What's on Jean's Kitchen Sink?
June-July 2003

July 30, 2003

The Heat Made me do it!
Seriously Hot Wines that taste great in the Heat

Just got back from my first ever IPNC (International Pinot noir Celebration) and it was an epicurean extravaganza! We were served luscious food and wine for three days in an idyllic small college setting complete with huge shady trees, green lawns, beautiful flowers, and perfect weather. It was simply splendid!

So what's on the kitchen sink? The wines I discovered at IPNC and just had to have more of-

Patricia Green Cellars Sauvignon Blanc 02. Lots of empty bottles of it. Everyone around here waits for this wine and there's not much and it's a highlight of our summer.

Even though it has been hot, and you think a heavy red would be too much, the Fidelitas Meritage just keeps getting opened. What a wonderful wine for steak. It just melds with the rich buttery grilled meat flavors with its great flavors of oaky leather, richly complex black fruit and cassis, dark brooding smoke, and intriguing hints of mint, spice, and espresso. Maybe it's the warm weather but this wine seems to have matured and mellowed into an even more perfect companion to really good Angus beef.

The McKinlay Pinot Noir Special Select 00 keeps re-appearing on the kitchen sink! Who is opening this wine up? Oh, wait a minute, yes, it's me.

I like the structure- it's not soft, it has a backbone and bright acidity that holds up to heat and spicier foods. I made a spicy gazpacho with grilled sourdough baguette, lots of garlic, a little prosciutto and melon, and this wine, and it was so perfect. I served it chilled a little, and it really danced in my mouth with the hints of cardamon, clove, and cinnamon in the gazpacho. Such a lovely wine- 93 points in Wine Spec, and still available.

July 19, 2003

It's been super hot here and it's time to make my annual supply of wine vinegars, pesto, and vacuum packed frozen herbs for winter. So there's a scattering of chopped basil and thyme over everything in the kitchen, and the garbage disposal has never smelled better, what with all the basil and rosemary and sage and chervil and tarragon stems and leaves going down it all day long.

I'm a major herb person, I have a large garden full, and they make such a difference to food, especially on a limited income. You can really enhance a can of soup or rice and beans if you have some nice herbs to add to the mix, and they are out there in wads right now.

Late afternoon, there's a haze of sweat over my face as I go out in the heat and harvest while the aromatic oils are as strong as possible. You can get a lot better flavor from herbs picked during a hot day than in the morning or evening. I do three things with herbs- preserve them in wine vinegar, make herb pestos with olive or sunflower oil, or vacuum pack them dry and freeze them. It just depends on the herb.

Basil loses its flavor so easily, the best way to have it by far is fresh, but if you use very fresh basil and olive oil and are careful that the basil is thoroughly mixed with the oil, and then freeze the whole thing in small vacuum packed packages, you can get a pretty good hit of summer basil flavor when you open the packages in February. Taragon is definitely best in my opinion, preserved in vinegar, as are thyme, sage, dill, and chervil.

But it all depends on the vinegar. Don't even think of using vinegar from the grocery- unless you live in the rich part of town and have a fancy market near you. And then they will charge and arm and a leg for it. The best way to get vinegar for herbs is to get it from a wine making shop or order it through a good gourmet shop. I like Beaufor's champagne vinegar, Kimberley's red and white wine vinegars, and Two Monks by the gallon white wine vinegar is OK, not great, but ok for everyday. The better the vinegar, the better the result, and great quality herbs in a mediocre vinegar will creat just that.

There's also a strong scent of roasted garlic in the kitchen- I've been roasting garlic cloves in olive oil in the oven, then packaging them and freezing. Nothing like a good chicken-garlic soup in the winter to sooth the flu.

If you are interested in preserving herbs, email me your methods, would you? Maybe we can share ideas.

Jean

What's on the sink this week?

Walla Walla sweet onions and organic beef from a local farmer who is thinking about selling his meat through our website. Had to try it, lucky me, and yumm, is it good.

We grilled out for the 4th and had the old standby, burgers and steak, and grilled Walla Walla sweet onions with a big blob of mayo on them for flavor. I put out my faviorite wines for the occasion:

-- L'Ecole No. 41 Syrah 01- what a splurge, but in the heat, this wines is so unctously rich and yet has the tannic backbone to hold up to a spice blackened burger or a rare steak. Maybe it's because the wine is from Walla Walla, but it dances on the tongue with the grilled Walla Walla onions. The best of the bunch.

-- Forgeron Cabernet Sauvignn 01- A big bruiser of a wine, you could argue that this wine needs cellaring, but for hearty summer grilled steak dishes, this wine is a dream right now. The hints of smoky vanilla and coco in the intense fruit flavors melted in the mouth. Somehow the heat of the day mellowed and expanded the flavors in the glass.... huge aromatics.

-- Woodward Canyon Dolcetto 02- Rick Small says to have this wine with summer barbeques and he is so right. A light. fruity red with lively flavors, very quaffable and just the thing with a cheese burger made with Bandon Extra Sharp Garlic Cheddar. Yow!

-- Columbia Crest "Walter Clore: Reserve Red 00- THE Bordeaux style blend for grilling, this special blend was created to honor one of Washington's greatest wine pioneers. Made from very old vine grapes, the mocha scented black cherry flavors, and the white pepper and spice in the flavors are drinking perfectly right now. Just amazing with steak.

I also served a chilled crab salad (recipe here) and have to say, the Eroica Riesling was just the thing. We also had the Brooks Riesling, one of my guests having been to the Herb Farm Restaurant, where they are serving it this month by the glass. It was wonderfully crisp and refreshing on the hot day, and paired so well with the mango in the crab salad.

After the meal, we drove up an old logging trail to the top of Green Peak Mountain and watched the fireworks in Eugene, Junction City, Corvallis, Salem, and a hint of Portland's just on the horizon. Took my last bottle of Soter Rose Brut and toasted the good ol' USA.

Hope you had a relaxing and delicious 4th!

Jean

What's on Jean's Kitchen Sink? June 26, 03

There's empty bottles of four wines that disappeared so fast!

Cougar Crest is a new winery from Walla Walla that took top honors at the very very fancy LA County Fair and the equally prestigious NW Wine Summit. The word is "flamboyant" for their Merlot, with the Cabernet a slightly more dignified but equally over-the-top style.

Morgan Broadley called yesterday to tell me about some special wine- a Broadley Pinot noir 01 for $15.99. Since Broadley makes world class award winning Pinots in tiny amounts that sell out so fast my head spins, I ran right over and got a bottle. Yow! What a deal! It's their Reserve 01, declassified, and it is yummy. Big, rich, reminds me of the Bergstrom Pinot Noir 01 that sold out here is about an hour. The market for wine has resulted in some amazing deals. This wine could cellar for 4-6 years with continued satisfaction.

And then there's that empty bottle of Townshend Cellars Cabernet Sauvignon 98- not much available from that vintage, and this first wine from eastern Washington is beautifully balanced with those luscious black cherry, deeply roasted coffee, sweet tobacco and toasty oak, chocolate,plum, and licorice flavors. Tried squeezing, shaking, wheedling but there just is nothing left in this bottle! Top rated Cabernet at Wine Press NW's Fab Cab tasting, Andy told me this was a good one.... he was right.

Here's hoping you and yours are enjoying a safe and fun summer. We hope to hear from you soon, and thank you for supporting our store with your orders!--- That's Morgan Broadley on the left, mucking around in the grapes.

Jean's Kitchen Sink- 5-26-03

What's on the sink?

Cat fur. Yes, cat fur. On everything. You ever had a nice veggie pizza with fresh herbs and a generous sprinkling of cat fur? Not. Well, the dog liked it. Oh, he's doing much better- the wonders of Glucosamine and John's help. Like the Fidelitas, John? Thanks to everyone who emailed.

The cats got vacuumed. Yes, there are 9 of them, and it was vacuum them or I'd be buried in fur. They're ok with it, although it offends their dignity.

It finally feels like summer, or close to it, and the window over the kitchen sink looks out on a lime green pasture below an intensely blue sky. There are three horses out there, back from their winter quarters, and one of them is expecting a baby next month- exciting!

The late spring here in Oregon has thrown back the clock at the farmer's market, and while you lucky east coasters are just about to harvest tomatoes, we NWesterners are still picking daffodils.... and leeks and shallots and oh wow, is that possibly- a rose bud on the bush? Maybe the Rose City's memorial Day festivities will have a few roses! At least my backyard will.

It's been another tough year for wild mushrooms, but Christina got a few morels last weekend and she served them with fresh salmon. Lucky husband Tim! They had the Spring Hill Uriah 01 last weekend- lucky lucky Tim!

I'm still using my dried chantrelles from two harvests ago, and made a lovely mushroom soup with dried chantrelles, wonderful local shallots sauteed in butter, chicken stock, and heavy cream. Yumm Yumm decadent and it was wonderful with Adelsheim Pinot Blanc.

Let me know if you think selling shallots would be a good thing- there's a grower here who has wonderful ones, full of flavor, and I just saw two little shallot bulbs at the garden center for $5.00 (seed shallots?) I buy a 55 pound bag of his shallots for $35... anybody want some? They're real heavy to ship, but maybe still a good deal if you can't find them anywhere.

Have a wonderful Memorial Day, and feel free to email us if you'd like some help with wine touring.

Jean