Ten Reasons to Open a Bottle of Wine with Friends this November

Need a reason to open a bottle of wine? Before the culinary rigors of Thanksgiving are upon us, here are ten great excuses to open your home to others this November.

Invite your coworkers over to a simple but festive meal. Bake a lasagna, toss a salad and open a few bottles of Chianti. Have everyone agree to leave work problems at the front door and talk about hobbies, brag about family and share funny or happy memories.

Celebrate a recent success with pizza and a bottle of Pinot Noir or Chianti. Meat Lover Supreme your idea of pizza? Pair your slice with a robust glass of Zinfandel!

Invite your boss or your spouse's boss over to dinner. Try a nice roast paired with a bottle of Pinot Noir.

Treat your next door neighbors to a casserole and a bottle of Oaky Chardonnay or rustic red wine and catch up on the neighborhood news.

Look up an old high school or college chum and rekindle the friendship. Laugh at how much you've both grown up (or haven't). Hearty stew goes well with a bottle of Malbec or Syrah.

Invite your son or daughter's sports coaches over for dinner, thanking them for their selfless effort.

Invite your priest or pastor over to a nice home cooked meal.

Invite the football crowd over and have a chicken wing party, pairing different types of wings with Merlot, Zinfandel and Syrah.

Invite your child's best friend's parents over for dinner.

Try out a new recipe on your best friend or close coworker. Drink a glass to your success, or drink two to practice making perfect.

And last but not least...

Let the kids sleep over at a friends house and make a romantic meal for just the two of you, capped off by a nice glass of wine cuddled on the couch.

'Cheese Making and Ingredient Shopping' – Two Netflix Video Reviews

'Cheese Making and Ingredient Shopping' – Two Netflix Video Reviews


I watched two food-related Netflix videos this week, a remarkable documentary on a cheese making nun and a fast-paced montage of 'Queer Eye' episodes.


'The Cheese Nun' http://www.netflix.com/Movie/The_Cheese_Nun/70049629


is the story of Sister Noella, a cloistered Benedictine nun from a Connecticut convent who has made it her life's work to learn about cheese and cheese making. I would not recommend this video in a traditional sense, it is not about wine and food pairing, but it does offer a pleasurable PBS-style education about cheese making.


Queer Eye: the Best of Ted's Food and Wine

http://www.netflix.com/Movie/Queer_Eye_for_the_Straight_Guy_Ted_s_Food_and_Wine/70034818

is a montage of clips featuring Ted Allen food shopping and demonstrating cooking techniques to non-cooks. The scenes are culled from several different episodes of the popular show. I would not recommend this video to someone looking for food and wine pairing information, but it was fun to watch.



The DVD does have a section entitled 'Recipes' that features recipes and instructions for the meals prepared in the different episodes. Ted offers a great solution for when there are bits of cork in a wine – he takes a straw and dunks one end in the wine over the cork bit, pinches the top of the straw, and takes the straw out of the wine glass, cork and all.



Rent this video if you'd like to learn how to shuck an oyster, grill fish in banana leaves or perfect your blowtorch technique for crème brulee.

Add cheese to your meals; How to make a salad wine-friendly

Some Cheesy Ideas


I've adapted the following five tips on how to use cheese in everyday
cooking from a list on the Lactalis website.
http://www.sorrentofs.com/

1. Make your 'house' cheeseburgers with Gorgonzola or Brie.

2. Add Parmesan or Asiago to your salad greens, or make a Mozzarella
Caprese (recipe HERE
http://italianfood.about.com/od/tomatoes/r/blr0095.htm ).

3. Use Asiago on your sandwiches.

4. Melt or grate cheese on French Fries, Soup or Vegetable side dishes; and

5. Offer a cheese course at the end of your next family meal instead of
cake or dessert.

I love salads, even as the weather gets colder.

My two step process for making a salad more wine-friendly is 1. Replace the vinegar with lemon juice, and 2. Add protein (meats or cheeses).

Asiago is one of my new favorite cheeses, it looks pretty when cut into long peels with help from my vegetable peeler and can pair well with many Italian red wines, from Chianti to Barolo.

Since I know you're all drinking white wine, here is a recipe!

Mark Bittman of the New York Times recommends bringing a restaurant trick home to your own kitchen with his recipe for Monkfish with Mashed Potatoes and Thyme:

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/24/dining/241mrex.html?_r=1&ref=dining&oref=slogin

Serving fish on a bed of mashed potatoes pairs, in Bittman's words,"the soothing earthy flavor and creaminess of the potatoes ... (and)the fish's brininess, making for a simple surf and turf. With eachbite, the fish almost melts into the potatoes, creating a kind of instant brandade, or an almost no-work fish cake."The key is to use all-purpose or floury (baking) potatoes and make the mashed potatoes as rich as you dare. Don't mash with a foodprocessor, it will make the potatoes gummy.

Is that white wine in your glass?

Wine Spectator is reporting that Americans still prefer White wines, even with Pinot and Cabernet on the rise.

http://www.winespectator.com/Wine/Features/0,1197,4077,00.html

The facts are out, and though red wine sales have been increasing for 17 years, based on sales, we still prefer to fill our glasses withwhite wine.

According to the recently released 2007 edition of The U.S. WineMarket: Impact Databank Review and Forecast, Chardonnay remains the most popular variety and Merlot leads all red wines. Pinot Noir is the fastest-growing major varietal type last year. Cabernet Sauvignon and Zinfandel are also popular, but the sales of whites Pinot Grigio, Riesling, and Sauvignon Blanc contribute to white wine's "lead" over red wine sales. Last year, Americans consumed 17.6 billion 5-ounce servings of wine.

Cooking in Colorado

Wine and Food in Colorado Springs

I visited my boyfriend in Colorado Springs last weekend. He is active duty in the Army, and since I seldom get to see him, I wanted to make every meal special. What makes a meal special quicker than lovingly prepared homemade food and a bottle of wine? Half the pleasure is imagining how he will enjoy the meal.

Here is a recap of the recipes and wines we tried.

Thursday

Bless my army boyfriend’s iron stomach! I flew in late Wednesday night, and first thing Thursday I found the nearest Safeway in Colorado Springs and bought ingredients to make a corn and crab chowder I found on WineSpectator.com

Kathleen's Colorado Corn and Crab Soup
Adapted from Wine Spectator magazine

Ingredients:
2 large onions, coarsely chopped
3 or 4 slices fresh ginger
1 tablespoon butter
2 cups frozen corn
1 cup white wine
1 8-ounce bottle of clam juice
3 cups broth
Salt and freshly ground pepper
1 teaspoon soy sauce
1/2 teaspoon toasted sesame seed oil
2 eggs
1 1/2-pounds crab meat
3 or 4 scallions, sliced thin




I sautéed the onions and ginger in butter using Jimmy's large saucepan for about 8 minutes, then added the corn and wine. I let it boil for about 10 minutes. I added vegetable broth and simmered for 15 minutes, uncovered.



I removed the pieces of ginger, which was hard because I sliced them small (next time I'll make longer slices) and pureed the soup in a drinking glass with my new stick-type hand blender, placing the pureed soup back into the pan. I added the soy sauce and sesame seed oil, then beat in the eggs before heating the soup through.



I heated the bowls in the microwave, then put 1/2 cup of the crabmeat each bowl. heated soup bowls. I ladled the corn soup into the bowls around the crab, then sprinkled the sliced green onions on top.

We both ate a bowl each, and there was enough for leftovers.

I substituted vegetable stock for chicken stock and unfortunately it gave the soup a dark vegetable flavor which, when combined with the soy sauce, overwhelmed the lighter flavors of the corn and crab. Next time I will use a vegetarian ‘chicken flavored’ stock.

This recipe did let me discover the wonderful scent of sesame oil! I look forward to using it in future recipes. I also absolutely loved the smell of the onions and ginger sautéing in the pan. I served some local Colorado goat cheese on water crackers as an appetizer.

We drank a bottle of Jimmy’s favorite wine – Kendall Jackson Chardonnay. The oakiness matched well with the dark flavor of the chowder, though I will serve a wine with less oak when I switch to a non-vegetable stock the next time I make this soup.

Friday

After seeing that the restaurant made it into the Colorado Springs Insider Magazine’s ‘Best Noodles’ category, I tried the ‘Noodles and Company’ on Southgate Road for a late lunch. I had a glass of oaky Chardonnay and the Bangkok Curry with Shrimp. The meal tasted wonderful, and I look forward to trying to replicate the recipe back home. The menu lists the ingredients as:
Broccoli
Carrots
Red Pepper
Onion
Mushrooms
Rice Noodles
Coconut Curry sauce
Cabbage
Black Sesame

The stir-fried noodles and veggies were served on a bed of cabbage with Black Sesame on top.

I grabbed a bottle of Black Sesame from the Par Avion specialty store next door. Besides Mountain Mamma’s, Par Avion may be my favorite non-grocery store food place to shop, and not only because they carry Capiello cheese from my old hometown of Schenectady.

Saturday

After a day of venturing to Pike’s Peak and visiting the Taste of Colorado wine shop on the way back, Jimmy and I had a quick dinner tonight. I added leftover crab and olives to a package of Bertolli’s Garlic Shrimp, Penne and Cherry Tomatoes skillet dinner.


Their suggested pairing is Pinot Grigio, but we opened a bottle of Colorado Cellars Gewurztraminer. The Gewurztraminer is full bodied and flavorful, almost too flavorful for the vegetables in the dinner, but it complemented the sweetness of the shrimp and crab.



I also grabbed some of my leftover crab and made two sauces for dipping, a melted butter sauce with red pepper flakes and a garlic aioli. I used my stick blender to mix 1/3 cup mayo with 2 cloves of roasted garlic. Jimmy liked the aioli, I preferred the butter.

For the Weekend - a book and two video recommendations

I recently signed up for Netflix and entered about 30 cooking and wine appreciation videos in my 'to-watch' list. If you have a Netflix subscription, keep reading the blog and I will post reviews of the videos I enjoy.

For this weekend, I offer my recommendations - two videos, one to thrill the wine lover on a rainy Saturday and one perfect for the beginning wine drinker, and a book that will give everyone great ideas on what wine to serve on festive occasions.

At the top of my wine video recommendation list is Jancis Robinson's Wine Course. This is a beautifully filmed romantic yet comprehensive look at the way wines are made around the world. a around 5 hours, it's a 'rainy Saturday curled up on the couch with a bottle of wine' treat.
Wine For Dummies

Sommelier Sterling Roig provides a great overview of basic wine knowledge. I wouldn’t have picked this one up, because I don’t consider myself a ‘dummy’ at anything, but despite the name, this video is a great find - 60 minutes of quality wine education for the wine novice, and a great review of the basics with one or two new facts learned for the wine enthusiast!

Wine for Every Day and Every Occasion

By Dorothy J. Gaiter and John Brecher, authors of the Wall Street Journal’s TASTINGS Column.

This book is full of columns describing how to enjoy wine at a host of holidays, from Thanksgiving at home to a special vacation. My recommended chapter is the one on Restaurants. I heartily agree with the authors’ ‘ten easy steps’ for ordering wine at a restaurant.

WBW: ‘Victor, Victoria?’ My dinner with a cross-dressing grape from Portugal

I stopped into The Wine Cellar at Stuyvesant Plaza on Tuesday expecting to stump the kind young man behind the counter.

This month’s Wine Blogging Wednesday is sponsored by my friends at Catavino, and they had given me and 100 other wine bloggers no small order – taste a Portuguese table wine, but not from the Duoro and not a Vinho Verde. Never one to turn down an adventure, I lashed my corkscrew to my belt and set off on a ‘wine safari,’ in search of what I thought would surely be quite an elusive bottle.

Well, I’m retiring my safari hat - the bottle was right there on the endcap. The Wine Cellar has discovered what a great up-and-coming region Portugal is and makes a special effort to purchase interesting bottles for adventurous wine drinkers.

I chose the 2005 Catarina Vinho Regional Terras Do Sado, a Vinho Branco made from 68% Fernao Pires and 32% Chardonnay, part of which is aged in new oak. At only 13 dollars, it was a fantastic way to try a Peninsula de Setubal table wine.

The label describes the wine as being full flavored with a crisp zesty finish, so I decided to try my glassful with fresh goat’s milk cheese on crackers, a simple filet of trout seasoned with salt and pepper, and angel hair pasta with olive oil, parmesan cheese, oregano and pepper.

I excitedly uncorked my bottle and poured a serving into my “big ass glass.” The color was a surprisingly vibrant yellow, and my first sniff confirmed why - there is one less oak tree in the world. Along with the oak I tasted a bright green apple Sauvignon Blanc-like flavor along with the typically smooth Chardonnay flavor profile.

The wine showed off its oak when paired with both the pasta and the tangy goat cheese, and matched well with the trout. At 13.5 % alcohol, this was a big wine for me, so drink carefully. This is a good wine to pair with fish and cheese, but the story behind it is almost as tasty as the wine itself!

According to Wikipedia, Captain Fernão Pires de Andrade was a Portuguese merchant. His encounter with Chinese Ming Dynasty marked the start of European connection to China in near-modern times. But in Bairrada, Portugal, the Fernão Pires grape is known as Maria Gomes. Many grapes have more than one name, a fact that had me up late studying grape names for my recently completed Certified Specialist of Wine exam, but I have never seen one named after a man and a woman at the same time!

History has apparently left it to the storytellers to make sense of this fact, and tell the tale of Maria Gomes. I will leave it up to you to try a bottle yourself and see if you’ll call this oaky, tangy pleaser Senor Fernao or Senorita Maria.

Finger Lakes Wine Gazette

All you can drink New York wine!

A sweeter phrase I cannot imagine. Here is a link to my article on last summer's Finger Lakes Wine Festival. Wine Festivals are a great opportunity to taste a wide variety of wines and really build your wine palate.

http://www.special-sections.com/sections/593/index40.html

Kathleen Lisson
Albany, NY