Sixty-fifth Post ~ Salmon with Zesty Avocado-Peach Salsa

While searching for healthy yet filling summer dinner recipes, I happened upon a recipe for grilled salmon over mango salsa.

Now, I neither possess a grill nor a penchant for mangoes, so I decided to mix the original recipe up a little. And then I kinda got carried away "customizing" it to my personal tastes and preferences. So here's what I ended up needing for tonight's meal, when all was said and done:

(Note that I am preparing this for two, but if preparing it for one, I would make it exactly the same way but with one salmon fillet - I feel that the salsa would be wonderfully accompanied by tortilla chips for lunch the following day)

~ 1 or 2 salmon fillets (about 6 oz. each)

~ 1 large ripe Haas avocado

~ 2 peaches* (or one monster peach, which is what I ended up with!)

~ 2 roma tomatoes*

~ 1 jalapeño*

~ 1 lime

~ fresh cilantro

~ 1 can corn*

~ two scallions*

~ 1 clove of garlic

The asterisks indicate ingredients that I "customized" - I substituted peaches for mangoes, one and a half roma tomatoes for cherry tomatoes, a jalapeño that I seeded first rather than packing in all that heat, added a half a can of corn to give it a little more oomph, and scallions instead of onions, as they are a little milder in taste.

Set aside some time before you're actually going to bake the salmon. The salsa is best if it sits and melds for a bit. This dinner is quite easy to make, but it requires a bit of chopping, slicing and dicing. It is a task made much easier with the proper tools - in this case, a chef's knife, a paring knife, a peeling knife, and kitchen scissors, all direct from the beautiful knife set my dad gave me as a Christmas gift!

So time to get your get your slice 'n' dice on!

I started with the avocado.

:: PAUSE ::

Now here's a strange habit, but I'm going to share it with you, dear readers: my 60-second avocado hand treatment. Whenever I make anything with avocado, I end up with a ton of it on my hands. Instead of washing it off immediately, I rub the avocado all over my hands, then rinse it off under warm running water and towl my hands dry. It leaves my skin amazingly smooth. I also end up smelling a bit like an avocado, but there are trade-offs in life.

:: UNPAUSE ::

So after [ahem] dealing with the avocado, I diced up the peach, squeezing the juice out of the peel into the bowl. Next went the romas. I scooped out a little of the tomato "innards" first. I used my kitchen scissors to snip in a good handful of cilantro - which has to be one of my favorite fresh herbs next to thyme and basil. I added about half of a small can of corn, the scallions (which I snipped into the bowl rather than cut), a crushed clove of garlic, the juice of one lime, and the jalapeño.

:: PAUSE AGAIN ::

Sorry. But this merits saying. I have a medium-to-moderate spicy tolerance. I can eat jalapeños, but only in very small quantities - and I'm best if their seeded first. All the heat of a pepper resides in the seeds and inside pulp, so I scooped it out with the smaller end of a melon-baller (a trick I learned at one of Meg's Pampered Chef parties!) and then, with a very sharp paring knife, minced the bugger. Actually, I only added half of it to the salsa, reserving the other half in a prep bowl so that it could be added later by someone else who may have a higher spicier index than I...

And then I attempted to add the zest of lime. It turns out I lack a zester. I thought I had one; perhaps it was a dream. In any case, I decided to attempt to use a cheese grater. Remember what I had said about the right tools making a job really simple? Well, the wrong tool can really complicate things. Thankfully I was working over a prep bowl and NOT the salsa, as I ended up grating a good deal of my own knuckle along with the lime on my first pass down the grater. So there is no lime zest in this salsa. No blood, either.

:: UNPAUSE ::

So now you've got all your ingredients in the salsa - toss it a few times and then cover it tightly - trust me on this - and refrigerate it while you bake the salmon.

As previously mentioned, rather than grill the salmon, I opted to bake the fillets, which I had skinned by the helpful guy at Wegmans. I rubbed them with a juicy slice of peach and ground some salt over them and sprinkled on a bit of pepper before baking them for about 15 minutes. About halfway through the baking, I brushed them with some olive oil.

Serve the salmon atop an ample bed of salsa with a garnish of cilantro, if you so choose.

I served this meal with an amazingly refreshing sauvignon blanc from South Africa by Graham Beck. I got it on sale 50% off at Global Wine, my favorite wine shop (for reasons like that!). It was grassy, citrussy, and paired perfectly with the dish.

All in all, a successful meal!

Yours in the love of good food, wine, and the joy of customization,

AL

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The blogger is not an experienced chef. She takes no responsibility for the quality of the meals prepared while following her advice. Use your own judgment regarding cooking times and proper food handling.

Sixty-fourth Post ~ Cheater's Duck à l'Orange

Duck à l'Orange has always been one of my favorite dishes. Pair it with a good oaky chardonnay, and it will make me swoon. I decided to try an easy take on this classic French recipe by using marmalade as my base. Here's what you'll need:

~ Duck breast (prepackaged ones by Maple Tree Farms from Wegmans are consistently delicious)

~ Marmalade

~ Heavy cream

~ Splash dry white wine (I used some leftover Brut)

~ One orange

For the sides, I made two dishes that are fail-safe and can be pretty much left on their own while I focused my energies on the duck:

~ Fingerling potatoes

~ Olive oil

~ Fresh (or dried) thyme

~ Coarse-ground sea salt

~ French-cut green beans (the bags from the freezer always come out crisp!)

~ Olive oil

~ One clove garlic

~ Coarse-ground sea salt

Beforehand, rinse and pierce the fingerling potatoes, drizzle them generously with EVOO, sprinkle some thyme on them and salt to taste. Pop them in a toaster oven on 350. They are best if they bake for about 45 minutes. I love fingerlings because A.) they're multicolored, which just makes me happy - especially the purple ones and B.) They are tiny, so 45 minutes of baking makes them taste just like those baked potatoes that have been in the oven forever absorbing all sorts of good flavors and getting all sweet.

Put the beans on the stove with some water and start boiling on low. I don't like beans cooked too long, so I just shut off the heat after they had boiled a bit. While I was prepping everything, I crushed a clove of garlic into some oil in a separate pan - but didn't turn it on until the very end when the duck was nearly done. At that point, I sautéed the garlic and tossed the beans around in it just before serving.

So back to the duck. Even though these particular duck breasts come pre-scored, I still scored them a little deeper to make sure I had a crispy skin. Place them skin side down in the pan and let them cook there for a bit, checking them every so often so they don't get too toasty. You may wish to drain out a little of the fat as they cook. Eventually, flip them over a few times to even out the cooking process and start making the sauce around them.

Dump in a few generous tablespoons of marmalade with a little bit of EVOO. Add a dash of salt and a splash or two of white wine. Cut off two slices of orange for a garnish, and squeeze the juice from the remaining fruit into the sauce. Stir it around a bit and allow it to begin simmering. After a bit, begin adding tiny amounts of cream, stirring it in immediately as you add it.

Now comes the easy part - just let the whole thing go for a bit! Turn the duck a few times and spoon some of the sauce over it as it's cooking, and insert a meat thermometer and turn off the heat when it reaches 160. Let the duck sit in the pan while you serve the potatoes with a dab of butter and the beans. Then serve the duck with a generous amount of sauce over the top!

I paired this meal with a chardonnay from Beachaven Vineyards Winery from Tennessee (a gift from JJ from a backpacking trip through the Smokeys). This chard is oaky enough to pair swoonably with the duck, with subtle vanilla and citrus notes that are a wonderful compliment to the orange sauce!

All in all, a successful first attempt at one of my favorite meals of all time!

Yours in the love of good food and wine,

AL

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The blogger is not an experienced chef. She takes no responsibility for the quality of the meals prepared while following her advice. Use your own judgment regarding cooking times and proper food handling.

Sixty-third Post ~ Pasta Bolognese

I have always loved bolognese sauce over pasta. I typically get it on trips or in restaurants, and never paused to question what was in it that made it so extraordinary. I was on a mission for a Great Fridge and Freezer Clean Out today, and happened upon a quarter pound of hamburger and a half jar of spaghetti sauce in my freezer. I began to ponder what to do with it (beyond the obvious) when the wonderful word "Bolognese!" popped into my head.

So be it.

It turns out, my friends, that bolognese is given its distinctive taste by three surprise ingredients. Let us take the first:

Mirepoix. Mirepoix, as it turns out, is much less mysterious than I had given it credit for when I would encounter it in French recipes (and promptly click "NEXT" for what I assumed would be something easier and less cryptic). Fear not! Mirepoix is simply chopped onion, celery and carrots. It's the base for many French dishes. Now, when you say "onion, celery and carrots," I am immediately put in mind of my Mama's chicken soup. Given my firm belief in this dish's healing properties, it's no mystery to me why this combination of three vegetables is known as one collective noun and is so popular in so many dishes.

The second mystery ingredient needed to turn your spaghetti sauce into bolognese is red wine. I chose to use a generous splash of a Spanish tempranillo and I think it was a good call. I've always noticed that bolognese is a bit deeper of a shade of red than most tomato-based sauces, and I feel this is the reason.

The third mystery ingredient is milk. Now, here's where I am going to show my colors: I am German. Butter and salt are food groups for us. Where recipes I've encountered have called for a splash of milk, I have used heavy cream instead. I made the same call for this recipe, and have read that I'm not the first, historically, to do so. Anyway, there's red wine in it, so surely we've already counter-balanced the health aspect of the meal...

So here's what you'll need to make Pasta Bolognese à la Accidental Chef:

~ Hamburger

~ Spaghetti sauce (I used Wegman's tomato basil)

~ Mirepoix (minced onion, celery and carrots. It's perfectly okay to pick some celery and carrots out of the veggie tray sent home with you from a family get-together).

~ Olive oil

~ Red wine

~ Heavy cream (or milk)

~ Pasta

~ Coarse-ground sea salt

~ Pepper

Start your water boiling and cook your pasta as per usual. While the pasta is cooking, mince some onion, celery and carrot and toss it into some olive oil in a skillet. Savor the aroma of these so-called "aromatics" as they simmer. Add the hamburger. Salt and pepper to taste.

:: PAUSE ::

Here's where I should have been a little more patient: let the mirepoix and hamburger simmer for quite a bit. I hastily added the tomato sauce as soon as the hamburger was done, and it could have benefited from melding together a bit more. The end result was still good, but I'd recommend giving the meat and mirepoix a little bit of patience. Just a little.

:: UNPAUSE ::

After the mirepoix and hamburger have had a chance to simmer together lengthily in your pan, add some red wine and then some pasta sauce. After you've stirred it all together, add just a splash of heavy cream. Watch it instantly turn into a beautiful blend of Italian goodness.

Serve over spaghetti. Garnish with parsley if you wish. A true bolognese would have been served with a dusting of grated parmesan, but, alas, I had none; neither parmesan nor even pecorino romano remained in my fridge. A sad day, truly, but I have faith that I shall attempt this recipe again, and when I do, I will have a generous sprinkling of parmesan over all!

I paired this dinner with the last of a delightful Spanish red by Protocolo. This wine paired beautifully with a classic roast beef, and brought out the essence of the root vegetables and yet was strong enough to stand up to the beef and tomato sauce in tonight's meal. All in all, a great pairing!

Yours in the love of good food and wine,

AL

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The blogger is not an experienced chef. She takes no responsibility for the quality of the meals prepared while following her advice. Use your own judgment regarding cooking times and proper food handling.

Sixty-second Post ~ Spaghetti alle Vongole

It started with a photo... While looking at a friend's travel photos, a picture of a pasta and seafood dish caught my eye and captivated my soul as only a foodie's soul could be captivated. She told me that it was a common dish in Japan, where there seems to be a prevalence of authentic Italian cooking (who knew?). The dish's name is spaghetti alle vongole, and is Neapolitan in origin. I decided that I must try it for myself.

So, with a tweaked recipe from the UK in hand (this was an international venture), a willing test subject at the ready (my boyfriend, John) and a Wegman's shopping list, I set out to recreate the meal that had captured me so (with the hopes that it would taste as lovely as it looked).

Here's what you'll need to take this virtual trip to the sunny Mediterranean shores of Napoli.

~ fresh clams (for two: about a pound or so - or maybe more - I got littlenecks from Wegmans as they are the sweetest)
~ spaghetti
~ dry white wine (enough for cooking and for drinking - I recommend buying a bottle to serve as the beverage and a mini bottle for cooking. Woodbridge by Robert Mondavi is a good single-serve wine for both drinking and cooking)
~ garlic
~ flat leaf (AKA Italian) parsley
~ scallions
~ lemon juice
~ extra virgin olive oil (EVOO)
~ chili powder (cayenne)
~ white pepper
~ course ground sea salt
~ butter

To add a little more to the dish, I opted to roast some garlic that could be spread on a baguette. So, for the side that really compliments the dish with savory nuttiness:

~ one bulb of garlic
~ baguette
~ EVOO
~ coarse ground sea salt

Peel the garlic cloves and generously coat in EVOO and season with coarse ground sea salt. Wrap the whole bundle up in tin foil and roast in a toaster oven (or heating apparatus of your choice) on 400 degrees for about a half hour. Start this ahead of time.

Cook your spaghetti as per usual in salted water. As it's cooking, chop up some parsley and one large scallion. Set to the side. If you have a sous chef, ask him to slice the baguette and put it in a bowl and rinse the clams.

In a pan with a well-fitting lid, start some EVOO, lemon juice, two cloves of garlic and scallions gently sizzling.

Add a bit of cayenne - I used less than the quarter teaspoon that was called for, as I have a lower spicy threshold than most. I like to taste my food thoroughly, and I find that extreme heat can detract from that. Others love this taste/sensation, so you be the judge and add as much or as little as you like. The dish itself is typified by having a bit of heat (hence why it is refreshing on a hot Mediterranean day) but it would be delicious without it, as well.

Add the white wine, parsley, and clams.

:: PAUSE ::

The recipe from the UK calls for steaming the clams in less than two tablespoons of white wine. Obviously, American clams must be thirstier than British ones. That or the original recipe doesn't intend to yield a lot of broth.

The liquid that comes from shellfish as they open and cook is referred, in the foodie world, as "liquor." This is an appropriate name for it, as it is about as intoxicating and delicious as some finely distilled spirit. I like a lot of it. As you may recall, my mussel recipe yields more than enough, and is intended to be mopped up with the baguette after all the mussels are consumed.

I was sort of expecting the same deal with this recipe, but even after allowing for the pasta to absorb some of the liquid, there was not a lot left for dipping. To alleviate this tragedy, I would recommend adding a good deal more white wine to the pan, and definitely more clams that what was called for (6-8 per person).

:: UNPAUSE ::

So, whether or not you have gone the route of more broth, add your parsley and clams, season with salt and pepper, and slap on the lid for four to five minutes. At this point, your pasta should be sitting in a colander in your sink. Your garlic should be done, so unwrap the luscious gems and mash them up with salt to taste.

By now your timer should be going off, so take the lid off, revel in the aroma, and dump your pasta into the pan and toss it all around.

Serve in big bowls with crusty bread spread with roasted garlic. I paired this meal with a Soave from Vincentini Agostino, which was bright with citrus to compliment the garlic and scallions, light enough not to overpower the delicate clams, and cool in the face of the cayenne. It was a perfect partner for this dish, and made this the perfect meal for a hot summer evening!

Yours in the love of good food and wine (and the derring-do to take a culinary leap based solely on someone's vacation photo),
AL

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The blogger is not an experienced chef. She takes no responsibility for the quality of the meals prepared while following her advice. Use your own judgment regarding cooking times and proper food handling.

Sixty-first Post ~ Simple (but pretty!) Insalata Caprese

Okay, dear readers, I understand that this is my third post about the simply joy of mozzarella and tomatoes.

But I think that it merits repeating that this is just about the freshest, most appealing combination of foods - especially in the hot summer months. And this presentation makes it all the more fun - your guests will think they're getting the royal treatment, and you'll think you've found the perfect solution to that question of "what to feed them while the meat is still cooking."

I saw this unique way of presenting insalata caprese on my cruise on the Celebrity Millennium. It was one of their every-night options for the salad course, and I've got to say I indulged quite regularly, and then bookmarked the concept to bring home as a "souvenir."

Here's what you'll need for this dish:

~ Roma tomato
~ Mozzarella ball (roughly the same size as your tomato)
~ Dash of olive oil
~ Dash of lemon juice
~ Dash of balsamic vinegar
~ Course ground sea salt
~ A few snips of fresh basil
~ Salad greens of your choice

Cut the tomato and mozzarella and place them on your plate. Drizzle a bit of the olive oil over it and add a few drops of lemon juice. Snip up the basil and arrange that around the caprese with your greens on the opposite side of the plate. Add a few drops of balsamic to the plate and grind some salt to taste over the top.

And here's the best part - you can pop it in the fridge ahead of time, so that as your guest enters you can whip it out for immediate dining joy!

Yours in the love of good food (and the wine that surely would come with the next course!),
AL

Sixtieth Post ~ Steak Shish Kebabs with Orange Soy Marinade

I'd like to call these "Shish kebabs," but if you were to research the etymology of the name of this summer-time treat, you'd call me a liar.

You see, loyal readers, the word "shish" is accurate (stemming from the Turkish "şiş" meaning "skewer") but the "kebab" part is where you'd get me. "Kebab" comes from the Persian "kabab" (کباب) and means "fried."

But if I were to call this a plate of steak "shishes" you wouldn't have any idea what I was talking about. So we shall concede to the modernization of language (read: borrowing words and completely changing their meanings) and call them "steak shish kebabs."

Here's how you make these particular food anomalies:

For the marinade:

~ Orange juice

~ Soy sauce

~ Sugar

~ Garlic

For the "shishes:"

~ Steak (cut into cubes)

~ Chunks of bell pepper

~ Mushrooms (I'm back to my baby bellas)

~ Garlic (jarred or crushed)

~ Sesame seeds

~ Fresh parsley

In a skillet, combine the orange juice, soy sauce, garlic and about a tea spoon of sugar. Simmer it so that all the flavors meld. Turn off the heat and let it cool. Preheat your toaster oven or other heating apparatus on 350 on broil. I accidentally had it on 300, and I had to pop these back in.

Dice up the steak and bell pepper.

:: PAUSE ::

I had trouble falling asleep last night. As I am a foodie, I would rather dream up recipes for lambs than count them leaping over fences. So I thought about the steak I had put into the fridge to thaw and considered how I might prepare it. In my subsequent dream, I saw it skewered upon a stick with mushrooms, garlic, orange, soy, and - peppers! Orange bell peppers! (Yes, I dream about food, and I dream in color!) Orange is my favorite color, so it could have just been channeled in through that path, but I have to say, when I found this incredibly bright orange bell at Wegmans today, I felt that it just might be kismet.

:: UNPAUSE ::

Assemble the shish-kebabs-which-are-not-to-be-kebabed and lay them in a shallow pan. Pour the sauce over them and sprinkle them with sesame seeds. Let them marinate for about 15 minutes, spooning sauce over them occasionally. Put them in the toaster oven for five minutes, turn them, and put them in for another five. When you're ready to enjoy them, garnish them with fresh parsley. It adds a wonderful light flavor to the meal.

I paired tonight's dinner with an Argentine Malbec by Elm Tree. It's fruity enough to match the whole "summer barbecue" feeling of the meal, but hearty enough to stand up to some seriously intense flavors. I was impressed by the fact that it never tasted tart next to the sweet orange-soy sauce, but also served to cleanse the palate as I enjoyed the fresh peppers, earthy mushrooms and steak. A good pairing, and a "dream-come-true" meal - even if its name is etymologically incorrect!

Yours in the love of good food and wine,

AL

Fifty-ninth Post ~ Breaded Pork Tenderloins with Herb Pasta

Tonight's dinner was a snap to prepare and filled my apartment with the wonderful aroma of fresh herbs - perfect for a stormy spring night!

Here's what you'll need for this quick and easy meal:

~ Pork tenderloin cut into 1" thick medallions

~ Italian breadcrumbs

~ Grated Parmesan cheese

~ Fresh herbs of your choice (I chose parsley, rosemary, thyme and basil)

~ Olive oil

~ Pasta of your choice

~ Ground sea salt

~ Tomato

Get your water boiling (with salt and olive oil, if you wish).

Chop up some fresh herbs. I am becoming incredibly attached to the fresh herb section in Wegmans. You can buy the prettily packaged ones for $1.99 or a massive rubber-banded bunch for $1.29. I usually go the route of the massive bunch, because if you wrap them in plastic and store them in the veggie keeper of your fridge, they last for weeks. I have far better success with that route than I do with potted plants. I am a plant serial killer. But that's another story for another time...

So I chopped up some rosemary, thyme, parsley and basil. Mmmm, the aroma! Positively intoxicating. Dice up a bit of tomato and set that to the side. Next, slice the pork into medallions. By now, your water should be well on its way to boiling, so dump in your pasta and set the timer for 10 minutes.

Start a good dash of olive oil heating in a skillet. Mix one part Italian breadcrumbs and one part grated parm in a prep bowl. Coat the pork medallions in this heavenly mixture and set them into the hot oil. Turn the burner on low and let them cook until they are done halfway up. Carefully turn them.

Drain the pasta and mix in the herbs and tomato. You may wish to heat it again for just a moment to let all the flavors meld. The tenderloin medallions should be done by now; serve it on a plate garnished with some extra parm (and extra sea salt, if you want!).

I enjoyed tonight's meal with the rest of my Negroamaro Rosato. It paired beautifully with the meal, complimenting the fresh herbs and turning fruity in the face of the salt and parmesan. A delightful pairing made even more delightful by the fact that I drank it out of one of my new Riedel glasses - a splurge from a recent cruise on the Celebrity Millennium. My wine appreciation has reached new heights!

Yours in the love of food and wine,
AL

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The blogger is not an experienced chef. She takes no responsibility for the quality of the meals prepared while following her advice. Use your own judgment regarding cooking times and proper food handling.

Fifty-eighth Post ~ Rosemary Garlic Pork Tenderloins en Papillote

It's crested above eighty degrees here in Buffalo, and as someone who never wills the winter to leave nor the days to become hot, I feel that I have the right to complain, if only for a moment. The humidity is at 60%, and when you couple that with 84 degrees, and then couple THAT with a third-floor apartment dwelling, you end up having a real issue about what to make for dinner.

Yes, it all comes down to that: Dinner.

So tonight I opted to cook "en papillote" for three reasons:

1.) It's quick - when it's this hot out, I don't have a whole lot of energy.

2.) It's light - the en papillote method cooks your food entirely through steam - no heavy oils or butters.

3.) It's convenient - prep your raw ingredients and stick it in the toaster oven - no need to stand over a hot stove!

So here's what you'll need for tonight's dinner:

~ Pork tenderloin (cut into a little less than a one-inch medallions)

~ Mushrooms

~ White wine

~ Garlic (fresh or jarred - I went jarred because it amounted in less to wash later on over a hot sink)

~ Fresh herbs of choice (I used rosemary and thyme, because they're my perennial favorites)

~ Coarse ground sea salt

~ Dijon mustard (optional)

Cut out your parchment paper heart and set your pork medallions in one half. Over this, place your herbs. Sauté some mushroom slices in a pan with a little water, a dash of olive oil and some salt. Place them on top of the fresh herbs. Over this scatter a bit of crushed garlic.

Fold the "heart" and crimp the edges. Into the naturally-formed "spout" at the heart's bottom, pour about a tablespoon of white wine.

Seal it up and cook it for about 13 minutes in a pre-heated 375-degree oven.

I went into the other room and enjoyed the breeze from a fan while I worked for a bit. When the timer went off, I transferred the parchment package to a plate and paired the meal with an Italian Rosato from Negroamaro by Cantele. It was delightfully bright with a nose of sun-ripened raspberries and unexpected notes of anise.

Upon tasting the pork and mushrooms, I found them to be flavorful, yet lacking just a bit. I put a small amount of dijon mustard onto the pork and found that it married the flavors of the rosemary and garlic beautifully - however, as a caveat to oenophiles everywhere, I have to mention that it did kill some of the subtle beauty of the wine.

I think that if I had it to do over again (which of course, I do; that's the beauty of cooking!) I would enjoy the meal with this wine as mentioned without the mustard, and for an alternate taste, I would place a bit of dijon en papillote prior to cooking, and then pair the meal with a little heavier of a wine, such as a pinot noir or a merlot.

All in all, a good meal (and I intend to take another tasting of the Rosata in a little while after my palette clears a bit) and all the more satisfying for its hot-weather-friendly nature!

Yours in the love of good food and wine,

AL

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The blogger is not an experienced chef. She takes no responsibility for the quality of the meals prepared while following her advice. Use your own judgment regarding cooking times and proper food handling.

Fifty-seventh Post ~ Balsamic Chicken and Mushrooms with Stilton Cream Sauce

Yes - it's as you suspected. I've got all this stilton left over from yesterday's Blueberry Chambourcin Port Fest and I'm just itching to cook with it. That and I want to have a meal worthy of the final glass of port!

Here's what you'll need to make tonight's 10-minute meal:

~ Chicken tenderloin

~ Mushrooms

~ Garlic (jarred or fresh)

~ Balsamic vinegar

~ Sea salt

~ Olive oil

~ Pasta of your choice

~ Stilton (or similar blue)

~ Cream

~ Fresh (or dried) thyme

Start a pot of water boiling. Slice up some mushrooms and start them sautéing with some garlic, salt and olive oil. Add a dash of balsamic vinegar. At this point your water should be boiling, so add your pasta and start watching the clock.

Cut the tenderloins into bite-sized pieces. Your mushrooms should be moving right along at this point, so add the chicken, another dash of salt, olive oil and balsamic. As soon as the chicken and mushrooms are cooked through, set them to the side in a prep bowl.

In the same pan (d0n't worry about rinsing) add about a tablespoon of stilton and some cream. You don't need too much of this sauce. What I made for my meal was enough to just coat the bottom of my stick-free skillet. So not much.

Once the sauce is nicely melded and your pasta is done, drain the pasta and put it on a plate. Top with the chicken and mushrooms from the prep bowl. Top that with a bit of fresh thyme.

The food paired beautifully with the blueberry chambourcin port and the meal itself came together nicely, too. The flavors held their own - the chicken and mushrooms were flavorful in their own right, but also were accented by the bit of stilton. The thyme added a nice fresh note to it, and it has become my all-time (all-thyme?) favorite herb to keep on hand!

Yours in the love of good food and wine,

AL

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The blogger is not an experienced chef. She takes no responsibility for the quality of the meals prepared while following her advice. Use your own judgment regarding cooking times and proper food handling.

Fifty-sixth Post ~ Wine Feature: Blueberry Chambourcin Port Dinner

I arrived home on Sunday travel-weary (yet brimming with memories!) from our 16-day Alaskan adventure. Marked on my calendar, where it had been firmly planted for three months, were the words "PORT FEST".

I had gotten my hands on a unique vintage - a bottle of blueberry chambourcin port - from Vetter Vineyards about a year ago. Fellow foodie and wine connoisseur Meg and I decided that if we were going to do justice to a bottle (or even part of a bottle!) of port, we'd have to plan this right. So plan we did. Here's the menu:

BEVERAGES

~ Blueberry Chambourcin Port

~ Ice water

APPETIZER

~ Hickory-smoked almonds (Wegmans - way cheaper than Blue Diamond, and just as yummy!)

~ Imported French chocolate (via Japan and my friend Nozomi!)

~ Stilton (a classic, right?)

ENTRÉE

~ Pork medallions ladened with blueberry chutney (home-made by Meg's awesome mom!)

~ Steamed broccoli florets (what, we can't be healthy about this?)

DESSERT

~ Meg's outstanding blueberry cobbler

Here's how to pull it all together so that you can enjoy many hours of dining, dishing and drinking!

Make sure the port has had at least 24 hours out of the wine rack standing upright to allow sediments to, well, settle. Chill for about 15 minutes before pouring.

Have the cheese, almonds, chocolate and water ready on the table.

Know your limitations: Meg handled the baking. Period. Although she did assure me that this was a user-friendly recipe, I gladly stepped aside and readied the entrée while she handled getting dessert in the oven:

Put either stick-free foil on the pan or a little olive oil. Slice pork into inch-thick medallions. We had two each. Spoon some blueberry chutney (or another fruit chutney or even jam) over the pork. Pop in a 350-degree oven/toaster oven for about fifteen minutes.

This chutney was sweet and had a little zip, either from cardamom or chili powder, or possibly both. Meg's mom - care to weigh in? In any case, this chutney stood alone without any need for additional spices. If you're using jam, consider grating a little nutmeg over the top or adding a spring of a fresh herb like rosemary or thyme and a hint of black pepper.

While the pork is cooking and the cobbler is baking, sit and enjoy the appetizer and your first tasting of port. Vetter's port went wonderfully with the appetizer - the chocolate brought out the velvety texture of the wine, and the stilton and smoked almonds highlighted its intense berry tones. The wine is intense without being too heady - the bouquet is as delicious as the flavor, and it warms you at the first sip without that dizzying effect one can experience with too bold a drink. At 18%, it's also slightly lighter than most other ports I've encountered, which, in my opinion, makes it a more enjoyable beverage. A fine start!

During the last few minutes your pork is in, steam the broccoli in the microwave for three minutes or until desired doneness. The easiest method is to put the broccoli in a bowl with a tablespoon of water and cover tightly with plastic wrap. Try very hard not to burn yourself on the escaping steam when it's done.

Serve the pork with lightly buttered and salted broccoli. The port complemented the pork beautifully! Even though port is typically reserved as an after-dinner drink, this ruby port was fruity and approachable with bright characteristics. This made it a wonderful mirror to the entrée.

Enjoy some photos, some girl talk, nibble on some more chocolate, and then enjoy the cobbler. Here is a link to this recipe that Meg found (and masterfully executed, I might add)! The blueberry-stained copy she gave me will reside in my cookbook forever! The cobbler's sweetness gave the port a bit of a refreshing snap to it - but it wasn't at all clashing. It was a perfect dessert for this (typically) dessert wine!

A fine meal, fine wine, and the best ingredient of all, fine companionship!

Yours in the love of good food, wine and camaraderie,

AL

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The blogger is not an experienced chef. She takes no responsibility for the quality of the meals prepared while following her advice. Use your own judgment regarding cooking times and proper food handling.