Chef Bolek

Masaledar Cholay (Chickpeas in Spicy Tomato Gravy)

2012-02-26T09:30:00.003-05:00

I am not a fan of making vegetarian dishes and I often say I will eat anything that is not vegetarian. It stems from my belief that every dish benefits from the addition of a little (or a lot) of meat. However, I do eat vegetarian dishes. Since I have been married to my beautiful Angel, I have begun to cook with vegetables and make dishes that I would never have made in the past. One such dish is this recipe for Chickpeas in Spicy Tomato Gravy.

Chickpeas in a Spicy Tomato Sauce is actually known as Masaledar Cholay, a Punjabi dish that is popular in both Pakistan and India. A cholay is a chickpea masala. The Pakistani version uses potatoes; however, the Indian version uses tomatoes.

The key to Masaledar Cholay is the "gravy." It begins with the processing of garlic, ginger and jalapenos into a paste, which is added with dry spices (coriander, cumin and cayenne) to the sauteeing onions. The liquid of the gravy comes from tomatoes and water, although I will admit that I left out the water. Many recipes call for the gravy to be "almost dry." I just used the water in the tomatoes, as they broke down, to provide the liquid for the gravy. Although it was not "almost dry," it was very flavorful from the paste and the spices.

In the end, this is an amazing dish. Both Clare and I really enjoyed it. Masaledar Cholay makes a great side dish or appetizer. It can also stand alone as a main course, served with naan or fried Indian bread such as pooris or bhatooras.

MASALEDAR CHOLAY

(Chickpeas in Spicy Tomato Gravy)

Adapted from a recipe by Sanjeev Kapoor in Food & Wine

Serves 2 to 3

Ingredients:

1/2 cup vegetable oil

1 1/2 onions, cut into 1/4 inch dice

1 cup of water

Salt

1/3 teaspoon of cayenne powder

1 tablespoon cilantro leaves

1 tablespoon of ground cumin

1 inch fresh ginger, peeled and chopped

1 jalapeno chopped

1 15 ounce can of chickpeas, drained and rinsed

1 tablespoon of ground coriander

3/4 cup of canned diced tomatoes

Directions:

1. Create a garlic/jalapeno/ginger paste. In a food processor, process the chopped garlic, jalapenos and ginger into a paste.

2. Saute the onions. In a non-stick frying pan, heat the oil over medium high heat. Add the onions and cook for three minutes. Reduce the heat and continue to saute the onions until they are brown, about seven more minutes.

3. Add the spices. Add the paste to the onions and stir until fragrant, which should take about two minutes. Add the cumin, coriander and cayenne. Stir and cook for an additional minute.

4. Add the tomatoes. Add the tomatoes and continue to simmer over moderate heat until the mixture begins to thicken. This should take about six minutes.

5. Add the chickpeas. Add the chickpeas and the water . Continue to simmer for about eight minutes or until the chickpeas are flavored with the gravy.

6. Plate the dish. Season the chickpeas with salt, garnish with the cilantro and serve in small bowls. This dish can be served with yogurt and/or naan, pooris, or bhatooras bread.

PAIRING THIS DISH

Food & Wine suggests that the best pairing for Masaledar Cholay is a fruity, Italian rosato. Rosato wines are produced in Tuscany and Piedmont, including Banfi's Rosa Regale. I have not reviewed any Italian rosato wines, but I have reviewed a French rosé wine from the Loire Valley, which I think could work well with this dish:

Famille Bougrier -- Rosé d'Anjou (2010)
Grolleau grapes
D'Anjou, Loire Valley, France
Flavors of fresh strawberries and raspberries

Other French regions also produce some great rosé wines, such as Provence. As always, Indian dishes also pair well with beers. Indian beers, like Taj Mahal and Kingfisher, are lager beers, so I would recommend a light to medium lager beer with this dish. I think a pilsner beer, which is brewed in the lager style, could work well with this cholay. One such pilsner beer that could work well is this beer:

Great Lakes Brewing Co. -- The Wright Pils
Pilsner
Cleveland, Ohio, USA
Slight hoppiness, some malt

ENJOY!

Vale do Bomfim Douro (2009)

2012-02-24T07:28:00.000-05:00

When it comes to wine and Portugal, one most often thinks of Port, the fortified wine from the Douro Valley. This is probably due to the fact that the large Port houses -- like Dow -- have been successfully making the wine for centuries. However, these same houses have also begun to use their grapes to produce both red and white wines. One such red wine is the Douro, which has its own DOC, or Denominação de Origem Controlada.

The Douro DOC is found along the Douro River in the Trás os Montes e Alto Douro of northern Portugal. The principal red grape varieties in this DOC include the Tinta Barroca, Touriga Nacional, Tinta Roriz (also known as the Tempranillo grape in Spain) and Tinto Cao. Many of these grapes are used in the production of Port; however, the Port House of Dow has taken these grapes to produce the Vale do Bomfin, a red wine that I found at a local grocery store.

The Vale do Bomfin is produced by the Symington family. This is the family that owns and operates the venerable Dow Port House, which has been producing Port wine since 1798. The Val do Bonfim is named after Quinta do Bonfim, which is where the Dow House has its headquarters. This Douro wine is a blend of five grape varietals. For this vintage, the blend is 30% Tinta Barroca, 25% Touriga Franca, 25% Touriga Nacional, 15% Tinta Roriz, and 5% Tinto Cao. The family describes this Douro wine as reflecting "the new style of wine of wines coming from the Upper Douro valley, where it offers assertive spice aromas and delicious wild berry flavors."

This intensely garnet-hued Douro wine provides a lot of wild berry aromas and flavors, such as cherries, black cherries and a small handful of raspberries. This Douro also has a little oak and earthiness hiding amongst all of that fruit, in the background of a this rather bold wine, providing a subtle reminder of the aging of the wine. The wine also is rather tannic, providing a certain dryness and astringency that often comes from big, bold red wines.

Like those big bold wines, the Val do Bonfim is best paired with red meats, whether grilled, broiled or pan seared. This wine would also pair well with flatbreads or pizzas that have red sauces, sausage, and mushrooms. And, speaking of sausage, this wine would also pair well with the iconic Portuguese sausage ... linguiça, along with chourico (or chorizo).

I found this wine at a local grocery store. It sells for about $9.99 for one bottle.

ENJOY!

Saffron Infused Lobster, Roasted Peppers, Arugula

2012-02-22T14:09:00.000-05:00

Recently, my beautiful Angel, Clare, wanted me to make her a salad. I wanted to try something different. The result is this dish. It is an experiment with different ingredients ... saffron, lobster, peppers, onions, arugula and pecorino romano. I decided to combine the first two, using the saffron to flavor the lobster. With respect to onions, I decided to let them soak in some red wine vinegar. The peppers were roasted. The arugula and pecorino romano were left alone.

As with most Chef Bolek originals, I posted this dish after the first attempt at making it. I think it is visually appealing, with a good contrast in colors .. the yellow, saffron-infused lobster, the orange roasted peppers, the pinkish onions, and the green arugula. The dish tasted good as well. The saffron obviously flavored the lobster, which contrasted well with the peppery arugula and the roasted flavors of the peppers.

Although I have a hard time getting back to making dishes a second time (there is so many recipes and so little time), I will revisit this recipe and work on this dish. I will also update the recipe based upon what I learn and how I improve it.

SAFFRON INFUSED LOBSTER, ROASTED PEPPERS, ARUGULA

A Chef Bolek Original

Serves 2

Ingredients:

3 to 4 four ounce lobster tails, shelled and cut into

bite sized pieces

1 green bell pepper, roasted and diced

1 red bell pepper, roasted and diced

1 medium shallot, finely diced

1/2 red onion, thinly sliced
1/4 cup of red wine vinegar

3 cups of baby arugula

1 pinch of saffron

2 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil

Freshly ground black pepper, to taste

Pecorino Toscano or Pecorino Romao, shaved

Sea salt, to taste

Directions:

1. Marinate the lobster and onions. Rehydrate the saffron in warm water for fifteen minutes in a medium sized bowl. Once the water has cooled, add the lobster and let it sit for about four to five minutes. In a separate bowl, pour 1 tablespoon of extra virgin olive oil. Remove the lobster from the saffron water and place the lobster (with as many saffron threads as possible, in the separate bowl. Refrigerate for at least fifteen minutes. In a separate bowl, add the red onions and the red wine vinegar. Mix to make sure that the vinegar covers all of the onions.

2. Saute the shallots. Heat the remaining olive oil in a skillet over medium high heat. Add the shallots and saute until translucent.

3. Saute the lobster. Add the lobster and saute the lobster until opaque, about eight minutes. Make sure to stir the lobster and make sure that all sides of the lobster are cooked. Add the roasted peppers to warm them again.

4. Plate the dish. Plate the arugula in the center of the dish. Add some of the onions on top of the arugula. Add some of the lobster on top of the onions, along with some shaved Pecorino.

PAIRING THIS DISH

This dish is best paired with a white wine. A range of white wines could work, although I would stick with a lighter, fruiter white wine. A wine such as a Pinot Gris or Sémillon would work well, such as one of these:

Lemelson Vineyards -- Tikka's Run Pinot Gris
100% Pinot Gris
Willamette Valley, Oregon, USA
Flavors of apricot, melon and fennel

L'Ecole No. 41 -- Columbia Valley Sémillon
100% Sémillon
Columbia Valley, Washington, USA
Flavors of pear and apple

Although white wines would work with this dish, I would steer clear from Chardonnays, especially oaked wines.

ENJOY!

The Devil's Saddler

2012-02-20T11:48:00.000-05:00

Roughly tranlsated, "Sella del Diavolo" means "The Devil's Saddler" or "Seat of the Devil." It is one of the beers from Birrificio Barley or "Barley."" Barley is a small craft brewer based in Maracalagonis, a town on the island of Sardinia. Barley produces three year round beers, including the Sella del Diavolo.

The Sella del Diavolo is brewed in the style of a Bière de Garde. This style is a farmhouse ale typically brewed in northern France. The name, "Bière de Garde," translates roughly into "beer that has been kept or lagered." Traditionally, the beer is brewed in early spring and then kept in cold cellars until the summertime.

According to the Beer Judge Certification Program, a Bière de Garde can be blond, amber or brown in color, with a malty sweet aroma and a taste that features toffee or caramel. A Bière de Garde draws more from the malts used to produce the beer than the hops. Indeed, there is usually little to no hop flavor in this style of beer.

The brewer, Barley, describes the Sella del Diavolo as having a "[w]inking amber color with orange reflections plus cream colored and persistent foam [that] reveals ... [the] torrified malts promising biscuit and roasted flavors." This description is largely accurate, with the beer's amber color having dark copper or rust tones.

As for the taste of the Sella del Diavolo, the brewer describes the beer as a "cohabitation" between "caramel and fruity (plums and morello cherry) notes and peppery and herbal notes coming from a long-sighted use of aromatic hops." The brewer adds, "[w]arm and vinuous in the palate with an appropriate dryness giving it a good between the sweet fruity, roasted, slightly smoked notes and a long, dry, very bitter aftertaste." For me, the beer definitely had a caramel flavor, but the supporting flavors were not so much fruit, but bready, biscuity flavors. There was a warmness, but the beer did not have the roasted, smoky notes. This may be due to the age of the beer, because I am not sure how long it sat on the shelves before I bought it and it was in our basement for a few months.

The brewer recommends pairing this beer with roast lamb or piglet which is slowly cooked over a fire, as well as medium but not to salty cheeses. Those suggestions are definitely spot on for this beer,although you do not need to roast an entire animal. The beer goes will with grilled or broiled steaks, lamb chops, and/or pork chops.

This beer is hard to find in beer stores. We found this beer at State Line Liquors in Elkton, Maryland, where, if I recall correctly, it sold for about $20.00 a bottle.

ENJOY!

Saffron Tagliatelle, Blue Crab, Cardamom Cream Sauce

2012-02-18T09:47:00.000-05:00

Every once in a while, I have the urge to make pasta. The urge is necessary because I have a rule against buying pasta that I can make my self. My most recent urge was to try to make saffron pasta. This is a lot harder than I thought. The first batch did not work at all. I was a little dispirited, but, I decided I would try again. After all, I was making dinner for my beautiful wife, who volunteers to try some of the unusual things that I make.

While saffron pasta may seem out of the ordinary, this dish falls within the category of "unusual dishes" because of the sauce. I did not want to do a red sauce or a white sauce. I wanted to do something different. As ingredients raced through my head, there was one that caught my attention .... cardamom. I thought that cardamom would match well with the saffron in the pasta. So, it was decided. I would make a cardamom cream sauce.

The sauce probably needs some work and refinement. The major components are heavy cream, citrus (lemon and lime) and cardamom. I used ground cardamom, but you could easily buy a few pods (green cardamom pods work best), toast them and grind them into powder. Finally, I added some crab, using both lump and backfin, so that there would be different sized pieces of crabmeat in the sauce.

The sauce turned out a little lighter than I expected, but this is probably because I am not a big fan of thick, white sauces. I could not bring myself to make an alfredo-type sauce, so I ended up with a lighter sauce that, while covering the noodles, did not really show though in the pasta.

Even though the sauce did not work out like I wanted, I am still fascinated by the saffron-cardamom pairing. I am definitely going to make this sauce again and I will update this post with each effort.

SAFFRON TAGLIATELLE, BLUE CRAB, CARDAMOM CREAM SAUCE

A Chef Bolek Original

Serves 3-4

Ingredients (for the pasta):

2 eggs, beaten

1 pinch of saffron

4 cups of all purpose flour

Ingredients (for the sauce):

1 pound crab meat (preferably jumbo lump meat, but
you can also use backfin meat or a combination)

1 cup of heavy cream

1 tablespoon of ground cardamom

1 teaspoon of ground cloves

Freshly grated nutmeg

Zest from 1 lemon and juice from 1/2 lemon

Zest from 1 lime and juice from 1/2 lime
1 teaspoon of sugar

Directions:

1. Make the dough. Make a mound with the flour and a well in the middle of the mound. Reinforce each side of the mound with the back side of a spoon. Add the egg and saffron to the well. Add a little flour at a time into the egg, stirring the flour into the egg with a fork. Continue stirring and adding flour until the dough begins to form. This may take a little while. Always be mindful of the sides of the well and make sure that there are no cracks where the egg can escape.

2. Knead the dough. Once the dough has formed enough to pick up (it may still be a little runny), scoop up the dough into one of your hands and cover it with flour. Continue to work the dough into a ball in your hands by adding flour until there is no more "liquid." Return the dough to a floured surface and begin to kneed the dough with the palm of your hand and your fingers. Continue to kneed the dough for about ten minutes or until the dough no longer seems "wet." Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and refrigerate the dough for a few hours.

3. Make the pasta. Follow the directions on your hand-crank machine, running the dough on the widest setting and working toward the narrow setting. Sprinkle flour onto the dough if you feel any "wet" spots. Let the dough sit for a couple of minutes. Then use the attachment for whatever type of pasta you would like to make. As you cut the pasta using the attachment, make sure that the pasta noodles are separated from one another by either hanging the noodles on a pasta rack or arranging the noodles in a way that will prevent them from sticking together as they dry. You should also sprinkle flour over the noodles, which will help to keep the noodles separate.

4. Make the sauce. Heat the heavy cream in a sauce pan. Add the lemon zest, lime zest and cardamom. Stir well. Add the lemon juice and lime juice, continuing to stir. Bring to a low simmer and reduce by about one third, about seven to eight minutes. Add the crab meat and stir gently.

5. Cook the noodles. Heat a pot of water to boiling. Cook for about two to three minutes and drain.

6. Finish the dish. Add the pasta to the sauce and stir until the sauce covers the noodles.

ENJOY!

Hops on the Rampage

2012-02-15T11:43:00.000-05:00

"Wading through the jungle of beers on the shelf can be daunting, even mind numbing," reads the label. "Session beers have their place," the label adds, "but this is not your normal sitting beer." An Imperial India Pale Ale can never be mistaken for a session beer, with aromas and tastes thick with citrus and pine. "Sort of like the big fella on the front," the possessed elephant, "he's been called ... Nothing but a massive thundering rampage of hops will do...."

Imperial India Pale Ales beckon a history of beer where brewers produced beer for the crews of vessels with names such as Atlas, Bengal, Hercules, and Sovereign, as they traveled thousands of miles to reach ports where, once they were ashore, they could see ... among other things, elephants.

A little closer to home, Black Diamond Brewing Company produces the Rampage Imperial IPA from its brewery in Concord, California. The brewery gets its name from the nearby coal mines, where miners hauled black diamonds from the Earth.

The Rampage pours copperish gold in color, which approximates the ideal color of an Imperial India Pale Ale. A thin foam rests along the surface of the beer, which slowly recedes toward the edges, leaving a palette of foam resembling the clouds in the sky.

As one would expect, the aromatic elements of the Rampage foreshadows what is to come. The aroma features a range of citrus, principally grapefruit, with a little hint of grass. The taste is grapefruit first and foremost, with tastes of resin and pine following the citrus flavor. The bready flavors of the malt linger around the edges of the beer.

I found this beer at a local market. A 22-ounce bottle sells for about $8.99. And, as the brewer says, "[b]ecause you can't really tame the beast, but you can definitely make it happy."

ENJOY!

Savage Boleks' Steelhead Sliders

2012-02-13T12:15:00.001-05:00

Followers of this blog may recall that my beautiful Angel provided a guest blog post about the Salmon Burgers that she made. When we were preparing for our Super Bowl party, I decided that we should make slider versions of those amazing burgers. We went to a local warehouse store, looking for pounds of sustainable salmon. (This is a challenge, which is best left for another day.) We looked at the salmon there, but we were not impressed with the fillets. There were discolorations and imperfections that, as someone who has cooked a lot of fish and seafood, left me very uneasy. The store also had fillets of Steelhead. Those fillets looked a lot better, so we bought a couple to make our sliders.

Steelhead are sometimes referred to as salmon; however, they are not salmon. Steelhead are rainbow trout that share a lot in common with salmon. Born in freshwater, the steelhead migrate to the oceans to grow and mature. Once they are ready to reproduce, they return up the rivers to where they were born. The one significant difference is that, while salmon die after reproducing, steelhead usually continue to live and reproduce. This makes steelhead more sustainable, because they are able to reproduce up to several times before they die. Today, most steelhead are farmed like Atlantic Salmon and conservation watchdogs, like the Monterrey Bay Aquarium's Seafood Watch, list steelhead as a "best choice."

This recipe follows Clare's salmon burger recipe very closely. We served the burgers with a choice of dill yogurt or ancho guacamole condiments. These are great sliders, which can also be made with actual salmon (whether sockeye, coho or king salmon).

SAVAGE BOLEKS' STEELHEAD SLIDERS

A Chef Bolek Collaboration with Clare Bolek

Serves 12-18

Ingredients:
2 pounds of fresh steelhead fillets
3/4 cup cilantro, chopped

2 tablespoons of prepared mustard

1 medium Vidalia onion, diced
1 cup of dried mushrooms, ground into powder

3 cups Panko bread crumbs

2 beaten eggs

3 cloves garlic, diced finely

1/2 lemon, juiced

1 tablespoon of olive oil

Salt, to taste

Ground black pepper, to taste
1 cup of Greek yogurt or guacamole
1 tablespoon of fresh dill (if you use yogurt)

Directions:

1. Prepare the salmon mixture. Cutting the salmon into even pieces. Place the salmon pieces in a food processor and process until the salmon is broken up. Add the salmon to a bowl and add the onion, garlic, cilantro, paprika and lemon juice. Mix thoroughly and then add the Panko bread crumbs, eggs and olive oil. Continue to mix thoroughly.

2. Make the slider patties. Make patties by taking a handful of the salmon mixture. You should get about a dozen patties. Place the patties on a sheet of wax paper. Once all of the patties are formed, place them in the freezer for about one half of an hour.

3. Cook the patties. Let the burgers cook for about three to four minutes and then flip them. Continue to cook the burgers for about three more. Remove the burgers from the heat.

Serve the salmon sliders on toasted or grilled buns. You can use whatever toppings you like, such as lettuce, tomato, red onion or ... guacamole. If you use yogurt, chop the dill very finely and mix it into the yogurt. Spoon a little yogurt onto the bottom of the bun and place the slider on top.

PAIRING THIS RECIPE

When one thinks of salmon, especially in the Pacific Northwest, the thoughts turn to Pinot Noir. Oregon has many great Pinot Noir wines (some of which I have reviewed on this blog). A couple of suggestions include the following:

Privé Vineyard -- Le Nord (2008)

100% Pinot Noir

Willamette Valley, Oregon, USA

Flavors of cherries and spice

Sokol Blosser -- Estate Cuvee Pinot Noir (2006)

100% Pinot Noir

Willamette Valley, Oregon, USA

Flavors of dark berries and mocha

If you would like to pair these sliders with a beer, an American Pale Ale or a regular Pale Ale would pair well. These beers have a moderate hop flavor that should not be too piney, bitter or resinous. I would advise against an India Pale Ale, which would probably be too bitter for this dish.

ENJOY!

Privé Vineyard Le Nord (2008)

2012-02-11T11:21:00.001-05:00

There is something about Privé Vineyard that appeals to both Clare and myself. Maybe it is the fact that Privé is a small family owned vineyard and winery, with only a couple of acres of vines. Maybe it is the vineyard's drive to recreate French style wines in Willamette Valley. When we visited the vineyard, we left with three bottles of wine, including the Le Nord (2006). We have continued to buy wines from Privé, including the Le Nord (2008).

According to its label, "at Privé, we believe exceptional wines demand constant attention in the vineyard and minimal intervention in the winery." In the vineyard, there are twenty-two year old vines of Pommard (Burgundian) clones. A clone is a separate vine that is genetically identical to the mother plant. A clone is created by taking cuttings from the mother plant, rather than the seeds. (Pollinated seeds will result in a different genetic makeup for the new vine.) For Privé, its clones are Pinot Noir vines from the Burgundy region. These clones were planted and continue to grow in Jory soil on a moderately slopped Southwest-facing slope.

After the grapes are picked, sorted and pressed, the wine is aged in French oak barrels. At least twenty-five percent of the barrels are new French oak. Approximately 200 cases of this wine are produced a year.

Privé Vineyard's Le Nord pours a beautiful garnet red in color. The winemaker describes this wine as being "[t]typical of red fruit characteristics layered with cinnamon and clove and an undertone of forest floor and truffle." As we drank the wine, I could definitely identify the the cherry fruit in the aroma, as well as a little minerality (perhaps that "forest floor" or truffle). As for the taste, the elements obviously include cherries, but there was also a little spice around the edges. I am not sure that the spice was cinnamon or clove; instead, it seemed like some cracked black pepper. The Le Nord is a very smooth, medium-bodied wine that has as earthy finish to it.

With only 200 cases produced in a year, this wine is a little difficult to obtain. It can only be obtained through the winemaker's website. It is definitely worth the effort.

ENJOY!

North African Merguez Sliders

2012-02-09T12:52:00.001-05:00

I love to barbecue and grill food, and I follow a lot of chefs, BBQ pitmasters, and professional grillers, always looking for ideas and inspiration. One of my favorites is Steven Raichlen, whose television shows -- BBQ U and Primal Grill -- are always interesting to watch. When I recently came across Steven Raichlen's recipe for lamb sliders, I thought it would be a great dish for a Super Bowl party.

Raichlen's recipe called for the use of ground lamb and his Planet Barbecue North African Rub. I did not have any of the rub. So, I began to think about what I could use as a substitute. If Steve Raichlen was drawing inspiration from the flavors of North Africa, from countries like Morocco or Algeria, then I needed to focus on a substitute spice mix. The first thought was Merguez, the mix used to make the sausage of the same name.

Merguez is a type of fresh sausage (as opposed to dry sausage) that is common throughout Northern Africa and the Middle East. It is usually made with mutton or beef, with a spice mix that draws from a range of interesting and flavorful ingredients. A Merguez spice mix typically includes paprika, along with fennel, coriander, cumin, cinnamon and chile powder (or cayenne pepper). The best part is that Merguez sausage is typically grilled, just like Steve Raichlens' recipe for the lamb sliders.

So I found a couple recipes for a Merguez Spice from About.com and MarxFoods.com and set about to make the spice. The recipe below produces a lot of the spice mix; and, in the end, I used about 2/3 to 3/4 of the mix with the meat. I tried to eyeball how the spice was being incorporated into the ground lamb to make sure that it was not too little or too much. I would suggest adding about half of the mix (a little at a time while mixing with your hands). After that, continue to add a little of the mix, a tablespoon at a time, until it seems like there is enough of the spice mix throughout the ground lamb.

NORTH AFRICAN MERGUEZ SLIDERS

Recipe is adapted from Steven Raichlen's Planet Barbecue and

About.com and MarxFoods.com

Serves 4

Ingredients (for the Sliders):

1 1/2 pounds of ground lamb

1 small onion, minced

2 tablespoons of Merguez spice mix

Greek yogurt

Sliced tomatoes

Slider buns or mini-pitas

Ingredients (for the Merguez Spice):

1/4 cup sweet paprika

2 tablespoons of ground fennel seeds

2 tablespoons of ground cumin seeds

1 tablespoon of ground coriander seeds

2 tablespoons of salt

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1 teaspoon of cayenne pepper

3/4 teaspoon of ground black pepper

Directions:

1. Make the lamb slider patties. Combine the ground lamb, onion and Merguez spice mix. Form two inch patties.

2. Grill or cook the patties. Grill or cook the patties either over high heat on a grill or under the broiler of a stove, approximately 3 to 4 minutes per side.

3. Plate the dish. Spread a thin layer of Greek yogurt on the bottom of the slider bun or the mini-pita. Place one slider on the bun or pita. Top with sliced tomatoes.

This dish turned out really well. The lamb burgers actually had the spice and the consistency of Merguez sausage. Although making your own spice mix generally takes more work and a lot more guesswork when it comes to adding it to the ground meat, the end product is often that much more rewarding.

PAIRING THIS RECIPE

The lamb sliders are spicy, both in terms of piquancy and in terms of flavor. The use of cayenne pepper provides the heat, but the combination of coriander, cumin and fennel also provide a different type of heat. Given the different types of heat, a lighter, refreshing beer or wine would be best paired with this dish. With respect to a beer, a pilsner beer would work very well, providing a refreshing break from the spice. One such pilsner is the following:

Dogfish Head Ales -- My Antonia
Czech Style Pilsner
Milton, Delaware, USA
Aroma of hops, lighter body with hop taste

If you are looking for a wine, fruity wines like Pinot Grigios and Pinot Gris, as well as Vinho Verdes, will probably not stand up to the trifecta of the coriander, cumin and fennel. Still, a white wine like a Vouvray, which has honey and floral notes, would work well to complement the flavors of the sliders. I have not reviewed any Vouvray wines, but, when I do, I will add it to this recipe.

ENJOY!

D.C. Brau's The Citizen

2012-02-08T11:41:00.000-05:00

For years, the craft beer scene in Washington, D.C. was limited. Sure, there were a handful of craft brewers, but they were rather large chains, like Rock Bottom and Gordon Biersch. Recently, however, there has been a boom in craft brewers. First, there was Port City Brewing, which produces a very good Porter. And, then there is D.C. Brau.

D.C. Brau was started by Brandon Skall and Jeff Hancock, two residents of the District. Brandon handles the sales and Jeff handles the brewing. Jeff's experience includes an apprenticeship with Franklin's Restaurant and Brewery and work at Flying Dog Brewing Company. Since they started D.C. Brau, they have produced a solid set of annual offerings, including the Public, a Pale Ale. I first tried the Public at Meridian Pint in D.C. and was impressed by the beer. D.C. Brau also has two other annual offerings: Corruption, an India Pale Ale and The Citizen, a Belgian Pale Ale.

A visit to D.C. Brau had been on my to-do list for a long time. Recently, when Clare and I had some free time, we decided to visit the brewery, sample the beers and, as I planned, to buy a growler of my favorite. When we got to D.C. Brau's brewery, we immediately confronted a line of people who had the same idea that we did. Still, the line moved fast, with everyone going to the taps and walking away with their hands full of two to three samples of the beer.

As I previously mentioned, D.C. Brau's The Citizen is brewed in the style of a Belgian Pale Ale Style. According to the Beer Judge Certification Program, a Belgian Pale Ale should be amber to copper in color, fruity to moderately spicy with a soft smooth malt flavor and relatively light hop flavor. D.C. Brau used American and British hops in this beer, although the brewery does not identify the particular varieties. The brewers also used a Belgian yeast strain, which brewers often do in an effort to add flavors reminiscent of Belgian specialty beers.

According to D.C. Brau, The Citizen is inspired by Belgian Tripel beers. The beer pours a light copper color, with a thin layer of foam that recedes to the edges of the glass. While the foam recedes, the aromas of the beer greet the nose with hints of the hops used to make the beer, as well as some floral notes, and scents of dough and honey. The taste of The Citizen falls squarely in line with a Belgian Pale Ale, with a moderate fruity flavor with subtle hop notes. This beer is a striking contrast to some other Belgian Pale Ales or Belgian IPAs, which have much stronger hop flavors. The Citizen is also noteworthy for the sweetness in the taste, which is, as the brewers intended, a nod to the Belgian Tripel style.

This beer is availale at the brewery, where you can also sample D.C. Brau's other offerings. You can check the Brau Finder on D.C. Brau's website to see where else the beer is available.

ENJOY!

Spicy Sriracha Chicken Wings

2012-02-07T12:31:00.001-05:00

Few people have probably ever heard of Huy Fong. Until I wrote this blog post, the name did not mean much to me, even though I encountered Huy Fong almost every day. Huy Fong is the name behind Sriracha, a hot sauce made with a paste of chile peppers, distilled vinegar, garlic, sugar and salt.

The name, "Sriracha," comes from the city of Si Racha, which is located in Chonburi province of Thailand. Chile pastes are a common ingredient in that region, although they differ from Huy Fong's sauce. Indeed, the Sriracha, with the rooster on the label and the green top, transcends the Chonburi province and reaches across the globe ... a fact reinforced by the instructions on the back of every bottle, which are written in Vietnamese, Chinese, English, Spanish and French.

According to Food & Wine, Sriracha Sauce is one of Michael Symon's favorites. Chef Symon is one of the chefs that I follow, because of his creativity with his dishes, not just as an Iron Chef, but also with respect to the dishes that he serves at his restaurants in Cleveland, such as Lola and Lolita. When I came across this recipe, I decided to include it in a menu for a Super Bowl Party.

SPICY SRIRACHA CHICKEN WINGS

A recipe from Michael Symon, available at Food & Wine

Serves 10

Ingredients:

10 pounds of chicken wings, split

1/4 cup of coriander seeds, crushed

1 teaspoon of cumin seeds, crushed

1 teaspoon of cinnamon

2 tablespoons of kosher salt

1/4 extra virgin olive oil

3/4 cup Sriracha chile sauce
1 1/2 sticks (12 tablespoons) of unsalted butter, melted

1/2 cup chopped cilantro

Finely grated zest and juice of 3 limes

3 quarts of vegetable oil (only if frying)

Directions:

1. Marinate the wings. In a very large bowl, toss the wings with the coriander and cumin seeds, cinnamon, kosher salt and olive oil. Cover and refrigerate for at least four hours or overnight.

2. Roast the wings. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit. Spread the wings on 3 large rimmed baking sheets for about thirty minutes. If you do not want to fry the wings, you can continue to roast them for about one hour longer, until the wings are crispy and golden.

3. Prepare the sauce. Add the Sriracha, butter, cilantro lime zest and juice to a bowl or sauce pan.

4. Fry the wings (optional). In a deep fryer or saucepan, heat the vegetable oil to 375 degrees Fahrenheit. Fry the wings in 4 or five batches until golden and crisp, about 5 minutes per patch. Drain, shaking off the excess oil. As each batch is finished, add the wings to the sauce and toss well. Transfer the wings to the platter, leaving the sauce in the bowl for remaining batches. Serve hot.

Although I do not find Sriracha to be very spicy (it is certainly less spicy than Tabasco), this sauce had a good kick to it. I should add that the sauce recipe did not cover the full ten pounds of wings. The next time, I think I'll make a double batch of the sauce. Overall, this is a great recipe and it was well received.

PAIRING THIS RECIPE

When it comes to pairing anything that is spicy, usually a lighter beer or wine is recommended. Food & Wine recommmded a "crisp, lager beer," such as Great Lakes Brewing Company's Dortmunder Gold. Great Lakes Brewing Company is based in Cleveland, Ohio, making it a good pairing for a recipe by a chef who also hails from Cleveland. I would also recommend any pilsner beer, such as:

Great Lakes Brewing Company -- The Wright Pils
Pilsner Beer
Cleveland, Ohio, USA
Flowery bouquet, slight hop flavor

If you are looking for a wine, a light, fruity white wine works well with moderately spicy foods. A wine such as Pinot Grigio or Pinot Gris could pair with this dish, as well as a Vinho Verde from Portgual, such as:

Opala -- Vinho Verde (2009)

Blend of grapes

Rias Biaxas, Portugal

Flavors of Granny Smith apples and pears

ENJOY!

Vino del Corazón Merlot

2012-02-04T09:23:00.001-05:00

When it comes to wine, there is always a lot of talk about "terroir." Generally speaking, terroir refers to the special characteristics of an area or region. For oenophiles and sommeliers, terroir involves climate, as well as soil type and topography. For me, I never really understood what the fascination is with terroir. They say that the climate, soil and topography affects the taste of the wine. However, I have never experienced the weather of the Bordeaux region, I have never ran my fingers through the soil of the Garnacha region nor have I studied the shapes of Chile's valleys. For me, terroir could have a more personal aspect, one that ties a person to where the particular wine comes from. An excellent example of this personal aspect of "terroir," is the Vino del Corazón Merlot.

Vino del Corazón is a vineyard and winery in, of all places, New Mexico. It is the dream of the founders and owners, Erica and Richard Hart. After having worked for other vineyards, the Harts planted their own vines, grew the own grapes, and began to produce their own wines. I first encountered the Vino del Corazón wines when I traveled to Santa Fe for work. After a long day, I decided to walk around the town. As I walked throughout the historic downtown, I came across the Vino del Corazón wine tasting room. Intrigued by the thought of wine in New Mexico, I checked it out. Every time I came to Santa Fe, I would check out the wines at the tasting room. I never took any wine home with me, for fear that it would shatter in my suitcase. Instead, I always returned home with pounds of the iconic New Mexican ingredient ... ground hatch chile peppers. And, while followers of this blog know that I love chile peppers, I always regretted not taking home some wine. That was, until, I realized that I could have it shipped to me.

One of the bottles that I had shipped to me is the Vino del Corazón Merlot. While wine professionals may view "terroir" as something involving the climate of northern New Mexico, the composition of its soils, and/or the shape of the hills (all of which may be very important), this wine drives home what I think could be the personal aspect of terroir.

The Vino del Corazón Merlot pours a crimson red, although the red is a few shades lighter than a Cabernet Sauvignon. The winemakers, that is the Harts, describe the aroma of their Merlot to include violets, cherry and spice. For me, I have always had problems identifying particular floral aromas, as opposed a more general sense of flowers. I did readily detect the aroma of cherries, which are the centerpiece of the aromatic feature of this wine. There are also whiffs of earth or spice lingering in the background, but the cherry aroma is first and foremost with this wine.

And, as for the taste, that is where the personal aspect of the terroir comes into play. I do not know if it is the climate, soil type or terroir, but this wine clearly speaks of New Mexico. The Harts describe the wine as having flavors of vanilla, plums and black cherry. I could see the plums and black cherry, but the vanilla was a little too far in the background.

However, what truly caught my attention is the spice flavors. Not just any spice, but a suggestive hint of that quintessential New Mexican spice ... hatch chiles. The spice is not heat, but flavor. The hatch chile flavor lingers around the edges of the wine, particularly in the finish. It was as if someone sprinkled a little green or red hatch chile powder on those plums and black cherries. I really enjoyed that hatch chile flavor, which got me to thinking about the jars of ground hatch chiles sitting in our cabinets. The chile flavor is most noticeable in the first several sips of the wine, but, as the wine sits, the spice flavor fades a little into the background, with the fruit taking over.

I had this wine delivered to my home. I checked Vino del Corazón's website, and it does not look like it is available. However, the Harts have other wines available, such as their Cabernet Sauvignon, which I have previously reviewed and which I also recommend.

ENJOY!

Roasted Whole Pompano with Potatoes, Tomatoes, and Olives

2012-02-03T07:31:00.001-05:00

One of my favorite things to do is cook a whole fish. So, it came as no surprise that when I saw whole pompano at a local grocery store, I bought one. It was the first time that I had seen pompano in the grocery store. Generally, the whole fish tend to be red snapper, rockfish or branzino (sea bass). I could not pass up the opportunity to cook with this fish.

Pompano or Florida Pompano can be found in the coastal waters along the eastern United States. It is a relative of the jack Pompano are fast growing fish and reproduce early in life. These features helped the pompano recover from being overfished (although there are still some concerns with respect to the fishing of pompano along the Atlantic coast of Florida). So much so that the pompano is now considered a good alternative by the Monterrey Bay Aquarium's Seafood watch.

I used a recipe from Bon Appetit, as a guide, although I made a few changes. I stuffed the fish with fresh thyme and basil, rather than thyme and marjoram. I also baked the fish in white wine, a blend of Chenin Blanc and Viognier, rather than a combination of white wine and water.

ROASTED POMPANO WITH POTATOES, TOMATOES

Recipe adapted from Bon Appetit

Serves 2

Ingredients:

1 whole pompano, cleaned

3/4 pounds of russet potatoes, cut into rounds

2 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil

1 tablespoon fresh thyme leaves

2 lemon slices, cut in half

4 sprigs of fresh thyme

2 sprigs of fresh basil

1/2 cup of white wine

4 small tomatoes, quartered

6 whole Kalamata olives

Salt, to taste

Pepper to taste

Directions:

1. Bake the potatoes. Toss the potato slices in 1 tablespoon of olive oil. Lay the slices out on a baking sheet, and sprinkle with one tablespoon of the fresh thyme, salt and pepper. Bake until almost tender, about twelve minutes.

2. Prepare the pompano. Sprinkle salt and pepper on the outside and inside of the fish. Stuff the fish with the sprigs of thyme and basil, as well as the slices of lemon. Add a tablespoon of oil to a baking dish and spread it. Add the fish to the baking dish. Add the white wine and sprinkle the rest of the remaining thyme.

3. Roast the fish. Roast the fish for fifteen minutes. Scatter the olives and tomatoes around. Tuck in reserve potatoes. Continue to roast until the fish is opaque in the minutes, about ten to fifteen minutes.

4. Plate the dish. Fillet the fish and place the fillets on each plate, with tomatoes, olives and potatoes.

PAIRING THIS DISH

As with most fish, a white wine is the best pairing for this Roasted Whole Pompano. A Viognier or Chenin Blanc (or blend of the two) works very well. The fruit flavors provide a complement to the earthier flavors of the potatoes, tomatoes and olives in the dish. Other white wines, such as a Vouvray, Pinot Gris or even an unoaked Chardonnay could also work well this dish.

ENJOY!

The Beer That Does Not Exist ...

2012-02-01T07:27:00.001-05:00

There is a beer that does not exist. Search for it on the brewer's website and you are left with nothing. Literally, nothing.

But there are rumors. If the beer existed, it is a "robust stout," brewed in secret. If the beer existed, the brewers trained the beer in bourbon barrels for four months. Having passed that training, the beer faced its final test ... being bottled flat in a bottle and re-fermented with Champagne yeast. That is, if the beer actually existed.

There have been sightings. Anywhere from 1,000 to 1,200 cases ... total during a year. Those cases hide in the crowd of millions of barrels of Miller Genuine Draft, Rolling Rock and Bud Light. Very rarely, individual bottles emerge on the store shelves, only to be strike at the hearts of beer aficionados and beer lovers, like myself.

After one long and bad day, I was staring at the store shelves, looking at dozens of beers that I've seen in the past. Then, I caught a glimpse of the beer that does not exist. One bottle. No price tag. I turned to the employee stocking the shelves and asked him, what about this beer? He said, it was the last bottle. Someone asked the employee to set it aside, but the employee felt that he could not do that. The bottle re-emerged on the shelf. I grabbed the bottle and, as I looked at the label, the employee explained that the store had gotten only one case, which had basically been sold within a couple of days. There was only one bottle left. I asked how much the beer cost, as if it actually mattered. The decision had been made.

So, I purchased a bottle of the beer that does not exist ... Brooklyn Black Ops. The Brooklyn Brewery, and its head brewer Garrett Oliver, brew this beer in the style of a Russian Imperial Stout aged in Woodford Reserve bourbon barrels. The brewer describes the beer as "creating big chocolate and coffee flavors with a rich underpinning of vanilla-like oak notes." This description is actually an understatement.

The Black Ops pours pitch black, with a caramel hued foam. The aroma gets the nose with Woodford bourbon and Madagascar vanilla. Perhaps the aromas of Bourbon vanilla, i.e., vanilla from the island of Bourbon in the Indian Ocean. Wherever the vanilla came from, its sweetness and alcohol warm the drinker before even the first taste.

The taste of this beer ranks as definitely one of the best barrel-aged beers that I have tasted and, one of the best beers that I have tried. The chocolate, bourbon, and vanilla elements were clear and well-defined. These flavors dominated the front and middle of each taste. As the finish emerged, the coffee flavors arose and grabbed the edges of the tongue. As the beer is consumed, the warmth from the 10.7% ABV becomes noticeable, or maybe that is just the smile of contentment.

With only 1,000 to 1,200 cases produced a year, the Black Ops is hard to find. It is also quite expensive, at $25.99 a bottle. However, in this case, the beer is definitely worth the price.

ENJOY!

Sake + Beer = Extra High

2012-01-29T08:48:00.000-05:00

I can still remember the night. I was sitting at the bar at Sens, a Japanese restaurant in downtown Phoenix. While I was looking at the beer menu, my attention focused on the array of Hitachino Nest beers from Kiuchi Brewery ... White Ale, Weizen, Sweet Stout, Red Rice Ale, and the XH. It was this last beer that really grabbed my attention ... the XH.

The reason is that I had not heard of, let alone seen, a beer like the XH. The XH,which stands for "Extra High," is a beer aged in oak casks used to mature Sake. Not just any Sake, but Shocyu, which is a distilled Sake. Shocyu can be made from several ingredients, including, sweet potatoes, rice, barley and soba (buckwheat). Shocyu is also high in alcohol content, with an ABV that is usually around 25% but can be as high as 42%. The XH spends three months in Shocyu casks before being bottled. It is the first beer that I have encountered that has been aged in something other than wine, bourbon, or port barrels.

Kiuchi Brewery brews the XH in the style of Belgian Brown Ale. The brewer uses Marris Otter, Munich, Crystal and Chocolate malts, along with Chinook and Styrian Golding hops. The beer has an ABV far less than Shocyu, at about 7% to 8%, and an IBU of 44.

The XH pours a copper or rust brown, with a lot of carbonation and a thick foam. The aromatic elements of this beer clearly suggest Sake or Shocyu. Just as a beer aged in bourbon barrels suggest the bourbon in the aroma, the XH clearly foreshadows the taste of the beer. Many reviewers equate the smell or taste to brettanomyces, but, for me, the beer does suggest the flavors of sake. A little bitterness, a little rice wine, and the yeast are also present in the taste of the wine.

When it comes to pairing this beer, the obvious choice is Japanese cuisine. I paired this beer with the Novice's Catfish Stir Fry, because I thought the sesame flavor would go well this the bitterness of the beer. I think the XH will also go well with teppanyaki or yakitori, both of which feature griddled or grilled meats and vegetables.

This beer is available at beer stores that have a large import or craft beer selection. It sells for about $5 to $6 a bottle.

ENJOY!

For more about Shocyu, check out Sake World.

Novice's Catfish Stir Fry (新手的鯰魚翻炒)

2012-01-28T09:34:00.000-05:00

This recipe represents what one can make with the ingredients in the pantry. Rice noodles, rice wine, sesame oil, and dried chiles (given to Clare and my as a gift from two good friends). I also had some mushrooms and half an onion left over from another recipe. The only thing that I purchased was some catfish.

With all of these ingredients, the question is how to prepare the dish. I decided to make a stir fry. The term "stir fry" describes two Chinese cooking techniques for preparing food in a wok. The two techniques are chǎo (炒) and bào (爆). Chǎo refers to the method of heating a wok, adding a little oil, searing the meat and then adding the vegetables and liquid. Bào refers to heating the wok to a dull red, adding the oil, spices, and meats followed by broth and/or vegetables.

I don't have a lot of experience making a stir fry, so I just "winged" this recipe. And, quite frankly, I did neither chǎo nor bào, although the method I used is closer to the former than the latter. The method I used is perhaps best described as 初學者 or "novice." But, I have to start somewhere ...

NOVICE'S CATFISH STIR FRY
(新手的鯰魚翻炒)

A Chef Bolek Original

Serves 2-3

Ingredients:

1 catfish fillet (about 3/4 pound), cut into even sized pieces

1/2 onion, diced

2 cloves of garlic, diced

4 ounces of button mushrooms, sliced

2 tablespoons of canola oil

2-3 tables of rice wine

1 teaspoon of seasame oil

1/3 package of rice noodles
2-3 dried chiles

Directions:

1. Hydrate the rice noodles. Place the noodles in a small pot with very warm water for five to eight minutes. After the time has elapsed, turn the pot on high.

2. Begin the stirfry. Heat the canola oil in the wok. Once the oil is hot, add the onions and stir continuously to keep the onions from burning. After about two or three minutes, add the mushrooms and garlic. Continue to cook for about two or three more minutes.

3. Add the rice wine. Once the onions and garlic are translusent and the mushrooms are cooked, add the rice wine. Also add the dried chiles. Stir to mix the ingredients together.

4. Add the catfish. Add the catfish and cook until the catfish is opaque, about three to five minutes.

5. Add the noodles. Drain the noodles and add them to the wok. Stir until the noodles are coated with the rice wine liquid. Continue to cook for about a minute or two longer.

6. Plate the dish. Divide the noodles between the plates. Spoon the catfish pieces, mushrooms and onions over the noodles.

PAIRING THIS RECIPE

For this recipe, I think beer provides the best pairing. A Japanese beer, such as Kirin or Sapporo, or a Chinese beer, like Tsingtao, would work well, helping the cleanse the palate of the sesame flavor for the next bite. Another possible pairing is

Kiuchi Brewery -- Hitachino Nest XH

Belgian Brown Ale aged in Shocyu Casks

Ibaraki, Japan

Flavors of Sake, Shocyu, with a little bitterness

ENJOY!

For some basic information about the stir fry method, check out Wikipedia.

Thorn Clark Milton Park Shiraz (2009)

2012-01-27T07:28:00.000-05:00

I can still remember the first time I saw a bottle of the Milton Park Shiraz. Clare and I were selecting wines for our wine club dinner. It was the first time that we were responsible for bringing the wine. To make matters more difficult, we had to pair wines with South Indian dishes. I knew that we would have a problem when, during my research, the first thing I read stated that South Indian food is best paired with ... beer. Nevertheless we persevered and found a couple of white wines that would work well with the dishes. However, I also wanted to pair one of the dishes with a red wine. The question turned to which red wine.

This question was difficult to answer, because tannins in red wines can heighten the heat and spice of dishes. And, South Indian dishes can be both hot and spicy. Nevertheless, there was one red that grabbed by my attention ... Australian Shiraz. The Shiraz is same as the French Syrah grape. The grape was introduced into Australia by James Busby back in 1832. Over time, there developed four styles of Australian Shiraz: (1) wines that resemble the Syrahs of the Rhône valley, which are grown in Central and South Victoria (north of Melbourne); (2) more dense Shiraz wines grown in the Barossa Valley (northwest of Adelaide); (3) smooth Shiraz produced in the Coonawarra and Clare Valley (near Adelaide); and (4) velvety Shiraz of the Hunter Valley in New South Wales.

We purchased a bottle of Thorn Clarke's Milton Park Shiraz (2009). This Shiraz is made with grapes grown in the Barossa and Eden Valleys, placing the wine within the third style of Australian Shiraz. The Thorn Clarke vineyard is a family-owned estate, which grows some of the grapes used for this wine. I think that the winemaker also sources grapes from other vineyards, presumably in the same area, to produce this wine. the wine is aged in American oak barrels for 12 months.

The Milton Park Shiraz pours a cranberry red. The cranberry foreshadows the aromas and tastes to come. The aromatic elements feature those cranberries and blackberries, as well as raspberries. These fruit carry over to the taste, which also features a hint of strawberry. Other reviews find plums, blackberries and sweet spice from the oak. For a Shiraz/Syrah, this wine has a light body and is somewhat refreshing, with a little spice on the finish.

Some reviewers have suggested that this wine can be paired with a range of dishes, especially red meats and game. This suggested pairing seems sensible. Clare and I paired this wine with Vada Pav with Coriander and Tamarind Chutneys. The wine worked very well with this dish, helping to round out the "spice" in the coriander and tamarind.

This wine can be found at most wine stores and Whole Foods Markets. It sells for about $9.99 a bottle.

ENJOY!

For more about Australian Shiraz, check out Sally's Place.

A Very Belated Gift from Three Wise Brewers

2012-01-25T07:24:00.000-05:00

I am often intrigued by collaboration beers; and, recently, brewers have been banding together in threes to produce some rather interesting collaboration beers. I've reviewed a couple of those beers. There is the Saison du Buff (Dogfish Head, Stone and Victory), which was brewed with rosemary, sage and thyme. There is also the El Camino (Un)Real Ale (Stone, 21st Amendment and Firestone Walker), which is brewed with fennel seeds, chia seeds and pink peppercorns, along with mission figs. Both were very interesting and very good.

When I was in Chicago, I came across another one of these collaboration beers. The beer is the Special Holiday Ale and it is a collaboration between Stone Brewing Company, Nøgne-Ø and Jolly Pumpkin. The beer is a holiday ale brewed with certain spices and other ingredients including chestnuts, juniper berries, white sage and caraway seeds. Although it is a holiday ale, it sat in our basement through the holidays until, recently, when I decided that I would try the beer.

The Special Holiday Ale pours a brownish color, that somewhat resembles cola. The ingredients contribute to the aroma, because I could smell the juniper berries and the white sage. These aromas are accompanied by scents of the malts and a little roasted aroma (most likely contributed by the chestnuts). I had a harder time sensing the caraway seeds, which is a little unexpected because caraway has a strong aroma.

The flavor of this beer is very good. Despite the unusual ingredients, the Special Holiday Ale has the flavors of a traditional holiday or Christmas Ale. The taste elements clearly focus on the chestnuts (which had to have been roasted, given the attendant roast and coffee flavors), white sage and juniper berries. Unlike the aroma, I could sense some of the caraway in the taste of the beer, especially on the finish and on the tongue. The finish was a little dry, but that did not really detract from the overall experience of drinking the beer.

I found this beer at a Binny's outside of Chicago. Although I don't recall the price, the other collaborations usually sold for about $3.00 to $4.00 a bottle.

ENJOY!

Stoller Vineyards Dundee Hills Pinot Noir (2006)

2012-01-23T12:19:00.000-05:00

There are certain wineries that have special meaning for my beautiful wife, Clare, and myself. Bergström, Dobbes, Domaine Drouhin, Erath, Lemelson, Panther Creek, Privé, Sokol Blosser and Stoller. All of these wineries are all in Oregon's Willamette Valley and their special meaning comes from the fact that they were all part of our honeymoon.

I can still remember our visit to the tasting room of Stoller Vineyards in Dayton, Oregon. It was a bright, sunny day as we walked up to the tasting room. We sat at a long table, sampling Stoller's wines. We liked all of them ... a lot. We ended leaving with a couple bottles, including the Pinot Noir Rose (2008) and the Dundee Hills Pinot Noir (2006).

The Dundee Hills Pinot Noir (2006) is produced from the winemaker's selection of the favorite blocks and barrels. The selection ultimately came from the original plantings in the vineyard. The grapes were destemmed into stainless steel tanks for seven to ten days of cold soak. After pressing, the wine was aged for ten months in barrels, consisting of sixty percent new oak and forty percent neutral oak. The wine was bottled in September 2007.

The winemaker describes the Dundee Hills Pinot Noir as having "violets, earth, mineral and red berry aromatics lead to a palate of spice and ripe berries, coupled with bright acidity and smooth texture." The wine pours a dark purplish color, which is to me a sign of good aging. This Pinot Noir shares the aromas and tastes that make Oregon Pinot Noirs so great. As the wine begins to open, aromas of very ripe, large cherries greet the nose. Those cherries carry through to the taste of the wine. The cherries are also complemented with a hint of minerality or spice in the taste.

At least for me, Oregon Pinot Noirs are a little bolder and stronger than other Pinot Noirs, such as those from California. A wine like the Dundee Hills Pinot Noir could easily be paired with pasta dishes (red sauces or olive oil-based), chicken, pork and salmon dishes. The wine also goes well with roast vegetables and hard cheeses.

We purchased this wine at the tasting room. I have to say that I have not seen Stoller wines in many wine stores, but it may be available at larger stores. It is definitely worth purchasing if you find it.

ENJOY!

Baharat Turkey

2012-01-20T07:29:00.000-05:00

I am a big fan of spice mixes and have dabbled a little with Middle Eastern spice mixes, such as the Bzaar and Hararat mixes used in Libyan cooking. Now, I cross the border, so to speak, to dabble with an spice mix called Baharat, which is used in Arab cuisine. Baharat may have anywhere from four to nine ingredients, including any of the following: allspice, black pepper, black cardamom, cassia, cloves, coriander, cumin, nutmeg and chiles (or paprika). Some countries, like Turkey and Tunisia, have their own, patricular type of Baharat. Turkish Baharat includes mint, while Tunisian Baharat includes dried rosebuds and ground cinnamon.

For this recipe, I am using an Egyptian version of Baharat. The spice mix uses paprika, black pepper, cloves, cinnamon, coriander, cumin, cardamom, ginger, allspice and chiles. I chose the Egyptian version of Baharat for a reason, viz., I was trying to pair a dish with a beer. A little reverse pairing. I bought a beer brewed based upon an ancient Egyptian recipe -- look for the beer below and the review to come -- and I needed a dish. I chose the Baharat rub because I wanted to create a more modern dish to pair with that beer.

With the rub in hand, I had to decide what protein to use. The easy choice would have been lamb or maybe chicken. But I wanted to try something different, so I went with turkey. That's right, turkey. I thought the texture of the turkey would provide a different contrast for the spices. I choose a turkey thigh, headed home and began to create a Chef Bolek Original.

BAHARAT TURKEY

Baharat recipe adapted from JaimeOliver.com

Serves 2-3

Ingredients (for the Baharat Spice Mix):

2 teaspoons of paprika
2 teaspoons of ground black pepper
1/2 teaspoon of ground coriander
1/2 teaspoon of ground cloves
1/2 teaspoon of ground cardammom
1/2 teaspoon of ground cummin
1/2 teaspoon of ground cinammon
1/2 teaspoon of ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon of ground allspice
1 teaspoon of ground dried chilli (optional, I used Aleppo pepper)

Ingredients (for the Turkey):
1 boneless turkey thigh, about 1 pound
Salt, to taste
Ground pepper, to taste

Directions:

1. Prepare the baharat mix. Combine all of the spice mix ingredients together.

2. Prepare the turkey. Rub the mix all over the turkey thigh. Using some kitchen twine, tie together the thigh like you would a leg of lamb. This will help keep parts of the turkey from cooking faster than other parts.

3. Cook the turkey thigh. Preheat the oven to 450 degrees Fahrenheit. Cook the thigh for 30 to 35 minutes. Cooking times will vary depending upon the size of the thigh.

PAIRING THIS RECIPE

As I noted above, I made this recipe because I needed a dish to pair with a specific beer. The beer was based upon, and drew inspiration from, an ancient Egyptian recipe for making beer.

Dogfish Head Brewing -- Ta Henket

Ancient Ale

Milton, Delaware, USA

Flavors of za'atar, doum fruit and chamomile

If you cannot find Ta Henket, there are other beers or wines that could work this this recipe, like the following.

Bergström Winery -- Dr. Bergström Riesling (2007)

100% Riesling

Willamette Valley, Oregon, USA

Flavors of apples, pears and melon

Baying Hound Aleworks -- Lord Whimsey's Mild Pale Ale

Mild Pale Ale

Rockville, Maryland, USA

Flavors of bread and malt

ENJOY!

Dogfish Head Brewery Ta Henket

2012-01-19T07:33:00.004-05:00

Ancient Egyptian lore speaks of the god Hathor descending to the earth to kill men. One day, the King of Upper Egypt and the King of Lower Egypt, Re, came to inspect the beer but, as the day dawned, he saw that Hathor had slaughtered the the men. King Re spoke, "How good that is, I will protect mankind from her." He then stated, "Bring hither the beer to the place where she is slaying mankind." When the beer was brought in the twilight, it was poured out so that it overflowed the fields. When Hathor returned, she saw the inundated fields and her face was beautifully reflected in the beer. Hathor drank from the beer and was satisfied; and, drunk with beer, she left man alone. (Adolf Erman, Life in Ancient Egypt at 268-69).

Beer saved ancient Egyptians not only in lore, but also in life. It was a fundamental part of the Egyptians' diet and has been described as the "national drink" of the time. Drawing inspiration from ancient recipes, Dogfish Head has sought to recreate that drink for people today. The brewers used ingredients from Egyptian hieroglyphics, brewing the beer using an ancient form of wheat (Emmer Farro) and loaves of hearth baked bread. The brewers also used a Middle Eastern spice mix, Za'atar, along with Doum fruit and Chamomile to flavor this beer. They then went to Egypt with petri dishes to collect native yeast strains, capturing a native Egyptian saccharomyces strain. The result is:

Roughly translated: Ta Henket.

The Ta Hanket has a somewhat deep orange color, with a nice level of foam that gives way fairly quickly to the beer itself. The aromatic elements highlight some interesting bready, malty and yeasty aromas. There are also hints of the za'atar spice mix, which is usually made with, among other things, thyme, sumac and sesame. I could definitely catch the sumac and a little of the sesame aroma in the beer.

The interesting nature of this beer carries over to the flavors. This beer does not taste like any other beer that I've had, which is a good thing. The za'atar is clearly present in the taste, both up front and continuing into the finish. As for the other flavorings, doum fruit and chamomile, they are a little harder to detect. One reason may be that I've never had doum fruit before, so I am unsure what I am looking for and whether I've found it.

According to the brewers, the Ta Henket can be paired with a range of foods, including grilled fish, pork chops, feta cheese and roasted vegetables. This beer inspired me to make my Baharat Turkey, pairing a turkey rubbed with a modern version of the Egyptian spice mix with a beer inspired by an ancient Egyptian recipe. A connection between today and yesterday, culinarily speaking.

The Ta Henket has an ABV of 4.5% and IBUs of 7, which clearly underscores the fact that this is more driven by malt flavors than hop flavors. The beer is a limited release that sells for about $12.99 a bottle. I found this beer at a local Whole Foods Market.

ENJOY!

(The translation of English to Egyptian hieroglyphics was done using Online Hieroglyphics Translator.)

Around the World in 80 Dishes: Andorra

2012-01-17T07:24:00.000-05:00

After a break from eating Chivitos al Pan, which was necessary to clear the added cholesterol from my arteries, my culinary adventures take me across the Atlantic Ocean to the little country of Andorra. I did not select this challenge at random; instead, this is a planned challenge. I chose Andorra for two reasons. The first reason lies with the cuisine of the country. Andorra or Principat d' Andorra is a small country nestled in the Pyrennes Mountains between Spain and France. Despite its location, Andorra is neither Spanish nor French. Instead, Andorra is Catalan. The Catalan people have a long history, artistic tradition and cuisine; however, today, the people are split between Catalunya in Spain and Rousillon in France, with the independent country of Andorra in the middle.

Catalan cuisine draws from ingredients found along the Mediterranean coast. These ingredients include tomatoes, garlic, eggplant, chiles, chickpeas and artichokes, along with poultry, pork, lamb and seafood. The dishes created by Catalan cooks vary from the seafood-based dishes along the Mediterranean to the heavier, pork dishes found inland. The inland Catalan cuisine includes, and is sometimes referred to as, "Catalan mountain cuisine." The cooking in Andorra is a good reflection of the Catalan mountain cuisine.

The second reason for selecting Andorra as my next challenge is the date. The day, January 17, is St. Anthony's day is Andorra. Back in the 1970s, some friends got together to prepare the national dish, Escudella, for their neighbors and shopkeepers. This celebration is a revival of the much older tradition of distributing food amongst the poorest residents. With every year, more and more Andorrans gathered together to cook and share their national dish. The celebration was eventually moved to the Village Square in the capital, Andorra La Vella. And, over time, the Brotherhood of the Escullaires were formed to prepare the stew for each celebration.

THE MAIN COURSE

This challenge presents me with the opportunity to "join" the Germandat de Escullaires for a day. I decided to prepare the national dish for Andorra as part of the Around the World in 80 Dishes challenge. The first reference to escudella was made by a Franciscan writer, Francesc Eiximenis, who was Catalan, in the fourteenth century. Brother Eiximenis wrote that the Catalan people eat escudella every day. After having made this dish, I can see why. Generally speaking, escudella is a Catalan soup with two primary components: (1) the broth and (2) the meats and vegetables used in making the broth. The broth is basically a stock, flavored by bones, meats and vegetables.

In making this dish, I had to make a couple of substitutions. The first substitution involves the bones used for the broth. The recipe calls for both marrow bones and ham bones. I could easily find the marrow bones, but not the ham bones. So, I substituted an additional marrow bone or two for the ham bone. The second substitution relates to the sausage. The recipe does not specify the particular type of sausage to be used. After a little research, I decided to use butifarra (or botifarra), which is a traditional Catalan mild pork sausage. Butifarra can be difficult to find; however, I did find a recipe for making butifarra sausage. I got all of the ingredients, except for the cure. I did not need the cure because I was not curing the sausage. The raw sausage would be browned and go straight into the escudella. If you plan to make butifarra sausage, check out Len Poli's website, which has general instructions for making the sausage.

ESCUDELLA

Adapted from My Hungry Tum

Serves 8

Ingredients (for the Escudella):
2 cups of dry cannellini beans
1 marrow bone
1 ham bone
2 chicken breasts or 3 chicken thighs
8-12 cups of cold water
1/2 head green cabbage
1 large potato, cut into eighths
1/4 cup of rice
1 cup chick peas
1 cup of pasta (such as shells)
6 sausages, removed from casings and rolled into balls
2 slices of prosciutto
2 tablespoons of vegetable oil
Salt, to taste
Ground pepper to taste

Ingredients (for the Butifarra Sausage):
1 pound of ground pork
1 teaspoon of salt
1 clove of garlic, finely minced
1/8 teaspoon of ground cumin
1/8 teaspoon of ground black pepper
1 very small pinch (1/16 teaspoon) of nutmeg
1/4 tablespoon of wine vinegar

Directions:

1. Make and brown the sausage. Mix the ground pork with all of the ingredients (salt, garlic, cumin, ground black pepper, nutmeg and wine vinegar. Form small balls or links. Gently brown sausage in cast iron Dutch Oven or pot/casserole w/vegetable oil over medium heat.

2. Begin the stew. Rinse the beans in cold water and tie the bones in cheesecloth. Put both with the chicken, cooked sausage and ham in the pot or casserole with at least 8 cups of cold water and salt. Bring to a boil, reduce flame, and cook gently, covered, about 2 hours or until beans are cooked and chicken very tender.

3. Remove the meats. Remove ham and marrow bones and discard them. (I have seen recipes that call to extract and use the marrow, which I did.) Put chicken aside.

4. Return the soup to a boil. If there is only a little liquid left, add a bit of water for the cooking of the remaining ingredients and bring soup to a rapid boil.

5. Add the remaining ingredients. When it is boiling, put in cabbage, potatoes, rice, pasta, chick-peas, and pepper to taste. Continue cooking over medium flame for 30 minutes (or until newly added ingredients are cooked through).

6. Return the meat to the stew. A few minutes before serving, put chicken meat, removed from bones and shredded, in the pot to heat. Season to taste.

7. Plate the dish. There are two ways to serve escudella. One way is to serve the components separately: a bowl of the broth and a plate of the meats and vegetables. This is known as Escudella i carn d'olla. The other way is to serve the components together, like a soup or stew. I chose this second presentation, which is sometimes referred to as Escudella Barrejada. For this challenge, I plated the escudella using this second presentation.

Although I was not standing side by side with the actual Brotherhood of Escullaires, this challenge nevertheless offered me the opportunity to cook this amazing Catalan and Andorran stew. The escudella was great ... the broth was very flavorful, with the beef bones, chicken, ham and sausages making their contributions to the earthy and hearty soup. The cabbage, potatoes, rice and pasta all added textures that underscored the earthiness of this dish. Once again, I finish a challenge stuffed, not only with great food, but also with the desire to move on to the next challenge. Until then, I would like to wish all of the Andorrans out there a very happy St. Anthony's Day, and ...

ENJOY!

For more information about Escudella, check out Slavic Nerd's Travel Blog.

Maccheroni alla Chitarra con Frattaglie di Maiale Polpette (Chitarra Pasta with Pork Offal Meatballs)

2012-01-14T08:26:00.002-05:00

One weekend morning, I work up with one idea in my mind ... I wanted to cook with pig's feet. I had already planned to make handmade chitarra pasta and a homemade sauce, so it only seemed natural to make pig feet meatballs. Generally, meatballs are made with a combination of beef, veal and pork; or, in some cases, with one type of meat, such as lamb. I have made classic meatballs. For this recipe, I wanted to try something completely different. I decided that I would buy some pig feet, boil them to separate the meat and collagen from the bones and then make meatballs.

However, the recipe took on a life of its own once I got to the supermarket. As I perused the pig's feet, I noticed that the store also had pig necks and pig's tails. I began to think to myself ... could I use pig necks? I looked over the necks to see how much meat was on the bones and decided that I could. Could I use pig tails? There was a lot more fat in tails, but I thought, "what the heck, I'm already using pig feet and pick necks. Why not throw in a couple of tails as well." I left the store with a pound of pig feet (basically one foot), a pound of pig necks (about six to eight neck pieces) and a pound of pig tails (about five or six tails).

When I got back to my kitchen, I thoroughly washed all of the pig parts and placed them in a large stock pot. I added the standard aromatics -- carrots, celery, and onion -- along with garlic, bay leaves, peppercorns and a little salt. After boiling the pig parts for about three hours, I cleaned the bones of their meat, along with some fat and some collagen. I chopped the pig meat thoroughly with a meat cleaver. I then had to consider what to use as binding. I ultimately decided to make bread crumbs out of some leftover crostini. I had about 3/4 cup of bread crumbs and I used one egg for the binding. The binding worked fairly well, but I decided to brown the meatballs to help keep them together while they cooked in the homemade sauce.

The sauce is a basic tomato sauce. I did not include measurements with respect to the spices, although I do give some guidance in the directions. The reason is that, for me, this sauce is like a canvas, and the spices are the paints. There is only one hard and fast rule that I use: two parts basil to one part oregano (for example, 1 tablespoon of basil to 1/2 tablespoon of oregano). However, the best way to make sauce is to add spices, a little at a time, until the desired taste is achieved. It is also important to keep in mind that the meatballs will be cooking for about fifteen to thirty minutes in the sauce. This will add flavor, both pork and spice, to the sauce.

Overall, for my first time making this recipe, it worked out surprisingly well. I definitely intend to make this dish again; and, with each subsequent attempt, I will revise this recipe based upon what I learn.

MACCHERONI ALLA CHITARRA WITH
PORK OFFAL MEATBALLS

A Chef Bolek Original

Serves 6-8

Ingredients (for the meatballs):

1 pound of pig's feet (1 foot), broken down into six pieces

1 pound of pig's necks

1 pound of pig's tails

2 onions, quartered

4 carrots, quartered

6 celery stalks, quartered

3 cloves of garlic smashed and roughly chopped

1 handful of flat leaf parsley

3-4 bay leaves

1 bottle of white wine

14 cups of water

1 cup of bread crumbs
1 tablespoon of dried basil
1/2 tablespoon of dried oregano
1 tablespoon of dried garlic powder
1/4 teaspoon of crushed red pepper
1 egg
4 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil

Ingredients (for the pasta and sauce):
1 can of tomato paste
2 cans of tomato puree
3 cans of water
Dried basil
Dried oregano
Garlic powder
Crushed red pepper
1 tablespoon of granulated sugar
Salt, to taste
Ground pepper, to taste
4 eggs
8 cups of flour

Directions:

1. Prepare a pork stock. Rinse the feet, necks and tails thoroughly. Place all of them in a large stock pot. Add the carrots, onions, celery, garlic, bay leaves, parsley and the bottle of wine. Add water to cover all of the pig parts and vegetables. Bring the stock to a boil and then reduce to a simmer. Cook the stock for about three hours or until the meat begins to separate from the bones easily.

2. Make the sauce. Add the puree and water to a deep pot. Stir to make sure it is incorporated. Add the paste a little at a time to incorporate it into the puree and water. Add the basil, oregano, garlic powder, crushed red pepper, salt and pepper, generally as follows: 2 parts of basil, one part of oregano, one part garlic powder, 1/2 part crushed red pepper, 1 part salt and one part pepper. Also add 1 tablespoon of granulated sugar (this will help cut the acidity of the tomatoes). Stir to incorporate the spices into the sauce. Bring the sauce to a boil and reduce to a simmer.

3. Make the pasta. Create a volcano with half of the flour. Break two eggs in the well and begin to beat the yolks gently. As you are beating the eggs, begin to incorporate the flour from the sides of the mountain, starting at the top. Continue to add flour until you have a consistent paste. As the mixture comes together, form it into a ball. Clean the workspace and then sprinkle flour over the working surface. Gently knead the dough until it becomes smooth and elastic. Make sure that there are no sticky spots in the dough (as a sticky dough will simply clog the pasta machine). Once the dough has been kneaded, begin to run it through a handcrank pasta machine at the widest setting. Repeat this five or six times. Then run the pasta through each of the other settings on the pasta machine, except for the last setting. Once you have finished with the second-to-last setting, lightly sprinkle it with flour and set aside for a couple of minutes. Then cut the pasta into segments. If you have a chitarra, place the pasta on top of the strings. Using a small rolling pin, gently run the pin up and down the pasta until it falls through the strings. Repeat for each segment. (As an alternative, you can make fettuccine using the appropriate extensions on your hand crank pasta maker.)

4. Separate the meat, fat and collagen. Remove the pig feet, pig necks and pig tails from the stock. After they cool down, remove the meat, fat and collagen and make three separate piles. Be very careful to catch all of the bones and inedible parts, you can discard those. You can also set aside the stock and the skin for other uses. (The stock is great for soups.) Once everything has been removed, add some of the fat and collagen to the the meat. Chop everything until it is finely minced.

5. Create the meatballs. Place the meat mixture into a bowl. Add the bread crumbs, basil, oregano, garlic powder, crushed red pepper and egg. Mix the ingredients thoroughly with your hands. Make meatballs of the meat in the palms of your hands and work to compact the meatballs as much as possible. Set aside.

6. Brown the meatballs. Add two tablespoons of olive oil to a pan and bring to high heat. Add the meatballs to the pan but make sure that there is enough space to move the meatballs around. Brown the meatballs in batches.

7. Add the meatballs to the sauce. Add the meatballs to the sauce and cover the meatballs with the sauce. Cook the meatballs in the sauce for about one-half hour at most.

8. Cook the pasta. While the meatballs are in the sauce, heat a pot of water on high until it starts boiling. Add the pasta to the water and cook for about one to two minutes.

9. Plate the pasta. Heat a pan on very low heat. Add a spoonful of sauce. Add a serving of pasta and more sauce. Stir until the pasta is covered with the pasta and then plate in a bowl. Add additional sauce and a couple of meatballs.

PAIRING THIS RECIPE

Generally, pasta recipes that include a red tomato sauce seem to call for a pairing with red wine. This suggested pairing may be a product of association. Most people associate pasta with tomato sauce with Italy and everyone knows something about Italian wine. Nevertheless, this association does work well in this case to a certain degree. The various regions of Italy produce a wide range of red wines -- from the Barolos of the Piedmont to the Aglianicos of Campania. These wines have widely differing flavor profiles.

Personally, I would pair this dish with a red wine from Tuscany or Abruzzo. The Tuscan wines would include a Chianti (either a Chianti Classico or a Chianti Rufina), an IGT Toscano, or a Super Tuscan. The Abruzzese wine is a Montepulciano d'Abruzzo. These wines generally provide a nice, full fruit flavor of cherries or dark cherries, without a lot of tannins. You definitely want a red wine with less tannins, because those wines will be less astringent, which is a good quality when the pairing involves ingredients, such as tomato sauce that can be very acidic. Here are a couple of examples:

San Lorenzo -- Montepulciano d'Abruzzo (2008).

100% Montepulciano d'Abruzzo

Abruzzo, Italy

Flavors of blackberries, plums and dark cherries

La Mozza -- Aragone (2006).

40% Sangiovese, 25% Alicante, 25% Syrah and 10% Carignan

Tuscany, Italy

Flavors of cherries and raspberries

ENJOY!

Curried Haddock and Mussels

2012-01-13T07:26:00.000-05:00

Alain Ducasse has been described (by others and, perhaps, by himself) as a man obsessed ... with perfection, taste and more. This obsession has produced remarkable results. Chef Ducasse is the first chef to own restaurants with three Michelin stars in three different cities, and holds a total of nineteen Michelin stars. So, when I came across his recipe for Curried Haddock and Mussels, I decided that I would give it a try.

I found the recipe on Food & Wine's website, which was entitled Curried Cod and Mussels. This title presented a dilemma. Cod has been overfished to the point that stocks, especially those in the Atlantic Ocean, are endangered. (By contrast, cod fished near Iceland and near Maine have been better managed.) Staring at the little red fish sticker on the price tag, which indicated that these particular cod fillets were not fished in a sustainable way, I decided that I needed to go with another fish.

Fortunately, Food & Wine mentioned that when Chef Ducasse makes this dish, he uses haddock rather than cod. This was the one bit of information that I needed. Like cod, haddock had been overfished for years. However, the federal government began to regulate haddock fishing and, over time, the stocks had completely replenished themselves. This makes haddock a sustainable choice. So, I bought a couple of haddock fillets and proceeded to make this dish.

One last note about this recipe. It calls for the use of curry powder. I used Maharajah Curry Powder from Penzey's Spices. I like this powder because, for every one hundred pounds of curry powder made, Penzey's uses one pound of saffron. As a result, this powder costs a little more than the ordinary curry powder, but I think it is worth it.

CURRIED HADDOCK AND MUSSELS

Adapted from a recipe by Alain Ducasse, available at Food & Wine

Serves 3-4

Ingredients:
1/4 cup dried porcini mushrooms
3/4 cup boiling water
1 tablespoon of extra virgin olive oil
1/4 cup minced shallots
1 Granny Smith apple, finely diced
1 garlic clove, minced
1 tablespoon curry powder
2 thyme sprigs
2 pounds of mussels, scrubbed
1/2 cup dry white wine
1/2 cup heavy cream
1 pound of skinless haddock fillets, bones removed,
cut into 2 inch chunks
Crusty bread for serving

Directions:

1. Rehydrate the porcini mushrooms. Soak the porcini in the boiling water until softened, 10 minutes. Strain the mushrooms, reserving the soaking liquid and rinse to remove any grit. Finely chop the mushrooms.

2. Prepare the curry sauce. In a large pot, heat the oil. Add the shallots, apple, garlic, curry powder, thyme sprigs, and porcini. Season with salt and pepper. Cook over moderate heat, stirring until the shallots are softened, about five minutes.

3. Steam the mussels. Add the mussels and toss. Add the wine. Bring to a boil, cover and cook over high heat until the mussels have opened, about three minutes.

4. Cook the Haddock. Add the cream and 1/2 cup of the porcini soaking liquid, stopping before you reach the grit. Bring to a simmer. Nestle the haddock in the broth, cover and cook until the fish lightly flakes, about four minutes. Discard the thyme.

5. Plate the dish. Transfer the cod and mussels to large bowls and spoon the broth over top. Serve with crusty bread.

PAIRING THIS DISH

The magazine Food & Wine suggests that the Curried Haddock and Mussels dish is best paired with a Sauvignon Blanc. One such wine, which is produced in the Loire Valley, is the following:

Domaine de Chevilly -- Quincy (2009).
100% Chenin Blanc
Le Centre Loire, Loire Valley, France
Grapefruit and other citrus fruitiness.

ENJOY!

Famille Bougrier Rosé D'Anjou (2010)

2012-01-12T07:31:00.001-05:00

When it comes to rosé wines, it is all a matter of time. The pinkish hue of these wines depends upon a certain number of days. After the grapes have been picked and sorted, winemakers crush the grapes, separating the juice from the skin. However, to make a rosé wine, winemakers let the skin remain in contact with the juice. Allow the skin to remain in contact with the juice for two or three days, a winemaker is on his or her way to making rosé wine. Allow the contact to continue, the winemaker is on his or her way to making a red wine.

One of the principal wine regions that produces rosé wines is Provence, France; however, it is not the only region. Vineyards and winemakers in the Loire Valley also produce this style of wine. They have their own AOC, known as Rosé d'Anjou. In this appellation, vineyards grow Grolleau grapes, which serve as the principal grape used to produce the wine. Winemakers use the Grolleau grapes, along with small percentages of Cabernet Franc, Cabernet Sauvignon, Gamay, Malbec, and Pineau d'Aunis.

Both Clare and I first encountered Rosé d'Anjou at a local wine store. We sampled a wine was produced by Famille Bougrier. The family started producing wines in 1885 and, for more than 100 years and five generations, they continue to produce a wide range of wines, including the rosé. They produce the rosé wine using Grolleau, Cabernet Franc and Gamay grapes. After trying a sample of the wine, we decided to buy a bottle.

The Rosé d'Anjou pours a light hue of farmed Atlantic Salmon. As for the aromatic elements, the Rosé d'Anjou has some floral scents in the aroma, but the principal elements suggest fresh strawberries and raspberries. These fruit also predominate in the taste of the wine. The body of the rosé is light and crisp, with a little sweetness that hangs on the edges of the tongue through the finish.

As for pairing this wine, it could be paired with a range of dishes. The Rosé d'Anjou could be paired with small plates or appetizers. It could also be paired with lighter seafood and chicken dishes. And, perhaps most suprisingly, it can be paired with somewhat spicy dishes. I paired this wine with my Gumbo aux Poissons, Huitres et Chevrettes and the pairing worked very well. The light, fruity nature of this wine served as a good contrast to the darker, somewhat spicy flavors fo the gumbo.

We found this wine at Corridor Wine & Spirits in Laurel, Maryland. It sells for about $9 to $10 a bottle.

ENJOY!

Gumbo aux Poissons, Huitres et Chevrettes

2012-01-10T12:19:00.000-05:00

I asked my beautiful Angel, Clare, "what would you like for dinner on New Year's Eve?" Her answer, "seafood gumbo." So, I decided that I would try to make the best damn gumbo ever. I did my research, reviewing not only modern day gumbo recipes, but also historic gumbo recipes, including a couple of recipes that date back to the late nineteenth century. I studied the difference between Cajun gumbo and Creole gumbo. I contemplated the ingredients, particularly the seafood, that I would use in the gumbo. And, after all this research, I felt ready to cook.

However, I planned on making my own gumbo. I was not going to simply follow a recipe ... or any recipe. I decided that for this "Gombo" (the name that I saw used to describe the dish in some old Cajun recipes), it would be a Chef Bolek Original, inspired by the gumbos of the Cajun bayous. There was one twist ... Clare is a pescatarian, who does not eat meat but does eat seafood. So, with andouille sausage, chicken and other meats off the menu, I still endeavored to be as Cajun as someone from the Midwest could try to be, choosing to make my Gombo with what the Cajun would call "poissons" (fish), "huitres" (oysters) and "chevrettes" (shrimp).

With the selection of seafood, I turned my attention to the roux. Perhaps the most important aspect of this dish is the roux. My prior experience with roux has generally been successful; however, I always left thinking that I could have gotten the roux darker. This time I worked to get the roux as dark as I thought I could get it ... or at least as dark as I could before I began to worry about burning it. I saw the color go from light brown, to brown, to chocolate brown, to dark chocolate. Although I did not reach mahogany, which was my goal, I did manage to get the darkest roux that I have ever achieved.

After getting the roux to the desired color, the key to cooking the rest of the gumbo is timing. I tried to cut the fish pieces in even sized pieces that would cook in a few minutes. I also made a change that is usually not done in cooking seafood. Generally speaking, one almost always puts in shrimp last, because they cook fast and can overcook fast. So, typically, one would follow the fish with the oysters and finish with the shrimp. I bucked convention by putting the shrimp in next and then turning off the heat after the shrimp cooked for a couple of minutes on each side. I then placed the oysters in the gumbo. The residual heat would finish cooking the shrimp and cook the oysters just enough so that they were cooked on the outside and a little soft on the inside. This resulted in the perfect oysters.

In the end, I have to say that I surprised myself. I think I made a pretty good gumbo, especially considering that there is not a drop of Cajun blood in me. Clare also loved the gumbo so I can say that I made the best damn gumbo that I could for my beautiful Angel!

GUMBO AUX POISSONS, HUITRES ET CHEVRETTES

A Chef Bolek Original
Serves 2-3

Ingredients:

1 whole fish (catfish, snapper, bass), scaled, filleted,

and reserving the head and backbone

1/2 pint of oysters, liqueur reserved

1/2 pound of 26-30 count shrimp, shells reserved

and deveined

1/4 cup of canola oil

1/4 cup of flour

4 stalks of celery

2 carrots

1 1/2 onions

1/2 green pepper

4 bay leaves

Several dashes of Tabasco sauce

1 teaspoon of ground red chile peppers

1 teaspoon of dried thyme or 2 sprigs of fresh thyme

2 cups of fish stock

Salt, to taste

Pepper, to taste

Directions:

1. Make the fish stock. Place the head and backbone of the fish, along with the shrimp shells into a small stock pot. Cut 1 onion into quarters and add it to the pot. Cut two carrots and three celery stalks into quarters and add them to the pot. Add 3 bay leaves, the dashes of Tabasco sauce, thyme and 10 cups of water. Bring the pot to a boil and reduce to a strong simmer. Let the stock cook for 1 hour.

2. Strain and reduce the fish stock. Strain the fish stock. Carefully pick through the backbone and the head for all the little pieces of fish meat. After you have picked the bones and head, discard the parts and the vegetables. You could get as much as a quarter of a cup of additional fish meat. Return the stock to a clean pot, add the oyster liqueur, and bring it back to a boil. Reduce down until you have two cups of liquid.

3. Make the roux. Heat the canola oil over high heat. Reduce the heat to medium. Add the flour slowly, whisking the flour with the oil. Continue to whisk the flour into the oil until completely incorporated. Continue to cook the flour and oil until it reaches a dark chocolate to mahogany brown.

4. Add the vegetables. Add the onions, celery, bell pepper and okra, stirring continuously. Cook the vegetables for about ten minutes or until tender.

5. Add the fish stock. Add 2 cups of fish stock in a steady stream or slowly to the roux over medium heat, stirring constantly to make sure the roux does not break up. Once all of the fish stock has been added, add the ground chile pepper. Reduce the heat to low and let the gumbo simmer for one hour. Stir occasionally.

6. Prepare the rice. Prepare 1 cup of rice according to the instructions on the package or box.

7. Add the seafood. Cut the fish fillet into even bite size pieces. Add the fish to the gumbo first and cook for about three minutes or until the fish is opaque. Add the shrimp and cook for another three minutes until they are opaque. Turn off the heat Finally, add the oysters and cook until they just become opaque, which should take a couple of minutes. If the oysters do not seem like they are cooking, turn the heat back on low for a couple of minutes.

8. Plate the Gumbo. Spoon the gumbo into a bowl. Spoon a cup of rice in the middle of the bowl or serve it on the side.

PAIRING THIS DISH

When it comes to pairing, gumbo has a surprising flexibility that makes it possible to pair both beers and wines with this dish. When it comes to a beer, a pilsner or lager beer would work best, particularly if the gumbo is really spicy. One such beer that would pair well with this dish is the following:

Abita Brewery -- S.O.S.
Weizen Pils
Louisiana, USA
Malt and slight hop flavors

When it comes to pairing this dish with a wine, red wines can be ruled out. Red wines would only underscore the heavy nature of the gumbo. A white wine or, even better, a rosé would be a better pairing for a gumbo. One such wine is the following:

Famille Bougrier -- Rosé d'Anjou (2010).
100% Cabernet Franc
D'Anjou AOC, Loire Valley, France
Strawberry and raspberry flavors, with a little sweetness.

ENJOY!

Dobbes Family Estate Pinot Noir (2007)

2012-01-09T07:29:00.000-05:00

"Of the earth comes the fruit of the vine and from the artistry of hour hands and nature comes gratification, libation and our reward." Those words grace the label of the Dobbes Family Estate Pinot Noir, Grande Assemblage Cuvee (2007). Although I looked for information about the 2007 vintage, I was not very successful. However, I did find some info about the 2009 vintage, which provides some insight into this wine.

The 2009 vintage of this Pinot Noir is made from grapes grown on nine different vineyards. The vineyards and their American Viticultural Area designations are the following: Momtazi Vineyard (McMinnville); Willakia Vineyard (Eola-Amity Hills); Symonette Vineyard (Eola-Amity Hills); Quailhurst Vineyard (Chehalem Mountains); Youngberg Hill Vineyard (McMinnville); Barron-Wahl Vineyard (Chehalem Mountains); Ana's Vineyard (Dundee Hills); Yamhill Springs Vineyard (Yamhill-Carlton); and Beacon Hill Vineyard (Yamhill-Carlton). Although I could not if the 2007 vintage drew from the same vineyards, I would assume that to be the case. In any event, the wide range of vineyards from which the grapes are grown allows this wine to provide a macro perspective of what an Oregon Pinot Noir can achieve.

The winemaker describes the wine as pouring a pure garnet color. I could see that, although I think the wine poured a little more like a cranberry red. The winemaker describes the aromas as dark cherry and a hint of the forest floor. Although I cannot say with certainty what the forest floor may smell like, there are definitely aromatic elements of cherry, with a hint of minerality or spice on the edges.

The taste of Dobbes Family Estate Pinot Noir is definitely fruit-forward, with cherries being the principal taste in the wine. The body of the wine is definitely lighter than other Oregon Pinot Noirs. As one drinks this wine, there is a noticeable spice in the finish, as well as some tannins and astringency, which add to the character of this wine.

Like most Pinot Noir wines, the Dobbes Family Estate Pinot Noir can be paired with any dish that prominently features leaner meats, such as chicken or pork. Given it is an Oregon wine, the Pinot Noir can obviously be paired with foods that are well associated with the State, such as mushrooms (and truffles) and salmon.

Dobbes has a decent sized distribution network, and, I have seen its wines in stores in Illinois and in the Mid-Atlantic. This wine sells for about $23.00 a bottle.

ENJOY!

Warm Mushroom Salad with Parmesan and Mixed Greens

2012-01-07T09:14:00.000-05:00

This dish is another recipe by Pierre Gagnaire; however, for this recipe, I made some of my own tweaks. These were not tweaks of creativity so much as they were changes based upon necessity. The original recipe is Warm Mushroom Salad with Parmesan and Arugula. I did not have any arugula and, because both Clare and I would be traveling, it did not make sense to buy arugula and then have to throw away some because it went bad while we were gone. However, we did have some mixed greens or herb salad, so I decided to use those greens in place of the arugula.

This is a very good dish, because of the difference textures provided by the cooked mushrooms, the cheese shavings and the crisp greens. It is also a very easy recipe to make. The only cooking involved is the sauteing of the mushrooms. So, this is a great recipe to make on the fly or at the last minute (so long as you have all of the ingredients).

The only other change I made was that I plated the mushrooms, cheese and lettuce side-by-side, rather than with the mushrooms on the bottom and then topped with the cheese and lettuce. This was more for the pictures that I am posting on this blog than anything else. Chef Gagnaire plates the dish with the mushrooms on bottom, topped with the cheese and greens because he wants the heat fro the mushrooms to begin to melt the cheese and wilt the greens. I will do that the next time I make this dish, because I will not need to take any pictures.

WARM MUSHROOM SALAD WITH PARMESAN AND MIXED GREENS

Adapted from a recipe by Pierre Gagnaire, available at Food and Wine

Serves 4

Ingredients:
2 1/2 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil
1 pound of mixed mushrooms, cut into large pieces
1/4 cup vegetable stock (or veal/chicken demiglace)
Sea salt
2 ounces of Parmigiano Reggiano, thinly shaved
6 ounces of mixed greens (or arugula)

Directions:

1. Saute the Mushrooms. Heat 2 tablespoons of olive oil in a large skillet. Add the mushrooms and cook over high heat, stirring until tender and lightly browned, about five minutes. Add the vegetable stock and cook over moderate heat for three minutes, stirring occasionally. Season with salt.

2. Plate the Dish. Mound the mushrooms on warmed plates and top with Parmigiano Reggiano shavings. In a bowl, toss the mixed greens with the remaining 1/2 tablespoon of olive oil and a pinch of salt. Pile the greens on top of the mushrooms and serve.

PAIRING THIS DISH

For this dish, the key ingredients are mushrooms, Parmigiano Reggiano and greens, all of which would seem to call for a white wine. Indeed, you could serve this with just about any white wine. However, for me, the mushrooms and Parmigiano Reggiano seem to call for a Lambrusco. Winemakers in the Italian region of Emilia-Romagna produce the best Lambrusco wines in the world, including this one:

Cleto Chiarli -- Vecchia Modena Premium.
100% Lambrusco di Sorbara
Reggio-Emilia, Emilia-Romagna, Italy
Sour cherry tastes, with lightness and carbonation

If you are looking for a beer to pair with this dish, you could go with any pilsner or pale ale. The light hop taste of these beers would go well with the mushrooms and the greens. However, if you want to be a little more adventurous or experimental, then you might want to try a saison, such as this one:

Birrificio del Ducato -- Nuova Mattina.
Italian-style Saison
Emilia-Romagna, Italy
Flavors of chamomile, green peppers, ginger, and coriander.

ENJOY!

Sauteed Shrimp with Shrimp Hummus

2012-01-06T07:22:00.000-05:00

"Tourné vers demain mais soucieux d'hier" or "facing tomorrow but respectful of yesterday." This is the mission statement of Pierre Gagnaire, a well established French chef who owns restaurants around the world. Gagnaire is described, at least by some as an "iconoclastic," who challenges French cuisine through his experiments with flavors and textures.

I recently came across several recipes from Chef Gagnaire that Food & Wine Magazine had published on its website. One recipe that caught my attention was the Sauteed Shrimp and Shrimp Hummus. The combination of shrimp and hummus -- in the hummus -- was very intriguing. So, I decided to take a stab at making the hummus for my beautiful Angel, Clare, who loves hummus.

The Shrimp Hummus basically comes from the use of a shrimp stock to make the hummus. The recipe includes a homemade shrimp stock, which I made. The recipe also includes the directions to make chickpea crackers. I did not make the crackers because I made this dish as part of a three course meal for Clare. I substituted some crostini for the crackers, although, the next time I make this dish I will definitely try to make the crackers.

I followed the recipe to the letter, and, it produced a very delicious hummus. I expected a little more of a shrimp taste, but both Clare and I were surprised by the nuttiness of the hummus. Clare even asked if I had used tahini, but the recipe did not call for it. I think the shrimp stock, together with the chickpeas, helped to create the flavor of sesame or nuts in the hummus.

SAUTEED SHRIMP WITH SHRIMP HUMMUS

Adapted from a recipe by Pierre Gagnaire, available at Food & Wine

Serves 2

Ingredients:
1/2 pound of U-15 shrimp (commonly referred to as "jumbo")
1 tablespoon of vegetable oil
1 medium shallot, minced
1 teaspoon of tomato paste
1 tablespoon of cognac or brandy
Water
Freshly ground black pepper
1 15 ounce can of chickpeas, drained and rinsed
Salt
3 tablespoons of olive oil

Directions:

1. Make the Shrimp Stock. Peel and devein the shrimp, reserving the shells. In a medium saucepan, heat the vegetable oil until shimmering. Add the shrimp shells and cook over high heat, stirring until starting to brown, about 1 minute. Add the shallot and cook, stirring, until fragrant, about 1 minute. Add the tomato paste and cook, stirring, until shiny, about 1 minute. Add the cognac and boil for a minute. Add 2 cups of water and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to moderately low and simmer for 12 minutes. Transfer the contents of the saucepan to a food process and process until the shells are finely ground. Pass the jus through a fine strainer into the saucepan. Boil the jus over high heat until reduced to 1/2 cup, about 7 minutes.

2. Make the Hummus. In a blender, puree the chickpeas with three tablespoons of water until smooth. Whisk the puree into the reduced shrimp jus and season with salt. Cook over moderate heat, stirring until heated through.

3. Saute the Shrimp. In a large skillet, heat the olive oil. Add the shelled shrimp and cook over moderate heat, turning a few times until just white throughout, about three minutes. Season lightly with salt and generously with pepper.

4. Plate the Dish. To serve, ladle the shrimp hummus into shallow bowls. Place the shrimp in the bowls, drizzling the peppery oil from the skillet around the shrimp. Arrange crackers or crostini alongside the shrimp and serve.

PAIRING THIS DISH

The magazine Food & Wine suggests that the Sauteed Shrimp with Shrimp Hummus is best paired with a Chenin Blanc wine, like a Vouvray, from the Loire Valley in France. If you cannot find a Vouvray wine, there are alternatives, such as a Viognier. Such a wine would provide floral and honey aromas and tastes, which contrast with the nuttiness of the hummus. I also think that a wine with citrus flavors could also work well. Here are some possible suggestions:

Victor Hugo Vineyards -- Viognier (2009).
100% Viognier
Paso Robles AVA, California, USA
Melon and honey tastes, crisp with lighter body.

Domaine de Chevilly -- Quincy (2009).

100% Chenin Blanc
Le Centre Loire, Loire Valley, France
Grapfruit and other citrus fruitiness.

ENJOY!

Victor Hugo Vineyards Viognier (2009)

2012-01-04T07:33:00.000-05:00

"God made only water, but man made wine." Those words were written by Victor Hugo, a famous French poet, playwright, and human rights activist. Little did Hugo know that, nearly one hundred years after his death, that man would be making wine in his name. The man -- actually a husband and wife, Leslie and Vic Roberts -- began the Victor Hugo Winery in the Paso Robles region of California. The winery grows its grapes in the Templeton Hills Vineyard, which is the estate vineyard. Victor Hugo Winery grows a wide range of grapes, from Cabernet Sauvignon to Viognier grapes.

The Viognier grape is a white wine grape. The origin of the grape is unknown; however, legend says that the grape dates back to the Roman Empire. More specifically, they say that, in 281 A.D., the Roman Emperor, Probus, brought the grape to what would eventually become France. Farmers planted the vines and cultivated the grapes for centuries and, for a good part of that time, the grape was fairly common. In more recent times, the cultivation of Viognier has decreased. In fact, the grape is cultivated today primarily in the Northern Rhône region in the Condrieu appellation. While cultivation of the grape decreased in France, it has increased around the world, including about one dozen states in the United States.

Viognier has definitely taken root in the Paso Robles AVA in California, where Victor Hugo produces its own Viognier wine. The label states that the 2009 Paso Robles Vigonier is an estate wine. The grapes were hand harvested, whole clusters were pressed and then barrel-fermented and aged in Hungarian oak for 5 months. Aromas of honeysuckle and ripe apricot with hings of almond blossom. Goes with soft ripe cheeses, spicy Asian dishes, scallops, oysters and lobsters.

The Victor Hugo Viognier pours a yellowish, goldish color. The wine has aromas of flowers, honey and melon. This wine has a lighter body, reminscent more of a Pinot Grigio than a Chardonnay. The melon and honey flavors carry through to the taste of the wine, providing an interesting parallel to wines such as Vouvray.

Wines such as this Viognier are best paired with lighter dishes, as well as seafood dishes. I paired this wine with the Sauteed Sheephead, Savage Boleks Style, because I thought the wine would complement the oysters and fish used in that dish.

We found this wine in Orange Beach, Alabama during our vacation. It sold for $21.99 a bottle. I am not sure about the distribution of this wine, because I have not seen it around where I live.

ENJOY!

Sauteed Sheephead, Savage Boleks Style

2012-01-02T09:55:00.002-05:00

During a recent vacation, I went fishing with my beautiful Angel, Clare, and her parents in Orange Beach, Alabama. We chartered a boat to fish along the shoreline in the Gulf of Mexico. We were looking for bull redfish, but we did not find any. Instead, we encountered Sheephead, or Archosargus Probatocephalus. The Sheephead -- also known as Convict Fish and Bait Stealer -- lives up to its names. The Sheephead will only go after shellfish. We lost many a live shrimp bait to the Sheephead, whose slight bite can go unnoticed by a distracted person. Once we caught the bait-stealer, it revealed itself as revealed as a fish with a broad body with wide grey-black stripes on a white or off-white background, reminiscent of traditional prison garb.

Perhaps the most interesting feature of the Sheephead is its teeth. The fish has sheep-like incisors, which stick out a little like buck teeth. The Sheephead uses these teeth to eat, well, almost anything. Small Sheephead may eat plants. As the fish grows, its diet changes to mollusks, such as clams, mussels and oysters, and small crabs. Sheephead may also eat other, small fish, such as croakers and anchovies. The Sheephead are found throughout the Gulf, usually hanging around rock jetties, piers, pilings and formations on the sea floor, where it can easily find its food.

Both Clare and her dad, Frank, managed to catch a Sheephead during our fishing trip. The fish were good examples of the Convict Fish, with their broad black stripes. Once we got to shore, we had the fish cleaned and filleted. As I watched our guide at work, I saw that the fish had a large, boney heads, and thick backbones. Each Sheephead fish produced two decent sized fillets and, moreover, a head and backbone that were very good for making stock.

With our dinner in hand, our thoughts turned to how we should prepare the Sheephead. Both Frank and I agreed that it should be a simple saute, with salt, black pepper and a drizzle of lemon. This would allow everyone to taste the fish. We also decided that we would have a simple sauce for the fish. The sauce would be made with a little white wine and some more stock. We made the stock by using the heads and bones of the Sheephead, along with the basics -- an onion, celery and carrots -- and some herbs (such as bay leaves and thyme).

The final element came, indirectly, from the guide. As he cleaned our fish, the guide noted that the fish had recently feasted on oysters, which were still in their stomachs. With this information, we decided that we would add oysters to the sauce for the fish. This would allow the sauce to add an oyster flavor to the fish.

The end result was a delicious dish, although the sauce ended up being a little more like a jus. The reason was two fold. First, I wanted to maintain some liquid in the sauce to better cook the oysters. Second, I did not want to add a lot of butter because I was trying to keep the dish as light as possible. To get a thicker sauce, I would probably cook down the sauce more than I did. In any event, the sauce accomplished its goal, which was to impart the flavor of oysters into the fish.

SAUTEED SHEEPHEAD, SAVAGE BOLEKS STYLE

A Chef Bolek Collaboration with Frank Savage

Serves 4

Ingredients (for the Sheephead Stock):
Backbones and/or heads from 2 Sheephead fish
Any other fish bones, fish heads, shrimp shells, etc.
1 onion
1 carrot
2-4 stalks of celery
2 bay leaves
15 cups of water
8 sprigs of fresh thyme
1/4 teaspoon of salt
Ground pepper, to taste

Ingredients (for the Sheephead fish):
Four fillets from 2 Sheephead fish
1 pint of oysters, reserve the liqueur
2-3 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil
Juice from 1 lemon
1 tablespoon of fresh thyme leaves
4 tablespoons of unsalted butter
2 tablespoons of white wine
3 cups of Sheephead stock
Ground pepper, to taste
Salt, to taste

Directions:

1. Make the Sheephead stock. Add the fish bones and/or fish heads, as well as any other bones, heads or shrimp shells, in a pot. Add the water and raise the heat to high. Bring the water to a boil and reduce to a simmer. Let the water simmer for at least one hour. Strain the stock, reserving the bones and the head. Pick out the meat from the backbone and the head, setting that meat aside for later. Take three cups of the stock and pour it into a smaller pot. Bring the stock in the smaller pot to a boil and reduce by at least half, if not more. You can use any remaining stock for other purposes, such as boiling shrimp, or you can freeze the stock for use in the future.

2. Prepare the fish. Grind salt and pepper over both sides. Sprinkle the lemon juice over the fillets.

3. Saute the fish. Heat the extra virgin olive oil in a saute pan over medium high heat. Once the oil begins to shimmer, add the fish fillets. Make sure not to overcrowd the pan and do the fillets in batches if necessary. Saute the fish for about two to four minutes on each side (depending upon the size and thickness of the fillet) until the fish is opaque, but before it begins to break apart.

4. Prepare the sauce. After the fish fillets have been sauteed, add the wine to deglaze the pan and cook until the alcohol has evaporated, about one to two minutes. Add two cups of stock and the oyster liqueur. Bring to a boil and reduce to a simmer. Whisk the butter, 1 tablespoon at a time, into the the sauce. Reduce the sauce further until it reaches the desired consistency. Salt and pepper to taste.

5. Add the oysters and bits of Sheephead meat. Add the oysters and the Sheephead meat to the sauce. Turn off the heat. Cook the oysters using the heat of the sauce until the edges of the oysters begin to curl and the oysters begin to turn opaque, about two to three minutes. Flip the oysters and continue to cook them for about two to three minutes. Turn back on the heat to a low setting if it takes a little longer to cook the oysters. Remove the pan from the heat once the oysters have just turned opaque.

6. Plate the fish. Plate the fillet, spoon oysters over the fish or around the fish. Spoon additional sauce over the fish and oysters. Garnish with whole thyme leaves. Serve immediately.

PAIRING THIS DISH

The key ingredients to this dish -- Sheephead, Sheephead stock, oysters, oyster liqueur -- all call for a pairing with white wine. The question is whether the wine should be a lighter, fruitier wine or a more smooth, fuller-bodied wine. In the end, I think the latter is probably better for this dish, because they can add a little sweetness, but also some richness. If a smooth, richer white is chosen, make sure that the wine has not been aged in oak barrels. Here are a couple of suggestions:

L'Ecole No. 41 -- Columbia Valley Sémillon (2009).
87% Sémillon, 13% Sauvignon Blanc.
Walla Walla, Washington, USA
Pear and apple tastes, with citrusy tartness.

Victor Hugo Vineyards -- Viognier (2009).
100% Viognier
Paso Robles AVA, California, USA
Melon and honey tastes, crisp with lighter body.

ENJOY!

If you would like more information about Sheephead, check out Rod N' Reel or the South Carolina Department of Natural Resources.

Happy New Year!

2012-01-01T09:13:00.001-05:00

I just wanted to take a quick moment to wish everyone a happy, prosperous and safe new year! Last year was a good year for me, my cooking and my blog. I posted a record number of blog posts, which were read by visitors from more than one hundred countries.

Most importantly, I had some amazing cooking experiences. I was a guest chef for a night. My personal culinary challenge, Around the World in 80 Dishes, has taken me (culinarily speaking) to Cuba, Libya, Paraguay, the Philippines, Mozambique and Uruguay. Working with my beautiful wife, Clare, we hosted the second Savage Boleks BBQ and a dinner for our Wine Club friends.

As we enter 2012, I have a lot of plans for my culinary hobby and this blog. I have improved the format of the blog posts, particularly the directions. These improvements will hopefully make the directions a little easier to follow. I plan to go back and make these changes to old posts, so that all of the posts have the same, user-friendly format.

Another change will improve the pairing of dishes with beers and wines (as well as pairing beers and wines with dishes). Each recipe posted on the site will include pairings with at least one beer/wine. I am adding this feature to improve my own personal ability to pair dishes based upon the ingredients of the dish and the particular flavors of the beverage.

I think these changes will help to improve the blog, both for myself and those who visit, even though it may mean that there are fewer (but hopefully better) posts. There will be additional changes and improvements to this blog as the new year unfolds. And, all the while, I will continue to pursue new goals with my cooking and my culinary challenges.

The New Year is exciting for me. I hope you will continue to visit and share in my culinary adventures. Until next time ...

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Parmigiano Reggiano "Flatbread" with Ribeye, Porcini and Heirloom Tomatoes

2011-12-29T10:02:00.001-05:00

Almost all of the "Chef Bolek Original" recipes are posted after I have made them for the first time. There is no test kitchen. There are no repeats to see if I can do a better job. Some recipes are complete disasters, and, those never see the light of day. Other recipes are okay, and, I usually post them with a few caveats. And, every one in a while, I have a very successful Chef Bolek Original.

Recently, I was trying to think of recipes for what we had in our refrigerator. One thing that caught my attention was the bowl full of grated Parmigiano Reggiano. I knew of various recipes for Parmesan Crisps, but, I had way too much grated cheese to make crisps.

So then my mind turned to a "flatbread" made entirely of Parmigiano Reggiano. This idea was both intriguing and risky. I had never heard of a "flatbread" made of anything other than bread. Yet, Parmigiano Reggiano is rather salty, which means that you would need to make sure whatever tops the "flatbread" can offset the saltiness of the cheese. Ultimately, I decided to plate a salad, with porchini mushrooms and slices of heirloom tomatoes. I also decided that I would put slices of ribeye on top as well.

Overall, this dish turned out well. The one thing that I did not add to this recipe that I would definitely add the next time I make it is a good drizzle of aged balsamic vinegard. The fruitness of the vinegar will offset the saltiness of the cheese very well.

PARMIGIANO REGGIANO "FLATBREAD" WITH RIBEYE

PORCINI AND HEIRLOOM TOMATOES

A Chef Bolek Original

Serves 3-4

Ingredients:
1 grass-fed ribeye steak, about 1 pound
2 cups of mixed greens
1/2 to 1 heirloom tomato
1/4 to 1/2 cup of dried porcini mushrooms
2 cups of chicken broth
2 tablespoons of Sangiovese wine
2 cloves of garlic, diced finely
1 tablespoon of fresh rosemary, chopped finely
2 teaspoons of dried thyme
1/2 teaspoon of crushed red pepper
Finely grated Parmigiano Reggiano
Sea salt, to taste
Ground black pepper, to taste

Directions:

1. Prepare the marinade for the steak. Add the red wine, garlic, rosemary, 1 teaspoon of the dried thyme, 1/4 teaspoon of crushed red pepper to a bowl. Add the ribeye and make sure that it is coated with the mixture.

2. Rehydrate the Mushrooms. Heat the chicken broth over medium heat. Once the broth is heated, add the dried porcini mushrooms to rehydrate. After about five minutes strain the mushrooms and set aside.

3. Cook the steak. Cook the ribeye under the broiler for about eight to ten minutes per side or until cooked to the desired doneness. Let the steak rest for fifteen minutes.

4. Make the Parmigiano Reggiano flatbread. Line a cooking tray with parchment paper. Brush the paper with extra virgin olive oil. Place a spoonful of the grated Parmigiano Reggiano in the middle of the paper and use the spoon to gently spread out the cheese until it is a consistent thickness. Repeat along the edges of the cheese until you have reached the desired size of the flatbread. Sprinkle the remaining thyme and crushed red pepper over the cheese. Add the cheese to the oven. Cook until golden brown, anywhere from five to ten minutes depending upon the size of the "flatbread."

5. Plate the dish. Prepare the "flatbread" by placing it on a plate. Place the mixed greens in the middle of the "flatbread." Sprinkle the mushrooms and tomatoes over the greens. Slice the ribeye and place slices over the greens.

PAIRING THIS RECIPE

The principal component of this dish is two-fold: ribeye steak and the Parmigiano Reggiano flatbread. Given Parmigiano Reggiano is perhaps one of the signature foods of Emilia-Romagna, I think that the most appropriate pairing for this dish is a wine from that region. A Sangiovese di Romagna is very much like a Tuscan Sangiovese, which can stand up to not only the "flatbread," but also the steak, which has been flavored with a marinade that draws from the flavors of Tuscany, such as rosemary and garlic. The wine belows is one Sangiovese di Romagna that I have previously reviewed.

Collina dei Lecci -- Sangiovese di Romagna Reserva (2004).

85% Sangiovese, 15% other

Emilia Romagna, Italy

Flavors of cherries and raspberries

ENJOY!

Monte Antico Toscana (2007)

2011-12-26T09:49:00.000-05:00

IGT. If you google that acronym, you are most likely find the American company that specializes in developing, manufacturing and distributing gaming equipment. All of that is fine and good if you are looking to buy slot machines. However, if you are like me and are trying to learn more about wine, then IGT means "Indicazione Geografica Tipica," one of the classifications established by the Italian government.

These wines got this classification because of a "failing" on their part, namely, the wines fail to qualify for one of the two big classifications (DOC and DOCG) for Italian wine. This failing is usually because of the blend of grapes used to produce the wine or because of where those grapes are grown. Despite such a "failing," if you can really call it that, some of these wines are of high quality and are much more than any Vino da Tabola or red table wine. (Personally, I think some of these wines are better than some DOC and DOCG wines out there.) Therefore, in 1992, the Italian government created the IGT designation to give these particular wines their proper due.

One such "IGT" wine is the Monte Antico, which is a blend produced in Italy. According to the label, this blend is the "result of the synergy" between Italian wine dspecialist Neil Empson and renowned winemaker Franco Bernabei. Empson and Bernabei say that they pick the finest grapes from the best Tuscan hillsides. The wine is aged 1 year in oak barrels and then six months in the bottle.

The Monte Antico is an interesting blend of fruity grapes, like Sangiovese, with darker, earthier grapes such as Cabernet Savignon. In fact, the exact blend of the wine is 85% Sangiovese, 10% Cabernet Sauvignon and 5% Merlot grapes. these proportions have a lot to do with the appearance, aroma and taste of the wine. The wine pours a dark crimson red. The wine has aromas of red cherries, with a little floral element to it. These aromas clearly remind the drinker that the Sangiovese grapes are the predominant grape in this blend. The Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot grapes contribute to the taste of the wine, providing some additional layers beyond the cherry flavors provided by the Sangiovese grapes. There is a little earthiness in the background.

Given the high percentage of Sangiovese grapes, this wine could be paired much like a Chianti. More specifically, this wine could be paired with pastas with red sauces, as well as roasted chicken and pork dishes. The Monte Antico could also be paired well with any of the hard cheeses from Tuscany, such as the Pecorino Toscano.

The magazine Wine Enthusiast gives this vintage a score of 88, which is very respectable. This wine is available at most wine stores and grocery stores for about $8.99 to $10.99 a bottle.

ENJOY!

Almond Crusted Tilapia

2011-12-23T12:28:00.000-05:00

We had a bag of sliced almonds lying around after Clare made the Warm Cheese Tart with Cinnamon and Sliced Almonds. Looking to work a little creativity in the kitchen, I decided to use the leftover almonds as breading for a couple of fish fillets.

I first ground the almonds into "bread crumbs." Then I consulted The Flavor Bible to decide what I could add to flavor the almond crumbs. I decided on three additional flavors ... green cardamom, paprika and cayenne pepper. All three flavors work well with almonds.

As I prepared the almonds, I realized that the texture of the ground almonds presented some issues when it came to breading. The ground almonds tended to clump together, as if there was some moistness in the almonds. I feared that this would present some difficulty when it came to cooking the fish. I had planned on sauteing the fish in a pan with only a little oil; but I became concerned that the breading to come off of the fish. I ultimately decided that, rather than sauteing the fish, I would increase the amount of oil and basically fry the fish. The additional oil would cook the breading faster and help keep it bound together during the cooking process.

I should note that the almonds created a rather thick breading, which was fine for both Clare and myself. If you would like to lighten the breading, I would suggest adding a cup or two of flour in place of a cup or two of ground almonds.

ALMOND CRUSTED TILAPIA

A Chef Bolek Original

Serves 2

Ingredients:
2 Tilapia fillets
4 cups of sliced almonds, ground into powder
8 green cardamom pods, toasted and ground into powder
1/4 teaspoon of cayenne pepper
1/2 teaspoon of paprika powder
Salt, to taste
Pepper to taste
1 large egg, beaten
1/4 to 1/2 cup of extra virgin olive oil

Directions:
1. Make the breading. Put the ground almonds, ground cardamom, cayenne and paprika on a plate, salt and pepper to taste. Mix all of the breading ingredients together.

2. Bread the Tilapia fillets. Beat the egg in a bowl. Dip the tilapia fillets in the egg and then in the breading mixture. Let the tilapia fillets sit for five minutes or so before cooking them.

3. Cook the Tilapia fillets. Heat the oil on high heat. When the oil begins to shimmer, reduce the heat to medium-high heat and place the fillets in the pan. Cook for about four minutes and then flip. Cook for about four minutes more or until the fillets are opaque and begin to flake.

PAIRING THIS RECIPE

Looking at this recipe, the pairing must take into account, not only the fish, but also the almond breading. Given the richness and weight of the almond breading, a lighter wine or beer seems appropriate. Here are a couple of suggestions:

Dr. H. Thanisch -- Bernkasteler Badstube Kabinett 2009.

100% Riesling

Mosel Valley, Germany

Flavors of apples and bartlett pears

Le Chapeau -- Pinot Noir Cuvee Napoléon (2010).

Pinot Noir

Corsica, France

Light body with strawberry and raspberry flavors

Pub Dog -- Hoppy Dog Pale Ale.

India Pale Ale

Gaithersburg, MD

Lighter than average hop flavor

ENJOY!

Cacciucco

2011-12-22T07:35:00.000-05:00

One of my favorite Italian dishes is a seafood stew that varies region-by-region. I have made a couple versions of this stew, inspired by the brodettos of Abruzzo. The Tuscans have their own version called "Cacciucco" (kah-CHOO-koh). I thought it was time to learn a little more about the Tuscan stew and try to make it for myself and my beautiful Angel, Clare.

The word "Cacciucco" comes from the Turkish word, Kϋçϋk, which means "small." This is a reference to the fish used to make the dish, all of which are usually small, boney fish. These fish are the pesce povero or "poor fish," which were left over from the catch. The fish were left over because they were too small or too boney to sell in the market. The pesce povero usually included Black Scorpionfish, Atlantic Stargazer, Dogfish and Weeverfish.

Few of those fish are available around where I live, so the suggested fish for this recipe include sole, mullet, catfish, eel, hake, monkfish, and John Dory. Many of these fish -- such as sole, hake and monkfish -- are endangered because of overfishing or are unsustainable because the fishing methods used to catch the fish result in an unacceptable amount of bycatch or environmental damage. I try hard to make sure that I follow the guidelines for sustainable seafood in my cooking. Therefore, for my Cacciucco, I decided to use Rockfish and Vermillion Snapper, both of which have been designated as sustainable. I also used some squid and some cherrystone clams. This dish was very good and, like the brodettos, I will definitely make it again.

CACCIUCCO

Adapted from LivornoNow

Serves 4

Ingredients:

1 1/2 pounds of fish and shellfish

1 onion, sliced
1 carrot, sliced
1 stalk celery, sliced
3 cloves garlic, diced
1 small handful of parsley, chopped
1 can of San Marzano, whole peeled tomatoes

8 thick slices Italian bread
Extra virgin olive oil
1 bayleaf
Thyme
Sage
Chile pepper
2 teaspoons of vinegar
1 glass dry red wine (e.g. Chianti)
Salt and pepper

2 cups of seafood broth

Directions:

1. Prepare the seafood. Wash all the fish. Clean the squid and wash shellfish. Wash shellfish carefully and place in a large pan to open them. Conserve the liquid and half of the shell with the clam or mussel.

2. Prepare the base of the Cacciucco. In a large frying pan, heat olive oil and lightly fry the onion, carrot, celery, garlic and parsley, all finely chopped. Add the chile, thyme, sage and bayleaf.

3. Add the squid, followed by the vinegar, red wine and tomatoes. Add the squid to the base and cook for a few minutes. Add the vinegar. When the vinegar has evaporated, add the red wine and cook til this has evaporated as well. Add the tomatoes, chopped, and season to taste with salt and pepper.

4. Add the remaining ingredients. When the squid is tender, add the fish stock (strained), the remaining fish, and in the last few minutes the shellfish. Cook until the fish and shellfish are cooked through, with the fish about to flake apart and the shell fish are opaque/

5. Plate the dish. Toast the bread and rub with garlic. Place the slices in the bottom of a dish and pour the Cacciucco over the bread. Serve hot. (there should be plenty of sauce, but the Cacciucco should not be too liquid).

ENJOY!

For more information about Cacciucio, check out LivornoNow.

Roasted Apples and Fennel with Walnuts

2011-12-21T07:23:00.000-05:00

Every dish deserves a good side. When I made my Garlic-Fennel Rubbed Pork Loin Roast, I struggled mightily to come up with a good side dish. At first, I thought about mashed potatoes, and then truffled mashed potatoes. Potatoes did not seem to be the best side for the dish, at least for me.

My thoughts then turned to what is traditionally linked to pork ... apples. Maybe it was all of those images of a whole pig with an apple stuffed in its mouth. Wherever that image came from, I had the start of my side dish.

I then consulted The Flavor Bible for additional ingredients to use in this side dish. The first ingredient that jumped out at me was fennel, which is a good ingredient to pair with apples. I was a little cautious at first because the pork roast used both fennel seed and ground fennel in the rub. However, I came to remember something I learned a long time ago ... the taste of the seed and the taste of the fruit or vegetable are not always the same. Fennel seed and ground fennel provide strong anice flavors, which include some flower, spice and peppery notes. While fennel itself also provides these flavors, roasting the fennel helps to mellow them. When roasted apples are added, the fennel does not stand out as much.

In the end, I scoured the Internet to see if there was a recipe that I could use as a guide. I found one from Country Living and adapted it for my dish. I also added walnuts to the side dish, which was a suggested pairing for both apples and fennel. When I served this dish, I added some walnuts, but, in the rush of things, I forgot to toast them. I would suggest toasting the walnuts and sprinkling them over the apples and fennel just before serving the dish.

ROASTED APPLES AND FENNEL WITH WALNUTS

Recipe adapted from Country Living

Serves 4-5

Ingredients:
1 fennel bulb, trimmed and cut into 1/4 inch wedges
1.5 pounds of apples, such as gala apples
1 tablespoon of honey
1/2 teaspoon of salt
1/4 teaspoon of ground black pepper
1 cup of walnuts

Directions:
1. Prepare the apples and fennel. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit. Combine all of the ingredients in a bowl and toss. Lay the apples and fennel out on a baking sheet in a single layer.

2. Roast the apples and fennel. Roast the apples and fennel for twenty minutes. Turn the apples and fennel. Roast for twenty minutes more until they are golden and cooked through.

3. Toast the walnuts. Heat a pan on medium heat. Add the walnuts. Toast the walnuts for a minute or two, shaking the pan to prevent any burning.

4. Plate the dish. Sprinkle the toasted walnuts over the apples and fennel just before serving the dish.

ENJOY!

Elk Run Vineyards Cabernet Franc (2010)

2011-12-18T09:55:00.000-05:00

I am still amazed, not only by the fact that Maryland has a wine movement, but also by the quality of the wines. I never knew that Maryland had a budding wine movement. My introduction to Maryland wine was with the Slate, which is an excellent blend produced by a local Maryland winery called Black Ankle Vineyards. And, when I was recently strolling the aisles of a local grocery store, I came across the wines of another Maryland winery called Elk Run Vineyards.

Elk Run Vineyards is named after a local river, but the vineyards have a lot of history. The winery is located on a pre-revolutionary farm in the Piedmont region near Frederick Maryland. Elk Run has two vineyards ... the Liberty Tavern Vineyard and the Cold Friday Vineyard. The name of the latter vineyard comes from the description on a deed. It is not just any deed, but the deed given by the King of England to Lord Baltimore. The property on that deed is described as "Resurvey of Cold Friday," and, hence, the Cold Friday Vineyard.

The old world also finds its way, not only into the names of the vineyards, but also in the practices of Elk Run's wines, including its Cabernet Franc. The inspiration for this Cabernet Franc are the wines of Bordeaux, which stand in stark contrast to the Cabernet Franc wines found in the Loire Valley or other parts of France. Bordeaux-style Cabernet Franc wines are fuller bodied wines with darker fruit both in the aroma and tastes. The difference between a Bordeaux-style Cabernet Franc and a Chinon-style Cabernet Franc became very clear when I tasted this wine and the Domaine Gouron Chinon.

The Elk Run Cabernet Franc pours a dark red, with aromas of dark fruit and minerality greeting the nose. The winemaker describes this wine as having "rich raspberry and currant flavors, and a cassis nose with pungent, spicy and black olive like aromas." I think the aromas are more mineral than spice, but that could just be my olfactory senses. As for the tastes, the description is spot-on, definitely raspberry and current, along with dark cherry flavors.

Like many Bordeaux-style wines, the Elk Run Cabernet Franc can be paired with red meat dishes, such as many of the dishes that I make as part of my Steak Nights. This wine could also be paired with pork or chicken dishes, particularly if there are earthy ingredients, such as mushrooms, squash, and/or pumpkin. If you want to pair this style of Cabernet Franc with a fish, tuna is probably the best option, but it would depend upon the other ingredients used in the recipe.

This wine is available in local wine stores or grocery stores (you can check availability on the winery's website). I found this wine at Roots Market in Olney, Maryland. A bottle sells for $21.99.

ENJOY!

Bridgeport Brewing Company's Ebenezer Ale

2011-12-17T13:36:00.000-05:00

With the holidays quickly approaching, craft brewers have begun to roll out their Christmas Ales, Holiday Ales, and Winter Ales. I have reviewed a few of them last year, such as the Great Lakes Christmas Ale, the Abita Christmas Ale and the Breuwerij Huyghe Delirium Noel. This year, it is Bridgeport Brewing Company's Ebenezer Ale.

Bridgeport Brewery is Oregon's oldest craft brewery. The origins of the brewery lie with one of the families in Oregon's well established wine movement, the Ponzis. Richard and Nancy Ponzi worked with brewer Karl Ockert to establish Columbia River Brewing in 1984. Columbia River Brewing eventually became Bridgeport Brewing Company. Today, Bridgeport Brewing Company has grown in size and capacity, producing more than 100,000 barrels of beer per year.

My beautiful Angel and I visited the Bridgeport Brewpub and Bakery during our honeymoon. When I planned our honeymoon, it was to be a foodie, craft beer and wine experience. The craft beer part of the experience appropriately began with the first craft brewer in Oregon. We stopped in for a couple of beers, such as the India Pale Ale and the Blue Heron. We both enjoyed the beers a lot. Unfortunately, we have not been able to enjoy Bridgeport beers since our honeymoon because the craft brewer does not distribute to the East Coast. However, I was able to find Bridgeport Brewing Company's Ebenezer Ale during a recent trip to Chicago. So, I bought a six pack for the holiday.

The Ebenezer Ale is a beer produced in the Winter Warmer Ale. The brewer uses four different roasted malts and a few different hops. The beer pours an orangish-brown in color with a thin layer of foam. The aroma of the beer highlights the roasted malts, with hints of the hops. There is also an aroma of caramel. The taste of the beer suggests cinnamon and, perhaps, a faint cardamom, nutmeg and/or clove flavor. The flavors of this beer are lighter and more subtle than I expected. This is not a bad thing, because it provides a contrast to other holiday ales or winter warmers that I have tried.

Generally speaking, winter warmer ales are meant to be enjoyed alone, not necessarily paired with food. These ales are usually a digestive, enjoyed after a good meal. Nevertheless, if you have some Christmas cookies, there is nothing wrong with having a couple with a beer like the Ebenezer Ale.

Bridgeport Brewing Company's Ebenezer Ale has an ABV of 6.4% with an IBU of 40. I found this beer at a Binny's outside of Chicago, Illinois, where a six-pack sold for about $8.99.

ENJOY!

Garlic-Fennel Rubbed Pork Loin Roast

2011-12-16T07:28:00.000-05:00

A pork loin roast can be an amazing cut of meat to work with. The most important thing to consider with respect to this roast is the rub. Recently, I decided to prepare a pork loin roast, but I did not know what rub to use. I scoured the Internet to find the right rub. I ultimately stumbled across a recipe provided by Chef Ryan Hardy to Food and Wine Magazine.

Hardy's recipe draws its inspiration from his personal experience eating roasted pork served by a street vendor in Siena, Italy. The principal ingredients of the rub are garlic and fennel seeds, with ground fennel and crushed red pepper also being used. The combination of garlic and fennel give this roast a very earthy and flowery aroma as it cooks in the kitchen, which is very nice. I prepared the rub ahead of time, rubbed the roast, and let it sit in the refrigerator for a few hours before I began to cook. You could also let the roast sit in the refrigerator overnight, but make sure that it has returned to room temperature before you begin cooking.

The recipe calls for the use of a ten rib pork loin roast. I opted to go with a pork loin roast without the bones, because it was cheaper. Although a boneless piece of meat tends to cook faster, the particular cut I bought took a little longer to cook than what was called for in the recipe. It took about one hour and fifty minutes from start to finish, rather than the one hour and thirty five minutes. For this reason, it is always important to watch the temperature of the roast to ensure that you do not undercook or overcook the meat. In the end, I think it turned out well and I would make this recipe again.

GARLIC-FENNEL RUBBED PORK LOIN ROAST

Adapted from a recipe by Ryan Hardy, provided to

Food & Wine Magazine
Serves 10

Ingredients:

6 large garlic cloves

2 tablespoons of rosemary, coarsely chopped

1 tablespoon of whole fennel seeds

1 teaspoon of ground fennel

2 teaspoons of crushed red pepper

2 teaspoons of ground black pepper

1/4 cup of extra virgin olive oil

1 ten rib pork loin roast (about five pounds), bones frenched.

Directions:

1. Prepare the rub and marinate the meat. Preheat the oven to 400° Fahrenheit. In a food processor, combine the garlic, rosemary, fennel seeds, ground fennel, crushed red pepper, black pepper and olive oil. Process the ingredients to a past. Set the pork roast on a large rimmed baking sheet and cut shallow score marks all over the fact. Spread one tablespoon of the paste on the underside of the roast and the remaining paste all over the scored fat and meaty parts of the roast. Season all over with salt.

2. Roast the pork. Roast the pork, fat side up for one (1) hour. Reduce the oven temperature to 325° Fahrenheit for about thirty-five minutes longer or until an instant read thermometer inserted into the thickest part of the meat registers 150° Fahrenheit. Transfer the roast to a carving board and let rest for 15 minutes. Carve the roast and serve at once.

ENJOY!

Chef Bolek's Catfish "Curry"

2011-12-15T11:53:00.000-05:00

My experience with curries comes primarily from eating them, not cooking them. I love Indian curries and one of my personal culinary goals is to learn how to make various types of curries and to learn the differences between the curries of the different regions of India, as well as learn the differences between curries of India and other countries, such as Thailand and Malaysia.

For this particular recipe, I drew from my limited experience in making Lamb Korma. I bascially borrowed the spice ingredients, with a few tweaks. I made this dish for my beautiful Angel, who does not eat meat. This led to the first change ... I made it with catfish instead of lamb. The Lamb Korma recipe I made called for two masalas ... a curry masala and a garam masala. For the second change, I used the garam masala, but used a sweet curry powder (with fenugreek and turmeric powders) instead of the curry masala. The third change was the addition of some vegetables, like eggplants and bell peppers. Finally, I decided to use Sanaam chiles, which are chiles from India, to provide a little heat to the dish.

Overall, this dish turned out well, but it falls short of being a curry. It is more like a "Chef Bolek-ized" curry. Still, I have to start somewhere. And this was a tasty starting point.

CHEF BOLEK'S CATFISH "CURRY"

A Chef Bolek Original

Serves 2-3

Ingredients:
1 pound of catfish, cut into even sized pieces
1 small eggplant or 1/2 of a large eggplant, diced
1/2 onion, diced
1 large shallot, diced
1 cup of bell peppers, diced or thinly sliced
3 cloves of garlic, diced
1/2 tomato, diced
1 teaspoon of garam masala powder
1 teaspoon of sweet curry powder
1/4 teaspoon of fenugreek powder
1/4 teaspoon of turmeric powder
2 dry Sanaam chiles, ground into a powder
1 teaspoon of minced ginger
2 cups of water
3 tablespoons of non-fat yogurt

Directions:

1. Saute the vegetables. Heat the vegetable oil in a deep skillet. Add the onions and the shallots, sauteing the vegetables for about ten minutes. Add the garlic and continue to saute for a minute. Add the bell peppers and the eggplant, along with the garam masala and sweet curry powders. Continue to saute for about eight minutes.

2. Add the tomato and liquid. Add the tomato and 1 cup of water. Bring to a simmer and continue to cook for eight minutes. Add the remaining cup of water, cover, and simmer for twenty minutes.

3. Add the fish. Add the catfish and continue to simmer for about five minutes or until the catfish is cooked. Remove from the heat and stir in the yogurt.

ENJOY!

Coq au Beaujolais

2011-12-14T12:30:00.000-05:00

As I was writing this blog post, I came across the episode of Good Eats, aptly titled "Cuckoo for Coq au Vin." The dish Coq au Vin is a French dish that traditionally requires a whole rooster. With a meat cleaver in hand, Alton Brown approaches a caged rooster, menacingly stating, "hey, Mr. Rooster, it's time to learn about your place on the ol' food chain...." Ultimately, nothing was learned, as Alton Brown did not kill the rooster. Instead, he went to the grocery store. And, while Alton should have left the store with a whole roaster or stewing hen, he chose chicken thighs and legs instead.

Alton Brown's choice provided some after-the-fact vindication for my first effort to make Coq au Vin. This dish is traditionally a fricassée made with an old rooster, browning the broken-down pieces of the bird in pork fat and then stewing it a liquid of wine and aromatic vegetables. I wanted to make Coq au Vin a main dish for a Christmas Party. However, using an old rooster was not an option. In fact, a whole bird was also not an option, because, absent some freaky mutation, a whole bird provides only two legs, two thighs, two breasts and two wings. For a party of twelve or more people, that is just not pragmatic. So, I decided to use chicken breasts and thighs, providing guests with the option of white or dark meat.

To make this dish, I used a recipe called Le Vrai Coq au Vin from Anne Willian's book The Country Cooking of France. Willan describes her recipe as the true way to make Coq au Vin, and, she even goes on to describe the different versions of Coq au Vin, which, as one would expect, vary based upon the "vin" or wine used to make the dish . One such style is Coq au Beaujolais, which has, in her words, "a light tawny sauce made with the local Gamay." Based upon Willian's recipe, I decided to make Coq au Beaujolais for a Christmas party. To make this dish, I used a wine that I have previously reviewed on my blog ... the Domaine Pignard Beaujolais (2009). This wine is made entirely with Gamay grapes and very drinkable, which makes for the perfect wine to cook Coq au Beaujolais. If you cannot find a Beaujolais wine, you can substitute a Pinot Noir or Syrah, preferably one from France.

COQ AU BEAUJOLAIS

Adapted from The Country Cooking of France at 113-114

Serves 6 to 8

Ingredients (for the Marinade):
1 onion, sliced
1 carrot, sliced
2 celery stalks, sliced
1 garlic clove
1 teaspoon of black peppercorns
1 bottle of wine (e.g., Beaujolais)
1 tablespoon olive oil

Ingredients (for the Chicken):
1 five to six pound stewing hen or roasting chicken
(or pieces of chicken equaling five to six pounds)
1 tablespoon of vegetable oil
6 ounces of lean smoked bacon
3 tablespoons of flour
2 cups of chicken broth
2 shallots, chopped
2 garlic cloves, chopped
1 bouquet garni

Ingredients (for the Garnish):
2 tablespoons of unsalted butter
16 to 18 baby onions, peeled
1/2 pound of button mushrooms
Salt, to taste
Pepper, to taste
1 tablespoon of chopped flat leaf parsley

Directions:

1. Make the marinade. In a medium saucepan, bring the onion, carrot, celery, 1 clove garlic, peppercorns and wine to a boil and simmer 5 minutes, and then cool the marinade completely.

2. Marinade the chicken. Rub each piece of chicken with a pinch each of salt and pepper. Pack the pieces in a deep, non-metallic bowl and pour the cooled marinade and flavorings over them. Spoon the olive oil over to keep the chicken moist. Cover with plastic wrap and let the chicken marinate in the refrigerator for at least a day, turning the pieces from time to time, and up to 3 days if you like a full-bodied flavor of wine.

3. Prep the chicken and reserve the marinade. Remove the chicken pieces from the marinade and pat them dry with paper towels. Strain and reserve the marinade liquid, keeping the vegetables separate.

4. Fry the lardon or bacon. Heat the oven to 325 degrees. Cut the bacon into lardons -- small cubes or sticks. If you're using thick-sliced bacon, cut the bacon crosswise into thin sticks. Heat the oil in a braising pan and fry the lardons until browned and the fat runs. Transfer the lardons to a bowl using a slotted spoon and set aside for the garnish.

5. Brown the chicken. Add the chicken pieces to the pan, skin-side down, and sauté over medium heat until well browned, at least 10 minutes. Turn, cook until the other side browns, 3 to 5 minutes, and remove them. Do not overcrowd the pan; if necessary, fry the chicken in two batches.

6. Add the vegetables and liquid. Add the reserved vegetables from the marinade to the pan and fry until they start to brown, 5 to 7 minutes. Stir in the flour and cook over high heat, stirring until it browns, 2 to 3 minutes. Pour in the marinade liquid and bring to a boil, stirring constantly until the sauce thickens. Simmer 2 minutes, then stir in the broth with the shallots, the remaining two garlic cloves (chopped) and bouquet garni.

7. Simmer the chicken. Return the chicken to the pan, pushing the pieces down under the sauce. Cover the pan and cook in the oven, turning the chicken occasionally, until the pieces are tender and fall easily from a two-pronged fork, about 40 minutes to 1 hour. Some pieces may be done before others -- if so, remove them so they do not dry out from additional cooking, and continue cooking the rest.

8. Prepare the garnish. Melt the butter in a frying pan, add the onions, sprinkling one-eighth teaspoon salt and a pinch of pepper, and brown them over medium heat, about 5 to 7 minutes. Shake the pan from time to time so they color evenly. Lower the heat, cover and cook the onions, shaking the pan occasionally, until just tender, 8 to 10 minutes more. Remove them with a slotted spoon and add to the reserved lardons. Add the mushrooms to the pan, sprinkling a pinch each of salt and pepper and add a little more butter if needed. Saute until tender, 3 to 5 minutes. Add them to the lardons and onions.

9. Prepare the sauce. When the chicken is cooked, remove the pieces from the sauce and set them aside. Strain the sauce into a bowl, discarding the vegetables and seasonings. Use a ladle to skim any fat on the surface. Wipe out the pan and add the garnish. Stir in the sauce; if it seems thick, add a little more broth. If it's too thin, reduce over high heat. Taste and adjust the seasoning. Add the chicken pieces, pushing them well down into the sauce, and heat gently 3 to 5 minutes so the flavors blend. Coq au vin improves if you keep it, covered, in the refrigerator at least a day and up to 3 days so the flavor mellows before serving.

10. Plate the dish. To serve, reheat the chicken with the garnish and sauce on top of the stove. Transfer the chicken pieces to a serving dish or individual plates and spoon over the garnish with a little sauce. Sprinkle the chicken with chopped parsley and serve any remaining sauce separately.

Overall, the dish turned out well, although I wish I had used chicken with the skin and bones. I think both the skin and the bones would have provided more flavor to the dish. Still, it was a good effort for my first attempt at making Coq au Vin or Coq au Beaujolais. Anne Willan also includes instructions for making Coq au Riesling, using white wine instead of red wine. I will definitely add that to my ever-growing "to do" list for cooking.

ENJOY!

Warm Cream Cheese Tart with Cinnamon and Almonds

2011-12-13T07:29:00.000-05:00

I am not the only one who cooks in our family. My beautiful wife, Clare, is also a great cook and a great baker. Every once in a while, I ask my Angel to provide a guest blog post so that I can share some of the amazing and delicious things that she makes for family, friends and, of course, me. She has already provided guest blog posts about Cuban Bread, Loyalist Bread, Salmon Burgers, Peach Cobbler and Parmesan Soufflé. So, without further ado,

A Guest Blog Post by Clare ...

For a couple of recent parties, I have made a warm cream cheese tart with cinnamon and almonds. The recipe comes from Frank Stitt's Bottega Favorita, which is a cookbook of recipes from Frank Stitt's restaurant, Bottega, in Birmingham, Alabama. I first made this recipe as part of our wine club dinner. The warm cream cheese tart was an excellent dessert course that provided a sweet ending to the meal. I made this recipe again for a Christmas party. Both times that I have made this recipe, it has turned out well (so, well in fact, that Keith insists that there be some left over for him to eat).

I have to say that it is important to make your own tart shell rather than buying a store bought one.While it takes extra effort, it really pays off in the end. The tart shell recipe that is in Bottega Favorita is fairly easy to make, with one exception. While the recipe says that you can refrigerate the dough overnight, I would recommend that you only refrigerate it only for an hour. If you let it sit in the refrigerator overnight, it will take quite a while before the dough becomes workable again.

The sweet pastry tart shell recipe will produce two tart shells. You should double the filling and glaze recipes. The outcome is two very delicious tarts that make great desserts for parties, and, of course, leftovers for Keith.

WARM CREAM CHEESE TART WITH CINNAMON AND ALMONDS

Recipe from Frank Stitt's Bottega Favorita at page 122

Serves 10 to 12

Ingredients for the sweet pastry tart shell):
2 1/2 cups of all-purpose flour
Pinch of salt
1/2 pounds (2 sticks) of unsalted butter
cut into cubes and chilled
Scant 1 cup of confectioner's sugar
3 large egg yolks

Ingredients (for the filling):
8 ounces cream cheese, softened
8 tablespoons of unsalted butter, softened
1/2 cup of sugar
2 large eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Ingredients (for the glaze):
1/2 cup confectioner's sugar
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
2 tablespoons hot water
1 cup sliced almonds
Whipped cream

Directions (for the sweet pastry tart shell):

1. Combine the flour and salt in a food processor and pulse to mix. Add the butter and pulse until the mixture resembles coarse bread crumbs. Add the sugar and egg yolks and pulse again, just until the mixture comes together and pulls away from the sides of the bowl. Transfer the dough to a sheet of plastic wrap, divide in half equally, shape into two disks, and wrap in plastic. Chill for at least 1 hour, or overnight.

2. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.

3. Roll the pasty rounds out on a lightly floured surface into two twelve inch circles. Fit the dough into two 10 1/2 to 11 inch loose bottomed tart pans with fluted sides, pressing it evenly over the bottom and up the sides. Line the tarts with foil and fill with dried beans or pie weights.

4. Bake the tart shells for 20 minutes, or until the edges are very light brown. Remove the parchment paper and weights and bake until lightly golden, about five to ten minutes more. Cool on a rack before filling.

Directions (for the tart):
1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.

2. To make the filling, combine the cream cheese, butter and sugar in a food processor and process until light and creamy. Add the eggs and vanilla extract and process until smooth. Spread the filling evenly ni the prepared tart shell.

3. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes, until the center is set and the edges and light golden. Remove the pan from the oven and allow the tart to stand for 2 to 3 minutes, while you prepare the glaze.

4. Whisk the confectioner's sugar, cinnamon, and hot water together in a small bowl until smooth.

5. Spread the glaze over the top of the tart. Garnish the top with the sliced almonds. Serve warm, with whipped cream.

Finally, I should note that although this is a warm cream cheese tart, it is also very delicious after being refrigerated for a while. As Keith would say ...

ENJOY!

Domaine Gouron Chinon (2008)

2011-12-11T09:29:00.000-05:00

François Rabelais, a Renaissance writer, doctor and humanist once remarked, "Je ne bois pas plus qu'une éponge," or "I drink no more than a sponge." The fact that Rabelais was born near Chinon may provide some insight into that quote. While Chinon was home for Rabelais, it is also home to Chinon wine. A light-to-medium bodied wine that has a remarkable ability to pair well with food.

Nearly ninety percent of Chinon wines, i.e., wines produced within the Chinon AOC are red wines. The principal grape used to produce these wines is the Cabernet Franc grape. The Cabernet Franc grape is lighter than the Cabernet Sauvignon grape, and is usually used for blends. Bordeaux wines often incorporate Cabernet Franc grapes with Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon grapes. But, in Chinon, the blend is reversed, with Cabernet Franc grapes standing alone (or with as much as ten percent Cabernet Sauvignon grapes).

The Gouron family has been producing wines for five generations at an estate in Cravant les Coteaux. The estate includes thirty hectare of fives, which range in age from fifteen to thirty-five years of age, growing on gravely and sandy soil. In 2008, the weather created difficulties for the family, with hail and frost damaging many of the vines. Still, the winemaker was able to produce a limited amount of wines, including a Chinon that I recently purchased from a local grocery store.

The label on the bottle describes the wine as inky purple, blood-red, fresh and fleshy with perfumy cassis, menthol and eucalyptus typical of the grape. By contrast, the display described the wine as offering raspberry, leather, violets and a hint of green pepper, along with raspberry and cherry fruit on the palate with a finish of herbs and mineral nuances. I think that the display's description is largely accurate. The wine is light to medium bodied, and there was a good presence of raspberry and cherry fruit. The only thing I did not really sense was the leather or green pepper.

I paired this wine with the Garlic-Fennel Rubbed Pork Loin Roast. The medium body of this wine, as well as the fruit-forward taste of the wine worked well with the earthiness provided by the garlic, along with the floral aromas and anise flavors of the fennel. Cabernet Franc wines, like the Domaine Gouron Chinon, can also be paired with chicken dishes and even some lighter beef dishes, such as grilled steaks, flatiron steaks. I do not think this wine would work well with beef roasts, but it definitely works well with pork roasts and whole roasted chickens.

This wine is available at wine stores and grocery stores like Roots in Olney, Maryland. It sells for about $18.99 a bottle.

ENJOY!

Pan Roasted Duroc Pork Chop with Marsala Mushrooms and Fresh Sage

2011-12-07T07:25:00.000-05:00

Duroc. It was originally known as the Duroc-Jersey; but, today, the Duroc pig is one of the largest breeds of pigs raised in the United States. Often referred to as the "red pig," the color of a Duroc pig can range from golden to a deep red. The breed of pigs has its origin in the Eastern United States during the early 1800s. The breed arose from the breeding of Jersey Red pigs and Duroc pigs (hence the name of Duroc-Jersey).

Duroc pigs, with their flappy ears, are very sociable pigs and, hence, are often cross-bred with other breeds of pigs. Cross-breeding is often done, I think, to obtain the best characteristics of two breeds in one. However, the Duroc pig itself is known for having juicy and tasty meat.

So, when I recently saw Duroc pork available at a local grocery store, I decided to buy some and try to make a recipe around the meat. The pork is rubbed with fresh herbs, namely rosemary and thyme. It is first seared on the stove top and finished in the oven. While the pork is cooking in the oven, a garnish of sliced portabello mushrooms and Marsala wine is prepared. Overall, this is a good dish that, like most Chef Bolek originals, probably still needs a little tweaking.

PAN ROASTED DUROC PORK CHOP WITH

MARSALA MUSHROOMS AND FRESH SAGE

A Chef Bolek Original

Serves 2

Ingredients:
2/3 pound of Duroc pork chop
8 ounces cremini mushrooms, sliced
3 cloves, garlic
1/2 tablespoon of fresh sage, chopped
1 tablespoon of fresh rosemary, chopped
1 tablespoon of fresh thyme
1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 teaspoon freshly ground sea salt
1/8 cup olive oil, plus four tablespoons of oil
4 tablespoons of Marsala wine
Sea salt, to taste
Ground black pepper, to taste

Directions:

1. Prepare the rub. Combine the rosemary, thyme, black pepper and sea salt in a bowl. Add the olive oil and stir to create a wet rub. Apply the rub to all sides of the pork chop. Pre-heat the oven at 350 degrees.

2. Sear the pork. Heat an oven-proof skillet on medium heat, and add two tablespoons of olive oil. Add the pork chop and cook for about four to five minutes. Flip the pork chop and cook for four of five minutes more. Sear all other sides for one to two minutes.

3. Continue to cook the pork. Place the oven-proof skillet into the oven and continue to cook the pork chop. Cook for about three to four minutes on each side, depending upon the thickness. Using a tong, push on the pork chop. If it begins to feel firm, remove the pan to the stove top. Remove the pork chop and cover with foil.

4. Cook the mushrooms. Add the mushrooms to the skillet and saute for about five minutes, stirring occasionally, until the mushrooms begin to release their water. Add one to two tablespoons of oil and the garlic. Continue to cook for two more minutes. Add the marsala wine and continue to cook for about two to four more minutes, stirring, until the wine has mostly evaporated.

5. Plate the dish. Plate the mushrooms on a plate. Slice the pork chop and place four to five slices over the mushrooms. Garnish with the fresh sage.

ENJOY!

Castellana Montepulciano d'Abruzzo (2010)

2011-12-04T09:21:00.000-05:00

Although Vino Nobile di Montepulciano may be my favorite Italian wine (at least for the moment), Montepulciano d'Abruzzo is a close second. Montepulciano d'Abruzzo wines are much cheaper than some of the more well known and prestigious Italian wines, such as Barolo, Brunello di Montalcino or Chianti Classico. Yet, the Montepulciano d' Abruzzo wines can be just as enjoyable as those wines. Another thing I like about these wines is that they can be a little more rough and rustic, much like the Abbruzese and their countryside.

The Montepulciano d'Abruzzo has its own DOC, which covers most of the Abruzzo region, from the foothills of the Apennine Mountains to the shores of the Adriatic Sea. This large area covers parts or all of Abruzzo's four provinces: Chieti, L'Aquila, Pescara, and Teramo. There is also separate DOCG for the wine that is produced with grapes originating exclusively from Teramo, where the wines are called Montepulciano d'Abruzzo Colline Teramane. The rules for making Montepulciano d'Abruzzo require that at least 85% of the grapes be Montepulciano grapes. The remainder of the grapes must be Sangiovese grapes. The wines must be aged a minimum of five months, and, wines aged for two years in wooded barrels can be classified as Vecchio.

The Castellana Montepulciano d'Abruzzo is made with 100% Montepulciano grapes. The wine pours a cranberry red color, with a well defined water line along the edges of the glass. I am told that the line along the edge is a sign of good aging, but I do not know if that is actually true.

The label describes the Castellana Montepulciano d'Abruzzo as a medium bodied, vivid red wine with cherry fruit and subtle spicy flavors. The aromatic elements of this wine do suggest vivid, ripe cherries. This is an interesting contrast to the San Lorenzo Montepulciano d'Abruzzo, which had elements that suggested dark cherries and darker fruit, like plums. And, with regard to the taste of the wine, where the San Lorenzo could be compared to a Syrah, the Castellana was more like a Merlot.

The label suggests that this wine could be paired with grilled or roasted meats, rice, pasta dishes and pizza. Personally, I like to pair Montepulciano d'Abruzzo wines with traditional Abruzzese dishes, like Maccheroni alla Chitarra and brodettos.

This wine is available at wine stores. I do not recall how much the wine cost, but these wines generally sell between $9.99 and $14.99 per bottle.

ENJOY!

For more about the Montepulciano d'Abruzzo DOC and DOCG, check out Wikipedia.

Lamb Spiedini with Sicilian Couscous and Yogurt Sauce

2011-12-02T06:47:00.000-05:00

Sicily has a long, interesting culinary history. One of the most interesting periods in that history is the period of time in which the Saracens (Arabs) controlled a good part of the island. The Saracens brought advanced irrigation techniques, which improved the ability to grow fruits and vegetables. The Saracens also brought a wide arrange of foods and ingredients, including peaches, melons, dates, rice, sugar cane, oranges, lemons, and raisins. They also brought cloves, cinnamon and saffron.

However, the one of the most influential ingredients introduced by the Saracens during the time they controlled western Sicily is couscous. Like many types of pasta, couscous is made from semolina. Unlike those pastas, the semolina is not ground fine, but left coarse so that, when water is added bit by bit, little clusters begin to form. The clusters ultimately become the couscous.

Generally, couscous would be served as a primi or a first course. However, in this dish, it is served alongside spiedini (skewers) of grilled lamb. In many Italian regions, families could not afford or did not have access to beef. For protein, they would raise lamb or pigs. This recipe calls for the use of boneless leg of lamb, which is marinated for at least one hour or overnight (I chose overnight) in olive oil, basil, rosemary and garlic. This marinade provided a lot of flavor to the lamb, as well as helping to curb the gaminess that turns off many people.

Personally, I love lamb and I really liked this recipe, which comes from Frank Stitt's Bottega Favorita. The lamb turned out very well and so did the couscous. I made one alteration to the recipe. Instead of using red and yellow bell peppers, I also used orange bell peppers. The the color of peppers, along with the red onions, which actually had a purplish hue after cooking, provided a lot of color to the dish. And one last note: I forgot to make the yogurt sauce. I guess I have to save something for the next time....

LAMB SPIEDINI WITH SICILIAN COUSCOUS AND YOGURT SAUCE
Recipe from Frank Stitt's Bottega Favorita at 178\
Serves 4

Ingredients (for the lamb):
3 cloves garlic, crushed
3 rosemary sprigs
3 basil sprigs
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 pounds of boneless leg of lamb, cut into 2 inch cubes
Kosher salt, to taste
Ground black pepper, to taste

Ingredients (for the Sicilian Couscous):
1 cup of water
1 tablespoon unsalted butter
2 cups of Israeli couscous
Kosher salt, to taste
Ground pepper, to taste
3 tablespoons olive oil
2 red bell peppers, cored, seeded and sliced into 2 inch pieces

2 yellow bell peppers, cored, seeded and sliced into 2 inch pieces
1 red onion, cut into 1 inch dice
1 garlic clove, smashed
1 rosemary sprig
1 basil sprig
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 cup canned chickpeas, drained
Scant pinch of cayenne pepper
1 bunch basil, leaves removed and torn into pieces

Ingredients (for the Yogurt Sauce):
1 cup of plain yogurt
1 tablespoon of mint, chiffonade
Squeeze of lemon juice
Kosher salt
Pinch of freshly ground white pepper
Minced scallion or garlic

Directions:

1. Combine the garlic, rosemary, basil and olive oil in a shallow bowl. Add the lamb, massaging the marinade into the meat. Refrigerate for at least four hours or overnight.

2. To make the rosemary skewers, remove most of the leaves from each sprig, leaving 1 to 2 inches of leaves at the very top. Cut off the very bottom of each sprig on an angle to create a sharp point. Thread 4 to 5 cubes of lamb onto each skewer and set aside on a platter to come to room temperature.

3. To prepare the couscous, combine the water and butter in a small saucepan and bring to a boil. Meanwhile, toast the couscous in a large dry skillet over medium heat until nutty brown, about 3 to 4 minutes. Transfer to a bowl.

4. Prepare the grill.

5. Meanwhile, heat 1 tablespoon of olive oil in a large saute pan over medium heat. Add the red and yellow bell peppers, onion, garlic, rosemary, basil and cinnamon. Saute until the vegetables are soft and slightly caramelized, about 10 minutes. Transfer to a bowl with the couscous and add the remaining 2 tablespoons olive oil, chickpeas, cayenne and torn basil. Toss well, then taste and adjust for seasoning.

6. Season the lamb spiedini with salt and pepper. Grill, turning occasionally, for 6 to 7 minutes total for medium rare. Transfer to rank to rest.

7. Meanwhile, prepare the yogurt sauce by combining the yogurt, mint, lemon juice, salt to taste, and white pepper or Tabasco in a small bowl. Transfer to a serving bow, and sprinkle with the scallions or garlic if desired.

8. Spoon the couscous onto one side of the dish and place the skewered lamb on the other side, flanked by a bowl of the yogurt sauce.

ENJOY!

For more about the culinary history of Sicily, as well as the role of couscous in that history, check out Foodmaven and Recipes4Us.

Firestone Walker Brewing Company's Double Jack Double IPA

2011-12-01T13:17:00.000-05:00

Paso Robles is not only home to vineyards and winemakers, but it is also home to one craft brewer with a rather impressive portfolio of beers. The brewer is Firestone Walker. Beginning in 1996, two brothers-in-law began to brew their own beer. Nearly sixteen years later, they have earned multiple awards for their brewery and their beers, including the Champion Mid-Size Brewery in 2004, 2006 and 2010.

Like most brewers, Firestone Walker has brewed a "series" of beers, which it calls its "Proprietors Reserve Series." One of the beers in this series is the Double Jack Double IPA. Firestone Walker brews the Double Jack in the style of an American Imperial Pale Ale. The brewer uses Premium Two Row Malts (Metcalf and Kendall varieties), Munich and Simpson's Light Malts, as well as a range of hops. The hops include Warrior and Columbus hops as bittering hops; Centennial and Cascade hops as late kettle hops; and Amarillo, Cascade, Centennial and Simcoe hops for dry hops.

The Double Jack pours a golden color, with orange hues. The aromatic elements are very interesting, ranging from bright citrus fruits to grass. These aromas result from the use of different hops. The citrus aromas carry over to the taste of the Double Jack, with flavors of grapefruit, tangerines, and lemon leading each taste. The lemon carries over to the finish of the beer, along with a warm alcohol feeling. That alcohol is reminiscent of caramel, providing a little unexpected sweetness in the finish.

Double IPAs like the Double Jack are very strong beers. This beer has an ABV of 9.5% and a high IBU. For this reason, the beer should be paired with strong foods, like roasted meats, hard cheeses, and grilled vegetables.

The Double Jack is available in fourteen states across the United States. It is available in twenty-two ounce bottles.

ENJOY!

Gnocchi with Prosciutto and Sage

2011-11-29T14:25:00.000-05:00

Gnocchi is a very old form of pasta, with some saying that it originated during the Roman Empire. However, the first written recipe for gnocchi dates back to the fourteenth century. It comes from a cookbook written in the Tuscan dialect. "Se vuoi i gnocchi, logli lo cascio fresco e pestalo; poscia toglia la farina et intridi con tourla d'uova a modo di migliacci." Or, as we would say, "if you want gnocchi, take some cheese and mash it, then take some flour and mix it with egg yolks as if you are making flour." Hundreds of years later, that still remains the basic recipe for gnocchi, with one noteworthy exception.

The "keystone ingredient" can be something other than cheese. Indeed, the most well known type of gnocchi is potato. This type of gnocchi is popular in the Italian regions of Lazio and Abruzzo, where potatoes are common. Other Italian regions have their own version of gnocchi, such as Malloredus, which is a Sardinian dumpling made only with semolina.

Gnocchi are traditionally a prima or first course. These dumplings can be served with a variety of sauces, such as a traditional red sauce, an Amatriciana sauce, a ragu or a brown butter sauce. For this recipe, which comes from Frank Stitt's Bottega Favorita, the gnocchi are served in a brown butter sauce and garnished with pieces of proscuitto.

GNOCCHI WITH PROSCUITTO AND SAGE

Recipe from Frank Stitt's Bottega Favorita at p. 119

Serves 6

Ingredients:
3 Russet potatoes (about 1 1/2 pounds)
2 Yukon Gold potatoes (about 8 ounces)
2 1/2 teaspoons of kosher salt
1 1/2 teaspoons of fresh ground white pepper
Freshly grated nutmeg
9 tablespoons of unsalted butter
About three cups of all-purpose flour
3 large egg yolks
12 medium sage leaves
6 thin slices of Proscuitto di Parma, cut into thin strips
1/4 cup of Parmigiano Reggiano, freshly grated.

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven at 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Place the potatoes on a baking sheet and bake until tender for about 1 to 1 1/2 hours. Let cook slightly.

2. Bring a pot of generously salted water to a rolling boil.

3. When the potatoes are cool enough to handle, peel them and place the warm (not hot) potatoes in a ricer. Add the salt, pepper, a grating of nutmeg, 3 tablespoons of butter and a handful of flour and press through the ricer onto a large cutting board or marble pastry board, Make sure the potato is not too hot, because it will cook the egg yolks. Using a fork, begin working in the egg yolks and remaining flour (you want an approximately equal volume of flour and potatoes). Using a pastry scraper or spatula to gradually incorporate the flour into the potato mixture. The gentler you are during this phase, the lighter the gnochhi will be.

4. Melt 2 more tablespoons of butter in a large saute pan and keep warm over low heat.

5. Divide the gnocchi dough into several pieces. Roll each one into a long 1/4 inch thick rope and cut into 1 inch pieces. Press each piece with the back of a fork to create ridges. Once they are all shaped, cook the gnocchi about 15 at a time. Drop them into the boiling water and then once they float to the surface, 30 seconds or so, remove them with a slotted spoon or skimmer and transfer them to the pan of melted butter. When all of the gnocchi are cooked and tossed in the melted butter, transfer them to a platter. (You can save the gnocchi to serve later by transferring the cooked gnocchi to an ice bath to cool rapidly and then place on a baking sheet and cover. Set aside for several hours at room temperature or refrigerate overnight.

6. Add the remaining 4 tablespoons of butter (or 6 tablespoons if you cooked the gnocchi ahead) to the saute pan and cook over medium heat until it melts and takes on a rich brown color, and gives off a nutty aroma. Add the gnocchi to the pan, add the sage, and toss to coat and heat through.

7. Serve the gnocchi on a warm plate, garnished with proscuitto and a sprinkle of Parmigiano Reggiano.

ENJOY!

For more about the history of gnocchi, check out Anna Maria's Open Kitchen.

Black Ankle Vineyards Slate (NV)

2011-11-25T12:34:00.000-05:00

Recently, my beautiful Angel, Clare, met a couple of longtime friends for a wine tasting at a vineyard ... in Maryland. I have heard about wineries in the Free State, but, I know very little about them. Clare got to learn about one particular vineyard, Black Ankle Vineyards, which is located in Frederick County, Maryland.

Black Ankle Vineyards has been in business for about three years. It is growing an impressive array of grapes. The red grapes include Cabernet Sauvignon, Syrah, Merlot, Cabernet Franc, Malbec and Petit Verdot. The white grapes include Chardonnay, Gruner Veltliner and Viognier. This is pretty impressive for a vineyard that is located in Maryland, rather than in California, Oregon or Washington State.

Black Ankle's winemaking process is also rather interesting. The winery uses once-used or brand new barrels for aging. Lighter reds are aged for months in once-used barrels, while heavier reds are aged in new barrels. The winery ages its wines between sixteen to eighteen months in the barrels. After her wine tasting, Clare bought a bottle of Black Ankle Vineyard's Slate, a blend of six different grapes.

The Slate is made with grapes grown on a hillside of decomposing slate with veins of quartz. The wine is made with 37% Cabernet Sauvignon, 31% Syrah, 22% Merlot, 6% Cabernet Franc, 3% Malbec and 1% Petit Verdot. This wine does not have a vintage because it is made primarily from grapes picked during the 2007 and 2008 harvests, along with grapes from the 2010 harvest.

The wine pours a bright crimson red, with tones much fuller than other wines that I have tried. The aroma is full of red berries, like ripe cherries, strawberries and blackberry. The winemaker suggests dried plum, blackberry, currant and a little cracked black pepper. Those berries carry over to the taste, but there they are joined by some other flavors such as black pepper or white pepper. There is also a hint of minerality.

Black Ankle produced only six hundred cases of the Slate. The wine has an ABV of 13.9%. The bottle is available at the vineyard's tasting room and a bottle sells for $45.00.

ENJOY!

Happy Thanksgiving!

2011-11-24T16:11:00.000-05:00

I am continuing what I hope will be a tradition on this blog for Thanksgiving. No recipes, just thanks. I want to take this opportunity to thank my family and my friends. Over the past year, I have had the opportunity to cook for many of you, and, everyone has been very supportive (even when I am unsure of the final results). You have also been very supportive of my efforts to experiment with tastes and flavors, along with my work to learn about beer and wines. I have to say that whenever I am blogging, I do not feel like I am typing for myself, because I know that somewhere there are people who are taking the time to read the blog posts. And, when one of you tells me that you saw my post about a particular recipe or a wine or beer. Your support gives me the confidence to continue my adventures through cooking and beer/wine. I am thankful for each and everyone of you.

I should also say that I am thankful for all of those out there who visit my blog without even knowing who I am. As you can see from the little rotating globe about halfway down the page (on the right), a lot of people have visited this blog. In fact, the "Top Ten List" for visitors to this blog are (1) the United States; (2) Canada; (3) the United Kingdom; (4) Australia; (5) Italy; (6) the Netherlands; (7) Belgium; (8) India; (9) Germany; and (10) the Philippines. In all, people from 114 countries have visited my blog. And all of this since March of this year! I never would have thought that people would be visiting my blog from around the world. I am thankful for all of you as well.

Well, I'd better go. I hope everyone has a Happy Thanksgiving! Until next time ...

ENJOY!

Bergström Winery's Dr. Bergström Riesling (2007)

2011-11-23T07:28:00.000-05:00

The Riesling wine is said to have originated in Germany, in the Rhein and Mosel river valleys. The Riesling is a white grape variety that is known for producing fruity and floral wines that can differ based on the terroir. And there are a lot of terroirs. Riesling grapes are planted around the world, not only in Germany but also in Austria, Australia, Canada, Czech Republic, Luxembourg, northern Italy, New Zealand, and the United States (including California, New York and the Pacific Northwest).

Riesling production in the Pacific Northwest is growing in Washington State, but on the decline in Oregon. Still, there are vineyards and wineries in Oregon's Willamette valley that continue to produce this style of wine. One of those vineyards is Bergström Wines. I've previously reviewed Bergström's Shea Valley Pinot Noir. In addition to the Pinot Noir, Bergström also produces the Dr. Bergström Riesling. When Clare and I visited the Bergström tasting room during our honeymoon, we purchased a bottle of the 2007 vintage.

The Dr. Bergström Riesling is produced with grapes from four different vineyards: Hyland, Chehalem Mountain, Cherry Grove and the Territorial Vineyard. The grapes from these vineyards enable Bergström to create a wine that, in its view, mirrors the Rieslings of Germany. The wine is fermented for five months in stainless steel vats before being bottled.

The Dr. Bergström pours a color that is reminiscent of apple juice or white gold. Little bubbles dot the sides of the glass, shining like stars through the wine. The wine has aromas of starfruit, kiwi and pears, along with a faint sense of apples and minerality. As for the taste, the wine has the bright, crisp apple flavor that is one often finds with a Riesling. Other fruits can be found in this wine, such as a hint of pear and melon. There is also surprisingly a hint of lemon in this wine. The wine has a high acidity and crispness to it, which makes it very enjoyable to drink.

This vintage is probably not available now, but later vintages may be available. We purchased this wine at the Bergström tasting room in Willamette Valley.

ENJOY!

Parmesan Soufflé with White Wine Butter Sauce

2011-11-21T12:31:00.000-05:00

I am not the only one who cooks in our family. My beautiful wife, Clare, is also a great cook and a great baker. Every once in a while, I ask my Angel to provide a guest blog post so that I can share some of the amazing and delicious things that she makes for family, friends and, of course, me. She has already provided guest blog posts about Cuban Bread, Loyalist Bread, Salmon Burgers and Peach Cobbler. So, without further ado,

A Guest Blog Post by Clare ...

As you may know, both Keith and I hosted a dinner for a Wine Club. We both decided to cook a four-course meal using recipes from Frank Stitt's Bottega Favorita. Frank Stitt is a well known chef who owns a few restaurants in and around Birmingham, Alabama. My parents took Keith and myself to one of those restaurants, Bottega, for dinner during the weekend that Keith met them for the first time. Perhaps the most memorable moment of that dinner, apart from spending time with my parents and with Keith, was the Parmesan Soufflé that we had as an appetizer.

This dish was amazing ... as one can expect when Frank Stitt describes it as a "cloud-like" pudding. The eggs, cream and garlic make for a rather light soufflé. This lightness is contrasted with the richness of the white wine butter sauce. The wine, vinegar, cream and butter are combined together in the sauce, which is then infused into the mushrooms. The dish is completed with a garnish of a few strips of prosciutto.

Looking back, this is a recipe that was easier than what I thought. One bit of advice that I have learned from making this dish. When you are baking the soufflés, you should make sure that the sides of the pan or baking dish are not that much higher than the sides of the ramekins. I found that the best dish for baking the soufflés is a pyrex glass baking dish. The soufflés seemed to set better in the pyrex dish than the other dishes that I used, such as a roasting pan.

PARMESAN SOUFFLE WITH WHITE WINE BUTTER SAUCE

Recipe from Frank Stitt's Bottega Favorita at p. 40

Serves 6

Ingredients (for the Souffle):
8 large eggs
3 cups heavy cream
1/2 teaspoon roasted garlic puree
Pinch of freshly grated nutmeg
3/4 cup freshly grated Parmigiano Reggiano
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1/4 teaspoon white pepper
Dash of Tabasco Sauce

Ingredients (for the White Wine Butter Sauce):
3/4 cup dry white wine
3/4 cup white wine vinegar
1 shallot, finely minced
1 thyme sprig
1 1/2 teaspoons heavy white cream
1/2 pound of unsalted butter
Kosher salt
Freshly ground white pepper
Fresh lemon juice, to taste
Tabasco sauce

Ingredients (to add to the White Wine Butter Sauce):
1 tablespoon of unsalted butter
2 cups quartered or thickly sliced cremini, oyster or button
mushrooms or a mix of mushrooms
1 shallot, minced
2 thyme sprigs, leaves only
Kosher salt, to taste
Ground black pepper, to taste
4 thin slices of Prosciutto di Parma, sliced julienne

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 300 degrees Fahrenheit. Butter six 6 ounce ramekins and place them in a large shallow baking dish or pan.

2. Combine all souffle ingredients in a bowl and whisk until combined. Fill the ramekins almost to the top (use 5.5 ounces in each ramekin). Fill the baking dish with enough water to come up to about three-quarters the side of the ramekins.

3. Cover the pan with foil and bake for 1 hour. Uncover and bake until the souffles are slightly puffed, set and golden, about fifteen minutes more.

4. Meanwhile, shortly before the souffles are done, prepare the butter sauce. Combine the wine, vinegar, shallot, and thyme in a small heavy non-reactive pan, bringing it to a boil over high heat to reduce to a syrupy glaze. This should take about twelve minutes. Then remove the saucepan from the heat and stir in the cream. Return it to a simmer and simmer for about 1 minute. reduce the heat to low and whisk in the butter bit by bit, adding more only after each previous addition has been incorporated. Regulate the heat so that the sauce stays warm but does not get too hot (otherwise it will separate). Add the salt, pepper, lemon juice and hot sauce. Taste and add a little more vinegar or hot sauce is needed. Strain the sauce. Keep the sauce warm while you saute the mushrooms.

5. Heat a large saute pan over medium-high heat, and add the butter. When the butter is melted, add the mushrooms and saute until the edges are golden, about 3 minutes. Add the shallot and saute for one 1 minute. Season with the thyme leaves and add the salt and pepper and toss for about 30 seconds. Set aside, covered to keep warm.

6. Unmold the souffles onto warm plates and ladle the butter sauce around. Scatter some of the sauteed mushrooms and sliced prosciutto around each one and serve.

And, as Keith would say,

ENJOY!

Liberty School Cabernet Sauvignon (2008)

2011-11-18T07:28:00.000-05:00

California has over one hundred American Viticultural Areas. If I had to choose one as my favorite, it would be the Paso Robles AVA. Located in San Obispo County, the Paso Robles AVA has a long history of winemaking. Around 1797, missionaries brought vines to the Mission San Miguel Arcangel. For more than three hundred years, people have been cultivating those vines.

The primary grape of the Paso Robles AVA is Zinfandel. While Paso Robles Zinfandel wines are very good, I find that some of the other grapes grown in Paso Robles produce far better wines for their particular styles. I have previously reviewed These grapes date back to the 1950s and 1960s. During that time, vineyards began to plant Cabernet Sauvignon, Syrah, Viognier and Roussanne. Vineyards also grow Petite Sirah, producing wines like the San Simeon, which I have previously reviewed. In recent years, winemakers have taken these grapes to create some interesting blends. These blends have helped to increase the image of the AVA.

Forgoing the blends, I bought a bottle of a Cabernet Sauvignon from Paso Robles. The wine was produced by Hope Family Wines. The Hope family has been producing wines in the Paso Robles AVA for more than thirty years on land that was formerly apple orchards. The Cabernet Sauvignon is harvested and fermented by individual lots. The wine is then aged in French and American oak barrels for twelve months, during which time it is racked twice.

The Liberty School Cabernet Sauvignon pours a cranberry red. The aroma of this wine is suggests cherries, blackberries, along with a hint of vanilla. The flavors of this wine have multiple layers. In the front, there are full, ripe berries. Cherries and a little strawberry. However, some darker fruits begin to appear later in the taste and in the finish. Fruits such as plum, a little cranberry. The wine has a medium body and, while the tannins are fairly pronounced, they do not overwhelm the drinker.

I found this wine at a local Whole Foods Market and it should be avialable at other grocery stores or wine stores.

ENJOY!

For more about the Paso Robles AVA, check out Wikipedia.

Wine Club ... An Evening at Frank Stitt's Bottega

2011-11-16T07:31:00.002-05:00

Picture from www.dailysalt.org

Both Clare and I will be hosting our first wine dinner this month. One couple cooks a four course meal, another couple pairs wines for each course, and everyone gets to enjoy the food and wine. For this month, we get to play host. The first question we faced was what will we cook?

The answer was easy ... an Italian meal. I immediately began scouring my cookbooks and the Internet, looking to make a meal based upon the cuisine of a particular Italian region. Tuscany, Abruzzo, Sicily, Emilia-Romagna, Sardinia .... While I found a lot of recipes, I could not decide upon four courses from any of the regions.

Clare and I then turned our attention to where we have had some great Italian food. One such place was Frank Stitt's Bottega Restaurant, which is located in the Magic City of Birmingham, Alabama. Frank Stitt decided to become a chef after meeting Alice Waters (of Chez Panisse fame). Stitt opened Bottega in an Italian-style mansion in Birmingham with the goal of experimenting with the flavors of Italy, as well as Spain and Greece.

I remember our dinner at Bottega very well. We went there on my first trip to Birmingham, when, while Clare and I were dating, I met Clare's parents for the first time.   Her parents knew that I loved to cook and that my focus was Italian cuisine. We had an amazing meal that night and, as a wedding shower gift, we received Frank Stitt's cookbook, Bottega Favorita.

For this months wine club, Clare and I will be recreating some of Frank Stitt's dishes from that cookbook.   Typically, the structure of an Italian meal typically consists of five courses: the antipasta, prima, secondo, contorno and dolce. We have created a four course dinner, beginning with the antipasta, followed by the prima and secondo, and concluding with the dolce.

Antipasta: Parmesan Soufflé.
The antipasta, or appetizer, will be Parmesan Soufflé, which draws its inspiration from the Italian region of Emilia-Romagna. Frank Stitt describes his soufflé dish is a "cloud-like pudding," which is made with eggs, cream and one of the region's most iconic foods, Parmigiano Reggiano. After the soufflé is baked in a mold, we will garnish the dish with another icon of the region's cooking -- prosciutto -- along with mushrooms and, of course, a lot more grated Parmigiano Reggiano.

Prima: Gnocchi with Prosciutto and Sage.
The prima or first course of an Italian meal is usually a soup, salad or pasta. We have chosen to make Gnocchi with Prosciutto and Sage. While the use of prosciutto ties the prima with the antipasta, this dish draws its inspiration from the Italian regions of Lazio and Abruzzo. We intend to prepare the gnocchi or potato dumplings by hand. The gnocchi will be served with a brown butter sauce, garnished with the prosciutto and sage.

Secondo: Lamb Spiedini with Sicilian Couscous and Yogurt Sauce.
The secondo or second dish is usually a heavier dish consisting of meat or lamb. We have selected Lamb Spiedini and, with the couscous, this dish draws its inspiration from Sicily. The lamb will be marinated overnight in olive oil, basil, rosemary, salt and black pepper. Threaded on skewers, the lamb will be cooked to medium and served over couscous prepared in a Sicilian style with a mint yogurt sauce.

Dolce: Warm Cream Cheese Tart with Cinnamon and Almonds.
For our final course, the dolce or dessert, we draw inspiration from northern Italy with a Warm Cream Cheese Tart with Cinnamon and Almonds. Frank Stitt describes this dish as having the "right balance" of a buttery crust, creamy filling, and a sweet and spicy topping. We will garnish the dessert with sliced almonds.

We hope that everyone will enjoy this meal. Until then ...

ENJOY!

Rinkuškiai Werewolf

2011-11-14T11:25:00.000-05:00

Having reviewed a beer named after a Vampire, I thought it was necessary to review a beer named Werewolf. A few months back, my father picked up a beer called "Werewolf" from Brewery Rinkuškiai. The brewery was established in 1991. It is located in the "beer country" of Lithuania. When one thinks of "beer country," thoughts turn to Germany, England, or the Czech Republic. One does not think of the region around Biržai, Lithuania.

Biržai is a city in northern Lithuania, along the border with Latvia, that dates back centuries. While the city has a long beer history, the history between the two World Wars. According to one source, the Red Army approached in 1944 and took the town of Biržai without much resistance. The commanders ordered the troops to chase after the Nazis. Meanwhile, the commanders and the remaining soldiers got drunk at Biržai's breweries. When the Nazis counter-attacked, the Red Army was forced to retreat. Eventually, the Red Army recaptured the city, but two-thirds of the city had been destroyed.

It was very hard to find anything on the Internet about Brewery Rinkuškiai and its Werewolf beer, apart from reviews on websites such as RateBeer and BeerAdvocate.

The Werewolf pours a reddish copper in color, which is a little unexpected. The malts give this beer its aroma, wrapped in alcohol. (The beer has an ABV of 8.2%.) There really is not much more to the aroma of this beer.

The label of the Werewolf cautions, "you must be sure you want to taste it." Well, given I am writing a review of the beer, I guess I am sure that I want to taste the beer. The malts lend a certain sweetness to the beer, reminiscent of a Belgian beer or a barleywine. The beer is sort of a simplistic version of either style, focusing primarily on alcohol content with less emphasis on developing taste. Still, the beer has a flavor that is reminiscent of ripe fruit.

I have seen this beer in several beer and wine stores in the area for about $5.00 to $6.00 a bottle.

ENJOY!

Mahi-Mahi "Mojo" with Aleppo Pepper

2011-11-11T08:07:00.000-05:00

The word, mahimahi, means "very strong" in Hawaiian. On the eastern coast of the United States, Americans use mahimahi --or Mahi-Mahi -- to refer to the common dolphinfish. A slightly odd looking fish, with a big head and long dorsal fin that runs the length of its body. The oddness of the fish is lost in the beauty of its colors. The body is an iridescent blue green, with golden fins and a forked tail. The fish is a favorite amongst sport fishermen, who often look for floating debris or fish buoys, because such locations are often good spots to find these fish.

The dolphinfish is a sustainable fish, especially if caught in the Atlantic ocean. Fishermen use troll and pole and line to catch dolphinfish along the east coast. In addition, according to Seafood Watch, there is strict regulation when it comes to dolphinfish, thereby helping to keep the catch within manageable limits. Add the fact that dolphinfish are fast growing and fast maturing fish, they are able to maintain their populations better than other fish. Mahi-Mahi is also a good alternative along the western coast of the United States, as well as in Hawaii, but the regulations are not as strict as in the east.

This recipe starts with my own version of a "mojo," a Cuban marinade. Typically, a mojo is made with sour orange juice, but I like using a combination of citrus, such as oranges, lemons and limes. I have used a mojo marinade in the past, when I made Atun Mojo (or Tuna Mojo). The marinade time is important because, if you let it marinate for too long, you will have ceviche. For this recipe, I just wanted a hint of citrus in the flesh of the dolphinfish. I let it marinate for about fifteen minutes. It could marinate for a little longer, but I would not marinate the fish for longer than thirty minutes total.

MAHI-MAHI "MOJO" WITH ALEPPO PEPPER

A Chef Bolek Original

Serves 2

Ingredients:
1 pound of Mahi-Mahi, sliced into 2 fillets
1 lemon, zested and juiced
1 lime, zested and juiced
1 orange, zested and juiced
1/2 avocado sliced
1/2 teaspoon of Aleppo pepper
7 tablespoons of canola oil
3 cloves of garlic, diced
Several springs of thyme
Salt, to taste
Ground pepper, to taste

Directions:
1. Marinate the mahi-mahi. Salt and pepper the Mahi-Mahi. Add four tablespoons of canola oil, lemon juice, lime juice and orange juice to a Ziploc bag. Add the fish and let it marinate for about fifteen minutes. Preheat the oven at 350 degrees Fahrenheit.

2. Saute the fish. Pour the remaining oil into an oven-proof pan. Heat on medium high heat. Remove the fish from the marinade and pat dry. Add the fish, skin side down. Cook for about five minutes. Cook each of the remaining sides for about a minute or two per side. Return the fish to skin side down.

3. Cook the fish. Place the pan in the oven for at least five minutes. Check the fish for firmness. If the fish is firm to the touch, it is finished. If it is not, cook it for a few minutes more.

4. Plate the dish. Set the fish on top of the couscous. Top the fish with slices of avocado and the zest from the lemon, lime and orange. Sprinkle the Aleppo pepper over the fish and couscous.

ENJOY!

J.V. Fleury Côtes du Rhône (2010)

2011-11-10T12:32:00.001-05:00

The Côtes du Rhône is a fairly well known Appellation d’origine contrôlée (AOC) along the Rhône River. The AOC is divided into two sections The first section is the Northern Rhône, which is also known as the Rhône septentrional. There are eight appellations in the Northern Rhône, such as Condrieu and Château-Grillet, both of which produce white wines with the Viognier grape. The other section is the Southern Rhône, which is referred to as Rhône méridional. The Southern Rhône has sixteen appellations, including Châteauneuf-du-Pape and Vacqueyras AOC.

Most of the wines carry the Côtes du Rhône name, although wines may also carry the names of the AOCs within the Côtes du Rhône AOC, like Châteauneuf-du-Pape. The Côtes du Rhône wines span the spectrum of red, white and rose wines. The principal grapes of the Côtes du Rhône region are Grenache and Grenache Blanc. However, vineyards cultivate a wide range of grapes from Bourboulenc to Viognier. Like any AOC, the Côtes du Rhône AOC has certain rules that govern the cultivation of grapes and the production of wines. When it comes to whites, the wine must have a minimum of 80% of the main grapes, such as Grenache Blanc, Viognier and/or Clairette Blanche.

Once again, I had a difficult time trying to find information about J.V. Fleury, because I could not locate any vineyard website or other website. However, the label provided some information. J.V. Fleury was established in 1781 in the northern part of the Rhône valley, making it one of the longest operating winery in the valley. This Côtes du Rhône is made with 100% Vigonier grapes.

The J.V. Fleury Côtes du Rhône pours straw in color, somewhat reminiscent of apple juice. The wine has aromas of apricot, grass and some flowers. The body of the wine is light. The taste of the wine is apricot, with some flowers in the finish. That finish is somewhat dry. The dryness mimics the astringency of the tannins of some red wines.

Clare and I found this wine at Corridor Wine, a local wine store. This wine is probably available at other wine stores and maybe some grocery stores.

ENJOY!

For more about the Côtes du Rhône and Rhône wine , check out Wikipedia.

Mole Ole Wings

2011-11-08T06:56:00.000-05:00

Every Sunday, during the National Football League season, I have a ritual of making buffalo wings to enjoy either before or during the game. I try to make a different sauce each week. I have to admit that some sauces are pre-made (everyone deserves a break once in a while), while others are made by scratch and/or using recipes. This recipe falls in the latter category. I followed a recipe from a book called Wings, which has more than fifty different recipes for chicken wings.

This recipe appealed to me because of my growing interest in moles, the amazing sauces from various states in Mexico. Much like the Mole Verde Zacatecano, this recipe is based upon a simplified version of the sauces. If you wanted to vary this recipe, you could use different ground chiles -- such as ground ancho, chipotle, hatch or other peppers -- for the cayenne pepper. You could also substitute those ground peppers for the chili pepper.

MOLE OLE WINGS

Recipe from Debbie Moose, Wings, at p. 68

Makes 24 pieces

Ingredients:
1/2 cup of chili powder
2 teaspoons of cocoa
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon of ground cayenne pepper
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/2 teaspoon of ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
12 wings cut in half at joints, wing tips
(or twenty-four individual buffalo wings)
1/4 cup olive oil

Directions:

1. Prepare the rub. In a small bowl, combine the chili powder, cocoa, salt, cinnamon, cayenne, black pepper, cumin and garlic powder.

2. Marinate the wings. Place the wings in a resealable plastic bag. Pour in the olive oil and shake to coat the wings. Pour in the rub mix and shake again to coat the wings. Let sit for fifteen to twenty minutes.

3. Cook the wings. Cover a rimmed baking sheet with foil and spray the foil with nonstick cooking spray. Place the wings on the baking sheet and cook for 20 to 25 minute or until done, turnign the wings about halfway through the cooking time.

ENJOY!

Oysters with Champagne, Anjou Pear and Pink Peppercorns

2011-11-06T13:23:00.000-05:00

This recipe is still a work in progress. It was a last minute recipe that I thought of while staring at a bin full of ice ... and Chincoteague oysters. I have previously posted recipes for mignonettes, which are generally a "sauce" of vinegar and shallots with additional ingredients. In the place of vinegar, I used Champagne. Rather than shallots, I thought of pairing an Anjou pear and a little spice kick with pink peppercorns.

Champagne and pepper pair well with oysters. Pears are a little more of a stretch. However, it was still worth the experiment. As it turns out, the pear gets a little lost in the taste of the oysters. The Champagne and peppercorns work well, providing some tartness and spice to the briny flavor of the oysters. A little experimentation with flavors that worked well, but not as well as some of the mignonettes that I have done in the past.

Even though the recipe was not a complete success, I decided to still post it so that I can go back and work on it a little more.

OYSTERS WITH CHAMPAGNE, ANJOU PEAR

AND PINK PEPPERCORNS

A Chef Bolek Original

Serves 2

Ingredients:
12 oysters, shucked
1/2 Anjou pear, skinned, de-seeded and diced
1/2 cup of Champagne
Reunion Pink Peppercorns

Directions:

1. Prepare the mignonette. Add the pear and the champagne to a bowl. Let the pear sit in the champagne for about ten or fifteen minutes.

2. Plate the dish. Spoon a little of the pear and champagne over the oysters. Add a couple pink peppercorns. Serve immediately.

ENJOY!

De Proef Brouwerij and Terrapin Beer Company Monstre Rouge

2011-11-04T11:56:00.001-04:00

Over the past year, I have reviewed a couple of collaboration, such as the El Camino (Un)Real Black Ale and the Saison du Buff. These beers involved the collaboration of American craft brewers, who banded together to test the limits of craft brewing and to produce a beer that has not been seen before.

This time, the collaboration goes international, with brewer Brian "Spike" Buckowski from Terrapin Beer Company in Athens, Georgia and Dirk Naudts from De Proef Brouwerij in Locristi, Belgium. These brewers decided to test the limits of not just any beer style, but the Flanders Red Ale.

The Flanders Red Ale is a Belgian sour ale from West Flanders. The beer is aged for up to two years in oak barrels, where the resident bacteria work their magic to "sour" the beer. In the past, it was common for Belgian brewers to blend in some younger beer with the old beer to balance the acidity and sourness.

The Monstre Rouge -- or Red Monster -- is an Imperial Flanders Red Ale. According to the label, the Monstre Rouge is based off of Terrapin's Big Hoppy Monster recipe. This particular beer also uses Spike's favorite ingredient (rye malt), along with a lot of crystal and Munich malts, and a Brettanomyces yeast strain. After the brewing process, the beer is aged with toasted American oak.

Both the aroma and the taste of this beer prominently feature cherries and dark cherries. The taste of the beer also heavily emphasizes the alcohol and, as the beer warms, it hearkens to wines or liqueur. In terms of the taste, this Flanders Red Ale is very similar to a barleywine. Only the sourness provides a casual reminder that one is drinking a Flanders Red Ale rather than a British barleywine.

I found this beer at a local wine and beer store. Beers from Terrapin and de Proef are a little hard to find around where I live, but, if you like trying different beers, it may be worth the search.

ENJOY!