February 17, 2014 Dinner- Sweetbread, eggplant and
mushroom ragout over pasta
When we have a lot of PPI’s and we are lazy we often
throw them all together in a one dish meal.
My Dad used to call this a Slum Gullion.
I never asked from whence he derived the name, but he always meant a lot
of different things thrown together.
That was what we did tonight. We
combined a bag of PPI sautéed sweetbreads, the PPI bag of cassarecca pasta and
steamed cauliflower, an eggplant and the last of the lobster mushroom, several
white mushrooms, an onion, several cloves of garlic and several portabella
mushrooms. Then I went to the fridge in
the garage and fetched a bundle of asparagus (Albertson’s $.99/lb.) and chopped
five stalks, shoes ends I snapped off first, into 2/3 inch pieces. My idea was to make a sweetbread and mushroom
ragout utilizing the over-floured sweetbreads’ breading as a vehicle for
thickening the cream sauce with the addition of white vermouth and half and half
to reduce the labor of making a cream sauce and further cook the doughy flavor
out of the sweetbreads.
I chopped the onion and put it into one bowl, sliced
the mushrooms and garlic and put them into another bowl and sliced the eggplant
and put it into another bowl so they could be added to the skillet at different
times because they each have different cooking times. This is a secret I learned from Chinese stir
frying and makes it possible to compose a one dish meal in which different
textured ingredients, all perfectly cooked, although it is a technique common
to all cuisines.
Suzette took out our largest skillet and added about
4 Tbsp. of butter and 2 Tbsp. of olive oil and sautéed the onions first, then she
added the eggplant and cook them until they wilted. Then she added salt and pepper and the
mushrooms and I sprinkled them with Herbs Provence. After a minute or two I saw that the
mushrooms would cook more quickly with the addition of vermouth and so I added
about 3 Tbsp. of white vermouth. In a
minute or two later we added the asparagus.
While the mixture was cooking we microwaved the bag
of pasta mixed with steamed cauliflower flowerets and the bag of
sweetbreads. When they were hot and the
mushrooms had collapsed a bit, we added the sweetbreads to the skillet and
stirred in about ¼ cup of half and half.
The excess flour on the sweetbreads quickly thickened the sauce, so I
added some more vermouth and we were ready to eat. Suzette made a mound of the heated pasta and
cauliflower flowerets and we ladled spoonsful of ragout over the pasta.
I wanted a white wine, so I ran to the basement
fridge for a chilled bottle of 2012 Vouvray produced by the Famille Bougrier (a
total Wine Alfio Mariconi selection, $7.99).
When we drank the wine, it was a little sweet for our taste, but cut
through the dense cream sauce of the dish.
The tipoff that the wine was sweeter than other Vouvrays was on the label,
which showed an alcohol content of 11.5%, which is low for fully fermented
wines and the indication “Douce France”, which means “Sweet France”.
Here is more information on Vouvray wines that shows
the bottle we drank and describes the Bougrier label indication of “Douce
France”:
Chenin blanc is the dominant grape of Vouvray.
The Chenin blanc wines of Vouvray are characterized by the grape's
natural high acidity. The perception of that acidity and style of
wine will be determined based on the balance of sugar in the wine. Dry or sec styles will have
more noticeable acidity than the sweeter demi-sec andmoelleux.
The acidity is also a key component to the wine's aging ability.[2] Depending on the style, Vouvrays can exhibit notes of honey, nuts,ginger, fig, apples and white flowers.
Vouvrays are often paired with rich, hearty dishes and flavorful sauces.[3]
A Vouvray that states the grape (Chenin blanc)
but does not indicate the exact sweetness level though the phrase "Douce
France" (sweet France) may give a clue about the wine style.
As Vouvray can be made in a wide range of sweetness styles, the wine labels may indicate the sweetness level by the terms Sec, Demi-Sec, Moelleux and Doux.
While these terms are not strictly defined, they tend to roughly fall into the
guidelines below. Note that the residual sugar level may not equate to the level of
sweetness that a taster will perceive in the wine due to balance of acidity in
the wine. In some cases a producer's Demi-Sec wine may taste
drier than their Sec. Sparkling Vouvray may also have the sweetness
level indicated on the label.[3]
·
Sec The driest level with 0-0.4% (less than
4 grams per liter) residual sugar. Sometimes producers will specify their
bone dry wines as Sec-Sec or "dry dry" and their
slightly less dry wines as Sec-tendresor "gently dry".[3]
·
Demi-Sec An "off dry" style with between
0.4-1.2% (4 to 12 grams per liter) of residual sugar.[3]
·
Moelleux A sweet, often botrytized style with
1.2-4.5% (12 to 45 grams per liter) of residual sugar. The term Moelleux is French for "mellow".[3]
·
Doux The sweetest style with more 4.5% (45 grams
per liter) of residual sugar. The term liquoreux or
"liquor-like" may appear on the label to describe the almost syrupy
sweet nature.[3]
In favorable vintages when the climate
conditions encourages the development of noble rot (example pictured),
the sweet wine styles of Vouvray will often have immense aging potential and
longevity.
Vouvrays are known for their longevity and aging potential,
particularly if the vintage was favorable. Some wines, most notably the sweeter Moelleux styles,
have the potential to age and develop in the bottle for several decades to a
century. While modern producers are contributing to making examples more
approachable to drink while young, some premium examples still made in the
traditionally high acid style will often need 3 to 7 years of bottle age before
the acidity tones down.[3] Dry or Secexamples from favorable vintages can
have the potential to age for 15–20 years or more but many are ready to drink
within 4 or 5 years after vintage. Sparkling Vouvrays tend not to have the same
aging potential as their still wine counterparts or vintage dated Champagne and are usually meant to be consumed within 3 years of
vintage or, for non-vintage bottling, soon after purchase.[4]
In 2005 Decanter Magazine conducted a compilation of the "100
Greatest Wines" ever made. A 1947 Vouvray (considered a favorable year by
many critics[6]) from the producer S.A. Huet was
ranked #6 on this listing-the second highest ranking for any white wine behind
only the 1921 vintage of Chateau d'Yquem.[7]
As you can see sweetness is not an indicator of
quality in Chenin Blanc. Since Chenin
Blanc vintners usually do little to adjust the sweetness of their wines, you
get pretty much what Mother Nature gave you that year. That is why there are so many different
styles of Chenin Blanc. Unfortunately, I
see mostly the medium sweet Vouvrays for sale in my favored under $10.00
category of wines because they probably are cheaper or more prolific and thus
are imported more often by the large wine sellers, such as Trader Joe’s and
Total Wine. The sparkling Fouquet Chenin
Blanc we bought in Vouvray and drank last Friday night (February 14, 2014) is a
good example of what Vourary is capable of.
After a lunch of warm rice noodles with fried pork
and eggrolls, an iced coffeee and an appetizer of Spring Rolls with Mike at Café Trang, I went
to Williams Sonoma to see if I could replace my 7 inch Sabatier chef’s
knife.
Although Williams Sonoma had lots
of knives, it sells Sabatier only on line and it appears from the Sabatier
website that Sabatier no longer makes the high carbon low profile 7 inch chef’s
knife like the one Mother gave me 45 years ago. I did not see any knife that met my weight and
profile requirement at Williams Sonoma, so I am using the broad blade chef’s
knife Billy gave me last year for Christmas that is relatively light and will
probably last me the rest of my life.
After Williams Sonoma I went to Trader Joe’s and bought
a baguette, an 8 oz. box of French
truffles, a bottle of cognac, and bottles of chianti, La Granja Spanish wine, a Valreas Cotes du Rhone, and a new New Zealand Pinot Noir. I
looked for Clos du Val, but there were none.
It looks like I shall be making a trip to Costco on
Wednesday.
Bon Appétit
