The Love of Wine and Hiking

One of my other passions in life is hiking. I really love going to the White Mountains in New Hampshire. There is nothing like being on a 4000+ foot mountian. This trip that I just finished got me up a few of my most favorite mountians. It was a three day 26 mile trip starting in Lincoln Woods, going up the Bonds (Bond Cliff is my MOST favorite mountian in the Whites!!!), slept the first night at Guyot Campsite, crossing over South Twin over to Gailhead Hut, down to 13 Falls, camped the second night about 200 feet off the trail half way past 13 Falls and the car, and out. This trip helped my realize I am out of shape, and its time to turn that around. The good news is there where no major injuries on this trip, sore knees and joints, stubbed toe and cut myself with my knife opening a peanut butter package for lunch. Now it always surprises my the crap people will eat while hiking mountians. My buddy Tom likes to bring the dehydrated foods that you can find at EMS or REI. Sure the breakfasts are ok for a quick warm meal but dinners can be so much better with a little more effort!! I get made fun of sometimes for being "gourmet" in the woods. I'm not gourmet, I just believe there is no reason not to eat well when you are roughing it. Sure my food may weigh more but as you use it the weight goes down, so you carry more weight when you start and are well rested and by the time you are dead tired and ready to get home your pack weights significantly less. Plus the food I bring leaves far less trash behind.

The first nights meal this trip was the best meal I have ever made in the mountains. I bought a summer salami ( this is a sausage that does not need to be refrigerated), red pepper, broccoli (which I used the second day) and small onions at Whole Foods Market. Tom also had a Louisiana style rice and beans dehydrated meal that he got from REI that we figured would go awesome with salami, pepper and onions. So I boiled the water for the rice, it asked for two and half cups of water that we later figured out was a little to much. After the pot was empty I added a small amount of olive oil. I always bring olive oil with me, its easy: empty an alcohol nip (50 ml bottle) and fill it with oil. So simple and so light weight, I also have a small salt and pepper (I fill the pepper side with Old Bay) shaker. So after the olive oil warmed I added the red pepper and onions a little salt and Old Bay. This usually gets on lookers from other tent sights!! After the pepper and onions has cooked for a minute or two I added half the summer salami cut into small bight size pieces. After it the salami stared to brown on both side I add a small amount of water to steam it all up. By this point the rice was suppose to be finished, but there was still a lot of water left. After a few more minutes I came up with a great idea and just added the rice and extra water to my salami and peppers and made it into a stew. I cooked the water down for about a minute and added more Old Bay. It came out AMAZING!!!! After a 11 mile hike up 4500 feet in the clouds with only a few minutes of views from Bond Cliff this was one meal that really made it all worth it. Warm and savory, with the right amount of spice. Chef Dan strikes again!!!! I am so sorry my battery on the camera died so I couldn't get pictures of this one.

The second nights meal was almost as good. I took the rest of the salami cut it up to bight size pieces, used the small amount of red pepper and onion that I had left and cooked them up the same way as the night before. Right before they were finished cooking I added a good amount of broccoli. I let the broccoli cook for a few minutes and added a cup of water to boil. When it was done boiling I added some couscous took it off the heat, covered it and let it sit for about five minutes. At the end of a long weekend of back packing over mountains this meal hit the spot too!!

Now you didn't think I would go to the White Mountains and not bring wine did you?? Don't be silly. My company started carrying a wine called FLASQ. It's a half bottle of wine packaged in eco-friendly, easy to handle aluminum bottles. This wine is GREAT for back packing in the wilderness!! It weights close to nothing, 100% shatter proof and not bad wine at all. It actually is pretty good. They have two varietals that they make, a Chardonnay from Monterey County and a Merlot from San Luis Obispo County. This is one of those products that if you saw it you would think it wasn't the best quality. After bring two up with me I have to say I was pleasantly surprised by the wine. I brought the Merlot and it was really easy drinking. Ripe red berries, blackberries and a little spice. This wine went GREAT with the first nights meal. The next trip I make to the White Mountains I will bring this with me again. Again there is no reason not to have a relaxing evening after a hike with wine and FLASQ makes it easy to do!!

Steak Tips and a New Wine

While Noel and I were shopping for groceries I saw streak tips that had not all been cut up, so I asked the for a large uncut strip. There were not marinaded so I had to come up with my own. All week I asked my foodie friends for advice. I finally found one online that made my mouth water. It came from the website easysteakmarinades.net, it used A1, Worcestershire, soy sauce and red wine (I did not use the same wine that I drank with the meal. I didn't want to open the wine the day before so I used a wine that I knew I could show the next day at work.)  How could I not use this recipe? It uses everything I like except bacon.

The marinade was fun and easy to make, I made it the night before just so it would be easy to use in the morning. I put the steak in around 1pm so that it would marinate more than five hours. I flipped the steak at 430 so all the steak would get the chance to be in full contact with the marinade. At 7 I finally started dinner. First cooked some biscuits***note to self when you turn the broiler on and the biscuits are in the oven watch the biscuits or THEY WILL BURN!! Five minutes into the biscuits cooking I started the steak in the broiler at five minutes a side (this came out medium rare, I could have cooked more like six to seven minutes a side). After  the first flip I started some brussel sprouts and shallots. The meal came out well. The marinade was good, Noel and I agree more A1 and Worcestershire next time. But there will be a next time. Fun, easy and made me feel like Chef Dan.

The wine was one that I have never had before. Its a Uruguayan Tannat by De Lucca. What and what? First a wine from Uruguay, who would have thought. Wine is made all over the world, many years ago people thought New Zealand was a bizarre, shit some people still think Chile and Argentina are bizarre. But Uruguay is slowly becoming the next to the next to the next big place for wine. Second what the f*@k is Tannat?? Originally a grape from Southwest France in Madiran AOC, where the wines must be at least 40% - 60% of the grape. The Tannat grape has become the "National" grape of Uruguay. The grape is different, in the nicest way possible, I like different!! Its got a lot of the green fruit that I look for in Cabernet Franc and Carmenere. Its very tangy earthy with lots of dark fruits and has a similar body to Cabernet Franc. Tannat wines are very high in polyphenols, this are the chemicals that are great for the heart!! I would like to in the future try a French tannat, and will most likely buy the next Uruguayan one that I find.

Ham and Riesling a Match Made in Hog Heaven

Years ago in a Wine Spectator article I read something that would change my world. It was an article about holiday food and wine pairings around Easter. The author of the article said a good way to excite grandma's boring ham was to serve it with a Riesling. Now every time I have ham I get a hankering for Riesling. When Noel and I decided to get a ham steak at Russo's, I knew I had to have it with the bottle of Red Newt Circle Riesling that Dave the winemaker left with me.

I didn't want to make the same boring ham steak so I found a Dijon Balsamic Vinegar glaze online. It was easy to make. 1/4 cup brown sugar, two tablespoons of Balsamic Vinegar, one and half tablespoon Dijon Mustard (I like to use the grainy mustard) and a tablespoon of agave nector. I took it and brushed it over the ham steak and started the rice pilaf. When the rice only had ten minutes left I cooked the ham in a skillet over medium heat for five minutes a side. When I flipped the ham steak I started the asparagus sauteing in butter. When they aspargus was done I salted it with a grey sea salt herb blend I have from Beacon Hill Wine and Gourmet in Melrose and when the ham was done I brushed it with the remaining glaze. This meal came out great!!! Even Noel who can be at times a picky eater really liked this meal. So easy to make and tastes like something you may get at your favorite restaurant.

The Riesling I picked to open tonight is from the winery Red Newt Cellars in the Finger Lakes region of New York. I recently had a drive along with the winemaker and owner Dave Whiting. This was my second chance to work with the man behind the brand. He has a real passion for the Finger Lakes and loves Rieslings!! This is Red Newt's 13th vintage and Dave's 23rd vintage as a winemaker. Red Newt is a winery not a vineyard, they source their grapes from local framers in the area so they can focus all their attention to the wine making. They make many different varietals but specialize in Riesling, ranging from dry to sweet, they're Dry Riesling Reserve is the driest Riesling I have ever had. The Circle Riesling is a great everyday style Riesling. It's more of a medium sweet wine with loads of bright, crisp fruit that is balanced by vibrant peach and apricot, and hints of white grapefruit. This is a wine that could age a few years in the bottle, but is still ready to drink NOW!! It went really well with the ham, especially the glaze. If you ever find yourself in the Finger Lakes stop by the winery for a visit, David's wife is the chef for the onsite Bistro. Noel and I are planning a trip this summer!! 

Rose are red, Violets are blue, My wine is PINK

Today is my four year wedding anniversary. Wow four years married, nine years together. Tonight I am on my own, Noel has to work until nine. So when I saw a Rose Sancerre at Broadway Market in Cambridge I had to buy it for tonight. A little wine knowledge, Sancerre is a small region in Loire Valley, France. Today it is known for some of the best Sauvignon Blanc in the world. Historically however, it was a red grape region, made of 100% Pinot Noir. In my opinion the Red Sancerres that I have had are better than most Burgundys that I have had. I love the fact that they are so rare to find, most wine shops don't carry Red Sancerre and when they do they tend to be pricey.

This wine is from Pascal et Nicolas Reverdy, its the Sancerre Terre de Maimbray 2010, a pale rose that is 100% Pinot Noir. It has a great perfumey, floral noise and the palate keeps you happy with wonderful tart strawberry and cherry. There are many cheaper roses out there that will make you a rose fan, but if you have the money this wine is well worth it!!

A recipe from Chef MOM

Growing up, we all had meals that mom made that made us think she was a five star chef. My mom was queen of the slow cooker, pot roasts, sweetish meatballs and my most favorite pulled chicken in gravy. She made this a lot and we all couldn't get enough. My brother and would rush through the first plate to make sure we got a second. This recipe is stupid easy! In a slow cooker put two chicken breast (now I only cook for Noel and I but it's a chicken breast per person) a jar of gravy, and a can a cream of mushroom soup. About 15 minutes before it's done take the biscuits you find in a can, I like the the flaky grand biscuits myself, and bake them. To serve cut the biscuits in half and spoon the chicken over the biscuits. After eight hours the chicken is like pulled pork. Mmm mmm good! That's my mom's way. I have started to put my own touch to this recipe and 15 minutes canned or frozen veggies to the mixture corn, peas and carrots can give it more of chicken pot pie feel. This was the first meal I ever made in my very own slow cooker, I pretty much bought a slow cooker to make this!!!! Thank you mom!

If you have read my post Friends, Meatloaf and Three wines, you would know that I have recently found the wines by Charles Smith. Last night I went looking for the Charles and Charles rose but the wine shop down the street didn't have it. Today I made sure to keep my eyes open so I could grab it from one of my accounts had it. I finally found it at the Wine Emporium on Tremont Street in the South End. If you are ever in the area stop by and tell Max, Muffin sent you. They have a huge wine selection and all the employees are very knowledgeable in wine, beer and spirits. So this wine first jumped out at me because the POS said, "yes you can drink rose and still be a bad ass", there is no wonder why I wanted to try this!! 100% Syrah and a collaboration  between Charles Smith and Charles Bieler of Three Thieves. This Washington State wine definitely was worth the money. Not too sweet with nice hints of candy fruits and a little effervescence. It went well with dinner and Jeopardy. If you are not sure if you like rose wines this is a good one to start with. I really have been loving the wines from Washington State lately. They make great Syrah, Merlot, and Riesling among others.

Ain't no thing but a chicken wing

Yesterday I bought a new cook book, Real Simple dinner tonight: done!. I found it at the check out line at Shaws. Great book all about quick easy meals. Great for a family that both work long hours and don't have the energy to cook big meals. I took tonights meal from one of these recipes, grilled teriyaki wings. We had bought a pound and half of chicken wings yesterday, and a bottle of Merlie's Magic a spicy orange pineapple sauce. As soon as I saw the recipe I knew I had to try it with this sauce. And it was real easy, first take the wings and grill them for about 20 minutes. I don't have a grill so I used the broiler, basically the same thing. I let them cook for five minutes, then rotated the pan 180 and cooked for five more minutes, then flipped them over and cooked for five more minutes. Then I took them out of the broiler, patted them dry and covered in the sauce. I used a large mixing bowl, filled it with more than 3/4 of the bottle and tossed the wings in the bowl. After they were well coated I placed them back in the broiler for three more minutes a side, when I flipped them I brushed them with the rest of the sauce in the mixing bowl. I served them with a small bowl of the remaining sauce from the bottle, for a dipping sauce, and had wild rice and snap peas as side dishes. These came out great!! It was so easy and so tasty!! Took less than 25 minutes to make. The next time you have the guys over for the game these would be so easy to make! Or if you are having a dinner party they would make a great appetizer that would sure to impress any of your "foodie" friends. I was going to have a picture of the wings but Noel and I devoured them way too quickly, as I said them came out great. Kind of what you would expect from a restaurant.

So since I have come back from Chile I have been drinking the PINK, real men drink Pink Wine!!Thank you Timmy for reminding me how much I love rose wine. Light berry fruit, low tannins, easy drinking. Last night I had the A to Z rose. I stop by Milton Market yesterday to do a little food shopping and to see my friend Tim. While there I had to ask Tim for a suggestion on a bottle. I love to see what other people are drinking, especially people that have a similar taste as I do. When I said red he said what about rose, knowing he LOVES his rose I had to go with one. the A to Z was beautiful, lot of cherry fruit with hints of strawberry, and red current. I was happy to have brought this to our friends house. While we were out shopping we also stopped by Beacon Hill Wine and Gourmet in Melrose. I love this place but I could spend my paycheck there. We bought two wine and a cheese cake mix. Noel made the mix and it came out wonderful!!! Tonight with dinner I drank the rose I bought at the shop, Rose d'Anjou from Remy Pannier 2010. This was also really nice, it had more candy light fruit, strawberries and red currants and was much lighter in body than the A to Z. It went really well with the spicy orange pineapple sauce on the chicken wings. Just enough sweetness to go with the small amount of heat. 

The trip that lead me to eat a salad.

Hello my loving public. It's been a little over a week since my last post. I was in Chile visiting Viu Manent. I got home from Chile early Saturday morning after a grueling 15 hours of travel. Needless to say I had no want to go grocery shopping Saturday. Sunday was Mother's Day and we went to visit with Noel's mom and grandmother. Well her uncle was there and he forced me to drink three bottles of wine and I was way to intoxicated to go grocery shopping Sunday. So this week we get to go to Whole Foods everyday and buy just enough food for dinner. Last night we were both way too tired to cook so we just got the pre-made food. It's not bad but it's not good. I should have taken Molner up on her offer and got sushi with her and Noel could have been on her own, but I'm a good husband. Today I thought all day of what I wanted to get. While I was in Chile I meet the wine buyer for Milton Market, Tim. Tim is a graduate of the CIA , just like my hero Anthony Bourdain. This guy loves his salad. The Chileans probably eat more cows than the Texans. After a week of nothing but beef, pork, lamb and fish, I needed something different so I came up with a Broiled Chicken Salad with Honey Mustard Dressing  in honor of my new friend. I wanted to do something special so I made the dressing myself. It changed it from a salad to A SALAD and was so easy to do.

First I took care of the chicken. I seasoned it with pink, green, white and black pepper corns and a little cumin seeds and put in the broiler for six minutes a side. I then made the salad, I cut up the red leaf lettuce, cut in half a few cherry tomatoes, cut up a carrot, green pepper, cucumber, zucchini and small sweet onions (I wish I could remember the name of these onions I find them at Russos over by the hot peppers all the time and I found them at Whole Foods today. I know the name starts with C and they are a small yellowish onion). As I finished this up the chicken was done cooking so I took the chicken and let it sit a side. Then I made my dressing. I found the receipt from one of my favorite sources, Alton Brown on Foodnetwork.com. He has receipts that are so easy to follow, come out tasting great and make you feel good about your cooking skills. Its real easy, five table spoons honey, three table spoons smooth Dijon mustard and two table spoons rice wine vinegar. Now I changed it a little, I used grained Dijon and I didn't have rice wine vinegar. I had white rice vinegar and white wine vinegar, I wasn't sure what to use so I text Chef Timmy. It's great to know people that went to CIA, he told to mix the two together half and half. Brilliantly!!! I did screw up and only used one table spoon and it asks for two but then again I didn't really measure out the honey or mustard all that well either, I made it more to taste. So as I have said in the past I am not much of a salad person, I am a self proclaimed meatatarian. This salad came out great! The chicken was perfectly cooked and spiced, the dressing was better than store bought stuff and the veggies were the so fresh they need to be spanked. I may eat more salads in the future as long as I make my own dressing.          

So what wine did I serve with this salad? NONE!! I drank water. As I said I was in Chile last week, while in Chile I helped drink some where between 36-48 bottles of  wine plus a dozen or so Pisco Sours. Pisco is a strong, colorless grape brandy that will KICK YOUR ASS all over Chile!!! The wines we had were good for the most part. The Chileans LOVE Sauvignon Blanc. In the kitchen they have a faucet for water and a faucet for Sauv Blanc. We started with a bottle at each meal, well not breakfast but lunch and dinner. After this trip I don't want to see another bottle of Sauvignon Blanc for the rest of my life or at least a week or two. Tim is a HUGE fan of bubbles and Rose. For some reason Chile does not produce a lot of sparkling wine. Chandon happens to make a sparkling wine in Argentina and we had a few bottles over the week, not bad, I even liked it better than the California stuff. We also had a half dozen maybe more bottles of rose. Mostly Cabernet, but we did have a Syrah and a Cabernet, Syrah and Sangiovese blend. I wish I could say they were all great but the Montes Cherub Rose Syrah was not fruity enough for my liking and was kind of expensive. The blend was an 07 from Casa Tamaya Pink Goat  and even though it was old it was still drinkable a little different tasting but good. We also drank a few bottles of Viognier. I love Viognier melon fruit with orange peel and nice body. We had one while at the Hotel Santa Cruz that was amazing. Viu Manent has just came out with a new wine that I few head over heels for El Incidente . This is a $60 bottle of single vineyard Carmenere. “El Incidente” is named after the now-legendary balloon flight I took with some friends over our Colchagua vineyards. The trip ended unexpectedly when we landed in the middle of an open air market in the town of Santa Cruz”,  José Miguel Viu. I can't wait to get my hands on another one of these bottles. We had a Cabernet Franc from Chocalan that I really liked but I do like most Cabernet Francs. There were some wines that we had that we didn't care so much for but for the most part the wines were priced right and brought a smile to my face. In Chile they don't really get a lot of wine from outside of Chile, so by the end of the week I did agree with Tim and Sean that I needed to drink something other than Chilean wine, but I did find a new respect for the Chilean wine industry. 

One quick story before I have to go. Sunday we all got into Santiago around 1030 am. We all went and took time to ourselves. Since May 1 in Chile is Labor Day nothing was open. By about 3pm I found Sean at the bar having a glass of Sauvignon Blanc so I joined him. Soon Tim came down after his run and he joined us. After we finished the bottle of Sauvignon Blanc we took the next bottle out to the porch. By the time lunch was over we had gone through five bottles of wine and a little food. Before we went to dinner I said I needed to walk off some wine. So off we went out into the world of the great unknown. Soon it hit me, I needed to take a leak. We found a bar and I ran in and took care of business. When I came out we all three decided to have our first Pisco Sour. Then we went back to the hotel to get ready and have dinner. I beat both them back down so I stopped at the bar and had a second pisco sour, soon Tim meet me and we had another, as we finished Sean meet us and we a yet another. Then we get to the restaurant, Sean sees a mother and daughter (mother was in her 50s and the daughter was 24) out for a birthday dinner. He calls them over and asks if they would like to have dinner with us. Well we all end up having a blast. I asked for crab legs but got the whole crab. A few bottles more wine and pisco sour or two more later our new friends invite us back to their house to continue the fun. We bought more wine from the restaurant and headed to their house. She gave a tour of her house and it was beautiful. Our new friends weren't from Chile, the mother was born in Belgium and the daughter was born in Spain. They had lived in Santiago for the past 18 years. The mother showed us her wine collection and what a collection it was. She had bottles from the 60s to the 90s, Bordeaux, Rioja and some may others that I can't even remember. I was in love. She opened for us a 89 Rioja and a 90 Bordeaux, again I was in love. Around 2am Tim asked our hosts if they had anything to drink that was not alcohol. The mother made the two of them fresh fruit smoothies. Finally around 3am we called a cab and went back to our rooms. This was an evening for the ages.

Of yeah and in the next year or so be on the look out for a sparkling wine from Viu Manent, it was one of Tim and my "Million Dollar Ideas" we told to Jose Miguel Viu. This whole trip was a trip of a life time. In the words of Tim it was "Excellently"!!