Thanks Ian for the Tres Picos, I Love That Wine!!

Tuesday I helped my friend Ian pack up his apartment to move back to Florida. It's sad to see him go, not only is he a great guy but he is the friend that got me to play golf. After I helped him pack the U-Haul he gave me a bottle of Tres Picos. He use to work for a distributor in Mass. that sold this wine. I love this wine! It is a wonderful Spanish Garnacha from Borsao, lots of rich, spicy dark fruit with sweet and pleasant tannin. I could drink this every day! Garnacha (in the rest of the world it is known by it's French name Grenache) is a wonderful grape that is grown heavily in Spain and France. In France it's grown widely in the southwest most notably in the Rhone valley where it is the major grape in Cote du Rhone wines. I knew I was going to open the bottle that night so I wanted to make a meal that I thought would help the wine shine. I decided to remake a meal that I have already posted about Too much food, too much oil, too tired to care. This time I made it right!!

The recipe is for a steak cooked in a skillet. This time I had all the right ingredients at home. Last time I used olive oil even though it called for canola oil. A few weeks ago while shopping at my favorite store Russo's I came across one of their stir fry oils, a garlic and ginger infused canola oil. This was perfect from this recipe. I followed it to the letter this time. I used the right amount of oil and let it warm up just like it said. I cooked the steak two minutes a side to sear the meat then another three minutes a side to cook the steak. After the steak was done I took it off the skillet and let it rest while I made the sauce. I added cut up shallots and rosemary and cooked them until the shallots and rosemary made the kitchen smell of greatness. Then I added a fourth a cup of Tres Picos and with a spatula I got up all the brown bites on the skillet then added a tablespoon of butter. The sauce came out outstanding this time and the steak was cook to perfection!! Even Noel said I didn't over season the meat and she always thinks I over season the meat. This time I used just a little sea salt and pink pepper corns. I served it with Near East's parmesan couscous and steamed broccoli that I topped with a tablespoon of fresh parmesan. This was one of the better meals I have made in a long time. I am not one that usually eats everything off my plate in one sitting, I usually leave a little and go back a few hours and snake on the rest, but this meal I even finished Noel's plate. I love when everything comes together perfectly!! Great bottle of wine and a great recipe this made my day.

Summer, Salsa, Stuffed Chicken Breast and a Sexy Bubbly Prosseco Cocktail

It's summer time and one of my most favorite things to make is a mango salsa. It's easy to make and you can add any fruit to make it even better. This time I used strawberry, asian pears and mango. Cut them all up add onions (I used cipollini onions, they are small sweet onions I find at Russos), cilantro, a hot pepper and a little citrus, this time I used lemon juice usually I use lime. I let it sit over night so that all the different flavors can have time to mix together. Today I used this as a side dish but usually just add some tortilla and watch it disappear.

For dinner I wanted to make one of my most favorite dishes to make, stuffed chicken breast. Tonight I stuffed it with brussel sprouts, carrots, shallots, corn and cheese. I cut the carrots into small cubes, cut corn kernels off the cob, cut the brussel sprouts into small pieces and cook them in a skillet for about 10-15 minuets. Then with a pairing knife I cut a small opening into the side of the breast and carefully cut a pocket in the chicken. I add the brussel sprouts mash a long with cheese that I have also cut into small cubes. This time I used Tomme Cheese that I bought from Beacon Hill Wine and Gourmet in Melrose. They have a great cheese selection and Rebecca the owner really knows her cheese. I then topped the chicken breast in a pepper, rosemary and thyme mixture and cooked in the oven until the chicken was at 160 degrees. For side dishes I cut up small potatoes, covered them in the same pepper mixture as the chicken and cooked them for about a hour. I also used the salsa that I made as a nice side salad.

As for the Sexy Bubbly Prosseco Cocktail I came up with a doozey. The salsa always have some extra juice, so  I poured a small amount of the juice(about an ounce) in a Champagne Flute, added a smaller amount of Armagnac and topped it off with Prosecco. Some of you may not know what Armagnac is. It is a region in Southwest France that is well known for its brandy. Armagnac is very similar to Cognac, the major difference is the Armagnac is distilled twice while Cognac is only once. Armagnac is also less expensive and can be seen as a little harsher. The rep from Armagnac de Montal told me that Armagnac is more manly than Cognac. Got to love the French, they even make fun of other French people. The drink came out good a little strange but good. It was kinda like a bellini but less sweet.

Local Pork Chops, Fruit Vinegar, and Rose Make Me Happy

A few weeks ago when I was at Russos in Watertown it was slow so I actually got the chance to see some of the oils and vinegar they sell. I found a few from Al'Olivier, they are a French company that makes flavored oils and vinegars. I picked the Framboise, a raspberry based vinegar. I knew I wanted to use it a a topping to a meat. First I tried it with steak tips and came out good, but a tad to sweet. Today I decided to try it with pork chops. While I was in Cambridge I noticed the Framers Market in Central Square was open and I remembered there is a farm that raises animals for food, Austin-Brothers Valley Farm. I had seen their booth before but had never bought meat from them. Today was the day to change that. Their pork chops were a little pricey but then again they are local and treat these animals better than Noel treats her Doodles aka Max our seven year old Chihuahua.

The pork chops were nice and thick with just the right amount of fat on them. I almost wanted to eat them raw. Noel and I grow thyme and rosemary in our window, so I picked a sprig off each plant. I cut up the rosemary and picked the leafs off the thyme and added sea salt and my own pepper blend to the pork chops. First I started the rice, for tonights meal I picked Near East Wild Grain Rice. I love all their products!!! After the long grain rice was well on it's way I put the pork chops in the broiler. For my veggie I decided to roast zucchini so I cut it into long slices, brushed it with olive oil, salted them with sea salt, placed them on a cookie sheet and stuck them in the oven while the pork chops where in the broiler. I've done this before and I've noticed it helps you cook two things at once, the broiler does help make the oven really hot so you have to make sure you are paying attention to what you are cooking. About eight minutes later I flipped the pork chops and let them cook another eight minutes. I took them out to rest but let the zucchini cook for another three minutes. After plating the food I liberally poured the Framboise over the pork chops. The sweetness of the raspberry went awesome with the pork chops. I made sure to drag some of the rice through the vinegar and it changed my life for ever.

Tonight's wine is a wine that I took out with me today to show some of my accounts, LaLANDe Rose. This is a wine that I have had the chance to enjoy before. It is imported by Robert Kacher; Bobby is guy that has more passion about wine than GOD has for the world!! He has many great relationships with smaller growers in mostly France and helps bring them to the USA. My company started carrying some of his portfolio about a year ago. The LaLANDe is great bottle of rose, it is Malbec, Cabernet Franc, Cabernet Sauvignon, Tannat, and Merlot. It has a beautiful noise and palate of light berry (strawberry, raspberry), rhubarb, with nice acidity and creamy body. This is the kind of rose that I dream of! Not only does it taste great but also is priced right!!

To Donna- Thanks for Getting Me Back on Track of This Blog. ~Dan

 You know its bad when one of your fans yells at you that you haven't written in a week and it's worse when that fan in your favorite Mother In-Law. I've been out the kitchen for over a week now. Noel and I went to Sarasota to visit with my family last weekend and we didn't get much of a chance to go grocery shopping last week. We ate out more than not and I came to notice I am more satisfied with dinner when I cook it at home. Tonight I almost folded and went out for dinner, the dishes needed to be done and Noel didn't get home from work until almost seven (truth be told, it was her turn to do the dishes and I wasn't sure I wanted to wait for her to do them). In the end, I kept to cooking dinner and was I glad I did.

This week while we shopped, we kinda decided on the week's menu. Tonight was Pasta and Chicken Alfredo. Noel made an Alfredo Sauce a few months back and it came out great. She said it was pretty easy to do, so I wanted to give it a try. She was right, easy and fun. I didn't want to make it the same way she did, so I found a recipe that called for white wine. It's a real easy sauce to make: heat up cup of heavy whipping cream, add two cloves of garlic, minced, and slowly add one and half cups Parmesan cheese (next time I would add half cup more) slowly while whisking frantically. After the cheese has started to melt, add one third cup white wine. Now the recipe online said Chardonnay, I don't know why Chardonnay. This is an Italian sauce and I don't think "Italy" when I use Chardonnay. So I used Pinot Grigio. I figured it had the nice lemon that would blend well with the Parmesan. I let all this simmer for five minutes. As this was cooking, I took some chicken breast fillets, seasoned them with sea salt and my own pepper blend (pink, green, white, black pepper) and cooked them in a skillet with a little olive oil. As I flipped them, I also added two table spoons of capers. I then boiled some water for the pasta. A few weeks ago, Shaws had a sale on pasta so we bought ten different styles of noodles, tonight I used the shells. After I added the shells to the boiling water, I cut up some broccoli and added it to the water when there was only about three minutes left. This came out great. Sure its not gourmet but it was better than any of the TO-GO restaurants in Beacon Hill. 

The wine I used in the Alfredo is the same wine Noel and I are enjoying as I write this and watch the Bruins kick the crap out of the Canucks. Its Prendo Pinot Grigio. I LOVE this wine and I don't usually love Pinot Grigio, they tend to be lemon water. This wine has something most others are missing....FLAVOR!! It's  full of honey, fig and citrus with a nice clean crisp acidity. The wine maker Elena Walch is one of the finest wine makers in the world. Noel likes that she is one of the top all time female wine makers in the world. She has set the standard for quality in the Alto Adige. The Prendo label is under her husband's family name but I am sure that is because she doesn't want it to be confused with her main labels. Not that Prendo is cheap (it is inexpensive) but it is many price points lower than the rest of her wines.