Summer Sippin'

Friday, on a quest for the perfect wine to serve with spicy Thai, I found these two lovelies (thanks, oh helpful guy at Total Wine & More!) One from South Africa, one from California, both clean & smooth, a perfect compliment to our asian meal. These would also be wonderful to sip on their own, provided you're on a back porch with a fan in the deep humidity of summer. So now I'm on a Chenin Blanc kick with hopefully more to report back with soon!

Avoiding Chardonnay no more!

A lot of folks classify themselves as either red or white wine lovers. I'd like to think I'm an equal opportunity wine lover, but I do tend more toward the bold reds. So, I've challenged myself this summer to extend my white wine tasting beyond my beloved cheap & dry Andres champagne that goes into my mimosa's. (To wit, I always say, I should just hit myself over the head w/the Andres bottle b/c that's exactly how I feel after I drink it! LOL!)

I think I shy away from whites in general b/c I'm not a fan of sweet. In my perception, generally restaurants offer whites that for the most part tend on the sweeter side. At the other end of the spectrum, you have the dry chardonnay's that generally do not jibe w/my palate. The oaky acridness is a big turn off for me> not to mention I generally end up with a migraine for some reason?
Enter Cono Sur, a Chilean organic Chard that I mistook for a dryer reisling upon my first tasting. I have Grey Bear co-owner, Lindsey W-W. to thank for this discovery! She has quite a few beautiful "summer" whites up her sleeve. You should take the gorgeously green drive out to GB to check them out. Esp. since their new outdoor patio has been officially installed w/a generous amount of seating.

Thanks Lindz!

Disclaimer: I know the folks that own GB, so my judgement is def. biased. But, I will tell you that their Sunday brunch is mouth-wateringly delicious. This Sunday I had the biscuits and gravy. Hit the spot! Moist crumbly biscuits smothered in a spicy sausage gravy.

Also love that their fruit salad is ripe and generous on the plate, not a "throw away" garnish. Helps cut the heaviness between the B&G and fried, spiced new potatoes. Topped off w/a Pomegranate Mimosa(or Greyhound!), it's the perfect Sunday brunch!

Christmas Dinner 2008

My husband and I have slowly been trying to establish our own Christmas traditions. The only item we've stuck to so far is beef at Christmas. This year, I endeavored to make a prime rib.

And I must admit, roasting a huge hunk of meat is intimidating to me- even with instruction and a probe thermometer. But, I have to say, our prime rib turned out tasty this year, with enough left over from the 5lb roast to invite friends over a few days later for a French Dip party! :)

I was very impressed with our newest local butcher here in Richmond, VA- the Belmont Butchery. Owned and operated by Tanya Cauthen, a trained chef, who says the Butchery is where chefs in Richmond shop for their own meat.

http://belmontbutchery.com/

15 N Belmont Ave
Richmond, VA 23221
(804) 422-8519

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This is a classic Prime Rib recipe I found in a recent copy of Saveur:

Prime Rib

http://www.saveur.com/food/classic-recipes/prime-rib-21017532.html

1 5-bone beef standing rib roast (10–12 lbs.), chine bone removed and tied back on
2 tbsp. kosher salt
1 1⁄2 tbsp. dry mustard, preferably Colman's (see Canned Heat)
1 1⁄2 tbsp. chopped fresh rosemary leaves
Coarsely ground black pepper, to taste

1. Season beef with salt, including the rack of bones. Rub mustard all over beef; sprinkle with rosemary and pepper. Set the beef in a 12" × 14" roasting pan. Cover loosely with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 2–3 days.
2. Remove beef from refrigerator 3 hours before you are ready to roast it, to allow it to come to room temperature. Arrange rack in lower third of oven and heat to 450°. Roast the beef, rib side up, until it begins to brown and sizzle, 20–25 minutes. Reduce temperature to 325°; continue roasting until a meat thermometer inserted in the thickest part of the meat registers 120° (for medium rare), about 2 hours more. Transfer roast to a carving board and reserve any pan juices. Cover loosely with foil and let rest for 25–30 minutes. Remove and discard chine bone. Carve roast (following steps in Carving Prime Rib) and serve with reserved pan juices.
First published in Saveur, Issue #107
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We also served Green Bean Bundles, which are super easy, quick and yummy:


Green Bean Bundles


Recipe courtesy Paula Deen/foodtv.com

1 pound fresh green beans
Olive oil Salt and pepper
Bacon

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
Blanch green beans for 3 minutes. Toss them in olive oil and salt and pepper. Bundle about 5 green beans and wrap a piece of bacon around the bundle. Place in a roasting pan and roast for 10 to 15 minutes, until bacon is cooked.
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We started our meal with a piping hot, melt-in-your-mouth Goat Cheese Souffle. It's not a holiday in our house without a little goat cheese, bien sur!

Goat Cheese Souffles-
Recipe courtesy Martha Stewart magazine or www.marthastewart.com
Prep time: 20 minutes
Total time: 35 minutesServes 4

Soft goat cheese can be substituted for aged; be sure to reduce the amt. of salt to ¾ tspn.

3 Tbsp unsalted butter, plus more for dishes
3 Tbsp all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting
½ c. whole milk, warmed
4 oz. firm aged goat cheese, grated or coarsely chopped (abt. 1 ½ cups)
¼ tspn fresh ground nutmeg
1 tspn coarse salt
¼ tspn fresh ground black pepper
4 large eggs, separated

Preheat oven to 375.
Butter four 1 cup soufflé dishes. Dust w/flour, tap out excess.
Melt butter in a saucepan over medium heat. Sprinkle flour over top(3 tbsp) and cook, whisking for 1 ½ minutes.

Add milk, cheese, nutmeg, salt and pepper. Cook, whisking, until thickened, about 3 minutes. Remove from heat. Whisk in yolks.

Beat egg whites until stiff peaks form. Gently fold cheese mixture into whites. Divide among soufflé dishes, filling 1 inch from top. Place on a baking sheet and bake until puffed and golden, 12-15 minutes.

Serve Immediately! Bon Appetit!

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We finished all of this off with the Chocolate Malt Cake recipe found below!

Virginia Garlic & Wine Fest 2007

Garlic Fest 2007 has come and gone in a blur. This year, the weather was incredibly perfect, sunny and cool. Saturday, when we attended, there was a flurry of activity and a mad crush of people. It's nice to know that it's caught on after all of these years. Rebec really deserves more love & accolades than it seems to get for hosting such a wonderful event.

If you're looking at this wondering how you get in on the action next year-- just bookmark http://www.rebecwinery.com/. You can actually buy your tickets in advance online when next year's festival rolls around.

We went strolling around the booths to check all of the crafts, food vendors and jewelry. There was a quite a variety as far as home grown herbs and garlic for sale. Food varied from crabcake sandwiches to egg rolls. They pretty much had anything you could want including BBQ and philly cheese steak sandwiches.

The overall theme this year, we thought, was the "cowboy" hat. :) Either tons of vendors were selling them or folks showed up with their own! I blame Bret Michaels and the Rock of Love for this sudden resurgance of the rock-n-roll cowboy hat which I thought died (or should've died) 3 years ago! :)

I have a top three for you from the day:
1. Rebec's Reisling-- light, crisp, lovely polished finish
2. Red Rocker Cashew Brittle-- I could've eaten my weight's worth! They're not lying on the label when they say, "It's really, really good!" LOL!
You can order yours online at http://www.redrockercandy.com/
3. Cornerstone Farm's Garlic Powder-- I buy a ton every year and somehow always manage to run out. I seriously can NOT make chili without it. And not to mention the family that runs this farm are nicest folk you'd want to meet. They have a website, but it's not set up for e-commerce: http://home.bellsouth.net/p/s/community.dll?ep=16&ext=1&groupid=140532&ck=

But, I found out this year you can call and they will ship you more! :)
1249 Tate Road, Reidsville, NC 27320
336.349.5106

We had a prime spot this year in front of the sumo wrestling mat(http://www.bouncedepartment.com/):
Between the reisling and the wrestling, I had perma-grin. So, in all, it was a great day. But, I do recommend going on Sunday if you can help it-- it's always much more lowkey and relaxed than Saturday.

Later on in the evening, we found ourselves at Bull Branch for dinner. It's a local, eclectic dining spot that seems to be popular with the 30-something, hipster crowd in Lynchburg, VA. I swear they read my blog and stole my goat cheese/marinara dip! They also make a killer hummus. It was here that I found my second Reisling/wine gem of the day-- Dr. Loosens Reisling. (http://www.drloosen.com/v01_drlriesling.htm) It's excellent and I highly recommend you getting your hands on some! It's everything I want a Reisling to be-- slightly on the dry side, with a fruity bouquet/smell and a nice, well-rounded finish. Don't worry if you didn't follow all of that, all you need to know is that you'll be nodding your head in agreement once you have some of this.That's our trip in a nutshell. Wanted to leave you with a picture of the most gorgeous and catlike of Whippets on the planet, Zell. She is part of the lovely family that hosted us for Garlic Fest and introduced us to Bull Branch. You know who you are, we love you guys!

Cooking Nite Update

Well, I'm glad I took a few pics before the event, b/c I took even less during the event! This is all I saw fit to photograph of my roasted chicken. It was plump, glorious and a crispy golden brown at it's finish. I used a standard Julia Child recipe that I really recommend if you want a succulent bird that will make your home smell heavenly!

This particular recipe also came with instructions to make a sort of au jus w/the leftover pans juices from roasting. I think that's what really takes it over the edge. I served up the au jus in a little gravy boat alongside the platter of meat.

Folks brought mushroom pie, french onion soup, champagne/brie/emmenthaler fondue, a strawberry brulee dessert and a fabulous Cotes du Rhone.

I really can not recommend this wine enough! My friend did a great job in picking it out. Although these online tasting notes made me giggle a little:

* Eye : Deep and dark red. Shiny.
* Nose : Fresh fruits with red berries and spices.

* Palate : Full, round and racy. Rounded and smooth tannins. A full-bodied, rich and intensly aromatic wine.

* Overall : Full with a long finish and plenty of elegance and finesse due to the well balanced tannins and fruit
http://www.guigal.com/vins_detail.php?langue=en&rub=4&id=53&millesime=4

"Full, round and racy"- really? Racy? I don't know about all of that, my bottom line is that it has a gorgeous color and nice mellow finish w/plenty of punch in the middle. How's that for an amateur sommelier?

Surprisingly, the dish I got the most positive feedback was the potatos! I was thinking nothing of them really, b/c I make roasted potatos all of the time. I will admit these were a little out of the ordinary as they were tri-colored fingerling potatos (sliced in half if they were small, quartered lengthwise if they were larger). I simply roasted them at 400 for half an hour (ish) with a little olive oil, a pinch of herbes de provence and tons of kosher salt.

Sadly, we were all struggling by the time dessert rolled around. The creme brulee was a good thought, but a bit too much after the main feasting. The good news is, I have 4 leftover!

Here's the roast chicken recipe, bon apetit!

Roast Chicken
Recipe courtesy Julia Child, Julia’s Kitchen Wisdom, Alfred A. Knopf, 2000

1 (3 1/2 to 4 pound) chicken

1 small yellow onion, quartered

1 lemon, thinly sliced

1/2 cup celery leaves

Salt and black pepper

Butter

1 small onion, chopped

1 carrot, chopped

1/2 teaspoon dried thyme

2 cups chicken broth

Preheat oven to 425 degrees F.

Wash the chicken in hot water and dry thoroughly. Season the cavity with salt and black pepper and stuff with the onion, lemon, and celery leaves. Rub the chicken lightly with softened butter and season all over with salt and pepper. Tie the drumsticks ends together and set the chicken, breast side up, in an oiled v-shaped rack or on an oiled roasting pan in the oven.

Roast for 15 minutes at 425 degrees F, then reduce the heat to 350 degrees, baste the chicken, and roast for 15 minutes. Add the chopped onion and carrot to the pan, basting them and the chicken. Continue roasting the chicken until the juices run clear, for a total of 45 minutes plus an additional 7 minutes for each pound. (In other words, a 3 1/2 pound chicken would take a basic 45 minutes plus an additional 25 minutes, for a total 70 minutes or 1 hour and 10 minutes of cooking time.)

Remove the chicken and spoon the fat out of the roasting pan. Into the pan, stir in the herbs and blend in the broth and, stirring constantly, boil for several minutes on the stovetop to concentrate the flavor. Correct the seasoning and strain the sauce into a warm sauceboat. Carve the chicken and serve with the warm sauce.