Please Do Not Call Me a Sommelier
I know, Foodista. You’ve gotten used to my weekly enthusiastic postings about esoteric wines, full of an embarrassing amount of exclamation points, numerous parenthetical asides, and an unnerving propensity for semi-colons instead of just separating two damn sentences with a period. (I can’t help it; it’s who I am!)
This week’s going to be a little different.
Why, you ask? Well, my hackles got raised by a blog post in the Seattle Weekly called “7 Reasons Why Your Sommelier Hates You.” First of all: duh, I get it. It’s supposed to be a bit of a tongue-in-cheek, humorous piece. Well, based on the majority of the comments, no one is getting the joke. Sommelier humor? Please. I guess the part that bothered me the most was a sommelier who gets a bit perturbed when someone orders a big red wine with fish:
“I hate it when people ask for a huge, meaty red like a California Cabernet or a Southern Rhone to go with something delicate like fish; it just kills any chance that they have of enjoying either component of their meal.”
Seriously? You know that I will not enjoy both my food and wine? Or you are aghast that people actually make choices based on what they want rather than what someone deems appropriate? This is the height of sommelier arrogance and ego. Boo! These are my colleagues?!? Pass me a can of High Life! (I actually do love High Life. It’s mild, smooth flavor tends not to overpower delicate fish.)
I responded with a well-reasoned, non-provocative comment:
“I don’t mind if someone wants a Napa Cab to go with their fish. If it’s what your customer wants, enjoys, and is paying for, then that’s the best food and wine pairing.”
You can read the rest of the comments to see how this ended; there are people who agreed with me and others who thought I didn’t get the joke or the point of the post. (Oh, and ALL CAPS makes a brief appearance, provoking a shift in the direction of my comments from judicious to snarky.)
So while I can blather on about Gervrey-Chambertin, Savennieres, blah blah, have years of experience in the industry, and have minor certifications from the International Sommelier Guild, please don’t call me a sommelier. I’m just a wine guy, working in a grocery store, wearing a name tag, and helping you find diapers and trash bags.
And though I would rather have a sparkling wine or a crisp, dry white with (most) fish, the best wine advice I could every give is this: Drink what you like.
PS: You are all invited to my place for fish and Napa Cabernet.
Jameson Fink is a wine buyer at a bustling grocery store in Seattle’s Capitol Hill neighborhood. He moved to Seattle from Chicago (where he dabbled in the restaurant and wine industries) five years ago to pursue a full-time career in wine. You can read more of his musings about wine on his blog, Sparkling Vouvray. He’d rather be drinking Champagne and eating popcorn right now.
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- My New Favorite Esoteric Wine
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- Chardonnay and Oak. Together. Why Can’t We Be Happy For Them?
| Categories: | wine | 2 Comments |
Tasmanian Sparkling Wine Fever: Catch It!
I get so bored with the wines I am normally presented with at work. Napa Cab? Yawn. Another mediocre, overpriced Washington wine with a dreadful label? I shudder. Frankly, I’m jaded. But when something new and totally unexpected comes my way, it reminds me of why I love both my job and bottled, fermented grape juice. This just happened when I was invited to lunch by a wine importer.
So what came out his bag that was to become my latest wine crush? Sparkling wine from Tasmania. Yes, Tasmania. That island off the southeastern coast of Australia. I know, when you think Tasmania you’re thinking about that famous, copyrighted cartoon character known for his energy, quick temper, and a contentious relationship with a certain wise-cracking, carrot-chomping rabbit. Hey, I was in the same boat. But it’s time to expand your horizons and equate high-quality sparkling wine with this remote island.
I must stress that I like the Clover Hill for more than just its esoteric qualities. It’s delicious. The juice is barrel-aged like many of the most famous, pricey French Champagnes. So you have a very rich and complex still wine made magical and sultry with the addition of bubbles.
Wait, who the hell am I kidding? Forget about all this back-pedaling “it’s all about what’s in the bottle” BS! It’s from Tasmania!!! How cool is that?!? Drink it up!
So Foodista-ists, what was the last wine with unusual origins you enjoyed?
Jameson Fink is a wine buyer at a bustling grocery store in Seattle’s Capitol Hill neighborhood. He moved to Seattle from Chicago (where he dabbled in the restaurant and wine industries) five years ago to pursue a full-time career in wine. You can read more of his musings about wine on his blog, Sparkling Vouvray. He’d rather be drinking Champagne and eating popcorn right now.
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- Reconsidering Aussie Red Wines
- My New Favorite Esoteric Wine
- Alsatian Riesling: Dry and Delicious
- Chardonnay and Oak. Together. Why Can’t We Be Happy For Them?
| Categories: | wine | 5 Comments |
Meatless Monday: Cheddar, Spinach, and Pepper Omelet Sandwich
I love omelets. Really–give it to me florentine-style, or with mushrooms and hot peppers, or even (gasp) with some ham or bacon. Omelets are super adaptable to whatever ingredients are cluttering your vegetable drawer, and of course, super delicious.
An omelet sandwich is even better: perfect for a hearty breakfast, lunch, or light supper. Try it with different cheeses and breads! (pepperjack on pita? mozzarella on English muffins? gruyere on sourdough?)
Click through to the full recipe and list of ingredients:
To lighten up an otherwise heavy omelete, I used two whole eggs and two egg whites. Separate an egg by holding it upright, carefully cracking the top, and tilting it so that the white runs into the bowl and the yolk is preserved.
Whisk together your two egg whites, your two eggs, and a tablespoon of nonfat milk in a large bowl. Salt and pepper to taste, and add a splash of your favorite hot sauce (another moment in which I say: Cholula is practically ambrosia. Amazing).
Set the bowl aside. Chop up a medium red bell pepper and small sweet onion, and throw in a large pan on high heat. Add a glug of olive oil. Allow to saute for three or four minutes or until properly softened.
Reduce pan to medium heat, and pour in the egg mixture. Allow to cook for another three or so minutes, then pop it under the broiler. Broil two minutes or so or until lightly browned.
Sprinkle cheese on your sliced bagel, and broil until melted. Delicious.
Cut the omelet in half, fold, and place on top of one of the bagel halves. Top with a handful of baby spinach leaves, and the remaining bagel half. Consume with gusto.
What are your favorite omelet fillings? Any tips for getting an ideal, fluffy consistency? Let us know in the comments!
–Anneka Gerhardt, Foodista staffer.
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| Categories: | Meatless Monday | 4 Comments |
Seattle’s U-District Food Bank: Fighting Hunger & Inspiring Chefs
On Seattle’s University Avenue, an area where college students grab coffee, hang out at trendy bars, and frequent hip clothing stores, there quietly exists an organization that caters to another demographic entirely.
The University District Food Bank, each week, serves more than 1,000 families in Northeast Seattle, allowing them to choose groceries from stocked shelves to meet their nutritional needs. In 2008, the food bank had more than 46,500 customer visits and distributed over 1.8 million pounds of food—an astounding feat for a physically tiny organization. Nationally, the need for food banks is growing. According to US Department of Agriculture (USDA) data from 2008, 17.3 million people live in households that are considered to have “very low food security,” a USDA term that means one or more people in the household were hungry over the course of the year because of the inability to afford enough food. This number has increased from 11.9 million in 2007 and 8.5 million in 2000.
The University District Food Bank, one of the most successful nonprofits in North Seattle, not only fills an important service niche, it also participates in unique outreach events.
Last Saturday, I had the privilege to attend Ready Set Go Cook, a live, Iron Chef-style competition between local chefs Zephyr Paquette (of Elliott Bay Café) and Justin Newstrum (of Portage Bay Café). The chefs’ challenge: to make, on the spot, a dish using fresh ingredients from the morning’s farmers’ market, as well as ingredients sourced from whatever was on the shelves at the University Food Bank. Local, ethical, low-cost ingredients were combined in delicious and creative ways before the audience’s eyes.
A pantry of ingredients from the food bank, from which the chefs pulled ingredients, was highly visible during the event.
After being scored by the judges, Zephyr Paquette came out on top, with Justin Newstrum scoring an extremely close second.
Click through for Zephyr’s winning recipe for a delicious tuna-topped summer salad.
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| Categories: | Events • Uncategorized | 1 Comment |
Reconsidering Aussie Red Wines
Though I love white wines from Australia, I’ve become more and more disenchanted with the reds. They all seem to be port-like in their alcohol levels and are heavy and sweet, bludgeoning your palate with oak and fruit. Once the darling of critics and consumers in the halcyon days of the early 2000s, Australia is facing a bit of a crisis in its wine industry. As detailed in the Wine Spectator, there is a glut of Aussie wine out there to the tune of 100 million cases. (Good news: You’ll get 10% off when you purchase by the millions.) Now everyone wants Malbec from Argentina and has left Aussie Shiraz holding the bag.
So in my line of work I am getting all kinds of crazy deals and close-outs. Recently I had a red from Australia poured for me with a bit of age on it and I was really impressed: the 2004 Poonawata Estate Eden Valley Shiraz Monties Block. Even though it clocks in at a hefty 15% alcohol, which is pretty typical for South Australia, it was not drinking like so many over-the-top Aussie wines. Age has mellowed out the fruit and oak components and some really interesting secondary characteristics had appeared, like aromas of licorice and flavors of baking chocolate and coffee. (Normally I am loathe to detail aromas and flavors of wines as it reminds me of one of my pet peeves in this industry: mind-numbing, arbitrary, laundry list wine reviews.)
So if you are tired of Aussie Shiraz, I suggest seeking out bottles with some age on them or explore the reds outside of the famous regions of Barossa Valley and McLaren Vale. Here’s a map. I would especially recommend checking out Western Australia and the cool(er) climate wines from Margaret River. I’ve even had some sparkling wines from Tasmania that are really cool.
So what do you think of Aussie Reds? Have you moved on to Malbec? Still drinking the classics? Or experimenting with new regions and grapes?
Jameson Fink is a wine buyer at a bustling grocery store in Seattle’s Capitol Hill neighborhood. He moved to Seattle from Chicago (where he dabbled in the restaurant and wine industries) five years ago to pursue a full-time career in wine. You can read more of his musings about wine on his blog, Sparkling Vouvray. He’d rather be drinking Champagne and eating popcorn right now.
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- Chardonnay and Oak. Together. Why Can’t We Be Happy For Them?
| Categories: | wine | 4 Comments |
Meatless Monday: Poblano, Mango, and Black Bean Quesadillas
Sometimes it feels like Mexican food is all ground beef and refried beans—even tostadas are covered with icky, lard-y beans and gloppy sour cream. While Tex-Mex is a delicious indulgence once in a while, lately I’ve found myself craving Mexican food with a little more snappy flavor and a little less guilt.
Celebrate the end of summer by added a little tropical fruit to your quesadilla! Skeptical? I was too. But the sweetness of the mango totally balances and plays off the spice of the poblano pepper, leaving you pleasantly full and entirely satisfied.
Click through for the full recipe:
Glug a little olive oil into a frying pan, and add your diced sweet onion (deliciously in-season). Allow to sizzle while you seed and chop a whole poblano pepper.
A note: after a bad experience seeding a jalapeno with my bare hands a few weeks ago, leaving me with mild chemical burns and utterly unable to touch my face for a whole day, I was more than a little nervous to battle this poblano. And no, I hadn’t been smart enough to purchase disposable gloves (d’oh). Lucky for me, I remembered a recent #KitchenTip tweeted by @Foodista: coat hands with olive oil to prevent oil from spicy peppers from adhering to your fingers. It worked! Hurray. Note my shiny hands in the photo below.
Add chopped poblano to frying pan. Salt and pepper to taste. Your eyes might start watering! Retreat if necessary. Allow mixture to sauté for a few minutes, or until onions are tender.
Add the rinsed black beans to the pan. Allow to heat for about a minute.
In this time, peel and cube an avocado…
…and a small mango. (If you’re like me and have no idea how to properly cube a mango, watch this video tutorial by Chef Allen Susser).
Pull your frying pan off the heat and stir in the mango and avocado. Yum.
Prepare your tortillas by either frying them in butter (my favorite), or arranging them on a lightly greased cookie sheet, covering them with a small handful of cheddar cheese each, and letting the cheese melt under your oven’s broiler.
Spread the bean mixture over half of each tortilla and fold over. Cut into three pieces, and serve with a dollop of sour cream or guacamole! Enjoy.
Do you have any favorite vegetarian Mexican dishes? Let us know in the comments!
–Anneka Gerhardt, Foodista staffer.
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| Categories: | Meatless Monday | 4 Comments |
My New Favorite Esoteric Wine
I love rosé. If you can make a pink wine out of any grape and it’s dry, I’m interested. So when I found out that Austrian dynamo producer Hofer made a rosé, I was thrilled and ready to step over anybody to try it. Naturally, Foodista blog faithful, you remember me extolling the virtues of a red Zweigelt that Hofer makes in a one-liter size sealed with a bottle cap. (Oh, you don’t remember? Well, in the midst of wiping away the tears flooding my keyboard, I’ll try to find the time to give you a link.)
Anyway, Zweigelt is a traditional grape from Austria that is a bit earthy and a lot juicy. It makes really fun reds that, for me, are some of the ultimate BBQ companions. And if these wines weren’t weird enough, just try to sell a rosé version. (Dearest Hofer: Thank you for doing so.) This is a rosé wholly in my wheelhouse: pale, austere, and mega-dry. It also, as you will see in the photo on the right, has a bit of spritz to it. Just a touch that reminded me of drinking Vinho Verde from Portugal.
So step up to your winemonger and demand Austrian Zweigelt Rosé! Either they will give you a blank stare, scream in terror, or maybe lean in for a hug for validating their eccentricity. (You’d be right to think I’d respond with the latter, but I’m anti-hugging.)
So in the world of wine, what bizarre bottles pique your interest?
Jameson Fink is a wine buyer at a bustling grocery store in Seattle’s Capitol Hill neighborhood. He moved to Seattle from Chicago (where he dabbled in the restaurant and wine industries) five years ago to pursue a full-time career in wine. You can read more of his musings about wine on his blog, Sparkling Vouvray. He’d rather be drinking Champagne and eating popcorn right now.
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| Categories: | Organic • wine | 1 Comment |
Meatless Monday: Yum Veggie Sandwiches, Open Face
It’s Monday night. You burst in the door from work, exhausted, irritated, and utterly unwilling to cook. Your sole desire is to flop on the couch and have someone fork-feed you a cheeseburger. But… what about Meatless Mondays?
This week’s recipe is not only as simple as they come but completely adaptable to whatever ingredients you have in your fridge. It takes ten minutes to prep, tops, and only five to cook.
Click through for the full directions and list of ingredients:
Assemble your ingredients—seasonal, juicy sweet onions, ripe tomatoes, buttery avocado, crunchy alfalfa sprouts and toasted sesame seeds. Pop two sliced English muffins in the toaster and set the oven to broil. Dice the tomatoes. Dice the onions. Mash the avocados.
After placing the muffins face up and close together on a cookie sheet, thickly cover them with mashed avocado. Although the original recipe recommended the use of only one avocado, I’m kind of a fanatic. I used two. Double the avocado, double the fun.
Your next layer will consist of the alfalfa sprouts, followed by the chopped sweet onion. At this point, I decided to add the requisite ranch dressing—and let me tell you, this is the key to success. I covered each muffin with a tablespoon, and they may have been a little too gooey. I recommend around two teaspoons per muffin, but if ranch is your thing, hey. Go crazy. Salt and pepper to taste. I added some of my favorite hot sauce (Cholula), which was fabulous.
Cover the ranch-y, sprout-y, onion-y avocado-muffs with the diced tomatoes and sprinkle lightly with sesame seeds. Next time, I’d love to try any number of garnishes: pine nuts or sunflower seeds spring to mind. Add a small handful of sharp shredded cheddar to each muffin, pop under the broiler for a few minutes (it only took three and a half minutes for the cheese on mine to start bubbling). BAM. A crunchy, filling, kind-of-unbelievably-decadent vegetarian sandwich. Although… can you really call it a sandwich if it’s open face? Discuss.
–Anneka Gerhardt, Foodista staffer
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| Categories: | Meatless Monday | 7 Comments |
Sixty Days of Baking
In the past year, I’ve lived in four states. Before moving to Seattle, I was working in the art department of film production. Shuffling from Boston to Philadelphia to Hamden, Connecticut. In the film world, as well as in television, there’s a magical land on set that everyone prizes above all else: Craft Service. There are unicorns and rainbows and butterflies and…Okay there aren’t butterflies. But when you’re working a twelve hour shift, the sprawling and elaborate spread of snacks and goodies feels quite a bit like the inside of the pearly gates. Cast and crew flock to it. The catering companies are known on a first name basis. The idea is that well-fed workers will be both happy and productive. I don’t know about the happy, but I think the productive part is true.
Now, if you’ve read any of my babble here on this blog in the last few months, you might already know about my passion for baking. I practically wrote a love poem to butter, sugar, flour, and eggs in my previous post. That’s what cream cheese pound cake will induce. But if you haven’t read any of my tales, I’ll have you know: I love to bake. The energy, the finesse, the decoration, and certainly the tastes of what’s made from scratch. For me, a Sunday isn’t quite as special without me in my kitchen whipping up confection after confection, throwing one to two pans at the wall, and cursing. So one lovely Sunday last fall, while I was living in Philadelphia, I decided to package some of my sweets and tote them to set with me the next day. Hmm….what does Jack Nicholson prefer…chocolate or vanilla…?
What began as “a simple sweet treat” for my coworkers turned into homemade oreos, congo bars, and oatmeal cream pies. A good indication that my brain does not register words like “one” or “simple.” The bake shop I set up in the production office on that Monday was a hit. Or a hoot, whichever way you choose to look at the obscenity. Within thirty minutes, a line had formed to my own little craft service station, and the goodies were gone.
I think a part of their appeal was that they were homemade. More special than, say, Chips Ahoy. Making people happy (even if just through their taste buds) felt wonderful. And because I wanted to maintain that joyful high, I did it again on Tuesday, but this time the treats were black and white cookies, and Wednesday we had coconut cupcakes, Thursday was cheesecake, and on and on until I started bringing desserts in with names that needed phonetic spelling and a dictionary: “What the hell is ganache? And why did you coulis the raspberries?”
Each morning I was not only carrying my laptop, but a few tupperware containers of sweets. Everyday something new. When I had exhausted my own recipe collection, I went to my Nana. When I realized that Nana should never have been allowed to set foot near an oven, much less a stovetop, I went to my second grandmother, Julia Child. I read cookbooks, blogs, and the backs of sugar packages for inspiration.
In all, it was sixty straight days of baking. I’m not sure that’s even something to be proud of. It might be better classified as “the time I should have been in that institution where they filmed Shutter Island.” Either way, I was happy. Content to work a twelve hour day in film and moonlight as a baker. When asked how I found the time to do it, I responded with the only true statement I knew at the time, “You find time for the things you love.” My boyfriend might have disagreed.
That span of two months was bliss: I made quite a few friends, learned new baking techniques, new recipes, the art of cake decorating, that there is a such thing as a sugar-induced coma, and that even though you think you deserve a medal for your hard work, Oprah only wants guests on her show who have done something remarkable for humanity. Unfortunately.
This story might merit a disclaimer: Don’t try this at home.
Here are two of recipes I brought to the film set that first day.
- Andrea Mitchell, Foodista staff and blogger at CanYouStayForDinner.com
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| Categories: | Uncategorized | 3 Comments |
Cream Cheese Pound Cake
Since I was a tiny baby…scratch that, I was never a tiny baby. Since I was a venti-sized baby, I’ve been baking. I know, impossible. A newborn with a whisk? Sometimes I wonder.
But it’s true. I find baking when I scan my oldest memories. Flour dusting over third birthday parties, crumbly dough balls wedged in between that time the front tire popped off my Big Wheel and I learned that pesky cursive “Q,” a melted butter sheen on my first love letter.
How did my crib get in the kitchen? A question I ask because my mom never invited me in. And not to say that I wasn’t welcomed, I just wasn’t drawn in out of encouragement. We never set out on an afternoon chocolate chip cookie project. No, rather, it was the scent of pound cake that caught my nose and captured me. The Bishop’s Cake, freshly baked, having leapt from the black and white pages of The Silver Palate cookbook and onto my formica countertop. So heaven is a smell, I thought.
I’ve always been an observer. Keen on watching people, things, and events like I was going to be tested on my recollection later. A shame I didn’t go the detective route. A wonder I didn’t do better on my SAT verbal. I’m intensely interested in how things are made and in the manner in which others go about doing things. Fitting that I’d sit for hours on the painted oak footstool in the kitchen and watch my mother put on a magic show with butter, sugar, flour, and eggs. What’s her trick? Though never a rabbit, the sweets she pulled out of the oven were magnificent- different every time.
I soon became the magician’s apprentice. Cracking eggs into the bowl, stirring, and running a knife’s edge along the top of her measuring cup, excess flour dropping off the sides. I learned the timing. I learned the precision. I learned the delicate nature of baking. And my favorite- the requisite taste testing. There’s value in wrapping your tongue around the beater’s wires to get every last lick of buttercream. What that value is, I’m not aware, but my belly is, and I’d say that’s enough. I leave most major decisions to that part of me- the wisdom of my waist.
I spent years at my mother’s side, asking questions, watching cupcakes dome through the oven door, learning to read almost exclusively by recipe cards. I divided my time between Sesame Street and Julia Child. And somehow, without consciously realizing the transition, I became the baker. Funny how that happens.
I sit here now in my own kitchen, a coast away from my mother, and recreate the confections we once made. The ones that drew me, nose first, into the kitchen, tied themselves to moments in my life, and tucked themselves away in the closet of my memory. And even as an adult… the butter, the sugar, the flour and the eggs…they still feel like magic.
Cream Cheese Pound Cake (recipe courtesy How to Eat A Cupcake)
makes one 10″ tube cake or two loaves
1 1/2 cups (3 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 package (8 ounces) cream cheese, at room temperature
3 cups sugar
6 large eggs, at room temperature
3 cups cake flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract
1 teaspoon almond extract
**Note: I halved the recipe to only make one loaf. The pictures depict half of the ingredients called for.
Preheat the oven to 325°F. Lightly butter a 10-inch tube pan, then line the bottom with parchment paper. Alternately, you can use two 8×4″ loaf pans. I cut the recipe in half and made 1 loaf.
If using the loaf pans, line them with parchment paper- cut one long thin strip to cover the pan length-wise, then a short and wide piece to cover it width-wise. This will form a sling to aid in removing the cake from the pan.
Your eggs should be at room temperature for this recipe- as they’re crucial to the proper rising of the cake. If you were not able to bring them to temperature over the period of an hour or two, place them in a small bowl with warm water and let them stand for fifteen minutes.
Whisk together the flour and salt in a medium bowl. Set aside.
Place the butter, cream cheese, and sugar in the bowl of a stand mixer (or use an electric hand-held mixer) and beat on medium speed for 5 minutes.
Add the eggs, one at a time, beating for 30 seconds after each addition and scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed.
With the mixer on low speed, add half of the flour mixture. Gradually increase speed to medium and beat for 30 seconds.
Beat in the extracts.
Add the remaining flour and beat on medium speed for 30 seconds. Scrape the bowl thoroughly.
Pour the batter into the prepared pan(s) and shake lightly to even out the top. Bake until the cake is golden brown and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, 1 hour and 15 minutes.
Place the pan(s) on a wire rack and cool for 10 minutes, then remove the cake from the pan and let it cool completely. Serve at room temperature.
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| Categories: | Uncategorized | 11 Comments |
Alsatian Riesling: Dry and Delicious
I attended a tasting earlier this week that included a selection of Alsatian Rieslings from Domaine Weinbach. This French wine region is nestled between the Vosges mountains and the Rhine River, very close to the German border. Riesling is arguably the most famous wine from Alsace, but you’ll also find Pinot Gris, Pinot Blanc, Gewurztraminer, and excellent sparkling wines (Cremant d’Alsace).
Although the wines of Alsace are some of the first that really got me interested in a world beyond California Chardonnay, they can be frustrating. It’s hard to know whether or not they will be dry or have a bit of sweetness. Thankfully some producers, such as Zind-Humbrecht, have started discreetly labeling the level of sweetness in their wines. But if you are looking for great dry Riesling, I would steer you towards Domaine Weinbach. I got to try a selection of different vintages and vineyards and what I came away with was that all of these wines have fantastic richness and concentration without being heavy or tiresome. These whites have great acidity to balance out all that lush fruit. And boy can they age. A Riesling from the 2001 vintage was spectacular; nowhere near the end of its life. With age, the color of the wine became deeper and more golden. I also detected some subtle smoky/flinty notes that reminded me of German Riesling.
If you were taking an Alsatian Riesling home for dinner, I think it would be lovely with richer seafood such as salmon, crab, or lobster. If you were in Alsace, you would definitely have loads of pork with your wine; that is the classic pairing of the region. And if you are enjoying the wine on its own, I suggest being outside like I was. Domaine Weinbach Riesling and the outdoors may be the best pairing of them all.
Jameson Fink is a wine buyer at a bustling grocery store in Seattle’s Capitol Hill neighborhood. He moved to Seattle from Chicago (where he dabbled in the restaurant and wine industries) five years ago to pursue a full-time career in wine. You can read more of his musings about wine on his blog, Sparkling Vouvray. He’d rather be drinking Champagne and eating popcorn right now.
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- Tasmanian Sparkling Wine Fever: Catch It!
- Reconsidering Aussie Red Wines
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| Categories: | wine | 2 Comments |
Meatless Monday: Tomato Bread Soup
As our sunny, bright July becomes August, our shadows are lengthening and deciduous trees are beginning to show the first blushes of autumn color. In honor of late summer tomato season, I give you a recipe that will make full use of the tomatoes hanging heavy in your garden. This Tuscan soup (Jamie Oliver’s recipe) can be either a light appetizer for your next dinner party or beautifully filling entrée for a summer night. The best part about this soup? It doesn’t need to simmer for hours – in fact, you can throw it together in around thirty minutes.
Click through for the detailed recipe and list of ingredients:
Gather your ingredients: basil, garlic, cherry tomatoes, extra virgin olive oil, canned plum tomatoes, stale crusty bread. If your house is like mine, a good-quality French or sourdough loaf is devoured fresh–stale artisan bread does not exist in my life. However, it was a problem easily fixed: I bought a loaf of fresh crusty bread, sliced it in half horizontally, and stuck it in the oven for about fifteen minutes on a low heat. Ta-da! Stale bread.
Prick your cherry tomatoes, and toss them with olive oil, one sliced clove of garlic, and some basil leaves. Roast in the oven at 350 degrees for 20 minutes. Mmmm.
To prep your soup pot, pour in a good glug of olive oil with the remaining sliced garlic and basil leaves and let sizzle for a minute. Try not to salivate. Add your canned plum tomatoes and around a cup and a half of water.
Just a note – I had an extraordinarily difficult time finding canned plum tomatoes. In a pinch, canned whole peeled tomatoes work as a substitute. Do not use diced!
Push the canned tomatoes apart with your spoon, allowing them to break apart and release their flavors into the broth. Bring the soup to a boil and let simmer for fifteen.
Season like mad – I ground up fresh sea salt and pepper into the mix. Tear up your stale bread into small (Jamie Oliver instructs, “thumb-sized”) pieces and add to the soup. Watch in awe as the stale bits become thoroughly soaked in bright red tomato juice. Let the soup sit on low heat for about ten minutes.
Your cherry tomatoes should come out of the oven ready to burst, with cracks in their skins. Add the whole shebang to the soup, including the garlic and basil from the bottom of the pan.
Stir gently, and if the soup is too thick (mine wasn’t), add a little water. Add a generous amount of olive oil (Jamie says six to seven tablespoons), and serve. If you’re like me, you’ll be utterly amazed by the sweet, intense tomato flavor. Delicious.
Do you have a favorite way to use late-summer tomatoes? Made tomato bread soup before? Let us know in the comments!
–Anneka Gerhardt, Foodista staffer.
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| Categories: | Meatless Monday | 6 Comments |
Gluten-Free Food: 2010’s Hot Trend?
I’ve recently read a few articles describing gluten-free diets as trendy. Heck, The Daily Beast added gluten-free food to its list of Top Ten Biggest Food Trends of 2010 , right alongside coconut, bacon-flavored sweets, and ‘tricked-out popcorn.’ It seemed a bit insensitive to me at first. While I agree that gluten-free diets do fall in line with the general definition of a trend, in that there seems to be a greater prevalence of individuals being diagnosed with celiac’s disease or at least a sensitivity to gluten, describing something as “trendy” also implies that it is a fad- popular, current, and possibly passing. And unfortunately for those who do have an intolerance to gluten (and therefore wheat and nearly all related grains), adopting a modified diet is anything but passing.
“So many people have wheat allergies, and even if they don’t, they just feel better if they don’t eat wheat,” says The Fancy Food Show’s Ron Tanner. His point was evident at this year’s event, where it seemed labels like organic, vegan, and gluten-free were everywhere you looked. Even the National Association for the Specialty Food Trade, the association organizing the show, felt similarly. Publicist Jennifer Lea Cohan was quoted in a New York Times article as saying, “Judging from this show you’d think the whole world had celiac disease.”
Lately, I’ve thought the same. In planning the International Food Blogger Conference, due to take place at the end of August here in Seattle, I couldn’t help but wonder if half of our attendee list was gluten-free. I’ve received emails and Twitter messages asking about the event, the agenda, and most frequently, the food. Will there be gluten-free options? Making careful note that many of our guests have dietary restrictions, I’ve spent time informing chefs that our hope at the event is to have quite the inclusive spread. A range of dishes for every palate and preference.
Only recently have I taken a closer look at the hard numbers of guests with these special dietary concerns. Now, with the conference sold out and hopeful attendees placed on a waiting list, I’m able to assess the list of roughly 250. What a surprise it’s been. Below is the distribution of eating restrictions for IFBC. To be clear, if someone was both gluten-free and vegetarian, they were counted once for each category. On the list of food allergies, no more than one or two people were noted as being allergic to each food.
IFBC Food Allergies and Eating Restrictions:
- Gluten-free: 17
- Vegetarian: 12
- Dairy-free: 9
- Vegan: 2
List of allergies:
Almonds
Avocados
Bananas
Corn
Egg yolk (large quantities)
Fish
Garlic
Hazelnuts
Lavender
Mushrooms
Nuts/seeds
Peanuts
Perilla
Pork
Potatoes
Raw onion (shallots, leeks, chives)
Raw pineapple
Rice
Roasting peppers (fumes)
Rosemary
Shellfish
Soy
Stone fruit (nectarines, peaches)
Strawberries
Interesting. Not nearly the stats I’d imagined from all of my correspondence with guests inquiring about gluten-free, vegan, and vegetarian options. How naive of me to think that a dozen or so emails meant gluten-free was taking over the world. Of course I’d only be hearing from folks with food allergies or serious restrictions. An omnivore isn’t going to send me letter informing, “I eat everything. Please plan accordingly.” The individuals with gluten-intolerance are wise to speak up about their needs. And while their voices don’t make them a majority, the prevalence and more mainstream status of the G-Free community can be viewed as a success. In her Examiner article, health writer Liz Schau points out, “Our lifestyle diets and ways of eating will be taken more and more seriously, in hopes that new standards for gluten-free certification and quality control and labeling will become regulated.”
What do you think about the prevalence of gluten-free diets? Do you think g-free food merits a spot on the Top Ten Food Trends of 2010?
-Andrea Mitchell, Foodista staff and blogger at CanYouStayForDinner.com
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| Categories: | Uncategorized | 10 Comments |
Chardonnay and Oak. Together. Why Can’t We Be Happy For Them?
If you’ve read any of my missives on the Foodista blog, you know I like weird, esoteric wines. Bring me your Picpoul, your Gros Manseng; I’ll take a blend of Colombard and Ugni Blanc, thank you. Chardonnay? Please. Well, as long as it’s unoaked. Then can I still keep my indie cred, right?
Well, I am here to tell you that oaked Chardonnay is not the devil. I came to this shocking conclusion while enjoying a sample bottle of 2008 MacMurray Ranch Sonoma Coast Chardonnay. Much like the Sideways-fueled Merlot bashing, Chardonnay is getting the cold shoulder from wine drinkers. Everybody wants to be in the ABC (Anything But Chardonnay) camp. How did this come to be? I know I cut my teeth in the world of white wine on Chardonnay, probably like 99% of all wine drinkers. How did we get here? I (naturally) have some thoughts:
- Waaay too much oak in Chardonnay. If a little is good, more is better. Right? Nope. Chardonnay got to the point where it felt like you were drinking it out of a wooden cup.
- No acidity. You know how a squeeze of lemon brightens up food? This is what Chardonnays were lacking. Winemakers were enamored with a process called malolactic fermentation. (Oh, you didn’t see me getting all Mr. Wizard on you, did you?) Basically, you take the zesty, citrusy acidity and turn it into something more creamy. Think lactic as in dairy.
- High alcohol, high sugar. Grapes were left to hang longer on the vine to achieve greater ripeness. Which means more sugar. Which means more potential for alcohol during fermentation. The FrankenChardonnay was born, and received wide critical praise. Like oak, more of everything was better. Chardonnay became more Anna Nicole Smith at the expense of Audrey Hepburn. (Personally, I like my Chardonnays lithe and charming, a la Holly Golightly.)
In contrast to this pumped-up style of Chardonnay, the MacMurray Ranch has subtle oak, decent acidity, and some real character. It’s balanced enough to drink on its own or would pair nicely with chicken, pork, or richer seafood dishes. And, as you can see in the above photos, MacMurray Ranch and the surrounding vineyards are gorgeous. (I got a chance to go there last year on a junket put together for my fellow grocery store wine brethren.) Fred MacMurray (yes, that Fred MacMurray) certainly knew a good thing when he saw it. And I think he’d continue to be proud of the unassuming, well-made wines (especially the Pinot Noirs) that carry his name.
So are you standing by your Chardonnay or finding yourself turning to alternative whites that are more lively and less oaky?
Jameson Fink is a wine buyer at a bustling grocery store in Seattle’s Capitol Hill neighborhood. He moved to Seattle from Chicago (where he dabbled in the restaurant and wine industries) five years ago to pursue a full-time career in wine. You can read more of his musings about wine on his blog, Sparkling Vouvray. He’d rather be drinking Champagne and eating popcorn right now.
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| Categories: | wine | 8 Comments |
Meatless Monday: Savory Caprese Crêpes
Crepes: I usually like mine with nutella and a little powdered sugar. Last week, I was inspired by 80 Breakfast’s recipe for chocolate-filled cinnamon sugar-crusted crepes (which, by the way, I highly recommend for dessert or brunch), but it got me thinking about how easy it would be to make a meal of savory crepes. You don’t really need any special equipment to make crepes—just a ladle and a frying pan. In terms of fillings, the sky’s the limit. For this post, I brainstormed ideas: should I make a spanakopita-inspired crepe, stuffed with feta and spinach, perhaps with a little tzatiki on the side? Or something more similar in style to a breakfast burrito, with scrambled eggs, mushrooms, and onions?
I settled on a caprese salad: mozzarella, basil, and sliced tomato. Be still, my beating heart.
I whipped up the crepe batter, which literally took me around six and a half minutes. We’re talking easy, folks. I whisked the ingredients (flour, milk, eggs, a little salt) together and then let the finished product sit overnight in my fridge. If you don’t want to let it stand overnight, I do recommend at least 20 minutes—in which time you can prep your filling.
Click through for the batter recipe:
I picked out some gorgeous late-summer tomatoes on the vine, organic basil, and fresh mozzarella balls (I’m a fanatic). If you’re using fresh mozzarella, I suggest letting it drain on paper towels for a while, lest it soak through your crepe.
More prep: slice the tomatoes as thin as you can. Cut the mozzarella into medallions. Tear up the basil.
I poured my crepe batter on a pancake griddle, but a large frying pan would work just as well. I used the ladle to distribute the batter evenly, and let the crepe cook on high heat until golden brown. If you’re making a large batch of crepes, put the finished ones on wax paper until all your batter is used up (the wax paper will keep them from getting soggy or sticking together).
Flipping crepes is a little tricky—use a combination of a spatula and your fingers to wrestle it onto its other side. Don’t panic if it folds, just readjust.
Once your finished crepes have cooled a little, distribute the mozzarella, tomato, and basil over half of the crepe. Salt and pepper to taste. Fold in half, then fold in half again to make a triangle with two layers of delicious filling. I chose to brush melted butter on both sides of the crepe, and then I popped it back on the griddle on low heat to warm the filling.
The result? Great success. The mozzarella was soft and warm but not gooey, and the tomato and basil were just right. A thought: next time I try this recipe, I want to add some herbs to the batter!
Do you have a favorite savory crepe recipe? Can you articulate the magic of how to execute a flawless crepe flip? Let us know in the comments!
–Anneka Gerhardt, Foodista staffer
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