Kendall Jackson Vintner's Reserve Pinot Gris 2014: Wine on Friday

Pinot Gris is a light, bright and uncomplicated wine that's refreshing and easygoing. It's the perfect wine for a Spring garden dinner party. And that's just the way Kendall-Jackson chose to introduce their new Vintner's Reserve Pinot Gris recently. 

Kendall-Jackson has always impressed me as a winery that puts their money where their mouth is when it comes to claiming "food friendly wine." They have a restaurant in Healdsburg called Partake by KJ and host a whole variety of food and wine pairing tasting experiences at their estate which has a vast organic garden including a sensory garden to help demystify food and wine pairing and explain the flavors in wine.

Culinary gardener Tucker Taylor showed us around, explaining his gardening techniques and pointing out some very interesting varietals including celtuce, a cross between celery and lettuce and spigarello, a leafy green with tender curly shoots.

The garden produces enough for not just the winery but for local restaurants. As we walked around the property we nibbled on oyster leaf topped with salmon roe and arancini both paired well with the Pinot Gris, which is a good option as an aperitif.

Kendall Jackson Vintner's Reserve Pinot Gris is an intriguing blend of Pinot Gris along with Roussanne, Grüner Veltliner, Chardonnay, Viognier and Albariño. The grapes all come from California, and in general cool climate coastal regions. Pinot Gris is the same grape varietal as Pinot Grigio but it tends to indicate a richer and more luscious textured wine. This wine in particular is bright and fresh with lots of juicy acidity and fruit--in particular peach, melon and mango. It's also a great value at just $15 a bottle.  

It's a versatile wine too, pairing well not just with appetizer but with our starting course of a buttery seared scallop with a succotash of fava beans, carrots, celtuce and pea greens. It would also pair well with cheese, charcuterie, egg dishes or pretty much anything you'd serve at a picnic like ham sandwiches, cold fried chicken and a variety of salads. 

Lamb loin with morels, turnips, kale and spring onion soubise was paired with their Grand Merlot, a selection of cheese was paired with Grand Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon and the playful "peas and carrots" dessert with yogurt sorbet paired with Vintner's Reserve Late Harvest Chardonnay. 

My thanks to Tucker Taylor for the tour of the garden, winemaker Randy Ullom for sharing the story of the wine, Lauren Kelp for designing a beautiful tables cape, executive chef Justin Wangler for the wonderful menu and Kendall-Jackson for hosting a truly lovely evening. 

Disclaimer: I was a guest, but I was not monetarily compensated to write this or any other post on Cooking with Amy. 

Steel Cut Oats Taste Test

For years my husband insisted that we should only buy McCann’s Irish Oatmeal, but I generally bought whatever steel cut oats were available and just refilled the McCann’s tin with them. I honestly didn’t think one brand of steel cut oats could possibly be that different from another. I was wrong. But it turns out, so was my husband. 

Recently I got a sample of Flahavan’s Irish Oatmeal. The company has been around for over 200 years and is still family owned. They grow and mill their oats in Ireland. They claim their unique milling—kilning their oats with outer shells, a kind of malting process—helps to retain natural texture and golden color and yields a very creamy taste. The oats tasted great, but were they better than any other steel cut oats? The only way to know for sure was to do a blind taste test. 

So we tasted four different brands of steel cut oats: Bob’s Red Mill Steel Cut Oats, McCann’s Steel Cut Irish Oatmeal, Flahavan’s Steel Cut Irish Oatmeal and Country Choice Organic Steel Cut Oats. I cooked each according to the package instructions. They all looked about the same, but the flavor, texture and creaminess were different for each one. We tasted them without any flavorings or toppings. I don't know if you'd notice the subtle differences unless you were trying them side by side. But there were two clear winners amongst the four.

McCann’s Steel Cut Irish Oatmeal while possibly the most well-known brand was the least liked of the steel cut oats. The flavor tasted off, even though the oats were cooked with the same water, they had a slight chemical like aftertaste. They also didn't achieve the same creamy texture of the other brands.

Flahavan’s Irish Steel Cut Oatmeal was the number one choice and clear winner when compared with the others. It had the richest flavor and the creamiest texture while still maintaining the chewiness of the oats. The oats had more natural sweetness, even without any sugar added. 

Bob’s Red Mill Steel Cut Oats were good, creamy, a solid second choice. They were the only oats that required cooking with a lid. That may be why they cooked a little bit quicker than the other brands. They were also the only gluten free labeled oats. 

Country Choice Organic Steel Cut Oats, the only organic brand in the test was the third choice. Despite being toasted, the oats were a bit bland. They weren't bad, but not great either.

Now that you know which oats to cook, you'll need to know how to cook them and eat them. Steel cut oats need to be cooked low and slow, and with some salt. Depending upon how you like your oats, you’ll want to cook them for 20-30 minutes. You can also soak them the night before serving them, which will shorten cooking time.

Top your oats with anything you like but popular toppings at my house include butter, milk, brown sugar and raisins.

A word about quick cooking steel cut oats, they can be quite tasty and certainly are convenient, but you won't get the same texture of the long cooking oats. 

Disclaimer: Although I received samples of Flavahan's, the other oats I purchased and the tasting was done blind. I was not compensated monetarily for writing this or any other post on Cooking with Amy. 

California Roll Tartine Recipe

After completing some recipes for a client recently I was looking for something to do with leftover fake crab, and it occurred to me that the most common way to use it was in a California Roll. But I gave it a twist making a California Roll Tartine instead, using toasted whole grain bread, topped with sliced avocado, unrolled "crab legs" and thin slices of cucumber. If you like a California Roll, you can be pretty sure you're going to like the sandwich too. 

According to one of my favorite food history resources, The Food Timeline, two different Japanese sushi chefs coming out Los Angeles in the early 1970's are credited for having invented the California Roll, an Americanized sushi that quickly became very popular. The sushi roll sometimes uses real crab but more often uses fake crab, made from surimi. The roll was invented around the same time imitation crab was produced and patented. 

This was the first time I ever bought a package of crab sticks. Call it imitation crab, fake crab, surimi, or whatever you like, it's a product made from the Alaskan fish pollock, and is commonly used in things like sushi, chirashi or salads. It doesn't contain much crab if any at all, and truth be told it doesn't really taste like crab, but it is inexpensive and convenient and I actually like the way it tastes. It comes in sticks, but you can unroll them into thin sheets that can easily go in a sandwich or you can shred them to make a seafood salad. 

The combination of avocado, cucumber and crab or fake crab is so tried and true, I think you could use it other ways as well--piled on crackers, or stacked in appetizer style kabobs, maybe even rolled into rice paper, like a summer roll. If you prefer a more traditional sandwich with two slices of bread, you could make a heartier fake crab salad sandwich filling by shredding the crab sticks and mixing it with mayonnaise. As a tartine or open faced sandwich it makes a nice lunch but would also be a lovely thing to serve for afternoon tea. 

California Roll Tartine

Ingredients

Whole grain peasant bread slices, toasted

Avocado, sliced, about 1/3 per sandwich

Crab sticks, rolled, about 2 per sandwich

English cucumber, thinly sliced, enough to cover the bread 

Instructions 

Layer or spread the avocado evenly on the toasted bread, as thick as you like. Top with the unrolled crab sticks and finish with the cucumber slices. 

Enjoy!

Shrubs and Shims

If you’re looking for drinks that you can make at home, ones that are more interesting than run of the mill sodas and lighter than typical cocktails, shrubs and shims are something you should check out. Shrubs are fruit and vinegar based drinks, and the basic sugar, vinegar and fruit based syrups used to make them can also be used to make soda or fresh cocktails. Shims are lighter alcohol cocktails. It’s a term dreamed up by Dinah Sanders, author of The Art of the Shim.

The thing about shrubs is that you can take the basic formula of one part sugar plus one part vinegar plus one part fruit and endlessly riff on it. Try adding aromatics or herbs, or using cucumber instead of fruit. Use the syrups in salad dressings, in popsicles or in whatever drink you can dream up. The word shrub comes from the Farsi word, sharbat, which means drinking vinegar. They were popular with early colonists in the US and on farms, where surplus fruit could be preserved with simple vinegar and sugar. 

The idea behind a shim is keeping level. In the case of drinking alcohol, it keeps you level headed. Some interesting ingredients to use in shims include vermouth, ciders, sparkling wine, coffee and tea. 

The trend towards shims or lower alcohol drinks and shrubs, has been gaining momentum for the last few years. There are two very good books for exploring them: Shrubs: An Old Fashioned Drink for Modern Times and The Art of the Shim. Online check out the shrub category on Punk Domestics as well as this recent article in the New York Times call the Modern American Shrub with recipes. For shims, check out Dinah’s blog, starting with her roundup shims post.

If you’re around this Saturday May 23rd 2015, Healdsburg Shed is hosting a Shrubs and Shims workshop where you’ll get to see demos of lots of different drinks thanks to the in-house fermentation crafter Gillian Helquist. You’ll receive a discount on purchases and an introduction to locally sourced low-alcohol bases: Sutton’s Cellars Brown Label Vermouth, Golden State Cider, and Jardesca. There will be snacks to go with the drinks—all low alcohol so you can drive home safely! 

Disclaimer: My thanks to Healdsburg Shed for inviting me to a media preview of this workshop. I was not compensated monetarily for this or any other post on Cooking with Amy. This post does include affiliate links. 

Galaxy Desserts By The Numbers

Recently I got a chance to visit Galaxy Desserts, a local pastry company that is now part of Brioche Pasquier, a family-owned French brioche bakery, the largest producer in all of France. Brioche Pasquier is currently expanding tremendously and their lines of brioche breads and snacks can be found in supermarkets around the US. Galaxy is most famous for their butter croissants, which are sold frozen, ready to bake. 

Here's what I learned about Galaxy: 

52,000 square feet - Size of the factory, which they have practically outgrown

16,000 - Number of croissants produced in an hour

350 degrees - The temperature for baking the croissants

144 - Layers of pastry and butter in each croissant

50 - Percentage of croissants versus pastry produced in the factory

15-22 minutes - The time it takes to bake the croissants 

8 hours - The approximate time for the croissants to defrost and rise before baking

Almost 6 - Time it takes Galaxy to make the croissants, from start to finish

4 - Number of times Galaxy Desserts products were featured on Oprah’s Favorite Things

2 - Products featured on Oprah’s Favorite Things (croissants & molten chocolate cakes)

1 - Officially the only place you can find their extensive line of croissants, Williams-Sonoma


Now let’s take a little tour! 

Galaxy uses high quality butter from Challenge Dairy. Mmmm butter. 

Almond croissants coming off the line. 

Almond croissants wrapped and ready to go in boxes. 

This machine is very important, if I told you what it does, I might have to kill you.

The best job in the world, filling molten chocolate cakes. 

The second best job, gazing at them longingly.  

While this post is about Galaxy, there is one number I want to share with you about Brioche Pasquier. The percentage of ingredients made in France used in their products? 80. All of their products are free of preservatives, trans-fats and non-GMO. 

Up Next
Check out Jane's excellent post on Brioche Pasquier, the factory tour and a recipe:
Chocolate Chip Brioche French Toast on The Heritage Cook

Disclaimer: My thanks to Galaxy Desserts and Brioche Pasquier for inviting me on the tour and serving me a lovely brunch. I was not compensated monetarily for this or any other post on Cooking with Amy. 

Fort Street Food Crawl, Victoria, BC

Fort Street is one of my favorite spots in Victoria. It has distinctive Edwardian and Victorian architecture and some lovely antique shops. In that way it typifies “classic Victoria.” But that’s not the whole story. It’s also dotted with some of the most interesting and diverse eating establishments in town. It truly reflects the energy and vibrancy of Victoria today. 



On a recent visit I learned that Victoria has hundreds of restaurants and a thriving tech economy. I met coffee roasters, bakers and chefs from countries all over the world. Victoria is no longer just a sleepy British enclave but surprisingly cosmopolitan and modern for a city with a population of under 100k (the surrounding area is much larger).

I can’t think of a more pleasurable way to spend some time than to meander up and down Fort Street stopping to window shop and have some snacks. Here are some of my top picks for a food crawl.

The Little Cheese Shop has a great selection of local and international cheese, plus some lunch dishes and is the perfect place to find gourmet treats to take home. The staff is extremely knowledgeable and offers samples and recommendations upon request. It was here I found some local cheeses to take home.

Choux Choux Charcuterie is a traditional European delicatessen specializing in housemade sausages, pâtés, smoked, cured meats and artisanal cheeses. They also have a limited lunch menu and some cozy window seats where I enjoyed some chorizo, white bean and kale soup. I did buy a few of those sausages which made a perfect inflight snack!

Chorizo & Co is a charming Spanish café run by partners Jonathan Lee and Tomas Dosil. Dosil was born in northern Spain in the Galicia region. He and his family spent time in both Victoria and Spain and he dreamed of creating an authentic Spanish deli and café. The menu with bocadillos, tortillas and churros offers reasonably priced and filling snacks. The Spanish tortilla sandwich is pure comfort food.

Fishhook is a soup and sandwich spot from former “Top Chef Canada” contender and Red Fish Blue Fish restaurateur Kunal Ghose whose Bengali, Scottish, Greek, and Chilean background influences his creative cooking. I had the chowder with coconut milk, halibut and salmon belly bacon and a nibble of the justifiably famous tuna melt with caramelized broccoli smash, smoked local cheddar, cold water albacore tuna crudo topped with a smoked tonnato sauce.

Crust Bakery is the modern boutique bakery and French patisserie from successful Australian chef and restaurateur Tom Moore, who settled in Victoria with his family. Tom told me he doesn’t follow trends but that said, he is currently offering his version of a cronut. Most of the popular fruit and cheese Danish pastries had sold out when I got there but I enjoyed a massive chocolate meringue cookie and would definitely come back for a savory pastry or calzone or a loaf of their fruit and nut bread.

 Disclaimer: I was a guest of Tourism Victoria, I was not compensated monetarily for this or any other post on Cooking with Amy.

Duas Quintas Reserva Red Wines: Wine on Friday

I have been very enthusiastic about Portuguese wines ever since I wrote WinePassport: Portugal.  I appreciate that they are generally very food friendly with terrific acidity, and offer excellent value. While many varietals are planted everywhere, some are very particular to countries like Greece, Italy, Spain and Portugal. Like travel, discovering these varietals offers unexpected pleasures. 

In Portugal the same varietals that are used in Port are also used in table wines. But it’s only in recent years that some of the better tables wines have become more readily available abroad. Most port producers also produce table wines. One example is Ramos Pinto, a port producer that is revered for their 30 year tawny port and perhaps most well-known for their promotional posters by famous artists from the 1920's, you may recognize this one called the kiss. 

The Ramos Pinto port house was established in 1880, and in 1919 the owners, two brothers, purchased their first quinta, or estate. Today they make about the same amount of port as they do douro table wines which are branded Duas Quintas, which means two estates. The two original estate are located in the Upper Corgo and in the Douro Superior and all their grapes are still harvested by hand. 

I recently got a chance to try selected reserve wines of Duas Quintas dating from 1992 to 2013. While the wines have changed over the years, what I like about them is that they taste like Portuguese wines because they use all Portuguese varietals namely Touriga Nacional, Touriga Franca, Tinta Roriz, Tinta Barroca and Tinto Cão. Let me tell you a little about each of these varietals:

* Touriga Nacional is probably the most famous varietal from Portugal and for good reason. It has notes of violet, eucalyptus, pine, herbs and mocha. It’s tannic but also fruity. 

* Touriga Franca also has an aroma of violets but also intense fruit and softer tannins. 

* Tinta Roriz is sometimes called aragones, in Spain it’s tempranillo. It has rich red fruit flavors of herbs, plum and raspberry. 

* Tinta Barroca has a very dark color but soft tannins, red berries and black fruit and a juicy and spicy finish. 

* Tinto Cão has spice and richness and great floral aromas. 

What are Duas Quintas reserve wines like? Without sharing my tasting notes for each one, the ones I liked the most had great acidity, remarkable balance and fresh fruit, even in some of the oldest vintages. While some of the wines had earthy notes of mushrooms others were spicier and even had notes of licorice. Though the wines vary from vintage to vintage, what remains constant is that these are wines of great value, well worth seeking out.  

Disclaimer: I was a guest of Ramos Pinto for this exclusive tasting. I was not compensated monetarily for this or any other post on Cooking with Amy

All about Prunes

Prunes are dried plums. There are many different kinds of plums, but the most common prunes come from the French D’Agen plum tree. Prunes were brought from Damascus to France by Christian crusaders. They are naturally self-persevering thanks to their sugar content. Several years ago the prune industry tried getting people to call prunes “dried plums” but the change didn’t really stick and today they are back to being called prunes once again. It's unfortunate that the word prune has some negative connotations. Personally I think the French name, pruneau, sounds lovely. 

Call them what you like, they have some amazing health properties. They are fairly low in calories and have lots of fiber, potassium, magnesium, Vitamin K, and antibacterial properties. In addition to their well-known digestive benefits, they are also one of the few foods that not only prevent but reverse bone loss thanks to polyphenols. 

Last Spring I went on a trip to visit prune orchards and a Sunsweet processing facility. Sunsweet is a growers cooperative with 300 members, each with about 60 acres of trees. Sunsweet processes the fruit, turning the pits into animal feed and fuel. On the tour was the first time I tried diced prune “plum amazins” which are little bits of prunes that can easily be used in any way you might use raisins. They are tasty and convenient and not as sticky as whole prunes. Paired with walnuts they make a satisfying snack. About 98% of prunes are used for snacking, but there are plenty of other ways to enjoy them. I particularly like using them in savory rich stews and tagines.

Ways to use prunes or diced prunes: 

* Place on a cheese plate

* Blend them into smoothies with bananas or nuts and milk

* Stuff them with almonds or walnuts

* Fill them with goat cheese

* Add them to green salads 

* Include them in grain dishes like pilaf, quinoa or Israeli couscous 

* Use them in granola or trail mix

* Add to chili for their sweetness and thickening properties (they were used in this award winning recipe) 

* As a sweetener in barbecue sauce 

* Baked into scones or muffins 

Disclaimer: I was a guest of Sunsweet, but I was not compensated monetarily for this or any other post. 

Kimchi Turkey Patty Melt Recipe

It's hard to imagine after working on 35 turkey recipes that I'd be in the mood for another one, but behold the kimchi turkey patty melt! The mammoth recipe development project I've just completed included turkey burgers and I was left with quite a few extra patties. This recipe was actually something my client didn't pick from my master list of concepts but intrigued me enough to make it anyway.

A few months ago I stopped off at Fenton's in Vacaville and ordered a patty melt. I had forgotten how much I love the combination of rye toast, caramelized onions, melted swiss cheese and a thin beef patty. All the ingredients come together in a rich, gooey, toasty and meaty sandwich that really satisfies. The classic diner patty melt was the inspiration for my kimchi melt, which also uses a fully cooked thin patty as opposed to a big thick burger, but replaces the onions with kimchi and the swiss cheese with pepper jack and finally the rye bread with sourdough.

I like thick and juicy rare burgers from beef, buffalo or lamb, but you can't cook turkey rare so a thin patty makes sense. The mild flavor pairs particularly well with spicy and tangy ingredients which is why I sautéed some kimchi and layered on slices of Monterey pepper jack. A half cup of kimchi might sound like a lot for one sandwich, but it shrinks considerably when you cook it.

Kimchi Turkey Melt 
One serving

Ingredients:

Oil
1 turkey patty
Unsalted butter
1/2 cup kimchi, mild or spicy
2 slices Monterey pepper jack cheese
Mayonnaise
2 slices sliced sourdough bread

Instructions:

Cook the turkey burger on a grill or hot skillet. Meanwhile slice the kimchi into strips and sauté in a nonstick skillet with a 1/4 teaspoon of butter for two minutes or until reduced by about half. When the kimchi is ready, butter the outside of two slices of bread.

Spread each slice of bread with mayonnaise. Layer one slice of bread in a hot non-stick skillet with about 1/4 teaspoon oil. Top the bread with cheese, the burger and kimchi and place the second slice of bread on top, butter side up.

Toast the sandwich in the pan over medium heat with a small lid placed on top of the sandwich to weigh it down slightly and to help melt the cheese. When the bread is toasty, about 2 minutes, flip the sandwich and cook on the second side.

Enjoy!