really beautiful pairing--one of those, 'oh wow!' moments--and one I had no expectation of being so exquisite.
Friday, April 17, 2009
Flank Steak, Korean Food
Last night was time for a lovely grass-raised beef flank steak. Marinated with soy, hot pepper, garlic as primary flavors, it cooked up on the grill pan very nicely. What a great cut of meat! With some Israeli couscous and corn, and a nice fruit-driven Spanish wine, yum.
Tonight, we got lazy, and ate out. Korean food was the choice du jour. I'm a big fan of kimchee, that wonderful hot, fermented, pickled cabbage like product. The rice and beef be-bim-bop was tasty--made wonderful by the runny egg broken over the dish. And Julie had barbeque short ribs, which were wonderfully smoky, with lots of sesame flavors. In all, delicious food.
Tonight, we got lazy, and ate out. Korean food was the choice du jour. I'm a big fan of kimchee, that wonderful hot, fermented, pickled cabbage like product. The rice and beef be-bim-bop was tasty--made wonderful by the runny egg broken over the dish. And Julie had barbeque short ribs, which were wonderfully smoky, with lots of sesame flavors. In all, delicious food.
Wednesday, April 15, 2009
Pork tenderloin and blackberries
Tonight, we had the pork tenderloin with a blackberry sauce. This was a bit different from the last blackberry sauce I did--this time, reduced with brown sugar, red wine, and some balsamic vinegar. It came out pretty well. The wild rice was OK, the fresh green beans not so tasty or fresh. Paired with a simple bourgogne, not a bad dinner, and fast, but not terribly exciting, either.
Our wine group tasted through a variety of wines again tonight. None were hugely memorable, and about 5 were close to horrifically made. A couple of Rhone wines were pretty good, and there were two decent Chiantis. None were so amazing that I felt I needed to run out and order a case, though.
Our wine group tasted through a variety of wines again tonight. None were hugely memorable, and about 5 were close to horrifically made. A couple of Rhone wines were pretty good, and there were two decent Chiantis. None were so amazing that I felt I needed to run out and order a case, though.
Tuesday, April 14, 2009
Strip Steaks
By traditional thought, NY Strip steaks are among the most expensive cuts of meat around. It's not uncommon to pay upwards of $15/lb. for ready-cut steaks at the meat counter. Often, these are trimmed poorly, cut thin, or otherwise less than ideal. But, if you have a good slicing knife and a steady hand, you can buy the subprimal and cut your own. That has two big advantages: 1. it's cheaper--we can find it for as little as $3-4/lb. 2. You can cut and trim the steaks to your liking. I happen to like relatively thick steaks, so I can work these to my liking.
So, tonight, I cooked up strip steaks, did a mushroom-sherry-cream sauce, mashed potatoes, and some spinach flash sauted in garlic adn olive oil. The steaks were very nice, as always, the sauce a good taste, and the potatoes OK. But the spinach was a real winner. It came from the farmers market, so was very fresh. I heated a pan rather hot, added in olive oil, threw in the garlic, and the spinach. I tossed it quickly, for less than a minute, and pulled it off the heat and out of hte pan. That kept it from becoming just soggy. Yum.
So, tonight, I cooked up strip steaks, did a mushroom-sherry-cream sauce, mashed potatoes, and some spinach flash sauted in garlic adn olive oil. The steaks were very nice, as always, the sauce a good taste, and the potatoes OK. But the spinach was a real winner. It came from the farmers market, so was very fresh. I heated a pan rather hot, added in olive oil, threw in the garlic, and the spinach. I tossed it quickly, for less than a minute, and pulled it off the heat and out of hte pan. That kept it from becoming just soggy. Yum.
Monday, April 13, 2009
Pork tenderloin
Pork tenderloins are nice in two ways--they're a good "blank canvass" that are highly flexible for a variety of flavors, and they cook in about 30 minutes. Now, I think if I bought heirloom pork tenderloins, I'd probably get substantially more flavor and the like out of the cut of meat itself. This I would like to do from time to time. But on a day to day basis, these are a cheap grocery store meat for weeknight eating. Tonight, I used a "Bavarian-style" seasoning, along with salt and pepper, to season the cut, before browning and roasting. I used some cherry-balsamic sauce from Zingerman's for added flavor. Brown rice and broccoli rounded out the meal, with a Dr. Heyden Riesling Spatlese. Tasty, easy, good for a weeknight. As blackberries were on sale at the grocery tonight, we shall do a blackberry sauce with the other one. That might call for a pinot noir-bourgogne... or I reckon a riesling should work, too.
Sunday, April 12, 2009
Easter Dinner
Cooking holiday dinners for two can be a bit challenging. To me, Easter calls for leg of lamb, roasted with rosemary and garlic. But, if I did a whole leg, we'd be eating lamb leg for weeks. Fortunately, I was able to find a partial roast from our Farmer's Market lamb vendor. Now, sadly, that meant it was boneless, but it was still a beautiful thing. First, I browned it up with just salt and pepper, then coated it with a paste of garlic, lemon juice, rosemary, olive oil, salt and pepper. Then I roasted it with Yukon Gold potatoes. The meal was really made, though, by the asparagus--which I assembled into bundles with cream cheese and wrapped in prosciutto. Coated in some olive oil, salt and pepper, and into the oven. Yum! Julie brought home some bread, and we had a "butter lamb" from Jaworski's, so that rounded out dinner. All, in all, very tasty.
Of course, a good dinner needs a good wine, and we had a 2003 Domaine de la Tourade Vacqueyras, Cuvee de L'Euse. That's a wonderful, racy red wine from the southern Rhone. This thing is a real monster, in a good way. It's rather rustic, tons of fruit and herbal garrigue notes, good minerality, earthy, brambly, in all, a big wine. And, as it's now 5 years old, it's mellowed a bit. I absolutely LOVE this wine. I'm also glad to have 3-4 more bottles in the cellar--it should continue to improve with age. It makes such a great pairing with the grassy, gamy lamb, plus the Provencal flavors of rosemary and garlic and lemon. These wines are sometimes viewed as a bit lower in quality than their much more refined cousins in Bordeaux, but dollar for dollar, these wines have so much more going on at a given price point, and are just such wonderful things. I like to think they reflect the more exuberant qualities of life in the south of France, but in reality, it's simply a reflection of the grapes, terroir, plus winemaking.
Of course, a good dinner needs a good wine, and we had a 2003 Domaine de la Tourade Vacqueyras, Cuvee de L'Euse. That's a wonderful, racy red wine from the southern Rhone. This thing is a real monster, in a good way. It's rather rustic, tons of fruit and herbal garrigue notes, good minerality, earthy, brambly, in all, a big wine. And, as it's now 5 years old, it's mellowed a bit. I absolutely LOVE this wine. I'm also glad to have 3-4 more bottles in the cellar--it should continue to improve with age. It makes such a great pairing with the grassy, gamy lamb, plus the Provencal flavors of rosemary and garlic and lemon. These wines are sometimes viewed as a bit lower in quality than their much more refined cousins in Bordeaux, but dollar for dollar, these wines have so much more going on at a given price point, and are just such wonderful things. I like to think they reflect the more exuberant qualities of life in the south of France, but in reality, it's simply a reflection of the grapes, terroir, plus winemaking.
Friday, April 10, 2009
chicken
The joy of chicken leg quarters! Versatile, tasty, inexpensive. Tonight, I decided on a spring blanquette-style stew. Browned the chicken, added in a sliced onion, several carrots, a bag of frozen peas, and some garlic. Deglazed with white wine, added some stock. At the end of cooking, added a bit of cream, and then a beurre manie to thicken. Served with brown rice. Yum. Easy, tasty, about 45 minutes to prep and cook. It's nice to be able to just pull these things together, sans recipe -- it keeps things interesting.
Wednesday, April 8, 2009
Sad occassion, happy results
We're just back from Cleveland, where Julie and I attended her grandmother's funeral. We miss her terribly, and this was a largely somber few days. However, we also wanted to take advantage of what Cleveland had to offer us during "down times". So, in that spirit, we sought out a good place for dinner last night, and also sought out some good Polish food to bring home to cook.
Dinner last night was at Lola -- a "high end" downtown restaurant run by Michael Symon, whom you may know from his frequent appearances on Food Network. So, the good, bad, and ugly. The food itself was good. Very, very good. We started with a charcuterie platter, some, but not all, of which were "house-made" by the restaurant. Amazing sausages and other cured meats. Julie had a smoked pork chop that was cooked to perfection--juicy, sweet smoky flavor--with polenta and assorted other goodies. I had squab (pigeon) with foie gras, sweet potato puree, etc. Very tasty, in both cases. Dessert was also good--I had a 'french toast with bacon-maple ice cream'--good, but not amazing, humorous combination, as it was served on a skillet shaped plate. Julie had a sweet potato smores sundae--sweet potato sorbet, chocolate cake, house-made marshmallows. THe flavors were good, but the textures really made the dish. So, really good, creative food. The not so good: The wine experience, and at the start, the service. After we were seated, it must have been 15 minutes before we even got menus. Then, our server seemed insistent that we needed cocktails right away. Well, no, not so much, and no apology for the delay. After that, though, our server was really good, by and large. We also wanted wine with dinner. Now, we weren't sure if we could find a good pairing for both our dishes to share a bottle, but my mind immediately jumped to Rhone, as the mix of softer fruits, earth notes, and herb tones might work with both smoky flavors and the roasted poultry. So, I picked a couple that seemed like good options. Our waitress first suggested we should instead go with an Argentine malbec--not my style of wine, not a very good buy, and honestly, better suited to steaks than poultry. But she did seek out input on the Rhone wines, and suggested another (cheaper) option that would be more fruit-driven and softer than the others we looked at, and sold it as a "Great buy". Now, it was a fine wine, and it paired fairly well. nothing exquisite, but decent. My issue was the misrepresentation of it as a good buy--the menu price was 3.5 X the retail price of the wine (usually, it's more like a 2X markup). I didn't know the specific wine, but the price was reasonable for the AOC (on the high end, but good wines do tend to command more $). I'd have been fine with the situation if either 1. we'd specifically selected this to start with, and 2. if we'd not been sold on it being a great deal. As it is, I felt somewhat taken advantage of, basically being sold something it wasn't (the others we looked at thatr would've worked well were more in line with the typical 2X restaurant mark up, and only about $4-5 more than what e ordered). So, buyer beware. My other overall complaint with the list was a large number of high quality, high price wines on the list. Is that bad, per se? No. The problem is, most were very young--much too young to be really good, in some cases probably down-right shut down in style. I don't really WANT to think aobut drinking a 2005 Chateauneuf in 2009--try me again in 2019. I understnad that it takes work and money and time to age wine properly. But to sell some of these things for hundreds of $ a pop for current consumption is just disingenuous. It might be fine for status seekers, but it'd be a real disappointment to drink.
This morning, we stopped by Jaworski Meats (see earlier post from prior visit), picked up more sausages, house-made sauerkraut, pierogis, and more. In all, many tasty goodies. The Easter loaf (a sort of Polish-seasoned meatloaf) was an especially nice dinner tonight. quick to cook, great tastes. Paired with cottage-cheese stuffed pierogi (seasoned iwth nutmeg) and sauerkraut, it was a nice dinner, indeed. And, very easy to fix!
Dinner last night was at Lola -- a "high end" downtown restaurant run by Michael Symon, whom you may know from his frequent appearances on Food Network. So, the good, bad, and ugly. The food itself was good. Very, very good. We started with a charcuterie platter, some, but not all, of which were "house-made" by the restaurant. Amazing sausages and other cured meats. Julie had a smoked pork chop that was cooked to perfection--juicy, sweet smoky flavor--with polenta and assorted other goodies. I had squab (pigeon) with foie gras, sweet potato puree, etc. Very tasty, in both cases. Dessert was also good--I had a 'french toast with bacon-maple ice cream'--good, but not amazing, humorous combination, as it was served on a skillet shaped plate. Julie had a sweet potato smores sundae--sweet potato sorbet, chocolate cake, house-made marshmallows. THe flavors were good, but the textures really made the dish. So, really good, creative food. The not so good: The wine experience, and at the start, the service. After we were seated, it must have been 15 minutes before we even got menus. Then, our server seemed insistent that we needed cocktails right away. Well, no, not so much, and no apology for the delay. After that, though, our server was really good, by and large. We also wanted wine with dinner. Now, we weren't sure if we could find a good pairing for both our dishes to share a bottle, but my mind immediately jumped to Rhone, as the mix of softer fruits, earth notes, and herb tones might work with both smoky flavors and the roasted poultry. So, I picked a couple that seemed like good options. Our waitress first suggested we should instead go with an Argentine malbec--not my style of wine, not a very good buy, and honestly, better suited to steaks than poultry. But she did seek out input on the Rhone wines, and suggested another (cheaper) option that would be more fruit-driven and softer than the others we looked at, and sold it as a "Great buy". Now, it was a fine wine, and it paired fairly well. nothing exquisite, but decent. My issue was the misrepresentation of it as a good buy--the menu price was 3.5 X the retail price of the wine (usually, it's more like a 2X markup). I didn't know the specific wine, but the price was reasonable for the AOC (on the high end, but good wines do tend to command more $). I'd have been fine with the situation if either 1. we'd specifically selected this to start with, and 2. if we'd not been sold on it being a great deal. As it is, I felt somewhat taken advantage of, basically being sold something it wasn't (the others we looked at thatr would've worked well were more in line with the typical 2X restaurant mark up, and only about $4-5 more than what e ordered). So, buyer beware. My other overall complaint with the list was a large number of high quality, high price wines on the list. Is that bad, per se? No. The problem is, most were very young--much too young to be really good, in some cases probably down-right shut down in style. I don't really WANT to think aobut drinking a 2005 Chateauneuf in 2009--try me again in 2019. I understnad that it takes work and money and time to age wine properly. But to sell some of these things for hundreds of $ a pop for current consumption is just disingenuous. It might be fine for status seekers, but it'd be a real disappointment to drink.
This morning, we stopped by Jaworski Meats (see earlier post from prior visit), picked up more sausages, house-made sauerkraut, pierogis, and more. In all, many tasty goodies. The Easter loaf (a sort of Polish-seasoned meatloaf) was an especially nice dinner tonight. quick to cook, great tastes. Paired with cottage-cheese stuffed pierogi (seasoned iwth nutmeg) and sauerkraut, it was a nice dinner, indeed. And, very easy to fix!
Tuesday, April 7, 2009
Interesting Cornas
As you undoubtedly know, I'm a big wine fan. I'd not gotten a chance to write this up before, but last Wednesday, we met up with an importer, who showed 17 of his producers' products. Most were from the Rhone and Southern France, all were quite interesting, and some amazing. For me, perhaps the most interesting was a Cornas. It's a tiny appelation in the northern Rhone, where only Syrah (or, as the Aussies know it, Shiraz) is allowed. The entire wine region (comparable to say Napa Valley in definition) is just over 100 hectares in size--that's an area that is 1 km, or about 0.6 mile, on a side. If it isn't grown in that tiny area, it isn't a Cornas. This particular producer owns a tiny parcel within that appelation--specifically 0.6 hectares. That's an area roughly the size of two football fields (only the playing area, mind you). From that, he produces 125 cases, or 1500 bottles, of wine. Each of those contains 750 mL, so that translates to just over 1100 liters of wine, or about 250 gallons. And that's all there is of this unique beauty, anywhere in teh world. Pretty amazing! It's a rather elegant wine, for a Cornas, spicy, earthy, haunting in its beauty, yet rustic enough, and quite powerful. Thanks to the vines being old (planted soon after WWII), there's good minerality and depth. Now, it's pretty tannic juice right now, so it's going to have to age for a few years, but rest assured, a bottle of this true rarity is headed for my cellar.
Monday, April 6, 2009
Ground lamb, curry, bulgur, and beets do NOT mix well
Over the weekend, I tried a new recipe I found -- curried bulgur with ground lamb and beets. Now, I'm always game for new flavor combinations, and although this seemed a bit out there, I figured I should trust in the Washington Post food section. Well... not everything that is written should necessarily be followed. Don't get me wrong -- it wasn't HORRIBLE by any stretch. It was just odd, and not particularly congruent.
The idea of combining lamb and bulgur has thousands of years of tradition--as the backbone for kibbeh. While curry powder is a bit of a stretch on traditional spicing, it's still not out of the realm, by any means. The tomato paste in the bulgur is, again, traditional. Where I should've known I was going wrong was in adding the beets and the liquid contents of teh canned beets (yes, this was the recipe directions!). First of all, my intuition is to always be suspicious of a recipe that prefers canned over fresh (except for tomatoes--that's another whole story). But the "juice" seemed integral to the recipe, as it's what you use to cook the bulgur. So, OK, I follow the directions.
Well, this naturally turned the bulgur a highly unnatural shade of pinkish-red - which, combined with the tomato paste, created a most disturbing appearance. Then, the ground lamb, of a similar texture, but browned color, mixed in, made for an unappetizing appearance. But the real cruz of the problem was the mix of flavors--curry and lamb are great together. Lamb and tomato, and bulgur all work together. The curry would've been just fine. But the beets and beet juice was just the most odd addition--the earthy, sweet flavors just clashed terribly with the lamb and curry. Adding lime juice at the end (per the recipe) did brighten it up, but did little to bring this discordant mess together. So, here's a recipe to NOT use again.
On a personal note, my wife's grandma passed away over the weekend, so we will be back in Cleveland in the near future. We shall all miss Bea Weber terribly, but cherish our wonderful memories.
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