Winter Warming Menu

It was our turn to host dinner club again, but I forgot to take pictures :( So all I give you is a description. You'll have to let your mind fill in the colors and smells. Given the chill of winter - even snow falling the morning of our dinner - I went for warm, hearty comfort food.  The first course was a hot Creamy Mushroom Soup with Mushroom Chips from an old Food & Wine magazine.  The soup tastes velvety, almost cream-like even though there is no cream - it's all in the blending. A bonus is the mushroom chips on top - they are addictable (addictive and delectable). Earthy and crunchy. I recommend making a few extras for snacking!  We served this with a Ferrari-Carano Fume Blanc, which also went into the soup.

The main course was a one-dish wonder - Smoked Sausage Cassoulet. This exemplifies the best of French bistro cooking. A hint of clove, rosemary and sage gives the dish a wintery feel and warms the insides. A Rhone-style wine pairs well with this. We finished off the meal with Chocolate Pound Cake with Raspberry Sorbet and Vanilla Ice Cream, paired with Pedroncelli Port from the Dry Creek area of Sonoma. The best part of the meal?  The company. We love our dinner club friends!

Bubbles!

Just in the nick of time we bring you the results from our latest wine tasting of the year...bubbles!  We upped the ante this time and splurged on a more expensive selection than our previous tastings. Instead of tasting different types of bubbles (e.g., Prosecco, Cava, Spumante, Sekt), we adhered to ones made in the traditional French champagne method (méthode champenoise)--specifically, non-vintage bruts. We tasted three from France and one from California.  Again, a blind tasting, although now that I'm reading Eric Asimov's latest book How to Love Wine: A Memoir and Manifesto, we might have to switch that up (a great Christmas gift from my lovely husband). Asimov argues, quite convincingly, against blind tastings.

Nevertheless, we drank our bubbles blind. The first three listed below (and left to right in the picture above) are from France, the last in order is from Anderson Valley, California.

1. Nicholas Feuillatte, Brut Reserve - $39.99
2. Heidsieck & Co., Monopole, Premier Cru - $49.99
3. Louis Roederer, Brut Premier - $49.99
4. Roederer Estate, Brut - $22.99

Not surprisingly, we loved all of them and would drink any of them if served. I found the Nicholas Feuillatte had a sweet nose and lovely taste, but it was a little sweet for most.  The Heidsieck & Co. had a nice nuttiness to it and seemed to most closely resemble what a few of us think of when we imagine champagne. However, it had a short finish. The bubbliest was the Roederer Estate and was the top pick for most. However, there were several of us that had the Louis Roederer as our top pick. When I first tasted the Louis Roederer I thought it smelled of mushrooms and was a little worried, but second, third and many more tastes proved to me that it had a delightful quality and beautiful small bubbles.

What we missed in the event was a saber opening of the bottles. Just didn't have one handy - nor the skill to pull it off. I've seen it done - by a British Cavalry officer at a "beat the millennium ball" that friends put together in Baltimore to ring in 1999. Now that makes an impression!

So, go out, get your bubbles and saber ready (and a handsome British Cavalry officer, if handy) and enjoy the New Year's celebrations! Happy New Year to you and yours.

Sonoma memories

Summer vacation, ahhh. Only a few months late. We just returned from a week in Sonoma, California. What a wonderful trip full of wine tasting, good food, and beautiful fall colors in the vineyards. I highly recommend the Vintners Inn as a lodging location near Santa Rosa. It consists of three two-story buildings that house the rooms, which results in a cozy, private-like setting. Our room overlooked the vineyard and had a petite patio on which to lounge and enjoy the fall colors. Importantly, it also had a jogging path through the surrounding vineyards. After all the tasting and eating, we definitely wanted to take advantage of an exercise option in the idyllic setting. However, instead of their breakfast, which didn't rank high on my list, go to Flying Goat Coffee in Santa Rosa or Healdsburg. Delicious coffee and pastries are available. I also sampled espresso at Bad Ass Coffee because it sounded fun. Turns out it wasn't much to look at other than the cute ass logo, which didn't come out too well in the photo, but the espresso was very, very good.

From one stimulant to another...the wine tasting is outstanding in Sonoma - over 70 wineries to visit.  Needless to say, we didn't quite get to them all. The sights also delighted. From salmon swimming up streams to beautiful gardens and a bronze wild pig statue. Next post....all the wines we tasted and falling in love with Pinot. Enjoy a few winery pics in the meantime!





Tasting Event #3

Thanksgiving is just around the corner, so we tasted four wines that should go well with turkey and fixin's. With help from our friends at Midtown Wine & Spirits, we picked out four very different wines - two whites and two reds:

1. A German Riesling: Von Schleinitz from Mosel - Weissenberg Kabinett  @ $19.99
2. A South African Chenin Blanc: Secateurs @ $16.99
3. A California Pinot Noir: Belle Glos Meiomi @ $19.99
4. A French Syrah-Grenache blend from the Languedoc region: H & B (Hecht & Bannier) Minervois @ $19.99

In order to determine which went best with thanksgiving food, we also served small plates of fall tastes - tenderized turkey breast steaks topped with stuffing and smothered in provolone with a splash of gravy, roasted sliced brussel sprouts with bacon, and a sweet and gold potato gratin.

So, our results: the Reisling was a little too sweet for most people on its own.  It was much better with the food, but some still thought it was too sweet. The Chenin Blanc was delicious on its own with a good minerality to it.  It had the acidity to cope with the richness of the food, yet it didn't really stand up well against the food. That is, it didn't bring anything to the food and its own flavors disappeared.  The Pinot Noir was the big hit, combining some nice up-front fruit with a bit of spice.  It was delicious by itself but paired extremely well with the food, especially the brussel sprouts. If you wanted something a little heartier than a Pinot Noir, the Minervois was exceptional. The Syrah-Grenache blend and style is similar to that of more widely available Cotes-du-Rhones, should you have trouble finding an offering from Minervois in your wine shop.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Tasting Event #2

Sadly, my write-up from our last tasting is way overdue.  My apologies.  Sincere thanks go to Bradley at Midtown & Spirits for helping us pick out a great selection of five pinot noirs. Our second tasting consisted of pinots from New Zealand, France (Burgundy region), the Willamette Valley in Oregon and another from Russian River Valley, California. The last was an inexpensive, mass market, pinot noir from California.

Here are the details on the five:

1. Mark West, California (mass market wine) - $10.99
2. Nobilo Icon, New Zealand - $14.99
3. Argyle, Willamette Valley, Oregon - $22.99
4. LWC, Loring Wine Company, Russian River Valley, California - $19.99
5. Marsannay, Louis Latour, the Burgundy region in France - $22.99

We paired the tastings with several cheeses, charcuterie and fresh ripe figs wrapped in prosciutto. While we did a blind tasting again, I was certain I knew which one I would like best. Imagine my surprise when what I thought would be my favorite turned out third on my list.  My first and second favorites were as much a surprise as was the group's consensus.  As happened last time, everyone liked all of them and would happily drink any of them (let's just say that no one in the group was sipping & spitting), but side-by-side (don't judge us too harshly) the Mark West, the least expensive, came in first.  Although it was neither a clear nor unanimous favorite (Nobilo & Argyle also got first-place votes), it was the definite winner as a value proposition. Our rank orderings diverged dramatically.  My second place was the New Zealand Pinot Noir.  What I had expected to by my favorite, the Argyle from Willamette Valley, came in as my third favorite. There was no consensus on the least favorite.

As for taste profiles, as reconstructed from sketchy notes and fading memory, the Mark West had a spiciness to it that stood out from the others and, perhaps surprisingly for a wine at that price point, clearly improved with time. The Marsannay had a bit of the earthiness that one associates with Burgundy, LWC had a floral nose and hints of strawberry, the Nobilo was black cherry, and the Argyle was silky smooth with hints of violet.

Next up...Turkey wines. What goes best with a Thanksgiving meal? Paired, of course, with a little turkey and other thanksgiving edibles.

Baked Figs and Bread

Just about ready for the oven.  Old fashioned health nut bread (http://acooksmusings.blogspot.com/2011/04/bread-old-fashioned-way.html) and baked figs with Madeira and thyme (and a little brown sugar).

Julie Child's Influence?

Reading articles about Julia Child's recent 100th birthday by Jacques Pépin, Julia Moskin and others made me reminisce about why I became interested in cooking.  I barely knew who Julia Child was when I was young.  Sure, I had heard of her, but had never seen her show nor did we have her cookbooks.  Maybe my mother was influenced by her.  This was the 70s when family meals were becoming something to be cherished as more and more mothers entered and stayed in the workplace.  My mother was one of those. She was a teacher, always working, always devoted to her students. There was rarely a night during the school year when she wasn't grading papers or working on lesson plans.  In addition, she sewed our clothes, gardened, taught piano lessons, hauled us to our own lessons - ballet, symphony, cello, violin, and flute. How she ever did all of that and put not only food on the table, but also good food is still an amazing feat to me.

She was and is an adventurous and good cook. She has never seen a recipe she couldn't adapt to what she had on hand. My husband complains that I picked up this habit of not following recipes from her - I frequently disagree with recipes - either the ingredient list or more often their preparation instructions. My husband, being a scientist, thinks recipes are written to be followed exactly and when I first met him, he followed the instructions on the boxed mac & cheese box literally - it said 6 cups of water, he used 6 cups of water. He said they wouldn't have written instructions if they weren't meant to be followed. Sigh, the scientist versus the adventurous cook. While science has a great deal to do with cooking, I didn't think boxed mac & cheese was one of those areas that needed strict rules. However, the most frequent reason I change recipes is that there are certain methods I was taught at the Cordon Bleu that I completely abide by as tried and true methods. While I've never scientifically tested if they make a difference, I will change a recipe's methods to adhere to my training. Sheesh, what a stick in the mud I can be and so hypocritical of my husband wanting to following the mac & cheese box recipe!

I think I get my love of reading recipes and cookbooks from my mother as well. For years I kept all the little free cookbooks a young child could get from mail away coupons, tear-away sections from magazines, or pick up at the grocery store. We didn't buy a lot of real cookbooks when I was young. You just didn't do that. We had Betty Crocker, a smattering of others, and we subscribed to Sunset Magazine - this was all that one really needed and certainly all it took to plant a seed for me.

Another great part about growing up in my family were the cherished visits to the Pike Place Market in downtown Seattle. While we lived a little less than an hour outside of Seattle, my grandparents lived in the city and once in a while when we went to visit them my mother and grandmother would take me and my sister to Pike Place. Back then it was a bit grungy and hippy in a seedy part of town, but to a young kid the wonderful labyrinth of shops and stalls was a fascinating and awe-inspiring view into unknown worlds. I remember a shop on the second floor - or was it the third? I always got lost. It was just down the stairs from the fish stalls that now have hundreds of tourists flocking to see the fish fly. It was an Italian market with dried fruits I had never seen before, pastas in shapes that seemed to mean something (no, not like the crude shapes made into space needles, penises, or what have you today).  These were pastas that were meant for particular sauces and that was intriguing.  There were also dried beans galore - shapes and colors that someone knew how to cook.  I wanted to know how to cook these beans and wanted to know why one pasta was destined for one sauce and another for something else. I loved Pike Place. I still go back when I can on visits to Seattle, but it's changed now that markets are ultra-trendy.  I'm grateful that it has survived and still love it, but it's lost a little of its marvel. The hippy, weird shops are mostly gone, replaced by high-end chic shops, but the essential food stalls are still there and some of the restaurant additions and alley shops just outside the market have added wonderful edibles to explore.

So, between family influence and unique opportunities that a time and place provided me, I came to love thinking about food and how to cook it. For whatever influence Julia Child had on that, I am grateful.

Tasting Event #1

We are playing with the notion of hosting a monthly tasting event. Having science backgrounds we find ourselves highly entertained by comparison tastings - does a Caipirinha taste better with 51 Cachaça or Pitú Cachaça?  Does a Manhattan taste better with 100% Rye or a blend of Rye and Bourbon? How do single malt Scotch Whiskys taste different by Scottish distillery and region?  Why stop with liquor, how about cheeses or chocolates?  And, better yet, why not share the fun with others? Yes, we have sciency friends, too, although that's not a prerequisite.

The warm weather of summer made us lean toward white wines as a first foray - crisp and cool would be welcome during this brutally hot summer. However, on second thought, we decided on Rosé wines. These delightful wines, best served between 10-12°C, provide an equally refreshing respite from the heat, and at our local wine shop we have noticed a growing selection each time we return. I was delighted to explore something that had been scorned in the US for many years (likely due to its association with White Zin), but now appears to have surged in popularity.

The difficult part in this entire plan was narrowing down which ones to taste. We ended up with nine guests for our first event and, while there is no rule in my book on how many wines one should taste at a tasting, we decided on four wines for this first foray. Once we knew how many we would taste, we then had to decide how to pick. Do we pick across countries (Chile, France, Spain, Italy, etc.) or, perhaps, within a country but across its regional variations? Because many different regions of France were represented among the offerings at our favorite local shop (Midtown Wine & Spirits), we decided to stay within France. We ended up with wines from the Loire Valley, the Rhone Valley, Provence, and the Savoie region (near the Alps). They were all 2011 vintages and cost between $14 and $20.  Here were the wines we served:

1. Rosé Gamay from Les Rocailles (Appellation Vin De Savoie, near the Alps) at $15.99
2. Rosé d'Anjou from Monmaousseau (Appellation Rosé d'Anjou, in the Loire valley) at $13.99
3. Commanderie de la Bargemone (Appellation Coteaux d'Aix en Provence) at $18.99
4. Chateau de Tringuevedel (Appellation Tavel, in the Rhone Valley) at $19.99

Now that wines were picked and guests had rsvp'd, we had to decide on nibbles to serve and the process of the event. We wanted the wines to speak for themselves so my husband opened the wines, removing all the foil, and put them into paper bags. Once he left the room, my job was to come in and number the bags randomly and then place them in order from 1 to 4. This allowed us to also participate in tasting without preconceived notions of what the wine would taste like (the Provence Rosé we served was one we drink often).

Each guest was given four wine glasses (renting glassware is easy and fairly cheap), some 3x5 note cards, oyster crackers and water for palate cleansing. Nosh was self-serve at their leisure. We provided cured meats, pecorino and idiazabal cheeses, olive tapanade, tomato bruschetta topping, and tomato-based spicy curry topping, along with sliced baguette and crackers.

At 4pm we all convened and proceeded to taste, compare and contrast. While I determined that I would drink any of the wines, we all had our favorites. I was alone in casting my vote for favorite to the Tavel, a wine that one guest said wanted to be a red wine. I prefer reds to anything else, so I guess I'm not surprised at my choice. The majority rated the Provence Rosé as the one they'd most likely buy. Provence is known as the Rosé region in France so our friends confirmed its reputation. This wine had the perfect balance of bright fruit flavors with a dry finish. The wine from the Savoie region was a little too understated for most, while the Rosé d'Anjou was on the sweet side for several of us. All except the Savoie received a vote for favorite, so we didn't end up with any skunks thanks to the help from our wine purveyor.

All in all I think we've hit upon a successful idea that we're excited to continue. For the next couple of weeks we get to ponder what will be next month's tasting!  Comment with your ideas and we'll let you know what we decide and how it turns out.

Dinner Menu - composed and executed

The long wait was over yesterday morning after a trip to the local farmers market.  In the paper this morning it said that there are now 7,864 farmers markets across the United States, a growth of 9.6% over last year and far exceeding the 1,744 back in 1994.  What a great trend!  We've loved the farmers markets in our backyards from the Pike Place Market in Seattle, to the Bloomington Farmers Market in Bloomington, Indiana, to the St. Philips Market in Tucson, Arizona to now the West Nashville Farmers Market in Nashville, Tennessee.

The farmers market made our decisions and here is what we ended up with...

Watermelon Mint Margaritas with Chips, Salsa and Fresh Guacamole (watermelon, cucumber and jalapenos from the market, mint from our small container garden)

Mini Quesadillas - 2 varieties: 1) Roasted Corn, Negro Chilies, Goat Cheese, Garlic Chives; 2) Manchego and Chorizo. The corn was from the market and fresh negro chilies and garlic chives were from our container garden (chilies were grown from seed bought at Native Seeds/SEARCH).

Classic Andalusian Gazpacho (tomatoes, cucumber, and green peppers from the market)

Puerco Pibil and Cilantro Rice (tomatoes and anaheim chilies from the market)

Jicama and Red Pepper Slaw with Cumin-Orange Dressing (red and green peppers, red cabbage from the market)

Oaxacan Chocolate Pot du Creme (made with Xocolatl chocolate picked up at the Tucson farmers market earlier in the year)

What makes a great meal, though, are the guests and we are lucky in having wonderful friends to share our evenings with.  Thank you!

Dinner Menu Planning...Stage 3

The day is almost upon us.  I've decided what the main course will be, which helps narrow the rest of the menu. Now for a trip to the farmer's market in the morning and we'll be ready to call it a final menu. Will share soon!