August 19, 2014 Garcia’s Kitchen Machaca/Huevos Locos and PPI Dinner of Bobby Flay chicken, Tabouli, tzatziki and string beans

I received a call from Buddy around 8:30 this morning about our meeting with a new client.  I was getting into the shower after a bike ride with Suzette, so I said I would call him after I showered and he said they would go to Garcia’s Kitchen for a cup of coffee.  I returned his call at 9:00 and I said I would join them.  So I drove the five blocks to Garcia’s Kitchen at 1736 Central SW, www.garciaskitchen.com.

When I arrived Buddy was finishing a plate of Huevos Rancheros. As we began discussing Eric’s legal issue, I became hungry, so when the waitress asked me what I wanted to eat I asked, “Do you have machaca?  She replied, “With beef or ham?.

I had never heard of machaca with ham, but wanted beef anyway, so I answered, “With beef, please” and described the dish I wanted and mentioned that I wanted corn tortillas with it.

In a few minutes she brought me a plate filled with an egg omelet filled with fresh chopped jalapenos, tomatoes, beef brisket, and onions on one side and refried beans and fried potatoes on the other side and a small plate covered with aluminum containing three warmed corn tortillas.  I loved it and we came to a satisfactory conclusion for Eric’s legal problem.  When I received the check I saw that my dish was identified as “Huevos Locos”. Upon re-examination of the menu, it appears that the dish I ordered as machaca is on the “Breakfast Anytime” portion of the menu identified as Huevos Locos ($7.00), so I have a new breakfast joint to go to. 

I loved Garcia’s Machaca/Huevos Locos.  It was a sufficiently large portion to power me through the whole day until Suzette arrived at 6:00 as I was finishing up an incorporation for another client.   

At around 6:30 we decided to use up the PPI Bobby Flay chicken from Thursday evening and the tabouli, caprese salad and tzatziki from last night’s meal and steam the string beans I bought at Sprouts Farm Market last Thursday ($.98/lb.).

I de-stemmed the green beans and washed them and Suzette heated up the chicken and steamed the green beans and we were ready to eat in about ten minutes.

We smeared the last of the  Bobby Flay recipe's honey mint sauce on the chicken and Suzette drank a beer and I drank a glass of the PPI J Winery Pinot Gris. The J’s Pinot Gris is the lightest pinot Gris I have tasted, which puts it into the elegant French category for me. Unfortunately, it lacks a fruity flavor.  My favorite American Pinot Gris is still Elk Cove from the Willamette Valley.  J’s is grown in the Russian River district of northern California, just south of Healdsburg and next door to Rodney Strong Vineyards. . We visited J’s Winery a couple of years ago and I see from its current website that it still specializes in food and wine paring tastings.   Here is the website address and a bit of info on its pinot gris wines: http://www.jwine.com/en/Wines/Pinot-Gris.

I bought the bottle of J California Pinot Gris at Costco last Friday for $11.99.  According to J’s website J makes two better grades of Pinot Gris.  Perhaps they have more fruit flavor?

Here is a picture of the bottle of pinot gris I bought.

Our big TV finally died, so I went to bed after dinner.

My most recent weight loss regime seems to be to eat only two meals a day, to reduce my sugar intake and to ride the bike as many days of the week as possible.  It actually seems to be working.

Bon Appétit    

August 17 and 18, 2014 Rack of lamb, Mint sauce, Tabouli, and Tzatziki

August 17 and 18, 2014  Rack of lamb, Mint sauce, Tabouli, and Tzatziki

On Sunday we had our traditional bacon, lettuce and tomato sandwiches for brunch.

Around 3:00 Suzette made fish chowder for a late lunch with the fresh corn she bought on Saturday.  I ran to Pro’s  Market to buy milk, an avocado, yogurt, and another couple of potatoes.  Suzette made a simple chowder with PPI frozen pieces of salmon and Mahi Mahi; simple and delicious.  We drank beers with the chowder.

We were not hungry for dinner so we made a cheese plate with the fresh wedge of Le Delice from Costco ($10.99/lb.), toasted slices of Costco Sourdough bread and a sliced fresh peach from Suzette’s Center for Ageless Living.  I opened a bottle of Pennywise Pinot Noir I found in the basement.  The light fruity pinot noir went well with the creamy slightly acidic French cheese.

On Monday I ate the last of the noodle soup I made on Friday.  I am going to start describing what I put in my noodles soups because they are a magnet for interesting PPIs.  This latest soup included PPI broccoli and cauliflower flowerets and Bobby Flay sautéed chicken, plus mushrooms about 10 oz. of tofu, an egg, three kinds of noodles (mung bean, buckwheat, and egg), a heaping tablespoon of white miso, 1/3 of a yellow onion and a few other things.  I also added the sautéed rub we had put on the Bobby Flay chicken that was left in the skillet, which gave the soup a strong flavor of paprika and a distinctly reddish color.

We had invited Cynthia and Ricardo for dinner.  Cynthia and I discussed the menu on Sunday.  She told me she was making a Greek menu for Ricardo’s family and would bring a bowl of Tzatziki for Monday night.  Cynthia arrived at 6:45 with a large bowl of Tzatziki made with fresh local Japanese round cucumbers, yogurt, a bit of olive oil, chopped fresh dill and some garlic. 

Tabouli

At 5:00 I started making Tabouli.

First, I covered 1 cup of No. 2 Bulgur wheat with warm water to hydrate it.  I then went to the garden and picked two cucumbers, a handful of mint, two stalks of lovage and about six or seven sprigs of parsley.  I peeled, deseeded and cubed the cucumbers and sprinkled a bit of salt on thee cubes.  Then I chopped a total of 1 cup of parsley, lovage and mint and added that to the bowl of cucumbers.  I then sliced four green onions.  When Suzette came home at 5:30 she put more hot water on the bulgur to speed up its softening.  

At 6:00 I drained as much water from the bulgur as I could and added about ½ cup of olive oil and the juice of two lemons.  This made the mixture a bit sour, so I added a bit more olive oil.  Then I added the cucumbers, herbs and onions and at 6:15 covered the Tabouli and put it into the fridge to mellow.  Ricardo arrived a few minutes after 7:00 and by then the Tabouli had absorbed most of the olive oil and lemon juice and tasted fine.

Suzette made a Caprese Salad with fresh tomatoes from our garden, slices of fresh Mozzarella (Costco) and fresh basil leaves from our garden. After Ricardo arrived and we had a drink and were ready to eat, she made a vinegar and olive oil dressing and drizzled that over the salad.

 

Cynthia, Ricardo and I were hungry, so I put out a small appetizer plate with slices of Swiss Gruyere cheese (Costco $10.99/lb.), salami, Kalamata olives and caper berries.  Suzette added a handful of crackers and we nibbled and talked for a few minutes while Suzette organized the effort to grill the rack of lamb that I had bought at Costco on Saturday (11.99/lb. less a $2.00 discount).   Suzette set the table in the gazebo and I took out two PPI bottles of wine; the Penny Wise pinot noir and the Clos du Val Cabernet Cabernet Sauvignon.  

Cynthia brought a bottle of Big Bend Pinot Noir produced by R2, which is a new wine for me.  It is a big pinot with a dark deep flavor.  Here are the notes on it and its rating, along with other pinots made by Roger and Richard Roessler.  I first met Roger when he owned Ogilvies at the corner of Louisiana and Central, when I was reviewing restaurants for Albuquerque Monthly about twenty-five years ago. Since then he brought his nephews into the business and they opened Seasons, Savoy and Zinc and Roger and he and his brother Richard moved to California to make wine.  Here is an article describing their recent history and their wines.  We have seen Roger several time at the Anderson Valley Pinot Festival and I think he makes great wines.

R2 Wine Co. Opens Tasting Room

We have a new winery tasting room in town, and while the name and location is new, the two guys behind it should be familiar to many of you.

The R2 Wine Company (R Squared) is the new wine venture of Roger Roessler and his brother Richard Roessler. I’ve written about Roger and his Roessler Cellars brand before. The brothers recently sold the Roessler Cellars brand and business to Hall Wines over in Napa Valley.

Roger and Richard have taken a different tack with R Squared. Where Roessler Cellars focused on Pinot Noir and Chardonnay – mainly vineyard designated bottlings priced in the $40 to $50 price range – R Squared has a broader lineup of Rhone-style blends as well as a Pinot and a Chardonnay and the wines are really reasonably priced, ranging from $18 to $29 per bottle. Roger and Richard have set out to create wines that are great expressions of their place of origin and great values. The current wine lineup, available for tasting, includes Black Pine Pinot Noir, Rhapsody En Blu Rhone Red blend, Big Bend Chardonnay, Grenache Blanc, Hannah Rose and the Vin Blancs Rhone White blend.

The new R Squared tasting room is located at 654 Broadway, south of the Plaza. The official grand opening for the tasting room which started last Friday, June 10, and runs for two weekends through Sunday, June 19, features complimentary wine tasting, special seminars, discounts, food and prize drawings. Erin Leveroni is the tasting room manager.

I recently tasted through the lineup and here are my notes:

2009 Vins Blancs Santa Barbara, $22: A blend of Viognier, Marsanne, Grenache Blanc and Roussanne, this is a crisp, clean wine with really nice floral aromas and flavors.

2010 Grenache Blanc Santa Ynez Valley, $24.50: A bit of a rarity in California, this is my favorite of the white wines. It has bright aromas and flavors of melon and citrus, with nice structure and crisp acidity.

2009 Big Bend Chardonnay Carneros, $26.50: The grapes for this wine come from Roger’s vineyard located south and west of Sonoma. It was such a favorite under the Roessler label that he decided to hold on to it for his new venture. Rich, ripe pineapple and citrus flavors greet you with just the right amount of oak to round out the taste experience.

2010 Hannah Rose Santa Barbara, $18: This is a Grenache-based rose and in general I think Grenache makes the best roses. It’s bright and crisp with nice strawberry aromas and flavors. Chill this down and it’s the perfect summer picnic and party wine.

2008 Black Pine Pinot Noir California, $24: This is a blend from several different appellations and has some really nice layers of flavor from dark cherry and spicy aromas to a rich core of cherry fruit and earthy complexity in the mouth. Great all-purpose Pinot.

2009 Rhapsody “En Blu” Santa Ynez Valley, $23.50: Again, Grenache is the star here, making up the majority of the blend with the balance made up of Syrah, Mourvedre and Carignane. The nose has nice plum and black pepper notes; rich, ripe flavors follow with a lush, silky texture. It’s big enough for a steak, but definitely not overdone — probably my favorite of the red wines.

The R2 Wine Company Tasting Room is located at 654 Broadway in Sonoma, about two blocks south of the Plaza. The tasting room is open daily from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. For more information, visit r2winecompany.com or call 933.1330.

Here is a description of their pinots:

	From PinotReport, Issue #77, February 15, 2012, "In The Market" by Gregory S. Walter SMART BUY! "Bright and full of flavor..." R2 Wine Company Pinot Noir Anderson Valley Red Birds 2010: Medium-deep ruby color; ripe, rich red cherry aromas with spicy, herbal notes; ripe, bright red cherry flavors with spicy, cinnamon notes; lush, silky texture; good structure and balance; long finish. Bright and full of flavor, this Pinot would be great with roasted chicken. 289 cases made, $30. Score: 93
	SMART BUY! "Rich and ripe..." R2 Wine Company Pinot Noir California Black Pine 2010: Medium-deep ruby color; deep ripe cherry and earthy aromas; rich, deep red cherry and plum flavors with earthy notes; silky texture, nice oak notes; good structure and balance; long finish. Rich, ripe Pinot that's a nearly perfect blend of full fruit and earthy complexity. 1,033 cases made, $26. Score: 93
	MAKE ROOM IN THE CELLAR! "Complex and many layered..." R2 Wine Company Pinot Noir Carneros Big Bend Reserve 2010: Deep ruby color; deep, complex earthy aromas with chery and herbal notes; complex, earthy and rich cherry and plum flavors with some sage and anise notes; sweet oak; good structure and balance; long finish. Complex, many layered Pinot that really needs some time in the glass and in the bottle to open up; perfect paired with a grilled steak or slow-cooked short ribs. 98 cases made, $30, Score: 93
	From the San Francisco Chronicle, August 19, 2011 Chronicle Recommends, by Jon Bonné 2009 R{+2} Wine Co. Rhapsody en Blu Santa Ynez Valley Red ($23.50, 14.7%): You might know Roger and Richard Roessler from their Sonoma-based Pinot label, but they sold last year to St. Helena's Hall Winery and moved on to this new effort. Stylish wood tones arrive first, melded with pretty wild strawberry (it's mostly Grenache, plus Syrah, Carignane and Mourvedre) and licorice, and a root-like earthiness. Big and chewy.

   I am proud when Albuquerque and New Mexico folks are recognized for their wine.  I can hardly wait to try the Grenache Blanc. 

 When the lamb was done I pulled it from the grill and sliced it and we were ready to eat.  We each took two lamb riblets and filled our plates with Tabouli, tzatziki, and caprese salad.  Ricardo described his new job, which is designing sets for Digg, which is a mystery surrounding archeological excavations in Israel.  Cynthia is very busy with her landscape design and garden work.  She worked at a garden in the North Valley and they had to leave early because she has to drive to Gallup tomorrow morning for a design for an apartment complex.

The mosquitoes were bad and we decided to move inside for dessert.  Suzette had planned to make sundaes with fresh and brandied peach slices. We all chose to eat them with vanilla ice cream rather than yogurt.  Also, everyone wanted to drink a sweet dessert wine so I went to the basement and fetched a ½ bottle of 1996 Château Pineau du Rey Sauternes that we had bought in Sauternes in 1999 or 2000.

The sauternes had a deep golden color and tasted exceedingly nutty. Like it had slightly oxidized, but it still had a very vibrant fruity flavor, with just a touch of citrusy botrytis flavor.  Ricardo really liked it because it had lost that sickeningly sweet flavor that sauternes sometimes have.

The peaches and ice cream were lovely; a light summer dessert and the creaminess of the ice cream was a wonderful complement to the nutty, slightly sweet flavor of the sauternes

By 9:30 we were all done and said goodnight to our dear friends.

Bon Appétit 

August 16, 2014 Deborah Madison Luncheon, Dinner Crab Claws, Corn on the cob and Faro Cucumber Salad

August 16, 2014 Deborah Madison Luncheon,   Dinner  Crab Claws, Corn on the cob and Faro Cucumber Salad

 We had invited Penny Rembe to join us for the Deborah Madison luncheon and she arrived at around 10:30.  After a quick look at my art and shell collection, we drove to the Center for Ageless living in Los Lunas.

When we arrived the Education Building was filling up with the 40 people who had signed up for the lunch.

We were shown to a table marked “Reserved” and soon Deborah Madison arrived and joined us.  Then Suzette joined and introduced Deborah to the group and discussed the Center for a minute or two.  After Deborah spoke for a few minutes about her life in food and her authorship of 14 books on food and cooking the first course was served.

It was a glass salad bowl filled with a large scoop of Faro Salad with chopped cucumbers and flavored with lovage.  Deborah spoke about the dish in that easy dismissive Buddhist way.  The faro is a groats made from Spelt and is good for those who can not eat gluten.  The lovage is a wonderful herb that can be used in salads like the faro salad.  At the table I asked about purslane and Deborah mentioned golden purslane, which grows taller and is more of a culinary type of purslane that she uses in salads.

Penny and Deborah were old friends so the conversation was lively and interesting.  Deborah and Penny are both long time locally grown New Mexico produce growers and advocates and Deborah uses Penny’s locally produced lavender cosmetics produced at Los Poblanos (Penny’s family owns, rehabilitated and developed Los Poblanos into what it is today, which is one of the premier farming and hospitality centers in Albuquerque).  On the drive down Penny had told me they had just harvested 1200 pounds of chili, which they use in their products and in the restaurant, and bottled 200 pounds of pickles from their cucumbers.  I felt like I was sitting with a triad of local food leaders.

Anne and Derren cooked a great luncheon selected from Deborah’s new Cookbook, The New Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone, a signed copy of which was being given to each attendee at the luncheon.  After the cool Faro Salad we were served an entrée of baked cannelloni with mozzarella garnished with cubes of tomato sautéed in balsamic vinegar with a scoop of fresh zucchini drizzled with lemon with a little basil.  Penny and Deborah drank glasses of Campalou Vouvray.  Suzette and I drank the Kermit Lynch Beaujolais. 

Soon the dessert arrived of local pears from Wagner’s Farms and fresh peaches from the Center’s tree in a honey Riesling wine sauce and garnished with a bit of whipped cream.  Everything was fresh and delicious and although eh portions were not large my hunger was amazingly satisfied, even though I had not eaten any breakfast.

I took Penny on a tour of the Center and we drove back to Albuquerque and I showed her the garden at the house.

After Penny left, I drove to Costco to get gas and shop.  One of the neighbors at last night’s Neighborhood Cocktail party said they had seen French Brie at Costco, so I wanted to go buy some.  Unfortunately, it was the same small round from Normandy that does not age well, so I avoided it and bought Le Delice and Swiss Gruyere instead.  I saw Dan Behles in the wine section and he recommended J Winery’s Pinot Gris so I bought two bottles of it and a bottle of Sancerre and a bottle of my favorite Dry Creek Sauvignon Blanc. 

Then I saw that lamb riblets were on sale ($11.99/lb. less $2.00 per package)  I bought a package with eight riblets for about $16.00.

Suzette arrived home at around 5:00 and we were both hungry, so we quickly decided to eat the crab claws I had bought at Sprouts on Thursday ($5.99/lb.) with ears of fresh Schweinbach corn from Moriarty, Suzette had bought at the Farmers’ Market in the morning and the PPI Faro Salad from lunch combined with the PPI cucumber salad I had made a couple of days ago.  I wanted to try the 2013 J pinot gris so I chilled it in the fridge and then the freezer.  I like light white wine served at around 50 to 52˚.

   

We made our favorite sauce for crab, combining about ¾ cup of mayonnaise with 1 shallot minced, a dash of salt, about 1-2 Tbsps. white wine vinegar, 2 tsps. fresh tarragon leaves chopped,  the juice of ½ lemon, 1 tsp. French Dijon Mustard and 1 tsp. of olive oil.  I usually combine the vinegar, lemon juice and shallot and let the acid ferment/pickle the shallot a bit, but today we were going to eat as soon as the sauce was finished and we needed to dispel some of the harsh edge of the vinegar, so Suzette added about 1 Tbsp. of local honey to the sauce to balance the bitterness of the vinegar.

Suzette toasted four slices of Bosque baguette and then plated up the plates with an ear of boiled fresh corn, half of the faro/cucumber salad and a couple of slices of baguette on each plate and I poured glasses of pinot grs and we carried them to the garden table under the gazebo and ate a lovely fresh dinner.  We decided that we did not like the crab claws as much as we liked the Dungeness crab at Costco and that the 2013 J pinot gris was exceedingly light but pleasant with the crab. The J pinot gris has a light honey pink color that is appealing also.

After dinner we watched “White House Down” on TV and Suzette had sliced some peaches from the Center and put a bit of sugar on them and let them sit for a bit to allow the sugar to go into solution and she then ate peaches and vanilla ice cream.  I took out the mayonnaise and brought in the PPI clafoutis and Italian meat sauce and we put those into containers and I ate a bit of the meat sauce that was dotted with bits of purslane and fresh tomatoes.  I am trying to reduce my carbo and sugar intake and found that the small bowl of delicious meat sauce made a great alternative dessert snack.

Bon Appétit

August 14, 2014 New Recipe Grilled Fresh Halibut with Lemon-Butter Sauce and Steamed Cauliflower and Broccoli in Cheese Sauce

August 14, 2014 New Recipe   Grilled Fresh Halibut with Lemon-Butter Sauce and Steamed Cauliflower and Broccoli in Cheese Sauce

After my annual doctor’s check-up near Academy and Wyoming I decided to shop for food.  I first stopped at Whole Foods to see what kinds of cheese they had and saw nothing interesting except for Spanish Valeron.  Since we had bought a blue cheese at Costco a few days ago, I drove down Academy to Nantucket Shoals and saw lovely fresh filets of fish.  I particularly liked the Bluenose Sea Bass and Halibut.

Since I know how much Suzette loves Halibut ($25.95/lb.), I bought a .87 lb. filet of Halibut for $22.58. 

Nantucket Shoals has the best quality fish in town.  I have been buying fish from Nancy since she and Eric opened their first store at Edith and Central over 20 years ago.  We talked a bit and Nancy said she is now a grandmother with three grandchildren.  Nantucket has always had the best and freshest fish in town.  Although I have never had a bad piece of fish from Nantucket, Suzette thinks they receive fresh fish on Thursday, so she thought it cannot be fresher than today.  I also bought a frozen 1 lb. bag of crawfish tails ($14.95) for crawfish étouffée.

I next went next door to Sprouts and bought string beans ($.98/lb.) and a green bell pepper ($.50 each) and 1 ½ lb. of crab claws ($5.99/lb.).

I went home and worked until 6:00 and Suzette came home around 6:30.  She was thrilled to see that I had bought a good piece of fish.  We quickly decided to add the rest of the broccoli and cauliflower to the last night’s PPI cauliflower and broccoli in cream sauce, so I cut off the rest of the flowerets and steamed them and heated the PPI cauliflower and broccoli in cream sauce and added milk and grated ¼ cup of Pecorino Romano cheese into the sauce to extend the sauce and make it cheesier.  When the rest of the broccoli and cauliflower flowerets were cooked, I folded them into the by now expanded sauce.  I also added a clove of garlic, a dash of Italian Seasoning and a dash of fresh nutmeg and, at Suzette’s suggestion, 1 Tbsp. of the fresh mint sauce we had made last night to the cream sauce to give the cheese sauce added fresh herb flavor. 

While I was playing with the sauce Suzette grilled the Halibut.  She made incisions into the flesh side of the fish and stuck pads of butter into them and then squeezed fresh lemon juice on the flesh side and laid the filet skin-side down on the vegetable baking pan on slices of fresh lemon, which is the same method she used a couple of years ago to great success.  Less is more when it comes to grilling fresh fish, because you want it to retain the fresh sea flavor.  It took about fifteen to twenty minutes to grill the thick filet to tender.  You do not want to under-cook Halibut.  It must be fully cooked to turn tender and release its juices lodged between the flakes.  Of course, you do not want to over-cook it either or it will dry out.  Therein lies the skill of the griller and Suzette is great at it.    

I decided I wanted the best bottle of wine I could find for this fresh grilled fish, so I went to the basement and was lucky to find a bottle of 2001 Domaine du Rochoy produced at Domaine Laporte in Sancerre in the Loire region of France.  I looked like I paid $25.99 for the bottle at Quarters about 10 years ago, probably because I saw that it was imported by Martine’s Wines.  We love Martine because her selection of wines is impeccable.  She usually attends the Winter Wine Festival in Taos with an impressive array of French wines of the highest quality but that are produced by less well known producers, so they are usually a little less expensive.     

Here is what the NY Times Wine Club says about the wine:

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Origin

“Laporte Sancerre Domaine du Rochoy

Year

Vintage

2010

Varietal

Varietal

Sauvignon Blanc

Style

Style

Crisp

Origin

Appellation & Country

Sancerre, France

Pairing

Pairing

Vegetables

$30.00

Flowing over 600 miles to the Atlantic Ocean from its source in the Cévennes mountains, the Loire is the longest river in France. Along its banks, huge variations in soil, climate and grape varieties account for one of the world’s most diverse winegrowing regions. But of all the abundance and diversity found in this “garden of France,” little is more celebrated than the Sauvignon Blanc of the famous village of Sancerre, where the wines from this grape, many believe, achieve their purest form.

Pairings

As the quintessential expression of Sauvignon Blanc, in all its flinty, racy glory, a Sancerre like the Domaine Laporte fares well with higher-acid preparations, especially those involving lemon or grapefruit. The judicious use of fresh herbs will complement its innate herbal quality. It loves shellfish and lighter seafood, but can also be used as a counterpoint to dishes featuring rich, creamy sauces. For example, Coquilles St. Jacques (scallops with a lemonbutter sauce) is considered a classic pairing. Of course, no pairing would be more classic than serving the wine with a plate of crackers or bread surrounding a perfectly soft round of fresh chèvre.

Serve well chilled (47°F).

Bruschetta with Roasted Peppers and Goat Cheese

Winemaker

Serge Laporte’s family has been working the slopes around the hill town of Sancerre for many generations and, thanks to longevity and persistence, they are now in possession of some of the region’s most highly regarded terroir, based in the famous wine village of Chavignol. It’s a little-known fact that Sancerre features two very different soil types, each making a unique and distinctive version of Sauvignon Blanc. Domaine Laporte lies right on the edge of the valley and is fortunate to have vines in both soils.

The Wine

This wine comes from Domaine du Rochoy, a unique 25-acre vineyard on the flinty side of the valley, overhanging the Loire. Perpetually known for its rockiness, in Roman times Rochoy was a quarry called Rochetum. And today that rock plays an important role, as it absorbs sunlight during the day and reflects warmth back onto the grapes during the cool nights, allowing them to ripen early and at high ripeness. All of that is on display in this wine, which offers disarming amounts of brilliant lime and grapefruit flavors and aromas. There’s an almost honeyed richness that’s perfectly undercut by the zing of taut acidity and an iron mineral core.”

So we seemed to have put together a perfect meal for this wine.  The vegetables in cream sauce and the fish with the lemon, butter sauce perfectly complemented the wine and v.v.

This wine is rated 89 points by Wine Spectator and the 2010 sells for $30.00 and the 2001 sells for $37.50 on one site.   The wine was still very good.  It was approaching that point in its aging just before turning into sherry, but retained all of its original exquisite softness and slight lemony flavor.  It had an exquisite bouquet with just a hint of minerality, less lemony than a Vouvray and less minerality than a Savennieres.

This is the kind of great French wine I call 'elegant".  It does not have the gravitus or character of a big white chardonnay from Burgundy, but it is not meant to, it is supposed to be the perfect complement to delicate fresh seafood and it achieves that purpose perfectly.  I do not know if it is because of its age, but this 2001 bottle lacked that overwhelming fruity, grapefruity pop that the best California Sauvignon Blancs like Mary Edwards seem to have.  I think that big fruity wines seem to clash with the food when I am trying to enjoy the subtle flavor of a fresh fish that does not have a lot of oiliness, like halibut or sea bass/grouper.

To say the least, this was the best Halibut dinner we have had in years.  So I think we may now be stuck on better wines and fresher fish.  Neither could have been better than tonight’s dinner; a real food treat.      

The fish was tender and succulent, flaking easily, without lots of excess moisture, like previously frozen fish; just fresh and delicious.

Suzette made a lemon and butter sauce by melting butter in the microwave and adding lemon juice to it.  This enhanced the flavor of the fish, like lemon-butter sauce does for another rich seafood, lobster.

We dipped flakes of halibut into the lemon/butter sauce and sipped Sancerre and nibbled forkfuls of vegetables in cream sauce as the day dimmed to night.

Since the evening was cool and peaceful, we sat and sipped the last of this great bottle of Sancerre and relaxed as the new solar lights beside the pond turned on to illuminate the fountain spouting water as rivulets of water drizzled out of the giant sea clam shell sending ripples across the pond. 

  

Bon Appétit

August 13, 2013 Lunch East Ocean Dinner Bobby Flay Chicken and Cucumber, Onion and Tomato Salad

August 13, 2014 Lunch East Ocean   Dinner Bobby Flay Chicken and Cucumber, Onion and Tomato Salad

I stopped at East Ocean on my way to my 1:30 appointment.  I was torn between a vegetable rich dish like chow main and my usual scallops in Lobster Sauce that I had tried elsewhere that used pre-cooked bay scallops that turned out to give it a hardened, tasteless flavor.  I ordered the scallops in lobster sauce and when the dish was served at East Ocean (3601 Carlisle NE) I realized why I love East Ocean’s version. Sliced fresh sea scallops cooked in the sauce that forms a puddle of scallop juice around each scallop and lots of egg and lean pork in a rich chicken sauce.  The substitution of scallops costs $1.00 extra and it is worth it in my book, so instead of $5.50 for shrimp in Lobster Sauce, the Scallops in Lobster Sauce is $6.50, which I think is a great price for a delicious seafood lunch.

I went to Pro’s Ranch Market for produce after the appointment and bought regular tomatoes (2 lbs./$.99), limes (3 lbs./$.99) and yellow onions (3 lbs./$.99) and fresh chicken thighs ($.99/lb.). God bless the Russians for banning Western chicken and produce.

When I returned home I decided to use some of the fresh cucumbers from our garden and the fresh produce from Pro’s to make a cucumber, tomato and onion salad.  I cubed a tomato, ½ onion and 1 1/2 cucumbers and added about 1/4 cup of apple cider vinegar mixed with 1 1/2 tsps. of sugar and about  1 tsp. of salt and covered the bowl and put it in the fridge to chill.

When Suzette came home at around 7:00 she was in a bad mood from a long day of work and I had to push her a bit to get into dinner.  We finally decided to prepare the Bobby Flay chicken recipe given to us by Susan Palmer.  Here is the recipe:

 In about thirty minutes we had cooked a hot delicious dinner a made the sauce from lovage, parsley, and mint from our garden, plus about 2 Tbsps. of fresh pasilla chili. 

I drank a glass of PPI Concanon Sauvignon Blanc and Suzette drank a Modelo Especial pilsner.

After dinner we ate ice cream and PPI clafoutis.

Bon Appétit

August 11, 2014 Grilled Steak, Steamed cauliflower and broccoli with Cheese Sauce (Mornay)

August 11, 2014  Grilled Steak, Steamed cauliflower and broccoli with Cheese Sauce (Mornay)

When Suzette came home around 4:30 she needed to go to Costco to shop for her Santa Rosa facility.  I agreed to join her.  We bought a new produce, a bag with six small containers of fresh udon noodles, a box of large white mushrooms, coffee and replenished our whisky inventory (scotch, rum, gin and vodka).

Suzette had said yesterday that we needed to eat the broccoli and cauliflower in the fridge, so today I thawed out one of theUSDA Choice rib eye steaks I had recently bought at Albertson’s ($7.50/lb.) when I made lunch by cutting up the last Talus Wind Farms lamb riblet and sautéing it with some of the squash medley that Rosemary brought us Saturday and some PPI spaghetti.

When we returned home at around 6:30 p.m. I was jazzed to make a cheese sauce to coat the steamed cauliflower and broccoli for a super simple dinner.

Suzette grilled the thin steak beautifully to rare by turning it three times in two or three minute intervals.

We had bought a small container of new potatoes at the Farmers' Market on Saturday that needed to be cooked, so we sauteed them in a skillet with butter and olive oil, some of our fresh garlic Suzette had packed in olive oil and leaves of fresh oregano from the garden.

I made the cheese sauce from memory, but used the following recipe, which approximates Julia Child’s recipe.  I added the cayenne and fresh ground nutmeg but not the extra butter and instead of Swiss and Parmesan, I used Irish cheddar. 

SAUCE MORNAY (CHEESE SAUCE)

·         Cooking Time:

·         Servings:

·         Preparation Time:

Ingredients

·         2 tablespoons butter

·         3 tablespoons flour

·         2 cups milk

·         1/4 teaspoon salt

·         Salt and Pepper

·          

·         1/4 cup coarsely grated Swiss cheese

·         1/4 cup finely grated parmesan cheese

·         Salt and Pepper

·         Pinch of nutmeg

·         Pinch of cayenne pepper (optional)

·         2 tablespoons butter (optional)

Directions

·         In a small saucepan, heat to just a boil, while stirring, the 2 cups of milk and 1/4 teaspoon of salt. Remove from heat and set aside.

·         Melt 2 tablespoons of butter in a heavy-bottomed saucepan, over low heat. Blend in the flour and cook slowly, stirring continuously until "the butter and flour froth together for 2 minutes without coloring," thus creating a roux.

·         Remove from heat. As soon as it stops bubbling, pour in your hot milk all at once. Immediately start beating with a whisk, vigorously. Make sure you gather all of the roux from the sides, bottom and edges of the pan.

·         Return to a moderate heat and stir until the sauce comes to a boil. Boil and stir for 1 minute.

·         Remove from heat and beat in salt and pepper to taste.

·         Beat in the cheese until they have melted and are well blended into the sauce.

·         Season with nutmeg, cayenne and salt and pepper (if needed). Stir in the butter a bit at a time until melted and blended.

·         Serve immediately.

I wanted to drink a full bodied Bordeaux, so I opened a bottle of 2010 Chateau Haut-Sorillon (Trader Joe’s $6.99 or $7.99).  We had drunk Sorillon before and it tastes like it is mostly merlot, which makes sense because it is grown in Abzac, 5 km. from St. Emilion, but apparently not in that  Appellation.  Most raters liked the wine and found it to be a good value, rating it around 85 to 88 points; solid, but not life changing.  

We liked its jammy, fruity flavor and dark color.  I opened the wine before I started the sauce to let it open up for about twenty minutes.

Here is what the back label states, all of which I agree with:

"The Chateau Haut-Sorillon has been a family estate for generations and is located in the commune of Abzac, just 5 km. from St. Emilion.  This wine opens with a very potent bouquet dominated by red and dark fruit mixed with spices.  In the mouth ,it releases a very full and persistent flavor, ending with a fine and very complex repeat of aromas."   

I prepared the sauce as the recipe shows.  Suzette said she would have liked the sauce better with a mixture of milk and white wine, more like a fondue.  Perhaps next time we make it I will add wine.  This sauce can also be made with fish or seafood stock for fish.  White sauce is one of the most flexible and adaptable of sauces.

After dinner we thought it would go well with cheese so, I toasted several pieces of French sourdough and baguette and made a cheese plate with goats’ cheese and the last of the Delice.  The Chateau Haut-Sorillon was great with the creamy soft cheeses, as several persons who rate wines have mentioned.

Bon Appétit