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Week 52: See the Results and the Recipe!

27 Aug

It’s been another crazy week around here, and, although I have, indeed, tasted all three of this week’s wines, I haven’t had a chance to post about each of them individually. Moreover, I’m headed up to Seattle this weekend to attend the International Food Bloggers’ Conference, which condensed the week even further. As such, this post is a 4-in-1 – reviews of the week’s three wines along with the recipe for this week’s CorkPopper Dinner. So, here we go!!

This week’s first California Cabernet Sauvignon was a 2006 Chateau Souverain from Sonoma County’s Alexander Valley, which offers warm days and cool nights tempered by the Russian River winding its way along the valley floor. This particular wine is huge, with a rich aroma of dark fruit and cedar and an enormous palate full of juicy black cherries, anise, and bitter chocolate. There’s a slightly odd aftertaste that threw me off a bit, though it mellowed out a bit with some time in the glass. You can find this wine at wine.com for $19.99/bottle.

3 corks popped!

Next, I tasted a 2006 Benziger Cabernet Sauvignon from Sonoma County, which lies between Napa County and the Pacific Ocean. Like the Chateau Souverain, this wine has a hefty aroma of dark berries, along with a nice earthy component, which I actually really enjoy. The palate is typical of a California Cabernet Sauvignon, with lots of dark cherry, blackberry, and tobacco, topped off with a touch of oakiness. The finish is smooth and long, making this a pretty decent sipper, especially at just $17.99/bottle from wine.com.

3.5 corks popped!

Finally, we have a 2006 Louis Martini Cabernet Sauvignon, which hails from the Napa Valley. Napa, being further from the Pacific Ocean or the San Francisco Bay, tends to be warmer than Sonoma County, and, as such, produces riper fruit with (in general) lower acid levels. True to form, the fruit is pretty huge in this wine. The aroma is, once again, dominated by ripe black cherries, though there are nice undertones of anise and dried tobacco to bring the fruit back down to earth. On the palate, there’s lots of intense cherry and plum, along with some baking spice and a bit of smoke. If you’d like to check this one out for yourself you can find it at wine.com for $19.99/bottle.

3.5 corks popped!

I was actually worried that none of this week’s wines would inspire a CorkPopper Dinner. You see, the CorkPopper Project is never just about the wine. Indeed, my favorite thing about wine is its intimate relationship with food – how pairing a particular wine with a particular food can elevate both far beyond their individual qualities. And while most people start with a food and try to figure out what kind of wine with which to pair it, I prefer to start from the opposite end, taking a wine and designing a meal around it. Some wines, of course, are easy to design recipes for. They have one or two really distinctive characteristics that instantly call a particular food or flavor to mind. Other wines require a bit more creativity but are still fundamentally food-friendly. Yet others are not really suitable for drinking with food at all, as they are either too big (or tannic) to really pair well with anything or are too light and simple and are really better suited for simply sipping on their own.

The Chateau Souverain, for me, fell in this final category. It was just so big and interesting on its own that I couldn’t really picture a food that it wouldn’t overpower. The Benziger was more mellow, yes, but didn’t really inspire me to rush into the kitchen. Luckily, the smoky notes in the Louis Martini finally lit a little spark of something for me, and I suddenly found myself craving…. wait for it…. Barbecue Beef Ribs! Strange? Maybe. Delicious? Absolutely!

Barbecue Beef Ribs with Spicy Red Wine Barbecue Sauce

Serves 2

Ingredients

  • 1 full rack of beef back ribs (8 individual ribs)
  • 2 medium carrots, coarsely chopped
  • 2 celery ribs, coarsely chopped
  • 2 cloves garlic, coarsely chopped
  • 1 large brown onion, peeled and quartered
  • 2 bay leaves
  • About 12 whole black peppercorns
  • About 1.5 tablespoons salt
  • 2 tablespoons olive oil
  • 2 large garlic cloves, minced
  • 1 medium shallot, minced
  • 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
  • 1 teaspoon ground chipotle chile pepper powder*
  • 2/3 cup dry red wine (hello, California Cabernet Sauvignon!)
  • 1 cup ketchup
  • 2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
  • 2 tablespoons reduced sodium soy sauce

Preparation

Cut the rib rack in half. Place the rib rack and the next seven ingredients in a large pot. Fill with enough water to cover the ribs entirely. Bring to a boil and then reduce heat to medium and allow it to simmer until the meat is tender. (I cooked it for an hour and it still wasn’t quite tender enough, so be sure to give yourself PLENTY of time for this step. You can always do it the day before, if necessary. Just cool, cover, and refrigerate.)

Meanwhile, heat the olive oil in a medium sauce pan over medium heat. Add the garlic and shallot and saute until translucent, about 3-4 minutes. Add the cumin and chile powder and stir for another minute or so. Add the red wine and stir another 2 minutes, allowing the alcohol to cook off. Add the ketchup, vinegar, and soy sauce. Turn the heat down to low and continue to simmer another 5 minutes or so. (Note: The sauce can also be made a day ahead. Just cool, cover and refrigerate.)

Preheat the grill to medium heat.

Once the meat is tender, remove them from the pot using a pair of tongs. Cut the rack into individual ribs and slather generously with sauce. (Be sure to save some sauce for the table!) Grill over medium heat, turning and basting occasionally until the ribs are nicely glazed. This shouldn’t take more than about 10 minutes or so.

Serve with grilled corn on the cob, some grilled red onion, and plenty of paper towels!

I’m giving this one 4 forks

And 4 corked forks!

Cheers!!

* You should be able to find this in the “ethnic” aisle of the grocery store.

NOTE: The recipe above was adapted from several recipes I found on Epicurious.

 
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Posted in 3 corks popped, 3.5 corks popped, 4 Corked Forks, 4 Forks, Benziger, Cabernet Sauvignon, California, Chateau Souverain, Louis Martini, recipes, red wine

 

Week 51: What to Eat with the 2008 Newsome-Harlow Calaveras County Zinfandel

22 Aug

It has been yet another fantastic week for the CorkPopper Project.  All three of this week’s wines (see them here, here and here) were delicious and, I believe, proved that there are indeed California winemakers making high quality Zinfandel with neither excessively high alcohol content nor overwhelmingly overripe fruit.  On the contrary, these wines are complex, balanced and perfectly drinkable, proving themselves excellent ambassadors for the varietal to the wine-drinking public.

This week’s winning wine – the 2008 Newsome-Harlow Calaveras County Zinfandel – shows a lot of the grape’s typical berry flavors, but it also has an intriguing savory undertone that I really wanted to highlight with this week’s recipe.  The solution?  Roasted Beef Tenderloin with a Raspberry-Red Wine Reduction and Sage and Fig Balsamic Mushrooms.  Hopefully Scott and Melanie Klann will approve….

Roasted Beef Tenderloin with a Raspberry-Red Wine Reduction

Serves 4

Ingredients

  • 2 pounds beef tenderloin
  • Extra virgin olive oil
  • 2 tablespoons fresh rosemary, minced
  • Freshly ground pepper
  • Sea salt
  • 1 package fresh raspberries
  • 2-3 cups dry red wine (Zinfandel!!)
  • 1 branch fresh rosemary
  • A few sprigs fresh thyme
  • 3 cloves garlic, roughly chopped
  • 1 small shallot, roughly chopped
  • 1-2 tablespoons unsalted butter

Preparation

Trim the tenderloin, and pat it dry with a paper towel.  Rub with a bit of olive oil and then season generously with salt and pepper and sprinkle with rosemary, pressing the seasoning into the meat so that it stays.  Allow to rest at room temperature 1-2 hours before cooking.

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.  Place the tenderloin in a rack in your roasting pan (to keep it out of the drippings) and roast until the internal temperature of the beef reaches 130-140 degrees for medium-rare (about 25-30 minutes). Start checking the temperature at about 30 minutes so that you don’t overcook it.  When the beef is done, remove it to a cutting board and tent it with foil for at least 10-15 minutes.

Meanwhile, in a small sauce pan, bring the wine to a boil then add the raspberries, rosemary and thyme, stirring occasionally, until the raspberries have broken down and the liquid has reduced by about half.  Season with salt and pepper.  Strain out the solids, squeezingout all possible liquid.  In the same sauce pan, heat another tablespoon of olive oil and saute the garlic and shallot until translucent.  Add the butter and allow it to melt but not brown, stirring constantly.  Add the sauce back to the sauce pan and continue to reduce until it has reached the desired thickness.  Using a food processor or blender, puree the sauce until smooth.

Slice the beef into 1/2 inch slices.  Place a few slices atop some Sage and Fig Balsamic Mushrooms (recipe below) and drizzle with sauce.

Sage and Fig Balsamic Mushrooms

Ingredients

  • 1 pound wild mushrooms (go crazy with whatever varieties you like)
  • 1 tablespoon fresh sage, minced
  • 2 cloves garlic, minced
  • 1 small shallot, minced
  • Extra virgin olive oil
  • A splash of Brandy
  • 2/3 cup fig balsamic vinegar
  • Freshly ground pepper
  • Sea salt

Preparation

Clean the mushrooms by rubbing them gently with a wet paper towel.  Do not rinse them under water, as it makes them soggy.  Remove the stems and slice the mushrooms into thick (but relatively uniform) slices – about 1/4 inch.  In a large nonstick

saute pan, heat about 3 tablespoons olive oil over medium-high heat.  Add the garlic and shallot and saute until aromatic and translucent.  Add the mushrooms and saute until nearly soft.  Add a splash of Brandy and (very carefully) light it on fire.  Take the handle of the pan and slide the pan back and forth on the burner rapidly to mix and allow the flames to sear more of the mushrooms.

Once the flame has died out, add enough vinegar to nearly cover the mushrooms.  Turn the heat down to medium-low and allow the vinegar to thicken, stirring occasionally.

Pour yourself a glass of the 2008 Newsome-Harlow Calaveras County Zinfandel and propose a toast to a beautiful day, a beautiful meal, and a beautiful wine.

One word…. Yum!!

Cheers and buon appetito!!

 
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Posted in 4 Forks, 4.5 Corked Forks, California, Newsome-Harlow, Zinfandel, recipes, red wine

 

Week 47: What to Eat with the 2008 Foxglove Chardonnay

26 Jul

First of all, my apologies to those of you who have been waiting patiently for, this, the CorkPopper Dinner post for Week 47 of the CorkPopper Project.  J and I spent a much-needed weekend relaxing on the back deck of Pop’s and SM’s boat, the Moana, over on Catalina Island.  We soaked up some sun (too much, in fact), did some reading (just finished Anthony Bourdain’s “Medium Raw” – I love that guy), and ate and drank to our hearts’ content.  In other words, your patience, I think, has paid off, as I have not one but two great recipes to share with you now…

First, as I think I’ve mentioned before, J and I are both huge fans of grilled artichokes, which are an easy and fantastic appetizer.  We paired ours with a 2008 Babcock Grand Cuvee Pinot Noir (which will make an appearance in Week 49 of the CorkPopper Project) because we needed to save the 2008 Foxglove Chardonnay for dinner, but this dish could easily pair with a wide variety of wines, including, of course a nice Chardonnay or even a dry rose…

Grilled Artichoke

Serves 2

Ingredients

  • 1 large artichoke
  • 2-3 cloves garlic, minced
  • Extra virgin olive oil
  • Freshly ground pepper and sea salt
  • 3 tablespoons unsalted butter
  • Lemon wedges

Preparation

Preheat grill to medium-high.

Rinse the artichoke well.  Slice it in half through the stalk.  Using a paring knife (and spoon, if necessary), cut out the choke (the hairy part in the middle).  Be sure to remove any stray hairs.  Drizzle with olive oil on all sides and season with salt and pepper.  Sprinkle the cut side with the minced garlic.  Seal tightly in aluminum foil.

Place the foil pouch on the grill with the cut side of the artichokes down.  Cook for about 10 minutes and then flip over and cook for another 5-7 minutes or so.  Check the artichoke by removing from the grill, opening the aluminum foil (beware the hot steam!), and pulling off a leaf or two.  If the leaves come off easily, the artichoke is about ready.  Place the artichoke halves back on the grill without the foil, cut side down, and allow to caramelize slightly.

Melt the butter.  Squeeze a bit of lemon juice into the melted butter.  When the edges of the artichokes are nicely caramelized, remove them to two plates and drizzle with some lemon juice.  Serve with the melted butter.  Appetizer: Done.

4 forks and 4 corked forks!

While our appetizer was delicious, dinner was, of course, the focus, as this was supposed to be a CorkPopper Dinner designed to pair the 2008 Foxglove Chardonnay with a perfect recipe.  Well, mission accomplished here, also.

California Chardonnay is, of course, an excellent wine to pair with seafood, but its natural tendency to be bigger than, say, a Sauvignon Blanc, means that you can pair it with bolder flavors as well.  I decided, therefore, to stick with seafood – Chilean Sea Bass, in fact – but make a really fresh and bold preparation that would make this bright Chardonnay shine.

Grilled Chilean Sea Bass with Lemon, Mint and Garlic Gremolata

Serves 2

Ingredients

  • 1 lb. Chilean Sea Bass steak, skin on
  • 3 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
  • 1/4 cup dry white wine (use the wine you’re going to drink, if possible)
  • 4 tablespoons garlic, finely minced
  • 1 medium shallot, finely minced
  • 2 tablespoons lemon zest
  • 2 tablespoons fresh mint, finely minced
  • 2 tablespoons lemon juice
  • Extra virgin olive oil
  • Freshly ground pepper
  • Sea salt

Preparation

Mix together the lemon zest, the mint, 2 tablespoons of garlic, the lemon juice, and a couple of tablespoons of olive oil.  Season with salt and pepper and allow to rest while you prepare the fish.

Preheat your grill to medium-high.  Pat the fish dry with a paper towel.  Place the fish on a piece of aluminum foil large enough to fold over the fish and seal along the edges to create an airtight pouch.  Season the fish generously with salt and pepper.  Drizzle with the butter and wine.  Sprinkle with the remaining garlic and the shallots.  Fold the aluminum foil over the fish and seal tightly around the edges.  Place the pouch on the grill and cook about 4-5 minutes on each side.  Remove the pouch from the grill and carefully open the foil.  The fish is done when it is just opaque and the meat flakes away easily with a fork.  Err on the side of undercooking, as you can always put it back on the grill if it’s not done.

Cut the sea bass steak down the middle and place each half on a plate.  Top with some of the gremolata.  The buttery flavor and texture of the fish draw out the Chardonnay’s natural creaminess while the bright boldness of the gremolata highlights the wine’s steely acidity, creating a surprising balance between the wine and the dish.

4.5 forks and 4.5 corked forks here!!

Cheers and bon appetito!!

 
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Posted in 4 Corked Forks, 4 Forks, 4.5 Corked Forks, 4.5 Forks, California, Chardonnay, Foxglove, recipes, white wine

 

Week 44: What to Eat with the 2005 Warwick Estate Three Cape Ladies

06 Jul

There is truly nothing better than tasting a wine, having a flash of inspiration as to what to cook with it, and then proving that instinct correct by cooking what can only be described as the perfect meal for that wine – in other words, having a CorkPopper Moment.  I had just such an experience last week, first tasting the 2005 Warwick Estate Three Cape Ladies; next, envisioning juicy beef rubbed with a combo of espresso, cocao and nutmeg; and third, biting into just such a meal and finding it to be an exquisite compliment to the complexity of the wine, especially when combined with J’s brilliant contribution to the meal, sauteed wild mushrooms and Bing cherries with a balsamic reduction.  The strange and complex mix of aromas and flavors in the wine – coffee, chocolate, tobacco, leather, earth, herbs and cherries – are all mirrored, drawn out, and complimented by the various elements in this dish, providing the diner with a progressive sensory experience, where each aroma, each flavor, and each texture seems isolated somehow so that you can appreciate each element.  Yet, at the same time, it all seems seamless.

Better yet, J and I had the opportunity to share this beautiful meal (and pairing) with 10 other members of his family over a fantastic 4th of July weekend up at his family’s cabin in the Sierra Foothills. I can’t think of a better setting to enjoy a great meal.

Espresso- and Cocoa-Rubbed Flank Steak with Sauteed Wild Mushrooms and Cherries in a Balsamic Reduction

Serves 4

Espresso- and Cocoa-Rubbed Flank Steak

Ingredients

  • 1 large flank steak (about 1 1/4 pounds)
  • 1/4 cup finely ground espresso beans
  • 1/4 cup unsweetened baking cocoa
  • 1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
  • 1 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
  • 1 teaspoon sea salt

Preparation

Preheat your grill to medium-high heat.

Trim the steak of any excess fat and pat dry with a paper towel.  Stir the other ingredients together in a bowl and then sprinkle over the steak, rubbing it in and covering it entirely. 

Place the steak on the grill and cook about 7 minutes on one side before flipping it over and cooking another several minutes on the other side until done to taste.  (TIP:  An easy way to tell doneness of meat is to press it lightly with your finger.  Medium-rare should feel the same as the lower part of your palm below your pinkie.  Well-done should feel the same as the top of your palm just below your pinkie.)

Remove from the grill and tent with foil.  Allow the meat to rest at least 7-10 minutes before slicing (across the grain) and placing on a serving platter.  Pour any accumulated juices over the meat on the platter.

Sauteed Mushrooms and Cherries in Balsamic Reduction

Ingredients

  • 1 pound wild mushrooms (try shiitake and portabello)
  • 1/2 pound ripe Bing cherries, pitted
  • 1 medium shallot, minced
  • 2 cloves garlic, minced
  • 1 tablespoon fresh rosemary, minced
  • Extra virgin olive oil
  • Balsamic vinegar

Preparation

Remove the stems from the mushrooms.  Wipe the caps with a damp paper towel to remove any grit.  Thickly slice the caps.

Heat about 2 tablespoons olive oil in a large saute pan over medium heat.  Add the shallot and garlic and saute until translucent.  Add the rosemary and stir to combine.  Add the mushrooms and saute until nearly soft, adding a little olive oil if necessary.  Add the cherries and saute another few minutes.  Add enough balsamic vinegar to nearly cover the mushrooms and cherries.  Bring to a boil and then turn down the heat and allow to simmer until the vinegar is reduced to a syrupy consistency.

Serve the mushrooms and cherries alongside the steak, together with some grilled bread and a simple green salad with a balsamic vinaigrette.

Cheers!

 
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Posted in 4 Forks, 4.5 Corked Forks, South Africa, Warwick Three Cape Ladies, recipes, red wine

 

Week 39: What to Eat with the 2008 Gemtree “Uncut” Shiraz

28 May

It’s a holiday weekend here in the U.S., and J and I will be off tasting our way through Paso Robles wine country with LoSo and JSo.  Luckily and entirely accidentally, it turns out I already cooked this week’s CorkPopper Dinner – New York Steak with Balsamic Mushrooms.  Check out the recipe here.

Cheers, and check back next week for posts on Paso Robles wines as well as the announcement of the next three wines in the CorkPopper Project – German Riesling!

 
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Posted in 4 Corked Forks, 4 Forks, Australia, Gemtree Uncut, Shiraz, recipes

 

2008 Gemtree “Uncut” Shiraz

26 May

How did you spend your Tuesday night this week?  With microwaved leftovers or greasy delivery pizza and a sad bottle of plonk wine?  Well, do I have a solution for you, inspired by this week’s second wine and the quick and easy meal I made to go with it…..

First, the wine.  McLaren Vale is turning out to be one of my favorite Australian wine regions (second, of course, to Western Australia’s Margaret River, which I wrote about here, here, here, here and here), as the wines I’ve tasted from the region have tended to be a bit more complex and, dare I say it, artisanal-feeling than some of the wines from other regions with bigger producers.  And the 2008 Gemtree “Uncut” Shiraz is no exception.  The winery has been family-run by the Buttery family for several generations now.  Indeed, the viticulturist (the grape grower) is a Buttery herself, and her husband is the winemaker.  Talk about the “family business”….  And there’s something about this wine that makes you feel like you’re home.

This wine is a deep, opaque purple with just a tiny bit of sediment, which indicates that it wasn’t filtered before bottling (which is not necessarily a bad thing – it gives the wine a unique character not found in super-filtered wines).  It has a huge aroma of ripe blueberries, dried lavender and bittersweet chocolate, as well as something meaty – beef jerky, maybe?  Weird, I know, but yum.  On the palate, there’s tons of ripe, juicy black and blue berries, a tinge of anise, and a bit of smoky baking spice.  The tannins are generous but smooth, and the finish is long and pleasant.  J isn’t the biggest Shiraz/Syrah fan, but even he liked this one (though he wasn’t quite as sold on it as I was).  I’m giving it 4 corks popped….

And to make the evening even better, I managed to whip up an amazingly easy yet delicious meal that actually went quite well with the wine – New York Steak with Balsamic Mushrooms.  The savory steak, coated in rosemary and garlic, paired nicely with the meaty undertones of the wine, and the sweet tartness from the balsamic mushrooms brought out the fruit on the palate wonderfully. Unfortunately, I was so hungry that I forgot to take pictures, but hopefully you’ll get the idea.

New York Steak with Balsamic Mushrooms

For the steak:

  • 2 dry aged New York strip steaks
  • 3 tablespoons garlic, minced
  • 1-2 tablespoons fresh rosemary, minced
  • Extra virgin olive oil
  • Freshly ground pepper and sea salt

For the mushrooms:

  • 2 large portabello mushrooms
  • Freshly ground pepper and sea salt
  • 1 tablespoon garlic, minced
  • A pinch of rosemary, minced
  • Extra virgin olive oil
  • Balsamic vinegar

Preparation:

Allow the steaks to come to room temperature.  Rub them with a bit of olive oil, then season generously with pepper and salt.  Press the garlic and rosemary all over them so that it sticks, if possible.

Place the mushrooms on a large sheet of aluminum foil, top down.  Drizzle with olive oil, rubbing the tops with oil so that they don’t stick to the foil.  Season with salt and pepper, and sprinkle with garlic and rosemary.  Fill the caps with balsamic vinegar.  Cover with another sheet of aluminum foil and fold around the edges to seal, creating a nice little pouch. 

Preheat your grill to medium.  Place the mushrooms, tops down, on the grill, cover, and allow to cook for about 10 minutes.  Check the mushrooms to see if they’re cooked as you like them (some people prefer there mushrooms less cooked than others).  Reseal the pouch and set aside.

Once the mushrooms are done, turn up the heat on the grill to medium-high.  Place the steaks on the grill and cook one side for 7-8 minutes before flipping it over and cooking the other side for another 7-8 minutes, or until the internal temperature is about 130 degrees for medium rare.  Remove to a cutting board and allow to rest for at least 5-7 minutes.  The meat will continue to cook during this time, and the juices will be better absorbed by the meat, so you won’t have a cutting board covered in juice and a dry steak.

Serve with a simple salad with a balsamic vinaigrette and some grilled bread.  Tuesday night: Done.

You can find the 2008 Gemtree “Uncut” Shiraz at K&L Wine Merchants for $15.99/bottle.

Cheers!

 
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Posted in 4 Corked Forks, 4 Corks Popped, 4 Forks, Australia, Gemtree Uncut, Shiraz, recipes, red wine

 

Week 38: What to Eat with the 2003 Mak Coonawarra

23 May

I’ve been looking forward all week to coming up with a recipe for this week’s CorkPopper dinner.  The 2003 Mak Coonawarra is truly a great wine and is sure to be even better when paired with the right meal, which is exactly what I think I’ve done with tonight’s recipe for Rosemary Rack of Lamb with Berry Mint Sauce.

As my regular readers already know, I. LOVE. RACK OF LAMB.  It is nothing short of a perfect protein – it’s rich and juicy, with the ideal amount of fat.  It’s elegant and beautiful, yet to eat it appropriately, you’ve got to get your hands dirty.  It’s versatile enough to be served with all manner of sauces and sides, and it pairs wonderfully with myriad wines.  What more can a meat/wine lover ask for?  Nuthin’, that’s what.

I’ve done all manner of sauces and preparations of rack of lamb, but this week I’m trying something new.  I wanted a sauce that played up the big, juicy berries in the wine, so I’ve created a sauce that is basically a berry explosion.  And I’ve thrown a hint of mint in there, not only because mint and lamb are a classic combo, but also because my mint plant is growing gangbusters.  And using wine in a sauce is a foolproof way to guarantee a good pairing.  Basically, I want to spread this stuff not only on my lamb but also on my toast tomorrow morning…. hmmmm…..

Rosemary Rack of Lamb with Berry-Mint Sauce

Serves 4

Ingredients:

  • 2 lamb racks, frenched
  • 2 long sprigs fresh rosemary
  • Extra virgin olive oil
  • Salt and pepper
  • 2 small packages fresh blackberries
  • 1 small package fresh blueberries
  • 1 handful fresh mint leaves
  • 1/2 cup 2003 Mak Coonawarra
  • 1/2 cup sugar
  • 1 teaspoon freshly ground pepper

Preparation:

Place the berries, mint leaves, sugar, wine and pepper in a small saucepan.  Smash everything together.  Cook over medium-low heat until you have a jammy consistency.  Set aside.  This sauce can be made a day ahead.  Refrigerate and reheat before serving.

Preheat your grill to medium-high.  Cut the lamb racks in half so that you have four mini-racks with 4 ribs each.  Push a metal skewer through the center of each rack.  Thread a rosemary sprig through the hole and trim excess rosemary (although you need to leave a bit so that you can pull it out later).  Brush the lamb with olive oil and season generously with salt and freshly ground pepper.

Place the lamb on the grill, meaty side down.  Cook for about 7 minutes before flipping them over and cooking for another 4 minutes or so.  The proper internal temperature for lamb is about 145 degrees for medium-rare.  Remove the lamb from the grill, place on a cutting board, and tent loosely with foil.  Allow the lamb to rest at least 5 minutes before removing the rosemary sprigs and slicing.

Serve with a simple green salad and crusty grilled bread.  Say it with me now…. YUM…..

4 forks and 4.5 corked forks!!

Cheers!

 
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Posted in 4 Forks, 4.5 Corked Forks, Australia, Mak Coonawarra, recipes, red wine

 

Week 36: What to Eat with the 2008 Plantagenet Omrah Unoaked Chardonnay

09 May

It’s been a pretty great week for CorkPopper, which is impressive, given that I am not traditionally a huge Chardonnay fan.  And although I would probably always choose an Australian Semillon-Sauvignon Blanc over an Australian Chardonnay, I do think it’s fair to say that Australian Chardonnay’s reputation as overworked and over-oaked is, in general, a thing of the past, and, like pegged pants and crimped hair for those of us who grew up in the 80s, should be considered just another part of Australian Chardonnay’s stylistic history.

My favorite wine this week – the 2008 Plantagenet Omrah Unoaked Chardonnay – is great on its own, of course, but is also an excellent food wine with its long notes of citrus that are balanced out by generous minerality.  As I mentioned in my review of this wine, its flavors struck me as an excellent pairing for roasted chicken.  Well, I made a fantastic roasted chicken a few months ago with a rich lemon and onion sauce, but I didn’t want to duplicate a previous CorkPopper recipe, so I’ve shaken things up a bit by taking inspiration from an all-American tradition – beer can chicken.

For those of you not familiar with beer can chicken, you take a half-full can of beer, stick it up inside a cleaned out chicken, and set it on the grill for about 90 minutes.  As the beer heats up, it bastes the chicken from the inside, giving you a juicy chicken straight from the grill.  The problem both J and I have with beer can chicken is that it seems likely to both of us that at least some weird dyes and chemicals are imparted to your chicken through the roasting of that beer can, which, in all honesty, ends up looking pretty disgusting when you remove it from the chicken.  So, just imagine how excited I was when I got a Sur La Table catalog in the mail last week with this absolutely awesome new grilling implement on the first page!  I went out and bought one immediately and new exactly what I’d be making to pair with the Plantagenet Omrah Unoaked Chardonnay….

Drunk Chicken with Roasted Lemons, Onions and Potatoes.

Serves 4

Ingredients

  • 1 4-pound chicken, cleaned
  • 1 large white or brown onion, thickly sliced
  • 5 lemons, quartered
  • 3/4 pound small potatoes (fingerling or new potatoes work best)
  • 4 cloves garlic, peeled
  • 2 tablespoons fresh thyme, chopped
  • Freshly ground pepper
  • Sea salt
  • 1/2 cup dry white wine (use the wine you’ll be drinking with dinner, if possible)
  • Extra virgin olive oil

Preparation

Prepare your grill so that it is at medium-high heat.

Remove any giblets from the chicken.  Pat the outside of the chicken dry with a paper towel.  Rub the outside with a bit of olive oil and then generously season the chicken, both inside and out, with salt, pepper and thyme.  Stuff the garlic cloves and a couple of lemon wedges into the chicken.

Fill the roasting cup on your combo roaster and wok about 3/4 of the way full with the wine.  Gently situate the chicken on top of the roasting cup.  In a bowl, toss the remaining lemon wedges, onion, and potatoes with a bit of olive oil and season with salt, pepper, and some fresh thyme.  Arrange the lemon, onion and potatoes in the wok around the chicken.

Place the entire thing on the grill over indirect heat, if possible (meaning there are no coals or burners directly underneath the chicken).  Roast for about 75 minutes, or until a meat thermometer in the breast of the chicken measures 165 degrees.  Stir the lemon, onion and potatoes occasionally so that they brown evenly and get covered in the juice from the chicken.

Allow the chicken to rest for about 10 minutes before carving.  Serve with crusty grilled bread and a light salad with a lemon vinaigrette.  Use any remaining wine as a sauce.

Cheers!

 
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Week 32: What to Eat with the Quinta de Romeira Arinto Bucelas

11 Apr

It’s a cold and gray April day here in Los Angeles, the perfect weather for some traditional comfort food – even if it’s not the kind of comfort food with which you’re totally familiar.  In addition to exploring the world’s best value wines, the CorkPopper Project is also about learning about the foods that come from the same country as each week’s wines as well.  Take this week, for example, J and I tasted our way through three very different Portuguese white wines from three different regions of Portugal – Minho, Dao and Bucelas.  Though all three wines were enjoyable, one of the reasons that the Quinta de Romeira Arinto from Bucelas “won” is that it is so clearly a food-friendly wine.  Indeed, while it is delicious on its own, it almost screams for some food with which to be paired.  Well, that’s what the CorkPopper dinner is all about, and I found what promises to be an excellent recipe to pair with this wine.*

Ameijoas na Cataplana (Clams in a Casaplata) is a very traditional Portuguese dish.  A cataplana is a large hinged metal container shaped like a giant clam shell that can be clamped shut.  I don’t have one of these contraptions (nor do I have room for one in my tiny Venice apartment), so I’ll just be using my trusty wok, which has a fairly tight-fitting lid (which also happens to be glass so that I can see when the clams are done).

The Portuguese often pair shellfish with pork, which for me and J is a match made in heaven.  Legend has it this combo dates back to the dark days of the Spanish Inquisition, when knowledge of (and willingness to eat) dishes such as Ameijoas na Cataplana was a sort of test of one’s Christianity.  Pork and shellfish are, after all, proscribed foods for those of both the Jewish and Muslim faiths.  While there’s no telling if this legend is true, it is certainly the case that Ameijoas na Cataplana is an extremely old – and very Portuguese – recipe.  The acidity in the tomatoes, the saltiness of the different kinds of pork, and the brine of the clams makes for a perfect pairing with the deep yet refreshing flavors of the Quinta de Romeira Arinto.

Ameijoas na Cataplana (Clams in a Cataplana)

Ingredients

  • 2 dozen small clams in the shell (I used small Manila clams)
  • cold water
  • 2 tablespoons salt
  • 1 tablespoon cornmeal
  • 1 large Spanish onion, peeled and sliced thinly
  • 3 large garlic cloves, peeled and minced
  • 1 large red pepper, cored, seeded and cut into thin strips**
  • Extra virgin olive oil
  • 1 medium bay leaf, crumbled
  • 8 ounces crushed tomatoes (do not drain)
  • 4 ounces tomato sauce
  • 1 ounce lean prosciutto, diced
  • 2 ounces smoked ham (e.g., speck), diced
  • 2 ounces chorizo or pepperoni, diced
  • 1/2 cup dry white wine (e.g., Quinta de Romeira Arinto Bucelas)
  • A few sprigs of Italian parsley, chopped

Preparation

Scrub the clams well in cool water.  Place them in a bowl with and cover with cold water, adding the salt and cornmeal, which acts as an irritant that forces the clams to purge themselves of sand and grit.  Allow the clams to stand in the cold water for about an hour.

In the meantime, saute the onions, garlic, and red peppers in some olive oil in a large heavy skillet over medium heat until golden.  Add the bay leaf and tomatoes (with their juice).  Break up any large tomato pieces and bring the mixture to a simmer.  Cover and cook slowly for about 30 minutes.  Add the tomato sauce, prosciutto, smoked ham and chorizo.  Re-cover and cook another 30 minutes.  Do ahead:  You can make the sauce as much as two days ahead.  Do not buy the clams until the day-of, however.

If you want to follow the traditional recipe, spoon about half the tomato mixture into the bottom of a large wok or heavy pot (or cataplana, if you’ve got one)  and bring to a simmer over medium heat.  Adjust the heat so that the mixture barely boils.  Arrange the clams on top and spoon in the remaining tomato mixture.  Cover tight and cook about 10 minutes over medium-low heat.  No peeking!  After 10 minutes, open the pot, pour in the wine, scatter the parsley on top, and toss the clams lightly.  Re-cover and cook slowly another 15-20 minutes longer until the clams open.  Discard any clams that do not open.

For a more fail-safe method of ensuring that you cook the clams properly, heat a large pot or wok over medium-high heat.  Add the wine and the clams and sprinkle with a bit of parsley.  Cover and allow to cook until almost all the clams have popped open.  Add the tomato mixture to the pot and stir to combine.  Discard any clams that do not open.

Carry the pot to the dining table, open it, and ladle the stew into large soup plates.  Serve with crusty grilled bread.

Cheers!

* I found this recipe on Epicurious, where it was excerpted from “The Food of Portugal” by Jean Anderson.

** The recipe actually calls for green bell peppers, but neither J nor I are huge fans of green bell peppers, so I’m switching that element of the recipe up a bit.

 
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Posted in 4 Corked Forks, 4 Forks, Portugal, Quinta de Romeira Arinto Bucelas, recipes, white wine