Monthly Archives: March 2015

An Overview of the Châteauneuf-du-Pape Appellation and Its Wines

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Châteauneuf-du-Pape is one of my favorite wine regions. It’s great to see this information pulled together here. Thank you!

Stefano's avatarFlora's Table

As a prelude to our next post in which we will temporarily leave Italy and review a French Châteauneuf-du-Pape wine, in this post we will provide a brief overview of the southern French wine region that goes by the same name, including its history, terroir, permitted grape varieties and winemaking practices.

In General

Châteauneuf-du-Pape is an area encompassing 3,200 HA of vineyards that is located in the southern part of the Rhône Valley, in France, between the towns of Orange (to the north) and Avignon (to the south).

Châteauneuf-du-Pape Appellation Map Châteauneuf-du-Pape Appellation Map – Courtesy of Fédération des syndicats des producteurs de Châteauneuf-du-Pape

Thirteen different grape varieties are authorized in the Châteauneuf-du-Pape vineyards, with Grenache, Syrah and Mourvèdre (the so-called “GSM“) being the dominating varieties, as well as the traditional core grapes in the Châteauneuf-du-Pape blend (see below for more information about these grape varieties). Other permitted varieties include Cinsaut

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“Pan-roasted” Swordfish

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Sometimes a lot of good things come all at one time.  In this case it was the shad roe and another favorite that I haven’t seen in a while: swordfish. Yes, kind of feast or famine (at least figuratively). My shard roe is happily soaking in the salted water (1 tbsp per quart) overnight to purge blood. (I’d not tried this before since I like the “fishy” taste of herring, mackerel and blue fish, but after reading the post from The Garum Factory, I decided to try this way for this spring!

I’m sure that some of you are cringing, thinking that it’s an endangered fish. It was at one time, but we managed to lay off for a while and the population is coming back.  If in doubt about what you’re wanting to eat, here is the link to the Monterey Bay Seafood Watch Official Site. The Fisherman’s Market at my local Harris Teeter does support sustainable fishing, and usually gives the source for the fish.True, it’s not been long since I actually had so-called Chilean sea bass (Patagonian toothfish) that I purchased when the Fresh Market opened here in Durham.  Today I just couldn’t pass up that lovely swordfish steak.

swordfish steak in skillet

One of my favorite ways of cooking fish steaks is pan-roasting–sear one side on stove-top, and then pop into the oven for finishing the cooking evenly and gently. When I’ve a really special fish (Patagonian toothfish, tuna, swordfish) I tend to go for minimal seasonings to just enhance the fish.  That usually means butter or maybe extra-virgin olive oil, possibly lemon juice and/or zest, maybe parsley, or sometimes even a touch of garlic or ginger–but lightly.  After all, this is a very special, moderately expensive piece of fish here, so I want to focus on it. A simple pan sauce is all this needs.

browned in skillet

I did brine the swordfish steak (as suggested in Cook’s Illustrated, and then proceeded with the pan-roasting.  There’s really not a recipe for this–I used lemon juice, lemon zest and butter and a little white wine to deglaze the pan.

Ingredients

  • 1-inch thick swordfish
  • vegetable oil/olive oil

Preparation

  • Preheat oven to 425°F
  • Salt steak
  • Warm appropriately sized skillet on stove-top over medium-high heat and add oil
  • Sear steak on one side–about 3 minutes
  • Turn and place in oven for about 10 minutes
  • Remove steak to warm plate to rest
  • Deglaze the pan with butter, lemon juice (or white wine) and reduce slightly, adding pepper and herbs of your choice
  • Taste for seasoning, and pour it over the steak.

A son goût!

For those of you wondering about swordfish, here is the link to FishWatch.

Xiphias gladius2.jpg

“Xiphias gladius2” by Werner – Histoire naturelle des poissons. Licensed under Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons – http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Xiphias_gladius2.jpg#mediaviewer/File:Xiphias_gladius2.jpg

Wine areators do work

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Great to know that this actually works. I was given one quite recently so haven’t used it much yet. I don’t think it’s quite as straight-forward as this one, but does definitely help. Thanks for the tip about old wines!

Areators, what?

s_marchiori's avatarthewinelifestyle

Dear readers,

Have you ever wondered how and if the areators for red wine work? Well, let’s find out.

Recently, I have seen many types of this kind of accessory, which are different from the traditional decanter: they don’t have the function of decanting the red wine sediments, but allow to oxygenate the red wine very quickly. It’s an handy accessory: for example, if we have guests for dinner and we don’t have time to open bottles an hour or two before drinking it!

1_Ventorosso_areator_Thewinelifestyle

I really like this type of aerator, the Ventorosso, ease to use, with a very linear and functional design: it is composed of a base, to be placed above the glass, and a sphere on which you pour the red wine, so as to increase its surface exposed to air, “opening” it faster than a simple wine rotation in the glass.

2_Ventorosso_areator_Thewinelifestyle

Let’s go a bit ‘in…

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Lentil, cabbage, and bacono salad

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I’m on about under-appreciated vegetables this evening. I just reblogged a post on beet soup so now it’s on to cabbage (which I think is also under-appreciated–just relegated to “slaw” which is often just horrible). This is a great modification of this recipe. Thanks!

Al dente adjustment to a Jacques Pépin lentil, cabbage and bacon salad

Roasted beet soup

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I really think that beets are right up there with cabbage as under-appreciated vegetables. I’ve another cold beet soup recipe some time ago, but I wanted to share this one with any beet lovers out there. Enjoy–either hot or cold.

Wendy Ellen Thomas's avatarWendy's Place

Spring is here and I’ve got little baby beet seedlings in the greenhouse but I can’t wait 65 days for them to make beets.

Roasted beet soup-7So until then I’m getting organic beets at the store. They are a vegetable, in my opinion, that spans all seasons. We ate this roasted beet soup hot and cold and both were delicious. So if you’re still freezing your tush off- heat it up. If you are in CA and it’s gone straight from winter to summer- keep it cool.

PRINT RECIPE: {ROASTED BEET SOUP}

  • 1½ lbs roasted, trimmed beets (about 4-6 medium-lg beets)
  • 2 ½ qts chicken stock- or veggie if you prefer
  • 3 T olive oil
  • 5-6 cloves garlic
  • 1 T honey
  • 1 tsp apple cider vinegar
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 1/8 tsp white pepper
  • 2-3 T sour cream or crème fraîche

It is super simple. The beets are roasted with skin on. I…

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Perfect homemade pasta every time

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A simple recipe for homemade pasta. If you don’t have a kitchen scale, you really should get one. They are not really expensive and make a lot of cooking so simple.

homecookexplorer's avatarhomecookexplorer

This is going to be my shortest blog ever.

But it will show how you can make perfect homemade pasta each and every time.

Here is the trick. I’ll assume you have a pasta maker already.

Start by weighing your eggs (not your flour). 1 egg per person eating your wonderful ooh! and aahhh! homemade pasta.

Next divide the weight of the eggs by .6. This will be the weight of flour to use.

So if you are making pasta for 4 and your eggs weigh out to 215g, then 215/.6 = 358 which would be how much flour to add. The more precise you can be, the better will be your result.

This quite precise ratio will give you the precise amount of hydration to your dough so that when you put it through your pasta roller, it will be perfect. No extra flour needed, no extra water, no…

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Those little “goodfellas”: Brussels Sprouts and Hot Sausage Tortiglioni…

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I haven’t made this yet–but I love sausage and I like Brussels sprouts. Since I do a lot of cabbage and greens with sausage, I want to try this, so I’ll just share it.

Francesca's avatarFlora's Table

Brussel sprout and hot sausage tortiglioni

2 Servings

Brussels sprouts are not very popular in my country and they certainly weren’t on my family’s table. I don’t think I can recollect one time that I ate them in my house or anywhere else in Italy.

Things started changing a couple of years ago when I decided to host my first Thanksgiving’s dinner. During my “due diligence” period, in my quest for dishes traditionally served in the US for that holiday, I found out that Brussels sprouts were a must as a side dish, stir-fried or roasted, preferably with bacon or pancetta and even with raisins.

Little by little my acquaintance with these little guys turned into a beautiful friendship and now I’m totally in love with them for several different reasons.

Brussel sprout and hot sausage tortiglioni

First, their appearance – because no matter what they say, appearances still count! 🙂 Their vibrant green has the magical power to put me in a…

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Corned Beef for St. Patrick’s Day

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Though it’s too late to get your corned beef this way, you can be prepared for next year! Corned beef is easy, and really good it’s DYI!

StefanGourmet's avatarStefan's Gourmet Blog

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Happy St. Patrick’s day! It’s an Irish-American tradition to eat corned beef with cabbage on St. Patrick’s day. I usually don’t celebrate St. Patrick’s day (most people in the Netherlands haven’t even heard of it), but when I came across a recipe for corned beef with cabbage I thought the cooking technique was very interesting. You see, beef brisket is first cured in salt and spices (similar to the first curing of pancetta or gravlax), and then it is cooked. What finally won me over is that the recipe requires saltpeter (potassium nitrate, KNO3 or E252). Ironically, this ingredient is not available in Ireland, and so I bought it for Conor so he could make spiced beef. Although Conor only needed 12 grams, the smallest amount I could order was 2.5 kilograms.

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I mailed enough of the ‘dangerous substance’ to Ireland for Conor to make spiced beef twice, and…

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A thousand names for eggplant

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I’ve always wondered about all the different names and wide use of eggplant. Here is a great post to answer some of those questions.

Aneela Mirchandani's avatarThe Odd Pantry

Eggplant display (source: via Wikimedia Commons, user Phoebe (Own work)) Eggplant display (source: via Wikimedia Commons, user Phoebe (Own work))

Writing the eggplant post last week left me in a quandary. Since I live in the US, calling it eggplant seems natural. But then all through my childhood I called it baingan in Hindi and brinjal in English. Some of my readers from the UK will probably want to call it aubergine, while Australians, I hear, prefer the term egg fruit.

United by a common language indeed!

Well it turns out that the names of this humble vegetable have come about through a global game of Telephone (Chinese Whispers in India) involving empires and migrations of peoples. Sometimes the names have gone around the world and even come back to the source, changed, to go another round.

Intriguing.

Wight, R., Illustrations of Indian botany, or figures illustrative of each of the natural orders of Indian plants, vol. 2: t. 166 (1850) [Goovindo] (Source: http://plantillustrations.org) Wight, R., Illustrations of Indian botany, or figures illustrative of each of the natural orders of Indian plants, vol. 2: t. 166 (1850) [Goovindo] (Source: http://plantillustrations.org)…

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Baked Eggs and Black Pudding Hash

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I really didn’t “do” St. Patrick’s Day–but I’d love to have had this. Love black pudding!

Rufus' Food and Spirits Guide's avatarRufus' Food and Spirits Guide

I see Irish eyes a smiling I see Irish eyes a smiling

There are many high quality pre-packaged black puddings on the market. Finding them in the states is a difficult task and always expensive.

For a long time I had planned on making it from scratch but finding a butcher who sells fresh blood is impossible. All those vampire shows and movies where every corner has a butcher selling fresh blood are more of a myth than the vampires themselves.

By chance we found an authentic English restaurant in Little Rock that doubles as a grocery store stocked with true biscuits, bangers, sauces and other English specialties including black pudding.

Baked Eggs and Black Pudding Hash

  • 4 eggs
  • 1 lb red potatoes diced small
  • 8 ounces black pudding quartered and diced
  • 1 cup diced red onion
  • 1 jalapeno diced fine
  • 1/4 cup flour
  • 1 tsp mace
  • 6-8 basil leaves sliced into ribbons
  • 10-12 grape tomatoes…

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