Wow. It has been a long time between episodes.  I bet you thought this thing had just died and gone to heaven. No, I just got super lazy. I have easily five other episodes from Berkeley alone that I haven’t put together, look for those soon (hopefully). Plus, I have been baking a ton of bread, which hasn’t even begun to make it’s appearance in the videos, but soon.

So here is the Thanksgiving episode. It is pretty straightforward, though I somehow missed the part where you saw the final product after I trussed the bird. I used this helpful tutorial from Alton Brown and the Food Network to help bring the wings and thighs into the torso of the turkey.

The turkey came out great, though I don’t think it was good as last years and that is because it was potentially a bit too big for the Big Green Egg and the Vertical Roaster. I have made a not o not go over 15lbs. on the vertical roaster in the egg.

Happy Cooking.

I am sorry for the delay between posts. I have had some audio sync issues with Vimeo and now they are fixed, so you will be happy to know there will be lots of new stuff coming.

We recently celebrated our first wedding anniversary and as a wonderful gift t us Herb and Sara brought us a case of wine from Firestone vineyards to celebrate with. Do they know us or what? Anyway, here I review the Firestone 2007 Riesling. I don’t really say it in the video, but I get the feeling that those of you that LOVE riesling will be really happy with this wine.  Perhaps that’s why it’s so highly rated on Cork’d.  We look forward to reviewing the other Firestone wines in the near future. Thanks Herb and Sara! Happy early birthday Herb.

A few weeks ago I saw this recipe by bell’alimento and I knew I needed to reproduce ASAP. So after  a quick trip to the store for some wonderful tomatoes and fresh mozzarella I assembled my very own. I love the simplicity of this recipe and the flavors just go so well together. This is one of those dishes you just can’t do right without wonderful produce. Which reminds me to tell people not to refrigerate your tomatoes unless you absolutely have to, they will lose their flavor otherwise and you end up with a flavorless red disks.

Enjoy!

So we sat down with this French Rose from Domaine du Poujol last week and it was really really delightful. This is the last of three (different) bottles we bought from Kermit Lynch in Berkeley. Pink wines don’t get as much love as they deserve. I know this is especially true for sparkling rose’, which is a shame, because their are a few great one’s out there. Their is common perception that pink wines are all sweet. I blame Boone’s Farm Strawberry Hill and Bartles & Jaymes for this. Their overly sugared alcohol infused juice really gave many Americans the perception that most pink wine’s are overly sweet. Also, their are a number of wineries in California that produce a semi-sweet “Blush”. To battle these pre-concieved notions, you should  pick up a bottle of French rose from time to time.  it can really surprise you. It helps if you have an 80+ degree day a nice BBQ to attend. I want to know what was the last pink wine you tried?

A few days ago I tasted this nice Argentinian White. I feel like this is a wine not many people are familiar with, so I was excited to review it for you. I found this wine to be very crisp and refreshing and perfect for summer. We bought this wine from Vintage Berkeley. The gentleman working there was very helpful and approachable and has really good wine knowledge. I really enjoy sales people who can guide you to new wines by taking what you like into consideration. I am not a huge fan of Sauvignon Blanc, as I often find them too tart for my palate, and this wine was a very nice balance. At $12.50 a bottle it is definitely something worth picking up again.

There are few things I enjoy as much as making and eating Pesto. It is quite simply one of my favorite sauces and always a crowd pleaser. My friend Brett recently wrote about his Pesto making ways here and while he makes his by hand and doesn’t enjoy my blender, I believe we share very similar views over this wonderfullly simplicstic sauce. I especially appreciate Brett’s idea of sticking to the blade, but I am one for modern conveniences.  I have made this recipe more than any other in repetoire, so I think my way works just as well and you will find it quite tasty.

My recipe:

• 2 cups fresh basil leaves, packed
• 1/2 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
• 1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
• 1/3 cup toasted pine nuts
• 2-3 medium sized garlic cloves (depending on your taste)
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

I simply put everything into my blender in the above order except for about a few tablespoons of oil and grind it on low. The second the mixture has a consistency you identify with as pesto, you stop. Typically the blender will not “catch” it all into the blades, so you need to add the reserve oil until it all blends. You will have to do some starting and stopping along with pushing down on the leaves with a giant spoon to get everying to incorpoarate into the lovely green sauce. I have made this dish at least a hundred times and have never worked up the oil enough to emulsify it. The only problem I’ve repeated in this recipe is that I sometimes I use too much garlic and it overpowers the sauce. This is why you may want to start with two cloves, taste the sauce then add more if needed. If you plan on using this as a dipping sauce for bread, then you will want to incorporate a bit more oil.

I find that serving the pasta as soon as it is blended is best. Since the garlic, basil and pepper hasve not had a chance to oxidize they still have a lot of pop when blended. Plus the color of the fresh pesto is an electric  green that can only achieve with fresh ingredients. When I eat pesto out sometimes I am sometimes disappointed by the near black looking specks of basil floating in a sea of oil at the bottom of the plate. So tragic. That being said, pesto will keep for a couple of weeks in the fridge. Put it in the absolutely smallest container you have and cover the whole thing with a float of olive oil. This will creat a seal from the outside and world and it wil lbe very tasty a second time.

Another great thing about pesto is that it can be a base for multiple other dishes, you can add sun-dried tomoatoes for a sweet contrast to the garlic, or add it to fresh goat cheese for a wonder full spread or try replacing the basil with mint. It’s scuh a versatile trreat and yet so delicious on it’s own with a little pasta.

Again, I appreciate your comments and feedback.

Here is the latest installment of Playing with Knives.  Late last week we made this very simple and tasty entree of Chicken Breasts Stuffed with Fontina, Artichokes and Sun-Dried Tomatoes. This recipe is from the February, 2008 issue of Bon Appetit magazine and it came out very well. We paired it with the Corbieres Rouge, Domaine De Fontsainte that we picked up from a Kermit Lynch, a local wine merchant in Berkeley. I was impressed by the chicken, but not necessarily  by the wine. Though I do need to make a correction. I said in the video that I thought this was a $20 bottle of wine, which in fact we picked up for $12.95. It doesn’t change the taste of the wine all that much, but it makes it a bit easier on the wallet.

A big thanks to everyone for all your comments and feedback.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Yesterday we sat and tasted the Burrton 2004 Syrah.  We purchased this wine, on special, from the Monterey Market in Berkeley. I was hoping to add a few links to other reviews as a comparison to my own palate, instead I discovered that we picked a relatively obscure wine, maybe that is why it was on sale. It’s a pretty nice deal for $6.99 a bottle, but I was not crazy for it. One thing I noticed, that didn’t get into the video, that after a second sniff of the nose was the “smell of the farm” which I get from time to time on certain reds. I have heard it also described as saddle leather, which is pretty close to what I was getting from this wine. I am learning to widen my vocabulary of smells as to describe wine as accurately as possible. I think it’s important to describe the smell of wine on a level in which people can relate easily, otherwise you could come off as prudish and arrogant, which is something I feel turns people off from the wine world.

Which brings me to another point about wine. Don’t be intimidated by the wine world. I know when I first went wine tasting and started sipping reds, whites and bubblies that the general attitude on the other side of the bar was one of annoyance. I was young, not dressed in khakis and a button shirt, and I clearly wasn’t going to buy multiple cases of their fine wine. I was treated poorly by the staff members and I remember thinking, “Wait, aren’t you supposed to be selling ME these wines and this winery.” Multiple years later I have a very good memory of the one Napa Winery that really warmed up to me, though I didn’t “belong”. Thank you, Cakebread.  Since those days, a lot of the wineries have changed their tune and also have a lot more competition, so if you have the opportunity to go out and do some local wine tasting I encourage you to take advantage of getting the opportunity to meet the people and visit the places that make wine. Not only will you get to taste different varietals, but you will also have an opportunity to really expand your “wine mouth” in a short period of time, which will help direct you into which types of wine you enjoy the most and which you want to avoid.  Happy Drinking!

OK, so the lighting is absolutely horrible, I am working on it.

This Wild Mushroom Pasta was very good. I didn’t mention it in the video, but it really helped having some higher end Egg Fettuccine. Ours was not homemade, but I did pick it up from our more “gourmet” grocery store. The McManis we drank was very standard drinkable cab. I find that is very fruity and not real oakey, but very pleasant all around. Please let me know your thoughts.

Here is my first episode of Playing With Knives. It’s  me cooking Chicken Asparagus Pasta. This is the first video I have ever made and uploaded anywhere. It is not very good, but it’s a start! Hopefully over the next few months these will get more concise. I am hoping to look back at this in a year or so and laugh at how bad this turned out.

The idea behind the cooking segments will be to show the folks at home that cooking can be fun and easy. A lot of people fear cooking or just plain don’t like it.  I like recipes that are simple and highlight specific flavors and the general diversity of food.  In this episode I make this Chicken Asparagus Pasta recipe and also I taste the a Teira zinfandel and Bison Brewing Co.’s IPA.

In the future I will be doing restaurant, beer and wine reviews. Please leave me your thoughts and opinions, I would really appreciate some feedback.