Pip's Plate

It was almost a year ago that I went to Portland, but I just came across a collage I was putting together so I thought I’d throw it up here.

Portland, OR is a fantastic place to visit. I visited with my mom, sister, and my mom’s friend. My sister and I walked through most of the city together. We also rented a convertible one day (woohoo) and drove down to the Willamette Valley to do some wine tasting. Who knew that Argyle has such incredible bubbly?! We also drove over to the coast on our way back. It was wonderful.

This was the place that I first tasted New Belgium’s Springboard beer – my all time favorite. They only sell it for a short time in the spring, and I’m anxiously anticipating this year’s release. Perhaps that’s why I thought this would be an appropriate post today.

It’s a beautiful spring day here in Minneapolis – going to be 60 degrees today and the sun is shining bright.

The Twin Cities Fresh Taste Festival is a community event that features organic and sustainable food & wine.

Sunday, August 17, 11 am – 5 pm

Nicollet Island Pavillion (40 Power Street, Minneapolis, MN see map)

From the Twin Cities Fresh Taste Festival site:

Join us at the inaugural Twin Cities Fresh Taste Festival, a day-long event to celebrate the best in organic, local and sustainable food products and wines.

Set on the beautiful picturesque banks of the Mississippi River at the Nicollet Island Pavilion, the festival will be filled with organic food and beverage vendors – from many outstanding local restaurants and food producers. Sample from 100 organic wines from national and international wineries. Plus, learn from local chefs as they prepare some of their best signature organic dishes.

Tickets:

$55 before day-of

$65 at the door

NOTE: you can receive $3.00 off a ticket with your Minnesota Public Radio Member Connect Card

Minnesota has been trying to pass a law that would all grocery stores to sell wine and beer. (Currently Minnesota has an asinine law that grocery stores can only sell 3.2% beer.) Wine With Dinner has not quite made it through legislation, but on a recent trip to Chicago, IL, I discovered something at Whole Foods that completely blew my mind.

Wine tasting in the grocery store! Check this out (sorry for the blurry pic):

You put money in (somewhere – I didn’t look for it), and you can select which wine you’d like to try. Whole Foods provides real wine glasses (ain’t no plastic waste in Whole Foods), and they display the price for a 1 oz. pour. I think there are about 12-15 wines at this kiosk.

Pretty cool. I was tempted to try some, but after all the karaoke singing the night before, I didn’t think 1pm on a Sunday was a good idea.

After the brilliant success of our first Gourmet Club meeting back in January, I immediately went home and started scavenging the internet for braised short rib recipes – because it doesn’t get much better than that. And man oh man….it doesn’t.

Nicole and I were serving the main course this time, which also meant we would be hosting it at my house. I first thought an Asian inspired short rib recipe would be exactly what I was looking for. Until I found this recipe: Brasato al Barolo (Braised Short Ribs with Pumpkin Orzo and Horseradish Gremolata). YUM.

Then I thought…wait a second, this is from Mario Batali’s restaurant Babbo cookbook…hmmm…why does that sound familiar? Then it dawned on me! I finished a book at the end of November titled “Heat” – which is now one of my favorite books – about Bill Buford working for Mario Batali and traveling through Italy. Well, this dish is mentioned in great detail. I looked it up, laughed at the descriptions (it’s violently vulgar), and said “sign me up! this is the dish!”

I read some more about the region this dish comes from – Emilia Romagna in northern Italy and discovered this from wikipedia:

The city of Bologna is famous for its superb cuisine. Perhaps less well known is the fact that it lies at the heart of Emilia Romagna, a region celebrated both in Italy and abroad for the range and quality of its culinary delights. From the Adriatic coast of Ravenna and Forlì to the inland plains and river vallleys of Parma, Piacenza, and Modena, Emila Romagna is richly blessed with prime produce and ingenious cooks.

We preordered short ribs (not flank style but the cut with one bone per rib) and picked them up early that Saturday along with all the other ingredients, then went back to my place to get everything prepped. Have you ever grated fresh horseradish? It is STRONG. And it’s fleshy and weird – it kind of creeped me out a bit.

Either way, the dish was hands down the best dish I’ve ever made. It was simple enough to do again, although somewhat time intensive as it requires a long time in the oven. Although the recipe says to braise at 375 for 2 hours, the next time I would braise at 350 for 3 hours.

The table setting had an Italian theme with reds, greens, and yellows.

Here is the menu:

First Course

Antipasto platter of assorted meats, cheeses, olives, and breads

Paired with: Tommasi Poggio al Tufo Rompicollo, Maremma Tuscana, 2004

Second Course

Tagliatelle with Mussels, Clams and Pesto

Paired with: Tamellini Soave, 2005 (excellent wine)

Third Course

Braised Short Ribs with Pumpkin Orzo and Horseradish Gremolata

Paired with: Josetta Saffirio Barolo, 2002

*A special note about the wine: there is this fellow who suggests wine at the place I love to go (Hennepin Lake Liquors in Uptown – their selection and prices are unbeatable) who, in the past, has had a very low success rate at suggesting wines for me. My strategy for Sat? Avoid him AT ALL COSTS. Well…that unfortunately didn’t happen as another worker pointed me directly to him and there was no one else in the store. F*****ck. He ended up suggesting this wine and it was excellent. Thank god. It was $40/bottle and we bought 2. Josetta Saffirio learned how to make wine from her mom and dad, who are both professors of winemaking in Italy. This is her second or third vintage and only makes 3,000 cases a year.

Fourth Course

Various Cheeses: Taleggio served with honeycomb, Pecorino ginepro served with balsamic reduction and olive oil, Sottocenere al Tartufo, Blu del Moncenisio with fig pear spread, Valsesia Toma with fig pear spread, La Tur with honeycomb

Paired with: Ruvei Barbera d’Alba, 2005

Fifth Course

Panna Cotta with fresh strawberries and blackberries

Paired with: Felsina vin Santo Chianti Classico, 1999

recipes after the jump

Read the rest of this entry »

It seems like my friends and I have been talking forever about starting a gourmet club. You get a group of people together, everyone cooks, you drink wine, and have a great time. I know, it sounds like every weekend with my friends. But honestly, this is different!

Last fall we finally got our shit together and decided to schedule the first one in January. Ten people decided to join, which includes 4 couples and 2 singles so we paired up into groups of 2. Nicole’s boyfriend wasn’t interested, so she and I got paired up.

The idea is that whoever hosts that night chooses the theme and main course. January was the month of Gascony, France. Home to luxurious ingredients like foie gras and duck confit, as well as fishing, wine making and brandy distilling. The host decided to make duck confit and sent us info on Gascony.

I was responsible for the third course and it turned out that would be salad for the evening. First course was hors d’oeuvres, second course was garlic soup (YUM!) and the last course was dessert.

So the evening turned out pretty nice. Until the oven broke. Hahahah. I know we’ll look back in a couple years and say, “Remember our first gourmet club and Molly’s oven broke? And we had to use her upstairs neighbor’s? Ha!”

We went through plenty of wine and plenty of food…

First Course

Radishes with chive butter

Warm olives with rosemary, garlic and lemon

Escargot in herbed cream served on crostini

Paired with Nicolas Feuillatte Brut Champagne 2004

Second Course

Garlic Soup with truffle oil (yeah, forgot the truffle oil, woops!)

Paired with Chateau Grande Cassagne Rose – Costieres de Nimes 2006 (I’ve had this rose many times and it tasted absolutely scrumptious with this soup!)

Third Course

Baked Goat Cheese Salad

Paired with Villa Burdigala Bordeaux Millesime 2004

Fourth Course

Duck confit with cinnamon sauteed apples and carrots

Paired with 100% Cab Franc – Chinon Les Petites Roches 2006

Fifth Course

Apple Brandy Tatin

Paired with Larressingle Armagnac and Dow’s 10 Year Tawny Port

recipes after the jump

Read the rest of this entry »

I suppose quickly get it into your car and out of your boss’s sight is the best answer.

I recently started working for a new company and neglected to change any shipping addresses to anything but my old office. Woops.

Monday morning I hear from my best friend who still works there: “12 cases of wine showed up with your name on it today.” hee hee. What a way to leave a job!

It was more than just hilarious since the UPS guy, Alan, says to her, “Was Courtney expecting a palate of wine today?” while laughing hysterically.

In any case, the wine wasn’t ALL for me. It was a collection of wine from my California trip in July with my 3 girlfriends – it was so GD hot here and there that we had to wait until October to ship it – and my wine club shipments (which I’m really excited about from Preston and Stryker).

We distributed the wine…and all I have to say is that I shouldn’t have to worry about wine for awhile. (haha) And I have some nice ones to put away for several years (although I have absolutely no idea where I’m going to store it).

Tonight I leave for California with 3 of my girlfriends. We’re flying into San Francisco late tonight (2 am our time) and we’ll be driving up to Healdsburg in Sonoma on Monday afternoon.

Last year my trip was pretty amazing and I’m hoping this year will be nothing less. It should be fun since 2 of the girls coming have never been. Oh…they are in for a treat!

One of them asked us the other day, “Aren’t you worried about tasting all that wine and then driving?” Umm…we sort of figured that one out last year. Ha ha. The trick is to just taste the wine…not always drink it.

I’ll be blogging while I’m out there and I promise to include some great photos.

Here’s a favorite of mine from last year:

The vines were just starting to produce fruit when we were there last year – the first weekend in June. So we should see quite a difference this time. I can’t wait!

A few places that we will most likely get to: Iron Horse Vineyards, Russian Hill, Arista, Preston, Stryker, Culinary Institute (I think we’re going to have lunch there), Ravenous, and who knows where else!

Summer is the perfect time for drinking a nice chilled glass of rose, soave, or pinot noir. Yes, pinot noir. That’s how they drink pinot in the summer time in Sonoma – it is quite tasty on a hot afternoon.

Chateau Grand Cassagne Costiere de Nimes Rose 2005

Around $10/bottle

This is the perfect summer wine. If you have a problem drinking the pink stuff, get over it. This isn’t Beringer. This French rose is made from syrah, grenache and mourvedre grapes so it has a nice fruity  and soft mouthfeel. It’s perfect for drinking on its own.

Inama Vin Soave

Around $10/bottle

Any soave will do in the summer, but this one in particular is extremely light, a little fruity, and mineraly so it’s not very sweet.

Nora Albarino

About $10/bottle

Another fruity yet not sweet white wine. Albarino is the newest grape that I’ve discovered this summer and I have to say it’s extremely good. It pairs really well with fish made with tropical flavors. See Roasted Halibut with Pineapple Ginger Salsa

Unfortunately the pinots I’ve been drinking this summer do not fit the under $10 criteria, but if you’re interested, any Russian Hill pinot is deliciously perfect when chilled.  We’re talking more in the range of $30-50 a bottle.

I finally made it to Brenda Langston’s new restaurant Spoon River. (I’m a big fan of Cafe Brenda- in my opinion they have some of the best fish preparations in Minneapolis.) Has it been open a year already? WHAT is my problem? Seriously.

Well, now that I’ve been, I will be going back regularly. It was most excellent!

My friend and I had the charcuterie plate with an extremely delicious duck and chicken liver pate….mmmmm. It definitely rivals Barbette’s pate. The salami was a little fatty for my taste, but the cheeses were quite good. I’m not very familiar with cheeses on a charcuterie plate, but hey- I won’t say no.

We ordered one of the nightly specials and one entree off the menu, and they were both great. I don’t eat meat very often- I typically do when I know where the meat comes from or eat at a restaurant where I know the owner takes particular care in selecting high quality, local, organic meat. And for some reason I must’ve been feeling really low on iron because the sound of the Steak special made my mouth start watering.

For good reason, too. The steak was incredible. It was cooked perfectly medium rare with a delicious sauce and incredible pureed potatoes.

The fish entree was also quite good- walleye with a cucumber jalapeno tartar sauce. I’m all about the sauces and both of these dishes were up to par for my taste.

Aside from the great food, we had a really nice bottle of wine with dinner- Hess Syrah. I’m familiar with some other Hess wines and for the price I think they’re quite good. I’d never had the syrah before, but it will be a regular purchase from the liquor store from now on.

One more thing about the cocktails- the basil vodka lemonade drink was incredible. It is the perfect summer beverage…I just wish we had been able to enjoy it on the patio.

The space of the restaurant is a little awkward, but I love the red walls and the tables and chairs. I also appreciate the service there. The staff is quite a crew!

Check it out if you haven’t. It’s an excellent Minneapolis restaurant.

Spoon River

750 S. 2nd St.

@ Chicago Ave. S.

Minneapolis, MN 55401

tel. 612 436 2236

We went to Brix last weekend for an impromptu dinner. This was the first time I’d been in this new restaurant (they opened in August 2006). Brix now inhabits the old Mojito space in the Excelsior & Grand complex in St. Louis Park right outside of Uptown.

Brix Bistro

4645 Grand Way

St. Louis Park, MN 55416

952-698-2749

I’d say they definitely made some improvements in the layout of the restaurant from when it was Mojito’s. The bar is now right by the patio – it should be a fun place to hang out in the summer. The tones of the restaurant are also pleasing- neutrals with a modern twist. I wouldn’t say it looks Italian at all. It has a modern yuppie feel without the pretension.

However, the Frank Sinatra playing all night was really annoying and that may have impacted my overall feeling of the place. I would love to hear some mellow, rustic Italian music. (I don’t know what that is, but it would be perfect if that’s a music style.)

We waited in the bar for our table, and I was happy to see they had Rush River on tap. It’s a delicious Wisconsin pale ale. As for the food, it was decent. We tried an assortment of appetizers and entrees – all recommended by our server. (Oh, and by the way, our server recommended all of the most expensive items on the server – a MAJOR pet pieve of mine.)

For starters we had fried tortellini, salad trio and mussels. The fried tortellini was filled with goat cheese and ricotta – it was very nice. The tomato sauce served with it, however, tasted a bit like jarred spaghetti sauce.

The salad trio is a nice option for a menu. I often see several salads I want to try, so this gave us the option to do that. We had the duck salad with arugula which was ok. I’ve never had shaved duck that I can remember, so I don’t know if it was supposed to taste like ham or not. We also had a version of a caprese salad. The fresh mozzarella in the caprese was excellent. It’s quite possible that it’s housemade. For February, the tomatoes were pretty good. The third salad was their beet and goat cheese salad. In terms of originality, I think this salad is on most menus in Minneapolis and other cities. However, I would order it again simply for the Donnay goat cheese – it is my favorite!

And lastly, we had the mussels. Hmmm…you may be aware of my Food Quest for best mussels, but I’m torn between adding Brix to the list or not. The actual mussels were terrible. They were gritty, small, and overcooked. The sauce however was incredible- and that’s why I would consider adding them to the list. It was a creamy saffron sauce. It was silky, perfectly seasoned and had the perfect amount of heat. Just incredible.

For entrees, we had the short ribs – which clearly won that night for presentation. The plate was absolutely stunning and simple with tiny sprigs of rosemary dotting the plate in between the gnocchi. The short ribs tasted the best of the night as well. Very tender and juicy. We also ordered what is considered the house favorite dish- Steak Toscana. Stay away from this dish. It was not good. The strip steak was approximately 1/2″ tall and 10″ long. The chef recommended medium, but I don’t know how you can get that piece of meat to be anything other than med-well to well done. It was tough and chewy- neither of which indicated that the meat is supposed to be aged. The presentation of this plate was also horrendous. I don’t consider myself a genius in terms of plating food, but I know that Chef Cory can do better than that- and he does next door at McCoy’s with the beef tenderloin.

Our server recommended a bottle of wine off of the 20 bottles for $20 – I was a little nervouse since I saw the likes of B&G and Indigo Hills (bottles for about $7 at the liquor store) but the syrah she chose was nice. However, I don’t remember the name of it. The entire wine list was WAY overpriced. I think they charge something like $78 for a bottle of Ferrari-Carrano Siena (which costs $18 at the liquor store). It was pretty insulting.

The bathrooms were nice, and I’m sure I’ll be back for a cocktail on the patio when it gets nice out, but they’re changing their menu in a few weeks and rumor has it that prices are going up.