CorkPopper

Despite growing up with an extremely Catholic grandmother (think Mel Gibson but with the presence of mind to do her ranting in private) who never shied away from reminding me that my un-baptized soul was destined for an eternity of misery, I am not especially prone to feelings of guilt (chock that up to my rebellious mother – you know, the one responsible for my un-baptized soul).  Nonetheless, the fact that I have not published a new CorkPopper post in over six weeks has me suffering from an enormous sense of guilt right now.  I could, of course, list all of the things that have kept me from writing – work (of course), travel, etc. – but the fact remains that, as a blogger, I have made an unspoken promise to all of you (that I will post regularly), and I have broken that promise as of late.  Sadly, I cannot assure you that I will suddenly be able to post twice or three times a week again – it’s just not in the cards right now – but I can assure you that I will try harder, as CorkPopper is as much a release for me as I hope it is for you.

And now that I have all that out of the way, it’s time for the good stuff!  While the CorkPopper LocaPour Project has not followed the strict one-month-one-region structure I had originally pictured, I am certainly still working my way through the same twelve regions.  (Check out the full list here.)  When last we met, I was still writing about and cooking for wines from Santa Barbara’s Santa Rita Hills.  This, I’m afraid, will be the last post for that region (at least for now).  Fear not, however, as it is a great one.

I’ve written about Babcock* wines before, of course (click the Babcock tag to the right, and it’ll pull up all of my past posts).  I’m a club member there, so I have a pretty regular stream of Babcock wines coming my way all year long (especially since I’m at the top tier of their club membership, which means that each shipment includes an insane 4-6 bottles).  What this means is that I often have more Babcock than I know what to do with (especially since I’m not particularly adept at “cellaring” wines and leaving them alone for years), often with multiple vintages (e.g., years) of the same label.  Poor me, right?

Two of my favorite Babcock wines are the Naughty Little Hillsides Pinot Gris and the Déjà vu Pinot Noir, both of which I happened to have multiple vintages, so I couldn’t resist planning a Saturday night CorkPopper Dinner involving vertical tastings of both.**  We invited DM (one of J’s good friends from business school) and his girlfriend, CT, to share in what turned out to be probably too much wine!

Babcock’s Naughty Little Hillsides Pinot Gris comes from (surprise, surprise) a couple of hillsides on the Babcock

2009 and 2010 Babcock Naughty Little Hillsides Pinot Gris

estate that, from the way Bryan Babcock talks about them, sound like the vineyard equivalent of a couple of raucous teenagers.  While that may be so, I, for one, am glad that he puts up with them because, although each vintage seems to be quite different from the last, I always find the Naughty Little Hillsides to be an exciting and refreshing alternative to the more common Santa Rita Hills Chardonnay.  There’s always something bright and fresh and just a little bit mischievous about it, qualities that make it both fun and challenging to develop food around.  For this particular CorkPopper Dinner, I had both the 2009 and 2010 vintages sitting around, which, again, could not be more different – the 2009 showing notes of pineapple and a distinct minerality and the 2010 more on the stone fruit (think white peaches) side without much mineral character at all.  A challenge, indeed.  J and I decided to roll with it, however, and make a dish that was either going to be phenomenal or just plain weird – Seared Scallops with Tangerine-Mint Vinaigrette.  Briny scallops are almost always an excellent pairing with a typically minerally white like Pinot Gris, and because the fruit characters of each wine were so different, we thought we’d just throw in another (tangerine) for fun.  Finally, on a beautiful Southern California Saturday, mint is just called for, isn’t it?

Seared Scallops with Tangerine-Mint Vinaigrette

Serves 4

Ingredients***

2 tablespoons plus 4 tablespoons grapeseed oil

8 large scallops

Fresh ground pepper and sea salt

1 bunch watercress, stems removed, or 1 package maiche (lamb’s lettuce)

3 tablespoons fresh tangerine juice (probably about 3-4 tangerines)

1 tablespoon white wine vinegar

1/2 teaspoon tangerine zest

1/2 teaspoon Dijon mustard

2 tablespoons fresh mint, minced

Preparation

Seared Scallops with Tangerine-Mint Vinaigrette

Heat 2 tablespoons grapeseed oil in a large nonstick pan over medium-high heat.  You want it to be as hot as possible without smoking.

Meanwhile, pat the scallops dry with a paper towel and sprinkle with pepper and salt.  A pinch each should do – I’ve overdone the salt on my scallops before, making them inedible.  Oops.

Once the oil is hot, place the scallops in the pan, one flat side down, and leave for about 2-3 minutes, depending on how large they are.  Do not move them around too much, as you want them to caramelize.  Flip them over and do the same on the other side, leaving for about 2 minutes, until they are just cooked through in the middle.

While the scallops are searing, whisk together the remaining grapeseed oil with the tangerine juice, the vinegar, the mustard, the zest, and the mint.  Season with salt and pepper to taste.

Toss the watercress (or maiche) with about half of the vinaigrette and then divide among four small plates.  Top each plate with two scallops and drizzle with the remaining vinaigrette.

While I believe that this dish has serious yumminess potential, I have to admit that J and I kind of flubbed it.  We didn’t have grapeseed oil, so we used extra virgin olive oil, which totally overwhelmed the flavor of the vinaigrette.  I failed to trim the stems from the watercress, which made it awkward to eat.  And J didn’t have his pan hot enough when he was searing the scallops, so they didn’t get that caramelization they needed.  If you try this recipe as written, PLEASE let me know how it turns out!  In the meantime, 4 Corks Popped for the wine!!

The Déjà vu Pinot Noir actually comes from the Rabbit Ridge vineyard located in Paso Robles, about an hour and a

2008 and 2009 Babcock Deja Vu Pinot Noir

half or so north of the Santa Rita Hills.  Though Paso Robles generally has a warmer climate than the Santa Rita Hills, there is a section, called the Templeton Gap, where cool ocean breezes keep the temperature down, and I believe that’s where the Rabbit Ridge vineyard is.  (Please correct me if you know otherwise.)  Because it comes from Paso Robles rather than the Santa Rita Hills, however, the Déjà vu definitely has different characteristics than, say the Ocean’s Ghost, one of Babcock’s other Pinot Noir selections.  The Déjà vu tends to show more ripe fruit, but the vineyard’s soil is chock full of rough limestone, like the soil found in Burgundy.  In short, this wine is an enigma, which, like the Naughty Little Hillsides, makes it at times difficult to cook around.  Never fear, I am always up for a challenge.  The solution?  Roasted Game Hens with Red Wine Mushroom Sauce over Roasted Purple Potatoes and Onions.

I know what you’re thinking – poultry with red wine?  Bear with me, though, as I think that roasted poultry is way more versatile than people give it credit for, especially when served over hearty roasted root vegetables and doused in an earthy mushroom sauce.  Plus we’re talking Pinot Noir here, not Cabernet Sauvignon.  Because Pinot is more medium-bodied, it can pair easily with foods on the lighter side of the spectrum, including poultry and certain fish, such as salmon, swordfish, and tuna.

Roasted Game Hens with Red Wine Mushroom Sauce over Roasted Purple Potatoes and Onions

Serves 4

Ingredients****

Extra virgin olive oil

3 large shallots, roughly chopped (about 1 cup)

2 cloves garlic, chopped, plus 8 cloves garlic, smashed

1/2 pound shitake mushrooms, roughly chopped, plus 1/4 pound thinly sliced

3-4 large chanterelle mushrooms, roughly chopped *****

1-2 sprigs fresh rosemary, plus 2 tablespoons minced

4-5 sprigs fresh thyme, plus 2 tablespoons minced

1 bottle Pinot Noir (inexpensive is fine)

1 32-ounce carton low sodium beef broth

Freshly ground pepper and sea salt

1 pound purple potatoes (or other small potato, such as new potatoes or Yukon Gold), scrubbed and quartered

2 medium yellow onions, halved and then thickly sliced

2 medium game hens (about 2 pounds each), halved

3 tablespoons unsalted butter, room temperature (optional)

Preparation

Roasted Game Hens with Red Wine-Mushroom Sauce

Heat about 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil in a medium sauce pot over medium-high heat.  Add the shallots and chopped garlic and sauté until translucent and fragrant, about 4 minutes.  Add the chopped mushrooms and continue to sauté until soft and starting to brown, about 10 minutes.  Add the rosemary and thyme sprigs, a pinch each of salt and pepper, half of the wine, and half of the broth.  Bring to a boil and then reduce heat to medium-low and allow to simmer uncovered.  As the liquid reduces, continue to add more wine and broth until you’ve used it all.  Reduce until the liquid is just thick enough to coat the back of a spoon, about an hour.  Using a fine mesh sieve or strainer, drain the liquid, pressing on the solids to extract as much liquid as possible.  Discard the solids and return the liquid to the pot.  Wipe it out a bit with a paper towel if it has lots of solids in it.  (Note: The sauce can be made up to a day ahead to this point.)  Heat another tablespoon or so of olive oil in a medium or large frying pan and sauté the remaining mushrooms until soft and just starting to brown.  Add the sautéed mushrooms to the sauce and simmer over low heat for another 15 minutes or so.

While your sauce is reducing, preheat the oven to 450 degrees.  Toss the potatoes and onions in a large roasting pan with about a tablespoon olive oil and sprinkle generously with salt and pepper.  Roast for about 10 minutes.

While the potatoes and onions are getting their roast on, mix together the butter with about a tablespoon each of rosemary and thyme.  Pat the inside of the game hen dry with a paper towel and then sprinkle with salt, pepper, rosemary and thyme.  Place 2 smashed garlic cloves in each cavity and then, using kitchen twine, tie the halves closed.  Sprinkle the outside of the hen halves with salt and pepper and then rub all over with the herb butter.  (Note: If you want to skip the butter, you can just rub a little olive oil on the outside of the hens and sprinkle with salt, pepper, rosemary and thyme.

Pull the roasting pan out of the oven and stir the potatoes and onions before placing the game hen halves on top.  Return the roasting pan to the oven and roast for another 30 minutes, or until the juice of the hen thighs runs clear when pierced with a knife.  Allow the hens to rest 10 minutes before snipping the kitchen twine and serving atop the potatoes and onions and drizzled with the mushroom sauce.

This dish was definitely more successful for us than the scallops.  It is rich and earthy and, especially if you use the herb butter on the hens, amazingly juicy.  4 Forks, 4 Corked Forks, and 4 Corks Popped!!

Cheers!

* Babcock, for those unfamiliar with the Santa Rita Hills, is located along Highway 246 about halfway between Buellton and Lompoc.  It initially shares a driveway with Melville before a separate driveway takes you off to the left and up the hill.  This is a working winery, and their tasting room is, to be frank, fairly frill-free, with a small indoor tasting room and, in warmer months, an outdoor section as well.  They have a huge selection of wines, however, and there really should be something there to satisfy pretty much any palate.

** A vertical tasting is where you taste multiple vintages of the “same” wine side by side so that you can see/smell/taste the differences between the two.  In addition to the fact that wines change with age, differences in things like weather can have a significant effect on how a given wine turns out in any given year.  It’s a fun experiment and one I certainly encourage everyone to try.

*** As part of the CorkPopper LocaPour Project, I always endeavor to use local, organic ingredients.  The scallops were local and were sustainably caught.  I couldn’t find any local maiche while shopping for this meal, so I used local watercress instead.  The tangerines were from my bi-weekly CSA (local, organic produce delivery), and the mint came from a planter on J’s kitchen counter – doesn’t get more local than that!

****  Again, every possible fresh ingredient here is local and/or organic, with the purple potatoes and onions coming from my CSA, the game hens being raised organically in California, and the rosemary and thyme coming from J’s and my herb gardens.  The mushrooms probably traveled the farthest – from Oregon, the U.S. mushroom capital, if you ask me.

***** Optional – increase number of shitakes if you can’t find chanterelles or if they are out of your budget.  If you’re able to splurge, though, I definitely recommend it, as chanterelles are one of the most decadent mushrooms out there.