Cava Sangria

This weekend B and I spent Saturday night hanging out with great friends celebrating my "work wife", A's, birthday.  We were treated to some great BBQ by her live-in Texan, J, and B and I came armed with Cava Sangria.  Word to the wise, this exceptionally refreshing summer drink goes down very easily - maybe a little too easily - pour carefully.

This recipe is based on a popular Southern Living recipe, but I've tweaked it based on what I like and can easily get my hands on.  And if you're looking for a cheap source for Cava, look no further than Trader Joe's.

Ingredients 

8 large mint leaves
1/2 cup raspberries, washed
1/2 cup sliced fresh strawberries
1 white nectarine, washed, cored and cut into bit size pieces 
1 bottle Cava sparkling wine, chilled 
3/4 cup white grape juice, chilled 
1/4 cup Cointreau orange liqueur 

Press mint leaves against sides of a large pitcher with back of a wooden spoon to release flavors. Add the raspberries, strawberries and nectarine.  Stir in sparkling wine, grape juice and Cointreau. Serve immediately over ice.

 

A shot from our evening of celebrating A. M and I had a great time playing with cocktail umbrellas.  I love that at nearly 30 we can still goof off like children!  At least A and G consented to be in the photo with our ridiculous umbrellas!

Blog buster

You've heard the expression "Vegas or Bust!", well, Vegas posts seem to be busting my ability to blog.  I don't know what the blockage is, it was a great trip, but I can't seem to discipline myself to sit down and write both posts for Days 3 and 4.  In the interest of the 6 other recipe posts I have in the queue and a Boston/New Hampshire post that needs writing, I'm going to button up Vegas with this one final post and just hit the highlights.  And those higlights would be...food of course.  Two meals to be exact.

The first tasty delight was Todd English's Olives.  B and I had ventured here during our last trip, but arrived during the time between lunch and dinner when the Mediterranean inspired spot serves only a limited menu.  We had a great lunch on that occassion, but were eager see what the full menu had to offer.  We were not disappointed!

The four of us sat down to a lunch that began with three different types of olive tapenade, flat bread and focaccia.  Since my father is and will always be a bread man (to the point of embarrassing me as a child with his incessant requests for more and more and more bread), he was happy from the start.  B and I decided to split an appetizer and ordered the Carpaccio.  This wasn't your average plate of raw meat.  Topping the perfectly pounded beef was shaved parmesan, sweet balsamic, roasted Cipollini onions, scallion cream and arugula.  It was MASSIVE! And absolutely mouth-wateringly delicious.  The next time I go, this will be my entree, there will be no need for other food. 

But since we didn't know just how enormous and amazing the Carpaccio would be going in, we had each ordered an entree.  B chose sea scallops, seared to a perfect golden color while still moist and meaty inside.  In addition to two GIANT scallops, the plate also included whipped potatoes and a cold "slaw" made with jicama and cilantro.  Sadly, food allergies on this dish kept me at bay, but B assures me it was delicious.  My dad chose the free-range chicken, roasted in a brick oven and served with potato cake, green beans and a madiera reduction.  While he tends to stay with "safer" foods when we go out, I'll give him this, he always seems to choose well. The chicken was juicy and the reduction was boldly flavored.  My mom selected a grilled flank steak served with tempura onions rings.  Flank steak isn't my favorite, it's long fibers make it tough sometimes.  But again, we were eating in a restaurant worthy of praise.  The flank steak was tender and the onion rings were fabulous.  Light and flaky but still quite rich.  Lastly, I chose a house stand-by, the ricotta ravioli with sweet italian sausage and tomato basil sauce.  I try to stay away from the "safe" options and push myself to try new things. But I'd watched this dish go by several times and it looked too good not to try.  It was great.  In the end, I found myself wishing the sausage had a little more heat (since as a good friend of mine once said, "It's not a meal unless your nose is running when it's over!").  But to be fair to restaurant, it was always billed as sweet and not spicy sausage.  Overall, we were extremely pleased with Olive's and would go back again.

And now on to the culinary highlight of the trip, Strip Steak (which I occassionally get befuddled by and call Skirt Steak, much to the superior cut of meat's shagrin I'm sure).  We made a reservation her for our last night in town, a nice way to close out the trip and an opportunity for B and I to treat my parents to a nice meal.  Every meal at Strip Steak in the Mandalay Bay begins with a trio of thin cut fries compliments of the house, each one fried up sinfully in duck fat.  This makes them crispier and so, so tasty!  They are served with three dipping sauces, each doctored up to put a little umph in what would otherwise be traditional ketchup, mayo and mustard based sauces.  Personally, I'm partial to the Old Bay seasoned sauce.  It tastes like summer in the mid-Atlantic, where the best food to be found is Maryland blue crab, steamed and steeped in Old Bay.  Mmmm. 

While munching on our fries, we selected our meals.  B chose an American Kobe Rib-Eye while both my parents and I chose Filet Mignon.  While I know that Filet, as steak cuts go, is the most tender it's often also the least flavorful.  Unfortunately for me though, it's the only steak that comes in a size that is even reasonable for me to consider eating.  At 10 ounces, I still didn't finish it. I just can't eat that much steak. 

We also chose a few sides to share among the table.  Our sides included steamed asparagus, truffled mac and cheese and scalloped potatoes.  The first and last in that list seem like old stand bys, but SS added their own touches to even these sides that made them as memorable as the meat.  The asparagus was steamed perfectly and coated in a horseradish buerre blanc that both made the otherwise healthy side a touch more decadent as well as added a nice kick to an otherwise tame vegetable flavor.  The scallop potatoes - where to begin.  I should probably state that I have a love affair with potatoes. I am drawn to them like a moth to a flame.  Bad for my waist line but still irresistable.  I love them as a perfect food. I even like them raw (insert your gagging noises here).  My obvious subjectivity aside, this scalloped potato recipe, layered with sweet onions and queso fresco was phenomenal.  I could have forgotten my expertly prepared and wonderfully delicious steak and ran away with the potatoes.  It's Vegas, I'm sure someone would have married us if I'd asked. And how could I forget the truffled mac and cheese?  Fabulous.  But you knew it would be just from the name.  Wrap all of this up with cocktails to begin the meal (a Plymouth gin Martini for B and a glass of Champagne for me), and a bottle of Joseph Phelps 2006 Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon and you have a meal to remember.

Perfect, pleasing paella or I have no brain cells left for clever titles

Of course my favorite place in the house is the kitchen! Whenever I need a little stress relief it's the first place I head.  This weekend, trying to reestablish the calm I'd been denied for most of the prior month, I spent a happy hour and a half making this delicious Paella dinner.  Based on Tyler's Florence's recipe, like most recipes I blog, it's changed up a bit to meet the flavor profile I want.  The ingredients and recipe follows (with lots of pics, I got a little camera happy once I found my battery!).

But first and more importantly, is wine.  Once the tasty and delicious paella is a reality, what to drink with it?  To answer this question, I strolled into my favorite wine shop, the Vienna Vintner, plugged so many times in this blog you'd think I had stock in the store.  As usual, Victor, one of the owners, produced two perfect options to pair with the shellfish delight.  Traditionally, the Spanish like to drink Albariño, a crisp, fresh white often reminiscent of Viognier.  But a little more interesting is a Verdejo.  Also, Spanish in origin and with some of the same notes you find in a traditional Viognier, this more aromatic wine frequently boasts honey and peach notes that create a nice balance to the spicy kick of the chorizo while still pairing well with the shellfish.  And that's what I chose - an Austum 2009 Verdejo, a great addition to our meal.

And now, on to the Paella...

Ingredients

4 bone-in chicken thighs with their skin
1 teaspoon dried oregano
2 tablespoons sweet paprika
1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper
1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
1/2 lb Spanish chorizo,
4 garlic cloves, crushed
1 Spanish onion, diced
1 green onion, diced
1 leek, cleaned and cut into strips
1 (16-ounce) can whole tomatoes, drained and hand-crushed
1 cup Spanish rice, short to medium grain
1 teaspoon saffron threads
3 cups chicken stock, warm
4 jumbo shrimp, peeled with heads and tails on or 8 extra large shrimp without heads and tails, peeled and deveined
8 littleneck clams, scrubbed
12 mussels, debearded and scrubbed
1/2 cup sweet peas, frozen and thawed
Fresh flat-leaf parsley leaves, for garnish
Lemon wedges, for serving

Directions

Rinse the chicken pieces and pat them dry. Mix the oregano, paprika and cayenne with some salt and pepper in a small bowl. Rub the spice mixture all over the pieces of chicken; marinate for 30 minutes so the flavor can sink in.

Heat the olive oil in a paella pan or wide shallow skillet over medium-high heat. Place the chicken in the pan, skin-side down and brown on all sides, turning with tongs. Add the chorizo and continue to cook until the oil is a vibrant red color.

NOTE: It can be really hard to find good chorizo without going to a Latin Market.  Whole Foods sometimes carries a dried chorizo that is the best choice I've found locally, but they also make a fresh chorizo that is a possible second option if you can't find the more authentic version.

Remove the chicken and sausage to a platter lined with paper towels. After most of the fat has been absorbed by the paper towel, cut the chorizo into bite sized pieces and set aside.


Return the pan to the stove and lower the heat to medium. Make a sofrito by sauteing the garlic, green pepper, leeks, onion, and tomatoes.

Cook until the mixture caramelizes a bit and the flavors meld; season with salt and pepper.

Fold in the rice, stirring to coat the grains. If you can't find Spanish rice, arborio will work just fine.  Stir the saffron into the rice.

Pour in the chicken broth and simmer for 10 minutes, gently moving the pan around so the rice cooks evenly and absorbs the liquid. Do not cover or constantly stir like risotto.

Add the clams, the reserved chicken, and the chorizo. Give the paella a couple of good stirs to tuck in all the pieces and just let it simmer, without stirring, until the rice is al dente, about 15 minutes.

Add the mussels, shrimp and scatter the peas on top and continue to cook for 5 minutes, until the shrimp is cooked through, the mussels are open and paella looks fluffy and moist.

Discard any clams or mussels that did not open (this is important, bad shellfish can really make you sick!). The ideal paella has a toasted rice bottom called socarrat. Allow to rest, off the heat for 5 minutes, and garnish with parsley. Serve with lemon wedges.

In Vino Veritas

Since the intent of this blog is to share all the pleasures of life, including food and drink, I thought I'd post something on the wine we've been enjoying lately.

Paired with crab cakes, roasted golden potatoes and asparagus, we enjoyed an Adami Prosecco Garbel 13.

Those of you who know me best recall how much I love the bubbly. This was a great addition to our meal.

An Australian wine, perfect with pizza, pasta, and other middle of the road Italian dishes is the 2005 Craneford John Zilm Merlot. This bottle is best if you decant it. In doing so, the astringent qualities that present themselves when you first open the bottle dissipate leaving behind a solid, fruity merlot.

Last but not least is New Zealand's 2008 Sole Beech Sauvignon Blanc. This wine, as with the Craneford, we had the luxury of tasting before buying. As a sipping wine it's crisp and delicious with a really clean finish. We took it home to enjoy with Paella, a little unsure as to whether it would hold up to the bold flavors of the dish. We had nothing to worry about, the food brought out the richness of the wine, developing the more exotic flavors that result from the region in which its grown including gauva. Evidently there is also a strong gooseberry flavor, but since I don't know what they taste like I'll have to take the label's word.