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.

Gewurztraminer and Chicken a True Love Affair

Lately I have been searching the web for new recipes to try and blog about. I have found a lot of great meals that I plan to make in the future. I founded a great website, finecooking.com, this website has so many great ideas for dinner. I had some chicken that I had to cook and I knew I wanted to drink a Gewurztraminer with the chicken. I am in absolute love with Gewurztraminer, especially from Alsace. Plus it's a great pairing!! You don't always need red white with meat. So I Googled Gewurztraminer and  chicken and found a meal that I couldn't wait to make. Braised Chicken with Gewurztraminer, it's a lot like Coq au Vin but delightfully different. It's also a meal that takes some time to make, so it's not an easy weekday meal.

Braised Chicken with Gewurztraminer
Here's what you'll need:
Two-Three pounds Chicken Thighs seasoned with salt
Cup of grapes I used seedless green
Large yellow onion chopped
Two garlic cloves chopped
750 ml Gewurztraminer
Two cup chicken broth
Thyme
Half cup heavy cream
Two teaspoons corn starch

You need to start by browning the chicken in Dutch Oven over Medium/High heat in a tablespoon oil. Don't crowed the Chicken if need be brown them in batches. Set them aside in a bowl, and dump out all but two tablespoons of fat. Add the cup of grapes and cook about two/three minutes. Set them aside and add the onions with a pinch of salt and cook until they are softened. Then add the garlic and cook two more minutes. After the onions and garlic have added their aroma to the room add in the wine making sue to stir up all the brown bites left from the chicken thighs and let reduce by half.

Return the chicken to the pot, add the both and thyme. The recipe called for two tablespoons but all the comments said it was a bit bland, so I added twice as much thyme. Let this come to a simmer, then cover and let cook for 25 minutes. Then take the chicken out of the pot and set a side in a bowl.

Now for the sauce. Bring the liquid to a rapid boil and reduce to two and half cups. Whisk together the cream and corn starch together. Whisk the mixture into the liquid making sure to whisk it until the sauce thickens up. Salt (I used a grey sea salt with herbs that I bought at Beacon Hill Wine and Gourmet in Melrose.) and pepper (I used my own blend of white, green and black pepper corns) to taste. Again the comments were that this came out bland so I added about a tablespoon of each. Put the chicken and grapes back in the sauce and let simmer another five minutes. I served the dish with egg noodles and green beans.

Wow, did this come out great. In the fall when Moscato Grapes are available I would use them instead of the green grapes, but other than that this is a meal that I want to make when people come over for dinner. It took over a hour and half to cook and had a lot of tasks, but it was real easy to make and was the type of meal that makes you feel like a five star chef.

THE WINE:
So what do you serve with a meal like this? No brainier: you serve the wine that you cooked with. It's the perfect pairing as it will not over power or be over powered by the sauce. As I said, I love Gewurztraminer. Most people think it's a German grape but they would be wrong. Gewurz is the German word for spice but the wine is from the village Tramin in Italy. They do speak German in this region. The grape does best in cooler climate so it does well in Northern Italy, Germany and parts of France, mostly Alsace.

In Alsace it can range from dry to very sweet, I personally like the more off-dry styles, like the Gewurztraminer from Joseph Cattin. They have been growing grapes in Alsace since the 18th century, in the 1850s they started making exceptional wines from the region. At the end of the 19th century phylloxera came to destroy European vineyards (sent from the USA by accident). Joseph Cattin studied how to beat the tiny pests and became a very important person by saving the region. I love many of the wines from this vineyard that I have tasted, especially the Riesling and Gewurztraminer. The Gewurztraminer has a wonderful fragrant nose of spicy, tropical fruit and rose petals. As you taste it you get lost in spicy, exotic fruit. It has a great body and the acid really helps calm down the sweetness. This is an fantasticly awesome bottle of wine. I can't wait to dink another bottle of this wine.    

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    

Redtree in The White Mountains

Over the weekend my buddy Tom and I went on a White Mountain hiking trip. It was awesome, we had great weather, great views and we made great food. This time we took a 16 mile trip hitting six mountains, most of them under 4,000 feet, but the last one is a top 10.  Moosilauke is 4802 feet and has some of the best views I have seen so far. 360 degrees and it's the first of the 4,000 plus in the Whites so you have an outstanding view of the rest of the chain. It was a pretty challenging hike, the first day we had to climb straight up, 3,200 feet, right away, and from then on until we hit Asquam Ridge Trail, the trip was up 3,000, down 2,500, up 2,500, down 3,000, up 4,000.

When we finally hit the ridge it was all smooth sailing to the top. The top was really stunning, as you come out of the tree line the turf turns from rocky to a grassy field. Most of the mountains I have been on top of, especially above 4,500 feet, have been all rock face. The hardest part of the trip was the 2.6 miles down, 4,802 feet. I thought the decline would never end, it was like we were marching to the core of the earth. All in all, the trip was one of the best.

If you read The of Love of Wine and Hiking post  you would know that I like to eat well when I'm out hiking. This time I bought some beef jerky  at Nasty Nonni's in Saugus, Janey's beef jerky. It's gourmet beef jerky!! SO GOOD!! So we had the beef jerky, couscous, and asparagus for dinner. It's real easy to do and uses very little gas for the stove. You boil 1 1/4 cup water to 1 cup couscous. While the water is coming to a boil add the asparagus, shallot and beef jerky. When it comes to a boil add the couscous and take it off the heat. Let it sit five minutes and eat. The beef jerky comes back to life and is a real nice treat after a long day of hiking. The problem this time it was a little bland. I had in the pack a red pepper, garlic clove, lemon rosemary oil and old bay. I should have sauteed the shallot, garlic, red pepper and asparagus before adding water and beef jerky. It was a good meal and was great after such a long day. Luckily I had wine and bought a dessert from REI. It was a chocolate pudding: just add cold water, stir up, and let sit 10 minutes.

Breakfast, on the other hand, came out awesome. We brought some eggs (we had already taken them out of the shell and had in a ziplock bag) and made scrambled eggs. We had a dried sausage that I bought at Beacon Hill Wine and Gourmet. I cut that up, added half garlic clove, half red pepper (cut up), the rest of the asparagus and sauted them in the lemon rosemary oil. After it started to smell great, we added the eggs and let them cook about five minutes, then covered them for three more. This was better than any breakfast I've had in a long while. It was a great start to an eight mile hike.

I do like to bring wine with me camping. It is a treat that is worth it's weight in gold. It is hard to bring wine because there's glass (weights a lot) and you have to to bring a half bottle or less due to space in the pack. Lucky for me Redtree Winery just came out with a plastic 187ml (about one glass of wine) bottle of wine. They have Cabernet, Chardonnay and White Zinfandel in this size so far. Great for camping, at the pool, on a boat or when you just want a glass of wine at night. Redtree makes good, inexpensive, everyday wines that go great with dinner. I love their mission statement, "Redtree offers consumers fresh, fruit forward, distinctive varietals of consistent quality and exceptional value that are ready for immediate consumption. These wines are ideal as an aperitif and complement everyday meals as well as special occasions.   We bring global winemaking expertise and resources, focusing on what the consumer demands:  a fruit forward wine style, consistency and excellent value.  We are small enough to provide outstanding service, while big enough to bring the world of wine to our portfolio - authentic, bold, and progressive.", it's so true. I took the Cabernet up with us and it went great with the dinner. Nice dark jammy cherry, medium/full body and softer tannin. Next time I make a stir fry at home I may just open a bottle. Redtree is a wine that my company sells and it's pretty popular wine for us. Right now they are having a contest on Facebook. It's about who has the best looking case stack in a store. If you are on Facebook please go and vote for me, the second link will bring you to their Facebook page, my picture is The Wine Emporium, Boston by Dan.

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.