One Meal Two Sauces

In the past few months I have made so many meals using fresh figs. I am really starting to love figs. I also love making sauces. Sauces make boring meals more exciting. Plus they are so gourmet, and that's what it's all about. While at Russo's Sunday, I decided to buy fresh figs and ravioli. I knew I was going to make two sauces this week, but I didn't think it would be the same meal. The ravioli was ricotta and sweat pea. I knew I wanted to use them as a side and not as the main focus. I decided to buy thin steaks while at Shaws and figured they would pair well with ravioli. But how could I make the steak as good as the ravioli? The answer was easy FIGS.

I love buying these steaks, they are so easy to make and are a cheap, decent cut of meat. I use a little olive oil and sea salt to make a quick and easy marinade and pan fry them. I found an easy balsamic fig sauce on keyingredient.com. I knew this would pump up the cheap thin steaks, and boy did it ever!!! I did change the recipe up a little. It asked for fig preserves, but I used fresh figs. I chopped up two figs before adding it to the balsamic vinegar and port. I roasted some brussel sprouts with olive oil, sea salt and garlic at 500F for 20 minutes. I tossed a cask iron skillet in with the brussel sprouts. After 20 minutes the skillet is hot enough to evenly cook the steaks. Just two minutes a side and the steaks were perfect. I cut them up into strips and served the fig sauce.  While the brussel sprouts were roasting I also cooked the ravioli and a butter and sage sauce. The butter sauce was so good, it used fresh sage, lemon juice and Parmigiano cheese. My buddy Chef Timmy gave me the idea for the butter sauce and he was so right. The two sauces kind of mixed together on the plate so I used the brussel sprouts to sop up the mess. I was in pure flavor Heaven!!

The wine was an easy pick. I had a worked with the new rep to Cielo in Italy. They have good inexpensive estate wines. In 2008 they celebrated their 100 year anniversary by introducing a new wine, Cent'anni Valpolicella Ripasso. This wine is so good!! It retails around $15.99 which for a Ripasso is a good value. The wine is big, and robust with great cherry flavors. Valpolicella Ripasso wines are great. The grapes are harvested later in the year so that they over ripe on the vine and basically become raisins. The grapes are fermented, but later in the spring they are re-passed over the left over skin of it's bigger brother, Amarone. This helps add body, color and flavor and kicks it into a second fermentation that raises the alcohol. The wine went great with the steak and the figs!! Perfect pairing for a great meal.

A Spicy Sunday

I'm standing in Shaws today, wondering what to make for dinner tonight. I give a longing look at the seafood counter, pretending I was ordering fish. Out of nowhere I hear, "you wanna get shrimp." I was snapped back from my daydream. It was Noel saying this. I knew I had to jump quickly before she changed her mind. I ordered a pound of uncooked shrimp immediately jumped on my phone to find a recipe she would like.

Noel said right away she would like some of the Sriracha she loves used in the meal. While looking up a recipe I came across shrimprecipes.org and found Broiled Cajun Shrimp. I was sold right away, both the shrimp ad the sauce asked for hot sauce. Noel was going to get her meal with her Sriracha. It's a real easy recipe. Marinade the shrimp in olive oil, tablespoon of hot sauce and three cloves garlic for 15 minutes. The broil them for three minutes. While that's cooking in a sauce pan melt two tablespoons of butter with tablespoon of Worcestershire sauce, tablespoon of lemon juice, teaspoon oregano and two teaspoons chili pepper. I added a tablespoon of Sriracha to kick it up a notch. It brought it up more than a notch but boy was it good. I served it with Zatarain's Long Grain and Wild Rice. The rice is cooked in an awesome blend of spices and really helped bring the meal to the next level. I roasted broccoli, with olive oil, garlic and sea salt for 20 minutes. This was a great meal and everything went really well together.

Right down to the wine. The website suggested a Riesling, Pinot Grigio or sparkling wine. Any of these wines would have been great with the meal. I didn't have any of them in the house. I did have a Viura from Lagrimas De Maria. Viura is grown in Rioja, outside of Rioja it is better known as Macabeo and is one of the three grapes in Cava. It's light and fruity and often inexpensive. Perfect for seafood, especially spicy seafood. Lagrimas is a great wine. It's medium bodied, with aromas of tropical and fresh fruits that follow on the palate. Perfect wine for a great meal!!  

Easter Leftovers

So what do you do with leftovers from Easter. As I said before I love ham. Since Sunday I have been chowing down on cold ham. After eating more than two pounds of ham in two days, I decided there had to be a better way. I went and searched online, but I couldn't find a recipe that I wanted to make. Then I thought about the first meal I ever made with leftovers, Chicken Pot Pie. A light went off in my head....HAM POT PIE!!!! My mind was blown!!

I looked up a few recipes, including checking out my post about chicken pot pie and came up with a recipe of my own. I decided to use what I had left from Easter, ham and yams. Unfortunately for this meal my in laws took the veggies home with them, so I cut up a carrot and some snap peas. I steamed the carrot for five minutes before chopping it up. In a sauce pan I melted 1/3 cup of butter with a chopped shallot, and a minced clove of garlic. After a few minutes I added 1/3 cup flower, salt and pepper and blending everything together. In stead of chicken stock I took a half cup of cream of mushroom soup and added it to a cup of water. I added that with a half cup milk to the rue. After I mixed all this together I added the ham, left over yams (about a cup), and the veggies. I only had one crust so I poured the mixture into a pie plate and covered it with the crust. I then baked it at 450 for 35 minutes. The smell while it cooked let me know this meal was going to be amazing!! The mushroom soup really gave this meal a kick. I was afraid the carrots would be over cooked but they were perfect, the snap peas and yams were both a nice touch. I usually hate leftovers but this meal was great. I'm not even sure you could call this leftovers since it was a new meal.

Even my wine was leftovers from Easter. I bought more wine for Easter than I needed. I did it on purpose in case any of wines were bad, if we all drank more than I expected and I wasn't 100% sure what wines I wanted to serve with the dinner until I was almost done cooking dinner. The bottle that I didn't end up opening was a rose from Provence. I love Provence rose. I got Bieler Pere et Fils at The Wine Emporium on Tremont Street. Max the wine buyer had tried it a few days earlier, fell in love with it, and bought enough to have a focus on it for Easter. He loves rose wines and I knew if he bought a lot of it, it had to be a great wine. Rose is a perfect wine for ham. The light fruit flavors don't over compete with the salty, sweet flavor of ham. This wine was no different. A blend of 50% Syrah, 25% Grenache and 25% Cabernet Sauvignon. It's full of ripe raspberry, strawberry and cherries, with nice spice and oak notes and a long, crisp finish. What a nice bottle of wine!!

I love rose wines and drink them year round when I can find them. There are some people out there that tell you don't drink rose. Those people are close minded and often think that rose wines are sweet. Most rose wines are not sweet, what most people are thinking about is white zinfandel. White zinfandel is a SIN AGAINST HUMANITY!!! They add sugar to white zinfandel so it gets sweet. Wine makers have been making rose wine for thousands of years. They are light, fruity and perfect spring and summer wines. On a hot summer day there is nothing better than a cold glass of rose. If you've never drank a rose wine, go to your local wine shop and ask one of the wine people for a rose recommendation. I personally love French rose wines, especially from Provence, the Loire and the Rhone. Spain also makes fantastic rose wines. I promise if you keep an open mind, you will instantly fall in love with rose wines.

Another Epic Holiday Feast

A few months ago I invited my parents and Noel's parents to Easter Dinner. Both sides don't get to interact that often since my parents live in Maryland. It was a great day, Noel made the table look amazing with her Easter decorations and flowers, we had great food, great wine and I won Apples to Apples. I love cooking for larger groups. I came up with the menu all last week. A ham with a pomegranate maple syrup glaze, steamed veggies with Dijon mustard and honey, apple sauce (more like apple gravy), roasted sweet yams, whipped cauliflower (Thanks Meg!!!), and a fig salad.  

My favorite dish for this meal was the apple sauce. I found it at allrecipes.com. It didn't use apples at all, it called for apple cider. I Daned it up by changing the raisin to dried cranberries and cherries. This came out so awesome!!!!! It went great on top of the yams that I roasted. The yams were awesome! I got a yam called sweetest oriental yam at Russo's Market. I cut them up in to 1 inch pieces, covered them in agave nectar, fresh cinnamon and cayenne pepper. Since I only have a small oven I knew I was going to have to roasted them with the ham so I roasted them for almost two hours at 350F. These yams opened my eyes to a new world of  starches. The pomegranate maple syrup glaze was amazing on the ham. The right amount of sweet and tart that helped showcase the salty ham. The fig salad was a great spring time salad and I got use red wine vinegar that I made the other day. I'm finding that I really love figs and need to cook with them more often. The whipped cauliflower was a fun dish. My friend Meg had told me about it, she said she's obsessed with the side dish. I can see why. The Dijon honey sauce I made for the steamed broccoli and carrots really helped make the steamed veggies a little more fancy. The only thing I forgot to make was biscuits, but no one seemed to even notice. This was by far one of my favorite holiday meals that I have made.

What wine do you serve with such an epic meal? I bought a sparkling rose malbec, La Rosee from Domaine Augis at Wine Emporium on Columbus Ave. Laura the wine buyer has a fantastic palate and it's helped her bring in some amazing wines. This treasure comes from my favorite wine region in the world, Lorie Valley. In Lorie Malbec is also known as Cot. The wine is made in the Methode Traditionnelle, which means the second fermentation is done in the bottle, just like Champagne. The wine is pretty delicate and refreshing, yet still has the spice and bright red fruit that malbec is know for. I know most people find it odd to serve sparkling wine with food. Why? It's perfect with food!! Champagne and fried chicken are a great wine pairing!! This wine was such a perfect pairing with this meal. It went well with the salty, sweet ham, stood strong against the yams and didn't over power the cauliflower.  I love this wine!!!!

All and all it was a great day. Noel's table setting was perfect and the dinner and wine was delicious. It really helped us show our parents that we are grown adults, and not the kids they think of. I'm sure after they both left we were back to children in their minds. After everyone left I broke into the left over ham and by 8pm, I was passed out on the couch in a "Ham Coma". I have a ham problem!!! It was a great day!!

Yummy Fungi and Merlot

Saturday, Noel and I were in Russo's getting our weekly produce. Noel asked if I wanted to get any pasta they sell. I was shocked when she said ok to mushroom ravioli. I love mushrooms!! Noel, not so much. I knew I had to make a meal that would help the mushrooms be a background taste. I decided to add thin steaks, and roasted brussel sprouts. What a meal!!

I did have to come up with a sauce for the mushroom ravioli. I found on food.com a great cream sauce with Marsala. I love Marsala, most people think it's only a cooking wine, but it is a great after dinner wine too. This sauce was so easy to make and helped make this meal outstanding. Perfect for this meal. To start you need to saute a small diced onion and three cups of mushrooms for about three minutes. When we were at Russo's, I grabbed baby shiitake mushrooms for the dinner. YUMMY!!! After the room smells of mushrooms cooked with onions (about 3 minutes) you add 1 1/3 cup Marsala. I used real Marsala for this recipe, there are "cooking" Marsala's but what fun is that? You would never want to drink that after the recipe was done. After you boil the mushroom/Marsala mix for four minutes you need to add 1 1/3 cup heavy cream and 1/8 cup milk and heat until warm. Salt and pepper to taste and serve over the ravioli. This sauce came out amazing!! I even made sure to pour a little on top of the steaks and brussel sprouts.

The wine was easy to pick. My buddy, Mike from Peirano Estate, was out in the market two weeks ago. I love this estate, especially their Merlot. It comes from 6 clones, 3 from California, Italian clone #9, and from Bordeaux clone 181 and 134. Don't tell anyone but I heard the owner was at Petus and found clone 181 on the ground and pocketed it. What a bad ass!!! This Merlot is great. So many people over look Merlot. Sure it's not the most exciting grape, but give it to the right wine maker and you get a fantastic wine. This wine has a beautiful bouquet of cherries and blackberries in cream. The palate is a wonderful array of flavors. The plum, cherries and cranberry notes help welcome this old friend back into your life. What a great pairing with this meal.