Bubbles and Chicken Pot Pie Make a Happy Wife

Noel told me after her first bite, "This is my favorite thing you have ever made ever." This past week we almost forgot to use chicken before it went bad. I decided on it's sell by date to bake the chicken and refrigerate it to keep it good for a few more days. But what could I make? Then it hit me like a ton of bricks, make Noel a meal she will never forget. Now all I had to do is figure out what wine to serve with the meal that she would like. She's not a big fan of wine and I often have to drink a bottle to myself. As I drove from store to store today I called her and asked her what kind of wine she would like to have. After a few suggestions we both agreed on sparkling wine. I picked a bottle from Loire Valley. I love the wines from the Loire, especially the sparkling wines.

The chicken pot pie recipe I found was real easy to make.The recipe was from pillsbury.com. I liked using this recipe mostly because they suggested using their pie crust. That took out a very important, pain in the ass step!! I've used their pie crusts for apple and pumpkin pies and they taste great. Now that I had the crust all I had to do was make the tasting chicken stew. I baked the chicken breasts two days before and after they cooled I chopped the breasts into tiny bite size chunks. So I had most of it ready before I even started to cook.  Wow was this easy, I should have made this recipe years ago!

Pre-heat the oven to 450. You are going to need a medium saucepan. Chop a medium size onion (I used a red onion) and add it to 1/3 cup of butter over medium heat. After the onion has softened add 1/3 cup flour and a dash of salt and pepper. Mix all this together and gradually add 1 3/4 cup of chicken broth and 1 cup of milk. Stir often until the mixture has thickened. Add the chicken and vegetables and take off the heat. Now this is where I did something different. The recipe called for frozen vegetables. I don't have frozen veggies in my house. I chopped up half a large carrot (quickly steamed the small bite size bits for a few minutes, just enough to soften the carrots), I also chopped up brussels sprouts and asparagus. Add the chicken and veggie mixture to the bottom pie crust and cover it with the other pie crust. I also sprinkled Herbs de Provence on top of the pie before I stuck it on the oven. Bake the pie for 30-40 minutes (until crust is golden brown). 20 minutes into baking the pie cover the edge with strips of tin foil to prevent burning the edge. Why buy pre-made chicken pot pies when this is so easy and you get to pick what veggies you use?

As I drove around today trying to decide what sparkling wine to buy, I came up with either a Lorie Valley or Alsace sparkling wine. I finally got to Liquor Land on Mass. Ave in Boston. I love this place. If you were driving by the store you wouldn't think this store has the selection it has. Sure its a large store but it's kind of in a weird area of the city. It's in  more of an industrial area, but it has a parking lot and is near 93. This store is always packed. Emmett one of the wine buyers has a great palate and has been buying wine for many years. I'm sure he would not like me to tell you how many as it will make him look old, so I'll leave it at many years. He knows almost every bottle that he has in the store, so I knew he was the right person to ask for a recommendation.

He suggested I pick up a bottle of Montlouis Sur Loire Brut by Francois Chidaine. Lorie Valley, as you may know, is one of my most favorite wine regions in the world. There are so many different styles of wines (even from the same grape) so you could never get bored. I mostly drink the reds from Lorie, however the sparkling wines, especially from Chenin Blanc will always make me happy!!  Chenin Blanc is one of the top grapes grown in the Loire. Thanks to the high levels of acidity this grape can be made in several different styles from sparkling to beautiful dessert wines. This wine is fantastic and not all that pricey at $19.99. It has a deep flavor that makes you think of  the great Champagnes. The nose reeks of toast (in a very good way) and the palate is roasted pears wrapped in browned toast. What a great pairing!!

OND = FML

Work is getting busier and busier by the day. This is good for my wallet but bad for my cooking at home. For those that don't know what OND is, it's October, November, December. This is the time of the year that can make or break you. I've been working more and more hours, and when I get home I'm not in the mood to cook. Unfortunately Sundays when we go  grocery shopping we buy produce and meat thinking we will get back on the cooking at home wagon. So today I made myself cook a simple 10 minute meal. Unforgivably all our produce went bad. We thought it could go two weeks. We were wrong; so, we had to skip a vegetable for this meal. The kids in us were over joyed, the hard working adults in us just didn't give a fuck.

So this was a really simple meal. Sunday we bought thin pan fry steaks. I love this cut of meat. They are easy to cook, usually have a little extra fat (I'm a fat kid in disguise after all), they taste great and you get to feel like a giant eating tiny little steaks. Season both sides of the steak with sea salt and fresh ground pepper and you have perfectly seasoned, tiny steaks. Cooking these are the easiest thing. In a cast iron skillet, add a small amount of oil (just enough to keep the steaks from sticking to the skillet), turn the heat on medium/high and wait for the pan to get hot (you when it's ready when the oil starts to smoke a little). Throw the steaks on the pan and cook two minutes for the first side, then take the skillet off the heat, flip and cook for a minute. Yes take the skillet off the heat, it's cast iron and keeps heat for a while, and yes two minutes on one side and a minute the other side. These are thin steaks; any more time and you will overcook them. They came out perfectly medium rare, actually more on the medium side. If I have to tell you how to cook the Mac and Cheese from a box that I had with the meal- then stay out of the kitchen, because you are useless.

As I said, it's OND, and that means in the middle of the day of showing wines, your company can sell out of a wine and you may not get it back for a few weeks. So what do you do with this wine? Well, drink it after a long, grueling day of selling wine. Besides you might as well sell what you got. My job rocks. I can't imagine do anything else. Come on- I get free wine all the time and usually have something open at my house. Today's wine is from Down Under. It's a big, full bodied, jammy Shiraz from Stalking Horse in the McLaren Vale. This is a very small production, single vineyard wine. Less then 1000 cases are made each vintage. This wine has a nose that smells like a hug of dark fruit, bacon (mmmm bacon), and grilled meat. The palate doesn't disappoint with its rich, velvety, meaty, spicy plum goodness. Every sip will make you want more. This wine will make you revisit Australia's wine industry.      

French Wine and To Much Food Makes for Happy People

I know it's been a while since I last posted. I've had the flu, then the next week didn't get a chance to grab anything fun to cook,and last week I had a wine tasting every night after work. Finally this week I wasn't going to disappointing my fans. I bought baby brussels sprouts, gnocchi, lots of cheese and turkey thighs. Noel actually picked out the thighs at first I didn't want to get them, to be truthful at first this meal was going to be with a ham steak but the thighs needed to be cooked. Let me tell you I am so glad I made the thighs instead.

In just over a month the Foodie's Holiday is upon us. I love Thanksgiving, my two favorite things get front and center attention, food and wine!! This year Noel and I drive down to Maryland to have Thanksgiving with my family. The last time we had Thanksgiving there, Noel and I cooked a great meal, but I did almost burn down the house. This time I have had two years to practice my cooking and my skills of taking greasy things out of an oven. I am so excited about this meal, so excited that I am already looking at recipes to make. Thanks to Fall Day I already know the stuffing I am going to make. The other day I was looking at recipes online for some more side dishes and found Pan-Roasted Brussels Sprouts Gratin with Shallots and Rosemary. Everyone is going to want to eat at my parents house this year!!


So all day long I have been thinking about how I wanted to cook the Turkey Thighs. Finally I came across the perfect seasoning. Grey sea salt, little black pepper and saffron, saffron makes everything better!!
What You Need:
2 Turkey Thighs
tablespoon grey sea salt
tablespoon black pepper
3 pinches of saffron
tablespoon of canola oil

Pre Heat the oven to 350. Coat the thighs in the oil, salt, pepper and saffron. Place the thighs in a casserole dish and cover with tin foil. Throw them in the oven and cook until the meat thermometer reaches 175. This is going to take over a hour, so flip the thighs half way, and after a hour uncover the thighs so they can brown. These came out so good and perfectly juicy. This may be the way I even make the turkey at Thanksgiving!!

After I flipped the thighs I started the Brussels Sprouts Gratin. This was fun to make but I didn't have enough brussels sprouts so it came out really cheesy.
What You Need:
1 1/2 pounds brussels sprouts
2 shallots
4 tablespoons of butter
salt
fresh ground pepper
1 1/4 cup Gruyere
1 1/4 heavy cream
1/4 tablespoon fresh nutmeg
1/4 tablespoon cayenne
3/4 cup panko
1/2 cup grated parmigiano
2 teaspoons finely chopped fresh rosemary

Pre heat oven to 375. In a dutch oven over medium heat melt the butter and cook until brown. Take out a tablespoon and put in a bowl. Add the brussels sprouts and shallots and cook until slightly browned (about 6 minutes). Remove from the heat. In a sauce pan add the heavy cream, the gruyere, nutmeg, cayenne, and salt. Cook until the cheese is melted (make sure not to boil). Add the sauce to the brussels sprouts making sure to mix it all together. In a bowl mix the panko, parmigiano cheese, a pinch of salt and the remaining butter. Mix all together and put it on top of the brussels sprouts. Place in the oven and cook for 15 minutes.

As the brussels sprouts and thighs were cooking I started the water for the gnocchi and the cheese sauce. I found a real easy recipe online for a cheddar cheese sauce. The gnocchi only takes about three minutes to cook so its best to start the sauce first.
What You Need:
3 tablespoons butter
3 tablespoons flour
1/2 teaspoon white pepper
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cup milk
1 cup grated cheddar cheese

Melt the butter in a small sauce pan. When it's all melted take off the heat and mix in the flour and seasonings. Gradually mix in the milk whisking so they all blend well together. Over a low heat, constantly stirring heat the milk until it has thickened. Add the grated cheese and cook for five minutes or until thick. Add to the gnocchi and serve.

This was a great meal. Everything came out so good!! The turkey was perfectly cooked, the brussels sprout became a wonderful cheesy side dish and the gnocchi was fantastic. But there was way to much food for just two people. Next time I'll need at least four people to help eat all this food.

The Wine:
Even before I knew what meat I was going to have with the meal I knew what wine I wanted. Loire Valley is my most favorite wine region in the world. They are really known for their whites, but in my opinion their reds are the best of the best. The number one grown red in the valley is Cabernet Franc, and the best comes from Chinon. I picked up a bottle of Jean Dumont Les Mureaux 2009 from Beacon Hill Wine and Gourmet in Melrose. This family owned vineyard has vines that average in age of 35 years. The wine has a deep ruby color with well balanced ripe fruit, herbaceousness and round tannins. This was a perfect wine for a perfect meal.

Fall Day Ends With Stuffing and Pie

Today was Fall Day. Thank you Rachel for making this event! It was so much fun. We went apple picking. Yes I went apple picking again, you don't own me. This time Noel and I did not buy a bag but Mikey bought three so we helped him fill a bag. We went to Shelburne Farm just down the road from Honey Pot. It was a really a nice place, small and the trees weren't big enough to climb but it did have a bouncy house and a llama. What's better than a llama?? The trees were very full and there was a lot of fruit close to the ground so the lazy people of the group, and I will confuse I was in that group, we were able to quickly fill our bags. After we got our fill of apple picking, apple donuts, pumpkins and the llama we went back to John and Mikey's house and had an apple party. We played apples to apples, there were fresh apple juice, apple cocktails, Rachel made an amazing double butter apples pie, John made a Brown Betty that sadly I didn't have room to try and I made a corn bread, apple, sausage stuffing thing.

Before we meet up with everyone Noel and I had to go grocery shopping. We hadn't done a Russo's trip in two weeks, and we weren't sure by morning what we wanted to cook for the apple party. As we strolled through Russo's our dish slowly came together. We saw red onion and we just knew that was important. We thought we might wanna use a yellow pepper, but in the end we didn't use it. Noel was very adamant that we use celery, and of course we already had apples from when we went apple picking last month. By the time we got to Shaws we were arguing how we we going to put it all together. We settled on Jimmy Dean's Premium Pork Hot Sausage, and corn bread, not pre-made cornbread but a mix to make our own. When I started to make this I still wasn't totally convinced it was going to taste any good. Boy was I wrong, Noel and I are now planning on making this as our stuffing Thanksgiving Day!!! Get ready Dad and Katie it's going to blow your mind!!

What You Need 
1 red onion
1 stock celery
1 package Jimmy Deans pork hot sausage
1 apples peeled and cut into small slices
1 small block of cheddar cheese cut into cubes
1 package cornbread mix
1 table spoon canola oil

On the stove top under medium heat add table spoon of oil to a dutch oven. Cook the onion and celery for about five minutes. You'll know when it's ready, the smell will be intoxicating. Add the sausage and cook until browned. By this time make the batter for the cornbread. Just before the sausage is cooked add the apples and cook until the sausage is done. Take off the heat and add the batter and cheese making sure to mix it all up so every part has touched the batter. Follow the baking instructions for the corn bread, mine was 400 F for 18 minutes. When it's done take it out and let it sit at least five minutes to cool, plus you want the oils get to get soaked up by the cornbread. I took a small amount and tried it worried that I had just made a gross mess, but WOW, Noel and I came up with an instant hit!! It's good enough to be a meal but will also make a great stuffing.

The Drinks
Mikey came up with an apple cocktail that was out of this world. I have just got over a nasty flu cold thing so I only had a sip of Noel's but boy was it goooood. He better make these at his awesome Halloween party. He made fresh apple juice in his juicer. In a glass that had a sugar/cinnamon mixture on the rim he added fresh apple juice, bourbon, caramel vodka and ginger liqueur. They were.... AMAZING!!

Pork Chops That Would Have Johnny Appleseed Smiling

Sitting on my kitchen counter is a huge bag of apples, they are the apples from Noel and my great day apple picking. Now it is time to figure out what to do with the apples. In past years I have stuffed pork chops, made countless pies, made apple hash, apple stuffing and more that I can't even remember. Today as I drove around I started thinking about what to do with the pork chops we bought and some apples. I decided since the pork chops we bought were not thick enough to stuff, I would make a sauce to put on top of them. Now I had to figure out how to make the sauce. First I wanted to use my favorite white wine, Gewurztraminer, but after bouncing a few ideas with my foodie friend Rebecca from Beacon Hill Wine and Gourmet in Melrose, we came up with using hard apple cider. She showed me Julian Hard Cider and we came up with a way to make a sauce.

What You Need

24 oz bottle Hard Cider

2 Large apple peeled and cut into pieces

2 tablespoons honey

2 pork chops 

salt

In a sauce pan add the the Hard Cider, apples and honey and reduce by half. You know its done when it looks like chunky apple sauce. Takes about 20 minutes. Salt each side of the pork chops and broil them until they reach 160 F. Let the pork chops rest five minutes. When plating the pork chops cover them in the apple sauce. I served them with roasted brussel sprouts that I halved, and a pasta side that you can find at any grocery shop.     

Noel is a huge fan of apple sauce and really loved this one. I finally did something right! The pork and apple sauce went together excellently and the honey really came through to give the meat a beautiful sweetness. The brussel sprouts were a great add to the meal. I only picked the pasta side because I forgot to make the rice, but it still went well with the meal. All in all, this is one of my favorite apple dishes that I have made so far.

The Cider

I bought two bottles of the cider so I had one to cook with and one to drink with the meal. Rebecca was right, this is a great cider and I'm not usually a fan of cider, I rather drink beer. But this cider has a wonderful tartness and a great balance of fruit and acid. They use only fresh apples and you can tell from the taste, it is better than any cider I have ever had. This cider's recipe comes from a recipe made in 1670 colonial America. I was unaware of the history of Hard Cider in American society, but it goes back to the beginning of our history. Until prohibition Cider was the original drinking man's beverage. The Julian website has a great history that everyone should read it! 

Garfeild is Not the Only One That Loves Lasagna

The days are getting shorter, the weather is getting cooler and that means one thing... it's time for apple picking. Noel and I have gone every year for the past five years. We love Honey Pot Hill Orchards in Stow, MA. They have 200 acres of apple and pear trees, pigs, goats, cider donuts and much more. This time we brought with us our friends Katie and Jen. It was a great time, I climbed a few trees, pick a lot of apples and pears, we took the hay ride all over the orchard, Jen got three great pumpkins, Noel and I got apple butter, and we all got cider donuts. It was a great day and I will be cooking dinner with an apple theme for a week.

After we all got back from apple picking Noel and I invited Jen and Katie to stay for dinner. This was my first real chance to cook for a large audience. Earlier in the week I made a tomato sauce for some pasta and I had a lot left and knew I had to make a lasagna. Having a few people over made this the perfect meal to make. It's pretty easy to make, it can feed a lot of people and they are delicious.
What you need
tomato sauce (I prefer to make my own)
ricotta cheese
mozzarella cheese
parmesan cheese
ground beef
Italian sausage
table spoon oregano
lasagna noodles
half cup of red wine

Pre-Heat the oven to 350. First you need to cook the noodles to al dente and brown the ground beef and sausage with red wine. Then is a loaf pan you need to layer all the ingredients, pasta, ricotta cheese, sauce and meat mixture, mozzarella cheese and parmesan cheese, repeat until you the pan is full. The top layer I cover it in tomato sauce, parmesan cheese, mozzarella cheese and oregano. Bake for 45 minutes, and when it's done let sit for 15 minutes to cool. This meal put a smile on everyone's face and made me look like a real chef.

As I said we did go apple picking and we had friends over for dinner so I had to make a dessert. I made a good old fashion apple pie. I love baking apple pies!! There is nothing better for dessert in the fall, especially after you spent all day picking your own apples. Noel and I were out a second hand store a few weeks ago and found a great pie plate that has a very easy recipe for an apple pie. Like all other recipes I added a little Dan to this one by adding some of the apple butter that we bought.

What you need
2 pie crust
4-6 apples
cup of sugar
table spoon cinnamon
table spoon nutmeg
2 table spoons butter
2 table spoons apple butter
2 table spoons flour
dash of salt

Pre-heat oven to 400. Mix together the sugar, flour, cinnamon, nutmeg and salt. In a pie plate put down the first layer of pie crust. Fill with a layer of apples, here is where I also added the first table spoon of apple butter and half the sugar mixture. Add the rest of the apples, another table spoon of apple butter and the rest of the sugar mixture. Cover this with the second pie crust. Brush on the butter and I always add a little sugar and cinnamon on top. Before the pie goes in the oven make sure to poke the top of the pie with a fork so it does not explode while cooking. Cook for 50 minutes or until golden brown and let sit for at least half hour. What  a great end to a great meal!! Add a scoop of ice cream to make it even more tasty.

The Wine 
As for wine we opened four bottles tonight and they all were good. I opened for the dinner Cent'anni Ripasso Valpolicella. If you're going to make Italian food you have to drink Italian wine, it just makes sense!! This is a wine that Cielo e Terra came out with to celebrate their 100 years as a family run vineyard. This wine has a nose that is so beautiful and anyone woman would love to wear it instead of perfume with its ripe baked berries and Italian herbal notes. The palate shares a lot the same and is beautifully well balanced and has a subtle spicy complexity. For someone that is not a huge fan of Italian wine this wine sure could change my mind.

Home Sweet Home

It has been a busy past month and I am ashamed that it has taken me this long to post another great meal. Noel and I moved across town, we no longer live up the Hill from hell!! We moved to Fenway and it has been great so far! Easy to park the car, we have so many great bars and restaurants in the hood and we live across from a park, Max loves that. The apartment we moved to is great too, it's bigger and has a much better lay out. When Noel first saw the apartment she was thrilled with the "grown up kitchen". Our kitchen has more cabinets and counter space which makes it much easier to cook in. Plus, it has a dishwasher, yet for some reason Noel still hasn't done her fair share!!! The only problem is the stove is electric, but that hasn't slowed me down.

Tonight I wanted to make a good old fashion home cooked meal. A meal that would help make this new apartment feel more like home and what is better for that than Pot Roast. This is a meal that is easy to make and makes you feel all warm and fuzzy all over.


What You Need
1 1/2 to 2 pound pot roast
1 onion
3 cloves garlic
few sprigs of fresh thyme
large carrot cut up
6 fingerling potatoes
cup of red wine (I used an Old Vine Zinfandel)
1 can beef broth (I didn't have beef broth so I used a can of beef stew I had)
salt
pepper
1 bay leaf
tablespoon oil (I used a spicy sesame oil from Boyajian)

Pre-heat the oven to 350. Salt and pepper the roast. On the stove top, add olive oil to a dutch oven and brown the roast on all sides, about five minutes. Take the roast out of the dutch oven and add the onions and cook until softened about seven minutes add the garlic and cook until the kitchen has that great smell. Add the roast, the wine, a bay leaf and the thyme to the dutch oven and let it simmer a few minutes. Put the dutch oven in the oven and cook for hour and half. Add the carrots and potatoes and cook for another hour.

See how easy that is? Definitely a meal that makes you feel at home. The pot roast came out perfect!! You don't even need a knife to cut the meat. The carrots and potatoes were perfectly cooked and helped make the meal. This is something I will cook over and over again!!

The Wine 
So I always say drink the wine you cook with. It makes for an easy pairing. As you know from past posts I don't cook with anything I wouldn't drink. Tonight's wine was The Immortal Zinfandel from Peirano Estate. I never have been a huge fan of Zinfandel until I tried this wine. It comes from the oldest vines that are on their original root stock in the US. They are about 113 years old. But how can that be? Original root stock? Wasn't there a bad out break of Phylloxera? If you don't know what Phylloxera are, they are tiny bugs that attack grape vines. They were brought to the world when the US exported local grape varieties to Europe. The wild grape vine of North America had 1000 of years to evolve to become immune to these pests, but the wine grapes vines of Europe were at major risk. The pest nearly wiped out the French industry and put a major hurt to the rest of Europe and eventually the WORLD. Chile is the only country that claims to never have had Phylloxera. People finally figured if you graphed the american root stock to the wine vines then the Phylloxera were harmless. This all happened about 120-130 years ago, so how could Peirano have vines on their original root stock. Peirano Estates is located in Lodi California and the soil is really sandy. Phylloxera can not live in sandy soil.

The older the vine the harder it is for the vine to create the fruit. So the fruit is smaller and more concentrated in flavor. It not is not uncommon to get three, four even five tons of grapes per an acre. The older the vine the less fruit they can produce per an acre down to one maybe two tons per acre. This wine is divine!! From the second it is HAND picked, they treat the grapes with white gloves. The wine has great aromas of spicy cherries and earthy red fruit. The palate doesn't disappoint either with its sweet cherries, strawberries and spicy cocoa. This Zinfandel is a wine that any wine lover would enjoy. Even people that usually dislike Zin, like myself.

Gewurztraminer and Chicken a True Love Affair

Lately I have been searching the web for new recipes to try and blog about. I have found a lot of great meals that I plan to make in the future. I founded a great website, finecooking.com, this website has so many great ideas for dinner. I had some chicken that I had to cook and I knew I wanted to drink a Gewurztraminer with the chicken. I am in absolute love with Gewurztraminer, especially from Alsace. Plus it's a great pairing!! You don't always need red white with meat. So I Googled Gewurztraminer and  chicken and found a meal that I couldn't wait to make. Braised Chicken with Gewurztraminer, it's a lot like Coq au Vin but delightfully different. It's also a meal that takes some time to make, so it's not an easy weekday meal.

Braised Chicken with Gewurztraminer
Here's what you'll need:
Two-Three pounds Chicken Thighs seasoned with salt
Cup of grapes I used seedless green
Large yellow onion chopped
Two garlic cloves chopped
750 ml Gewurztraminer
Two cup chicken broth
Thyme
Half cup heavy cream
Two teaspoons corn starch

You need to start by browning the chicken in Dutch Oven over Medium/High heat in a tablespoon oil. Don't crowed the Chicken if need be brown them in batches. Set them aside in a bowl, and dump out all but two tablespoons of fat. Add the cup of grapes and cook about two/three minutes. Set them aside and add the onions with a pinch of salt and cook until they are softened. Then add the garlic and cook two more minutes. After the onions and garlic have added their aroma to the room add in the wine making sue to stir up all the brown bites left from the chicken thighs and let reduce by half.

Return the chicken to the pot, add the both and thyme. The recipe called for two tablespoons but all the comments said it was a bit bland, so I added twice as much thyme. Let this come to a simmer, then cover and let cook for 25 minutes. Then take the chicken out of the pot and set a side in a bowl.

Now for the sauce. Bring the liquid to a rapid boil and reduce to two and half cups. Whisk together the cream and corn starch together. Whisk the mixture into the liquid making sure to whisk it until the sauce thickens up. Salt (I used a grey sea salt with herbs that I bought at Beacon Hill Wine and Gourmet in Melrose.) and pepper (I used my own blend of white, green and black pepper corns) to taste. Again the comments were that this came out bland so I added about a tablespoon of each. Put the chicken and grapes back in the sauce and let simmer another five minutes. I served the dish with egg noodles and green beans.

Wow, did this come out great. In the fall when Moscato Grapes are available I would use them instead of the green grapes, but other than that this is a meal that I want to make when people come over for dinner. It took over a hour and half to cook and had a lot of tasks, but it was real easy to make and was the type of meal that makes you feel like a five star chef.

THE WINE:
So what do you serve with a meal like this? No brainier: you serve the wine that you cooked with. It's the perfect pairing as it will not over power or be over powered by the sauce. As I said, I love Gewurztraminer. Most people think it's a German grape but they would be wrong. Gewurz is the German word for spice but the wine is from the village Tramin in Italy. They do speak German in this region. The grape does best in cooler climate so it does well in Northern Italy, Germany and parts of France, mostly Alsace.

In Alsace it can range from dry to very sweet, I personally like the more off-dry styles, like the Gewurztraminer from Joseph Cattin. They have been growing grapes in Alsace since the 18th century, in the 1850s they started making exceptional wines from the region. At the end of the 19th century phylloxera came to destroy European vineyards (sent from the USA by accident). Joseph Cattin studied how to beat the tiny pests and became a very important person by saving the region. I love many of the wines from this vineyard that I have tasted, especially the Riesling and Gewurztraminer. The Gewurztraminer has a wonderful fragrant nose of spicy, tropical fruit and rose petals. As you taste it you get lost in spicy, exotic fruit. It has a great body and the acid really helps calm down the sweetness. This is an fantasticly awesome bottle of wine. I can't wait to dink another bottle of this wine.    

Cheap Eats

In times like these we can't always eat caviar and drink Champagne. Noel and I are moving in a few weeks and we have to tighten our belts to save some money. Tightening belts does not mean you have to eat or drink crap!! Noel and I came up with a great meal that cost close to nothing. It's a stir fry that you add to ramen noodles. I love ramen, they are 20 cents a package, but they can be pretty boring by themselves. By adding the stir fry to them we had a meal that not only cost less than $10 to make but also put a big smile on our faces. I bought some stew beef that was on sale at Shaws. I got pound and half for around $5 and was able to make two meals out of it. Then when at Russo's Market I bought a stir fry sauce that was $1.45 that I marinated the in beef over night. The next day I cut up some garlic, a shallot, half a yellow pepper, handful of snow peas, small amount of baby shiitake mushrooms and some bean sprouts. All these veggies cost us less than $3.

I started with the beef, cooking it for a few minutes before adding the garlic, mushrooms, shallot and a pinch or red pepper flakes. Then after a few minutes I added the yellow pepper and snow peas. As all this was cooking I started the water for the ramen. Ramen is great because it only take three minutes to cook. As all this was cooking in the bowls I was serving this meal in I added the seasoning from the ramen and the bean sprouts. I poured a half cup of the hot water from the noodles, stirred it all up and added the noodles. Then I topped it all off with the stir fry making sure to get some of the sauce in the soup. The meal came out great, there is a restaurant called Wagamama that makes meals just like this but charges $15 each. I made the same thing at home (Noel even said it was better) and it cost less than half that for two meal. Perfect for any day of the week. 

I picked one of my favorite vineyards for the wine. Viu Manent Reserva Malbec. It went great with the meal especially the sauce. I not a huge fan of Malbec, it can be boring at times. Viu Manent makes great Malbec. Great ripe fruits especially berry fruits, with hints of coffee, and mocha, it's got a great body and nice lingering finish. The people at Viu Manent really put love into all their wines and their Malbecs are not exception    

Redtree in The White Mountains

Over the weekend my buddy Tom and I went on a White Mountain hiking trip. It was awesome, we had great weather, great views and we made great food. This time we took a 16 mile trip hitting six mountains, most of them under 4,000 feet, but the last one is a top 10.  Moosilauke is 4802 feet and has some of the best views I have seen so far. 360 degrees and it's the first of the 4,000 plus in the Whites so you have an outstanding view of the rest of the chain. It was a pretty challenging hike, the first day we had to climb straight up, 3,200 feet, right away, and from then on until we hit Asquam Ridge Trail, the trip was up 3,000, down 2,500, up 2,500, down 3,000, up 4,000.

When we finally hit the ridge it was all smooth sailing to the top. The top was really stunning, as you come out of the tree line the turf turns from rocky to a grassy field. Most of the mountains I have been on top of, especially above 4,500 feet, have been all rock face. The hardest part of the trip was the 2.6 miles down, 4,802 feet. I thought the decline would never end, it was like we were marching to the core of the earth. All in all, the trip was one of the best.

If you read The of Love of Wine and Hiking post  you would know that I like to eat well when I'm out hiking. This time I bought some beef jerky  at Nasty Nonni's in Saugus, Janey's beef jerky. It's gourmet beef jerky!! SO GOOD!! So we had the beef jerky, couscous, and asparagus for dinner. It's real easy to do and uses very little gas for the stove. You boil 1 1/4 cup water to 1 cup couscous. While the water is coming to a boil add the asparagus, shallot and beef jerky. When it comes to a boil add the couscous and take it off the heat. Let it sit five minutes and eat. The beef jerky comes back to life and is a real nice treat after a long day of hiking. The problem this time it was a little bland. I had in the pack a red pepper, garlic clove, lemon rosemary oil and old bay. I should have sauteed the shallot, garlic, red pepper and asparagus before adding water and beef jerky. It was a good meal and was great after such a long day. Luckily I had wine and bought a dessert from REI. It was a chocolate pudding: just add cold water, stir up, and let sit 10 minutes.

Breakfast, on the other hand, came out awesome. We brought some eggs (we had already taken them out of the shell and had in a ziplock bag) and made scrambled eggs. We had a dried sausage that I bought at Beacon Hill Wine and Gourmet. I cut that up, added half garlic clove, half red pepper (cut up), the rest of the asparagus and sauted them in the lemon rosemary oil. After it started to smell great, we added the eggs and let them cook about five minutes, then covered them for three more. This was better than any breakfast I've had in a long while. It was a great start to an eight mile hike.

I do like to bring wine with me camping. It is a treat that is worth it's weight in gold. It is hard to bring wine because there's glass (weights a lot) and you have to to bring a half bottle or less due to space in the pack. Lucky for me Redtree Winery just came out with a plastic 187ml (about one glass of wine) bottle of wine. They have Cabernet, Chardonnay and White Zinfandel in this size so far. Great for camping, at the pool, on a boat or when you just want a glass of wine at night. Redtree makes good, inexpensive, everyday wines that go great with dinner. I love their mission statement, "Redtree offers consumers fresh, fruit forward, distinctive varietals of consistent quality and exceptional value that are ready for immediate consumption. These wines are ideal as an aperitif and complement everyday meals as well as special occasions.   We bring global winemaking expertise and resources, focusing on what the consumer demands:  a fruit forward wine style, consistency and excellent value.  We are small enough to provide outstanding service, while big enough to bring the world of wine to our portfolio - authentic, bold, and progressive.", it's so true. I took the Cabernet up with us and it went great with the dinner. Nice dark jammy cherry, medium/full body and softer tannin. Next time I make a stir fry at home I may just open a bottle. Redtree is a wine that my company sells and it's pretty popular wine for us. Right now they are having a contest on Facebook. It's about who has the best looking case stack in a store. If you are on Facebook please go and vote for me, the second link will bring you to their Facebook page, my picture is The Wine Emporium, Boston by Dan.

It Takes a Strong Man to Make a Tender Chicken

One time while in Liquor Land in Boston, I was telling the story to a whiskey rep about how I got made fun of for adding ice to my bourbon. He told me, "It takes a strong man to make a tender chicken."

While I was on Martha's Vineyard, Sami gave me some lavender. I'm hoping for more so Noel and I can use it in this year's Christmas Spirit. At first I was thinking I'd infuse my own olive oil with this batch. By the time I got off the ferry in Falmouth, I had come up with a meal that was blog quality: lemon lavender chicken. Monday I was in Melrose, talking to one of my favorite foodies, Rebecca, at Becon Hill Wine and Gorumet. She mentioned how she had just sold out of a lemon olive oil she sells. As I drove away, I couldn't get the oil out of my mind and it came to me: infuse my own lemon olive oil. It was pretty easy, and I really feel it made this meal more gourmet, and I get bragging rights that I took the time to infuse the oil.

Tuesday night I made the oil.
THE OIL:
First you need the zest of two lemons (about a cup give or take). I don't have a zest tool (WTF I don't have something? Don't worry it's now on the list near the top!) so I used a cheese grater. In a sauce pan I added one cup oil, the lemon and cooked it on low for 15 minutes making sure to stir every few minutes. Then I let it sit for two hours. About 10 minutes into the resting I decided to add a tablespoon lavender, I wish I had thought about this before I started. After the two hours I poured the oil into my oil holder, it's a dark red ceramic jar, perfect so no sun light can cause the lemon oil to go bad. So easy, so much fun and I will do this over and over again.

THE CHICKEN:
So after the oil was done I took two tablespoons of the lemon/lavender mix and added a tablespoon fresh lavender, a teaspoon pink peppercorns and half teaspoon sea salt (I added the fresh items to the mortar and crushed them up a little). I put them all in a ziplock bag with a 1/4 cup infused olive oil and four chicken thighs and marinated them over night.

All day I had chicken on the brain, I could't wait to make this meal that I have been thinking about since Sunday. When I started dinner pre-heated the oven to 400. I stuck a meat thermometer in one of thighs (I don't like going off time I rather know my meat is done especially chicken! Thighs need to be at 175F.) and stuck it in the oven. After the temperature got to around 80F (it started at 55F) I dropped the heat down to 350F and covered the chicken with tin foil. Right after that was done I started the wild rice. I love wild rice it goes so well with everything and makes it feel more special of a meal. When the chicken got to 150F I uncovered the chicken. By that time the rice was done and I started the summer squash. I cut the squash with the mandolin and pan fried them in the lemon oil, three minutes a side. They came great and had a small hint of caramel. The whole meal came out better than I could have ever imagined. The chicken was little more lemon and less lavender than I had hoped for but cooked wise it was PERFECT! Tender and juicy, just perfect!!

The wine tonight was harder than I thought. Right away I wanted to drink a Gamay with it. Gamay is famous for being the only grape from Beaujolais. It's a weird grape, similarish to Pinot Noir, well kinda. They can be very fragrant, fruit forward and fresh, floral esters. When young they can be tart and are not a grape that is known for aging. I myself am not a huge fan of the wines of Beaujolais but the Gamay from the Lorie Valley can be more lively and tarter. So I went out looking for a Lorie Valley Gamay. None of the stores that I visited or called had one. I was real disappointed until I found a bottle of Cinsault at the Wine Emporium on Columbus Ave. I have never seen a bottle of single varietal Cinsault before and Laura the wine buyer was sure the wine would go with the meal. I was more than excited to try this one, Domaine Des Terres Falmet. It's a very simple yet delightful wine. It has a very nice floral nose with hints of lavender and spice and the palate has wonderful cherries, herbs and pepper. It went awesome with the meal and was a great addition to my off the beaten path wines.

The Love of Shucking and Wine

Noel and I had a great weekend on Martha's Vineyard visiting our friends Sami J and Erik. They live year round on the island so all we have to do is get our asses to the island and we have, not only have a place to stay, but awesome tour guides to shuttle us around the island. Sami is a great garden artist on the island. She has many famous and rich clients that depend on her to make their million dollar homes look even more outstanding. Erik is an all around outdoorsman. He runs a very cool and very successful kayak tour on the island, Martha's Vineyard Eco Adventure. If you are ever on the island make sure to take a tour, he grew up on the island and knows it like the back of his hand.

The first night after dinner and a few bottles of wine we went down Lambert's Cove it's a bioluminescence beach. As we played in the water, we made the ocean glitter in color. It was so magical!! Saturday we went to State Beach, but the most amazing thunderstorm rolled over us and we had to vacate the beach bumming for a few hours. When we did get back to the ocean we went to a small beach near their house. It was very picturesque beach in the harbor over looking the Cape. After a little sun bathing, I went out and braved the cold Atlantic water. Later on that night we made it to a local food truck, the Artcliff Diner. This when I realized how cool and hip Martha's Vineyard really is. I had a lobster taco that was pretty good, the pig sandwich I also got was outstanding. After a fierce round of Apples to Apples (I didn't win, didn't even come close), we ended the night at Backdoor Donuts. They make an apple fritter that men would kill over!! You can smell this place blocks away. They open at 730pm, that's right-  they open at night and they sell out of the backdoor of Martha's Vineyard Gourmet Cafe and Bakery. They make the donuts and fritters fresh, always making sure they are available for the hungry fans, until they close at midnight. There is always a batch in the oven, so they come out warm, and just melt in your mouth. These people have something here, open a bakery late at night, make warm, fresh, donuts for all the drunks and late night munchers of the world, just genius. This place is a must go to next time you are on the island. The last day we spent hanging around Oak Bluffs shopping, having lunch and going to the arcade. Noel bought some really good fudge from Murdicks and I got a really cool clay whistle made in Peru made in the shape of an owl. To avoid traffic going home, Noel and I decided to set the GPS to avoid highways and went back roads home to have one more adventure on our perfect weekend.  

Sami J is a huge foodie and a wonderful chef. She made us mussels in coconut milk that would knock your socks off. We also had Cherrystones, for those of you that don't know your raw bar menu, Cherrystones are a type of clam that are delightful raw. They are have light salty flavor and the meat is a bit sweet and chewy. On the island clams are cheap, about $3 a pound, and Sami J knows how to shuck them! She even taught me!! Saturday on our way back to Sam's house during the thunder storm I decided I wanted more clams. There was so much traffic, Sami left her windows open and we really didn't have time to stop, but as I said traffic was real bad. I jumped out of the car ran in ordered clams, when I went to pay I realize my wallet was in the car, so I had to run after the car to grab money, run back to pay for the clams and get back to the car all before they hit the stop sign (Sami did pull over but only for a minute or two). It was a great Chinese fire drill style move and I was able to buy 18 more clams. As soon as we got back I couldn't wait to open all of them. I got pretty good at it!!

Holding a clam in your hand with the point of the shell facing away from you use a pairing knife, find the edge of the two shells and lightly force the knife in the clam (making sure not to cut yourself) and pull it straight across the two sides until you have cut the mussels and opened the shell. Then cut around making sure get up all the claim, squeeze  lemon or a lime in with the meat and enjoy.

For the wine the first night I made sure to bring us a bottle of Durenburg L&T Gruner Veltliner. The L&T stand for light and dry. This wine is great wine for a hot summer night and shell fish dinner. Very crisp with citrus and light apple fruit flavor, this wine is very food friendly and can pair well with a lot of the foods that are difficult to pair wine with, like asparagus and artichokes. It was a perfect pick for Cherrystones and mussels dinner. Gruner Veltliner is the most widely grown grape in Austria. Slowly over the years the quality of this wine really began to shine. It keeps on with my whole drink something different. Gruner Veltliner is the next Sauvignon Blanc or Pinot Grigio. This wine will make everyone happy, from the old ladys that need their glass of Pinot Grigio ever night, to the real wine lover.

Sami J and Erik thank you for the great weekend! I can't wait to make lavender chicken with some of the lavender you gave us! Noel and I were talking on the boat ride back to the main land and next we want to take the last boat out of town and cook you two a nice Sunday night meal!! And Chef Timmy don't think bacon pesto won't be on the menu, it's my new signature dish!!

Your Eyes Say Yes and Your Mouth Says Gnocchi

I am a big fan of sauces. If you have seen me lately you would know I have become what some would say, pudgy. Noel and I bought some gnocchi a few weeks ago from Russo's. Today was finally the day it needed to be cooked. I was actually threatened with death if I did not make the potato dumplings. I decided quickly that I wanted to make my own sauce with the meal. It didn't take long before I knew I was going to make a vodka sauce. I have master many other sauces, how hard could it be? Right!? Let me tell you, it was real easy and it came out great. Real restaurant quality stuff here. As we were eating dinner, it was Noel trying to come up with the name of this blog post. I started off wanting to make the gnocchi the side dish, but as I started cooking I realized I had a lot of gnocchi, so the meatatarian in me made the steak the side dish. While at Shaws I bought a family size package of baby steaks. Eight tiny little steaks all about an ounce in size.

So vodka sauce is pretty easy to make and you don't need much. Allrecipes.com has a very easy basic one that I went off of. Like I said last post I like to take a recipe and Dan it up a little.

The Sauce
1/2 cup vodka (I used a potato vodka Vesica)
1/2 onion chopped
large clove garlic minced
1/4 cup butter
14 oz can diced tomato (I used fire roasted garlic)
basil
oreganoal
1/2 pint light cream
1/2 cup parmesan cheese

In a sauce pan melt the better on medium heat. Add the garlic and onion until onion is translucent. Add the half cup vodka and cook for about 10 minutes. Add the tomatoes, and herbs and cook for 20 minutes. Stir in the light cream and parmesan, you wanna make sure the cheese really blends with the cream, and cook about 20 more minutes. The last 20 minutes I started the water and cooked the gnocchi. Once the water is boiling they only take two to three minutes. They even start to float when they are done. Foolproof!!

The steak was also easy. I went off a recipe from Alton Brown on foodnetwork.com.
SO EASY:
Take a skillet and stick it in the oven. Turn the oven to 500. When it reached 500 take the skillet out of the oven and put it on a burner on high. Take the steaks and rub a small amount of canola oil and season both sides with sea salt. Cook 30 seconds each side, then stick them back in the oven and cook for two minutes each side. Then let it rest for a few minutes. Perfect medium-rare steak. Thank Alton Brown you are a hero to many of us wanna be chefs!!

Tonight's wine comes by recommendation of the manager at Winchester Wine and Spirits. Justin has a love of the obscure grapes, the grapes that just aren't on the normal path. When I told him of the Pinot Meunier I had last night he turned me on to a Spanish Petit Verdot. Petit Verdot is one the major blending grapes in Bordeaux. It is used in blends as a flavor and tannin boaster, as it is a big, dark, dense fruit grape. This bottle tonight took a long time to open. I contemplated decanting the wine a few times but in the end decided to see where the grape would take me. In the beginning there was a dark inky, stew of hot, tannin, fruity mess, but as it opened the tannin surprisingly calmed down and it became a pleasant spicy cigar box with dark fruit. A great wine, I just wish I had turned on the AC before opening this bottle. Nothing like high heat and humidity to go with such a large wine. The next time I am at someones house grilling red meats, especially lamb I will go and find another bottle of Petit Verdot. Thank Justin for the outside the box pick!!
 

Ratat what?

Have you ever seen the movie Ratatouille? It's a movie than any of us wanna be chefs can relate to. I feel as though I am Remy many times as I master different recipes. For a while now, I have wanted to make ratatouille, and what better time than summer time? If you don't know what this is, it is a classic peasant dish from France. Comfort food made from veggies. Basic idea: take a bunch of summer veggies, squashes, eggplant, tomato...well you get the idea. You cut them all up and bake it. It's like meatloaf but with veggies. There is an issue with the this classic dish- NO MEAT. So, I decided I would add some. Flash back to a few days ago, my buddy Tom and I meet at 7's (a small bar in Beacon Hill), we meet there often after work and split a pitcher, usually two. I told Tom of my want to make ratatouille, but how it involved no meat. As we finished the first pitcher and waited for the second, I tossed out ideas to my foodie friend. Beef? Chicken? Then it hit me like a ton of bricks: BACON! *SIDE NOTE* For those that just started reading my blog, you may not know but I have a bacon addiction. So what would be a good way to use the bacon to its full potential? It was like the angels spoke to me: "Bacon Pesto." Bacon what? "You can't do that!" people said, "it's just not right." All I can say to them is: Suck it! With a quick change in recipe, I made what may have been the world's first Bacon Pesto.

WHAT YOU NEED
almost pound of bacon, enough to get 1/4 cup bacon fat
handful basil, about 20 leafs
handful walnuts
1/2 cup Stilliton blue cheese
1/4 cup olive oil, I found a scallion infused olive oil at Russo's that worked great!!

Cut the bacon in to one inch squares. Slowly render the fat off the bacon in a cast-iron skillet on low heat. Every so often, empty the fat into a measuring cup. When done, put the bacon aside to use in the ratatouille. In a pestal and mortar, just grind up the basil. Add the walnuts and blue cheese, and keep grinding into a paste. Add the bacon fat and olive oil. And there you go! You have bacon pesto. And what do you do with bacon pesto? Well, I replaced the pesto with most of the olive oil that you would use in the ratatouille. This dish is real easy to make.

WHAT YOU NEED
Now there is no true recipe for ratatouille, it is comfort food use what ever you want this is what I used
eggplant
summer squash
golden zucchini
cousa squash
red pepper
yellow pepper
orange pepper
onion
tomato
bacon
yam

Pre-heat oven 375. Slice all the veggie with a mandolin. Make sure to slice the yam thinner than the rest, as it take longer to cook. After that, in a cassarole dish, start layering the veggies. I did yam, golden zucchini, layer of pesto, red pepper, yellow pepper, orange pepper, summer squash, cousa squash, eggplant tomato, pesto, bacon, onions, pesto, repeat. I made sure to have the bacon in the middle and only did that step once. Cook for 55 minutes. When it was done I let it rest for five minutes and made a plain couscous to serve with the dish. Voila! A French classic made the Dan way. The bacon, which I cooked until cris,p came back to life and was a little chewy. But it did give its flavor to the dish.

The wine that I picked with this meal is a special one. While waiting to talk to Frank and Ray at Pairings in Winchester, I noticed they had a Pinot Meunier. Pairings is a cute gourmet wine shop in Winchester. Lorie and Ray started the store about a year ago and have a great shop. I have bought spice, herbs and cheese from them before (I bought the blue cheese from them for the Bacon Pesto). Pinot Meunier is famous for being one of the three grapes used in Champagne. I have never seen one in a still wine, I didn't even know they grew the grape in Oregon. So Saturday when I went back to conduct a wine tasting I had to buy a bottle of the  Willa Kenzie Estate Willamette Valley Pinot Meunier. This wine is great, a little pricey at $29 but then again it's not a grape that you can find in your normal liquor shop, let alone a fine wine shop. This bottle had great berry fruits (cranberry, blueberry and raspberry), a hint of earth and spice with a nice touch of dried roses. It has more acid than you would get from most wines but along with the silky tannin it helps to balance the fruit. This is a wine that I don't expect to find again for a while and that is sad.

In life I find it more fun to change the recipe and find wines that you are not going to always find. Most people would find a recipe online and would follow it to the letter. Me, I like to treat cooking more like an Art than a Science. True artist can't truly be taught to make a masterpiece it comes from within. I add things that I think could make the meal different, if not better. It may not come out great all the time, but sometimes you really knock it out of the park, i.e. BACON PESTO. Same with wine. Why always drink the same thing? Why care about how many points someone else thought the wine should have? Experiment, have fun, enjoy life. Break down the box that you are in and start living life.

Cocoa-Rubbed Pork Chops, a Tuesday Night Home Run

Wow, two meals in a row that I feel are BLOG quality. I wasn't looking to have a meal of this proportion tonight. It all started in Shaws when Noel and I got got pork chops to be just a quick and easy dinner. A little salt, a little pepper, throw them in the broiler and eight to ten minutes later you have a quick meal. When I got home from work today I looked up pork chops on Google and found porkchoprecipes.net. What an excellently little website! Sweet and sour pork chops, pork chops in a white wine sauce (saved that one for later) and many more recipes. I was in pork chop heaven then I saw it; typed across my screen was Cocoa-Rubbed Pork Chops. I mean, I heard the angels sing when I saw this recipe. I had to make it. First, I had to get a few things: Wine (always need wine), onion powder and bacon. I knew that I had to make a great side dish that would go well with the cocoa pork chop, so I came up with a bacon, carrot, brussel sprouts and onion medley and from Far East I made the toasted almond rice pilaf. I didn't have bacon in the house (WTF!?! No bacon in the house? Look its summer, its hot, and the bacon I like at Russo's has been expensive. So back off!) So, I made my way to Savenor's in Beacon Hill. This place has everything. I mean everything- bear, yak, rattlesnake, etc. They also are willing to sell you two lonely pieces of bacon.

What you need:
the pork chops:
2 tbs brown sugar
2 tbs onion powder
1 tbs unsweetened cocoa powder
1 1/2 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp ground red pepper flakes
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp fresh ground black pepper
2-4 thick cut pork chops
the veggies:
5 brussel sprouts cut into quaters
1 large carrot cut 1 inch pieces then cut into quaters
2 cipollini onions cut into quaters
2 slices of bacon minced

First, I started the Far East Toasted Almond Rice Pilaf. It takes about 20 minutes to make, so after I have it started I set a timer for 10 minutes. When the timer went off I started the bacon. After about five minutes I added the carrots. I reset the timer for four minutes and started cooking the pork chops. I took about two tablespoons of fat from the bacon I was cooking with the veggies and warmed it up in a large cast iron skillet. After coating both pork chops, I cooked the chops for four minutes on each side (using a meat thermometer 150 degrees). After I flipped the pork chops, I added the onions and brussel sprouts to the bacon and carrots. After the pork chops finished, I took the rice and pork chops off the heat, gave the meat a few minutes to rest, and let the veggie slowly roast. This meal was a home run!! Sorry, watching the All Star Game. The meat was out of this world. A little spicy cocoa thing going on. The bacon, carrot, brussel sprout mix was awesome!!! I let the carrots cook a long time in the bacon fat and they were the star of the veggie dish. The brussel sprout got a char on them, and in the rice I used a scallion infused olive oil that made the box rice sing!! What a meal for a Tuesday night!!

After I decided that I was going to make this meal, I started thinking about what wine I pair with it. I wasn't quite convinced the grape; I was divided Malbec, Carmenere, Cabernet, or Syrah, so I texted my buddy Chef Timmy for advice. He told me to go with a Malbec because they can have "a nice cocoa tinge to them". So I walked down to Beacon Hill Wine and Spirits in my hood. Nicky was working, so I asked him what Malbec he really likes, and he picked Kaiken from Mendoza. Great pick at $15.99!! Had the nice fresh dark fruit with tobacco and mocha. I don't drink a lot of Argentina Malbec's. I mean, come on, I sell Viu Manent in Chile, and their Reserve Malbec is great, plus I'm kinda of bored with Malbec. But this bottle of wine was a delightful change. It went great with the meal and with the rest of the All Star Game. Go AMERICAN LEAGUE!!

Stir It Up

Not every dinner that I cook has to take a long time, have many steps, or cost a ton. Noel and I love stir-fry. It's easy, good, and thanks to our friends at Russo's, is one of the cheapest meals we make each week. First you must have a wok. Noel found ours at T.J. Maxx; we find a lot of our kitchen gear there. The last one I had I got at Ikea. Needless to say, they tend to be cheap and can be the most used pot in your kitchen.  I have found that I like to use canola oil instead of vegetable oil and keep the amount of ingedents down. I like no more than three veggies, and I try and get them to be different colors (come on, it's more fun to have a colorful dinner. Isn't it?), a pepper or two, garlic, shallots, and a meat (you don't really need the meat, I am just a meatatarian). A stir-fry is also a great summertime dish, as you have a better choice of veggies, and its a light meal.While I was at Russo's last week, I was able to check out more of their oils. I found a Tangerine Oil from Boyajian and knew that I wanted to make a Tangarine Chicken Stir-fry.

Here What You Need
1 medium carrot sliced long wide pieces
dozen or more snap peas
1 red pepper cut into long slices
1 cubanelle pepper cut into long slices
1 clove garlic minced
1 shallot sliced
hand full beans sprouts
4 tablespoons canola oil (enough to coat the bottom of the wok)
3/4-pound of chicken breast cutlets
tangerine oil
salt
crushed red pepper flakes

First I marinated the chicken in tangerine oil for 45 minutes. Then coat the bottom of the Wok with the canola  oil. I wait a few minutes to let the oil warm and add the chicken. Cook for about a two minutes and add the garlic, shallots, carrot, red pepper flakes and sea salt. After about two minutes toss in the peppers. Basically from this point on, you are adding the veggies one at time letting the ones that need more time to cook first. I usually let a minute or two between each. After all the veggies are added, I cover it for another two to three minutes to let it all steam together. And there you go: a great weekday meal that took less than 15 minutes to make. Its so quick that I usually forget to cook any rice or noodle dish as a side. Ooops. Doesn't matter, this is a great healthy meal. Most veggies all go well together, so what you can use is endless, which is what makes this an easy meal to have every week, or even two or three times a week.  This was the first time I used the tangerine oil, next time I would add a little more heat to off-set the sweetness of the oil, but the oil really did a number on the chicken and it tasted great!!

So I wasn't in the mood for a full bottle of wine tonight. Last night however Noel and I did have a bottle while we sat on the couch watching a movie. Noel is a fan of sweet wines. Over the years I have introduced her to Riesling, Chenin Blanc, Sancerre and Moscato. The Muscat grape is a very sweet grape that is grown all around the world for wine, table grapes and raisins. As a wine it is known for it sweet floral aromas. In Italy some of the wines made from Muscato are made in a light fizzy, low alcohol style that is delightfully, Luna Nuda was no different. The bubbles make for a fun drink and the very floral, grape and apple fruit make it extremely easy to drink, as Noel and I found out in about a half hour.  

Pancetta the New Frontier

I am not a big fan of Italian food or Italian wines so this post is about just that. Noel and I bought some pancetta at one of our recent visits to Russo's. I decided to make a Cabonara sauce to go with the pancetta, so I quickly looked up a recipe on my phone while at the market to make sure that I got everything I needed while I was out. The joy of smart phones, I always look up recipes while shopping, it's great I let the shopping tell me what to get, not the recipe. Tonight's meal came from my favorite website Foodnetwork.com, and is courtsey Tyler Florence, Spaghetti alla Carbonara. I have made a few Alfedro sauces but never a carbonara so needless to say I was excited to try. This sauce and meal was very easy to make and took no time to make.

What you need:

1 Box spaghetti 

2 tablespoons olive oil

4 ounces pancetta (aka Italian BACON!!!!) cubed into small pieces

4 cloves garlic, finely chopped

1 cup freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano, plus more for serving

2 Eggs

Fresh ground pepper

1 Handful fresh chopped parsley

Boil salt water for the pasta. After its starts to cook (should take about eight minutes so start the next phase about five minutes later) heat the oil on medium heat in a deep skillet and add the pancetta. Cook about three minutes until the pancetta is crispy and fat is rendered. Add the garlic until the kitchen smells like Italy (about one minute). By this point the pasta should be done, drain it (but keep half cup of the water to add to sauce when done) and add it to the skillet for about two minutes and toss it so the pasta gets coated in the yummy pancetta fat. As this is happening take take the two eggs and Parmigiano-Reggiano and whisk it together making sure to break up any large chunks. Take the the skillet off the heat and quickly whisk in the cheese/egg mixture and slowly add the left over water to help thin out the sauce. Mangia!!! I felt like I had just ordered this from The North End. At first Noel thought this may be to much garlic but it came out perfect. This may help me change my view on Italian food.

The wine that went with dinner tonight was La Botte Dell'Abate a Montepulciano D'Abruzzo. I had a wine tasting at Greenwood Wine and Spirits in Wakefeild. Joanne, the manager, was there, so before she left for the day, I asked her for her recommendation. She too is not a huge Italian wine fan, even though she herself  is Italian-American, so when she said this was a good wine I knew it was the one for tonight. This was a good wine for the price ($13.99). It has lot of full, rich dried cherries, leather and smokey cured meats, with a nice long sweet herbal finish and soft tannin. This is a Riserva wine, in Italy that means it has been barrel-aged

in large oak casks, which helps give it a nice, spicy fragrance and softer tannin. Although I am not a huge fan of Italian wines, I am a fan of this wine.   

Happy Birthday America

Yesterday was my favorite holiday of the year, the Fourth of July. I love Independence Day!! All the other holidays through out the year are way too commerical or just don't matter. Valentines Day sucks, New Years Day  I mean come on is that even a real holiday and Christmas, it's now owned by the retailers. The Fourth of July has everything you could ever want. People (friends and family) usually get together have a BBQ and watch fireworks all while celebrating this great country of ours. I usually watch what ever the History Channel has on about the USA until Noel makes me turn it off and help clean for the party, in past years we have walked the Freedom Trail but this year was just too hot for everyone else to come with me. Noel and I have lived in Beacon Hill for two years and our roof has an excellent view of the Charles river and the Boston POPS Fireworks Spectacular. We go up to the roof with a radio and get to listen to the POPS and watch the fireworks with out having to be in the middle of the craziness. This being the last year we have this view, we knew we had to have a party. Most people would have a BBQ, but we don't even have a cement slab to be able to set up a grill and setting one up on the roof is illegal in the City of Boston. A few years ago for Christmas Noel got me a deep fryer, so instead of having a BBQ we had a Fry party.

We came up with a killer menu. Fried Zucchini fries, sweet potato chips, mango pineapple salsa and fried chicken wings. First we came up with the dry rubs for the chicken wings. We had this same party last year and people really liked out Old Bay chicken wings so we had to remake those this year. I put about a dozen wings in a large zip lock and poured in about a cup maybe cup and half of old bay and made sure each wing was covered. My other batch (about a dozen) I used ginger powder, garlic powder, white and pink pepper, fresh thyme and rosemary. We let both of these sit over night in the fridge. The Zucchini fries were easy, I cut them into one and half inch long by half inch sticks. I then cover them in egg and tossed them in bread crumbs and fried them for about three minutes and seasoned them with sea salt. Next Noel made the sweet potato chips. She made these because she wanted to make zucchini chips but I had already cut them into fries. First careful with the mandolin she sliced the potato into real thin slices then she put them in the fryer for until they were browned on both sides. The only problem is she put them all in together so they didn't cook evenly, took a long time to make and eventually burned. They were good until the cooled down then they just tasted burned, next time we'll try a handful at a time. As for the chicken wings about a hour before I made them I stuck them in the freezer. I then cooked four at a time for eight minutes at the top temperature that my fryer goes to. The salsa I made early in the morning. I cut up two mangoes, a regular mango and a champagne mango, a whole pineapple, half a habanero pepper (careful these are HOT!!!), two cloves garlic, a shallot, two tablespoons fresh minced ginger, the juice from a lime and cilantro. I made early in the day so all the flavors would have time to mingle together, I should have made the day before but I forgot to buy a lime and cilantro. The wings came out awesome, unfortunaly for Erin our friend I didn't think about dipping sauce. I remember I had bought a sauce from Russo's a week before, a roasted peach whiskey sauce from Stonewall Kitchen, they make amazing sauces that I have used in the past. Next time I'll make my own dipping sauce so my friends will have more choices for their wings.

Since yesterday was Independence Day I wanted to drink only American beverages. So instead of wine, yes I know there is wine made in the states, I drank Bourbon. I love Bourbon, its my favorite type of whiskey. I had a bottle of Wathen's open. Wathen's is a wonderful single barrel bourbon that is aged about seven years, the distiller goes around a few months before seven years and samples each barrel, when he thinks the barrel is ready it's ready. He also hand signs each bottle with his name, the barrel number and the bottle number. This is the eighth generation of distillers and they just keep getting it right. At 94 proof its not the strongest of bourbons but it's up there, it has a smooth oak, caramel and some dark fruit flavors. It goes fantastic with a nice cigar. So what makes bourbon? Some people claim it has to be from bourbon county, which is false. Bourbon must be at least 51% corn ( that is why it is the sweetest of the whiskeys), it also must be aged at least two years in new white oak barrels that have been charred, also nothing can be added to the bourbon when bottling to enhance flavor, sweetness, or alter color. I like my bourbon with a few rocks ( that is bar lingo for ice) but it's also great neat ( bar lingo for no ice or water). I told one of my accounts about a year ago that I was going to go home put a few rocks in a glass and have some of the Wathen's. He looked at me straight faced and asked if I was going to wear a dress while drinking the bourbon. Some people think it's wimpy to put ice/water in whiskey, I say drink it the way you like it!! Just don't tell him I put ice in mine please.