Hurricane Lamb

We stopped by Wegmans to get ready for Hurricane Irene (we needed orange and pineapple juice as well as Coco Lopez … we already had the rum).  Anyway while cruising through the store trying to decide what to have for dinner; we came across some lamb shoulder chops.   Since I was excited to try something new, we picked up a package of the chops and brought them home.

            After some internet research, I discovered a recipe for Pan-Grilled Lamb Shoulder Chops.   It must have been destiny … we had all of the ingredients so this looked like a perfect change of menu for the Trattoria.  We paired the lamb with fresh corn on the cob and roasted brussel sprouts; both also available at Wegmans.  The lamb marinade was a relatively easy recipe to make.  I really liked the use of fresh rosemary and lemon juice; although I added some lemon zest to the marinade to “kick it up a notch”.  My only complaint with the lamb was the instructions included recommended cooking time on each side … this was essentially 6 minutes on the first side and 2 minutes on the second side.  Although I actually cooked the chops for about 8 minutes on the first side and 5 minutes on the second they were still very rare.  We are not fans of rare meat and so this presented a problem.  However, I think I could have solved the entire issue by turning off the lights since the lamb tasted excellent and was very tender (just awfully red inside).

            We paired the dinner with a 2004 Brunello Di Montalcino which we purchased for $70 from Kybecca (hey the earthquake and hurricane have convinced me that life is too short for bad wine).  This Sangiovese wine from Tuscany was rated 93 points by Wine Spectator and includes plum notes and very soft, juicy tannins.  It pairs well with lightly grilled meats and it was an excellent pairing with the lamb!  Of course it also paired well with the chocolate.

And the Earth Moved

Yesterday, we decided to make soup for dinner.  My favorite recipe is a “Tuscan Chicken with White Beans and Wilted Greens”.  This includes fennel, onion, Swiss chard, and cannelloni beans (if you are really interested in the recipe, send me an email and I will forward).  Anyway since soup does not really go well with a Virginia summer, we have not made this particular recipe for several months and were really looking forward to it! 

We paired it with some warm bread (to dip into the soup) and had a meal that is unequaled.  We also included a Virginia Merlot from Barboursville, Va.  I have previously commented on this Merlot and how I believe it is unusual as an affordable and delicious Merlot from Virginia.  Also, as I said, even though this is our favorite soup, we have not made it for several months. 

I guess with this convergence of unusual events it was inevitable that something incredible would happen.  In short, as a result of these choices, the earth moved in Virginia … so I have to offer my apologies to those affected by the earthquake since it seems I may be inadvertently responsible for this event. 

Anyway, I can verify that the soup and wine combination were worth the effort and the chocolate pairing would have made my earth shake regardless of any thing I could have done otherwise.

House Wine at the Trattoria

We had leftover Cruz Bay pork roast tonight.  It was served up with roasted broccoli and a zucchini and tomato sauté.  The sauté is a recipe I created to duplicate a dish I liked in a restaurant (before you ask, I can’t remember the restaurant).

I first cut the zucchini and an onion into thin strips.  I then sauté the onion and zucchini and add a diced garlic clove.  This is seasoned with salt, pepper, and dried basil.  After the onion, zucchini, and garlic brown I add a can of Huntz fire roasted tomatoes.  Finally, I cover and cook on low for about 15 minutes or until the zucchini is soft.

The dinner was paired with what has become our house wine.  d’Arc from Tre Donne is a delicious wine we discovered at a local wine shop in Fredericksburg (Kybecca).  It is a blend of varietals from the Piedmont region of Italy and is smooth and intense.  At $15 per bottle it is a great bargain and a wine we can share every night … even those nights we only have chocolate.

Onions as Good as Potatoes

We decided to have pork loin for dinner.  I like to fix it in my favorite cooking vessel a Le Creuset French pot.  I cook it with a heavy coating of Cruz Bay Grill Rub; then brown it on all sides on high heat and then add some red wine, cover and let it simmer on low for about 20 minutes.

We paired the pork with roasted brussel sprouts and I thought about roasted potatoes (either sweet or white).  Although I have to admit I was really looking forward to roasted rosemary potatoes which are like French fries.  Unfortunately, we did not have any potatoes of either kind.  My first thought was this was a disaster but then I thought if I couldn’t have “French fries” perhaps “onion rings” would be just as good.  So I took a couple of Vidalia onions and sliced them into thin rings, then coated them with olive oil and seasoned with salt, pepper, and roasted cumin.  These were spread out on a cookie sheet and roasted at 350 degrees for 30-40 minutes.   Success … they came out crunchy and similar enough to onion rings to satisfy my taste buds.

The wine we chose was a 2005 Bordeaux.  The Vieux Chateau Landon we selected was a Cru Bourgeois from the Medoc region and was delicate, medium colored, and elegant.  It paired very well with the pork, the onions and even better with the chocolate.

Wine with Eggs?

            Eventually you come to the realization that you can’t always eat gourmet meals like hamburger and pizza all the time.  Sometimes you have to settle for something a little more mundane … like bacon and eggs (remember the commercial eggs are not just for breakfast any more).  So we fried up a half pound of bacon and then cooked some eggs over easy in the bacon grease.  Complimented with a couple of slices of toast and you almost have the perfect quick dinner.

            There is just one problem with this dinner and it is an age old question that has kept me awake many nights … just what wine pairs with bacon and eggs?  I was ready to settle for the Cameron Hughes Merlot that I used for the crab pairing (if for no other reason than to aggravate Tom) but when I posed the question to my son, he suggested that a Pinot Noir might go well. 

So I dove into the wine cellar and extracted a Cooper Station Pinot Noir from California.  This 2009 is an excellent smooth wine with hints of cherry.  I have to say despite my initial skepticism, the wine went well with the meal (although I have to also admit that I usually didn’t take a sip of wine until I had filled my pallet with bacon and toast).  The smoky bacon paired especially well and of course the final pairing with chocolate was first-rate.

Hamburgers as a Treat

We don’t eat hamburgers very often (in fact I can hardly remember the last time we had any red meat).  But it just so happens that there is a restaurant in Fredericksburg (Capital Ale House) that has a special every Monday night.  It seems they offer a ½ pound hamburger for $2 when you purchase a beer.  Since we were already in town and I do not find purchasing a beer to be too much of a hardship, this seemed like an ideal combination for me.

            First I can say that the hamburgers were delicious.  Although they are all cooked medium well (which is a little overdone for many of you), I can say that they were juicy and tasted great.  They can be ordered with cheese for no extra charge which was also excellent.  We paired the hamburgers with a single side of French fries (which we split) and this turned out to be plenty of fries for both of us.  The fries came with a spicy mayonnaise sauce for dipping which we applied to the hamburgers (and just dipped the fries in ketchup).  The sauce was very good on the burgers and I highly recommend this as a topping!

            The biggest problem turned out to be picking a beer to pair with this meal … remember you have to order a beer to get the deal.  Capital Ale House has about 50 beers on tap to choose from but after an extensive search and several tastings we settled on the Legend Brown Ale.  Legend Brewery is located in Richmond Virginia and this beer is full bodied, brewed with caramel and roasted malts.  It was a very smooth beer that made an excellent paring with the burgers.

            Of course it is difficult to find an appropriate dessert in a beer house, but I believe the hamburger was worth waiting for the drive home to get some chocolate.

Indian Wine – Who would have thought?

We somehow ended back at our new favorite restaurant in King George tonight.  The Bollywood Marsala Restaurant is a very good Indian restaurant.  The food is excellent and the owner and his wife are very friendly and helpful.

            We started the meal with Vegetable Pakora.  This is a variety of vegetables dipped in a batter and deep fried.  This was a great way to start out the dinner … unfortunately, we got so excited about the appitizers, we forgot to take a picture (just use your imagination).

            The main course consisted of 3 different entries.  Sally got her usual Chicken Bryani (Chicken with rice, nuts, herbs, and Indian spices), I got Lamb Tikka Massala (Lamb with onion sauce and Indian spices), and we split Channa Pindi (Chick Peas cooked in herbs and spices).   All of these were great!!  Of course we also had to include some Naan.

            One of the challenges was to select the “proper” wine to pair with this great meal.  No problem, following my rule of paring wine and food from the same area, we decided to try out the Indian wine on their menu.  This was a 2008 Cabernet Sauvignon, a Narayangaon Estate Reserve from Sahyadri Valley, Maharashtra in India.  According to the bottle “India has long been know as a producer of fine wines from vineyards on the upper slope of the Sahyadri Valley in Western Maharashtra, where it has a history of producing famous wines for Courts of Kings and Emperors of India”.  Although I can’t verify these facts (in fact I didn’t even realize India made wine), I can say that the wine was full bodied and complimented the spicy food.  Not a bad pairing and the price of $20 was certainly reasonable.

We finished off the meal with Gulab Jamun (light milk pastry balls in a sugar syrup) and Masala (Chai) Tea.  I can’t say that I am a fan of this dessert.  The pastry balls were mushy and the syrup was VERY VERY sweet.  Other than the dessert, everything was delicious.  We were worried about getting into a rut again … no problem Raj (the owner and chef) volunteered to fix us up with something special next time based on our preferences.  Now I am looking forward to the next visit as well as getting home to a proper dessert of chocolate.

Virginia Wine??

Anyone who knows my tastes knows I am not very supportive of Virginia Wines.  This is probably made worse by the fact that I favor red wines, but I find that although there are some good wines made in Virginia they always seem to be overpriced.  Therefore I was somewhat surprised when we discovered an affordable good Merlot in Barboursville this weekend.  Barboursville is a winery outside of Charlottesville Virginia which specializes in Italian style wines.  Their 2009 Merlot was only $15 at the winery and we bought several bottles.  It was smooth and well balanced and just begged for the proper food pairing.

            Going back to our comfortable tradition (not a rut), I made Sonoma Pork with roasted brussel sprouts and rosemary potatoes.  Although I have talked about the other menu items in this dinner, I don’t think I have mentioned my rosemary potatoes.  I make these from Idaho baking potatoes which I cut into strips like French fries.  These I toss with olive oil, fresh rosemary, and salt and pepper.  I spread them on a cookie sheet and bake in the oven at 350 degrees for 40 minutes.  If cooked properly they are very much like French Fries but without the extra calories and fat.  I highly recommend this as a compromise for those who may want to cheat on the diet just a little.

            The wine went very well with the pork and lived up to the promise we anticipated from our tasting this weekend.  And, typical of a Merlot, it was even better with the chocolate!!!

Tapas in Fredericksburg

Saturday we went to Charlottesville to visit with our son’s fiancé to look at wedding dresses.  While there we stopped and had a lunch of Cuban sandwiches and select beer.  Although I am sure most of you would rather hear about this meal, I am going to surprise you with the light dinner we had on the way home.  We stopped at Kybeca in Fredericksburg (a small wine shop/restaurant) which specializes in appetizers (or Tappas for you Spanish fans).  Before you say it, I know if you say you are going to a Tappas restaurant fast enough it is certainly a disappointment when you actually get there but Kybeca has food that is almost an offset for this let down.

Anyway, when we got to Kybeca we were excited to find they had a special that included lamb sliders.  We also ordered roasted spicy humus and a grilled squash with a romanesque sauce.  This was all paired with a 2008 Spanish Tempranillo from Volver.  This turned out to be a delicious wine (full bodied and plenty of fruit) and made for an excellent paring with the Tappas.  Just as a note, we have found that it seems to work better when you pair wine from the same region as your meal … I guess decades if not centuries of experience on the part of the people living in an area are worth something.

We finished off the meal with a version of Smores that Kybeca makes.  Although this was good, we both felt it could do with more chocolate and less marshmallows.   All things considered, we had a good time sitting on the streets of Fredericksburg, eating snacks, drinking good wine, and watching the people walk by … the chocolate was just an extra.