4.28.2009

Poached-Egg Topper

Originally, I didn't make this salad for garlic.pepper.parsley, but because I was hungry! It was so pretty when it was done, though, that I couldn't help but take a picture. Then, while looking at the picture, it came to me that maybe this little quick-meal trick of mine might be useful to others, so I decided to post it.


If it seems odd to put a poached egg on top of a salad, I have to ask you to suspend your disbelief for just a moment and stay with me. When I was still cooking for one, not to mention trying to maintain my pre-wedding weight, this dish made a frequent appearance on my table. Why? Because it's light, reasonably balanced, easy to make, and a good way to use up vegetables (and eggs) before they go bad in the refrigerator! And, the added protein from the egg really turns the salad into a meal. You can add dressing to the salad before adding the egg if you'd like (a light vinaigrette works well), but you don't need to, because the runny egg yolk makes a nice dressing by itself. As always, I'd recommend adding a few turns from the pepper grinder as well.

Poaching an egg is not the easiest thing to do, but it also isn't hard if you use my method. The end result may not be the most beautiful thing ever, but it works! I just fill a very small frying pan about 2/3 full with water and add a splash or two (about 1 tsp.) of vinegar. Then, I heat the water on medium until bubbles start to form on the bottom and sides of the pan. I crack the egg into a separate bowl and drop it into the center of the pan. While the sides of the egg white cook, I spoon water over the top of the egg until the white turns opaque over the yolk. Then, I use a slotted spoon to remove the egg and place it on a paper towel for a couple of minutes to drain. That's it!

If you still just can't bring yourself to put that egg on top of a salad, try it on pasta! The yolk works as a great simple sauce. And, "an egg on top" is a popular food trend this year, so you'll be on the cutting edge!

4.25.2009

Wine of the Week: Chateau Montus 2003 Madiran

This wine departs from my usual picks because it is not as widely available, and because it is only under twenty dollars if you buy a half bottle! Still, when I sampled it at a wine tasting about a month and a half ago, I knew that I would have to write a post about it. First, the specifics: I purchased this wine through the hosts of the tasting for about seventeen dollars for the half bottle (375 ml). It is a relatively high alcohol blend of 80% Tannat and 20% Cabernet Sauvignon, and is from the Madiran appellation in Southwest France.

The wine is extremely dark purple in color, even inky. The aromas are of currant, blackberry, tobacco, and leather, but the taste is really what makes this wine interesting to me. At first, almost no fruit comes through, and the wine is really all about the tannins, and woody, smoky, non-fruit flavors. It is only after it has been given some time to breathe that any fruit comes through, cassis and blackberry most notably, on the mid-palate. In the meantime, the wine is full-bodied with a long, coarse finish. Tannins are prominent, but not astringent, lending it a smooth, "chewy" texture. The balance is only threatened slightly by the high alcohol. Once this wine has had some time to open up, the fruit, the tannins, the acid, and the alcohol all play nicely. Before that? It is an interesting change to have a wine that is not so juicy. Definitely worth a try if you come across a bottle.

4.22.2009

Food Read: Educating Peter

If Educating Peter seems to be an unlikely name for a book in the food realm, it may prove even more shocking to learn that this book is actually about wine. Yes, Lettie Teague, wine editor at Food & Wine magazine, wrote the 2007 book to chronicle her adventures in teaching her good, but wine-ignorant, friend Peter Travers (film critic at Rolling Stone magazine) a thing or two about wine. Actually, her goal was to teach Travers, who proclaimed his love for "fatty" Chardonnay, more than a thing or two about wine. Rather, she wanted to, "teach someone enough about wine that he or she would be able to read a restaurant wine list without fear, approach a wine merchant with confidence, and perhaps even score a few points off a wine-snob friend".

I have to admit that I had high expectations for this book. After hearing a light-hearted interview of Teague and Travers on The Splendid Table, I purchased the book in the hopes that it would be more engaging than the other wine books I was muddling through at the time. It was more engaging at first, but then...it lost me for a while. Meaning, about halfway through the book, I set it down and didn't pick it back up for at least a month.

I did eventually finish Educating Peter, and I have to say that in the end, it's not a bad book. To Teague's credit, she does cover a lot of ground in 250 pages - everything from wine vocabulary and bottle shapes, to wine regions old world and new, to pairing wine with food. But I wonder if she tried to do too much with this book by trying to cover so much ground, while still including Peter's reactions to each topic. The factual information about wine seems to be less than complete in the beginning, where engaging anecdotes of teaching Peter rule the text. Then in the middle, where wine-producing regions are detailed in sequence, the shear quantity of information seems to crowd out the "Peter-isms" for the most part, and left me wishing for more. The interesting thing is, this book is marketed as being targeted toward true wine novices. I would not consider myself to be a wine expert now, but when I bought this book, I was a true novice - at least close enough to be able to weigh in on this claim! I have to say that this book went a bit beyond the novice realm in so thoroughly detailing regions, producers, and even vintages. Despite being a relatively detail-oriented person, I found myself wondering how I would ever remember all of these details, short of carrying the book around with me!

Surprisingly, I did retain many more of those specifics than I ever expected, and, despite barely making it through the first time, I am actually considering reading the book again. Having come so far in my wine knowledge since I first bought it, I think I will be better able to appreciate what this book has to offer now. And, despite Teague's sometimes obvious wine-snob tone, I am interested in what she has to say. The bonus? The book's format should make it a breeze to re-read.

4.19.2009

Fried Rice with Spring Veg

Tonight I really had a taste for a spring-inspired meal filled with sweet, crunchy vegetables...but I also didn't want to spend all night in the kitchen. This quick fried rice really fit the bill! The brown rice and bits of egg ensure that it is filling, and the vegetables make it tasty and interesting. Keep some cooked brown rice on hand, and you can whip this up in no time.

Fried Rice with Spring Veg
(serves 2)

1 T Olive Oil or Canola Oil
2 Cups Cooked Brown Rice
2 or 3 Eggs
1 Cup Chopped Snap Peas
5 Medium Radishes, Sliced
1/4 - 1/2 tsp. Sweet and Spicy Curry Powder
1 T Light Soy Sauce
Sesame Seeds
Sesame Oil
2 to 4 Lime Wedges

Heat 1 tsp of the oil in a medium sized skillet over medium heat. Quickly scramble the eggs with a fork, and add them to the pan, swirling to ensure they cover the bottom of the pan. Cook the eggs into a sort of flat omelette, lifting the edges as they cook to let the uncooked egg run underneath. Remove the egg from the pan and set aside.

Heat the remaining oil in the pan, also over medium heat. Add the rice to the pan and allow it to warm for several minutes, stirring frequently. Stir in the snap peas, curry powder, and soy sauce, then let cook for about five minutes. Meanwhile, slice the egg lengthwise and across to form small squares of whatever size you wish. Then, add the radishes to the pan and let cook for about 2 minutes before finally stirring in the egg. Warm the egg for about a minute or less.

Separate into two bowls, and garnish each with a sprinkle of sesame seeds, a generous drizzle of sesame oil, and a lime wedge or two. Remember to use the lime when you eat this dish - It makes all the difference!

4.13.2009

Simple Lemon Vinaigrette

I first made this vinaigrette out of necessity. Faced with a beautiful, but bare, freshly prepared salad and a refrigerator conspicuously devoid of the proper dressing, what else could I do? Fortunately, I always keep a lemon or two on hand. I whipped up this quick dressing and, since then, I make my own vinaigrette just as often as I buy it. This is the perfect dressing for the fresh baby lettuces, sprouts, and micro-greens that are showing up at the spring farmers' markets right about now. Using a good, green salad-grade olive oil makes all the difference.

Simple Lemon Vinaigrette

1/2 Lemon
1 tsp Honey
2-3 T Extra Virgin Olive Oil
Pinch of Salt
Freshly Ground Black Pepper

Squeeze the juice of the lemon into a medium-sized bowl. Add the honey, salt, and pepper to taste. Slowly stream in the olive oil, while whisking the mixture until combined. Taste and adjust as necessary.

To serve, add fresh salad greens to the bowl and toss.

4.10.2009

Profile: Craft Beer

I’ve written quite a bit about wine in GarlicPepperParsley, attempting to simplify it and make it more accessible, in part by identifying some good under-$20 bottles. Today I’d like to discuss another beverage that has been overshadowed by the wine discussion, but is close to my heart nonetheless. Kevin and I were introduced to craft beer several years ago by friends of ours, and have never looked back! Frankly, it would be a shame for anyone who really appreciates flavor to be drinking only mass-produced light beer (think Bud Light), something akin to drinking Yellow Tail Pinot Grigio as a sole wine choice. Yet, with craft beer sales comprising less than 5% of the U.S. market volume, it’s likely that many people are doing just that! The craft beer industry was born in the mid- to late-1970s in the U.S. as a backlash against the rapid disappearance of old-world beer traditions and styles from the country, as well as in an attempt to allow smaller brewers to differentiate themselves from the “big guys”. Craft beer is beer made in comparatively small quantities by a particular brewer, often in a microbrewery, brewpub, or even at home. The brewer uses variations of the main ingredients of grain (malt), hops, yeast, and water to create interesting beer with the particular color, flavor, and consistency that he or she desires. In this way, craft beer is a lot like wine. Though each beer starts with the same basic ingredients, the way in which they are processed and combined can make the greatest difference in the final product. Just as a winemaker chooses a particular type of grape, whether or not to include the skin, and which type of oak to use (if any), so the brewer makes decisions regarding the type or processing of the grain, the amount of hops, and the variety of yeast that goes into the beer. The results can vary as much as the difference between the lightest Sauvignon Blanc and the biggest Petite Syrah, or the sweetest Riesling and the driest Bordeaux. While a German-style Hefeweizen will generally be pale in color with a fruity and spicy flavor often characterized as banana- and clove-like, an Extra Special Bitter will be amber or copper-colored with medium to medium-high bitterness as the predominant taste. Thus, beers can range from the palest gold to the darkest chocolate in color, and can incorporate as wide a range of flavors and aromas. Flavors can include chocolate, caramel, coffee, smoke, cinnamon, clove, bubblegum, banana, apple, or even kiwi, just to name a few. Styles are just as varied and include Porter, Stout, Brown Ale, Pilsner, Blonde Ale, and the ever-popular India Pale Ale, among many, many others. Lucky for us, the craft beer industry continues to grow, meaning that every year brings even more great brews to sample. With the myriad options now available, I'd encourage you to find a beer shop or brewpub and try a few, both craft brew and imported, if you haven't. It will change the way you think of beer!

Some breweries to consider (products from these breweries are generally more widely available):
Anchor Brewing Company http://www.anchorbrewing.com/
Dogfish Head Brewery http://www.dogfish.com/
Rogue Brewery http://www.rogue.com/
Sierra Nevada Brewing Company http://www.sierranevada.com/

4.07.2009

Excursion: Enoteca Roma

A recent trip to Chicago found us enjoying a late night snack at the comfortable and cozy Enoteca Roma, a restaurant and wine bar on W. Division Street. Apparently modeled after similar establishments in proprietor Letizia Sorano's hometown of Rome, Italy, Enoteca Roma was the perfect place to relax and recharge after a long drive to the city. We ordered a couple of flights of Italian or (Italian-like) reds, which were much appreciated, but the real star of the evening was the Bruschetta. Simple, yes, but truly fantastic. Always tantalized by variety, I loved that ordering Bruschetta at Enoteca Roma involves choosing four different varieties. Even more, I loved that, with over ten regionally inspired varieties to choose from, it was still hard to decide! We ordered Calabria (goat cheese, roasted red peppers), Vinnie (carmelized onion, Gorgonzola cheese), Piedmonte (brie, green apples, honey), and Roma (tomato, garlic, basil). The mouthwatering spread arrived on a large cutting board, looking absolutely irresistable, and the crunchy rustic italian bread was the perfect platter for four harmonious sweet and savory toppings. At this point, I have to admit that the Piedmonte's reputation preceded it, and it did not disappoint. But the big surprise was definitely the Roma, clearly the best of the bunch, in my opinion. The blend of just the three simple, fresh ingredients of sweet tomato, tangy garlic, and bright basil was just perfect! If you are in the neighborhood, Enoteca Roma is definitely worth a stop.