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!!

It Takes a Strong Man to Make a Tender Chicken

One time while in Liquor Land in Boston, I was telling the story to a whiskey rep about how I got made fun of for adding ice to my bourbon. He told me, "It takes a strong man to make a tender chicken."

While I was on Martha's Vineyard, Sami gave me some lavender. I'm hoping for more so Noel and I can use it in this year's Christmas Spirit. At first I was thinking I'd infuse my own olive oil with this batch. By the time I got off the ferry in Falmouth, I had come up with a meal that was blog quality: lemon lavender chicken. Monday I was in Melrose, talking to one of my favorite foodies, Rebecca, at Becon Hill Wine and Gorumet. She mentioned how she had just sold out of a lemon olive oil she sells. As I drove away, I couldn't get the oil out of my mind and it came to me: infuse my own lemon olive oil. It was pretty easy, and I really feel it made this meal more gourmet, and I get bragging rights that I took the time to infuse the oil.

Tuesday night I made the oil.
THE OIL:
First you need the zest of two lemons (about a cup give or take). I don't have a zest tool (WTF I don't have something? Don't worry it's now on the list near the top!) so I used a cheese grater. In a sauce pan I added one cup oil, the lemon and cooked it on low for 15 minutes making sure to stir every few minutes. Then I let it sit for two hours. About 10 minutes into the resting I decided to add a tablespoon lavender, I wish I had thought about this before I started. After the two hours I poured the oil into my oil holder, it's a dark red ceramic jar, perfect so no sun light can cause the lemon oil to go bad. So easy, so much fun and I will do this over and over again.

THE CHICKEN:
So after the oil was done I took two tablespoons of the lemon/lavender mix and added a tablespoon fresh lavender, a teaspoon pink peppercorns and half teaspoon sea salt (I added the fresh items to the mortar and crushed them up a little). I put them all in a ziplock bag with a 1/4 cup infused olive oil and four chicken thighs and marinated them over night.

All day I had chicken on the brain, I could't wait to make this meal that I have been thinking about since Sunday. When I started dinner pre-heated the oven to 400. I stuck a meat thermometer in one of thighs (I don't like going off time I rather know my meat is done especially chicken! Thighs need to be at 175F.) and stuck it in the oven. After the temperature got to around 80F (it started at 55F) I dropped the heat down to 350F and covered the chicken with tin foil. Right after that was done I started the wild rice. I love wild rice it goes so well with everything and makes it feel more special of a meal. When the chicken got to 150F I uncovered the chicken. By that time the rice was done and I started the summer squash. I cut the squash with the mandolin and pan fried them in the lemon oil, three minutes a side. They came great and had a small hint of caramel. The whole meal came out better than I could have ever imagined. The chicken was little more lemon and less lavender than I had hoped for but cooked wise it was PERFECT! Tender and juicy, just perfect!!

The wine tonight was harder than I thought. Right away I wanted to drink a Gamay with it. Gamay is famous for being the only grape from Beaujolais. It's a weird grape, similarish to Pinot Noir, well kinda. They can be very fragrant, fruit forward and fresh, floral esters. When young they can be tart and are not a grape that is known for aging. I myself am not a huge fan of the wines of Beaujolais but the Gamay from the Lorie Valley can be more lively and tarter. So I went out looking for a Lorie Valley Gamay. None of the stores that I visited or called had one. I was real disappointed until I found a bottle of Cinsault at the Wine Emporium on Columbus Ave. I have never seen a bottle of single varietal Cinsault before and Laura the wine buyer was sure the wine would go with the meal. I was more than excited to try this one, Domaine Des Terres Falmet. It's a very simple yet delightful wine. It has a very nice floral nose with hints of lavender and spice and the palate has wonderful cherries, herbs and pepper. It went awesome with the meal and was a great addition to my off the beaten path wines.

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.