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Guest Chef Recipe: Gitane's Cataplana

5/27/2009

Sean Diggins has done a masterful job at building a wine list that's affordable and pairs well with the cuisine of Gitane. Gitane serves up Spanish tapas influenced by the cuisines of Morocco and Northern Africa. It's not surprising that I loved this restaurant so much since the chef, Lisa Eyherabide, used to be at Piperade—one of my top 5 restaurants in San Francisco.

Some of the pairings that worked extremely well were:

2008 Albariño, Adegas Gran Vinum, “Nessa”, Rías Baixas, Spain (a previous WU selection) with Sardinas en Escabèche.

Sherry, La Cigarrera, Manzanilla, Sanlucar with Piquillo peppers stuffed with fresh Dungeness crab salad served with cucumber tagliatell, lemon confit dressing.

2007 Listan Negro (the name of the varietal), Bodegas Tajinaste, Valle de la Orotava, Canary Islands with Chiprones—grilled squid, stuffed with hot chorizo, garlic, thyme, onion, rice, olives, lemon dressing, fried bell pepper. A hot tip: Don’t share the fried bell pepper!

This month try the following recipe for Cataplana, a Portuguese seafood dish, with Odisea Albariño featured in Everyday Libations club level.

Cataplana

(6 servings)

2 lb monkfish filets, cleaned

1 lb clams

1 onion

3 tomatoes

1 red bell pepper

1 green bell pepper

1 garlic gloves

½ chorizo Palacio hot

¼ bu fresh cilantro

½ lb fingerling potatoes

1/2 L white wine

1 L of lobster bisque (can also use 1L of white wine instead)

Portion the monfish in 6 servings.
Cook the fingerling potatoes in water and peel them.
Slice the peppers, tomatoes chorizo and onion, coarsely chop the garlic and cilantro.
Put everything in a large and heavy pot (or a cataplana copper pot, if you have one), add the white wine and 1L bisque (see instructions below) and cover.
Cook at medium heat for 15 to 20 min.

Lobster Bisque:

2 lb lobster head

1 onion sliced

1 carrot sliced

1 celery branch sliced

¼ fennel sliced

10 tomatoes cut in 4

1 cup tomato paste

olive oil

Roast the lobster heads in a pan, smash them a little, add the veggies and tomato paste until brown color.
Add the tomatoes and 6 L of water.
Let cook for 1 hour, mix everything together and strain with a chinois etamine.

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The Dreaded Economy and Wine – The Good, the Bad and the Ugly

5/7/2009

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As we all know, this economy has been, and continues to be, a doozy. In the past two weeks, I’ve had a handful of WU members tell me Wine Unleashed is the only wine club they still belong to. Honestly, this blew me away. A few members belonged to upwards of 10 clubs, while others belonged to just a few. I’m humbled and thankful for their continued support, and am even more inspired in my mission of finding unique wines.

This feedback led me to think about the impact this recession is having upon us as consumers. In the wine world there are quite a few things that have changed (some good and some bad and some ugly):

The Good

For 2008 Bordeaux futures, prices are down as much as 40%. After the escalated prices of the 2005 vintage this is a welcome change.
The dollar has increased in value against the Euro.
Previously highly allocated California wines are loosening up on their availability.
Restaurants have given their wine lists a reality check. Yes, there are still high-end wines on the list, but there’s an increase in the availability of wines priced from $30-$39.
People are embracing the excellent values in wines from less discovered areas like Languedoc, Argentina, Sicily, and others.
More people are entertaining at home. Do you know what area of book sales had an upturn last year? Cookbooks!

The Bad

Wine retailers have been hit with closures.
Many restaurants have closed.
I know of a few wineries that were destined for greatness but could not make it—making wine is incredibly capital intensive.
Distributors are sitting on a ton on inventory, and the stress is building.

The Ugly

Many people have lost their jobs and I hope they all land on their feet.

I can’t end on a sad note so let’s focus on what the benefit there is to us as consumers from “The Good.” Go with the flow, slow down and smell the roses AND some wine. Support your favorite winery (and retailer, hint, hint). Now is the time to enjoy a family dinner more than once a week. Invite friends over, share food and wine and extend your family. There are still many things to celebrate: Good wine, good food and good friends and family.

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Guest Chef Recipe: Gitane's Cataplana

The Dreaded Economy and Wine – The Good, the Bad and the Ugly

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