“Cheese” Dinner
23-Jun-2007
The last couple of weeks have just flown by. Last weekend I had family members in town for four days and did a ton of cooking – which I loved! Cooking for big groups is always fun but does take a bit of time and recovery when you’ve done several big meals in a row. Unfortunately I didn’t take any photos but I will tell you that for one of the lunches I cooked a whole copper rive sockeye and it was heavenly!
The family left Tuesday morning (one of my nephews had high school graduation on Monday night) and then I was busy getting the house back to normal and catching up on work. Then, last night, it was time for a "payback" dinner!
When I took the French Cheese Tasting course during the Seattle Cheese Festival, I had been riding on a friend’s ticket when he came down sick. So M and I had decided that we’d do our own version of the tasting to let him get a an idea of what he missed. I changed it up a bit though and decided that we’d do some actual cheese tasting but in addition I"d do a light meal where everything was made with cheese.
We started the evening on the deck with Gougères and Veuve Clicqout NV Rosé Champagne, a very French wine for our tasting. I "discovered" this champagne last October at a class at Gourmet Institute and immediately fell in love. Upon my return to Seattle I happened upon it one day while at Esquin and snatched up a bottle. While not priced for everyday drinking it’s a very nice special bottle of champagne.
We continued with our conversation on the deck and added blue cheese and walnut crostini drizzled with honey to the food options. Unfortunately, soon after the crostini the wind picked up and the clouds blocked the sun, just temporarily but long enough to chill my guests. So we moved inside.
After a bit of a rest from the first two nibbles, I made the mushroom and egg dish that I’d had at the Harvest Vine class. It was very good! I love this dish as it really could be anything from breakfast to dinner and combines sweet and salty tastes with several textures for a delightful and comforting meal. By this time we’d switched to a couple of red wines, a lovely Bordeaux and a delightful Rhone, that C had contributed to the evening. Our final dish of the evening was a cheese plate with bread and cherries. We had our choice of Humboldt Fog (from M), St Agur (from C) and a triple cream, Delice de Bourgogne, which is actually more like butter than cheese!
We finally pushed away from the table somewhere around midnight. It was a fun, long and lingering meal. Quite lovely.
WBW#34: Washington State Cabernet Sauvignon
13-Jun-2007
This month’s Wine Blogging Wednesday is hosted by Catie at Through the Walla Walla Grapevine. With a blog name like that was there any doubt what her theme might be? Although she really wanted to limit the event to wines from Walla Walla she broadened it to all of Washington state as Walla Walla specific wines might be a little hard to find worldwide. And she chose Cabernet Sauvignon as the varietal we should select for this event.
Living in Washington state, Walla Walla wines are fairly easy for me to locate. Although it did mean a trip to my wine shop as I didn’t think I happened to have one in my stash which occurred to me while I was out and about one day last week so I just decided to pick a bottle up to make sure. I figured it was the least I could do based on my location and Catie’s hopes.
The wine I picked up was Seven Hills 2003 Cabernet Sauvignon, Walla Walla Valley, Seven Hills Vineyard. Seven Hills, established in 1988, is one of the original five wineries of the Walla Walla Valley. They make mostly Bordelais-style wines and produce less than 10,000 cases per year.This particular wine is a deep, deep garnet. The nose is of dried red fruit – plums and cherries were the first two that came to mind – and a little hint of raisin, too.
In the mouth the wine is silky and complex. The fruits are still present and there is a bit more of a berry taste but there are other deeper elements, maybe a little leather. I couldn’t quite identify the specific element. There is a nice amount of acidity but it is not overwhelmingly tannic. The night I tasted I was just having a snack for dinner but I found it went well with my salami and cheese. :-) I really would have loved to drink this with a nice steak, though.
This wine needs a little time to open. I finished the bottle a day after I opened it and liked it even better than on the first day.
This wine retails for about $30 (my price was $29) and I think that is a fair price for the bottle.
All in all this was a lovely bottle of wine and one I’d be happy to purchase again. But next time I will plan to have a lovely grilled steak to enjoy along with it!
You’ll be able to find a summary of all wines tasted in Catie’s round-up.
Fresh!
12-Jun-2007
I love fresh-squeezed grapefruit juice! Even better than fresh-squeezed orange juice – and I like it a lot! And I love Costco for their 15 pound bags of grapefruit that make it easy for me to enjoy this citrus treat on a daily basis.
29th Dinner Club Meeting: The Herbfarm Cookbook
11-Jun-2007
Last night my dinner club group met for our 29th dinner! We are well into our 5th year now and I am happy to say still going strong – in fact maybe stronger than ever!
K was the host last night and for our theme she decided that we should all pick something from a cookbook she has but has not used too often. The cookbook is The Herbfarm Cookbook, the first cookbook written by Jerry Traunfeld, the chef for The Herbfarm located in Woodinville. It is a high-end restaurant where the focus is all on fresh, mostly local and the interesting flavors and uses of herbs. They have a huge garden (and have even added cottages – I guess so you can just fall into bed after consuming for several hours…) Dinners run $160 – $200 per person before tax and tip. They are normally 9 courses and that cost includes the wine pairings. Each night has a set menu, with variations only for vegetarians.
Note: In between the theme selection for our dinner and the actual dinner, Jerry Traunfeld announced his immanent departure from The Herbfarm. He has been with the restaurant since 1990 and is synonymous with the place. In fact I’m certain that many people were surprised to find that he wasn’t the owner. Good news for Seattle is that he plans to open his own place. And, I’m guessing, that the reputation and menus he established at The Herbfarm will be continued with his replacement. Still, will it really be the same?
R started us off with herbal champagne cocktails. Made with Prosecco they were refreshingly light and sparkly. Along with our cocktail she served a soup for the starter course. I can’t wait to make this soup on a warm summer’s day. It was a cold soup made primarily with cucumber. A bit of green pepper added a little heat and Italian parsley, cilantro and mint were the herbs that added a tangy freshness.
We took a short break while K seared the pork tenderloin on all sides and then placed it in the oven to finish. Once in the oven we gathered around the table to enjoy an Herbfarm salad. M had this course and was amazed to find that the recipe for a fairly simple salad was 6 pages long! The recipe is mostly an instructional chapter on how to select only the best greens, how to harvest them, which varieties will provide variety and interest and then the recipe for the dressing. There is an amazing amount of background information!
Our main dish was an herb-crusted pork tenderloin, cooked until medium-rare and then topped with a red-pepper and hazelnut sauce. It was amazing! M2 had selected a decadent accompanying dish – a cheesy, herb polenta. Soft, warm and stringy with cheese it was a great contrast for the tenderloin.
After all of that we lingered for some time at the table giving ourselves a bit of time to make room for dessert. I had dessert and decided to make a recipe that I’d wanted to try for quite some time – lavendar shortbread. Since one of our members is not crazy about lavendar I decided to make a second batch using one of Jerry’s recommended substituions, Lemon Thyme. I loved this shortbread recipe! It’s easy and the resulting cookie is a bit crispy but still tender.
The cookbook suggested several ideas to serve along with the cookies. I toyed with making some sort of herbal ice-cream but just knew that we would all be pretty full by the time we got around to dessert. So I deciced to stick with a simpler recommendation, fresh fruit.
The raspberries were looking particularly good that day so I simply washed them, sprinkled them with a tiny bit of sugar, topped them with lightly sweetened whip cream and added a sprig of fresh mint for color and flavor for those who chose to eat it!
Another succesful dinner and another night of friends and laughter! If you’ve been thinking about starting a cooking club now is the time to do it! I highly recommend it! You can read about how we got ours up and running and see past themes and menus by viewing the Cooking Club posts.
You can also see more photos here.
Chocolate Chip Cookies
06-Jun-2007
I’ve been craving cookies for a couple of weeks. Finally broke down and made a batch last night. Nothing special – just regular old Toll House Chocolate Chip Cookies. But there’s a reason they are a classic! Made mine with dark chocolate and pecans.
My craving has been satisfied and the bulk of them will go into the freezer for the next time I get an itch for a cookie!
In New York Often “New” is Old
05-Jun-2007
One of the places I love to frequent in New York is Balthazar. I know I’ve talked about it before so I won’t go into great detail. On the Monday I was scheduled to fly out I was roaming the city on my own and decided to stop in for a late lunch. As is normal I sat at the bar and decided to order their version of Duck Confit. While sipping a glass of wine and relaxing the man next to me struck up a conversation. I was thrilled for two reasons – first this man was very handsome and he also saved me from the guy on the other side who seemed to be a bit unusual. Now you know I will talk to just about anyone anywhere but I had a feeling the unusual man was going to try even my social skills.
Luckily for me George, the handsome man, saved me. Not only was he handsome but he was very interesting. An ER pediatrician (sort of like the other George – you know, Clooney!), he had a slight accent which I learned was from a combination of living situations. He was most recently from Austria but his real background was Greek and there were a few other countries thrown in there in the middle. Well, the conversation soon turned to food (probably after I took a photo of my lunch…) and since he both lived and worked near Balthazar we talked about many of the places in the area.
Just a quick summary of my lunch – yum! It occurred to me that I might want to be a bit reserved in my eating while talking to my new friend but that notion went out the door after the first bite! While I didn’t finish the entire dish that was only because there was an amazing amount of food on my dish. And then he mentioned somewhere I didn’t know, DiPalo’s (if you follow the link scroll down the page just a bit). And how, although it was a tiny place, he often ended up in there for an hour or so between waiting in line and then sampling everything the owners wanted him to taste. He told me a bit more about it and where it was located and I decided I had to check it out before I left town.
So we said our goodbyes – dang it! – and then I made my way to this new, old place. It was just a small place, as many New York shops are, but it was packed to the gills with all kinds of things that called my name. Not only were there stacks of cheese everywhere you looked, but there was also prosciutto and salami, pastas and sauces and I’m sure if I had looked longer and harder I could have found all kinds of little Italian treasure tucked in the corners.
The owner was working the counter and after I told him that I wouldn’t be buying anything that day but explained that I was scouting it out for my next trip to town, he started telling me the whole history of the shop, handing me postcards sporting photos of his Grandmother standing outside the shop in the early days as well as more recent photos of the shop!
I liked the shop, I liked the owner and I would certainly like to go back next time I’m in New York. And I’ll do it early in my trip so that I can buy a few things to sample during my visit. And I’ll be keeping my fingers crossed that George just happens to be shopping the day I stop by.
DiPalo’s
206 Grand Street (near Mott)
Little Italy
Manhattan
212.226.1033
4,5,6 to Canal
Balthazar
80 Spring Street (corner of Crosby)
Soho
Manhattan
212.965.1785
4,5,6 to Spring
Basil – The Sweet Smell of Summer
05-Jun-2007
Thai, Purple Ruffles and Italian Sweet Basil
I know that fresh basil is pretty much available year-round now in the markets. And I purchase it throughout the year. Still having my own basil plant right outside my back door is a summer pleasure that I look forward to. Temperamental little plants, they need temperatures above 50° F at all times to thrive. So in my area, May is the earliest we can plant it outdoors.
Last night my kitchen was filled with the wonderful sweet-spicy fragrance of this gorgeous herb. I wasn’t cooking with it but simply needed to pinch back my plants to they wouldn’t get too leggy. I’ll keep all those little pinched off sprigs and dry them for use next winter if they don’t get used fresh in the next day or so. If nothing else just inhaling the fragrance is enough to make me happy!
Things Are Growing!
05-Jun-2007
My little garden – such as it is – is pretty much planted for this year. Among other things, I grow a few peppers in pots on my deck. This year I’m growing Ancho/Poblano, Corno di Torno and Thai Dragons. I may add one more variety but really I already have more than I need. The Thai Dragon (above) is already showing off little babies. I love this plant – it seems to always be very prolific and the peppers are one of my favorites. They dry really well. And while they are very hot if you add just a little to any dish it will just add a little extra dimension of interest without really adding heat. At least not that you are aware of.
Menu for a Winery Concert
03-Jun-2007
Last night we kicked off the summer concert season in style! First, the weather did its part which was so wonderful! When we entered the concert grounds at Ste Michelle Winery the temperature was in the mid-80s, the sun shining brightly and the air stayed warm for most of the evening.
Harry Connick Jr was our entertainment and I only wished he had played a bit longer as we really weren’t ready to leave as they finished the last encore. It was a great night and one I hope we are able to repeat several times this summer.
A little hint if you haven’t been out to Ste Michelle before; although they sell wine within the concert grounds they normally only offer four or so options. And what they offer is great but sometimes you just want something a little different. Instead, go into the tasting room where you can purchase from their entire offering of wines. For last night’s event we started with a Sauvignon Blanc – which I think is a perfect warm weather wine; then we moved on to the Columbia Valley Merlot and ended with the Cold Creek Syrah.
Here’s the menu with photos following!
Winery Concert Feast
Mixed Nuts and Pub Snack Mix (to keep everyone happy while the rest of the meal is assembled)
Smoked Salmon with thinly, sliced red onions; capers; and cream cheese on crackers
Charcuterie Plate with Cornichons, Olives and Truffle Mustard
Fresh Baby Carrots and Radishes
Cheese Platter with Bread, Apples and Apricots
Dark Chocolate Truffles
New York: ‘inoteca
01-Jun-2007
Our third stop of the night, was my very favorite! ‘inoteca (not to be confused with Mario Batali’s Otto Enoteca) is a warm, lively, inviting spot also on the Lower East Side and located on Rivington.
When we walked in, the place was packed with people waiting all over the place for seating. We decided to take our chances as they were happy to serve us a beverage while we were waiting for a place to open. And it turned out that a projected 45 minute wait was only about 10 minutes!
We got a place at the bar and were able to talk with the very knowledgeable and friendly bartender. ‘inotoeca’s wine list is exclusively Italian wines and the bartender was great at helping us negotiate our way through both the familiar and unfamiliar options. Something I really liked was that you could order wines by the taste, glass or carafe and then there was also a very extensive list of wines by the bottle (like 500 options!). And we found the bartender more than willing to just pour us a little sip to try something before ordering it.
For my money, ‘inoteca has the perfect type of menu: small plates, meats and cheeses form the bulk of it, although there is also a nice selection of salads and sandwiches to choose from. I love eating this way as it’s easy to try several things and experience a wide range of tastes without getting stuffed.
For our wines I went with a Montepulciano and M tried a Nebbiolo. We also decided to try Suppli, risotto balls filled with mushroom and cheese and alla toscana & rucola tramezzini, the small finger sandwiches of Italy. Both plates were amazing! As we were sitting there we were also watching other plates being taken out to the tables and often our gaze would follow one all the way out to it’s owner as we tried to figure out what it was. More than once that evening a friendly diner offered us a bite of their meal, although we declined as we had pretty much reached our limit for the evening.
At least I had. M ordered an Affogato to end her meal. Affogato is basically vanilla ice cream "drowned" in espresso or kind of a coffee float. It looked delicious and she said it was!
I really loved this place for so many reasons: the menu; the people – both the staff and the other customers; the overall feeling of warmth and welcome; and the lively atmosphere of it all. This is the kind of place that I would go out of my way to get to. And I’m sure on some upcoming trip I will do just that!
‘inoteca vino e cucina
98 Rivington st (at Ludlow)
Lower East Side
Manhattan
212.614.0473
F, J, M, Z, to Delancey St. at Essex St
Culinary Fool 