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.