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Tenuta di Sesta Rosso di Montalcino

Tenuta di Sesta Rossi di Montalcino. A lovely baby “Brunello” to drink now. Light color. Light to med body. Nice floral nose. Cherry. Sour cherry. A shade too tannic for a wine that probably won’t age. But a real bargain at $14.99 at @klwines pic.twitter.com/oNTODZgpv5

— Professor Bainbridge (@ProfBainbridge) March 10, 2018

Rack of lamb with a mushroom-Port sauce and Israeli Couscous with corn, peas, carrots, and a 2014 Jayson

We went with roasted rack of lamb with a Port-mushroom sauce, whole wheat Israeli couscous with corn, carrots, and peas, and a 2014 Jayson red wine. pic.twitter.com/0SOhpnFhVE

— Professor Bainbridge (@ProfBainbridge) February 4, 2018

Season rack of lamb with salt and pepper. Preheat oven to 500. Preheat nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Sear Frenched rack of lamb on both sides. Smear with Dijon. Sprinkle Herbes de Provence. Press on Panko. Into oven. Reduce heat to 350. Roast 16 minutes. Rest.

— Professor Bainbridge (@ProfBainbridge) February 4, 2018

Same skillet as lamb seared. Add dash EVOO. Add 1 shallot minced. Add 4 oz sliced cremini mushrooms. Cook until browned and tender. Add 3 cloves garlic minced. Cook 30 seconds. Add 1/2 cup each Port and beef stock. 2 tbl Worchestershire 1 tbl Dijon. Reduce by 1/2. Add 2 tbl cream

— Professor Bainbridge (@ProfBainbridge) February 4, 2018

Saucepan. Med heat. 1 tbl EVOO. 1 cup whole wheat Israeli couscous. Cook 1 minute. Add 1/2 cup @ carrot, corn, peas. 2 cups boiling chicken stock. Big pinch @ salt and Herbes de Provence. Cover. Cook 8 minutes. Remove from heat. Let rest 5 minutes. Adjust seasoning.

— Professor Bainbridge (@ProfBainbridge) February 4, 2018

@Pahlmeyer Had a 2014 Jayson red wine w/ lamb for dinner. Very enjoyable cherry, current, blackberry associations on nose and palate. Chunky tannins, but drinkable now. I’m guessing high % of Cabernet Franc. Very California despite the Bordeaux varieties. Well over 90 points.

— Professor Bainbridge (@ProfBainbridge) February 4, 2018

Not a Cassoulet

Stew

• 2 French garlic sausages
• 2 rashers applewood smoked thick cut bacon, cut into thirds
• 1 duck breast, seasoned with salt and pepper, with skin scored in a criss-cross hatch
• ½ cup diced onion
• 1 carrot, diced
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 tablespoon tomato paste (you do buy it in tubes instead of those incredibly wasteful little cans, don't you?)
• ½ cup white wine
• 1 tablespoon demi-glace dissolved in 1 cup hot low-sodium chicken stock
• 1 14.5 ounce can cannellini beans, drained and rinsed
• 1 14.5 ounce can diced tomatoes with their juice
• 1 bay leaf
• big pinch dried Herbes de Provence

Put sausage and 1 pint water in the non-stick insert of your 4 quart Fagor LUX Multi-Cooker (you have gotten one, haven't you?) and set to the browning function. After water comes to a boil, blanch the sausages for 5 minutes. Transfer sausages to a plate. Toss out water and clean insert.

Heat multi-cooker using the browning function. When the light stops flashing, add bacon. (If bacon starts to cook too fast, switch the multi-cooker to the sauté function.)  When bacon is cooked through transfer to a paper towel-lined plate, leaving fat in cooker. Put duck breast in cooker, skin side down. When is skin is golden brown, flip over and cook for 2 minutes. Remove breast from cooker, leaving fat behind. Cut sausage into 1-inch pieces. Add to cooker and  sauté until browned on all sides. Transfer sausage to a paper towel-lined plate.

Remove all but 1 tablespoon of accumulated fat from cooker. Sauté onion and carrots (season with a heavy pinch salt) until they have softened and the onions become translucent. Add garlic and tomato paste. Sauté for 30 seconds. Add wine and reduce by about a third. Add stock, beans, tomatoes, bay leaf, herbs, and sausages. Dice bacon and add half to the cooker, reserving the other half. Remove skin from duck breast and dice. Add meat to cooker (discard skin or make into cracklings.)

Seal cooker (make sure valve is set to pressure). Using pressure function and set to cook 5 minutes. Unplug cooker and do a natural release for 10 minutes. Open valve to release any remaining pressure. Skim off any fat on surface of stew. Season to taste with salt and pressure. 

Serve in large bowls topped with toasted panko garlic bread crumbs.

Bread crumbs

• 3 garlic cloves, finely minced
• ⅛ teaspoon garlic powder
• ⅓ cup olive oil
• ⅔ cup panko bread crumbs

Heat a small non-stick skillet over medium high heat. Add oil. When oil begins to shimmer add both minced garlic and garlic powder. Cook 30 seconds. Add bread crumbs and mix well. When crumbs are golden brown remove to a plate and allow to cool.

Veal Marsala with Risotto al Funghi and Truffles 2012 Ruffino Chianti Classico Gran Selezione Ducale Oro

Risotto

• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 shallot, finely diced
• 2-3 cloves garlic, minced
• 8 ounces cremini mushrooms, chopped into large dice
• 1 ounce dried porcini mushrooms, reconstituted and chopped finely
• 1 tablespoon white truffle butter
• 1 ½ cups Arborio rice 
• 1 cup white wine
• 2 ½ cups low-sodium chicken stock
• ½ tablespoon white truffle butter
• 1 white truffle

Heat your 4 quart Fagor LUX Multi-Cooker (you have gotten one, haven't you?) using the browning function. When the light stops flashing, add oil and allow to heat until it begins to shimmer. Add shallots and sauté for about a minute or until they become translucent. (If they start to brown, switch the multi-cooker to the sauté function.) Add garlic and sauté about 30 seconds. Add mushrooms and, if you have not already done so, switch the multi-cooker to the sauté function. Cook mushrooms for about 8 minutes or until they are brown and have softened but are still meaty to the taste. Add the white truffle butter and rice. Stir and sauté for 2 minutes. Add wine and switch the multi-cooker back to browning. After wine comes to a boil, allow to reduce for about a minute. Add stock and seal the multi-cooker (making sure the valve is set to pressure). Select the risotto function. When cycle is complete, unplug the multi-cooker and do a 10-minute natural release. Release any remaining pressure and stir rice. Add cheese. Add second bit of butter. Season t taste with salt and pepper. Plate the risotto and grate white truffle over it.

Veal

• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• ½ tablespoon white truffle butter
• 4 veal scallops
• 1 shallot, finely diced
• 2-3 garlic cloves, minced
• 8 ounces cremini mushrooms, chopped into large dice
• 1 ounce dried porcini mushrooms, reconstituted and chopped finely
• Big pinch dried thyme
• ½ tablespoon tomato paste
• ⅔ cup dry Marsala wine
• 1 tablespoon demi-glace and 1 tablespoon Wonder flour dissolved in 1 cup hot low-sodium chicken stock
• 1 tablespoon white truffle butter

Dust scallops with Wonder flour and season with salt and pepper on both sides. Pound both sides in both directions with your 48-blade tenderizer.

Preheat skillet over medium-high heat, which I define as 330°. (I check the temperature using my infrared thermometer, but I'm a kitchen geek.)

Add oil and butter. When butter stops foaming, add veal and cook for about a minute per side. Transfer veal to a plate and shallots and sauté for about a minute or until they become translucent. Add garlic and sauté about 30 seconds. Add mushrooms and thyme. Cook for about 8 minutes or until they are brown and have softened but are still meaty to the taste. Add tomato paste and sauté about a minute. Add Marsala, increase heat to full and reduce by half. Add stock and cook until it reaches sauce consistency. Add butter. Add veal and toss in sauce. Serve.

Chianti

The wine was a brilliant match for the veal and risotto. Big bouquet of red and black berries with some warm spices. Well-balanced. Good acidity. Easy to drink and easy to like, albeit not terribly profound. Grade: 87

 

New Years Eve Eve

For New Years Eve Eve we had an amazing stuffed pork tenderloin from La Boucherie via Louisiana Crawfish with Spanish rice, peas, and a tasty @VeuveClicquot rose. @lacrawfishco @CajunMeats Highly recommended.

— Professor Bainbridge (@ProfBainbridge) December 31, 2017

For New Years Eve Eve we drank a NV @VeuveClicquot Rose. It made a wonderful accompaniment to our Cajun stuffed pork tenderloin. Very red for a rose, with many fine bubbles. Crisp, fruity, minerally. Strawberries, cranberries. vanilla, toast. Grade: 90 pic.twitter.com/K4y4sQT9WX

— Professor Bainbridge (@ProfBainbridge) December 31, 2017

My resolution for 2018 is to go to Confession often, but because I want to rather than because I have to, if you get my drift.

— Professor Bainbridge (@ProfBainbridge) December 31, 2017

Get your favorite cook a Fagor LUX 6 quart Multi-Cooker for Christmas

In the November 2017 issue, Cook's Illustrated ranked multi-cookers. it's top finisher was the Fagor Lux LCD Multicooker. In second place was the slightly older and less expensive Fagor Lux Multicooker, of which they wrote:

We still liked our old winner; it made great pressure-cooked food. And though, like other models, it tended to cook less efficiently than a traditional slow cooker because of its shape, we were able to tweak our recipes to get good food. It had a comparatively simple and navigable interface and we really liked the clear “locked” and “unlocked” symbols, which made it easier to attach the lid. It has a lot of buttons and its interface isn’t quite as streamlined as our new winner, but it’s still a good option.

I love mine so much I also bought a 4 quart model. And, yes, I frequently use both of them while cooking the same meal. It's my favorite kitchen gadget of 2017 and my highest recommended Christmas gift for your favorite cook. By the way, Cook's Illustrated is the only food magazine with subscribing to. The magazine, its website, and cookbooks are my cooking bible.

Rack of lamb with short cut risotto & white truffles and a 1997 Ridge Montebello

Although my birthday (59 if you're keeping score at home) isn't until Monday (so there's still a few hours for shopping), we had my birthday dinner last night. The centerpiece was my birthday present to myself--an Italian white truffle.

Lamb

• One rack of lamb, frenched. 
• sale
• pepper

Score the fat layer over the meat. Season the rack heavily with salt and pepper, rubbing them into the fat and meat.

Let the rack come up to room temperature while you preheat the oven to 450°. Put a cast iron pan in the oven to heat. When the oven is fully heated put the rack in the pan fat-side down. After 5 minutes, flip the rack so the fat side is facing up. At the 10 minute mark, reduce the oven temperature to 325°. After 10 more minutes (for a total of 20) take the lamb out of the oven and check the internal temperature with an instant read thermometer. If it's below 125°, put the rack back in the oven for a couple of minutes. If it's the right temperature, put it on a cutting board to rest.

Sauce

• 1 teaspoon unsalted butter
• 1 tablespoon shallots
• ¼ tawny port
• ¼ white wine
• ¼ low sodium chicken stock
• green peppercorns (I like a lot but suit your own taste)
• pinch salt
• teaspoon Dijon mustard

Put butter in a small sauce pan over medium heat. When it stops foaming, add shallots and cook for a couple of minutes until they are translucent. Add port, wine, chicken stock, peppercorns, and salt. Turn heat to high and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to a low simmer. Reduce liquids to a couple of tablespoons. Take pan off the heat. Add mustard and stir to combine. 

Cut the rack of lamb into 4 2-bone pieces and top each with a spoonful of sauce.

Short cut risotto with white truffles

I love risotto but I hate slaving over a pot stirring while adding dribs of stock. Hence, short cuts.

• 1 pkg. Alessi Funghi Risotto w/ Porcini Mushrooms
• 1 tablespoon white truffle butter or white truffle oil
• ¾ cup of white wine
• 1 ½ cup low sodium chicken stock

Combine all your ingredients in your 4-quart Fagor LUX Multi-Cooker (you have bought one haven't you?). Using the browning feature bring mix to a boil. Install lid (making sure pressure valve is closed) and select the risotto function on the multi-cooker. When the risotto is done, unplug the multi-cooker and let rice rest for a few minutes before releasing pressure.

Using a mandoline or a truffle slicer (be sure to protect your hand with a kevlar glove) slice your white truffle over the risotto immediately before serving.

 

Ridge Monte Bello 1997

This is a gorgeous wine. Deep ruby despite having thrown a lot of sediment. Big bouquet of blackberries, blackcurrants, leather, tobacco, and cedar. Smooth tannins and good acidity make it very food friendly. Fully mature but may hold a while. Grade: 97

Cooking on Milk Street

Milk Street is Christopher Kimball's new project. Having left his old outfit, America's Test Kitchen, which long has been my go to source for cooking ideas, taste tests, equipment reviews, etc..., Kimball is now launched on a project of bringing global fusion food to the home kitchen.

"Bound to cause his fans to rejoice... even though its production values may be in the coffee-table league--a full-color image appears opposite every recipe--this book is designed for hard, occasionally sloppy, countertop duty. Recipes and accompanying photographs are contained on a single two-page spread, meaning that there isno frustrating flipping back and forth... The book fulfills its promise of sourcing the world's cuisines in search of flavor bombs that are made easy to produce in American kitchens."―The Wall Street Journal

"Overall gold... You already know and trust him from his years leading the way on America's Test Kitchen. Now, he's adding a different kind of spice to life... through his recipes and his research, he aims to connect us all."―Tasting Table

"This approachable book compiles an array of global recipes that are bold in flavor, yet simple enough for the home cook. Try the mouth-watering soups, such as Spicy Red Lentil Stew and Spanish Garlic. And be sure to pay attention to the technical tips along the way."―RealSimple

"All the recipes offer the reliability that Kimball is famous for, and there are lists of pantry staples and cooking tips included with some recipes to help readers get dinner on the table with ease...Egg dishes go from a simple scramble cooked in olive oil to curry braised eggs that promise to reinvent breakfast, and possibly dinner. Vegetable recipes are particularly interesting... [and] Kimball's fans will be pleased with this latest cookbook."―Publishers Weekly

On the weekend just passed, I made two recipes from Milk Street:

1. Gemelli Pasta with Chèvre, Arugula, and Walnuts. Despite substituting penne for the Gemelli pasta and spinach for the arugula, the dish was a triumph. Very straightforward with clear directions.
2. No sear beef and chickpea stew. I tweaked the recipe every so slightly so as to use my Fagor multicooker. Came out great with a broth that you could drink by the cupful.

In short, this is going to be very high in the rotation of the cookbooks I consult. Highly recommended.

Thanksgiving Dinner

The star of the show was a Turducken Roll with wild rice and pecan stuffing from La Boucherie (Houston) via Louisiana Crawfish:

The key supporting player was a 2014 Ridge Paso Robles Zinfandel:

Delicious. Deep purple. Great bouquet of ripe berries and black cherries. On the palate, there are soft and silky tannins and good acidity. Juicy blackberry fruit. Grade: 90

I'm trying to figure out which state I'm from based on my Thanksgiving preferences

From the Economist:

Appetizer: Deviled eggs

Bread: Cornbread

Cranberry: Relish

Potato: Sweet with little marshmallows

Turkey: Brined

Stuffing: Cornbread

Side dish: Carrots

Pie: Pumpkin

I blame my lack of geographic identity on growing up in the army.

Easy multi-cooker supermarket ingredient chili

The goal was to make a yummy chili--no beans--in about 30 minutes using only mega-mart ingredients.

The process began that morning by grinding one pound of assorted beef trimmings (chuck, sirloin, tenderloin, flank) using the coarse grind die of my KitchenAid Food Grinder Attachment. I ran about half the meat through the grinder a second time to improve the mix.

When it was time to prepare dinner I mixed the meat with 1 teaspoon of baking soda, 1 teaspoon of kosher salt (I like Morton's), 1 teaspoon of chili powder (I like Morton & Basset), and 2 tablespoons of low sodium beef broth), and let it sit for 15 minutes.

I preheated my 6 quart Fagor LUX Multi-Cooker using the browning cycle. When the function light stopped blinking I browned the meat in two batches. I drained the meat on paper towels and dabbed up any excess fat in the cooking insert. 

I returned the meat to the insert and added 1 16-ounce jar of medium salsa (among the supermarket options, I like Tostitos Chunky Salsa). This is a great shortcut I picked up from Alton Brown of Good eats fame.

Next I added 1 cup of low sodium beef broth, 1 tablespoon of Worcestershire Sauce, 1 tablespoon law sodium soy sauce, 1 cup of Stahlbush Island Farms Frozen Sweet Potatoes, and 1 tablespoon chili powder.

I set the Fagor to the pressure cooker function, selecting high pressure and setting the timer for 7 minutes. When the pressure cooker time expired, I allowed it to do a natural release for ten minutes and then opened the pressure valve to vent the remaining steam.

The sauce was a little runny. So I finely crushed enough Doritos chips to make a ¼ cup, and stirred them into the pot. I brought the chili to a boil using the browning function and then switched the multi-cooker to simmer.

After about 10 minutes of simmering, the chili had thickened nicely. Given that I did basically no chopping or prep work, but instead just opened bags, cans, and jars, it nevertheless tasted great. In fact, it tasted better than the last chili I tried making from scratch.

Braised boneless beef short ribs with Ridge Carignane

Dinner Saturday night was boneless beef short ribs braised in a pomegranate juice-based sauce. I got the recipe from Pressure Cooker Perfection. Excellent.

To drink we shared a 2015 Ridge Buchignani Ranch Carignane (Sonoma County). Excellent match. Plums and blackberries. Moderate alcohol (by Ridge standards). Well balanced. Not a wine for the cellar but pleasant short term drinking. Very food friendly. Grade: 89

 

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Smothered Pork Chops with Sea Smoke Pinot Noir

Dinner last night was Smothered Pork Chops (with mashed potatoes and green beans) based on a recipe from Pressure Cooker Perfection. I tweaked the recipe to make it a bit more etouffee-like by seasoning the pork chops with a Cajun spice mixture. I also substituted beer for the chicken stock and added a tablespoon of Lea & Perrins Worcestershire Sauce and two teaspoons of Tabasco to the beer. Yummy.

I poured a 2014 Sea Smoke Botella Pinot Noir (Sea Rita Hills), which made a lovely match. This bottling from this vineyard is light by Sea Smoke standards with soft tannins. Very drinkable now. Raspberry. Minerals. A trace of smoke. Grade: 90

 

Ridge East Bench Zinfandel with Gordon Ramsay's NY Strip Steak & Fingerling Potatoes

Last night we has a 2015 Ridge East Bench Zinfandel (Dry Creek Valley) with NY strip steaks and fingerling potatoes as inspired by a Gordon Ramsay video. The Zin was obviously very young, but nevertheless quite approachable. Lots of pepper, blackberries, and an interesting suggestion of chocolate that I rarely find in Zinfandels. Grade: 91

FYI: I used a standard Cajun spice rub. 

 

 

Butter Chicken cooked in a Fagor Lux Multi-cooker and served with with Firestone-Walker ‏IPAs

Last night, I made Butter Chicken in my Fagor4 Quart LUX Multi-Cooker using a recipe from Indian Instant Pot® Cookbook. The Fagor is an amazing multi-tasker and Urvashi Pitre's cookbook is an excellent resource for using multi-cookers. Lots of classic Indian recipes made easy for the home kitchen. I recommend both.

BTW, I generally don't try to match wine to Indian food. Instead, as we did last night, I usually opt for a Firestone-Walker IPA (I believe Union Jack in this instance).