Wine & Cheese #2

In the pursuit of any great artistic or artisanal creation, there must be healthy debate. Not only do differing opinions and criticism keep good artists and artisans sharp and thinking about their next creation, it also helps the consumers of those creations make educated decisions about what they might prefer. If you are reading this newsletter in the first place, you probably think about your food and wine already, so consider this issue of the newsletter one more thing to chew on.

The debate over pasteurization is an interesting one, and has good arguments on both sides. Pasteurized milk must be heated to a relatively high temperature - between 145 and 160º - for varying amounts of time. This process destroys some harmful bacteria and leads to longer shelf-life of the milk. At the same time, the heat also breaks down certain flavor-producing enzymes, so cheese made from this milk has less potential for developing the subtleties and nuances of flavor and aroma of its raw milk counterparts. In the U.S., cheeses made from raw milk (like Roquefort, Parmigiano-Reggiano, and two of our offerings this month) must be aged at least 60 days before being sold. The idea behind this mandatory aging is for the cheese to lose sufficient moisture and have high enough salt content to inhibit harmful bacterial growth. Younger soft-ripened raw milk cheeses like Camembert are still made and consumed in Europe, where we haven’t seen any mass extinction of cheese eaters, but the merits of these laws is a discussion for another day.

This is not to say that cheese made from pasteurized milk can’t be good. On the contrary, there are many examples of these outstanding cheeses, two of which we’ll introduce in this month’s newsletter. If a skilled cheesemaker uses high quality milk (pasteurized or not), great things can happen.

Raw milk cheeses do have some inherent advantages. In addition to retaining an array of bacteria and enzymes, they also hold untouched some off those compounds that come from the animal’s food. In other words, if the cow whose milk made a particular cheese happens to have feasted on grasses and flowers, suggestions of those grassy and floral aromas and flavors will often show up if the cheese is well made.

With all this in mind, I couldn’t help thinking about the connection between the wine- and cheese-making processes. As I mentioned in last month’s newsletter, both are deceptively simple. That is, they each produce marvelously interesting and complex results from relatively mundane raw ingredients. Yet it is the handling and combinations of those ingredients that can work such wonders. The culturing process in cheese employs a specific bacteria whose job it is to produce lactic acid, acidifying the milk in anticipation of the addition of rennet, which separates the milk into curds and whey. In the winemaking process, similar bacteria are used to convert the overtly tart malic acid into the softer lactic acid in a process called malolactic fermentation.

Much like the questions over raw milk, there also exists considerable debate among winemakers over the issue of filtration. Just as pasteurization can remove some desirable elements from the milk, so can excessive filtering sometimes strip a multidimensional and unique wine of its character. And just as with cheese, there is nothing to say that a winemaker who chooses to filter a wine can’t put something great in the bottle nonetheless. But many wine lovers would agree that regardless of the wine, its ultimate character and especially the expression of where it comes from are best preserved by bottling it unfiltered.

So, you may be asking yourself, what about this month’s cheeses? As promised, this month we found some interesting and beautiful selections, different enough to warrant your attention, but not so wild and stinky that you won’t want to open your refrigerator! In order to explore the attributes of both styles, we are featuring one pasteurized and one raw milk cheese each from both North America and Europe. The wines mentioned here are intended to pair with the featured cheeses quite well, but like I always say, as long as you like the cheese and the wine on their own, chances are you’ll be happy eating the two together.

To North America first! Fog Lights is a beautiful pasteurized goat milk cheese from California, mild and bright, with the distinctive tangy creaminess that I love in good goat cheese. There is a slight earthiness weaving through the tang that keeps the flavors mellow, and the texture reminds me of a slightly drier version of a great fresh chèvre. To accompany this cheese, a touch of richness and fruit in your wine wouldn’t hurt a bit. Take for example an Alsatian Pinot Gris, full and fat and gleaming with glassy fruits and minerals, balanced by an acidity that keeps its considerable size in check. The tang of the cheese and the fullness of the wine would balance each other beautifully. Dry rosé also comes to mind, especially because the Fog Lights tastes so fresh and bright it makes me want to have it for dinner with nothing else but a baguette and a cool, crisp glass of pink wine.

Moving a bit northward we find the Filou, a raw milk goat cheese from Quebec. This cheese has been patiently aging a while, to a point where is once runny interior has firmed up a bit and its flavors have evolved from young and tangy to a deeper grassy earthiness, with just a touch of stinkiness starting to creep in. This would be delicious with a southern French white, based on Viognier, Marsanne or Rousanne. These whites tend to be full bodied and floral. They are fruity to be sure, but with sufficient acidity to keep them refreshingly dry.

From Europe we have a pair of cheeses, once again pitting pasteurized against raw milk. Rocchetta, a fresh Robiola-styled pasteurized milk cheese from Piedmont in northern Italy, is made from a blend of cow, sheep, and goat milk. This cheese combines the best aspects of all three milks, lending a sense of sturdiness from the cow, a fresh bite from the goat, and a salty, satisfying creaminess from the sheep. Its texture is airy, and yet surrounding every bit of lightness is a sense of creamy richness that is almost indescribable. No doubt this cheese would be made with raw milk if you bought it in Italy, but as I mentioned before, its youth precludes that possibility here in the States. I have wonderful memories of sitting behind a 12^th century farmhouse, looking out toward the sunset-lit silhouette of the city of Orvieto, eating a strikingly similar cheese and drinking a glass of fresh, crisp Grecchetto. This wine, along with its cousin Orvieto Classico (or any other finely-tuned, light, dry Italian white – perhaps Vernaccia?) would be a perfect match to this cheese.

The first time I tasted our final cheese, I assumed we had stayed in Italy. The sepia-tinged color, the nutty, gently sharp flavors, the crumbly, flaky, fine-grained texture, all spoke clearly of fine Parmigiano-Reggiano. I was shocked to learn that in fact my adoration was leveled at a 4 Year-Aged Dutch Farmhouse Gouda. One taste of this raw milk cow cheese (not to mention one look!) will immediately change the way you think about this once mundane cheese. What to drink with this beauty? Try a medium-bodied Italian Sangiovese or Barbera, full of ripe red fruit to play with the sharpness of the Gouda, and with enough crackling acidity to balance the oily richness of the cheese. Beer would not be out of the question here at all – think of a weight, golden brown German Doppelbock that deftly balances its malty, nutty sweetness with a refreshing dose of gently bitter hops.

Now that we’ve introduced a few exciting and unique cheeses, some made from pasteurized milk and some raw, you can feel free to dive right into the debate. The great thing is, either side you choose you’re guaranteed delicious cheese!

©2008 Alex Meier-Tomkins

Meatloaf is So Tasty

Yes, that's right, meatloaf. I remember years ago when I would cringe every time my dad told us it was meatloaf night. I'm not sure why I detested it so. I wasn't a particularly picky eater, but perhaps the ground turkey texture just threw me off.

So for the last few weeks I've been thinking about a new approach, something that would be heartier, tangier, and, well, meatier. Beef would have to enter the picture, as would some sort of moistener. And throwing some bacon on top wouldn't hurt a bit. I read through a ton of recipes. Some seemed overly involved, some too basic, but the theme I kept running up against was a sauce spread across the top and mixed into the meat that was just too sweet. I have nothing against ketchup, but I also can't take it in 1/2 cup portions! So I tinkered with some sauce and relish recipes and came up with one that is quite tasty, keeps everything nice and moist, and expertly straddles that fine line between sweet and savory.

As for the meat, keeping it simple is good. I realize that veal is a traditional partner to the beef and pork, but I always have a hard time finding it at the store, unless it's pre-ground with its partners, and I just don't go for that sort of thing. I have no doubt that if you use one of those prepared meat mixtures you'll be just fine, but I opt for beef and pork only. The bread you use in the mixture is up to you - white bread is the norm, though I never find that on my kitchen counter. I used a few slices of a loaf I made from the fabulous Mark Bittman recipe in the New York Time Dining section.

To accompany our loaf, a simple bowl of roasted broccoli, mushrooms, and carrots, all sprinkled with some Parmigiano and olive oil, and a bowl of rich, cream-infused mashed potatoes with scallions. Not the most heart-healthy dinner, but the red wine that we drank with it may have offset the damage somewhat. A 1992 Ravenswood Gregory Vineyard Cabernet (courtesy of Robert Jordan) was the perfect partner. I realize that early 90's Cab isn't going to grace everyone's table, but pick something nice and big, with sufficient tannin and acidity to brace the heft of the meat, and you'll be just fine. As for the Ravenswood, to look at it in the glass, it would be impossible to peg this as 16 year-old wine. Still almost purple-black, with the most gorgeous nose of deep, bleeding cassis and herbs. The fruit was just beautiful. Perhaps to pinch us back into reality, the tannins showed their age in the mouth, just barely creeping in around the edges, while ripe acidity keep all that fruit in check. Awesomely long finish, and perfect with the loaf.

Balsamic Tomato Relish

1 onion, finely minced
3 garlic cloves, minced
1 red bell pepper, finely minced
2 plum tomatoes, cored and minced
1 bay leaf
1.5 cups ketchup
1/2 cup Dijon mustard
1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
1 teaspoon soy sauce
salt and freshly ground pepper

Meatloaf mixture

1 pound ground beef
1 pound ground pork
2 or 3 slices good bread, crusts removed
1/4 cup whole milk or half & half
1 cup cooled Balsamic relish
salt and pepper
1 teaspoon fresh thyme, chopped
4 slices of bacon

Make the relish: In a medium saucepan, heat a few tablespoons of olive oil over medium heat and add the onion, garlic, and bay leaf. Cook until fragrant and translucent, then add the bell pepper and cook for 1-2 minutes until softened. Add the tomato, stir to combine, then add the ketchup, mustard, vinegar, Worcestershire sauce, soy sauce, and salt and pepper to taste. Reduce the heat to low and let it bubble slowly for 5-10 minutes, until thickened. Taste for salt, then let cool.

Make the meatloaf: In a small bowl, crumble the bread into small pieces with your hands and pour over the milk. Let that sit for a minute or so, then squeeze out the bread to remove excess milk. In a large bowl, mash together with your fingers the meat, eggs, bread, relish, thyme, and salt and pepper. I usually use about 1 teaspoon of kosher salt and ten or fifteen grinds of black pepper (since there's already salt and pepper in the relish), but if you would like to check for seasoning, just fry up a little pinch of the mixture in a pan with some olive oil and taste.

Heat your oven to 350 degrees. Form a loaf on a lightly oiled baking sheet, spread about 1/2 cup of the relish over the loaf, and then lay the bacon slices across the loaf lengthwise. Bake for about an hour and a half, or until the bacon looks cooked and crisped. The internal temperature will be around 160 degrees. Remove from the oven and let the loaf rest for about 5 minutes before slicing and serving. Serve any remaining relish on the side, or if you're like Janina, a good dollop of ketchup will be all the extra sauce you'll need.

Comfortably serves 6-8

Wine & Cheese #1

One of the most frequent and puzzled questions I hear at wine tastings, classes, and the like is which wines go with which cheeses. Even more than pairing wine with dinner, an unparalleled anxiety exists in this wine-cheese match. No doubt people already have hang-ups about wine and cheese on their own. With so many varieties of each, with the encyclopedia of names and countries and, yes, sometimes conceit, scratching the surface can seem intimidating and overwhelming. The key here, as I always tell nervous and eager classes of tasters, is to take a deep breath and relax. It’s just wine. It’s just cheese. Getting to the bottom of this question requires eating and drinking considerable amounts of both. Consider, too, that no one will expect you to learn the ins and outs of wine regions and cheese aging in one day. The most important thing is to feel comfortable. Enjoy yourself. If I can get someone to think about what they’re tasting and why it works or doesn’t (or even just whether they like it or not), then I feel like I’ve done my job.

Another distraction from a clear picture of wine and cheese pairing is the conflicting advice that springs up in every article written on the subject. The constant back and forth of “red is better!” no, “white is better!” only serves to confuse and frustrate. Since most people already feel vulnerable with the topic, such vacillation has the effect of turning folks off to the subject altogether. By learning and thinking about things one step at a time, the mysterious realm of fine wine and cheese will become much more transparent. Plus, you’ll be able to impress all your friends, and that’s never a bad thing, right?

First, let’s talk about what makes these two foods (yes, I always thing about wine as a food) so special on their own. Both wine and cheese begin their lives as relatively simple raw materials. Grapes and yeast team up to transform mere juice into a liquid that speaks of almost anything but the juice that bore it. With cheese, a combination of milk, rennet, and salt yields a food that beguiles tasters with its myriad of textures and its depth of flavor. These two foods can rise to incredible complexity, despite their humble beginnings.

To imagine what different wines and cheese will taste like together, it might be instructive to step back and think about how each tastes on its own. Ultimately any wine and cheese pairing will taste good, provided you like each player individually. The ideal, of course, is to choose two or three partners to complement and enhance one another. This is where the fun begins.

Consider, if you will, a fresh goat cheese, its flavor peppery and tangy. Its freshness might make you imagine the cheese having been made just hours before you tasted it. The texture is creamy but airy, a substantial bolt of flavor that never feels heavy or lumbering. In short, it’s lively but light. Now imagine a wine that might taste just right with this cheese. Do the same adjectives spring to mind? Do you want tangy with tangy? Maybe so, in which case the world would still turn and you will still be eating cheese and drinking wine.

I might suggest, instead, a wine that is a bit softer, that can allow you to enjoy the bite of the cheese as well as the smoothness of the wine together. Instead of having two assertive flavors crowding the picture, the softer wine can frame the cheese’s urge to show off. Some wines that come to mind are northern Italian whites like young friulano, fuller pinot gris and Italian pinot grigio, and fruitier sauvignon blanc. These wines all share the good fortune of being tasty, soft, and easy to drink. Plus, they’ll pair perfectly with some nice, fresh goat cheese.

Let’s take another cheese, something known for its brash flavors, something stinky and blue like Roquefort. These blues’ flavors are quite intense, at once salty and earthy and pungent. Nothing subtle here. Like the goat cheese, a good idea would be to let the cheese shine, lest you get exhausted by too much forceful flavor. I happen to love salty and sweet together, each sensation enhancing the other by stimulating more of my taste buds. Think of a light sprinkling of coarse sea salt over a warm chocolate cake. Delicious. Something lightly sweet would help to soften the blue’s blow. At the same time you don’t want the wine to wither, so a white with some personality of its own, like a lively gewürztraminer or a stony, minerally riesling would be perfect. These whites are both light, but they have enough going on so that they can still be heard above the din of the cheese’s flavors. Think about the cheese as a fine painting; a busy picture of dancing girls by Toulouse-Lautrec wouldn’t look quite right in a plain wood frame. A little rococo doesn’t detract from the painting, it just makes it more fun.

As you might imagine, these suggestions are just that. Nothing is written in stone when it comes to these pairings, and the most important thing is getting your hands on high quality cheese and wine. You’ll notice that I haven’t mentioned any specific wines, and that is no mistake. Go out and try several different gewuztraminers or rieslings or sauvignon blancs, and see what you like. The best way to do this is to ask questions and to trust the knowledge and experience of those who make it their job to think about these things.

Next month we’ll dive deeper into other common cheeses and with which wines they play well. Until then have fun, and whatever you do, think about what you’re eating!

All the Newsletters, Finally

At long last, I am finally putting up links to all the newsletters that I write for the shop. These pages are what got me writing about food and wine in the first place, and thanks to my general discomfort writing on a blog, they hold the bulk of that writing still.

The first few issues are already up here, so this post will cover just, oh, the last year and a half or so. How's that for procrastination?

November 2006 - All sorts of Thanksgiving goodness. Turkey Pot Pie, Granny Smith Apple Tart, etc. Plus lots of wine, of course.

December 2006 - This month's rag gives a whole bunch of fantastic party recipes, for the holidays or not. Plus, the party that these dishes were designed for gave us many great things - the exchange of East African fertility dolls, among other absurd gifts, and the classic Robert-Coleman throwdown.

January 2007 - A low key issue highlighting easy, stress-free recipes. This also has the herb roasted and goat cheese pasta that I made the night I proposed to Janina. So if you're feeling romantic and you can dig up a bottle of Marylin Remark Rousanne then heck, you can almost recreate that night.

February 2007 - I love lamb. Just read this issue. Please.

March 2007 - A lot of these issues from last year were theme oriented. That is to say that I liked to write about lamb, or Spanish food, or in this case, risotto. Risotto is yummy, don't you think? Plus, there's nothing better in this world than the arancini in this issue.

April 2007 - I love North African food, and you should give it a try if you haven't yet.

May 2007 - Ah, springtime. Time for birds and flowers and turkey burgers on the grill. Kostas Greek Restaurant in Buffalo will always hold a special place in my heart for their having inspired one of these recipes.

July 2007 - You didn't read that wrong - I gave the newsletter a rest this last June because I really needed to get married and go to Italy. What emerged from that trip was a soul-infusing love of Tuscan and Umbrian food and a great urge to cook it constantly and write as much as I could about it. For those of you who read this blog, you'll no doubt notice a lopsided number of pasta recipes. Look to this issue as the culprit.

August 2007 - A treasure trove of great summertime recipes. Pop a beer and read away...

September 2007 - My dad is right: Timing is Everything. I couldn't have met a better couple of people, and right as I was about to start writing this issue, to boot. Sarah and Nat Delafield import fair trade organic Madagascar vanilla. Check out their website at From the Field Trading, and for god's sake - buy their vanilla!!!

October 2007 - More geographical themes: This time from Seattle, Washington, our visit with our friends Deepa and Erich, not to mention Bob and Carmen Betz, inspired a whole lot of thinking about what good and wine are really about. Salmon and pork, what more would you want?

November 2007 - Just kidding. Thanksgiving was just too crazy this year at the shop for me to get any writing done. Sorry about that, but I hope you like the link.

December 2007 - Consider this a make-up for no Thanksgiving issue. The brussels sprouts are so tasty. And who knew how popular they're getting these days, hm?

Fellowship News - I Got One!

Hello again. I'm getting all psyched up to go out to California in a few weeks and meet a whole bunch of other food and wine writers for a few days at the Symposium for Professional Wine Writers. My head's spinning a little bit since I was awarded a fellowship by Peju Province Winery to attend the symposium. I sent in a writing sample as a pipe dream, never realizing that they would choose someone who wasn't technically published yet. But to look at the list of fellowship recipients I am definitely the rookie, so there you go.
Though I have been very interested over the last year or so in pursuing this sort of writing as a potential career, I am usually so hung up selling wine to actually think about the writing end of things that I find so gratifying. This news has definitely put a little fire under me to get up and put more material on this blog and to get samples and articles out to magazines and publishers. We'll see what happens...

Eggs and Flour (and Duck)

Hello, again, everyone. I know I've been absent for too long, so here's a few new ideas I've been batting around, along with some musings on the huge amount of fresh pasta I've been making over the last few months.

We picked up a classic Imperia hand-crank pasta roller over the summer for a song. It had caught my eye in the store because the box is still exactly the same as the one that slumbered in my parents' basement all year until Christmas day. For some reason (which has never been fully explained, mind you), we make fresh spinach ravioli every year for our Christmas dinner. Naturally, seeing that old red box in the kitchen store was enough to make me buy it.

Making the pasta was another story altogether. I've never been one for doughs, always feeling intimidated by the gloppy mess on the cutting board. The few times I have tried making pizza dough, for instance, didn't work out so well. With those stiff pies in my mind, I sat and stared at the pasta machine for weeks before I attempted a batch. Finally fed up with my wimpiness, I consulted my friend Giuseppe on his mother's recipe - he estimated that his mom has probably made several thousand pounds of pasta in her day.

So, with a little tinkering and a very little effort, my first batch of tagliatelle was born. I used our Kitchenaid mixer to get the eggs and flour together, and then turned everything out onto a well-floured cutting board a got to kneading. Ten minutes later I had a beautiful, smooth, dense , golden ball. I wrapped it in plastic and let it rest on the counter for about 45 minutes. That rest period firms everything up so that I won't tear while you're rolling it out.

A dusting of flour, a few passes through the rollers, and out came silky flat sheets of pasta, ready to be cut and dried. Below's a great recipe we tasted in Tuscany this summer. Beans were everywhere there, sometimes whole, sometimes ground for their texture and thickening. Here we've got some chickpeas pureed to thicken a sauce of ground duck breast, rosemary, and orange peel. We tried this at the restaurant at Fattoria dei Barbi, a fantastic Brunello producer. When we ate it recently we drank a bottle of 1997 Castiglion del Bosco Brunello that we picked up in Pienza and a 1998 Bahans Haut Brion. The juicy, rich, meaty succulence of the Brunello, and the ripe earthiness and softness of the Pessac were perfect matches to the meaty, orange-scented pasta.

Fresh Tagliatelle with Duck, Orange, and Rosemary Ragout

For the pasta:
3 eggs
2 cups flour, plus 1 tablespoon

For the sauce:
2 tablespoons olive oil
1/2" slice of pancetta, cubed
4 garlic cloves, sliced
1/2 duck breast, ground
1 cup chicken stock
zest and juice of 1/2 an orange
small rosemary sprig, chopped
salt and freshly ground pepper
1 can chick peas, pureed

Make the pasta:
In a stand mixer, or in a mixing bowl, combine the eggs and flour and mix until the eggs are incorporated and a roughly cohesive ball is formed, about a minute. The dough will be very loose and sticky. Pour the dough out onto a well-floured countertop or large cutting board. Knead well for at least ten minutes, flouring the board as necessary to prevent the dough from sticking. Discard any dried scraps that don't incorporate. Once you have a nice ball of dough, wrap it tightly in plastic wrap and let it rest on the counter for at least a half hour.

Roll the dough through each setting of the pasta machine a few times, folding over and flouring in between. I like to roll no thinner that the second-thinnest setting. Cut strips about a foot long and 1/2" wide, then set the pasta out on floured baking sheets to dry. When you're ready to cook it, bring a large pot of water to a boil, add a healthy pinch of salt, then drop the pasta and let it cook for only about a minutes. Drain well and toss into the sauce, and it will finish cooking in the pan.

Make the sauce:
In a large saute pan heat the olive oil over medium heat. add the pancetta and cook until crispy. Remove the pancetta and set aside. Add the garlic and cook for a a minute or so, then add the ground duck and cook, stirring, until browned. Add the chicken stock, rosemary, orange zest and peel, chick peas, and salt and pepper. Bring the sauce to a boil and add the pancetta back to the pan. Add the drained pasta to the pan and toss to coat. Cook for a few minutes until the pasta is pefectly tender but still chewy, and you've got some seriously tasty dinner.

Washington Food, Betz Wines, and the October Newsletter

Hello again. Sorry about that lapse, but I'm back once again with a new issue of the newsletter and good news to report about the state of Washington wines.

Janina and I just got back from Seattle earlier this week, having enjoyed it just as much as we expected. We have yet to visit that city during the apparent months long drizzling, because all we've seen are gorgeous blue skies and crisp, clean air.

We ate some great food, incuding a whole bunch of wonderful salmon, dungeness crab, and mushrooms, which were pretty much the three things I was looking forward to eating the most. None of them disappointed, but rather inspired several of the recipes in this month's newsletter. For the current issue, click here:

http://www.thewinethief.com/uploads///newsletter1007.pdf

We also had the great fortune of visiting one of the top wineries in that state, Betz Family Winery. Bob Betz and his daughter Carmen truly could not have been more gracious, kind hosts, and the wine's not bad, either. We were there during a tricky time, smack dab in the middle of harvest. That timing made for a missed visit to Cadence, as Ben Smith was doing his crush by himself, so we figured we'd give him some room to breathe. But at Betz we chatted for a while with Bob and Carmen about the harvest, the wines, and good restaurants in the area, all surrounded by a dozen or so vats full to the brim with the fermenting grapes that constituted most of what will be there 2007 wines. Cabernet, Merlot, Cab Franc, Malbec, Petit Verdot, and Syrah had all been picked and were smelling great. Grenache was coming in the day after were visited, and the press for the Cabernet was happening then, too.

While we talked for a bit with Carmen about life and food, Bob was busy taking gravity measurements and tasting through all the vats. Here you can see him checking out some Cab.

What struck me most about the small winery was the organization and cleanliness, which Carmen said were her father's obsessions. Things were spotless, and everything was in its place, even in the midst of the craziness of the week. The was no musty smell, just that beautifully fragrant fruit bubbling away underneath some clean white sheets that you can see Janina peaking under below.

And, of course, we were quite struck by the 2005 Pere de Famille that was popped open for us, a spring '08 release. Despite everything that's said about Washington Cabs being harshly tannic, this wine barely showed that tannin whatsoever. I mean, there was great structure, for sure, but the wine truly seemed to be in perfect balance. Bright, very fresh tasting fruit streamed out of the glass, and the elegant, palate staining mouthful that ensued certainly filled every corner of my mouth, but never felt heavy or clumsy. It was like drinking the textbook Cabernet, truly a study of what a bottle of wine should be all about. And all that was at 11:00 in the morning, so you know it had to be good! If you can find these wines, and if you don't mind shelling out for them, they are worth every penny.

Carmen sent us down the road into Woodinville to eat at Purple Cafe, a surprisingly busy, vibrant, tasty bistro with a hell of a wine list in what looked like your average, run of the mill strip mall. That was just one of several terrific meals in the area, including some shockingly good waterfront seafood shacks, an organic haute cuisine place called Tilth, and a homemade birthday dinner for our friend Deepa that I cooked with the help of great local produce and fish.

So, until our next trip out there, enjoy the recipes in this month's newsletter, and I'll be back soon. As you can see here, just smelling that petit verdot is enough to put a huge smile on your face.

Dreaming of Vanilla

A few weeks ago I had the great pleasure of meeting a young couple who are in a rather unusual line of work. In their ripe old late twenties, these two are importing family-farmed, fair trade vanilla beans from Madagascar. The quality of these Bourbon vanilla beans is beautiful, the aroma absolutely intoxicating, and the price is incredibly low. To this end, by importing directly from the farmers and the farming cooperatives they cut out the fees that, by their accounts, can be incurred by the vanilla passing through up to nine middlemen before leaving the country!

Sarah and Nat Delafield happened into our shop one night two weeks ago, and I have been totally taking ever since. I was very interested in the story of the development of their business and the work they're still doing in helping to increase the farmers' awareness of the value of their crops and understanding of how to benefit from it more directly.

That's not to mention the wave of intensely perfumed air that wafted my way when Sarah opened up a one pound bag of fresh, sticky, gorgeous dark brown beans. The aromas were of vanilla, for sure, but reached deeper to cocoa, spices, and a heady breath of brandy. After an excited rush of words and emotions about these beans, they let me sample a few for myself. I tried a few desserts, where the more pronounced and defined vanilla flavor in these fresh beans blew away any thought of going back to store-bought extracts. Even if, for some reason, I ever find myself without these magic beans, a potent extract can be stashed away at home by dropping two or three beans into a small bottle of high quality vodka.

I'll include a few recipes that I tested out in my upcoming September newsletter, which will appear here shortly. In the meantime, check out Sarah and Nat's informative website at http://www.ftftrading.com/. There you can find out more about the farmers, the vanilla plants themselves, and how to purchase some of these delicious beans.

See you soon...

©2007, Alex Meier-Tomkins/Pine Street Kitchen

Mom's Tilapia

As promised in my August newsletter, here's my mom's recipe for roasted tilapia with spinach and tomatoes. We had a few bottles of wine with this, one of which was the 2002 Albert Bichot Santenay, which is great pinot for the money. The white we had was the 2003 Tete Blanche Chenin Blanc from South Africa. I know I've expressed my deep love for this wine in the past, but indulge me once more, won't you? The texture and sweetness here play right on the edge of a crunchy sugary world without ever going over that line. The tropical fruit that seems like it's going to be sweet magically dries itself out in the same breath and all you're left with is a smile on your face.

Everyone say a hearty thanks to Sue for kindly sharing her recipe and contributing to our site! Thanks, mom.

2 bags spinach
1 ½ large cans diced tomatoes
3 tbsp. olive oil
6 good-sized tilapia filets
salt & pepper

thyme butter
3 tbs. softened butter
¼ c. chopped shallots
1 tbsp. fresh thyme, chopped
salt & pepper to taste

1. Wash and thoroughly dry the spinach, and place in a 9 x 13 baking dish. Drizzle with the olive oil, sprinkle with salt and pepper, and toss to coat the spinach.

2. Drain the tomatoes and arrange them on top of the spinach.

3. Thoroughly dry the tilapia filets and place them on top of the spinach and tomatoes. (If the tilapia is not thoroughly dried, the thyme butter won't stick.)

4. For the thyme butter, mix all the ingredients to combine, and spread it evenly on top of the fillets.

5. Cover with foil, and bake for 8 minutes in a 425-degree oven. Remove the foil, increase the oven to "broil", and broil the filets for 5
minutes.

6. Serve over white or brown rice.

A note from mom:

"The best thing about this recipe, I think, is that you can prepare it in the morning, refrigerate it, and you're done for the day! You can also make the rice while you're preparing the fish, cover it tightly, and reheat it in the microwave as the fish is cooking later.

You can also prepare this in individual gratin dishes (which I did once because one guest that night didn't like tomatoes)."

Can't argue with that.

©2007 Alex Meier-Tomkins/Pine Street Kitchen

Janina Makes Ravioli

I'm happy to report that it is clear that neither I nor my wife has lost the bug of Italian cooking. I came home last night to a wonderful dinner of spinach-stuffed ravioli in a simple, but dangerously tasty, cream and garlic sauce. Once again, a shorter list of ingredients produced an inexplicably more complex sauce, with a sublime texture in which the richness was perfectly balanced by a dash of olive oil, a squeeze of a quarter of a lemon, and a small pile of basil. As I mention in the recipe, the cream may break right when you add the lemon, but a little simmering and stirring will bring everything back together nicely.

Janina grew up in a household of cooks just as I did. Her experience was a bit different, though, as her family emigrated here from the Phillipines in the early 1970's. While I watched and joined my parents mincing garlic, stirring pasta, rolling pie crusts and tossing apple chunks with lemon juice and cinnamon, assembling vegetarian pizzas, roasting legs of lamb with Yorkshire pudding (for Dad's birthday only), and dressing chicken breasts with Dijon mustard and cream; she sat with her grandmothers as they shaved coconut on an ancient grater for dishes both sweet and savory, braised bits of pork in a broth packed with ginger and fish sauce and bok choy, and seared thin, pounded strips of skirt steak that had been marinated in soy sauce and garlic. She helped her mother roll lumpia (Filipino spring rolls) and she scooped out the sweet, perfumed flesh of Manila mangoes.

It is no surprise, then, that a love of food, an almost innate sense of how to cook it, and a developed sense of the development of ingredients' flavors would have followed her through her life. And while I do too often hog the kitchen, I relinquish control of that room to my delight every time. And so we come back to the ravioli. Like me, Janina tends to not measure her ingredients or, for that matter, even remember exactly what she used to make a dish after she becomes inspired. But for the sake of the cooking public, she was kind enough to commit this one to memory. This recipe fed the two of us, so increase quanities as you see fit.

Ten ravioli (any good-quality frozen variety will work just fine)
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
2 garlic cloves, roughly chopped
½ cup heavy cream
juice and zest from 1/2 lemon
Ten basil leaves, roughly chopped or torn
Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper

Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Drop the ravioli into the boiling water along with a hefty pinch of kosher salt. While the ravioli are cooking, heat the olive oil in a saute pan over low heat. Add the garlic and cook very gently for a few minutes, until the garlic becomes very fragrant but doesn't turn brown at all. Add the cream, raise the heat to medium, and bring to a simmer. Add the lemon zest and juice and stir well to combine. (The cream may break at the addition of the lemon juice, but will come back together with some stirring and simmering). Add half the basil along with a nice pinch of salt and a few grinds of pepper.

When the ravioli are done they'll float to the surface of the water. Drain the ravioli well and add them to the sauce to coat on both sides. Plate the ravioli, spooning over any remaining sauce, sprinkle over the remaining basil, along with a drizzle of olive oil. Freshly grated Parmigiano over top of everything is always nice.

©2007 Alex Meier-Tomkins/Pine Street Kitchen