Culinary Fool

Amarone Wine Tasting

06-Mar-2006

The Wines

2000 Giuseppe Lonardi Ripasso de Valpolicella Classico Superiore
1988 Tommasi della Valpolicella Classico
1991 Brigaldara della Valpolicella Classico
1993 Tommasi Della Valpolicella Classico

The Food

Antelope Burgers w/Shiitake Port Sauce

Braised Short Ribs

Wine Risotto

Cottechino with Lentils

Haricots Verte

Sweet Soprasotta

Pierre Robert

Bonde de Satine

Breads: Como & Raisin-Pecan

Several years ago I had my first tasting of Amarone. At the time I knew nothing about it and my first sip was not all that enticing. I realized later that this wine needs some time. It can’t go directly from bottle to glass or at least not with the best result. After that initial taste I was intrigued but couldn’t quite make myself pay the price for a bottle of wine that I wasn’t sure I would like – Amarones start in the $50 range and go up from there. At some point I happened to be in a local wine shop when they were doing their semi-annual purge – removing older wines to make way for new – and found a few bottles of Amarone significantly marked down. I grabbed two of them and a few weeks later found another at a great price. I put them away with the idea of doing a tasting at some point.

Well, months led to years and I’d never quite found the right time to have them. I decided I needed to just make the right time. Amarones are normally consumed between 10 and 15 years. My oldest bottle, a 1988 was well past even the 15 year mark. So last night I had a few friends over and we cracked open the bottles. I also included a Ripasso, a wine I accidentally found while searching for wines from Lombardy for a dinner club meeting last year.

To explain Ripasso I first need to explain Amarone. Amarone is made in the Veneto region of Italy. It is made from grapes that are picked and then air dried for two to three months. This results in very concentrated sugars and a resulting full-bodied, high alcohol wine. The drying also results in a very earthy taste. Ripasso is the "poor man’s Amarone". It is made by taking Valpolicella wine and running it across the lees of Amarone which causes a refermentation process. This wine exhibits some of the attributes of Amarone without incurring the cost associated with the special handling needed for an Amarone.

Finding food to accompany Amarone is a fun challenge. In the Veneto, Amarone often accompanies game. To that end I wanted to find some bites that would evoke that wildness and work well. I happen to have on hand some ground antelope, courtesy of my brother-in-law from one of his hunting expeditions. Braised beef seemed like it might provide another good option and then I decided to round it out with Cottechino, which just seemed like it might work.

In the next few posts I’ll cover tasting notes and recipes and let you know what I thought worked well.

Today’s Breakfast

05-Mar-2006

The avocados have been really beautiful lately. Which means I’ve been buying tons of them. I can think of a million ways to use them but mostly the simplest ways are the best. This is a little idea that is good for breakfast, lunch, dinner or anytime in between – it can be a great cocktail snack, too!

This is simply slices of a good bread, ripe avocado mashed on top and then slices of tomato. Now, the tomato at this time of year is not so good, but I’ve found one on-vine variety that is pretty decent. And I find by adding some good chunky salt or a couple of twists of black pepper I get the essence of tomato if not the perfect sun-ripened version. Right now, on a blustery March morning, that’s enough to hold me until summer!

Last Week on The Spirit World

05-Mar-2006

Last week at The Spirit World we started off with a focus on Mardis Gras and my write up of the latest Cocktail Club capers. Robert covered the history of The Hurricane and then presents us with a great recipe; Donavan talks about his Mardis Gras beers, from the Abita Brewing Company.

On Wednesday we switch gears and Rosanne talks about Pisco and the controversy over which country actually "owns" it. On Thursday, for Happy Hour at Home, I’m helping you get ready for an Oscar weekend. Friday brings us some bar basics and Saturday is all about upcoming events.

So, pour yourself a little beverage and come on over and browse a while!

Why I Love Our Cooking Club

04-Mar-2006

I’m in the midst of preparing for an Amarone Wine Tasting at my house tomorrow night. And I was just thinking how cool it is that several of the things I’m making are either entirely from one of our cooking club meals or are based on something we’ve done there. I’ve pulled recipes from my trusty binders and they are currently hanging on the refrigerator. They are guiding my early prep work tonight and waiting to be used for final preparation tomorrow. I love that so much of what we’ve done and learned through dinner club ends up being used over and over again. That was a hoped for outcome but when you start these things you never know for sure how it will work out.

New Wine Shop: Vino 100

03-Mar-2006

While checking out Lincoln Square a few days ago I came across this new wine shop, Vino 100. Why Vino 100? "one hundred great wines for $25 or less"

I liked the shop and this idea. They will search out and present some great wines that won’t break the bank. Many are from small wineries with limited production so you won’t see them at any of the big shops. I wasn’t familiar with everything there, of course, but the wines I did know are wines that I’ve had, liked and would purchase. The pricing seemed fair on the bottles I recognized.

Each bottle of wine has a little card with a wine description, and two little gauges: one for Flavor, sweet versus dry; the other for Body, from light to full. This is a great concept since you can know so much with a glance. Each card also lists a couple of food pairing ideas.

It’s a great little shop and if I was in the area I’d certainly stop in again. If you live on the East side or are visiting Lincoln Square make sure you stop in and take a look around!

Vino 100

Lincoln Square
700 Bellevue Way NE

Bellevue

425.453.7881

Chef in the House: John Sarich

01-Mar-2006

A Friday or two ago R and I attended another Chef in the House event hosted by David LeClaire who owns Wine Events and Promotions. You may remember we went to one of these events last summer when my friend, Chef Big John was cooking. That was a packed house while this event was a much smaller, more intimate gathering.

The chef for the evening was John Sarich, who has been the culinary director at Ste. Michelle winery for many years. John has a TV show, has produced several cookbooks, was the original chef and owner of Adriatica and is very well known around the country, in fact this last weekend he was one of the featured chefs at the South Beach Food and Wine Festival. I’ve taken classes from him at the winery and was really looking forward to this small class format at David’s house.

The theme for the night was mushrooms but, as John explained, this is a bit too early in the year for our local wild mushrooms – spring and fall are our peak periods. Still he did a wonderful job with an assortment of cultured mushrooms that he’d brought. We had mushrooms featured in pasta, salad, in a side dish with asparagus, and on crostini. It was a night full of earthy, herby, savory goodness.

The other part of these events is the wine which, being at David’s, is never lacking. He generally has several bottles available and it’s up to each person to sip their way through those that seem most interesting. At different points throughout the evening either David or the chef will give some direction on what wines might be best suited to which courses but it’s totally up to you to choose what appeals to you.

This particular night there was a really great group of people and many of us stayed long past the "closing hour" talking and sampling just one or two more wines while David cleaned up the kitchen. Now that is my type of night!

For more information on David’s company and events check out his website and add yourself to his mailing list.

Chili Cookoff at Union?

01-Mar-2006

Somehow this just seems odd to me, chili and Union aren’t two words I really associate, then again it might be the best chili cookoff ever! And no matter what it sounds like it might be a lot of fun ~

SEATTLE – Feb. 28, 2006 – It won’t be a usual Sunday on March 12 when chef and owner Ethan Stowell hosts his first annual chili cook-off at Union Restaurant, a duel between professionals and amateurs. Each bringing two gallons of chili to the restaurant, Chef Stowell along with other local chefs, will compete against home cooks to earn a dinner at Union and bragging rights. Guests will have the opportunity to sample all the chili they can eat and vote for their top three choices. Seattle Post-Intelligencer food editor, Hsiao-Ching Chou will be the event’s official taster. The doors will open at 6:00 p.m. and the cost is $25 for all you-can-eat chili and all-you-can-drink beer. Space is limited and the doors will close once the restaurant is filled. To reserve a spot call Union Restaurant at (206) 838-8000. …

Union

1400 First Avenue (at the corner of First and Union)

206.838.8000

Boutique Winery Wine Tasting

28-Feb-2006

Last night K and I attended the Boutique Winery wine tasting. We ran into several other friends and made some new, and attempted to make our way through 30 wineries each offering, on average, three or four different wines. Of course there was no way to try them all!

There were some wineries that I recognized and some that were brand new and, as you would expect, a whole range of tastes and qualities. I was disappointed not to make it to the Alexandria Nicole table as they are a newer winery that I’ve been watching and I wanted to check out Vinland Farms, simply because all of their offerings were fruit wines. But I just finally had to give up.

I did get to try the Thurston Wolfe offerings: Dr. Wolfe’s Family Red and Destiny Ridge Vineyard Cabernet. I enjoyed them both but thought the Dr. Wolfe’s was a great deal at $15. I had to try a couple of sips from a new winery, Midlife Crisis Winery, who seemed to also be having an identity crisis. They had seven wines and one barrel sampling at their table. The Pinot Grigio they’ve created is very good, although not what you expect from a Pinot Grigio at all. I heard a couple people calling it the "Italian-style" but I would disagree. This was actually a very, ummmm hearty Pinot Grigio. I thought it had a lot of butterscotch in it. Anyway it was interesting. I wasn’t too keen on the others I tried – my guess is that the winemaker needs to focus a bit more; there were just too many offerings for this small business.

Chatter Creek had a couple of nice bottles. I enjoyed the Pinot Gris and the Grenache they were pouring. And Wilridge’s Melange was as good as I’ve come to expect from this winery. I’m sure there were a few others I enjoyed but my notes are not quite as complete as I would have liked. I wonder why that happened…

As the end of the evening I finally just had to put down my glass and follow my friends to Ray’s to grab a bite to eat. And of course we shared one last bottle of wine, a Kestrel Syrah. A perfect sip to end the evening.

Next up: Sexy Syrah, March 21 at Salty’s on Alki. This one benefits Farestart.

First Look: Cypress

28-Feb-2006

Friday I was in an all day meeting at the new Westin in Bellevue in Lincoln Square. After our full day of meetings two of my colleagues and I had planned to grab a bite to eat at one of the casual places in Bellevue Square. By the time we had actually wrapped up it was nearly 7:00 pm and, of course, everywhere around had waits of 1 1/2 to 2 hours, which wasn’t going to work. We ended up back in the bar off the lobby of the Westin, Cypress.

As with most of these places the food prices were really pretty astronomical – I paid $14 for a single crabcake. Actually, I lied. One of the others picked up the tab (thanks, CW!) and although the crab cake was really good, $14 is just not okay for a single crabcake. But I’ll tell you the cocktail I had nearly made up for it. I ordered a Raindrop (or maybe it was Rainwater) Martini. It was half vodka and half gin – Bombay Sapphire Gin, to be exact. It was really well crafted and, as you can see, a beautiful color. Cocktails were actually priced pretty fairly, if a bit on the high side.

I definitely won’t be making this a regular stop, but as a place to get away from the crowds for a bit of quiet relaxation, it really fits the bill.

Cypress

Westin Bellevue

600 Bellevue Way NE

(425) 638-1000

Last Week on The Spirit World

26-Feb-2006

Last week on The Spirit World, we started off with a "Tale of Two Tinis", a sort of leftover V-day post.

On Monday, Robert gave us a recipe for a cocktail that he has created called "The Black Feather". I had the opportunity to try one at our recent Cocktail Club meeting at Marcus’ Martini Heaven.

On Tuesday, Donavan told us what he thought about the addition of "That Slice of Lemon" to wheat beers.

On Wednesday, Rosanne started our suggestions for Mardis Gras parties. A couple more articles are planned from now through Tuesday so keep checking in!