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)
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
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Guest Chef Recipe: Venison Carpaccio with Beets and Cabernet Sauvignon sauce from Skylon in London3/18/2009 While in traveling in Europe last summer with my daughter, our last meal abroad was at Skylon in London. After the South of France and in Italy, the bar was set pretty high for good eats. We were blown away by the creativity and flavors at Skylon, it was a delicious and memorable end to our trip! Here are some pictures of our experience there…. Divine!
I recently contacted them and they kindly gave us a recipe which would pair perfectly with Vermentino this month. So if you find yourself abroad this year, stop by Skylon in London. Venison Carpaccio with Beets and Cabernet Sauvignon sauce Serves 2 300g loin of venison 2 bunches baby beetroot 80g toasted hazelnuts 40g shaved Parmesan 50ml Cabernet Sauvignon vinegar 15ml Soy sauce 150ml Olive oil 40ml Hazelnut oil Rocket or baby watercress leaves
Guest Chef Recipe: Maple Roasted Butternut Squash Soup with Peekytoe Crab from Jay Murray, Grill 231/19/2009 Jay Murray, executive chef for Grill 23 in Boston, shares with Wine Unleashed his recipe for Maple Roasted Butternut Squash Soup with Peekytoe Crab, Golden Raisins and Toasted Almonds. Chef Murray is an award-winning chef, culinary scholar and “flavor theorist”. What all this means is that he takes his food and flavors very seriously. The outcome is food that’s flavorful and thoughtful. When I made this recipe, I thought, “Seems straightforward enough.” Well, to my palate's surprise, I was rewarded with layers of flavor, all that support the sweetness and richness of the crab. If Chef Murray was a painter, he could not have created a prettier picture. The suggested pairing of the Auxerrois from this month’s selection adds to the symphony of flavors. The acid in the wine keeps everything in check and the body supports the richness. When you are in Boston next... check out Grill 23 for Chef Murray’s other creations.
Maple Roasted Butternut Squash Soup with Peekytoe Crab, Golden Raisins and Toasted Almonds Peekytoe Crab Salad
Maple Roasted Butternut Squash Soup
After hosting the Julia Child Book Club meeting, I realized that I could entertain despite this economy. How, you ask? By finding recipes that feature inexpensive ingredients that are interesting and full of flavor, with leftovers that also can be made into other dinners and freeze well. A personal side note for me—I try to make healthy versions of the recipes. For the book club, I spent around $100 on ingredients for the cassoulet. From that one dish, I was able to feed 10 women, and had about 4 frozen dinners (for 3 people in my family, so 12 more servings). For a total of 22 servings, that comes out to $4.54 per serving! Plus, it’s healthy and if you are a protein and legume lover like me, a cassoulet is your ticket. The frozen portions were also a huge time saver for me, which a working mom like me can really appreciate.
And what about wine, you ask? Besides the obvious answer of drinking less wine (which I do not recommend) and that you order your wine from me, here are some tips to keep your palate buzzing without breaking the bank.
On the heels of celebrating my visit with Elisabetta of Sono Montendoli, I had the opportunity to delve into the life of yet another great woman—Julia Child. I was leaving for Europe and a good friend had just finished reading My Life in France by Julia Child and Alex Prud’Homme. She was completely taken by the book and thought that I MUST read. And as it turns out, it was also the latest selection for our book club. I hosted the meeting at my home. So last Friday night, I hosted a fun-filled event for 10 women. We started the evening off with a Crémant from Alsace that was paired with Julia’s mussels. Her butter-rich recipe was a bit different from my usual preparation (straw, please). For the main course, I made Julia’s cassoulet and a simple arugula salad. The scramble to get all this done on a Friday night was well worth it (well, maybe not for the one surprise vegan present). For the pairing, we had the 2005 Domaine Santa Duc Côtes du Rhônes Les Quatre Terres. The earthiness nuzzled in nicely with the robust meat flavors. As classic pairing formula goes “Grown Together, Go Together.” This wine will definitely be in the Everyday Libations selection for October. At $15.50 a bottle, this served up big flavor for the fall. And for dessert, an apple tarte tatin! C’est formidable! Over the course of the evening, we each took turns talking about what we liked/disliked about the book, and why Julia Child is still relevant today. For the most part, we were all inspired by Julia—a woman who blossomed late in life and was able to follow her passion. Her stories about post-war Paris, her sweet relationship with her husband and her dedication to recipe research were all things we enjoyed. Julia’s candid comments about Simca and other friendships showed us that she was human, and in the words of one woman, “Her honesty made the book believable.” There was one naysayer in the group. She felt that Julia Child was a bit of an ingrate and she should have been more politically tolerant of her father, since she benefited from his wealth. She also felt that Julia’s intolerance with Simca’s point of view was problematic. In the end, Julia Child is just as relevant today as she was 40 years ago. From a cooking and business leadership standpoint, she is a great role model. She made smart decisions that helped her achieve her success. I, for one, loved this book and am inspired by yet another powerful life force. 1. Don’t obsess about your food in front of your guests.
2. Make sure your guests have plenty of water whenever you are plying them with bottles of wine. 3. Try to remember people’s food allergies (the real ones). 4. Be gracious upon accepting hostess gifts. Your guest made an effort. 5. Be gracious when a hostess gift is not presented. Gifts are just that, do not expect one. 6. Be gracious when people are late for a valid reason and let ‘em have it the next day if they were just being flaky. 7. Don’t spend your whole paycheck on one dinner party. Be realistic. 8. If you do know something about wine, be gracious about what’s being served. If you don’t know anything about wine, keep your snotty comments to yourself. You’ll eventually get caught. 9. If vegetarians are present, don’t toast the baby veal for having his legs tied up so that you can eat tender meat. 10. When you are a guest, remember to engage in conversation with the other dinner party guests by asking questions. 11. Whether you are a guest or a host, remember to not dominate the dinner conversation for the entire evening. 12. When you are the host, don’t ask someone to bring over the entire meal. 13. Do not tell dirty jokes/un-P.C. jokes unless EVERYONE is drunk and you know everyone in the room extremely well. 14. Don’t brag about how much a wine costs. If it is a special wine, there are subtle ways of bringing up this point. 15. Don’t cook things that are way beyond your skill level, hoping you might get lucky. 16. If you are the hostess’ husband and you have been at the ballgame all day smoking cigars and drinking and you find yourself ill…try to find your way to a bathroom that is out of ear shot of your guests. 17. If you are a guest and are weary of the hostess’ food, don’t bribe the other guests to take the first bite. 18. If you are the guest and you don’t like the food, learn how to eat, smile and distribute the food on your plate like you have eaten a lot. 19. Don’t get drunk before dinner is served. 20. If you are the host, be constantly aware of your guests’ food and liquid intake. Be prepared to keep their glass full and have plenty of food. 21. If you are the guest, don’t grab the wine bottle and take swigs from it because the host forgets to refill your glass. 22. Be gracious upon accepting compliments. Say “thank you” and “you’re welcome”. 23. If you don’t know how to cook, then you can reciprocate the dinner invitation by ordering food in or taking your hosts to dinner. Or try taking a bloody cooking lesson. 24. Keep a sense of humor about you. 25. If you don’t have a lot money to entertain, a smile and a gracious attitude can go a long way when serving peanut butter and jelly—no joke! 26. If you are the host, make sure there are non-alcoholic drinks for those persons who cannot drink alcohol. 27. If you are the guest, be aware that the hostess has gone to a lot of effort / money for the party. Be gracious and thankful. 28. If you are family, all of these rules still apply. 29. If you are the hostess, remember to eat something so when you have a sip of wine, it won’t go straight to your head. 30. If you are a guest, don’t start to eat until the hostess is seated and has lifted her fork. 31. When toasting, don’t slam your hostess’ crystal into others. Try a simple “tink” or simply raising your glass and looking at each person in the eyes and nodding is perfectly acceptable. 32. Don’t go to someone’s house and immediately turn the ballgame on. 33. If you are the hostess and there happens to be an “important” game on and it isn’t too distracting, offer your guests the TV. 34. For the most part, the TV should be off when you have guests over. 35. If you are the host and your dog pees when excitedly greeting guests, make sure he is put away for the evening. 36. If you are the host and you know that a guest is allergic to your cat, make sure they are away for evening. 37. If you are the guest with cat allergies and you know that your host has one, remember to bring a non-drowsy decongestant. 38. If you are the hostess, keep your eye on the prize and remember why you are going to all this effort. 39. If you bring a bottle of wine over to someone’s house, don’t expect that it will be opened that night. If you want to bring a special bottle to share, discreetly arrange before the dinner party. 40. If you are the guest, don’t arrive with uninvited guests. 41. If you are the guest and it was ok to bring your child/children, make sure your children are well behaved or don’t bring them. Don’t let your child leave the dinner table with greasy, dirty hands and faces, no matter how old they are. 42. Try to RSVP to the hostess in a timely manner, not hours beforehand. 43. If you are the guest, don’t stay too late. Your hostess has worked hard and still has a ton of cleanup to do. 44. If you are the guest, don’t dash off right after dessert is served. 45. If you are the hostess, make sure your spouse/significant other is in the room seeing to the conversation and guests while you are serving up dinner. 46. If you find you have cottonmouth, you probably have been talking too much and not asking enough questions. 47. If you are a picky eater (not real allergies), inform your hostess of ONE OR TWO things you don’t like to eat. If you are served something you don’t like, pick around it or next time, stay home or bring your own food. 48. If you are the hostess, try to accommodate vegetarians when you can. 49. If you are the guest and you are a vegetarian, don’t demand everything that is served be vegetarian. 50. If you are the guest, don’t overbook yourself for the evening. 51. For both parties, take the high road and kill ‘em with kindness and a smile. You might actually have fun. |
AuthorAngela Camacho, a certified sommelier and author of a best selling wine tool, The Wine Wheel®, shares her obsession with wine and food. Archives
May 2016
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