The Ash Creek Papers

I have been beating the drum for years on the ease of pairing wines to the “comfort food” dishes that we enjoy everyday. For example, go to that “small place”, a bistro or café, off the beaten path, say in France, and order coq au vin?  Haute cuisine?  Hardly.  Merely comfort food in a French accent, and then served with a local wine. But is there a need to serve a French wine because it is coq au vin?  Absolutely not!  A Montepulciano d’Abruzzo would be just as good a Loire Valley Red.  And therein lay the fun of the interchangeability of good regional wines… they just work with a whole bunch of different cuisines!  Invariably these regional wines share a common element… good fruit, dry finish with a palate cleansing level of acidity.  A sip of wine stimulates your desire for the next forkful of food (assuming you like the food!).  Wine… food… a little conversation, and another sip of wine, a bite of food & etc.  And that formula works as well in our homes as well as it would in Le Bistro Such & Such!

The cooler weather is here, and so is beef stew season!  Here is another dish (like meatloaf) where there is an abundance of recipes to follow.  There probably isn’t a beef stew that you can’t riff-off to suit your mood and ingredient availability.  And that certainly goes with this recipe.  I love that a slow cooker is used.  Prep it, assemble it, forget it!

I have selected a Chianti Classico to serve with the stew.  The bottling law in Chianti was changed in 1995.  Tight laws were lifted to allow the producers to modernize their winemaking techniques: plant their vines in a high density pattern to help lower grape yields and improve concentration of flavor; eliminate the requirement to use lesser red grape varietals and white grapes in the blend; and permit the use of new French barriques for aging.  The result?  A huge uplift in quality.  The Chianti Classico I am recommending is clearly not the Chianti we had as undergraduates!  Great with the comfort dish described here, great with many other comfort dishes, but also a great wine to serve with you best steak.

Il Molino di Grace Chianti Classico ‘10 (Tuscany,Italy)
The Il Molino di Grace Winery is one of the stand-outs in Chianti Classico. There have been vineyards on the property for over 300 years but took on its current form when the property was purchased by Americans Frank and Judy Grace in the 1990’s and incorporated the centuries old water mill (Il Molino) in to the name of the Winery. They hired Tuscan winemaking genius Franco Bernabei to make the wines. Bernabei has won more Tre Bicchieri awards than any other winemaker in Italy. He also makes wines in the Classico zone for greats like Fontodi and Felsina. Decanter – “Complex and very long on the nose, with damson fruit, sweet spice and an underlying earthiness. Medium weight palate with tight, fine tannins and excellent follow-through, finishing with ripe, rich fruit and wild herb notes.” 95pts Decanter

BISTRO BEEF STEW

Ingredients
6 ounces of Tanqueray Gin
½ ounce of Noilly Pratt Dry Vermouth
A goodly amount of ice
3 olives stuffed with blue cheese
3-4lbs Boneless beef chuck roast, cut into 1½ inch chunks
2 tbsp Olive oil
½ cup Dry red wine
¼ cup All-purpose flour
2 tbsp Tomato paste
1 tbsp Minced fresh garlic
2 cups Low-sodium beef broth
2 tbsp Herbes de Provence
1 tbsp Dijon mustard
1 tbsp A-1 steak sauce
1 Dried bay leaf
2lbs Baby red skinned potatoes, quartered
10 Medium carrots, cut into 2inch pieces
1 cup Frozen pearl onions
½ cup Frozen peas
2 tbsp Fresh lemon juice
Chopped fresh parsley

 Directions
1. Put gin and vermouth into a glass pitcher, fill with ice, stir vigorously while incanting, “You who know all, thank you for providing us juniper and all the other obscure ingredients responsible for creating this sacred liquid!” Strain into a pre-frozen Martini glass of admirable size.  Skewer the olives on one of those tacky cocktail swords, place in glass. Immediately begin consuming.  Now you can begin the food prep, and the cooking!

2. Dredge meat chunks in flour. Brown beef in 2 batches in 1 tbsp oil per batch in a large skillet over high heat. 4-6 minutes per batch; transfer to a 6qt slow cooker.

3. Deglaze skillet with wine, scraping up any brown bits. Add beef broth, stir in flour, tomato paste & garlic cook for a minute and whisk ‘til smooth.  Add herbes de Provence, Dijon mustard, A-1 sauce & bay leaf.  Season with salt and pepper.

4. Add potatoes, carrots and onions to sauce, mix thoroughly then pour sauce over beef.  Cover slow cooker and cook beef ‘til fork tender on high setting 5-6 hours, or low setting, 7-8 hours.

5. Stir in lemon juice and frozen peas.

6. Garnish with fresh parsley

n.b.  Herbes de Provence is a blended spice that usually includes oregano, thyme, savory, lavender, basil, rosemary, fennel & sage.  Easy to source thru mail order; but I went to 3 different local food markets before finding it. The lemon juice adds a finishing “brightness” for the stew.  And putting frozen peas into the stew just before serving is brilliant… the hot stew immediately warms up the peas sufficiently, while maintaining a firm texture in the peas.

The great 19^th Century French writer and gastronome, Jean Anthelme Brillat-Savarin, once penned (and I’m translating), “If you take all the meatloaf recipes extant and place them end to end you would be able to circumnavigate the globe three times.”

Is it too embarrassing to admit liking meatloaf?  Clearly it is a mere pawn on the culinary chessboard joining the likes of “pigs in a blanket” and a PB&J sandwich.  And yet, even enjoying the more prestigious dishes (which I most certainly do), there is something compelling in a dish that probably possesses a scent of nostalgia for many of us.

In this case, let’s just attribute my interest to a change in season.  For sure I had a hankering for “comfort food” and it was time to think of “indoor” cuisine.  Yes, I already had a meatloaf recipe in my playbook; but while good, it was too involved.  Then by chance I spotted a recipe in a food magazine.  A magazine that shows recipes with an enticing photo… and also a couple of user reviews.  The recipe was easy to follow (very important for me), less involved than mine; nice snapshot; and then the clincher was this comment, “Goodbye ketchup!  See ya later BBQ sauce!  This recipe is the ticket to great meatloaf!”  I’m in!

 To the wine.  What about a 2004 Brunello that I have been saving?  I have one 1996 Pauillac left in the rack.  A Stags Leap Cab that should be ready (finally).  No, No and again no!  Great wines all, but misplaced against the delight of enjoying the plain fare that is the foundation of our everyday dinning. 

Tonight I am going to open a “drinking” Bordeaux from the excellent 2010 vintage that has a “little time in the bottle”. Excellent vintage is a beautiful thing… it means you can enjoy the benefit of a positive weather pattern that created the excellence without having to take a “second out on the house” to pay for it!  The modest wines did as well as the premier wines!

There are other wines that would also work: great country reds from Italy like a Montepulciano from Abbruzzo, Barbera from Piedmont. Or maybe something from South Africa like a Pinotage. A Mendoza Malbec would fit to a “T”.  The list of potential wines just goes on and on.  And conversely, this Bordeaux would work with any number of other comfort dishes… Linguine Bolognese?  Shepherd’s Pie? Grilled baby lamb chops?   

But for today, a perfect dance: Cru Bourgeois and new meatloaf recipe!

Château de Panigon Cru Bougeois ’10 (Medoc,Bordeaux) 
The Panigon has a candied bouquet with baked red cherries, touches of dark chocolate and dried orange peel. The palate is medium-bodied with fine, lithe tannins. There is lovely purity here, whilst the finish is focused and long. This is a little gem. Cabernet, Merlot and Petit Verdot; 91pts Decanter; 90pts Wine Advocate; Gold Medal Concours General Agricole Paris

MEATLOAF W/MUSHROOM-ROSEMARY SAUCE

Ingredients
6 ounces of Tanqueray Gin
½ ounce of Noilly Pratt Dry Vermouth
A goodly amount of ice
3 olives stuffed with blue cheese
1½ lbs meatloaf mix (equal parts ground beef, pork & veal)
1 medium onion, finely chopped
1 cup Italian seasoned bread crumbs
1 large beaten egg
½ tsp salt
½ tsp pepper

For the sauce
2 tbsp butter
1 cup sliced shiitake mushrooms
1½ tbsp flour
1¼ cups low sodium beef broth
½ tsp chopped fresh rosemary
¼ tsp salt
¼ tsp pepper
¼ cup heavy cream

Directions
1. Put gin and vermouth into a glass pitcher, fill with ice, stir vigorously while incanting, “You who know all, thank you for providing us juniper and all the other obscure ingredients responsible for creating this sacred liquid!” Strain into a pre-frozen Martini glass of admirable size.  Skewer the olives on one of those tacky cocktail swords, place in glass. Immediately begin consuming.  Now you can begin the food prep, and the cooking!

2. Preheat oven to 325°

3. Mix all the meatloaf ingredients together with your hands in a large bowl until well blended. Transfer mixture to a 2qt baking dish (7”x11”), then form into an 8”x3½”x2” loaf.

4. For sauce: Melt butter in skillet over medium-high heat.  Cook mushrooms, stirring occasionally ‘til they begin to brown, about 5 minutes.  Add flour and cook, stirring for a minute or so.  Add broth, rosemary, salt & pepper and bring to a boil.  Reduce heat and simmer ‘til sauce begins to thicken, 2-3 minutes.  Remove from heat and stir in cream.

5. Spoon sauce over meatloaf.  Bake ‘til instant read thermometer inserted into the center reads 160°, about 1½ hours.

6. Let sit for 10 minutes. Slice, transfer to serving platter with sauce spooned over the meat loaf.

n.b.  I made up the Brillat-Savarin quote.  I could say something political, like it was the candidate-running-for office vibe that took command of me.  An expedient exaggeration.  Nothing more than a rhetorical device to illustrate a point.  Well… I’m not running for office; and regardless of political preferences, meatloaf and good red wines are to be enjoyed by all. And in the true words of Brillat-Savarin, “The pleasure of the table belongs to all ages, to all conditions, to all countries, and to all areas; it mingles with all other pleasures, and remains at last to console us for their departure.”

Brillat-Savarin

Liu Xiang, the great scholar during the Han Dynasty wrote: “You can’t deny the change in seasons.”  And so it is when we move from frigid days of Winter, we make a necessary sojourn to the intermediate period of Spring, before continuing apace toward the heat drenched days Summer. For me nothing shouts Spring better than a crayfish boil!  The little beasts are in season now and I have found a terrific source for provisioning out the necessary fare for staging the feast.  Cajun Grocer in Louisiana will ship you 10lbs of live “mud bugs” (premium select jumbo purged) overnight for $67.50, special seasonings included! And they arrive in perfect condition – almost ready for the stock pot (instructions included advise additional purging before cooking – this is a bit of a pain in the ass, and time consuming… and as you would suspect, adds delay to digging in!).

Although this type of chow down is best done outdoors… on the back deck, table covered with newspaper and with the cooked crayfish plopped in a substantial heap center stage.  Connecticut weather did not cooperate this past Friday, so I moved the venue to our kitchen table.

Regardless of where you set the feast, the perfect wine to enjoy is a Loire Valley Sauvignon Blanc.  And due to the protracted nature of the experience, you must have several bottles at the ready!  Eating crayfish is a labor intensive activity.  A lot of effort is expended to extract a small amount of tail meat (a tiny amount relative to a Maine lobster!).  But on the positive side, time slows, the enjoyment is extended as you eat, drink and talk your way thru a splendid repast.  It doesn’t get any better!  Eat a couple of tails, a sip of Sauv Blanc, tell a story… repeat numerous times.  Yes, numerous. The stories, too! (My favorite line from Ellen: “Jim could talk a blue bird out of a tree.”)

Two alternate suggestions on the wine side… Rosé from Provence or Albariño from Spain.

 Maison Idiart Touraine  Sauvignon Blanc ’15 (Loire,France)
Touraine is the “smart buy” for Sauvignon Blanc in the Loire… located just west of Sancerre and Pouilly Fumé, producing wine with the same scent and flavor profile but without the higher ticket price!  The wine displays an array of aromas gooseberry, lime, lemongrass, apricot and Passion fruit. Alive and fresh on the palate with excellent ripe fruit with a clean, clear finish. It has superb crystalline aciditybalanced by the richness of the superb 2015 vintage.  Flavor with freshness and restraint – it is what makes Loire Valley Sauvignon Blancs so good, and it is what makes the Idiart Touraine “sing.”

THE WOODBURY CRAYFISH BOIL

Ingredients

6 ounces of Tanqueray Gin
½ ounce of Noilly Pratt Dry Vermouth
3 Blue Cheese stuffed Olives
10lbs live crayfish
½ pack seasonings (provided from Cajun Grocer)
1 sack small red potatoes
2 stalks celery
3 ears of corn (cut into thirds)
6 assorted sausages

Directions

1. Put gin and vermouth into a glass pitcher, fill with ice, stir vigorously while incanting, “You who know all, thank you for providing us juniper and all the other obscure ingredients responsible for creating this sacred liquid!” Strain into a pre-frozen Martini glass of admirable size.  Skewer the olives on one of those tacky cocktail swords, place in glass. Immediately begin consuming.  Now you can begin the food prep, and the cooking!

2. Follow directions about purging the live crayfish.  Put enough water in a stock pot to cover the crayfish, add seasonings and bring water to a boil.

3. Add the corn, potatoes, celery and sausages to the stock pot, reduce heat and cook for 20 minutes. Remove contents to a platter and tent with foil.

4. Bring stock pot back to a boil and chuck in the live crayfish.  Cook 5 minutes.  Take off heat, let sit for 10 minutes. Add to the platter… bring to the table.

5. Take a sip of wine, tell a joke… tuck in!

n.b.
If there is more than one person eating, multiply the ingredients accordingly (just kidding!). Given the “sides” included to the boil this recipe should do well for 4 folks. I used andouille, chorizo and bratwurst sausages. But anything goes.

Here is the link to the Cajun Grocer:
http://www.cajungrocer.com/fresh-foods-crawfish-live-c-1_15_19.html

Oh, one more thing… Liu Xiang is indeed a great scholar from the Han Dynasty; but I made up the quote.