Artisan American Cheese & Wine Pairing Class - 7 Spots Left!!!

Join Sommelier Michelle Gueydan and Casey Foote of Saint James Cheese for a night of Artisan American Cheese and Wine!  More and more people are getting turned on to artisan American cheeses. Cheesemakers are popping up around the country, developing innovative American originals which are rivaling the great European cheeses in flavor, quality and popularity.  Casey has just returned from touring some of our countries' best dairies and we'll be tasting his favorite finds that will be arriving in the city this week! This is a don't miss event!  Wednesday August 31, 6-8pm, $25. Reservations and prepayment required to hold your spot, 504.304.0635.

Wines:
2010 Anne Amie Cuvee A Muller Thurgau
2010 Lioco NoCo Chardonnay
2008 Moises Holmes Hill Pinot Noir
2009 Vending Machine Winery Horror Show
2008 Bonny Doon Vinferno 

Cheeses:
Capriole Crocodile Tears
Hook's Cheese Company Hook's Blue
Uplands Cheese Company Pleasant Ridge Reserve
Meadow Creek Dairy Grayson
Hahn's End Creamery City of Ships

Selecting the Wines: Dinner at Maximo's

Selecting wines for our dinners with local restaurants is one of my favorite things to do.  And believe it or not, there's a lot more to it than just opening up a bunch of bottles we like and designing a menu around them.  It is a process that involves the input and collaboration of quite a few individuals who all have a vested interest in you having a great wine and food experience.

I've been to dinners where it was obvious that there was not much communication between the wine people and the food people.  The latest experience, believe it or not, was in Tuscany. And as bad as the event was, it was actually very good for me to see what happens when proper planning is obviously not involved. Food comes out without wine or wrong wines in your glass when the food comes out and little or no thought going in to the actual food and wine pairings which means neither the wine nor the food really gets to shine.

Anne Zakin

Now onto our upcoming dinner at Maximo's...We are working on an event in late September when Anne Zakin, President of Marc De Grazia Imports USA, will be in town to host the dinner and present the wines. I met with sommelier Michelle Gueydan, who has been working with the staff at Maximo's, Chef Thomas Woods, General Manager Eric Solis, and Nick Selby from Uncorked, at his office to put our heads together to make the selections.   And I am really excited by the line up!

Chef Thomas Woods

We wanted a wide range to show case the depths of the portfolio and Chef Thomas' diversity in cooking styles.  We needed interesting wines but with good acidity and structure to pair with foods and even turned down a wine that we all fell head over heels for because we felt another would better fit our purpose (more on that wine later...). And although we tend to want to taste higher end wines at these dinners, it is important to present selections at various price points to show that not all wine needs to be expensive to be good.

So we decided to take you on a tour of Italy, presenting wine and food from the Veneto, Campagnia, Sicily, Tuscany and Alto Adige with a mix of obscure and well known grape varieties. The list is now in Chef Thomas' hands and it is up to him to create some culinary magic in the kitchen to pair with the wines.  The dinner is Wednesday September 21 and menu and pricing will be coming soon, but here's a little information on a few of the wines we selected:

2009 Kofererhof Kerner - Robert Parker's Wine Advocate, 93 pts:  The 2009 Kerner bursts from the glass with an exciting array of mint, flowers, passion fruit and crushed rocks. This is a beautiful, vivid white that takes shape in the glass, continuing to show off its remarkable class. A textured, creamy finish rounds things out in style. The estate’s Kerner is one of the great, great wines of Alto Adige, and the 2009 is nothing short of breathtaking. Anticipated maturity: 2011-2015.





2007 Az Agr Dei Vino Nobile di Montepulciano - Robert Parker's Wine Advocat, 90 pts:  Dei’s 2007 Vino Nobile di Montepulciano is wonderfully soft and expressive in this vintage. Bright red cherries lead to subtle notes of earthiness and pipe tobacco as this sexy, radiant Vino Nobile opens up in the glass. Fine, silky tannins frame the long, beautifully articulated finish. This understated, delicate Vino Nobile is a gem from Dei. 


2008 Tenuta delle Terre Nere Etna Rosso Feudo di Mezzo, Stephen Tanzer's International Wine Cellar, 92 pts., (RP 93 pts) - Good deep red. Delicately smoky, penetrating aromas of redcurrant and crushed rock, with a liqueur-like nuance; seems a bit less intense than the Guardiola. Supple, creamy and sweet, which is typical for this vineyard bottling, but with very good acidity and a recurring rocky quality nicely complementing the berry and smoke flavors. Finishes with sweet but mounting tannins and notes of aromatic herbs. This has the structure to age but also offers considerable up-front appeal, though the tannins are such that I'd suggest laying this away for another couple of years.

Pasta with Fresh Lemon, Cream and Chanterelles

I saw a recipe in Lidia Bastianich's cookbook and have just been waiting for the right opportunity to make it.  Hers uses lemon juice and zest with rich heavy cream with a fresh tagliatelle pasta.  But when I was shopping at the Hollygrove Market yesterday I got one of the few remaining bags freshly foraged chanterelles and decided they would be perfect addition to her recipe.  Not to mention they had a few pints left of the to-die-for Rocking R Dairy fresh cream, making my decision even easier.

Today was a long bike ride for us, so there was no time for fresh pasta. But I find the next best thing is the Bionaturae brand of egg pasta, and we just happened to have a package of the papparedelle in the pantry.

Ingredients
    * 3 tablespoons butter
    * 4 teaspoons Lemon zest, finely grated (about 2 lemons)
    * 1 teaspoons salt (her recipe calls for 2t, use 1t and then adjust)
    * 1 cup dry white wine
    * 1 cup chanterelles, slice the big ones vertically into strips
    * 1 cup heavy cream
    * ⅓ cup lemon juice, freshly squeezed (about 2 lemons)
    * 1 pound tagliatelle or pappardelle
    * 1 cup pecorino, freshly grated, plus more for passing
    * extra-virgin olive oil, best quality, for serving

Servings: This recipe yields 6 servings.

Directions

Put your pot of water for the pasta on the stove and begin to bring it to a boil. As you are waiting for your water, begin the recipe.

Drop the butter into the big skillet, and set it over medium heat. As the butter melts, scatter in the grated lemon zest; stir it around until sizzling. Add the chanterelles and gently stir them to coat with with butter. Pour in the white wine and lemon juice, add the salt, stir, and bring the liquids to a bubbling simmer. Cover the skillet, and let cook for a couple of minutes.

Uncover the pan, and slowly pour in the cream, whisking it steadily into the simmering wine and lemon juice. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the liquids reduce to a saucy consistency you like, 2 or 3 minutes more.

After whisking in the cream, start cooking the pasta until al dente. This about 4 minutes for fresh pasta or the bionaturae pasta.

With the lemon-and-cream sauce at a simmer, taste for seasoning and add salt if needed.  Remember that your cheese will add some salt as well.  As soon as the pasta has finished cooking, quickly lift out with tongs and drop it all into the skillet. Toss the pasta until well coated, loosening the sauce with a few spoonfuls of hot pasta- cooking water if needed.

Turn off the heat, sprinkle a cup or so of grated cheese over the linguine, and toss well. Finish with a drizzle of olive oil, toss again, and heap the pasta in warm bowls. Serve immediately, with more cheese at the table.

La Pazza Giornata In Amalfi Coast

Ride from Ravello to Amalfi with our driver Vincenzo Fusco, so much fun! For excursions and transfers on the Amalfi Coast, contact him at info@taxidriverpositano.com. Tell him le cinque donne di New Orleans sent you!

How to Open a Bottle with a Sabre, Barrachi Vineyards

I've seen this done before, but have never tried it myself, so when Benedetto Barrachi asked me if I wanted to learn of course I said yes!  My first attempt didn't go so well, but my second was a success (!  Thanks Benedetto, we had a wonderful time and Barrachi was absolutely stunning!  I'll do a post on our visit later as it was one of the highlights of the trip!

If you double click on the video it will take you to you tube where you can view it in a larger format.

Cooking Like Locals

One of the things we really enjoyed about our recent trip to Italy was cooking the local fare at our villa using only the freshest ingredients as all good Italians do.  On the Amalfi Coast seafood is king and you eat in every which way from raw to marinated, grilled or stewed, it is the star of every meal.  So much so that we got a little meat craving one night and decided to cook at home.

Enoteca Cuomo, one of our favorite stops.

 Not wanting to do anything that would take too much time, we stopped at Enoteca Cuomo on our walk up from one of our forays to da Adolfo.  They sell many different cuts of meats and meat products, so we opted for their house made sausage and also some parmigiano cheese and a few bottles of wine.  Next stop was the alimentari (small neighborhood grocery) where we picked up fresh veggies for our insalata and some locally made pasta.

Fresh veggies brought in daily at the alimentari

Now for the most important ingredients we had to look no further than the garden at the villa.  Chiara and Giuseppe, the wonderful owners, have a beautiful vegetable garden that they allowed us to pick from for our meals. We gathered up fresh San Marzano tomatoes, lots of basil, lemons and lemon leaves for the meat preparation.  I had decided to try to make a version of a typical southern Italian dish, meatballs wrapped in lemon leaves. I didn't have a recipe, but kind of pieced on together from different versions I found and was very happy with the results.

San Marzano tomatoes in the garden

One of many lemon trees in the garden

One of the things that made this work was the simplicity of the sausage; it was only pork, white wine, salt and white pepper, so I'm not exactly sure how it would be with our version of Italian sausage, but it is definetly worth trying to find out!  Also, since I didn't have a recipe, these are not exact measurements, but it would be pretty hard to mess up if you follow what I did...

I also made a fresh tomato sauce using one of Lidia Bastianich's tried and true recipes that was absolutely delicious and very quick once you peeled the tomatoes.  This recipe will follow the meatballs.

Meatballs on Lemon Leaves
Serves 6

Ingredients
2lbs Pork Sausage casing removed
1 egg lightly beaten
2 1/2 handfuls of plain breadcrumbs (I grated some day old ciabatta bread we had left over)
Grated peel of 1 lemon
1-1/2 handfuls of grated parmigiano cheese
salt & pepper
2 T. chopped parsley
24 lemon leaves washed and dried completely
olive oil

-Pre-heat over to 350 degrees
-Combine sausage, egg, bread crumbs, lemon peel, cheese and parsley, mix with your hands until everything is well incorporated.
-Heat a little olive oil in a pan and make a small patty to test for seasoning (the amount of salt you add will depend on the saltiness of your cheese and sausage).  Quickly fry it, taste and adjust accordingly.
-Roll the mixture into small cigar shaped patties, wrap with a lemon leaf and secure with a toothpick.
-Brush the leaves with olive oil and put on a baking sheet.
-Bake for 20-30 minutes, check at 20, you want the meat to be moist but not pink.

Fresh Marinara Sauce
Serves 6

1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
8 garlic cloves, peeled
3 pounds ripe fresh plum tomatoes, peeled and seeded (click here for instructions on peeling fresh tomatoes), or one 35 ounce can Italian plum tomatoes (preferably San Marzano), seeded and lightly crushed, with their liquid
Salt
Crushed red pepper
10 fresh basil leaves, torn into small pieces
Parmigiano cheese for garnish
1lb cooked pasta

-Heat the oil in a 2- to 3-quart nonreactive saucepan over medium heat. Whack the garlic cloves with the flat side of a knife, add it to the oil, and cook until lightly browned, about 2 minutes.
-Carefully slide tomatoes and their liquid into the oil. Bring to a boil, and season lightly with salt and crushed red pepper. Lower the heat so sauce is at a lively simmer, and cook, breaking up tomatoes with a whisk or spoon, until sauce is chunky and thick, about 20 minutes.
-Stir in the basil about 5 minutes before sauce is finished. Taste sauce, and season with salt and red pepper if necessary.

More Figs Anyone?

I just couldn't resist.  My last run in Cortona took me past Frances Mayes' house, the infamous villa from Under the Tuscan Sun.  On the road right near her house was a wild giant fig tree and since I have been wanting a cutting from Cortona to add to my collection, this seemed like the perfect opportunity to get one.  A quick snap of a tiny branch and I was on my way down the hill with a little piece of Tuscany in my pocket.  I hope I am as successful with this as I have been with the Sicilian cutting, that as you can see by my photo below, has started to produce some deliciously sweet figs.  I'll keep you posted!

Day Tripping to Brunello di Montalcino

Kerry and Antonio picked up our rental cars this morning and we hit the road for our first winery visit. But this wasn't just any visit, as we were heading to one of the most famous wine regions of the world, the gorgeous hillside slopes of Brunello di Montalcino.



Our host today was Count Alberto Marone Cinzano, current owner of one of the largest landholding estates, Col D'Orcia. Having run into some major traffic jams on the route, we showed up more than a bit late and were quickly whisked off to the large tasting room by Nicola, the property manager. The count himself guided us through the tasting of 8 wines that included a red blend from his Chilean estate, a super Tuscan, 2 rosso di Montalcino, 3 Brunellos, and their single vineyard cabernet and merlot. From the softer juicy light summer style reds to big powerful riservas, it was an impressive lineup thoroughly enjoyed by all of our guests.









Next up was lunch, in their beautiful reception room where we were treated to a variety of dishes made mainly with products grown on their property. Panzanella salad, bruschetta,prosciutto, freshly made pasta from their own wheat, lamb, fried peas and fresh veggies from the garden accompanied by their estate made olive oil. And of course bottles of each of the wines were set out for us to try with the different foods.



As do most producers in the region they also make 4 different grappa, as well as a beautiful dessert wine, that were also brought out for us with a delicious apple tart for dessert.






At this point, most had over indulged a bit, so we kept the tour a little short. As this would normally take place before the tasting our late arrival mean switching the order of things. But we did go to the barrel room where Nicola poured us each a sample of the very young 2010 Brunello.



We said our goodbyes and loaded everyone in the cars to explore the hilltop towns of Montalcino and Pienza, famous for it's pecorino cheese production. The most gorgeous ride back took us through the sepia toned Tuscan countryside, dotted with fields of olive trees and grape vines and beautiful villas as we winded our way back to Cortona for dinner.



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Exploring Cortona

Wanting to keep the pace of this trip a more relaxed, New Orleans style experience, we scheduled a lot of time for just hanging out and exploring different areas.




In front of our little apartment.

Having done some serious toasting and celebrating the night of our arrival, everyone had the morning to do what they what they wanted. Some went to Sunday mass, others slept in and hung out at the villa, I went for a run and and had a little breakfast at the apartment Kerry and I are staying in just up the hill from the villa.



The villa is a 16th century home, that is also a historic landmark in the town due to the fact that the famous Renaissance painter, Petro Berrittini, was born there. It has a huge, beautiful garden over looking the valley where we are serving our meals. Today we had freshly made spinach and ricotta ravioli that Antonio sautéed in butter and sage, salad, mixed cured meats antipasta platter and fresh fruit served with a few bottles of delicious sparkling Franciacorta wine.



We spent few hours in the Etruscan Museum, as Cortona was one o the original Etruscan settlements with it's origins dating back to pre Roman times. Afterwards, veryone then went off on their own, visiting the great small shops, ducking in and out of little hidden alleyways and streets, seeing the many churches, and of course we continued our afternoon gelato and espresso tradition!



Tonight's dinner was at Trattoria Dardano, owned by the Castelli family, who serves meat and game from their own farm. We dined on bruschetta, fresh made pici pasta with a duck ragu, a platter of freshly grilled rabbit, pheasant and duck, insalata and the most delicious rosemary potatoes, cooked in the fat of all of those meats on the platter. An array of desserts was accompanied by owner Paolo's incredible house made bay leaf amaro.


As we walked ourselves up the very steep hill to the villa, everyone was completely stuffed and ready to fall into bed. No late night parties tonight as all needs to awake early for our trip to Montalcino and be ready to drink the famous Brunello wines of Col D'Orcia....
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Bellisimo Cortona

Coffee this morning is in one of the many enotece in the beautiful Tuscan hill town of Cortona. The views here are much different than those from Positano, but none less breathtaking! The photos below are from my jog this morning.









This is the "work" part of the trip where Antonio Molesini and I have arranged a wine and cultural tour of Tuscany for 8 of our customers, using his home town of Cortona as a base.

We'll be visiting wineries, beautiful hilltop villages, museums and traveling around this stunning countryside while immersing ourselves in the food, wine and culture of the region.



Today is an easy day exploring Cortona, while tomorrow will be a trip to Montalcino and their famous Brunello wines. I can't wait!

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