Foodie Fun in 2011: 8 Highlights

Not to fear, I will also post on my best wines of 2011 soon. But when thinking about 2011, the frame that really captured the best tastes and memories was "experiences". Yes, the individual dishes and wines involved were wonderful. But what really made these things special was the combination of good food, drink and company--often in a great setting too. With no further ado...

#eatlocalwob These experiences aren't all in order, but it's not accident that the "eat local" tag tops the list. This was our first year participating in a Consumer Supported Agriculture (CSA) program, and our community also opened a new farmers market. The CSA was a great way to get more in touch with what crops are being freshly picked locally. It also forced creativity to figure out how to use unfamiliar ingredients (if you're stumped for a kohlabri recipe, here you go!). The #eatlocalwob references a Twitter hashtag we established to share what we were making with the latest from local forms; or in some cases, to identify unknown vegetables!

Long Island for a wedding (and wine!) I should have expected nothing less when our friends John and Liz got married in November. John is a serious fellow foodie, and he had described great spreads had at other weddings of Liz's Long Island friends. We were in for quite a treat when we arrived at the gorgeous Bourne Mansion. I could have called it a great meal simply following the wonderful appetizers and carving stations they had during the cocktail hour, but that was only a warm-up for a tremendous three course meal.(the photo is from the cocktail hour food!) The meal started with an impressive Grilled Portabello Mushroom Tower, followed by a salad and then filet mignon. I'd be hard pressed to make such a meal for 6, let alone the 200+ that enjoyed the wedding. The wedding fare alone was enough to have the trip featured here, but we also had a nice, quick stop in Long Island wine country including Shinn Estate Vineyards. I suspect I'll will talk about them more in the wines of the year post!.

Wine Club @ Pairings Participating in the new wine club at Pairings Wine & Food has been been great fun. The club gathers every couple months to sample some interesting wines along with tasty food. It's usually around 8 or 10 people to allow for an intimate experience. The first meeting I went to was a blind tasting, where I'm happy to report my tasting partner and I were able to correctly rank the four wines. The most recent meeting sampled wines of Bordeaux, including a special older bottle one of the members brought.


Chatham Bars Inn I really enjoyed the swordfish dish I had at the Inn's dining room, along with a nice pinot. But what really made this special was that it was part of a wonderful, quick offseason trip to Cape Cod. We caught some amazing 60 degree weather and enjoyed time at the beach. Also enjoyed a good lunch at the Chatham Squire and sampled some interesting oils at Gustare Olive Oils & Vinegar.

Portsmouth Our Portsmouth trip to celebrate my sister's 40th birthday also makes it here as an overall fun experience that included some good food. The birthday dinner featured a tasty assortment of pizzas at the Gaslight restaurant. For lunch the next day, we enjoyed lunch with a great view of the harbor at The River House. I enjoyed my tuna salad, and they were able to deliver this chicken and fries in a boat to my son--prepared in a manner safe for his allergies!


He likes it! (mango juice) B. started expanding his culinary horizons a bit this year. No small feat, as he has multiple food allergies combined with a six year old's palate. But he know likes to go to Indian restaurants, a favorite of Jodi and me. This is a qualified success, as at this point it's the mango juice and breads that he goes for there. He also now ranks this Skillet Pork & Cabbage dish among his favorites and has suggested we should have salmon every week. Nice diversification from his Ian's allergy safe chicken nuggets! 


Cooking for the Cause I continued to find ways to put my cooking interests to use for the Social Capital Inc. cause in 2012. I cooked up a 3 course meal again for successful bidders on the SCI online auction. I was pleased when I was asked by one of the guests, "Where did you train?" (answer: my kitchen!). I also collaborated with my friends at Pairings to put together some tasty food and wine pairings for a fundraiser in June at the Griffin Museum. The Beef, Faro & Mushroom pairing with a Bordeaux was especially tasty...as was the hockey game that night (Game 7 of the Stanley Cup finals!).

Lots of home cooking! Biggest highlights in this department revolve around the #eatlocal meme mentioned at the outset.

Looking forward to another great year of food in 2012! Would love to hear about any of your 2011 food highlights. And stay tuned for my wines of the year...some time in the next week or so.

Pork, Cabbage & Riesling

This Skillet Pork & Cabbage dish has become a mainstay in our house. Our 6 year old loves it, and it has enough flavor to appeal to us grownups as well. I first came across it seeking recipes to use the two heads of cabbage we got from the CSA one week. So it serves as a good example of how the CSA encourages one to try new recipes...which leads to some real keepers.

A go-to dish needs a wine to go with it. I've served various medium-bodied whites with this in the past, and an occasional pinot noir. But tonight's pairing really got it right. We had the 2009 S.A. Prum Riesling from Germany's Mosel region. This had a nice, crisp  taste, kind of like biting into a Gala apple--without the crunch! Fruit-forward with a touch of minerality, and very little sweetness. A touch more sweetness in a riesling can be good with spicy dishes; but this dish just has a bit of saltiness from the soy sauce. Mostly the dish needed something with some substance and a nice crisp taste and clean finish, and this riesling fit the bill nicely!

p.s. I knew the Prum sounded and tasted familier...realized it's because I participated in this live tasting event 2 years ago!

Not Your Average Chili Pairing

chili with sparkling wine

You know you're serious about your wine when you seek to find the right pairing for chili. Most folks would say beer, or perhaps milk; but once again after making a pot of chili I wanted to have some wine with it. Previously I'd paired zin and shiraz with chili, and it worked pretty well. I did a bit of research this time, and those options seemed to common choices, as discussed in this Serious Eats post.

Alas, there was no zin or shiraz on hand Sunday. I had a couple of Italian reds on hand that I considered--generally food-friendly, and they go with tomatoes in pasta sauce...why not the tomatoes in the chili? But I decided to save those for a proper Italian meal. Then I thought about the cheese and chocolate shavings I'd finish the chili with, and the 2008 Shinn Estate Merlot came to mind...

Now, I wouldn't pair a basic, fruit-centered merlot (the kind you might be served at a function) with chili. But I'd already had one of these bottles from Shinn, following our visit to their Long Island vineyard, and recalled its depth of nuanced flavor. And sure enough, the layers of chocolate and berry flavor touch of spice were a good accompaniment to the chili. Enough flavor and structure to stand up to the hearty dish, and it picked up the cheese and chocolate topping. A winning combination!

As that Serious Eats post points out, wine isn't going to work too well with a five alarm chili. But my chili, based more or less on this recipe, is more flavorful than super hot. If that's your chili style, wine can do quite well with it...and if you find yourself on Long Island, consider picking up a bottle of the Shinn Estate Merlot for your next batch!

OK, now to explain the photo. I'd written this up, then went looking for a photo to add. Realized I hadn't taken one showing my suggested pairing, but did have this one from the following night. We had an impromptu gathering to which my sister brought a nice bottle of sparkling wine. Very tasty, and bubbly is often a good food match. But in this case, it just didn't have the heft to stand up to the dish. So while enjoyable on it's own, I'm going to stick with my Shinn Merlot recommendation for the chili!

Pantry Potato Soup

 This one is really more about mindset and approach than a recipe. I came home the other night, feeling chilled and wanting something warming that might help fend off the cold that others around me have picked up. I tweeted: "Soup would really hit the spot tonight but don't really have ingredients or energy to make it."

Then @SuperAthens jumped in, reminding me how easy it is to make soup, especially with an immersion blender. I remembered all the potatoes we still had left from the CSA, plus we had some carrots and an onion....I was off on a soup making mission! I didn't get all the ingredients from the pantry (don't actually have one), but the name conveys that I made use of basic items I had on hand to make it.

The potatoes, carrots and onions are the foundation of this. You could vary other ingredients quite a bit after this base. You could also substitute 2 leeks for the onion. I definitely don't claim perfection here. I added a broccoli stalk I'd saved for stock, and thought I'd puree some of it along with everything else. The stringiness of it was a bit unpleasant--skip that!

4 medium potatoes, peeled + chopped
2 carrots, chopped
1 onion, chopped
1 head roasted garlic, garlic squeezed out and reserved
1 cup frozen green, or 2-3 cups fresh (I used frozen kale)
6 cups water, or stalk if you have it (vegetable or chicken)
2+ tbsp olive oil
a bit of fresh or dried herbs ( used fresh parsley and dried sage)
1 bay leaf
salt and pepper to taste

Optional:
steak bone w a bit of meat/fat
bit of bacon, cooked nice and crispy, crumbled and set aside (I had about 1/2 a piece or 1 tbsp crumbled)
(I used a broccoli stalk too but don't recommend it!)

Heat a tbsp of the olive oil over medium in a large pot. Add the onion, saute for a few minutes then add the carrots, followed by the potatoes. After it's all sauteed for about 5 minutes, add the water and bay leaf. Bring to a boil, then reduce to a simmer. If you have a meat bone, add that know. Simmer until the potatoes are quite soft, approximately 25-30 minutes.

When the potato is soft, remove the bay leaf and puree the soup, with a handheld immersion blender if you have one! Gently reheat, add the greens and herbs, cook for about 5 minutes (until the greens are soft). Add in the bacon if using and salt and pepper. Should be ready to serve!

Wine Pairing: I've found pinot noir to work well with soups, and had the Bouchard Aine & Fils with this one. A nice match--and the wine is abut $10/bottle so is in keeping with the frugal side of the meal!

Gift Ideas: 5 Favorite Cookbooks for Christmas

Most serious or semi-serious home cooks welcome a cookbook as a gift. When I get one for Christmas, I'm slow to get around to opening anything else, preferring to thumb through the pages and plan what I'll cook. As a service to foodies and friends of foodies, I am sharing some of my favorite cookbooks. Mind you, these aren't new--you can get lists elsewhere for that. Rather, these are the books I find myself turning to again and again over time.

Stir: Mixing It Up In The Italian Tradition by Barbara Lynch, Chef-Owner of No. 9 Park and a number of other Boston area restaurants. If I had to pick a favorite, this would be it. Wonderful photos and very clear instructions. I've picked up several new techniques from the book--if you like salmon it's worth the price of the book simply for her Seared Salmon White Beans and Spinach, topped with Olive-Lemon Relish. And my friend John has mastered making gnocchi thanks to Barbara's tips. The book has a nice mix of fairly easy preparations and fancier stuff.

 Vegetarian Planet: 350 Big-Flavor Recipes for Out-Of-This-World Food Every Day  by Did Emmons. Stir might be my favorite, but Vegetarian Planet is my most worn-out book. I have the paperback edition and it's falling apart from so much use. Great pastas, soups and Mexican dishes tend to be my focus. I've modified one of my favorites from the book, Pasta with Baby Red Lentil & Ginger, which you can check out for a taste of what she can help you cook.

Soup From Williams-Sonoma gets a lot of use once the weather turns cold. It's a slim book, allowing me to have tested almost every recipe in it! Lots of good ones I keep going back to. A hand-held immersion blender is a nice companion gift to this book.

quick from scratch italian cookbook This is a great collection from Food & Wine. I actually just got it myself as a birthday gift and am eager to cook my way through many of the recipes. Of course there is a pasta section, but much more than that.

Everyday Pasta by Giada De Laurentiis. You can see I gravitate toward the everyday theme here. I guess when I think in terms of a valuable cookbook, something with practical suggestions for quick but interesting meals I can make on a weeknight are real winners (alas there are more weeknights than weekends!). That said, there are some good recipes in here fit for company, such as Taglietelle with Short Rib Ragu (the chocolate shavings on top are a great conversation starter!).

Full disclosure: I'm enrolled in the Amazon Associates program, so if you love the sound of one of these books, click on the link and buy the book, I get a bit from the sale instead of it all going to Amazon. Reasonable, yes? Don't worry, I'm in this to share good stuff and won't recommend anything I can't vouch for!

A Perfect Pairing for Pasta

OK, so I like alliteration. I'm really not talking about wine pairings for any old pasta, but good old-fashioned spaghetti and meatballs. Sunday my Dad cooked the traditional family recipe for my birthday (rumor has it I may get my hands on that soon!).

Being my birthday and all, I wanted to have a suitable wine with it. Chianti may be a common choice for spaghetti and meatballs, but I like to experiment with other options--not straying too far from Italian reds of course. Barbera can be an especially good choice, and I went with one from Guidobono this time. It had nice acidity to match that of the tomato sauce, but enough blackberry fruit to make for a pleasing taste. It's on the light side, yet still has enough substance to stand up to the pasta and meatballs.

Barbera is a grape varietal typically grown in Italy's Piedmont region, in the northwestern part of the country. This is a big wine area, also home to the King of Wines--Barolo--and Barberesco. But a simple Barbara can offer good quality well under $20, and is a good choice the next time you have your version of spaghetti and meatballs.

Penne with Arugula, Garlic & Beans

Arugula is a great thing to have on hand. It's got a nice peppery flavor, and is good raw or cooked in a number of different ways. Tonight I planned to use it in an Italian bread soup, but alas, realized I'd forgotten the crusty bread I needed. Not to fear, the arugula was quickly redeployed in this main dish pasta.

4 ozs arugula (I used baby arugula)
4 cloves garlic, minced
1/3 cup feta cheese (you could also use pecorino romano)
12 ozs penne or other short pasta
3 tbsp olive oil
2 tbsp white wine
1 15 oz can red kidney beans (white would work too), drained & rinsed
1/4 cup red bell pepper (I used roasted)
handful of chopped olives (optional)
dash of red pepper flakes, salt to taste

Begin cooking the pasta according to package instructions. Heat 1 tbsp olive oil in a large skillet on medium, then add garlic (if using raw red bell pepper, add it now too). Saute for about a minute, stir in half the arugula with another tbsp of olive oil. Let it start cooking down, 2 minutes or so, then add the rest of the arugula and the wine. Add the roasted red bell pepper, salt and red pepper flakes. Just needs another two minutes or so, then set aside to toss with pasta when it's ready. When the pasta is cooked, drain and combine with the arugula mixture. Add the cheese and the extra tbsp of olive oil, and the olives if using. Serve and enjoy!

Wine Pairing: I served it with a Nebbiolo and that worked--a flavorful, medium bodied wine that match the arugula well. A white would certainly work here--I would go for a medium bodied Italian white. We just had a Lugana the other night--a white made from Trebbiano--that would fit the bill, but there's a lot to choose from in this department.

Gustare Oils & Vinegars

I'm often sampling wines late Saturday afternoon. But this Saturday, I found myself hustling down a back road from the Chatham Bars Inn to get to Gustare Oils & Vinegars before they closed. I'd exchanged Tweets with them a few times, and was eager to check it out during our Chatham visit...a perfect stop on Small Business Saturday!

 I made it to the shop a bit before closing time, and found an amazing array of olive oils and vinegars available for sampling. Now I've eaten plenty of olive oil, but this was my first time sampling it straight. I figured a similar technique to wine tasting would be worth trying, so I swirled sniffed and took a small taste. I should have applied another concept from wine tasting--being strategic about tasting order. Instead, the spicy Harissa oil caught my eye and I tasted that first...next time I'll start with the more mild stuff! I did get a bottle of the Harissa, along with some garlic oil and some 18 year aged balsamic vinegar--the real stuff! (much of what is sold as balsamic is gets it flavor and colors artificially).

 I could have easily left with a lot more great stuff, but wanted to save some money for dinner! If you are a foodie (or have one on your list!), and find yourself in Chatham, I encourage you to stop by. They are also in Wellesley and Mashpee, more details can be found on their website.