Sorry Bambi But Your Meat Is Just So Good

Its been a long time, too long, since I have last posted. I was going to post about my Thanksgiving Dinner but I figured it was to easy to talk about it. Then I was going to talk about my Christmas Eve dinner that I cooked but I didn't. I also could have blogged about the Christmas Day Dinner but I got lazy. I have cooked some great meals and some not so great meals. I was going to blame it on being busy with work and life, but the truth is I have been too lazy to blog. One of my many New Year's Resolutions is to blog more.

To ring in the New Year, Noel and I went and visited our friends Erik and Sami J on Martha's Vineyard. Two of the best people I have ever met. We had a few great meals, drank good wine and beer, and watched some great fireworks. Erik is the ultimate outdoors man!! One day when he got home he noticed a deer in his backyard. He grabbed his bow and got the doe. How bad ass is that?! I bribed Erik with a few bottles of wine and he sent me home with a few venison steaks and a roast. They had a great cookbook on how to cook venison, and I found a few great recipes, so I couldn't wait to get home and try them out.

Tonight's recipe is Saffroned Venison and Beans from The Complete Venison Cookbook. Sounds easy enough, and I love using Saffron. All you need is a cup Navy Beans (these are called Navy Beans not after their color but because they were a staple in U.S. Navy cooking. I was looking for 20 minutes before reading labels), a  pound of venison cut into cubes, bacon fat (venison is very lean meat and bacon fat helps. Its easy to cook up some bacon for the fat), three tomatoes quartered, small onion sliced thin, can of corn, bell pepper quartered, 1/8 tsp pepper, 1/4 tsp saffron, 1 tsp brown sugar, 1/2 cup dry white wine and two tsp salt.

You need to first cook the beans. This is easy, but takes a long time. First, make sure to rinse the beans. Then put them in a saucepan and add enough water to cover the beans. Bring them to a boil and reduce heat to a simmer for two hours. Add the salt and cook for another hour. As the beans are finishing, take a few strips of bacon over medium/low heat in a skillet. Render the fat off the bacon (this is my favor part...eat the bacon). Brown the venison. Add the tomatoes, onion, salt, pepper, saffron, brown sugar and wine. Let simmer until the meat is tender. Drain the beans and add them with the bell pepper and corn to the venison and cook until the bell pepper is tender.

The meal came out well. The beans could have cooked a little longer, I could have used smaller, riper tomatoes and, had I known it would come out more like a stew, I would have cut the bacon up and added it to the mix. But for the first venison meal I've made in more than 10 years it came out better than expected. I can't wait to make the other cuts of venison I have.

So what do you drink with venison? Cabernet Franc, Carmenere, Chianti, Gigondas (or anything from The Rhone Valley), Syrah- the choices are endless. Venison has a great gamy taste that goes really well with many big, bold, bad-ass wines. If I had a Cab Franc in my cellar right now, I would have opened that. But, sad monkey, I didn't have one. So I opened my BOOM BOOM Syrah. This Columbia Valley Syrah comes from one of my favorite wine makers, Charles Smith.This wine is perfect Washington wine. Bright, fresh and smooth. Full Bodied, dark meaty fruit with a touch of spice and sweet tobacco. 

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.

Friends, Meatloaf, and Three Wines

Yesterday Noel's friend from high school, Scott came over for dinner. I wanted to make something that was sure to show off my kitchen skills. I came up with meatloaf, but how could I make it special? I know what you are thinking, he used bacon. No not this time. This time I used mozzarella cheese, brussel sprouts, carrots, garlic, pink, white, green, black pepper corns and saffron. I was a little buzzed after a few beers at Savin Bar and Kitchen and a bottle of wine between Tom and I so I don't know the exact measurements of the spices probably tablespoon each pepper and three pinches saffron. First I had to figure out how to put the veggies in without there being too much water. Rebecca to the rescue. She is one of the owners to Beacon Hill Wine and Gourmet in Melrose, MA. Her and I always chit chat about food and she has taught me a thing or two. So when I had to figure out how to put the veggies in my meat loaf I knew just who to call. She came up with the idea to roast them on high heat for about 20-30 minutes. I cut the carrot up into half inch flat pieces, smashed two garlic cloves and de-leafed 6 brussel sprouts. As they were all roasting I made my meat mixture. I had the half pork, half beef meatloaf mix and added a pound of Italian sausage. I had some rolls that I got at Bacco Wine and Cheese that I had left out for a few days, perfect for making breadcrumbs. I cut up half a roll added the pepper and saffron and mixed it all up in the meat. I put half the meat in the pan then covered the meat with half the mozzarella cheese then covered the cheese with the brussel sprouts and carrots and topped with the rest of the cheese and the rest of the meat. Just before I put it in the over I sprinkled a little fresh parmesan cheese, fresh cut pepper, and a pinch of saffron. I cooked it at 350 until the thermometer reached 160. When it got to 155 I put a little or parmesan cheese on top. I wish I took a picture of this when it came out of the oven. Not only did it look good but it tasted amazing!! All the spices mixed together divinely and the veggies were perfect especially with the mozzarella.

I opened three bottles of wine yesterday. Before Scott came over my buddy Tom stopped by to unwind from work before taking the long T ride home. To help him unwind and to celebrate my trip to Chile (in three days) I opened Secreto Viognier, from Viu Manent. I love this wine!! Viognier is one of my most favorite wines. It's floral, with pears, nectarine, lime and a healthy acidity. There is nothing not to love about this wine. Secerto is a fun wine. By law a wine must be 85% of a grape to be put on the label (in California 75%), so 15% can be anything. Viu Manent ran with this and came up with Secerto. Sometimes a winery will put on the back label what has been blended in a wine, but they don't have to. Secerto does not tell you. Each variety has a different label that is painted by Catalina Abbott that shows someone keeping a secret. This is a just a fun wine from bottle to juice. The next bottle was a bottle that Scott brought to our house. I also find it interesting what people will bring to my house. He brought Chateau Smith Cabernet Sauvignon from Columbia Valley. I love Washington State wines. This wine was great! Nice cedar, dark cherry and rose. This wine is made by Charles Smith, he was wine maker of the year 2009 and is the brain behind such brands a Kung-Fu Girl, The Velvet Devil, and BOOM BOOM . I can't wait to try more of these wines, it was a nice change of pace having someone bring wine to my house. I am going to stop telling people not to bring wine to my house. After that wine was polished off I opened Viu Manent Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon knowing that if we didn't finish it I could just show it the next day. I love being a wine rep!!!! I can open a bottle have a glass or two and just show the rest the next day. This wine is one of the best value wines in my company portfolio and may be my favorite wine ever under $15. This is a Cabernet that could battle some of the Napa Cabs that are twice the price. About a year ago I dorked out with my bestie Molner. I opened a very nice Bordeaux, a Sonoma cab and this wine. At first taste Molner asked why my third bottle was a nicer bottle than the second.  I told her it wasn't and that the Chile wine was half the price of the Sonoma wine. We both agreed that night Viu Manent Reserva Cabernet Sauvignon was the winner that night. All three of these wines are must try wines!!

Saturday at 330pm I get on a plane and go to Santiago Chile for a week. I get to visit Viu Manent and their vineyards. I will make sure to post about the wines I drink while down there and maybe a few of the dinners. I can't believe this trip is already here!!