Wine Time

Here are a couple wines we've liked recently:

Quinta do Ameal Loureuro 2006
a nice dry white wine with just enough mineral and crispness
goes perfect with light seafood dishes

Domaine La Fage Cote Sud and Chateau Pesquie Terrasses 2004
both really nice reds that are satiny smooth on the palate and give just enough 'umph' to be memorable
perfect for everyday table wine paired with light summery foods or just to sit and sip while reading a book which is my favorite way to enjoy wine

A late addition
Tour de Mandelotte 2005 Bordeaux
under $10 but tastes like a more expensive wine
blackberries and red currants give a full bodied Bordeaux experience

Thanksgiving is looming...

Better than Xmas

I'm excited. Not only is Thanksgiving almost here and Rock Band mere days away, but I also have a big box of cookbooks coming my way very soon. While flipping through a copy of Saveur last night, I came across an ad for the Good Cook Book Club. I'm sure I've seen it before but I actually read it this time and succumbed to their terribly good deal. They offer 4 cookbooks for $1 each with membership. The only catch is you have to buy 2 at regular price within the year. If that wasn't enticing enough, they also offer 50% off 1 book to count towards the 2 you are required to buy. So I perused the site to see if they had any decent cookbooks. Sure the site is filled with Rachel Ray's cookbook #37 and Sandra Lee's semi-homemade-thoroughly-worthless cookbook, but if you can get past all the junk there are some really wonderful books to be grabbed. Here's what I picked up:

Beard on Food
The Lee Brother's Southern Cookbook
Dorie Greenspan's Baking
Asian Flavors of Jean-Georges
A Tale of 12 Kitchens

I'm of the opinion that you can never really have too many cookbooks. I'm looking forward to cooking anything out of these books. I certainly have my work cut out for me.

Deflame.

I love to see how the trends change periodically in food. Ten years ago everything in the grocery store was low fat/low calorie. Five or so years ago everything was marked low carb. Now we have whole grain, high fiber, all-natural, organic, free-range, antioxidant rich, hormone free, etc. This is all fine and good but what I'm most excited to see is non-inflammatory food peering it's lovely head out into an otherwise inflamed world. How exciting is it that organic milk now comes with added DHA, and dried pastas are fortified with omega-3 fatty acids! Foods that are naturally packed with omega-3 fatty acids, like olive oils and fish, are now labeled so to educate the consumer. This is a step in the right direction.

Unfortunately the average American probably has no idea that the food pyramid should be debunked, and high quantities of grains (even whole grains) are considered hugely responsible for the high incidences of inflammatory diseases in this country like diabetes, Alzheimer's, heart disease, and arthritides. Grains are high in omega-6 fatty acids which when in conjunction with low levels of omega-3's, create a cascade of inflammatory processes in the body. This boils down to some common sense food habits we all know. Don't eat processed foods, loads of grains, bad oils (canola, seed oils, soy bean, etc), or a lot of refined sugars. Do eat loads of fresh fruits and vegetables, eat lots of fish, eat meats that are grass-fed, and supplement with quality fish oils. Anyway, nutrition related topics are my bread and butter. Loads of information is available online about it. And this new book I think will touch on some of these things as well. I'll read it and get back to you, blog.

So put all those new non-inflammatory foods to good use with a guilt-free recipe.

Lemon Thyme Smoked Salmon Spaghetti
adapted from Maninas: Food Matters

8 oz dry, omega-3 fortified spaghetti
1 large package quality smoked wild salmon, sliced
3 cloves of garlic, thinly sliced
6 or so sprigs of thyme
1 lemon and zest
1/2 C cream
Parmigiano-Reggiano to taste
olive oil (this is a good recipe to use a more expensive, tasty oil)


Boil a big pot of salted water to cook the pasta. The enriched pastas take a little longer to cook than regular semolina. Meanwhile, make an infused oil. Line the bottom of a medium saucepan with a thin layer of oil. Add the sliced garlic to the oil at medium-low heat and cook until the garlic is just soft and fragrant then add the thyme and zest and reduce the heat. Add the cream after a few minutes and stir to combine. Add the salmon right before you add the drained pasta and give it a good squirt of lemon. Add more thyme and Parmigiano-Reggiano to garnish.

Fall is in the air

I'm always missing the four seasons I once had living in Virginia. Thankfully there is finally a chill in the air here in Florida. All the rain has subsided and now we have nice sunny days with enough of a breeze to leave the windows open. With the chill I'm ready for Fall flavors and hearty, stick-to-your-ribs meals. I've been making lots of heavy pasta dishes, eyeing the pomegranates, pears and oranges, and craving gourds. I can't wait until Thanksgiving and the smell of roast chickens stuffed with rosemary and sage.


Here's the perfect Fall cocktail to sip on cool evenings while visions of butternut squash dance in your head. (I feel a 'you know you're a foodie if....' joke coming on....)

Pear Martini

2 oz Pear vodka
< 1/2 oz Amaretto
1/3 oz fresh lemon juice
> 1/2 oz simple syrup

Combine all ingredients in a shaker with ice and serve perfectly chilled.

Every Night Dessert: Day 4

Dear Blog,
I've missed you. You will have to forgive me for being such a lazy food blogger and neglecting you. As to be expected, you've missed a lot of good eats. I'll fill you in as best as I can.

Yours,
C


What was that about dessert every night? Well it almost happened -- like this tasty bread pudding. I used this recipe from Bon Appétit for a bourbon glazed bread pudding with pecans.

Bourbon Glazed Bread Pudding
adapted from Bon Appétit

1/3 C plus 3 tblsp bourbon (I used Knobcreek)
12 ounces French bread, cut into 1-inch pieces
1 1/2 C milk
1 C sugar
3/4 C whipping cream
3 eggs
3 egg yolks
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 C toasted, chopped pecans
1/2 stick butter

Soak the pecans in 1/3 C of bourbon a little in advance.
Cut up the bread and toss them in a bowl with the milk, cream, 3/4 C sugar, eggs, 2 egg yolks, vanilla, and cinnamon. Add the drained pecans to the mix. Let it sit for a bit to absorb all the liquid then pour into a 9x9 dish, cover with foil, and bake at 375 for about 30 minutes (probably a little less). To make the sauce, in a double-boiler, melt the butter, stir in 1/4 C sugar, and add 1 egg yolk. Add the bourbon and whisk until the egg is cooked (when it coats the back of a spoon). Pour the glaze over the finished pudding and serve.

I liked this 'ok.' The next bread pudding I make will definitely have pumpkin! Maybe I didn't cook my glaze long enough, but I thought it was too alcoholic. To make it taste better we decided to pour a tad of espresso liqueur over the top.

Of course bread pudding traditionally has raisins and the recipe called for golden raisins steeped in bourbon, not nuts. My hatred for raisins goes way back to my pre-school days and I haven't been able to overcome it yet. It was just too much for my young tastebuds to have a little box of raisins every-single-day of pre-school at snack time. I don't remember if we were 'forced' to eat our boxes of raisins or if I was just embarrassed not to eat them like all the other kids. Needless to say, after my pre-school graduation, raisins were cast out of my diet permanently.

Everynight Dessert: Day 3

It's only day 3 and I'm starting to feel the consequences of too much sugar. For someone who doesn't eat a lot of sweets, this week is quite a shock to the system. I'm going to continue, but try to find some desserts that are lighter and less prone to stomach aches if you eat too much.

One of my favorite things to do is add countless items to my Amazon wish list. Then, periodically when I have a little bit of money laying around to spend, I go through the list and search for items that are used for as little as $0.01 or $0.99. I pick up so many great books this way. Call me cheap but I call it smart shopping. Just because it is used doesn't mean it isn't in perfect condition. For instance, I picked up David Lebovitz's Great Book of Chocolate this way for a mere $0.01 plus shipping. (Sorry David) The book is a a gem, loaded with great information on chocolate and a good portion of recipes in the back. He has cookies, brownies, cakes, white chocolates, cupcakes, etc. The recipes aren't difficult, as you might expect from the former Chez Pannise pastry chef, they're simple and super delicious! Like these black bottom cupcakes....

I lost count of how many of these I ate last night. The cake was super moist and fluffy like devil's food. The filling, made from cream cheese and chocolate chunks, was perfectly creamy without being sickening like cheese cake. The filling held nice half-melted globs of dark chocolate tucked deep inside. It only took 10 minutes to whip up a batch of these and would have taken 5 if I could have pried open the jar of my coconut oil (another story entirely). Check out DL's book. I'm scouring Amazon to find a good copy of his other books, Ripe for Dessert and Room for Dessert.

Everynight Dessert: Day 2

It is pretty sad that I had to go to Starbuck's to get espresso for my tiramisu when I have a nice Gaggia espresso machine sitting on my counter top. The poor machine is so neglected it has decided to accumulate lots of nice scaly stuff all over. After far too many grimace-inducing cups of espresso from Starbuck's, I am anxiously awaiting the cleaning supplies I ordered to get back up and running.


After this tiramisu and the pavlova incident I absolutely cannot wait to have enough counter space to buy a KitchenAid stand mixer. The hand mixer is just too much elbow grease when there are egg whites and cream to beat into soft peaks. This recipe I saw over on Adam's blog and just thought I'd give it a shot since it seemed so easy. I unfortunately didn't let it chill nearly long enough so it was a bit of a runny mess, but a tasty runny mess nonetheless.

Tiramisu
from the Amateur Gourmet (and the Sopranos cookbook)

2 eggs, separated (don't freak out about raw eggs, just use fresh ones that are antibiotic-free and preferably omega-3 vegetarian fed hens)
1/2 C sugar
4 oz mascarpone
1/2 C heavy whipping cream
6 oz cooled espresso (preferably not from Starbuck's)
1/4 C coffee liqueur (ok I used Starbuck's liqueur!)
ladyfingers (I used the spongecake kind), enough to line the bottom of a 9x9 dish

Whisk the egg yolks with the sugar until pale yellow. (Don't freak about the raw eggs! It really isn't any different than your sunny side up). Whisk in the mascarpone until smooth and set aside. Beat that cream until soft peaks form. Fold into the egg and sugar mixture. Beat those egg whites until soft peaks form. Fold into the mixture. Add the espresso and liqueur to a shallow bowl and dip the lady fingers just for a second and lay them in the bottom of a square dish. They are like giant sponges, hence the name, so be careful not to break them as you place them. Once the pan is lined, pour the cream mixture on top and put it in the fridge for a long time not an hour or two like I did. Six hours is a more realistic time so that it sets better, so plan ahead. Sprinkle the top with chocolate shavings or a light dusting of powdered cocoa and dig in. Piece of cake?