Saturday, April 23, 2011

The Pomimosa




Tricia here. With all Dave's going on about his cod dishes and his blah blah blah I thought I would throw in a fun little note on something I cooked up right in me own little head.

I've never been a fan of pasteurized orange juice, I much prefer fresh squeezed. But the only time I really partake in OJ is when there's a mimosa involved. As we all know it's not always possible to have fresh squeezed juice on hand at home (yes, I know I need to get myself a juicer...it's on my list but if anyone wants to send me one as a very belated housewarming email me and I'll gladly provide my address).

Easter is tomorrow and for those of us celebrating that means a lot of brunch options which in turn means a lot of brunch cocktail options. My family is big on mimosas Easter morning, until we can rationalize drinking anything else after 12 pm, mimosas are our "gateway drug".

This year I'm using Prosecco, which is a sparkling wine out of The Boot, Italy's answer to Champagne if you didn't know, and combining it with a splash of pomegranate juice. You know those POM juices they have in the produce section of the grocery store? Just that, a little lace of it on top of the Prosecco or Champagne or Cava, whatever your poison is and bam!! You have my Pomimosa!! If you want it even extra delicious use a little splash of the St. Germaine we mentioned in the Blood Orange Cocktail post!

Cheers!

Dave and Trish

Tuesday, April 19, 2011

Hourglass Inspirations

Tricia and I visited the Hourglass Brasserie, a beautiful Bistro owned and operated by Chef Rizwan Ahmed. Located in the historic region of downtown Bristol, this lovely restaurant serves up fabulous French inspired cuisine using local fresh ingredients. The atmosphere is warm and welcoming, casual but elegantly refined. We enjoyed innovative appetizers like foie gras sandwiches and lobster bisque with mascarpone and real vanilla beans.

For our entrees, Tricia had Lobster pasta with wild mushrooms and a tarragon thermador sauce and I had Cod loin with black trumpet demi glace, spring vegetables and pommes mousseline. The presentations were equally as stunning as the food and the servers were friendly engaging and knowledgeable.

Chef Ahmed was gracious enough to come speak to us about his restaurant and enjoy a glass of wine with us at the end of our meal. We were inspired by our experience and decided to use our creative energy to concoct our own French bistro style dinner at home. Having loved both the cod and the wine we drank with it (Domaine Cherrier Et Fils Sancerre), we chose those two items to be our focus. Tricia found the exact wine we had enjoyed for about $27 and I decided to sear cod loins and serve them over a potato puree with spring vegetables in a white wine broth. To experience the full magic of the Hourglass Brasserie, one must eat there, but even if you can’t make it there, you too can enjoy Bistro quality food and wine at home!

About the Wine: Sancerre is an appellation located in the Loire Valley of France. Both red and white wines come out of the Loire Valley (Sancerre Blanc and Sancerre Rouge) and this wine happens to be a white. The grape is Sauvignon Blanc and we can’t tell you how much we loved it! Ripe fruit and aromatic notes of peach, minerals and a hint of green pepper on the nose gave way to a lush and smooth wine with a delicate refined quality. This wine is a perfect match for fish and we think you are going to love it with our Pan Seared Cod recipe coming soon!!

Cheers!
Dave and Trish
























Pan Seared Cod Loin
with Potato Puree and Seasonal Vegetables




This dish is not the easiest thing to make. Searing fish is harder than searing meat as it tends to stick to the pan. A non stick pan will not sear as well as a stainless steel pan however, so you want to use a good amount of oil to get the crispy crust on the fish. This is totally achievable, it just might take some practice. If you pull this off though, you will make a dinner that your friends will always remember. This dish is inspired by the delicate attention to detail I found when dining at the Hourglass Brasserie. I hope you enjoy it!

2 lbs. Atlantic Cod loins, about 4 pieces, 1 1/2 inches thick
8 small carrots peeled, ends trimmed, tops intact
8 Brussels sprouts halved
1 cup of white whine
1 1/2 cup of chicken stock, homemade preferred or vegetable broth
1 shallot
8 medium size potatoes, peeled
Fresh parsley
2 lemons
Salt and pepper to taste
Vegetable oil
Good olive oil--you know, as opposed to the bad stuff :)
1/2 pint of heavy cream plus more if needed
1 stick of butter

To make the potatoes: Peel and quarter each one. Cook in boiling water for 10 minutes or until tender. Drain and place in a food processor. Add a half cup of heavy cream, a half cup of chicken stock and 3/4 of a stick of butter. Puree in the food processor until silky smooth adding more liquid as needed to make a fluid silky texture. Season with salt and pepper, then puree again and taste to make sure it is right. Set the potatoes aside in a sauce pan.

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. To make the vegetables, heat up a medium sized pot with water. Bring to a boil and cook the carrots first for about 2 minutes. Remove from the pot with a slotted spoon and throw them into a bowl of ice water to stop the cooking process. Cook the Brussels sprouts in the same water for 1 minute and add them to the carrots and iced water. Remove the vegetables from the water and set aside. To sear the cod fillets, make sure they are patted dry with a paper towel. Season one side liberally with salt and pepper. Pour about 1/4 to 1/2 inch of vegetable oil into a heavy bottom sauté pan. Put the pan on high heat and allow the oil to get really, really hot. The hotter the better, we want it smokin' baby! When the oil begins to smoke its ready. This can take a couple minutes. Place the fish seasoned side down into the pan. Do NOT touch it. Allow the fish to cook for about 3 minutes or until golden brown on the edges. Remove the fish carefully from the pan with a spatula and place on a greased baking sheet seared side up. When I did this I did it in batches or you could use two pans. I put two pieces of fish in the pan at a time. Don't try to do more. You will need to change the oil and clean the pan for the second round. I know it’s a lot of oil but the results will be awful if you don't do this. Once all the fish is seared, place it in the oven and roast for 15 minutes.

Keep your potatoes warm at this time by putting the pot on low heat. Heat up your sauté pan with a drizzle of olive oil to coat the pan. Put the heat on high and when the oil is just smoking, brown the brussel sprouts. Make sure that they are patted dry with a paper towel or rag before putting them into the hot oil. Flip them once and then add the carrots and the chopped shallot to the pan. Cook for a minute then add 1 cup of wine and a half cup of chicken stock. Bring to a boil and season with salt and pepper. Cook the sauce down just a little. Your fish should be done at this point. Remove it from the oven and allow it to rest for just a minute.

While it is resting, take your warmed potato puree and place a generous dollop onto each plate. Top with a piece of fish, and place the vegetables on the side. Spoon the sauce from the vegetables around the plate. Using a microplane (see note) grate some lemon zest on top of each piece. You will use about 1 lemon for four dishes. Top with some fresh parsley and a light drizzle of olive oil. Enjoy!


Note: A Microplane is a type of grater you can buy at hardware and kitchen stores. It can be used to grate anything from citrus zest to cheese, fresh ginger or garlic, or anything in the world you can think of. One will last you a life time so it is a great investment.

Monday, April 18, 2011

Wines for Easter!




Tricia here. With Easter right around the corner we thought it may be helpful for our readers to offer some quick suggestions on what to eat with dinner.

A lot of folks out there are accustomed to having ham or lamb for Easter dinner. If you’re family is a lover of the pork like mine, you may want to pick yourself up a nice Riesling or Gewurztraminer (I can’t figure out how to do those two dots over the ‘u’ but for those of you that aren’t sure it’s pronounced gah-VUR-strah-meener). If you prefer red a nice Zinfandel will work with baked ham.

For those staring down lamb on Easter a good choice is red…something with enough fruit and acidity to handle the dish like a Merlot, Syrah or a Cabernet are your best bets.

Now hop along and pick up some grapes with Easter dinner!

Cheers,
Dave and Trish

Monday, April 4, 2011

Summer In A Glass

Every once in a while we'd like to share something with you all outside of our food and wine wheel house.  Our friend Alexis mixed us up this cocktail to enjoy before our dinner and enjoy it we did.  It's going to be my summer drink as it's refreshing and light and delish!

Blood Orange Cocktail

2 oz. Clementine vodka on ice in a rocks glass
2 oz. Blood Orange flavored soda water
Splash of St. Germaine liquer
Garnish with a blood orange slice and enjoy!!  Thanks Alexis!

Sunday, April 3, 2011

Chardonnay Throwdown: U.S. vs. France

What do you get when you take two foodies who love wine, two eager wine glasses with two dinner plates a waiting and two oaked Chardonnays? A big 'ole  throwdown of a United States Californian Chardonnay from the Santa Lucia Highlands vs. a French Chardonnay from the Montagny region that we paired with the delicious lobster scampi pasta.

We wanted to mix things up a bit and do a post comparing two wines of the same varietal from different regions. We owed everyone a lobster pasta dish from one of our earlier posts and decided to use that as a platform to get us two bottles of wine and pit them against each other.

I picked up a bottle of the Mer Soleil 2008 Chardonnay while Dave opted for a 2006 Chardonnay put out by winemaker Joseph Drouhin. Both are oaked meaning that they are fermented in oak barrels which impacts the flavor (we touched on this in a previous post). Both of us come from very different places on the oak vs. un-oaked debate. I prefer oaked while Dave finds un-oaked much more food friendly. For this post, however, we decided to match up two oaked wines.

The end result, I liked the California Chardonnay better. I like a big, buttery, oaky Chardonnay...it's big like the women from Texas wear their hair. It's buttery and fruitful on the nose with honeysuckle and lemon with that great oak taste...we even detected some pollen. The color is a beautiful yellow straw and you can pick that up in a taste, almost barnyard-like. It's a medium finish that leaves the tongue feeling like it just ate a big meal.

I however, (Dave here) preferred the French Chardonnay. A little lighter with accents of musty lemon, this wine had a more delicate aroma, a beautifully round texture, medium bodied golden fruit notes and a crisp minerality. Both wines were fabulous, but all in all, the California Chardonnay was our favorite pairing for the lobster scampi. A classic American crustacean meets a classic American style Chardonnay....simply delicious. If you are new to Chardonnay you have most likely tried the California style. The French Chardonnays can be more elusive and expensive at times, but they are worth seeking out. Often French Chardonnays are less oaky than their American cousins. Try for yourself and see which one you prefer...either way both were wonderful with the lobster pasta listed below.

We decided to bring in the big guns for the pictures on this one. Tricia's friend Regina Chaperon is a fantastic photographer and we decided to pay her off with some food and wine in exchange for her talents.  She did the Jam Jar photos as well as these and works with restaurants in the area for their website photos.


Lobster Scampi

1 lb cooked Lobster
1 stick of unsalted butter
1 lemon
5 cloves of garlic, minced
1/4 cup chopped parsley
1 cup white wine
1/2 cup chicken stock (homemade is best)
1 lb linguini
salt and pepper to taste

Get your skillet good and hot and saute the garlic in half the butter. Add the wine, broth salt and pepper to taste. Simmer all of this until it reduces by half. Add the lobster and simmer till hot. Add the remaining butter and simmer for a minute. Meanwhile have your linguini cooked and ready to serve. To plate: Place a serving of linguini on a plate, add 1/4 of the lobster plus a ladel or so of the sauce. Zest the lemon with a grater (microplane) over the pasta (about a quarter of the lemon). Top with fresh parsley. Drizzle with a touch of olive oil.

Enjoy!   You can repeat this process to make 4 servings.

Cheers,
Dave and Trish