When the Wife is Away the Foodie Will Play

Noel went to her mother's early last weekend for a surprise party for a friend and to have brunch with her mom on Mother's Day. I wasn't going until Sunday so that meant I was on my own for dinner Saturday night. I love being on my own for dinner, Noel is what we call a picky eater, while I am an adventurous eater. First I thought fish but real quick I changed my mind. I had bought a fig balsamic vinegar at Russo's a few weeks earlier but had not yet used it. It hit me like a ton of bricks....duck breast. Duck is my favorite foul and because Noel does not like it and it can be expensive in restaurants I don't get a lot of opportunity to eat the delectable bird.

I had gone to Russo's that day to do our weekly shopping. Usually Russo's has duck breast, that Saturday they did not. After my wine tasting I ran to Whole Foods but they too didn't have any duck breast. I called my friends at Bacco's Wine and Cheese, they are all foodies so they would know where I could get the sought after meal. The Cheese Wiz told me, "Duh Savenor's in Beacon Hill." I felt like such a dummy, I use to live down the street from this place and have bought some of the best meats from these guys. Savenor's Market is a really nice, high end butcher. They carry everything, I mean everything. Ever want to try lion, tigers or bears? Oh my, they have them all!! I found a great recipe online. It was a pretty simple recipe. Score the skin, heat up a skillet put some sea salt in the skillet before putting in the duck skin side down. Cook five minutes per side and l let it sit for 10 minutes covered in tin foil. While that was sitting I took 1/3 cup of my fig balsamic vinegar mixed it with 1/3 cup dry white wine and reduced it by half then added tablespoon butter. The sauce was amazing and when added to the duck I saw fireworks!!! I roasted some small potatoes for almost an hour at 500F. They cooked for so long they were small balls of mash potatoes and when dipped in the sauce were devilishly good. While the duck breast was resting I cooked carrots, brussel sprouts, shiitake mushrooms, shallot and garlic in the duck fat. There is nothing better than vegetables cooked in animal fat!!!!

Such a great meal needed a great wine. French Pinot Noir is a great wine, especially when it comes from Sancerre. Sancerre is a fantastic region in Lorie. It is now a region known for the world's best Sauvignon Blanc but historicly it was better known for Pinot Noir. Why not the region abuts Burgundy. I personally love red Sancerre's better than the wines from Burgundy. I opened a bottle of Henri Bourgeois Les Bonnes Bouches Sancerre. I had bought this once before from Beacon Hill Wine and Spirits in Beacon Hill and knew I loved. It was full of candied sour berries, tart acidity and as I drank it the earthy, dirty flavors that Pinot is known for came to the party. Perfect wine for my perfect meal!! I can't wait for the wife to go away again, I've wanted to cook a lamb dinner for a while!!

Jiro Dreams of Sushi, Dan Dreams of Pork

Sunday, Noel and I went to see Jiro Dreams of Sushi at Landmark Theater in Kendall Square. Great movie!! I was glad we went and had sushi before the movie, if we had waited until after, we would have spent so much more money at Fuji Sushi Bar. Instead, after the movie, we ended up at the Friendly Toast. They have some awesome cocktails and good food, plus I know the GM. Noel got cheese fries and it came with a strawberry-habanero dipping sauce. When we left, I made sure to get the rest of the dipping sauce to go. There was a pork chop dinner in my future and it was going to be marinated in this sauce!!!!

I marinated the pork chops overnight, then baked them to 150F. They came out amazing!!! Every bite was a mouthful of spicy, strawberry pork!! This has been my most favorite pork chop I've ever cooked!! Since the sauce had some major heat I knew I should have some sides that would help cool down the palate. I had some bacon in the frig so I grabbed the book Seduced by Bacon. This book is 178 pages of bacon love. I found two recipes that I know would help make this meal epic! First I found a brussel sprout, bacon and shiitake mushroom stir fry. Stupid easy to make and just out of this world good!! Peel the leaves off six brussel sprouts, cut up cup of baby shiitake mushrooms and 1/3 pound of bacon chopped up. Cook the bacon until the fat covers the bottom, add the brussel sprouts, then mushroom, last 1/4 cup soy sauce. YUMMY!!!!!! When we went to Russo's this week we got roasted corn and ricotta ravioli. I found a sauce a few pages later, a carbonara sauce. I've made a few before and they are real easy and this one was the same but it was bacon rather than pancetta. This sauce really went incredibly well with the ravioli. Bacon and corn is a marriage made in heaven!! OH I DO SO LOVE BACON!!!!

The wine was easy. I bought a Chinon from Beacon Hill Wine & Spirits in Boston. Gene always has good stuff and I LOVE CHINON!!!! Cabernet Franc from the Lorie Valley.... YES PLEASE!! Les Galuches was a great bottle of wine. Awesome dusty green bell pepper, dark sour cherries and raspberries, with strong tannins. The wine sang different notes all night as it opened up. When I got my last glass, I was so upset that I had to finish the journey. Loire Valley is my favorite wine region in the world, and Chinon is my favorite region with in the Loire. I love Cabernet Franc and it is such and under-appreciated grape!! Here is your homework: go get yourself a bottle of Chinon. You don't have to spend a lot, ~$15. If you like the wine, go and try Cabernet Franc from other places- the Finger Lakes would be a nice start.

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.

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.

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.       

Sunday Dinner

Sunday is one of my most favorite days of the week. It's a day of rest. It's a day of laziness. I usually get up around 10 am, sit around watching the news or what ever show may be on and drink a few cups of coffee. Around 2 pm I finally get on with my day. Every Sunday, Noel and I head to Russo's and Shaw's. First thing on my list is Sunday dinner. I love Sunday dinner, it's usually the best meal of the week.

This week I thought we were going to have a friend of Noel's over for dinner, so I choose to make a pork loin. When I found out they could not make it I still made a pork loin. I love PORK!! Especially pork loin. I made a dry rub of fresh herbs, parmesan cheese, salt, pepper and minced garlic, and roast the pork at 400 F until the pork has reached 150 F. As you let it sit about 10 minutes took gets to more like 155 F and comes out so juicy. I love good pork. Noel really likes sweet potatoes, so this week I took a large sweet potato and cut it into cubes. I covered the cubes in olive oil and salt and roasted them on the same roasting pan as the pork. At Russo's I bought broccoli. I use broccoli a lot. It's easy to steam and George H. Bush is wrong, it's a delicious veggie. Noel has said to me in the recent past she was getting sick of broccoli. So today I pulled out the food bible, The Joy of Cooking, and looked up a way to make broccoli special. Under the steaming recipe the book suggested tossing the steamed broccoli in buttered bread crumbs. The second I saw the recipe, I knew I had some panko bread crumbs. Oh yeah!! I took two tablespoons of butter, teaspoon of rosemary, and thyme and put them in a glass bowl on top of the stove to melt as the roast cooked. As the roasted finished I mixed the butter and panko, put them in a oven safe frying pan and browned them for a few minutes. I then tossed the steamed broccoli in the panko. It turned a steamed veggi into a great side dish. So fancy, so easy, so good!!

I wanted to have a glass of wine with dinner, but I didn't want to drink an entire bottle. So I went over the wines that I plan on showing this week. The Geografico Chianti Colli Senesi jumped off the wine rack right into my glass. Italian wines aren't my usually first choose but I figured a nice bottle of Sangiovese would go lovely with pork. Boy I was ever so right. This bottle comes from Colli Senesi, a hill side village within Chianti that is known for growing outstanding Sangiovese. This wine is no different. Blended with a small amount of Canaiolo. It is smooth, intense fruity, and well balanced. A perfect Sunday night paring.  

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!!

Cheap Eats

In times like these we can't always eat caviar and drink Champagne. Noel and I are moving in a few weeks and we have to tighten our belts to save some money. Tightening belts does not mean you have to eat or drink crap!! Noel and I came up with a great meal that cost close to nothing. It's a stir fry that you add to ramen noodles. I love ramen, they are 20 cents a package, but they can be pretty boring by themselves. By adding the stir fry to them we had a meal that not only cost less than $10 to make but also put a big smile on our faces. I bought some stew beef that was on sale at Shaws. I got pound and half for around $5 and was able to make two meals out of it. Then when at Russo's Market I bought a stir fry sauce that was $1.45 that I marinated the in beef over night. The next day I cut up some garlic, a shallot, half a yellow pepper, handful of snow peas, small amount of baby shiitake mushrooms and some bean sprouts. All these veggies cost us less than $3.

I started with the beef, cooking it for a few minutes before adding the garlic, mushrooms, shallot and a pinch or red pepper flakes. Then after a few minutes I added the yellow pepper and snow peas. As all this was cooking I started the water for the ramen. Ramen is great because it only take three minutes to cook. As all this was cooking in the bowls I was serving this meal in I added the seasoning from the ramen and the bean sprouts. I poured a half cup of the hot water from the noodles, stirred it all up and added the noodles. Then I topped it all off with the stir fry making sure to get some of the sauce in the soup. The meal came out great, there is a restaurant called Wagamama that makes meals just like this but charges $15 each. I made the same thing at home (Noel even said it was better) and it cost less than half that for two meal. Perfect for any day of the week. 

I picked one of my favorite vineyards for the wine. Viu Manent Reserva Malbec. It went great with the meal especially the sauce. I not a huge fan of Malbec, it can be boring at times. Viu Manent makes great Malbec. Great ripe fruits especially berry fruits, with hints of coffee, and mocha, it's got a great body and nice lingering finish. The people at Viu Manent really put love into all their wines and their Malbecs are not exception    

Your Eyes Say Yes and Your Mouth Says Gnocchi

I am a big fan of sauces. If you have seen me lately you would know I have become what some would say, pudgy. Noel and I bought some gnocchi a few weeks ago from Russo's. Today was finally the day it needed to be cooked. I was actually threatened with death if I did not make the potato dumplings. I decided quickly that I wanted to make my own sauce with the meal. It didn't take long before I knew I was going to make a vodka sauce. I have master many other sauces, how hard could it be? Right!? Let me tell you, it was real easy and it came out great. Real restaurant quality stuff here. As we were eating dinner, it was Noel trying to come up with the name of this blog post. I started off wanting to make the gnocchi the side dish, but as I started cooking I realized I had a lot of gnocchi, so the meatatarian in me made the steak the side dish. While at Shaws I bought a family size package of baby steaks. Eight tiny little steaks all about an ounce in size.

So vodka sauce is pretty easy to make and you don't need much. Allrecipes.com has a very easy basic one that I went off of. Like I said last post I like to take a recipe and Dan it up a little.

The Sauce
1/2 cup vodka (I used a potato vodka Vesica)
1/2 onion chopped
large clove garlic minced
1/4 cup butter
14 oz can diced tomato (I used fire roasted garlic)
basil
oreganoal
1/2 pint light cream
1/2 cup parmesan cheese

In a sauce pan melt the better on medium heat. Add the garlic and onion until onion is translucent. Add the half cup vodka and cook for about 10 minutes. Add the tomatoes, and herbs and cook for 20 minutes. Stir in the light cream and parmesan, you wanna make sure the cheese really blends with the cream, and cook about 20 more minutes. The last 20 minutes I started the water and cooked the gnocchi. Once the water is boiling they only take two to three minutes. They even start to float when they are done. Foolproof!!

The steak was also easy. I went off a recipe from Alton Brown on foodnetwork.com.
SO EASY:
Take a skillet and stick it in the oven. Turn the oven to 500. When it reached 500 take the skillet out of the oven and put it on a burner on high. Take the steaks and rub a small amount of canola oil and season both sides with sea salt. Cook 30 seconds each side, then stick them back in the oven and cook for two minutes each side. Then let it rest for a few minutes. Perfect medium-rare steak. Thank Alton Brown you are a hero to many of us wanna be chefs!!

Tonight's wine comes by recommendation of the manager at Winchester Wine and Spirits. Justin has a love of the obscure grapes, the grapes that just aren't on the normal path. When I told him of the Pinot Meunier I had last night he turned me on to a Spanish Petit Verdot. Petit Verdot is one the major blending grapes in Bordeaux. It is used in blends as a flavor and tannin boaster, as it is a big, dark, dense fruit grape. This bottle tonight took a long time to open. I contemplated decanting the wine a few times but in the end decided to see where the grape would take me. In the beginning there was a dark inky, stew of hot, tannin, fruity mess, but as it opened the tannin surprisingly calmed down and it became a pleasant spicy cigar box with dark fruit. A great wine, I just wish I had turned on the AC before opening this bottle. Nothing like high heat and humidity to go with such a large wine. The next time I am at someones house grilling red meats, especially lamb I will go and find another bottle of Petit Verdot. Thank Justin for the outside the box pick!!
 

Ratat what?

Have you ever seen the movie Ratatouille? It's a movie than any of us wanna be chefs can relate to. I feel as though I am Remy many times as I master different recipes. For a while now, I have wanted to make ratatouille, and what better time than summer time? If you don't know what this is, it is a classic peasant dish from France. Comfort food made from veggies. Basic idea: take a bunch of summer veggies, squashes, eggplant, tomato...well you get the idea. You cut them all up and bake it. It's like meatloaf but with veggies. There is an issue with the this classic dish- NO MEAT. So, I decided I would add some. Flash back to a few days ago, my buddy Tom and I meet at 7's (a small bar in Beacon Hill), we meet there often after work and split a pitcher, usually two. I told Tom of my want to make ratatouille, but how it involved no meat. As we finished the first pitcher and waited for the second, I tossed out ideas to my foodie friend. Beef? Chicken? Then it hit me like a ton of bricks: BACON! *SIDE NOTE* For those that just started reading my blog, you may not know but I have a bacon addiction. So what would be a good way to use the bacon to its full potential? It was like the angels spoke to me: "Bacon Pesto." Bacon what? "You can't do that!" people said, "it's just not right." All I can say to them is: Suck it! With a quick change in recipe, I made what may have been the world's first Bacon Pesto.

WHAT YOU NEED
almost pound of bacon, enough to get 1/4 cup bacon fat
handful basil, about 20 leafs
handful walnuts
1/2 cup Stilliton blue cheese
1/4 cup olive oil, I found a scallion infused olive oil at Russo's that worked great!!

Cut the bacon in to one inch squares. Slowly render the fat off the bacon in a cast-iron skillet on low heat. Every so often, empty the fat into a measuring cup. When done, put the bacon aside to use in the ratatouille. In a pestal and mortar, just grind up the basil. Add the walnuts and blue cheese, and keep grinding into a paste. Add the bacon fat and olive oil. And there you go! You have bacon pesto. And what do you do with bacon pesto? Well, I replaced the pesto with most of the olive oil that you would use in the ratatouille. This dish is real easy to make.

WHAT YOU NEED
Now there is no true recipe for ratatouille, it is comfort food use what ever you want this is what I used
eggplant
summer squash
golden zucchini
cousa squash
red pepper
yellow pepper
orange pepper
onion
tomato
bacon
yam

Pre-heat oven 375. Slice all the veggie with a mandolin. Make sure to slice the yam thinner than the rest, as it take longer to cook. After that, in a cassarole dish, start layering the veggies. I did yam, golden zucchini, layer of pesto, red pepper, yellow pepper, orange pepper, summer squash, cousa squash, eggplant tomato, pesto, bacon, onions, pesto, repeat. I made sure to have the bacon in the middle and only did that step once. Cook for 55 minutes. When it was done I let it rest for five minutes and made a plain couscous to serve with the dish. Voila! A French classic made the Dan way. The bacon, which I cooked until cris,p came back to life and was a little chewy. But it did give its flavor to the dish.

The wine that I picked with this meal is a special one. While waiting to talk to Frank and Ray at Pairings in Winchester, I noticed they had a Pinot Meunier. Pairings is a cute gourmet wine shop in Winchester. Lorie and Ray started the store about a year ago and have a great shop. I have bought spice, herbs and cheese from them before (I bought the blue cheese from them for the Bacon Pesto). Pinot Meunier is famous for being one of the three grapes used in Champagne. I have never seen one in a still wine, I didn't even know they grew the grape in Oregon. So Saturday when I went back to conduct a wine tasting I had to buy a bottle of the  Willa Kenzie Estate Willamette Valley Pinot Meunier. This wine is great, a little pricey at $29 but then again it's not a grape that you can find in your normal liquor shop, let alone a fine wine shop. This bottle had great berry fruits (cranberry, blueberry and raspberry), a hint of earth and spice with a nice touch of dried roses. It has more acid than you would get from most wines but along with the silky tannin it helps to balance the fruit. This is a wine that I don't expect to find again for a while and that is sad.

In life I find it more fun to change the recipe and find wines that you are not going to always find. Most people would find a recipe online and would follow it to the letter. Me, I like to treat cooking more like an Art than a Science. True artist can't truly be taught to make a masterpiece it comes from within. I add things that I think could make the meal different, if not better. It may not come out great all the time, but sometimes you really knock it out of the park, i.e. BACON PESTO. Same with wine. Why always drink the same thing? Why care about how many points someone else thought the wine should have? Experiment, have fun, enjoy life. Break down the box that you are in and start living life.

Stir It Up

Not every dinner that I cook has to take a long time, have many steps, or cost a ton. Noel and I love stir-fry. It's easy, good, and thanks to our friends at Russo's, is one of the cheapest meals we make each week. First you must have a wok. Noel found ours at T.J. Maxx; we find a lot of our kitchen gear there. The last one I had I got at Ikea. Needless to say, they tend to be cheap and can be the most used pot in your kitchen.  I have found that I like to use canola oil instead of vegetable oil and keep the amount of ingedents down. I like no more than three veggies, and I try and get them to be different colors (come on, it's more fun to have a colorful dinner. Isn't it?), a pepper or two, garlic, shallots, and a meat (you don't really need the meat, I am just a meatatarian). A stir-fry is also a great summertime dish, as you have a better choice of veggies, and its a light meal.While I was at Russo's last week, I was able to check out more of their oils. I found a Tangerine Oil from Boyajian and knew that I wanted to make a Tangarine Chicken Stir-fry.

Here What You Need
1 medium carrot sliced long wide pieces
dozen or more snap peas
1 red pepper cut into long slices
1 cubanelle pepper cut into long slices
1 clove garlic minced
1 shallot sliced
hand full beans sprouts
4 tablespoons canola oil (enough to coat the bottom of the wok)
3/4-pound of chicken breast cutlets
tangerine oil
salt
crushed red pepper flakes

First I marinated the chicken in tangerine oil for 45 minutes. Then coat the bottom of the Wok with the canola  oil. I wait a few minutes to let the oil warm and add the chicken. Cook for about a two minutes and add the garlic, shallots, carrot, red pepper flakes and sea salt. After about two minutes toss in the peppers. Basically from this point on, you are adding the veggies one at time letting the ones that need more time to cook first. I usually let a minute or two between each. After all the veggies are added, I cover it for another two to three minutes to let it all steam together. And there you go: a great weekday meal that took less than 15 minutes to make. Its so quick that I usually forget to cook any rice or noodle dish as a side. Ooops. Doesn't matter, this is a great healthy meal. Most veggies all go well together, so what you can use is endless, which is what makes this an easy meal to have every week, or even two or three times a week.  This was the first time I used the tangerine oil, next time I would add a little more heat to off-set the sweetness of the oil, but the oil really did a number on the chicken and it tasted great!!

So I wasn't in the mood for a full bottle of wine tonight. Last night however Noel and I did have a bottle while we sat on the couch watching a movie. Noel is a fan of sweet wines. Over the years I have introduced her to Riesling, Chenin Blanc, Sancerre and Moscato. The Muscat grape is a very sweet grape that is grown all around the world for wine, table grapes and raisins. As a wine it is known for it sweet floral aromas. In Italy some of the wines made from Muscato are made in a light fizzy, low alcohol style that is delightfully, Luna Nuda was no different. The bubbles make for a fun drink and the very floral, grape and apple fruit make it extremely easy to drink, as Noel and I found out in about a half hour.  

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.

Ham and Riesling a Match Made in Hog Heaven

Years ago in a Wine Spectator article I read something that would change my world. It was an article about holiday food and wine pairings around Easter. The author of the article said a good way to excite grandma's boring ham was to serve it with a Riesling. Now every time I have ham I get a hankering for Riesling. When Noel and I decided to get a ham steak at Russo's, I knew I had to have it with the bottle of Red Newt Circle Riesling that Dave the winemaker left with me.

I didn't want to make the same boring ham steak so I found a Dijon Balsamic Vinegar glaze online. It was easy to make. 1/4 cup brown sugar, two tablespoons of Balsamic Vinegar, one and half tablespoon Dijon Mustard (I like to use the grainy mustard) and a tablespoon of agave nector. I took it and brushed it over the ham steak and started the rice pilaf. When the rice only had ten minutes left I cooked the ham in a skillet over medium heat for five minutes a side. When I flipped the ham steak I started the asparagus sauteing in butter. When they aspargus was done I salted it with a grey sea salt herb blend I have from Beacon Hill Wine and Gourmet in Melrose and when the ham was done I brushed it with the remaining glaze. This meal came out great!!! Even Noel who can be at times a picky eater really liked this meal. So easy to make and tastes like something you may get at your favorite restaurant.

The Riesling I picked to open tonight is from the winery Red Newt Cellars in the Finger Lakes region of New York. I recently had a drive along with the winemaker and owner Dave Whiting. This was my second chance to work with the man behind the brand. He has a real passion for the Finger Lakes and loves Rieslings!! This is Red Newt's 13th vintage and Dave's 23rd vintage as a winemaker. Red Newt is a winery not a vineyard, they source their grapes from local framers in the area so they can focus all their attention to the wine making. They make many different varietals but specialize in Riesling, ranging from dry to sweet, they're Dry Riesling Reserve is the driest Riesling I have ever had. The Circle Riesling is a great everyday style Riesling. It's more of a medium sweet wine with loads of bright, crisp fruit that is balanced by vibrant peach and apricot, and hints of white grapefruit. This is a wine that could age a few years in the bottle, but is still ready to drink NOW!! It went really well with the ham, especially the glaze. If you ever find yourself in the Finger Lakes stop by the winery for a visit, David's wife is the chef for the onsite Bistro. Noel and I are planning a trip this summer!! 

Arrrrr Matey

Over the weekend Noel and I cleaned the apartment and I found a cook book that I totally forgot we even had, Seduced by Bacon by Joanna Pruess,thank you Mikey. If you read my first post you would know that I LOVE BACON!! So I went through the book and found a few recipes I wanted to try. The first one that caught my eye was on page 105; Jamaican Jerk Shrimp, Mushrooms and Tomatoes. I couldn't wait to try this out. Just a few weeks ago I bought some really nice Jamaican Jerk seasoning rub; Busha Browne's I think I only paid about $5 for it at my favorite store ever, Russo's Market in Watertown, MA. When I got it I knew I needed it but I wasn't sure what I needed it for. Well obviously it was for page 105 in this book!!

So this recipe is wicked easy to do. Cut up about half pound of BACON in half inch strips. I used the double smoked bacon that Noel and I get every week at Russo's. It's so good but a little pricey, I am sure that regular thick cut bacon would work. Dice a large yellow onion, four ounces of shiitake mushrooms destemmed and thickly sliced. So need a side note and there will be a lot of these in posts to come cause Noel does not like mushrooms, Noel doesn't like a lot of things, she is a WICKED PICKY EATER! So I used less than four ounces of mushrooms and it still came out fine. Back to the meal you are going to need two large garlic cloves, minced, two pounds jumbo shrimp. Now I used pre-cooked from Shaws but that was because they didn't have raw jumbo shrimp. I hate the store in Lower Allston but it's close to my apartment and most of the time it's adequate. Now the next ingredient is Rum, that's right I know this is "the love of wine and cooking" but sometimes and, I can't believe I am saying this, but sometimes you don't need to cook with wine. Noel had seen the Kraken black spiced rum in a store looked it up had ever since wanted to try it out so we went to a few of our local liquor stores and finally found it at the Wine Emporium on Columbus Street in the South End. It's actually reasonably priced rum and tastes pretty damn good, plus it has an octopus on the bottle and looks like the kind of bottle Black Beard would have drank from. Again, back to the recipe. Finish up with a 28 ounce can of diced tomatoes 3 teaspoons of Jamaican jerk paste, one teaspoon fennel seed (this recipe was great it allowed me to buy yet another spice for my kitchen. I LOVE when that happens) salt and fresh ground pepper and last quarter cup of fresh chopped cilantro. Oh how I LOVE the smell of fresh cut cilantro!!

Now time to cook. First take a shot of rum. Why not, it's been a long day hasn't it? You deserve a quick shot of rum. Take the bacon put it in a heavy casserole (I used my new favorite thing ever, my dutch oven) and over medium heat render half the fat. In words of Homer Simpson "agagagagaga bacon fat". After you have drooled over the bacon fat, add the onion, mushrooms, and garlic and saute until onion is slightly colored and make sure to stir this so nothing burns. By this time your kitchen smells great!!  Add the shrimp over med-high heat and cook until pink on both sides turning over often. Now take another shoot of rum..... come on, why not? This is why we cook isn't it? Pour the 1/3 cup of rum and scrape the browned bits. Cook for about a minute or two just long enough to slightly reduce the liquid. Stir in the tomatoes, jerk paste, fennel seeds, salt and pepper and bring to a boil. Add in the cilantro and simmer for five minuets. Now your whole house should smell amazing!!

I served this with rice noodles to give it a more interesting look, and a quick brussel sprout/bacon mash. This is so easy to make. Cut up bacon in small pieces, render some fat off, add diced carrots and let cook for two maybe three minuets just enough to soften the carrots a little. Add the diced onions, diced celery and a little minced garlic and cook just until you can start to smell goodness. Now add the diced brussel sprouts. Cook for about five minuets and just before you think they are done I like to cover and let them steam for another minuet or two. This is an awesome side dish that I like to put with everything.

Since I cooked with Rum this time and not wine, I made a rum drink to go with our meal. This one was not only easy but quite tasty. Two ounces rum, one ounce amaretto and a splash of coke. When it comes to mixed drinks, I eye ball everything. An ounce is about a two second pour.

Serve the Jerk Shrimp and sauce over the noodles and plate the mash. Viola a meal that pirates and land lovers can both enjoy.