Happy Anniversary

Wow, I can't believe it's already been a year. When Noel first told me to start a blog I thought who would care, but I have found there are people out there. Thank you so much for sharing great meals and amazing wines with me!!

I was trying to think about what I should cook and blog about for my first year anniversary. My very first post was about meatloaf. I love meatloaf!! Over the year, anytime I have made my own tomato sauce I have used some of it in a meatloaf. I've got pretty good at making meatloaf. Thanks too our friends SamiJ and Erik, I still have some venison in my freezer. I decided to make a venison meatloaf for this very special occasion. The best part of using the venison in my freezer, I got to grind up the meat myself. Noel and I bought a Kitchen Aid blender on Ebay a while ago and it came with the meat grinder attachment. How gourmet!!! I cut up the steak into cubes so it would be easier to put it through the grinder, and seasoned the meat with salt, thyme and rosemary. Venison is not a real fatty meat. When I was at Russo's I bought a slab of double smoked bacon. I cut off a large chuck from the fattiest side and ground it up with the venison to add a little fat and flavor. Bacon makes everything better!!

After I had the meat ground up it was time to make the meal. I wanted to make a meatloaf with a gravy so I went online to find a recipe. What an age we are in!! My grandmother, even mother had to rely on cook books. I have a few cook books but I mostly rely on the internet. I found a great recipe for venison meatloaf on Georgia Outdoor News. The recipe calls for a red pepper chopped, small onion chopped, celery chopped, cup of bread crumbs, two eggs beaten, cup of tomato puree, BBQ sauce, and brown sugar. I didn't have enough regular bread crumbs so I used panko bread crumbs. I mixed all the ingredients and the meat together formed it in a loaf shape and stuck it in a 375F oven for about an hour, when my meat thermometer reached 135F. I found a quick recipe on line to make a mushroom gravy. The recipe called for a mix of mushrooms but I only used baby shiitake, figuring they would pair best with the venison. When I first tasted the meatloaf I couldn't believe it was venison. There was no gamy flavors at all and the gravy made the meal!!! I served it with mashed potatoes and roasted brussel sprouts, garlic, onion and carrots. It was such a great meatloaf, I would serve this to anyone who told me they hated venison, and I wouldn't tell them it was venison until they had licked their plate clean. And trust me they would lick the plate clean!! Noel and I did!

While the meatloaf was in the oven I went over to my wine fridge and picked the perfect wine for this meal. A while back I was doing a wine tasting at Bacco's Wine and Cheese in downtown Boston. I love this place. It's the kind of wine shop that I would one day love to own myself. His space is small, so his selection is small but it is GREAT!!!! They carry wine from every region and because they are limited on space they are very selective on what wine they bring in. All the employees try the wine (even the Cheese Wiz) with Bob and the sales rep. They only take in wines that they all agree on. Bob does have the final say, but he really cares and trusts what his employees think. He only hires employees that know their shit. One of his wine guys has lived all over the world and has a real strong passion for wine and food, and his cheese wiz always brings in crazy good cheese!! It's the kind of store that you could go to everyday and always see something new. They have a wine and cheese tasting everyday!! Well except Tuesday, when they have a beer and cheese tasting. 

After my wine tasting I told Bob I wanted something different. He went right to this wine from Portugal. This is a country that is so often over looked. Most people only think of Port when they think about wine from Portugal. I love Port, but they really have so much more to offer in wine. Espirito Lagoalva was perfect for my meal. A blend of Castelao and Touriga Nacional, the wine had beautiful raspberry and blackberry fruit, a nice hint of spice and great smooth tannins. What a perfect pairing to a venison meatloaf!!!  My mouth is getting excited just thinking about the wine. If you haven't had a wine from Portugal then you need to put your computer down and run to your local wine shop. If you find Espirito Lagoalva then it's a must buy!! The best part about Portuguese wines, they are not expensive, you can find great values under $15. Thanks Bob! I don't think I could have had better wine with this meal!!

There has been some great recipes and even better wines over the past 365 days and there are still many more to come. I want to start blogging more recipes, I would love to have at least one a week. Right now I average about three a month. If there  is anything you cook or any wine that you drink that you think I need to try please contact me here or email me dangazaille@gmail.com. Together we can make the next year that much better!!! 

From The Sea

Last night Noel went to her mother's house to visit her grandmother and help set up her best friend Samij's baby shower. The only good part of spending the night away from my wife is I get to eat what ever I want for dinner. Noel hates seafood. I know she's from New England how can that happen? It happens a lot and it always confuses me. Since she doesn't like seafood I very rarely get to eat it, let a lone cook it. After a quick trip to Russo's yesterday I had the great idea to find a nice fish market in the area. Yelp sent me to New Deal Fish Market in East Cambridge. This place had everything, and I was kind of overwhelmed. The guy behind the counter could see how overwhelmed I was. He came over and gave me great advice. I always get salmon, even this time I almost got salmon. I told him how I get to eat very little fish and that I would love to have something a little different. I came upon a Red Fish an ocean perch. It's the kind of fish they sell with the head still on. He told me it was a local white fish and to broil it with a little oil, salt, pepper and hit it with lemon when it comes out of the oven. It was a little small so I also got a dozen little neck clams. Thanks to Noel's friend Samij I now know how to shuck clams.

When I started looking up ideas for a sauce to go with the clams. I found one at foodnetwork.com, a Cucumber Mignonette Sauce. So easy to make, just mix a cup of white rice wine vinegar with minced garlic, half cucumber minced, grated ginger, fresh ground pepper and cilantro leafs. You need to let it chill for at least one hour and up to a full day. Have you ever been by yourself and still said out loud "WOW"? I did after trying this sauce. The flavors of the sauce with the salty raw clam went perfect together. I could have ended my meal there and been happy.
But I didn't have to I still had the ocean perch. The guy told me to rub a little olive oil, sea salt and black pepper and broil for eight minutes. I've been buying a scallion infused oil at Russo's that helps give a faint hint of flavor that I thought would go great with a white fish. The fish was outstanding!! I ate everything down to the bone. I even got all Anthony Bourdain and ate the checks and the meat from the rest of the head. I flirted with the idea of eating the eye balls but at the last minute decided it was a little gross. I am adventurous, I've eaten a pig's eye at a pig roast but that eye looked more like a escargot. The fish's eye looked like an eye. While at Russo's I bought a Chayote squash. It's from Mexico and kinda has an appleish flavor to it. I like but again it's not Noel's thing. I found a really cool recipe at allrecipes.com. Cut the squash into 5ths, cook it in oil, sugar, salt, pepper, red pepper flakes, minced garlic and red wine vinegar. (I even made my own red wine vinegar it's easy 1 part red wine to 3 parts white vinegar.) This was a meal that I will not ever forget about. I love fish and this was like a meal you may get at Legals Seafood!!

The wine was a no brainier. Last year I had a work with with the wine maker at Red Newt Winery in the Finger Lakes in New York. I was the last work with that week so he left me with two extra bottles of wine he had. Last night I finally opened the Reserve Dry Riesling. The first time I tried the wine it shocked my palate. I have tried dry rieslings in the past, some have been "dry", others the acid is so out of whack it almost hurts your teeth. This wine is perfectly dry. The acid is strong but fair, and the fruit is so joyful. It's a tart ripe lemon, orange peel and apricot, with strong minerality that just went fantastic with the food. This wine could go great with a large range of foods, deserts, or just by itself.