Supper Club Barbeque!

This month, we made the theme for our Supper Club Barbeque to take advantage of the [very] warm weather - and what a feast it was!

We had amazing appetizers: stuffed eggs, spiced almonds that packed a punch, a fabulous Rick Bayless guacamole with bacon, and both corn and wheat chips for dipping!  The Watermelon Punch was so refreshing on such a hot day - some of us mixed this with the delicious Cava we were drinking.

We enjoyed the most spectacular BBQ Pork with sauce and homemade buns: Oh. My. God. So smoky and delicious!

There were three incredible salads, including Grilled Watermelon & Tomato Salad (prepared by yours truly), and a German Fingerling Potato Salad, and the freshest, crispest Cole Slaw I've ever had (pic below).

Here you can see all the salads, including the splendid Corn Bread.

Last but not least, for dessert we had a wonderful homemade Corn Ice Cream and Brownies!

Don't you wish you'd been there?

Weekly Winery Adventure: Scribe Winery

My friend and fellow blogger, Bon Vivant, and I had wanted to visit Scribe Winery ever since this spectacular write-up came out in Food & Wine Magazine.  We had our chance recently, when I made us an appointment on a sunny Sunday afternoon.  It was quite a treat!  Here's the story.

The winery and tasting room are located on a little hill overlooking the valley.  

Nora was our server, and she sat us down at a pleasant table and chatted with us while we tasted.  First up was the 2007 Chardonnay with grapes from Carneros.

This was a lovely wine, with a mere suggestion of butter in the nose (it spent 9 mos. in French oak), and notes of tart apple and tangerine, with a hint of lemon in the finish.  We thought it would pair nicely with a creamy, lemony pasta dish, perhaps some rich shellfish - unctuous foods.

Next up was the 2008 Pinot Noir, also from Carneros.

I found red fruit in the nose, and notes of pie cherries, a little white pepper, and blueberry in the finish.  It was quite soft, with a nice mouth feel.  We thought it would pair well with smoked salmon, or roasted poultry.

The next wine was the 2004 Syrah, made of grapes from Atlas Peak.

I noted red fruit and something herbaceous in the nose, flavors of black cherry, blackberry and black pepper.  We thought this wine would stand up to fattier meats - perhaps a leg of lamb, a marbled beef roast, or even pork belly.

Our last wine was the 2004 Cabernet Sauvignon, also from Atlas Peak.

I enjoyed this wine.  It was velvety, softer and less tannic than the typical Napa Cab, with notes of Big Black Cherry, blackberry, and cassis in the finish.  BV also noted green peppercorn.  We thought the wine would pair particularly well with with braised pork and ancho chiles.

BV and I are trying to convince our fellow Supper Clubbers to attempt to replicate the Scribe pairing meal described in the Food & Wine article.  Stay tuned for that report!

And when you check out Scribe Winery, say hello to Nora!

The Great July Supper Club Antipasto Challenge!

Back in 2000, Food and Wine magazine sponsored an Antipasto Challenge between none other than famous chefs Mario Batali and Michael Chiarello.  The magazine declared the competition a draw – you can read the article here.

Our amazing supper clubbers decided we would attempt to reproduce the challenge and see if we could determine a definitive winner.  We made a few substitutions due to dietary issues, and prepared 8 dishes total – 4 Batali and 4 Chiarello.  For pairing, we served the 2005 Milliaire Winery Primitivo Jeunesse, a very food friendly Zin from Amador County, and the 2007 Robert Sinskey Vin Gris of Pinot Noir, an equally lovely food wine.  This is a chronicle of our noteworthy (if I do say so myself) efforts!

Batali presents first!

We enjoyed Batali’s Grilled-Fig Salad with Prosciutto, and as you can see, Rose’s presentation was gorgeous!   Figs and prosciutto are a classic combination, and this dish was rich and earthy and paired nicely with the Sinskey, though the Primitivo worked as well.  Rose felt the dish could actually have been improved by a bit less arugula so that the flavors of the fig and prosciutto were truly at the forefront.

Also in the line-up was Batali’s Roasted Squash with Red Onion, Oregano and Mint, prepared by yours truly.  This dish was easy to make, well received, and one I know I will make again and again.  If I had an improvement to suggest, I think I might slice the squash thinner than called for (which will likely reduce the cooking time), to create smaller servings.  I actually liked this dish with both the wines.

Our next Batali dish was a substitution – Black Kale with Ricotta, prepared and modified a bit by Bon Vivant.  I loved the freshness and simplicity of this dish, and it was a hit as well!  I liked it with the Primitivo; it was very nice with the Sinskey too.

Last up for Batali, and my personal favorite dish of the day, was the Goat Cheese Truffles with Peperonata.  We had fun discussing which of the three truffle flavors we liked best – I favored the fennel pollen, but many preferred the sweet paprika – all three were killer!  I loved this dish with the Sinskey, but the Primitivo paired nicely with it as well.  Richards thought she would make the truffles a bit smaller next time (again, it was a large serving), and several of us thought that while the peperonata was delicious, the truffles were the main event and could easily stand on their own with the arugula (again, less of it) to garnish them.

 
On to the Chiarello dishes!

We loved the Marinated Vegetables – one half was prepared largely as written but with tuna substituted for the anchovies, and the other half omitted the tuna.  Both versions were great – I liked the one with the tuna best.  My opinion was that, perhaps due to the vinegar, neither wine paired especially well with it.  Also, BV reported it was quite time consuming to prepare – but well worth the effort I say - delicious!
 

Then we had the fabulous Italian Tuna Mousse!  This dish had a perfect texture, light, airy and delicious, and I thought the Mousse with the Sinskey was the most perfect pairing of the evening!
 

The Wild Mushroom and Tomato Panzanella is a most unusual and interesting version of the classic Italian bread salad (and a recipe I have actually prepared numerous times, though I didn't prepare it this time).  It was beautiful and tasty, and paired particularly well with the Primitivo.
 

And our last Chiarello dish – and the favorite of many in the group (the dish we all had seconds of!) – was Zucchini Saltimbocca.  Each bite was a treat, with an intriguing balance of flavors, and I loved it with the Sinskey although it certainly stood up well with the Primitivo as well.

Because Supper Club isn’t Supper Club without dessert, although not a part of the official challenge we had a melt-in-your-mouth delicious Berry Pie with Vanilla Bean Ice Cream – it doesn’t get better than that! 

So what were the votes?  Well, we had three votes for Chiarello and four for Batali, but all agreed that it was very close, and that every dish was interesting and delicious.  In fact, we wondered whether, if our club had 8 rather than 7 members, we wouldn’t have come up with a tie as well! 

My own vote (for Batali) had nothing to do with the relative quality of the two sets of dishes, because both were superb, with beautiful presentations and an intricate balance of flavors.  For me it simply came down to food preferences.  Winter squash, figs, goat cheese and kale are simply among my favorite foods on earth to eat.

Regardless of the votes, we had a splendid time enjoying amazing antipasti dishes and lovely wines out on the patio on a gorgeous Napa summer day!

Mole Adventure (the sauce, that is . . . )

I have always wanted to learn to make mole, and I finally got my chance!  The occasion?  Our May Supper Club, the theme of which was Mexican cuisine, in honor of Cinco de Mayo!  It was also my first opportunity to use my new Rick Bayliss cookbook, Rick Bayless’s Mexican Kitchen.  I’m going to enjoy this cookbook immensely, I know.  Bayliss’s recipe instructions are very clear and easy to follow, even when the recipe is complex, and his explanatory notes about the history and regional variations of the dishes are a delight to read.  

For my Supper Club selection, I decided to make Bayliss’s Ayocotes en Coloradito, or Runner Beans in Brick-Red Mole.  Bayliss describes this dish is a Oaxacan specialty, pairing one of the region’s simpler moles with flavorful heirloom beans.  The mole sauce was one of the easier ones (albeit time consuming), and can be used with any number of other dishes.  I can’t wait to make it again!

My first step was locating the ingredients.  As is true in many parts of California, we are fortunate here in Sonoma to have access to a host of Mexican ingredients in grocery stores and specialty Mexican markets.  At one such local Mexican market, I found the dried ancho and guajillo chiles I needed in bulk, so I was able to buy just the amount I needed.  I also picked up Mexican canela cinnamon, which the folks at Rancho Gordo describe as softer and less astringent, warmer and more woodsy than cinnamon from cassia bark.  I also tracked down some Mexican chocolate, and Mexican oregano, again described by Rancho Gordo as similar to European oregano, but with a slight citrus twist.  Finally I needed the Ayocotes, or heirloom scarlet runner beans, which I picked up at Rancho Gordo’s store in Napa.  Add a couple of ripe tomatoes plus the remaining ingredients which I always have on hand, and I was ready to begin!

I sliced open my dried chiles, and removed the seeds and stems.  I heated a skillet without oil, opened up the chiles to flatten them, and toasted them briefly before popping them into hot water for 30 minutes to rehydrate.  Then I placed some foil over half my skillet, and put my tomatoes on it to toast.  I toasted some unpeeled garlic on the unfoiled part of the hot skillet.  I toasted both for about 10 minutes until they were blackened.  I peeled the garlic and the tomatoes, and popped them into my blender.  I toasted some sesame seeds next, rolling them around in the pan until they were browned, and added them to the blender.  I drained the chiles and added them to the blender too.  Last into the blender were the cinnamon, oregano, chocolate, some black pepper and 1 ½ cups chicken broth, and I hit the puree button.  This next bit required elbow grease.  I put my small mesh strainer over a big bowl and poured in the contents of the blender.  Then I took a large spoon and pressed and pressed with all my might until I got as much liquid out of the blended concoction as I could, because I didn’t want to miss a delicious drop!

 

Look at that brick red color!

Next, I heated olive oil in a saucepan.  (I’m pretty squeamish about lard from a health standpoint, and did not use it, although Bayliss lauds the flavor it adds.  I used his oil substitute instead.)  The mole sauce went into the saucepan with more broth, and simmered for an hour or so.  Then I seasoned with salt and sugar.

Meanwhile I cooked the runner beans in water as directed – they took about 2 ½ hours.  I drained them, poured them into my mole sauce, corrected the seasonings, and whisked them off to my Supper Club, where they were a big hit!

By the way, here was the lineup of the rest of our fabulous meal!

Fresh guacamole three ways
A delicious chorizo cheese dip with chips
Pasilla chiles stuffed w goat cheese
Pork Roasted in Banana Leaves
Mexican Rice and fresh homemade tortillas, of course!
Pastel de tres leches
(Note: there was also the special treat of Bon Vivant’s fabulous caviar torte – not Mexican, but ever amazing and delicious!)

Good times, good food!