white wine

Cooking with Wine: Winter Squash Chardonnay Risotto Recipe

by liz · Dec 13, 2016

Every so often, you stumble upon a Chardonnay so refreshing and unique, so unlike typical oaky-buttery-California Chardonnays, that you want to drink it, cook with it, maybe even bathe in it.

Alta Maria’s 2009 Chardonnay from Santa Maria Valley is half steel-fermented and half oak-fermented, with a creamy freshness and lemon-lime quality that makes it just as perfect in a rustic dish in front of the fire as a on a warm summer day in the garden. And cooking with wine is just as important as drinking or tasting wine.

Cooking with this Chardonnay adds something special to the dish: a little more citrus, good acid and lots of flavor. And don’t forget to pour a glass to pair the wine to sip with the dish! It’s the perfect pair to either of these winter Chardonnay recipes: Winter Squash Chardonnay Risotto below and Chardonnay Roast Chicken with Santa Barbara herbs.

And for dessert, here’s my other favorite way to use winter squash…and summer squash and fall squash and…

Winter Squash Chardonnay Risotto

Author: Liz

Prep time: 20 mins

Cook time: 40 mins

Total time: 1 hour

Serves: 6

Ingredients

2 cups (1/2-inch) cubed, peeled winter squash medley
2 tablespoons olive oil
4 cloves minced fresh garlic
2 cups organic vegetable broth
2 cups Chardonnay (2009 Alta Maria Chardonnay)
1 ounce pancetta or prosciutto
1 medium finely chopped onion
1¼ cups uncooked Arborio rice
2 tablespoons finely chopped fresh herb mix (like lemon thyme, oregano, rosemary, basil, lavender)
Juice of 1 lemon
¼ teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
¼ cup (1 ounce) shaved Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese

Instructions

Preheat oven to 400°.
Combine squash and 1 tablespoon oil, tossing to coat. Arrange squash in a single layer on baking pan. Bake for 15 minutes or until squash is just tender. Remove from pan; set aside.
Heat a large heavy-bottom stock pot over medium heat. Add pancetta to pot; cook 5 minutes or until browned, stirring frequently. Remove pancetta and set aside.
Add remaining olive oil to pot, then add onion; cook 3 minutes or until tender, stirring occasionally. Add garlic and rice; cook 2 minutes, stirring constantly.
Add ½ cup wine; cook 1 minute or until liquid is nearly absorbed, stirring constantly. Continue to add remaining wine and broth, ½ cup at a time, stirring constantly until each portion of broth is absorbed before adding the next (about 20 minutes total). Stir in squash, herbs, cheese, lemon juice, ¼ teaspoon salt, and ¼ teaspoon pepper.
Top with pancetta.

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Cooking with Wine: Roast Chardonnay Chicken Recipe

by liz · Dec 12, 2016

I love French food and wine…and I love eating and drinking local. These two loves inspired me to create a local version of a typical French dish: oven-roasted chicken with vegetables and herbs de Provence. Of course, this is using local Chardonnay – in the dish…and in my glass.

In a Santa Barbara County garden you can find rosemary, lemon thyme, basil and chives. And garlic, of course! Also, fennel is a bountiful crop on California’s central coast, which you can usually substitute for celery, instead of a traditional mirepoix (French base of onion, carrot and celery). Browning the chicken before roasting gives it a richer flavor than more simple roasts and the end result is a savory, delicious one-pot meal that pairs perfectly with the subtle body and flavors of Alta Maria Chardonnay.

Also, try this Winter Squash Chardonnay Risotto.

Roast Chardonnay Chicken with Santa Barbara Herbs

Author: Liz

Recipe type: Main Dish

Prep time: 6 hours 20 mins

Cook time: 80 mins

Total time: 7 hours 40 mins

Serves: 6

Ingredients

1 4-pound chicken
3 cups Chardonnay (2009 Alta Maria Chardonnay)
1 cup olive oil, plus 4 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil, divided
8 cloves garlic: 6 whole, 2 diced
3 tablespoons chopped mixed fresh herbs (like lemon thyme, rosemary, basil, chives, marjoram) or 1 tablespoon mixed dried herbs
2 lemons: 1 sliced, 1 juiced
½ teaspoon coarsely ground black pepper
Salt, to taste
1 small onion, chopped
4 carrots, chopped
1 fennel bulb, chopped
1 small green cabbage, cored and quartered

Instructions

In large bowl, combine the Chardonnay, 1 cup olive oil, diced garlic, herbs, lemon juice, pepper and salt. Place chicken in the mixture. Cover bowl with plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight or for 6 hours. Turn occasionally.
Preheat oven to 450°F. Heat remaining olive oil in a Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Add the onions, carrots, fennel and garlic cloves and cook, stirring occasionally, for 10 minutes. When the vegetables are caramelized, spoon them along the sides of the pan.
Remove chicken from marinade and add to the middle of the pan. Sear each side until slightly brown, about 3 minutes per side. Arrange the quartered cabbage around the sides of the chicken and pour the marinade into the pan over the chicken and vegetables.
Cover the pan with a lid and roast in the oven for 60-70 minutes, until the chicken is done (meat is cooked through when cut, leg separates easily from the body, or 170 degrees on meat thermometer). Remove lid and let it rest at room temperature 10 minutes.

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Roast chardonnay chicken with santa barbara herbs recipe

Happy New Year Cocktail: Spiced Apple Cider

by liz · Dec 9, 2016

When I saw this recipe for Spiced Apple Cider, it reminded me of the Vin Chaud (mulled wine) I’d had and loved in Europe during the holidays. I could often smell it wafting from doorways of small restaurants and upon entering friends’ homes or churches. Even places like train stations and gas stations served it, which cheerily sustained me through the cold winter months.

I remember when Ani got the inspiration for this cider, and I thought it would make a perfect cocktail recipe for a New Year’s celebration in wine country. I could please everyone: plain cider for the mocktail drinkers, spiced wine for the wine country fanatics and cider with vanilla vodka or rum for the most festive of friends.

I tested it out in preparation; following the recipe was easy…so much easier than the homemade eggnog I’d recently tried out. You just need spices and apple juice for the base, and it only takes 15 minutes of cooking time. I also decided to chill some of the plain cider after cooking to satisfy those that might want their cocktail on the rocks.

Here are some cocktail variations you might try:

Add vanilla vodka or rum (or your favorite spirit) to the hot cider.
Add your favorite spirit to chilled cider along with a splash of carbonated water over ice.
For mulled wine, substitute 1 bottle of medium to full-bodied red wine for the apple juice, add 1/4 cup sugar, cover immediately and cook on low (so it never reaches a boil) for 20 minutes.
For white wine cider, substitute 1/2 bottle of medium to full-bodied white wine for 1/2 of the apple juice, add 1/8 cup sugar, cover immediately and cook on low (so it never reaches a boil) for 20 minutes.

For me, this will make the cheeriest, easiest and most versatile of winter celebrations. Happy New Year!

If you’re looking for something creamier, fancier or more holiday-themed, check out this old-fashioned eggnog adventure (pictured above) and the coffee-creamy-martini or latin-inspired eggnog below.

Links:

More holiday celebration drink recipes:

After Midnight Javatini

Costa Rican-Style Eggnog

Easy Spring Pasta Recipe: Fettuccine with Peas, Leeks & Thyme

by liz · Apr 9, 2013

Written by Liz –

Spring has sprung in California – as well as most of the country. To me that means spring vegetable season; asparagus, leeks, peas, artichoke, fennel and fresh herbs are bountiful in farmers markets. Much of this produce is available year-round, but spring is the best time to get the freshest spring vegetables, whether at your local market, grocery store or from your own garden!

And those fresh spring flavors really come through in this easy spring pasta recipe, Fettuccine with Peas, Leeks & Thyme. It’s a cinch to make and it’s packed with flavor and nutrients, plus spring is a great time to get hooked on the Mediterranean way of eating. Adding a bit of the pasta water instead of using sauce is a traditional way to make pasta dishes in Italy. This recipe is a sure way to eat more vegetables and wow your friends with your culinary savvy!

Wine Pairing

Italian wines can be hard to find, other than the super popular Pinot Grigio. If you can find a Soave wine, it’s a soft, fruity, clean wine with crisp lemon flavors and really complements this dish.
Grenache Blanc with its acidity and rounded flavors, or Sauvignon Blanc with its herbaceousness, would also be great wines with this pasta.

Fettuccine with Peas, Leeks & Thyme

Ingredients for 3 servings:

1 package (9 ounces) BUITONI Refrigerated Fettuccine
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1/2 cup sliced fresh leek
1/3 cup frozen peas
Salt and ground black pepper
2 thyme sprigs, leaves removed and stems discarded
1/4 cup (1 ounce) BUITONI Refrigerated Freshly Shredded Parmesan Cheese

Directions:

PREPARE pasta according to package directions, reserving ½ cup cooking water. While pasta is cooking, prepare leek mixture.

HEAT oil in large skillet over medium-high heat. Add leek; cook, stirring frequently, until softened and golden. Stir in peas; cook for 1 minute or until heated through. Season with salt and pepper, as shown above.

ADD reserved pasta cooking water, thyme leaves and cheese; stir in gently. Toss pasta with leek mixture. Season with salt and pepper.

Links:

More spring pasta recipes:


Vegetable Tortellini Soup	Butternut Squash Agnolotti with Fresh Herb Pesto

Pesto Pairs Perfectly with Italian White Wine

by liz · Sep 30, 2012

September 30 is the last day of California Wine Month so I thought I’d pair one of my favorite Italian sauces (as in the Tortellini with Pesto and Sun-dried Tomatoes above) with some California white wines made from Italian varietals. And I added a twist to the pesto that I learned from Luce, one of Bon Appetit’s top 10 best new restaurants in America.

The Food:

Luce is a very small market and restaurant dedicated to simple Italian cooking in Portland Oregon. Every dish on the menu was so simply made that at first glance, it seems too easy, too sophomoric. But after a bite or two, the flavors this kind of cooking imparts transports you to the traditions of Italy. Bon Appetit called it “bare bones…Italian home cooking at its core.”

The pesto at Luce was made with basil, avocado, almonds, walnuts and garlic. This is pesto in Southern Italy. And it was incredible! The avocado replaces the olive oil, making the dish lighter, full of flavor and oh-so-good for your skin. To make this easy on me to make at home, I used Buitoni pesto as a base, placing about half the container of pesto in a bowl, then mixing in one whole ripe avocado and serving it over al dente pasta. A perfect late summer meal.

The Wine:

I wanted to pair this with an Italian varietal made in California, and I found 2 wines that worked perfectly. Arneis from Palmina Wines has a bright lemony quality, and enough acid to zip along your tongue with the pesto, cutting the oils and balancing the meal perfectly.

Another wine, Bianchetto from Moretti Wines is a blend of 3 Italian varietals from different regions: Arneis, Malvasia Bianca and Tocai Friulano. You won’t see this blend in Italy, but it’s lovely flowery nose and fruit and acid balance also really enhanced the dish.

Château Bouscassé: Wine Worthy of a Lover’s Last Night

by liz · May 28, 2012

Matching the right wine with specific foods/dinners can dramatically enhance both the food and the wine, as well as the dining experience. And sometimes your dinner company too.

To accomplish this, the wine needs some acid, good balance and something interesting to offer for pairing — like a pleasing mix of spice, fruit aromas or bold flavors that don’t overpower other elements. And please, no extra oak or residual sugar designed to trick your palate into liking it. (Which is more than I can say for some of the company I’ve kept.)

This French wine, 2008 Château Bouscassé, Les Jardins de Bouscassé, Pacherenc du Vic-Bilh Sec, was the most local thing on the menu. Literally. Our waiter said it was the wine made closest to the town of Eugénie-les-Bains, the town where famed chef Michel Guerard cooks works of art and improves your figure at his restaurant/spa hotel Les Prés d’Eugénie.

The beautifully balanced wine was 80% Petite Courbou and 20% Petit Manseng, two grapes indigenous to southwest France, and it paired very well with all courses in this meal and the elegant restaurant itself. Beguiling and lovely in its acidity and floral-ness, understated with the promise of more to come, this wine from this small corner of the world was deserving of much more attention than it ever receives (much like this relationship with the Baker).

It was perfect. We drank in its beauty, trying to hold the brightness inside ourselves. And we ate gloriously for this one last night, temporarily averting a creeping sadness and slowly devolving palate for each other.

Santé!

Culinary in the Country: Gourmet Food & Wine in North Carolina

by liz · May 28, 2012

There’s at least one winery in every state, but that doesn’t mean you should taste the local wine when you’re driving through Oklahoma.

But in North Carolina, they’ve been slowly converting tobacco crops to grape vines over the last 10 years, thanks in part to an incentive by the state government to do so. In this state, the wines go gloriously with the local gourmet cuisine. You can find gourmet food and wine in North Carolina’s Yadkin Valley.

Yes, I found some lovely things to eat in the boonies of North Carolina. One place was Twenty One & Main in Elkin, a bistro serving up some incredibly tasty lunches and dinners in these here parts. On this day, the lunch special was a salmon tartare sandwich, with edamame paste, grilled pineapple, and wasabi cabbage, shown above. And it pairs perfectly with a crisp, white Italian wine from Raffaldini vineyards.

The next night for dinner, my hosts served me another local wine (or was it cider?) on the deck as the sun was setting over 12 acres of green crops and wooded fields. Then they proceeded to fix a grilled romaine salad, with a chipotle-caesar dressing, alongside grilled beef and buffalo with a Cabernet reduction sauce.

But the best thing I ate in the North Carolina countryside was fried okra straws, with produce picked straight from the garden just moments before. I never liked okra as a child…it seemed like everyone in the Midwest breaded and fried okra the exact same way and then smothered it with ketchup. It’s one of the worst things I’ve ever eaten.

But these were glorious. My hosts sliced them thinly, lengthwise, to look like straws. Then, they dipped them in spicy corn meal mix, and flash fried them in a deep fryer.

These spicy fried okra straws were the best okra I’d ever eaten! I never thought someone could fix okra for me that I actually liked! And now it was fixed…along with the best summer evening, in the woods, on a deck, I’d had in a long, long time.