Labor Day Crab and Blues

Happy Labor Day to all of you!  I hope your summers were good and you're gearing up for fall.  I for one am having a bit of a bittersweet Labor Day...or maybe just bitter.  I had a fantastic summer with a lot of beach time, good summer foods and wine.  I'm not ready to let it go yet!  As I sit here finally catching up on a few posts we've had in the works I'm sipping a rose and mourning the inevitable departure of my betrothed, summer.  Yup, I've replaced dates with seasons...you can do that.

Yesterday Dave and I headed to the beach on what was another beautiful summer day here in New England.  Once Dave hit his sun quota, we went over to Bristol to get some blogs written while we downed some white wine and munchies.  This isn't a bad way to spend a Sunday if you ask me.

Dave had made a corn and crab chowder the previous weekend on the Cape and really wanted to share it with you all but needed a good white wine to suggest you pair it with.  It's a tough job to research that, but someone's gotta do it.  We picked up two to try, a 2010 Corvo Insolia from Sicily and a 2010 Remy Pannier Vouvray from the famed Loire Valley in France.  Both of these wines were less than $20, so don't let the fancy names scare you off.

We started with the Vouvray, which is made from a grape called Chenin Blanc.  Both of these wines are great summer whites, so those of you that like to sip on wine in warmer weather will likely be pleased with either, though they have very different flavor profiles.  The Vouvray tastes of peach, honey, flowers and golden apples.  There's some sweetness to this wine but it finishes dry and it's pale color should not lead you to believe it's too delicate to stand up to food, such is not the case!  Go ahead and enjoy this with your saltier summer spreads--cheeses, meats, grilled pizzas.

The Corvo Insolia also delivered with it's smells and tastes of white peach, pear, honeysuckle, melon and green apple.  The grape Inzolia is local to Sicily and Dave and I both remarked on how Sicily doesn't carry the great reputation for wine as other cities and regions in Italy so it was good to see them representing with this.  This is not a citrus-y wine which can be a nice deviation from some of the "usual whites" we see in summer.  It's quick on the finish and medium bodied, which means you can serve it with your seafood or poultry dishes and likely have yourself a lovely little experience.

In the end, the Vouvray won out as the best match for Dave's chowder, recipe below.  The sweetness in the wine we felt would marry well with the corn in this dish, and the weight of the wine could stand up to the heartiness of a chowder.  Either way, we thoroughly enjoyed both as we watched the sun start to set on the Narragansett Bay on the unofficial end to summer (I am literally crying as I write this).  

Run out and get the last of the delicious summer corn to whip this up and pay a proper homage to the end of the season!

Dave's Corn and Crab Chowder:

12 ears of corn (or 2 bags frozen) boiled for a few minutes, it doesn't need to be cooked through 

1+ lb. of crab (Dave wants me to make sure you know he hand harvested his on the Cape...so there you have it) dungeness, jonah or lump NO IMITATION crab meat here...or ever really

2 medium or 1 large onion, diced

4 stalks of celery, diced

3 bell peppers--color is up to you, Dave used one each green, red, yellow--he likes color

4 diced red bliss potatoes

3 strips of GOOD bacon--render this, dice it up and then throw your diced onion, celery and peppers into the bacon fat and sauté them.  

2 boxes of your favorite chicken stock (or your homemade stuff)--heat this up  to a quick boil then throw your potatoes in until they're tender.

A bundle of a few sprigs of fresh Thyme and 2 Bay leaves--if you have them dry and don't feel like running out to get fresh just do a healthy pinch of the thyme--put this into your stock and potatoes now.

Add in the corn and the crab

TEMPER in 1/2 pint of heavy cream--temper because you don't want it to separate and get chunky (blech)...so whisk in just a little at a time 

Add 1/2 stick of butter and let this all come together...a little salt and pepper to taste or if you like it HOT feel free to add your cayenne, tobasco or whatever your weapon of choice now

For summer everywhere--Dave and Trish

Trish and Dave's Awesome Adventure

This is a great time of year in my opinion.  We're deep into summer where everyone's had the opportunity to sink into it and take a big bite.  This time of year some start complaining of the heat and you start seeing the back to school specials.  For me, I want time to literally stand still...preferably at a moment when I'm on a beach looking out at the Atlantic with a cooler by my side.  The sleepy summer month of August will be here momentarily and I am savoring as much of summer as I can.  Actually, we both are...so while we have some good wine posts coming up we wanted to share with you some of what's been keeping us from blogging:

First, we had to celebrate the 4th of July (Dave chose to do this with a little too much bourbon, preventing us from attending the infamous Bristol RI 4th of July parade the next morning)Luckily there was a cookout at his parent's fabulous waterfront home to distract me.

In New England, summer means seafood...any time of year means seafood really.  Dave and I are both huge fans of a good raw bar and there are some great local oysters to be had in these parts.  We took a trip (the first for both of us) down to Matunuck Oyster Bar  (www.rhodyoysters.com) to taste their variety of locally sourced crustaceans.  It just so happened East Matunuck Beach was around the corner and it was yet another beautiful beach day.  After we stuffed ourselves with oysters, Sauvignon Blanc and fried clams we meandered on down to sit it off in our beach chairs :)

There's a great little getaway just an hour's ferry ride from Point Judith here in RI, and it's called Block Island.  It's one of my favorite places on earth and is home to about 1,000 people year round.  The island measures approximately 10 square miles in area but don't let it's size fool you!  This island is stuffed with many beautiful beaches, cliffs, houses and tons of great places to eat shop and drink.  Sign me up!  We took a trip with our mothers this past Saturday and made the most of a day on the Block.

Oh yeah...we did attend another fine tasting put on by Eno Fine Wines and the Providence Wine Academy.  Here's a little pictorial preview until Dave and I get our act together enough to post about the favorites we tried.  Happy drinking!

We hope you're enjoying your summer as much as we are ours.  Cheers!

Dave and Trish

Summer Corn and Tomato Salad with a side of Sancerre

By now you all know how much David loves his French wine, with Sancerre ranking amongst his favorites.  Also, any of you ladies who have been indulging in a little Fifty Shades this summer should recognize this wine as well.  This is a white from the Loire Valley in France known for it's sauvignon blanc wines.  To be clear, sauvignon blanc is the grape, Sancerre is the region and it's the region, with it's soil and climate, that gives it the nice little spin separating it from the rest of the world's sauvignon blanc wines.  There's great balance to this wine and you'll get subtle notes of fruit, floral and mineral from it.

Because the flavors in this wine are more shy than outgoing it has a reputation for being very food friendly and is a great pairing with some of summer's best fresh vegetables.  I picked up locally sourced Point Judith sea scallops at Dave's Market the other night and needed a nice side to go with it that was both light and flavorful.  Lucky for me the farm stand near my house had some corn ready due to a great early growing season.  I selected some lovely looking cherry tomatoes from the same stand and headed on home to create a delicious summer meal.

This was a throw together meal as I didn't really have a set plan in my head...I just started cooking and whatever came of it was what it was.  I halved the cherry tomatoes and cut the corn from the cob, tossed it with some red wine vinegar, extra virgin olive oil, salt, petter and parsley along with some finely diced shallots.  You could grill the corn before adding it to give it a nice smoky flavor.  Toss this all together and even add some cubed ciabatta bread for a summer panzanella if you so fancy.

The scallops I seasoned with salt and pepper and then seared them on both sides in olive oil with a squeeze of fresh lemon.  I felt like they needed a little something extra so I reduced down some balsamic vinegar with agave nectar, a natural sweetener I've been into lately, and drizzled it right over them.

What should you expect to pay for this Sancerre I speak of you ask?  Well, Dave's favorite is the Lucien Crochet and you can get it for around $35, nothing earth shattering.  For about $22 you can pick up the 2010 Joseph Mellot, a less expensive bottle that's on our list to try.  Put a nice chill on it and enjoy!

Cheers,
Trish and Dave

One Whisky, Two Whisky, Three Whisky, Floor!

Well thankfully that's not what happened when I attended a scotch whisky tasting put on by our friends at Eno Fine Wines that Steve Wynn had alerted us to when Dave and I were in there a few weeks ago.  Before I get started on my experience at this tasting, let's use this opportunity to make note of a few differences between our dear friend Dave and me.  Steve informed us of the tasting, I thought it sounded fantastic as did Dave, we agree to go.  Tricia purchases her ticket online a few days later as it's a limited attendee event and informs Dave of the purchase.  Dave never replies until the day BEFORE the event to say he'd like to go and also bring his date for the evening.  Dave tries to purchase tickets, they are sold out.

Lesson here?  Dave procrastinates, Tricia does not.

Now, this tasting was not for the faint of heart.  The distillery that Eno was hosting is Bruichladdich (yup, good luck as I was informed by the representative from the company, David Ferguson, how to pronounce it but his damn Scottish accent was so strong it didn't do me any good) out of Scotland and they came with the big guns.  The big guns in this case was seven scotch whiskys and a gin for good measure.  This distillery was founded in the late 1800s by three brothers and has been producing fine whisky (and a gin!) ever since.  Holy moly.  This was by far one of the best tasting events I've ever attended, not just because of the quality liquors being tasted but the view from the Garden Terrace of the Peerless Building in downtown Providence coupled with the great snacks Eno provided and the intimacy of the event (there were only about 25 people, per the capacity of the space) all equaled nothing less than a great night.

We started with their Botanist Gin, served both neat or with a little quality tonic if you preferred.  For those of you unsure about gin, I personally prefer it to vodka because of the flavors you get from it, and I'm not just referring to the juniper berry.  This particular gin incorporates 22 botanicals native to Scotland amongst a few others and it reflects in the taste.  It's simply a joy to consume (yes, joy...I just had to restrain myself from too much joy, this was a marathon, not a sprint).

After the gin came the whisky...and the whisky...and the whisky.  About half were classic, half peated.

INSERT QUICK WHISKY LESSON:  A whisky is peated when the barley is roasted over a fire built with incorporating peat moss, giving it a smoky, peat flavor.  Whisky can have a high PPM (parts per million) of peat or a lower one, affecting of course the notes of that flavor you get when you drink it.  I personally prefer a peated whisky as it takes the 'fire' out of it for me and I'm left with the delicious smoky, caramel hints I've come to love about this liquor.

As the list is extensive to run through each one, I'll let you know that you can find these in the Providence area at Eno Fine Wines or contact them through their website, bruichladdich.com, to find more locations or order online.  We tried their Rocks, The Laddie Ten, Organic, Fino Cask, An Toras Mor, PC8 and Black Art II which ranged in price from $50 up to $200, respectively.  Suffice to say if you're a whisky drinker you will not be disappointed.  My personal favorite was the Black Art (naturally, it was the most expensive served that evening).

Thank you again to Steve for the invite!

Cheers,
Trish

Apricot Fields Forever...

Okay maybe that's not exactly how the song goes...nor is there actually apricot fields.  I know this because a friend of mine married into a family that owns an apricot FARM, I just couldn't think of a clever title for this post so I went with a stupid one.

Moving on.

I am talking about apricots because due to this friend of mine, who is a new "work friend" (she runs our San Francisco office and does a damn good job of it if you ask me, but no one ever does) has supplied me with some of the farm's delights, the most obvious of which is homemade apricot jam.  Can you say 'mmmmm'?

Well I can, and I did when I used it to make glaze for my Easter ham this year as well as the chicken in the picture here.  Just a couple of healthy lovin' spoonfuls of the stuff with some butter (half a stick), a good scoop of brown sugar and a glunk of Grand Marnier if you have it.  What?  Glunk is a technical term, yes...write it down.  If you don't have GM in the house don't fret, it's just as good without.  Let all of this come to a boil and then reduce the heat so it thickens up.  From there you can bake the chicken or grill it, either way do it at a higher heat so you get a good color on the skin of the chicken.  I used bone in chicken thighs that I rinsed and patted dry and then salt and peppered before pouring the glaze over them.

The smell in your house with this chicken cooking is amazing and will literally make your mouth water.    You can have any wine you like with this dish...white, red, whatever it is you fancy...though I will say because of the apricot you may want to pick up a white with some notes of apricot like an Albarino, a Spanish white easily found in any liquor store or wine shop.

Eat up,
Trish

I've Got Friends In All The Right Places

Happy Sunday to everyone out there!  Summer is officially here, and in New England it came in roaring with temps in the mid to high 90s all  of last week.  It's calmed down a bit since and it was a gorgeous beach worthy weekend here in the Ocean State.


Speaking of beaches, I love 'em.  Like don't feel okay if I'm not near one/need them to survive/completely obsessed with owning a house on the beach one day love 'em.  And for that reason I am a lucky girl to have friends in some great places for gazing at the ocean, never mind living in a state that offers me plenty of opportunity for that.  Our very own Dave (yep, the one that co-writes this blog with me) was born to parents with a gorgeous house in Bristol, home of the country's longest standing 4th of July celebration, that offers a panoramic view of the Narragansett Bay (sigh).  I have a close family friend in Hawaii, multiple friends in Florida, an office in San Francisco and a couple of my close friends in a little town called Newburyport  in Massachusetts, just north of Boston.  It's these friends I went and visited recently to check in with, share some stories from our lives and have my first look in person at their very precious and most beautiful 9 month old twin daughters.  I love Newburyport, it's seaside and home to one of my favorite little wine shops, Grand Trunk Old World Market.  This shop has a great selection of mostly old world wines, with a few new world along with cured meats, cheeses and some specialty gourmet foods.  As it's rose season, it was the place to hit on our walk with the girls to pick up something to sip on back at the house (while Husband cooked for us :)


INSERT QUICK WINE LESSON HERE:  Rose is not a sweet wine and should never be confused with White Zinfandel (which should also never be consumed incidentally).  My friend had not had much experience with this varietal and was concerned from the get go.  I reassured her by purchasing two great bottles of the stuff to go with our cured meat and cheese, a perfect pairing for rose wine.  Rose wines cover the spectrum of the red family in color depending on the winemaking technique used.  Some are left in contact with the skins of the black grapes for 1-3 days, some  roses were born of the pink juice that remains and is fermented after a French technique applied to some red wines, and some are just mixed red and white wine that gives it the pink color.  These wines can be still, semi-sparkling or sparkling.  I like them all (shocker I know).


I do need to give a shout out to Husband here as he cooked one of the best dinners to go with our rose I could have asked for.  As is traditional here in New England, he boiled up some lobsters and made a melted butter with fresh parsley to go with.  On the side he introduced me to salt potatoes, which is basically exactly as it sounds...fingerling potatoes that he boiled and then added some healthy cracks of good sea salt, some butter and parsley and of course some fresh corn on the cob with lime, olive oil, parmesan cheese and red pepper flakes.  Deeeeelish!!!


I would normally add a picture here of the spread here, but I was too busy drinking and eating.  I did however, manage to get a picture of those girls, just don't think this is how your lobster should come out looking like (yes, that's a disclaimer...you'd be WAY off track).


Until next time,
Tricia  (Dave started dating again, it may be a while before we hear from him)

ENO Wine Shop

Happy Saturday to everyone! Tricia and I went to ENO wine shop in Providence today to check it out and try a couple of wines.  This great, higher end wine shop on Westminster Street featured wines that were not only delicious but also quite affordable. We were due to attend the Taste of Block Island with our mothers in tow, but with the heavy rain we figured it best not to have the Coast Guard on the lookout for us in the event our ferry overturned on the way there.  Our mothers are getting on in years, they probably couldn't handle that.

So we decided to pass the afternoon with some brunch and browsing in Downcity.  Whether you're looking for something elegant for a special occassion or a value wine to pour down your throat, ENO has just what you need. The staff is knowledgable, friendly and approachable so don't be afraid to ask questions, Steve Wynn was the best!  Once you check it out, you may not go anywhere else! Now on to the wines we tasted:

Passerina Fausti 2010 This delicate white wine from the Marche region of italy was just lovely. Uncomplicated and refreshing, this is a sure winner on a hot summer afternoon. Light fruit notes, delicate aromas and a clean finish characterize this very approachable wine. The grape (Passerina) is quite unique to the Marche region, so if you are looking for something a little different give it a try. This wine is not very well known and at less than 15 bucks it is a great value. Great on its own, or try it with lighter foods and appetizers on a Sunday afternoon.

The red we tasted Tricia and I actually had the privilege of helping Steve select as his planned Italian red was bought out before the tasting began.  We decided to go the route of the Portugese and cork a bottle of  Frei Joao Bairrida DOC 2007.  This is a different red option and has a nice medium body with good structure. The flavor was a bit fruity with notes of cherry and plum. The flavor was a little bit earthy with a touch of minerality, resembling ever so slightly a medium bodied Bordeax wine. This red begs for food and would be very good with grilled salmon, roasted veggies with peppers and tomatoes or even some rich cheeses. This wine is also less than 15 bucks. Try a bottle and see what you think!

 So make sure if you're in Providence to check out ENO located at 225 Westminster Street in Providence. You will be quite impressed.

PS--they also carry a fine selection of liquors, liqueurs and whatever else your little alcoholic heart may desire.