Happy Halloween

It was frightful evening as we opted for ghoulish instead of gourmet at our Haunting Halloween class last night. Here are some of the highlights from our menu:

Witches Brew

Dirty Little Devil's Cupcakes

Jello for Brains

Meringue Bones

Check out our website for more photos of the event!

Women and Wine Dinner at Fleming's

Every October, Fleming's hosts a Women and Wine dinner in honor of Breast Cancer Awareness Month featuring women wine makers. This Friday, they focused on three of the leading wine makers in Napa Valley: Cathy Corison of Corison, Kristin Belair or Honig and Janet Myers of Franciscan.

The wines were part of a delicious four course meal. The Corison Cabernet Sauvignon (2000) was served first with house cured salmon and citrus creme fraiche on a crispy wanton. It was a brave pairing (delicate salmon with a bold cab) but the end result was amazing. The richness of the creme fraiche was a great balance for the cab. I'm going to try this at home since they shared their recipe for creme fraiche with me.

The Honig Cabernet Sauvignon (2006/2007) was next and paired with butternut squash bisque served with what I will call a very large crouton (a toasted slice of their rosemary baguette topped with melted danish blue cheese and bacon). The soup was warm brown in color with a touch of sweetness ... Carolyn called it liquid pumkin pie. I think they drizzled some of the danish blue cheese fondue that was on the crouton in the soup which provided contrast in both color and taste. Overall, this was a nice combination of sweet, savory and salty! The amazing quality of the wine was that it cleansed the palatte from the last course and complemented this course.

The last wine was a Magnificat Napa Valley (2005/2006) and it was served with rosemary scented baby lambchops, Parmesan risotto, maple roasted parsnips and a red wine demi-glace. While everything on the plate was delicious, the lambchops (6 chops on my plate) and the parsnips were my favorites. The lambchops were cooked perfectly to medium on the inside and had a nice sear on the outside. The parnsips were cut uniformly into batonnets (1/2" x 1/2" x 2 1/2 - 3") and were crispy on the outside, tender on the inside and sweet all over. I need to try this at home too.

By the time dessert came, we were way too full for anything but a bite. This was probably the weakest part of the meal ... caramel pudding with what looked like pieces of Heath Bar and homemade shortbread (which was quite yummy).

My favorite wine of the evening was the Corison cab, rated 90 points by Wine Spectator. Check out the link for a description of the wine, as well as Wine Spectator's write up. I'm hoping the local distributor still has some of this left for sale ... I'm going to try to get a few bottles!

Baked Alaska!

I didn't realize I haven't posted anything July ... SORRY! I have been cooking (and eating and drinking) all summer ... trying new things like Baked Alaska which we did for our 60's Dinner Party (individual servings) and for a birthday party last night (traditional serving).

Baked Alaska is simply cake topped with ice cream and covered with meringue which is then browned. The trick is to freeze it as you build it. Here's how I did it ...

First, I made a devils food cake in a 9" round pan. Then I took a carton of pistachio almond ice-cream and pressed it into a plastic-wrap lined bowl (which also happened to be 9" in diameter) making sure the top was smooth and flat so that it would sit on top of the cake properly. I put the ice-cream back in the freezer to re-harden. Then I removed the ice-cream mold from the bowl, placed it on top of the cake and put them both back into the freezer.


I made a traditional meringue and then covered the frozen cake/ice cream and then stuck that back into the freezer.

Just before serving, I removed it from the freezer and used my torch to caramelize the meringue. The end result was yummy!

Plain Old Vanilla

When I was little, my favorite ice cream flavor was chocolate ... vanilla was too boring and strawberry was just too foreign. Of course this was a long time ago and in Trinidad when those were our only options, except for the local flavor which flavored with coconut and thickened with Birds Custard powder. While there was an abundance of sugar (and eggs) in Trinidad, heavy cream was non-existent and vanilla extract (most likey imitation not pure) was such a luxury that it was reserved for wedding cakes!

As I got older and learned there were more flavors to explore, "31" or so on a monthly basis, I still stuck with some variation of chocolate. Once I started cooking and experimenting with "fancy" desserts that called for pure vanilla extract or vanilla beans, I ate less chocolate ice-cream and more vanilla as I began to discover how complex something as simple as vanilla is.

Did you know ...

• Vanilla was first cultivated in Mexico, in the state that is currently known as Veracruz?
• Most of the world's vanilla comes from Madagascar, Indonesia, Mexico and Tahiti but is also grown in Costa Rica, India, Uganda and Jamaica?
• Vanilla is the only fruit-bearing member of the orchid family and is harvested only once a year?
• Vanilla is the second most expensive spice after saffron due to the intensive manual labor needed to grow the vanilla pods?
• Flowering normally occurs in the spring and must be pollinated within 12 hours of the blossom opening ... all pollination is now done by hand since the only insect capable of doing this is the Melipona bee which is native to Mexico?
  
  

  

Not so ordinary now, huh? And all vanillas don't necessarily taste the same ... each of the major types of vanilla has it's own characteristics and suggested uses, for example:

Madagascar Bourbon Vanilla is an overall versatile vanilla with a rich, creamy mellow flavor and velvety overtones. It is ideal for baking and cooking -- sweet or savory. It is perfect in cakes, cookies and pastries. It adds a touch of sweetness to succulent seafood sauces or marinades and cuts the acidity of tangy tomato sauces.

Tahitan Vanilla has fruity, anisic notes that enhance fruit dishes such as cranberry sauce or cherries jubilee. Its delicate flavor is best used in recipes that do not require high heat such as refrigerated and frozen desserts, pastry creams, fruit pies and sauces, smoothies, shakes, puddings and custards.

Mexican Vanilla offers a deep spicy flavor and spices up citrus fruits such as lemons, limes and oranges but can also mellow out the bitterness of dark chocolate. It cuts the acidity and smooths out the heat in spicy tomato-based dishes. Try it in cookies, cakes, frozen desserts, barbecue and spaghetti sauces, and salsas.

Check out Nielsen-Massey's site for more cool info on vanilla!

Eating in South Africa

World Cup fever is still blazing at the office ... people are "working from home" so they can watch the important matches and the discussions about instant replays and bad ref calls get more and more heated every day. I don't mind ... the focus on World Cup reminds me of 9.5 glorious weeks I spent there ... working, meeting new friends, eating and drinking!

Here are some of the traditional food and drink of South Africa ... some of the pictures are mine, some are from the web.

The South African version of a barbecue is the "braai" (used to describe the meal, the process of cooking and the cooking area/tool). South Africans are fanatic about their braais ... within 24 hours I was invited to a braai, some of my co-workers were even showing off pictures of their braais. Most have dedicated areas of their homes set up for their braai ... so they can cook out in winter. One friend even had heated tiles in his braai. This is my friend Christopher (from NYC) getting ready to braai!

Another tradition South African meal is the potjiekos (pronounced poiki) which cooked in this three legged cast iron poiki pot which is either placed at the base of the braai or hung from a hook installed in the braai. The dish is layered, starting with meat, then potatoes and then vegetables. It was very yummy and takes about 2 hours to finish ... which goes by quickly when drinking South African wine!

This is a bunny chow ... no bunnies are ever harmed in the making of this dish. It is a quarter or half of a loaf of bread that is hollowed out and filled with curry (veggie, beef, chicken, mutton, etc). The idea is that you look like a bunny eating it. The one I had did not look this gourmet ... it was from a take out place and was absolutely delicious.

This is another thing South Africans are fanatical about ... biltong ... what we consider beef jerky. Everyone has their own special recipe ...their meat of choice, their spice blend and they method for curing and again. This was not my favorite ... but I tried it several times ... I had to!

I don't remember what this is called but it was good. This was on my last day and I guess they wanted to make sure I wouldn't starve on my long flight home!

There were so many other amazing things I ate in drank during my visit ... like rooibos tea which made me think of hibiscus, and Amarula, a cream liquer that is made from the marula tree ... this tastes a little like Baileys and I often had this for dessert. There were some other stuff that I didn't care for like boerewors, a dried sausage that was in the same category as biltong in my mind and mielies, the local starch that is made into a porridge (yuck)!

Todd's Farewell Tasting

In addition to Mom and I, fourteen of our friends showed up last Thursday night to say good bye to Todd and taste some of Oregon's finest wines.

Before we even tasted the first wine, Todd had us laughing with story from earlier that day ... he was training his replacement, it was her first day and they were riding in her car. Unknown to him, there was a welcoming committee to greet her ... an ant's nest lodged in the crease of the passenger seat. After she freaked out a little and got in her car, she called him with a humane way to get rid of the ants. His car now smells of an organic orange smelling ant repellant and they're hanging out in his Shop-Vac at home. Let's home they stay there!


While we cruised through seven wines, Todd had us cracking up with his unique brand of humor "Todd-ims". Here are a few that I wrote down in context of the conversations:

He's moving to Willamette Valley, which when properly pronounced rhymes with "damn it". It's also the home of "no flash, no trash" wines.

When opening one of the wines he warned us "this one will smack you around a little bit" and he described another as tasting like "wet forest floor".

He had only good things to say of the wine makers ... one was described as "a complete and utter wine dork" and another was "a pinot noir bad a$$".
As usual, the wines were good and the food was yummy but the company was the best. Here's a link of some of the photos from the tasting: http://www.gourmetontherun.com/images/Todd_s_Farewell_Tasting.pdf

We have a new rep and when asked about him and what's he's like, Todd said "he'll say stupid things too!"

Vegging Out

Our "Vegging Out" class started with a trip to the Davidson Farmer's market early yesterday morning. With a cup of coffee in hand and no menu in mind, Tracey, Emily and I did a brief walk through to get the lay of the land and survey our options.

Our first purchase was squash blossoms ... something none of us ever had but read much about. Then we picked up some fresh leeks and young garlic from the same farmer. We went over to the other end of the market and bought elongated beets, a couple pounds of patriotic potatoes (red, white and blue) and some mild onions. Our last stop was for hierloom tomatoes. Our menu was sketched out and we headed to the Fresh Market in Cornelius for the rest of our ingredients.

There we selected a loaf of rosemary focaccia bread, mushrooms, a vanilla poundcake, strawberries and chicken cutlets.

Now our menu was set ... bruschetta and roasted garlic with focaccia, frittata, chicken picatta, roasted potatoes, stuffed squash blossoms .... and for the grand finale ... chocolate bowls filled with poundcake, vanilla bean ice cream and flambed strawberries.

Our second course was an artichoke and leek frittata. I modified a recipe I found on-line at Williams Sonoma. It was yummy ... unlike other frittatas I've made, this one was cooked mostly on the stove top and then broiled at the end to add color to the top.

For the entree, we stuffed the squash blossoms with a sauteed mushrooms, panko bread crumbs, Parmesan and herbs. Tracey roasted the patriotic potatoes with the elongated beets, onions and herbs from her garden. I made chicken picatta but left out the lemon juice and capers since I thought it would clash with the Malbec we were drinking.

For dessert, we made chocolate bowls and filled them with the pound cake and ice cream. Then I sauteed the strawberries with Grand Marnier, lit it on fire and ladled the warm mixture into the bowls ... the heat from the strawberries melted the chocolate making it one, big, oozing chocolaty bite of goodness!

Here's a link to more photos: http://www.gourmetontherun.com/images/Vegging_OUt.pdf