One Day in Wine Country

Chardonnay under $15 and Butternut Squash Galette

2009-11-05T06:39:34-08:00

It’s the first week of November. Harvest is finished. The New York Marathon has been run. National Novel Writing Month has kicked off. And Thanksgiving is nearly here. What a glorious month!

I have a bevy of appetizer recipes I make during the holidays I want to share so I’ll be posting one each week with a brief wine note. This week’s recipe, a savory butternut squash galette will be followed by recipes for a killer crab spread, a crunchy cheese cracker, sausage-stuffed mushrooms and more.

One of the reasons I love Thanksgiving is how we choose our wine list. Every year we go to my sister’s along with another family and other guests rotate in and out. At least half of us work in the wine industry and love the juice. Ironically, we aren’t really picky about “matching” our menu to wine. What we do devote our efforts to is picking a wine theme and then hunting down interesting wines that fit it. One year it was all pinot, another it was petite sirah (lots of black teeth that night) and another cab franc.

This year we’ve both widened the net and narrowed our snobbish choices. All of the wines have to be under $15. So, no surprises here, each of my recipes will be paired with a wine that fits our theme.

Luckily, Kumeu River Village Chardonnay makes the cut. Not only does it retail at $14.99, it is an extremely solid wine that's also delicious with this butternut squash galette (which, yes, does looks suspiciously similar to my peach galette, but it’s not the same photo!)

In addition to this wine, Kumeu River winemaker Michael Brajkovich makes a line-up of critically acclaimed chardonnay from New Zealand. I am especially fond of the Village chard as a starter wine because it’s full of fresh fruit and has a bright, crispness like a green apple that helps to cut through the rich, delicious fare on a holiday appetizer buffet. Try it with this savory galette and I think you’ll add it to your Thanksgiving table.

Butternut Squash Galette

Serves 4

1 butternut squash

2 tablespoons olive oil

2 teaspoons fresh thyme leaves

1 clove chopped garlic

1 teaspoon kosher salt

1/2 teaspoon freshly ground pepper

10 cloves garlic, unpeeled

1/2 cup fromage blanc or fresh ricotta

1 prepared piecrust

1 cup grated fontina or gouda

2 tablespoons freshly grated parmesan

Preheat oven to 400°F. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper.

Cut the squash into two pieces to separate the rounder part from the narrower section. Peel the entire squash, cut both parts in half and remove any seeds. Cut all four pieces into 1/4-inch-thick slices. Put in a large bowl and add the olive oil, chopped garlic and thyme. Toss to coat evenly. Spread out on one of the prepared baking sheets. Set the bowl aside. Sprinkle the squash with the salt and pepper. Put the garlic on the baking sheet and bake until the squash and garlic are tender, about 20 minutes.

When cool enough to handle, peel the garlic and put in the reserved bowl. Mash with the back of a wooden spoon until smooth. Stir in the fromage blanc. Put the piecrust on the other prepared baking sheet and spread the garlic-cheese mixture over the top, leaving a 1-inch border. Spread the squash over the garlic-cheese mixture and fold the edges toward the center of the galette. Sprinkle the fontina over the center of the galette. Sprinkle the edges of the crust with the parmesan and bake until the crust is crisp and golden brown, about 25 minutes. Let cool before slicing and serving.

Cheap Syrah a Wine Snob Can Love

2009-10-28T06:44:42-07:00

I have a confession to make: I am a wine snob. It happened slowly and without my noticing, but it happened and now I’m trying to change. My excuse could be living in this Valley and working in the industry I’m not only exposed to extraordinary wines everyday, there’s also a certain peer pressure to keep up with the Joneses. Or, it could be pursuit of trying rare and unique wines becomes a sort of sport.

At some point in time, I began buying wines only from fine wine shops and directly from the source. Why walk into a supermarket and have to decipher the hundreds of labels by myself when I could just as easily pop into my favorite shop, Back Room Wines and ask Dan for a suggestion. After building a 10-year-plus relationship with him I know his palate and he knows mine, so the odds are in my favor I’ll go home with something I’ll like. (Full disclaimer he also introduced me to my husband, so I trust his judgment.)

But, what’s missing are wines produced from large wineries or produced at a price point that is prohibitive for a small fine wine shop to sell and survive. Which brings me to my recent foray into the wine department at Trader Joes. Let me say, I was a late-comer to Trader Joes so while I’ve come to rely on it for a variety of products, from pita chip crackers with sea salt to organic arugula, I’ve never taken advantage of its wine selection. Sure, I’d look at the floor stacks and every now and then a bottle would catch my eye as I walked up the aisle to get to the milk, but I never stopped.

Then on Friday night, Jack, my husband and I were sharing a glass of a totally yummy Syrah when my friend Regina piped up that she’d brought it and it was from Trader Joes and it was $10.

Regina was wrong. It wasn’t $10 it was $8.99 as I found out the next morning when I got to the store. And it was a Mount Veeder-appellation Syrah. Named, Vintjs, how could I not buy a few bottles of a wine I love for its tongue-in-cheek humor name.

I still feel like a snob though, because my guess is given how the current economy is affecting the wine industry, Vintjs, is what the first lot of “Two-Buck Chuck,” was—a reputable winery’s juice privately bottled for Trader Joes. I’d also venture to say private labeling surplus juice will be a large, but mostly invisible, trend that will be prominent over the next few years. This is good news for all wine lovers, especially recovering snobs. Adventurous wine consumers will find some great wines in disguised labels at prices way below what the wine may have sold for in previous years.

So, back to my lucky find. Drinking Vintjs Mt. Veeder Syrah is like eating blackberries picked straight from the bramble on a hot August afternoon alternated with a bite of bittersweet chocolate bar that’s nearly melted from sitting in your pocket while you harvest the berries. Despite it’s fruity, chocolatey flavor profile, Vintjs can also pal around with lots of food flavors.

For a weeknight dinner I settled on a vegetable stir-fry. I had a white eggplant in the fridge I was anxious to try and thought with a little soy sauce it would develop a pleasing smoky, buttery flavor. I added a little garlic, some zucchini, onion and topped it with fresh herbs. It was a winner with the wine. Next to a pan-roasted pork chop it was divine. And it all came together in less than 30 minutes.

Quick Veggie Stir-Fry

Serves 4

1 small eggplant

4 tablespoons olive oil

1 clove garlic, chopped

2 medium zucchini, cut in half lengthwise, then cut into thick slices (the thickness helps prevent the zucchini from getting too soft)

1 small red onion, sliced thin

3 tablespoons dry white wine

2 tablespoons soy sauce

2 tablespoons chopped cilantro

2 tablespoons chopped basil

Peel and cut the eggplant into 1-inch cubes. Spread out in a large colander and sprinkle with salt. Let it sit for about 20 minutes. This draws out some of the liquid and some say makes the eggplant less bitter.

Heat the largest skillet you have over medium heat. Add 2 tablespoons of the olive oil and the garlic and cook for 1 minute. Add the eggplant. Increase the heat to high and cook until it begins to brown, 2 to 3 minutes, stirring to cook evenly. Transfer to a large bowl. Add the remaining 2 tablespoons of the olive oil to the pan. Add the zucchini and cook until it begins to brown, 2 to 3 minutes. Transfer to the bowl with the eggplant. Add the onion to the skillet and cook for 1 minute. Stir in the wine and soy sauce and bring to a boil. Stir with a wooden spoon, scraping the bottom and sides of the pan to remove any stuck bits of garlic. Cook until reduced by half. Stir in the vegetables and cook until heated through. Transfer to a serving bowl and top with the cilantro and basil and serve immediately.

Leftover wine

2009-10-09T07:14:39-07:00

Three weeks ago I cooked dinner for 100—yes 100 people—for my cousin’s wedding. It was remarkably easy somehow, but exhausting. Between recovering from it and a crazy-busy time at work, I’ve barely had time to think about cooking, much less write about it with the exception of trying to turn about 25 pounds of tomatoes into sauce last weekend.

Both endeavors required making space in my always-overloaded fridge. What was eye opening was how many bottles of leftover wine we had: I counted at least seven! I pulled the bottles out and set them on the counter. Looking at the collection of various leftovers from dinner parties and weeknight meals, I was inspired to use it all and make a list of what else leftover wine could be used for.

It wasn’t hard to do because every magazine and newspaper I picked up seemed to be thinking about the very same thing. Everyday Food suggested freezing wine in an ice cube tray for easy use later. I like this idea for recipes like stew, but for most recipes I use leftover wine in it would require thawing the wine—too much work, I’d rather leave it in the fridge.

The food blog, Orangette talked about marinating fresh peaches in white wine and sugar overnight. Add a little fresh thyme and I’m all for it. Food and Wine magazine suggests adding red wine to water for cooking pasta to add complexity. Love it! And Associated Press offered a bevy of ideas, from adding a splash of white wine just before you serve it to braising vegetables in it.

So, what did I do with the wine? I used it for the wedding! All of the red became a marinade for the 15 tri-tip steaks I grilled. And the white became a white wine-butter-lemon sauce to pour over the nine whole sides of salmon I oven roasted (450°F for 25 minutes—perfect!).

Typically, I use leftover wine as an excuse to make some of my favorite dishes, especially those made with other “leftover” ingredients. Here are some of those and a few more ideas:

A cheese spread I learned from Jacques Pepin: put whatever leftover scraps of cheese you have in the fridge in a food processor and turn on. Pour in enough wine that the mixture becomes creamy. Throw in a pinch of salt and some fresh herbs. Spread over sliced bread and bake until the cheese is melted and the bread is crisp.

Fondue! What could be easier? Bring 1 cup of white wine and 1 chopped shallot to a boil in a medium saucepan. Toss together 2 cups of grated cheese and 2 tablespoons flour to coat the cheese evenly. Stir the cheese into the wine. Transfer to a warmed fondue pot and serve with boiled potatoes or chunks of good bread.

Hotel butter: Stir together 1/4 cup red wine, 1/2 cup softened butter, 1/4 cup crumbled blue cheese then put on plastic wrap, shape into a log and freeze until ready to use. Slice and serve on top of grilled meat, roasted vegetables or pasta.

A quick dessert: Fold a little sparkling or dessert wine into whipped cream and top fresh berries or baked apple slices.

Super quick pan sauce: Cook chicken or pork chops in a skillet with a tiny bit of olive oil or butter to help brown the meat, remove from the pan and add 1/2 cup red or white wine, bring to a boil and cook until its reduced to a couple of tablespoons.

What tricks do you have for cooking with leftover wine?

Note: How long can you leave leftover wine in the fridge? I’d say forever. It might oxidize, but if it’s good wine to begin with the quality should remain, even if the flavor profile changes. This isn’t good for drinking, but fine for cooking most dishes. Still anything older than a couple of weeks, I’d taste first.