January 13, 2024 Lunch - Basil Leaf. Dinner - Sautéed Hamburger Steak with Sautéed Mushrooms and Onions with Cottage Fries, and Catalan Spinach

January 13, 2024 Lunch - Basil Leaf. Dinner - Sautéed Hamburger Steak with Sautéed Mushrooms and Onions with Cottage Fries, and Catalan Spinach

Today I started with the usual granola, milk, yogurt, and blueberries.

Then I helped Suzette write a response to the director of the Japan tour we wish to take in November organized by 10,000 Waves.

I then worked at my desk for a couple of hours and at 10:15 walked to the country club and back as it began to snow for a lovely finish to the walk.

This walk helped me walk over 4000 steps for the day.  

When I returned at 11:00 I toasted two square slices of baguette and spread butter and Liverwurst and garnished them with red onion slices and cheddar cheese and drank a cup of green tea with them.

Then at 12:00 Aaron called and I met him at Basil Leaf at 1225 Eubank for lunch.  Aaron ordered spring rolls with peanut sauce and a Vietnamese sandwich. I ordered a small bowl of soup with five wontons.

The spring rolls were really wonderful, stuffed with lots of fresh mung bean sprouts and fresh lettuce for a very light appetizer.  Aaron’s sandwich was full of lettuce, mung bean sprouts and sliced pork, served with a small ramekin of peanut sauce.

Then came the small bowl of wonton soup filled to the brim with chicken stock, 5 wontons, a shrimp, and sliced pork. It was also seasoned with black pepper that caused me to cough, but the  wontons were filled with ground pork and very lovely, so I finished most of the soup until I saw the ground black pepper flakes at the bottom of the bowl..

After Aaron finished his sandwich and I finished my soup, I gobbled up some fallen mung bean sprouts dipped in Aaron’s remaining peanut sauce to clear my palate of pepper..

Aaron showed me the new deck he made for Earn with Chat’s assistance and I was really impressed.

After lunch I drove to Trader Joe’s and bought 14 bottles of wine to replenish our stock of everyday wines and try a few new wines, such as a highly recommended Amarone.

Then I drove home and worked until Suzette came home at 4:00.

We watched the news together and confirmed that we would cook Catalan Spinach with the hamburger steaks cooked with mushrooms and sweet onion with country fried potatoes.

We also received applications for the Japan Hot Springs tour, so we were accepted for the tour.

Dinner - At 5:30 we began cooking. I sliced three mushrooms and a slice of sweet onion for the hamburgers and three Yukon Gold potatoes for the Country fries. While Suzette destemmed the spinach and fetched the pinon nuts and raisins, I diced an apple for the Spinach dish.

Then Suzette sautéed the nuts, raisins, and apple in one skillet and the hamburgers, mushrooms, and onion in another skillet and the potato slices in a third skillet.

I opened one of the two bottles of Amarone I had bought at Trader Joe’s today. It was slightly sweet but had a rich heavy texture, perhaps due to its drying of the grapes.

Here is a Wikipedia article that explains how Amarone is made:

Amarone della Valpolicella, usually known as Amarone (UK: /ˌæməˈroʊneɪ, -ni/,[1][2] Italian:[amaˈroːne]), is an Italian DOCG denominationof typically rich dry red wine made from the partially dried grapes of the Corvina (45–95%, of which up to 50% could be substituted with Corvinone), Rondinella (5–30%) and other approved red grape varieties (up to 25%).[3]

Valpolicella is in the province of Verona, within the large Veneto region.

In Italian, the name Amarone literally means 'Great Bitter'; originally, this was to distinguish it from the Recioto produced in the same region, which is sweeter in taste.

History

Notable wines have been produced in Valpolicella since ancient times,[4] but the Verona wine was not marketed as Amarone before 1953.[5] It is believed that the label Amarone was coined by Adelino Lucchese in 1936.[6]

The wine was assigned denominazione di origine controllata (DOC) status in December 1990. On 4 December 2009, Amarone and Recioto della Valpolicellawere promoted to the status of denominazione di origine controllata e garantita(DOCG). Total production for sale (including Recioto) in 2008 was 8.57 million bottles.[7]

Process

Grapes are harvested ripe in the first two weeks of October, by carefully choosing bunches having fruits not too close to each other, to let the air flow. Grapes are allowed to dry, traditionally on bamboo racks (arele in local dialect) but more commonly in plastic or wooden crates. This process is called appassimento or rasinate (to dry and shrivel) in Italian. This concentrates the remaining sugars and flavours thanks to the water evaporation and is similar to the production of French Vin de Paille. The pomace left over from pressing off the Amarone is used in the production of ripasso Valpolicellas.

Modern Amarone is produced in special drying chambers under controlled conditions. This approach minimizes the amount of handling of the grapes and helps prevent the onset of Botrytis cinerea. In Amarone, the quality of the grape skin is a primary concern, as that component brings the tannins, color, and intensity of flavor to the wine. The process of desiccation not only concentrates the juices within the grape, but also increases the skin contact of the grapes. The drying process creates a polymerization of the tannins in the skin that contributes to the overall balance of the finished wine.[8]

Typically, the length of the drying process is 120 days, but varies according to producer and the quality of the harvest. The most evident consequence of this process is the loss of weight: 35 to 45% for Corvina grapes, 30 to 40% for Molinara, and 27 to 40% for Rondinella. Following the drying process that is completed during the end of January or beginning of February, the grapes are crushed and go through a dry, low temperature fermentation process that may last up to 30 or 50 days. The reduced water content can slow down the fermentation process, increasing the risk of spoilage and potential wine faults, such as high volatile acidity. After fermentation, the wine must undergo a period of ageing of at least 2 years (calculated from 1 January of the year following the harvest). The ageing process takes place in wooden barrels, traditionally in big oak casks but also tonneau (500 lt) or barriques (225 lt) made of either French or Slavonian oak can be used.

Variations

If fermentation is stopped early, the resulting wine will contain residual sugar (more than 4 grams of sugar per litre) and produce a sweeter wine known as Recioto della Valpolicella. Recioto was the traditional wine produced according to this method, and originally, Amarone was Recioto wines that had fermented for too long. Unlike Amarone, Recioto della Valpolicella may be used to produce a sparkling wine.[9] Ripasso is an Italian wine produced when the partially-aged Valpolicella is contacted with the pomace of the Amarone. Typically, this will take place in the spring following the harvest. The resulting wine is more tannic, with a deeper color, and having more alcohol and more extract. The word ripassodesignates both the winemaking technique and the wine, and usually is found on a wine label.[9]

Characteristics and faults

The final result is a very ripe, raisiny, full-bodied wine with very little acid. Alcoholcontent easily surpasses 15% (the legal minimum is 14%) and the resulting wine is rarely released until five years after the vintage, even though this is not a legal requirement.

The labor-intensive process of producing this wine poses significant risk for the development of various wine faults. Wet and rainy weather during harvest may cause the grapes to rot before drying out, requiring winemakers to be diligent in removing rotted bunches that can cause moldy flavors in the wine.[10]

We enjoyed dinner but I felt like the wine was not quite right for this decidedly plebeian dinner.

Perhaps Amarone is more of a sipping wine than a food wine. It would have paired well with the French blue cheese we put on our hamburgers alone, according to recommendations on the Internet.

Then I gorged on the last of the potatoes and spinach, which I must stop doing.

More exercise and less food must be my new mantra if I am to lose as much weight as I wish to lose.

After dinner we watched Antiques Roadshow but Suzette fell asleep during the show so we went to bed at 8:00.

I woke up at 4:30 a.m. and finished this entry. With a cup of ginger flavored green tea.

It seems we are going to bed earlier and waking up earlier currently.

Bon Appetit