Zuch and shrimp and peas and corn

Posted on August 4, 2014 by melsmosaic

…and SO good! Last weekend I caught up with a friend I hadn’t seen for 14 years and we both love to cook, so we had to make some good stuff. Well, I sifted through tons of recipes that I’d been wanting to make and decided on one from a recent issue of Health Magazine. It was actually pretty easy to make, but packed with flavor! So, the main dish of the night was Zucchini ‘Pasta’ with Shrimp.

Ingredients

4 large zucchini (about 2 1/2 lb.) — why weigh the stuff? that would make it right/be too easy
1 1/2 tablespoons olive oil
1 pound large shrimp (about 22), peeled and deveined
Salt and pepper
2 cups fresh corn kernels — I heard the freezer calling!
1 1/2 cups fresh peas — and that freezer called right back!
1/2 cup dry white wine — some people reading this blog are laughing at dry white wine. You just add water, right? I just went with the bottle that was open in the fridge, as I normally do.
2 tablespoons unsalted butter — because of my lactose issues, I used olive oil
2 tablespoons lemon juice
1/4 cup torn fresh basil

Prep

1. Using a vegetable peeler, shave sides of zucchini to create ribbons (discard peel), turning zucchini once you hit seedy core.

2. In a deep, heavy 12-inch skillet, warm oil over medium-high heat. Season shrimp with salt and pepper and cook, turning often, until just pink and cooked through, about 3 minutes. Transfer to a bowl.

3. Add corn and peas to skillet and cook, stirring, for 1 minute.

Add zucchini and wine. (Don’t worry about crowding skillet; zucchini will wilt.)

Cook, tossing with tongs, until zucchini is crisp-tender, 5 to 6 minutes. Add butter (or oil) and continue tossing until all vegetables are tender, about 1 minute. Add shrimp and cook, stirring, until shrimp are warmed through, about 1 minute more.

Remove skillet from heat. Stir in lemon juice and basil, season with salt and pepper and serve.

Prior to this we enjoyed some great figs with goat cheese, prosciutto and honey.

The food was all enjoyed with some of my favorite Oregon wines — Sokol Blosser (Pinot Noir) Rose and Penner Ash Pinot Noir. Such a rough night!

Bring me my wine!

Posted on June 20, 2014 by melsmosaic

Over the past couple weeks, I have tasted some amazing new wines that I’m finally writing about. They were great and I just want somebody to bring me more! Or, I suppose I could just go to the store and buy some.

#1 Duetorri Pinot Noir. Italy. Nice and fruity — cherries! Mild tannins, light. Affordable, too — about $10-$12/bottle.

#2 Sarah’s Vineyard Pinot Noir. Central Coast, CA. Just amazing, amazing tastes. That’s all that needs to be said. About $30/bottle.

#3 Antiche Tradizione Lambrusco Rosso IGP Sparkling Red. Italy. Love finding sparkling reds. Just a good bubbly to have, could also pair it with a salad with grilled meat. Can’t find the actual site with the info on it or more price info, but it was $10/glass.

#4 Franciscan Estate Merlot. Napa Valley, CA. This DID NOT take like a Merlot in the least. I don’t particularly enjoy Merlot and I would never have said that’s what this is. I would have claimed it as a Pinot. Dang! This one is about $25/bottle.

Have a great weekend of wine and please share any new ones you find and love!

SA Winery Visit #4 — Muratie

Posted on May 2, 2014 by melsmosaic

We were very fortunate on our winery tour because there were only 3 people in the group (vs up to 16). Our guide was also amazing. Based on the great blend of people, the guide made sure that we fit 4 wineries into the day and finished the outing with an amazing vineyard. The close the tour, we visited Muratie in the Stellenbosch.

It’s one of the oldest estates in South Africa and that is evidenced by the amazing wine, stories and other things you see.

They have not cleaned spider webs off some things to maintain ambiance…nice.

At Muratie we were once again able to choose which wines we would like to sample, and shared amongst each other.

I started with the Melck’s Rose, which was made with Cab Franc. Nice, crisp and refreshing. And a steal at R45.

Next I went to their Laurens Campher (Blended White). It’s 46% Chenin Blanc, 25% Sauvignon Blanc, 19% Verdolho, 10% Viognier. Buttery was my take on it. R95.

Then I had a quick sip of their Lady Alice Methode Cap Classique. Was this beer? The reason I say that is that it tasty yeasty. R120.

Ok, red time!!! Started with the Melck’s Red, a 50/50 Shiraz/Cab blend. Just a nice, easy dinner wine. R50.

Moving down the line, next came the George Paul Canitz Pinot Noir. It had a black pepper nose and for the taste — a bit of green pepper, chocolate and some berries. Quite unique. R165.

Then came Shiraz time, Ronnie Melck Shiraz to be exact, from the family selection. NICE!!!!!! Normally it’s not available for tasting but we lucked out. Smoke, tobacco, smooth…very similar to a pinotage. Very worthy of the price of R350.

To wrap up the tasting there was the fortified wine, Ben Prins Cape Vintage. With 19.5% alcohol, it was a bit chewy with notes of chocolate and blackberry. R170.

This winery was great to just look around and see fun parts of.

Amazing winery to wrap up an amazing day! It’s tough to get these/their wine in the States but I am going to keep working on it to continue enjoying amazing vino. Cheers!

SA Winery Visit #1 — Moreson

Posted on April 21, 2014 by melsmosaic

While in South Africa, one of the days was dedicated to a cycling winery tour. Sunny, 70s, paved and dirt roads, many grapes, heaven on earth!

Our first winery of the day was Moreson. To get there, we had about a 12K ride from our starting point. Wine was in order! It was a beautiful outdoor setting with fountains, ponds, little rivers and just a great atmosphere.

To start the tasting, we enjoyed some bubbly, their One Chardonnay Pinot Noir, which I would describe as a perfect balance between Champagne and Prosecco. Amazing! And of course you can only buy it in South Africa (for a rough R126 — about $12!)

We were given a second round of bubbly, this time Solitaire Blanc de Blancs. I would describe this as green apples, sharp and crisp, NICE! Another steal at R110.

We then progressed from bubbles to the regular stuff. Our first one was a white, the Dr. Reason Why Unwooded Chardonnay. Love the name! Though unoaked, there was a bit of light cream taste. R89.

Round 4 of the tasting brought about another Chard, this time the Mercator Premium Chardonnay. The nose had notes of lemon, lime and toast. The taste — NICE! It had a light toast taste but not like a ‘true’ chard (to me — saying this as not a big chard fan). R168.

Last but not least is what I love about South Africa the most — Pinotage. The sinful, powerful, delicious, perfect cross of Pinot Noir and Hermitage. Have your ever wondered how it came about? Here’s the quick history lesson on Pinotage. Thanks Wikipedia! This brought out all the characteristics of the varietal I expected — smoky and smooth…ahh, what a pour! R168.

This was a great start to the winery tour. Once done, we hopped back on our bikes to the next one…about 5K away.

Dip & Sip

Posted on February 7, 2014 by melsmosaic

I have a passion for baking and whipped up some Cappuccino Chocolate Chip biscotti last week. My friend and I finished dinner and we needed dessert so I went and found the remaining pieces of the goodies I’d baked. As we were sitting there enjoying our red wine, as well, I said…try dipping it in there. She looked at me for a second, went ahead with the suggestion and never turned back.

Many people equate biscotti with coffee, but find the right wine and the right flavor of treat to dunk and you have an amazing match! At this point in the night we were on my local ‘Two (or three) Buck Chuck’ since I can’t get Trader Joe’s wine because I live in MD. I get Pepperwood Grove (Pinot Noir for this circumstance) for $4.44 down the street at Rodman’s. Love it!

I work on savory biscotti, as well, that pairs nicely with a variety of white wines. Give them a try, dip & sip away!

New California Pinot

Posted on January 26, 2014 by melsmosaic

Was checking out some wine tastings yesterday and had a (red) wine recommended to me that was not on the tasting menu. As we got to talking about great grapes and new world wine (my favorite), the pourer/sampler/whatever you’d like to call them, recommended Meiomi Pinot Noir from California. The grapes are from 3 regions in the state — Monterey, Santa Barbara and Sonoma. Quite unique — definitely a light color (very Pinot), but was tough to nail down the flavors at first. Got a bit a spice, then some light vanilla/candy, and a bit of fruit. Also, a vintner who’s using screwtops, if that’s something that catches your attention. Worth trying. At the great store of Rodman’s in DC (a wine lover’s pitfall, among two others in the area) it was $16.

Wine Recap

Posted on January 19, 2014 by melsmosaic

Over the past month, I’ve had a nice spread of new wines that I’m finally getting around to posting about. From red to white to bubbly, I love trying new happy grapes to add options to my wine rack.

#1 — Fire Road Sauvignon Blanc, New Zealand. Citrus, apple, crisp, light, but still a nice weight to it. Price seems to range from $10-$16/bottle (when looking online).

#2 — Oakley Eighty-Two, California Red Wine. Who makes this one? One of my favorite vintners — Cline. Nice red blend that’s a bit heavier (jammy) and can pair with about anything. Great to have on hand to open and serve (or drink) whenever needed. Price is about $10-$12/bottle.

#3 — Diseno Old Vine Malbec, Argentina. Fruit and spice can make a wine so nice. Price is $8-$10.

#4 — Bleasdale Vineyards Sparkling Shiraz, Australia. I seek out sparkling reds. This one is better than some but a bit sweet. Was drinking it on New Year’s Day, though, so very fun for the occasion. Definitely worth trying. Price is $16-$20. Note, the picture in the link is different than the one below, they might have changed the bottle/label.

#5 — Alvarez de Toledo Roble, Spain. Just a nice red wine. I was at a friend’s place for dinner and it was out and it was so nice. Doing some searching looks like it’s about $8-$10 bottle.

Wente Chardonnay, Livermore Valley, California. Some apple, some tropical fruit. Aged in both barrels and stainless steel tanks it’s a very unique wine. Definitely a Chard I’ll add to my list. About $12-$14.

#6 — Two Hands Gnarly Dudes Shiraz, Australia. Berries, a hint of chocolate and smoke and a bit of pepper. Very nice. About $20-$25.

Christmas Dinner

Posted on December 26, 2013 by melsmosaic

Last night we enjoyed quite a nice dinner of surf and turf, and of course some of great sides. The menu included salt-cake rib roast, salt-cake snapper, grilled Brussels Sprouts, popovers and Pinot Noir.

For the rib roast, cooking time was a few hours so that was planned well in advance. The ‘cake’ surrounds the roast and then it sits on the grill to cook to perfection. When done, you get to crack, break, peel it off.

The fish was one I’ve made several times the past couple months and that shared the oven with the popovers. We think it might have affected the popping of the popovers because they were pretty much just mounds of bread-like things.

For the Brussels Sprouts, we used an Alton Brown recipe. You microwave the sprouts for about 3 minutes then toss them in dry mustard, paprika, garlic, salt and olive oil.

You skewer them then put them on the grill for 10 minutes, turning once.

Final product of everything —

We enjoyed Pinots from Chile and (Sonoma County) CA with dinner, as well. The Chilean wine was Apaltagua and the CA one was Banshee. Both very nice pairings to match the surf and turf.

Stove-Top Smoked Salmon

Posted on December 22, 2013 by melsmosaic

Last night I got to enjoy a wonderful dinner of smoked salmon…done on the stove via stove-top smoker. It was amazing. All I had to do was provide wine. Easy!

For the main dish, you just need put some smoking chips in the bottom of the smoker then cover them with foil.

Season the fish with spices of choice (tarragon, S&P were used), then close the smoker.

You cook/smoke the salmon for about 25 minutes (this was 1/2lb+) — you start it at medium-high heat to get the chips smoking, leaving the back end of the smoker open, then keep it going at medium heat until cooked through.

Carefully remove the lid (hot pads!) and heaven has arrived!

We also prepared some pan-seared asparagus seasoned with rosemary and garlic salt.

The final product was the fish, asparagus, dolmas, olives, marinated mushrooms and wonderful Penner-Ash Pinot Noir. Not a bad dinner at all.

International Pinot Noir Tasting

Posted on November 29, 2013 by melsmosaic

For Thanksgiving we opted to do an international Pinot Noir tasting. Since the varietal is one that has been rumored to pair well with turkey, we thought it would be fun to see how different country’s respective grapes compared. We went for three continents — get everybody to join the party!

Hob Nob, 2011, Languedoc, France: Smooth, oh so smooth. I could taste chocolate. Not a great pairing for turkey, but we took one for the team and still enjoyed it! Hand me some chocolate covered pretzels and this wine…oh yes! Very reasonable — about $10-$12.

Nobilo Icon, 2012, Marlborough, New Zealand: More acidic than Hob Nob, much better pairing for turkey, traditional Pinot taste. I say that as nothing jumped out about it but still very nice. About $15.

Schug, 2010, Carneros, California: Same as above…more acidic than Hob Nob, much better pairing for turkey. Taste of cherries then a bit of smoke at end. About $17-$20.

Definitely a fun element to add to Thanksgiving dinner and it was great listening to all the comments at the table on people’s specific tastes, likes, distinctions, characteristics they took from each wine. Go Pinot!