May 25, 2014 Dinner party at Debbie and Jeff’s House Gravad
Lax Salad, Grilled Scapes, etc.
Debbie and Jeff invited us to join Ruth and Melissa Sammons,
Harry and Annie Weil and them for dinner this evening. We were to make the appetizer. We decided to make the Gravad lax appetizer we
had made before. This was a recipe we
found at Spagia in Chicago years ago; a bed of greens layered with poached fennel,
gravad lax and dressed with an orange mayonnaise.
Suzette cut several stalks of fennel in the garden yesterday
so we could use the fronds to cure the salmon for gravad lax. Today I cleaned the bases of the fennel leaves and
sliced them into thin slices and Suzette then poached them. At
around 4:00 p.m. I took the gavad lax out of its glass baking dish in which it
had been curing and washed the two filets off and dried them and sliced about
18 slices of salmon from one filet. The
fish tasted great, thanks to using the farm raised Atlantic Salmon from Costco
($7.99/lb.), which seems to have more fat and thus makes a softer and fattier
cured fish.
Suzette made the orange mayonnaise by adding orange juice
and some honey to about ½ cup of mayonnaise.
I tasted the sauce and it was still a bit bitter from the manufactured
mayonnaise, so I added about 2 tsps. of Grande Marnier and a few more drops of
orange juice.
I then segmented two oranges and finally Suzette ran to the
garden in the rain and picked a bag of lettuce, Mbuna and Red Giant Radish
greens. I grabbed a bottle of Sbragia
Family 2003 Cabernet Sauvignon from the Dry Creek area in Sonoma Valley and a Costco rib eye steak we had thawed.
Suzette had made bouquets of herbs for everyone and we
packed the car with all the ingredients for the salad and drove to Debbie’s and
picked up Harry and Annie at the base of the hill.
When we arrived Melissa and Ruth were already at Debbie and Jeff’s
house. We sat and stood around the bar
and drank and talked. Harry and Annie
brought a bottle of Marietta Vineyards 2010 Cabernet Sauvignon, Ruth and Melissa brought an Italian
Toscano (65% Sangiovese, 20% Merlot and 15% Cabernet Sauvignon and Jeff had a Petit Verdot open.
We opened the Sbragia to let it air out.
Here is the info on the Sbragia Cab.
2010 Andolsen
Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon
Sweet red fruit and
anise aromas with bright acidity, plush flavors of black fruit and sweet
spice.
$40.00 Quantity:
Accolades
Rated 92
Antonio Galloni, WINE ADVOCATE
June 2013
June 2013
“...utterly impeccable from start to finish.
Firm mountain tannins provide the backdrop as this expressive, powerful wine
gradually reveals its personality. Iron, tobacco and licorice notes dominate,
while the fruit takes a little longer to become evident. With time in the
glass, the wine gets better and better, as sweet floral notes and an attractive
upper register opens up. Still, this remains a fairly bold, muscular Cabernet
Sauvignon that could use another handful of years in the cellar.”
Rated 90
Steve Heimoff, WINE ENTHUSIAST
June 2013
June 2013
Made in Sbragia’s muscular style, a ripe,
flashy wine, with briary blackberry, currant, mocha and oak flavors. The
tannins are strong but soft, and the overall impression is complex. Fine now with
steak, barbecue, but should gain bottle complexity over the next 5–6 years.
Vineyard
I buy these grapes from Dr. Andolsen, our
long-time friend (over 20 years) and family doctor. His vineyard is on the
west side of Dry Creek in the rolling hills of the coastal range in
Sonoma County, and he always allows me to select grapes from my favorite
blocks. It’s a great piece of land and the wine it makes offers an
elegant, yet ripe, rich cherry characteristic that I always associate with
this appellation.
Vintage
Rainfall returned after three dry years,
pushing bud break, flowering and fruit-set back by at least two weeks at
the front end of the growing season. Fortunately the cloud cover
meant there was no frost damage in 2010. The summer brought cooler than normal
temperatures, and this coupled with unexpected heat spikes in late summer
resulted in a late and shortened harvest with lower yields. Cooler than
average temperatures returned again in early September but gave way to a
warm and consistent Indian summer that was just the ticket, bringing
good flavor and color development to grapes across the board.
Winemaking
I believe in taking a minimalist approach to
this wine in order to preserve the rustic qualities that I love about Dry
Creek Cabernet. The 2010 Andolsen Cabernet Sauvignon was aged for 18
months in 100% French oak barrels, imparting cedar and brown spice aromas and
flavors and supple tannins. The wine underwent malolactic fermentation
which softened the tannins and contributed to a rich, lengthy finish. Adam
and I blended in a small amount of Cabernet Franc to add structure and
subtle complementary herbal characteristics.
Winemaker Comments
Dry Creek Cabernets have a distinctive profile
that I have always loved and this Cabernet showcases the best of those
characteristics. Sweet red fruit and anise aromas are followed by bright
acidity, plush flavors of black fruit and sweet spice. The tannins are
complemented by a supple mouth feel and an elegant finish.
Technical Information
Harvest
October 27th 2010
Blend
95% Cabernet Sauvignon, 5% Cabernet Franc
Alcohol
12.8%
TA
6.57 gm/L
pH
3.61
Produced
1191
After a bit Suzette and I constructed the salads in a tall pile, first with
a small pile of greens, then a few slices of poached fennel and orange, then the slices of
salmon and finally a drizzle of the orange mayonnaise. Everyone seemed to like the Gravad Lax salads.
Debbie had made a lovely corn kernel dish with slices
of baby red and yellow bell pepper and red onions and a salad of organic
greens, chopped tomatoes, sliced almonds and fresh watermelon. I love Debbie’s salads, because she usually
includes a nut and a fruit with the greens and other lettuce and vegetable ingredients. Jeff and I grilled the steaks and salmon
filets. I had also brought a bag with
some of the garlic scapes I had plucked in the last two days, which I tossed in
a bag with olive oil and salt and then placed on Jeff’s vegetable tray on the grill
in the cooler portion of the grill.
Although the scapes were in direct fire the fire was low and it took
about fifteen minutes of turning every minute or two to charcoal grill
them. Some were still green while others
were blackened, but all were touched by the fire of the grill. Last year I tried to pickle and stir fry
garlic scapes and neither worked particularly well. The owner of the Chispas Garlic Farm had told
us last year that he liked grilling them the best. When I brought the scapes in they looked
rather blackened and over cooked but Suzette sauced them with more olive oil
and salt and they tasted remarkably good.
Annie even went back for seconds of the scapes.
We had a wonderful dinner with the grilled rib eye steak
from Costco, the corn and salad and scapes and Spragia Family Cabernet
Sauvignon. We forgot the Béarnaise
Sauce, but the scapes made an interesting garnish. Sort of like that old favorite garnish for
steaks of fried or sautéed thinly sliced onions.
For dessert, Melissa and Ruth brought a red velvet cake with
cream cheese icing and Annie made a lovely cobbler with fresh peaches and
brought ice cream.
Ruth is one of the
best conversationalists I have ever met because she is so engaged in the
conversation and is so quick and clever.
Melissa is also a joy to talk with because we share such similar interests
and she offers us access to the TV world of New York through her soap opera
writing position and screenwriters union activities. I really enjoyed talking to everyone. They are among our oldest and dearest friends
and it was wonderful to look out over the foggy rainy valley while sharing and
evening in the warmth and glow of old friends and good food and wine.
Bon Appétit
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