Serving a dinner of italian dinner and wine for rotary friends
Preparations for a recent Italian dinner party we hosted began 24 hours before guests were to arrive. The occasion was the result of four generous people making a donation to Rotary for the opportunity to enjoy a meal of Italian food and wines in our home.
I started the night before by making cacciatore. It is a hunter’s stew and, like all stews, it tastes better after a day that allows flavours to meld.
The rest of the menu wasn’t particularly complicated. I planned to make a variety of crostinis, toasted slices of baguette topped with things like almond pesto (the almonds substitute for the traditional pine nuts, or pignoli), grape tomatoes and ribbons of prosciutto — ham sliced so thin, as the joke goes, that the pig didn’t feel it coming of its hind end.
While a typical Italian meal sees salad served after the main courses and before dessert or cheese, we continue to serve it first. Otherwise it seems to get lost or, on occasion, even forgotten. My choice was a Caprese-style salad, with fresh basil, cubes of fresh mozzarella cheese, grape tomatoes, black olives and Italian spices, tossed with olive oil and balsamic vinegar.
Following the salad would be seafood cioppino, a stew with a tomato base that is ultra-easy to make and great for company because one can prepare the base early, then bring it to a boil and add a selection of seafood 10 minutes before it is to be served. I chose mussels, scallops, cod, prawns and clams. The base includes onions, garlic and green pepper, finely chopped and sautéed in olive oil. Spices, white wine, canned Italian tomatoes and clam juice complete the stock. Serve slices of Calabrese bread to soak up the sauce and it’s a meal in itself.
Dessert was one we hadn’t tried before and it, too, didn’t require much work. Two dozen dried figs are simmered for about 40 minutes in a cup of red wine, along with sugar, a cinnamon stick and slices of fresh ginger. Once the figs are very soft they are removed, then the wine is cooked down by two thirds, then strained. To serve, I mixed fresh cream with mascarpone (an Italian cream cheese), spread couple of tablespoons on each plate, cut the figs almost in half, spread them apart and placed them on the cream cheese base, then drizzled the sauce on top.
Among my preparations earlier day was the making of a batch of pasta, which I rolled into sheets that were allowed to dry for an hour on floured towels. Then I used a pizza wheel to slice the sheets into wide ribbons, or pappardelle, which continued to dry on the counter until ready to cook. It would be served with the cacciatore.
When our guests arrived we toasted the occasion with flutes of prosecco, a dry rose sparkling wine from northern Italy. Placed in the bottom of each flute before the wine was poured was a preserved edible hibiscus flower. The red flowers and juice stain the prosecco to a deeper pink colour and makes a very nice presentation. We sat for an hour, sipping our wine, chatting and nibbling on the crostinis before moving to the dining room table.
The meal went entirely as planned and my selection of Sangiovese wines proved to pair well with each dish, in large part because the salad, cioppino and cacciatore all included tomatoes, which are a particularly good marriage with medium red wines like Chiantis.
Our guests chose to drink cappuccinos with their dessert and we lingered at the table, enjoying the company and conversation, until late in the evening. We have hosted many such dinners (some featuring Indian dishes) as Rotary fundraisers and I heartily recommend the practice. We make our donation by providing the food and wine and guests contribute cash for a worthy cause. And everyone benefits from the enjoyment that inevitably comes when food, wine and friends are combined.
January 2012 – La Dolce Vita
I started the night before by making cacciatore. It is a hunter’s stew and, like all stews, it tastes better after a day that allows flavours to meld.
The rest of the menu wasn’t particularly complicated. I planned to make a variety of crostinis, toasted slices of baguette topped with things like almond pesto (the almonds substitute for the traditional pine nuts, or pignoli), grape tomatoes and ribbons of prosciutto — ham sliced so thin, as the joke goes, that the pig didn’t feel it coming of its hind end.
While a typical Italian meal sees salad served after the main courses and before dessert or cheese, we continue to serve it first. Otherwise it seems to get lost or, on occasion, even forgotten. My choice was a Caprese-style salad, with fresh basil, cubes of fresh mozzarella cheese, grape tomatoes, black olives and Italian spices, tossed with olive oil and balsamic vinegar.
Following the salad would be seafood cioppino, a stew with a tomato base that is ultra-easy to make and great for company because one can prepare the base early, then bring it to a boil and add a selection of seafood 10 minutes before it is to be served. I chose mussels, scallops, cod, prawns and clams. The base includes onions, garlic and green pepper, finely chopped and sautéed in olive oil. Spices, white wine, canned Italian tomatoes and clam juice complete the stock. Serve slices of Calabrese bread to soak up the sauce and it’s a meal in itself.
Dessert was one we hadn’t tried before and it, too, didn’t require much work. Two dozen dried figs are simmered for about 40 minutes in a cup of red wine, along with sugar, a cinnamon stick and slices of fresh ginger. Once the figs are very soft they are removed, then the wine is cooked down by two thirds, then strained. To serve, I mixed fresh cream with mascarpone (an Italian cream cheese), spread couple of tablespoons on each plate, cut the figs almost in half, spread them apart and placed them on the cream cheese base, then drizzled the sauce on top.
Among my preparations earlier day was the making of a batch of pasta, which I rolled into sheets that were allowed to dry for an hour on floured towels. Then I used a pizza wheel to slice the sheets into wide ribbons, or pappardelle, which continued to dry on the counter until ready to cook. It would be served with the cacciatore.
When our guests arrived we toasted the occasion with flutes of prosecco, a dry rose sparkling wine from northern Italy. Placed in the bottom of each flute before the wine was poured was a preserved edible hibiscus flower. The red flowers and juice stain the prosecco to a deeper pink colour and makes a very nice presentation. We sat for an hour, sipping our wine, chatting and nibbling on the crostinis before moving to the dining room table.
The meal went entirely as planned and my selection of Sangiovese wines proved to pair well with each dish, in large part because the salad, cioppino and cacciatore all included tomatoes, which are a particularly good marriage with medium red wines like Chiantis.
Our guests chose to drink cappuccinos with their dessert and we lingered at the table, enjoying the company and conversation, until late in the evening. We have hosted many such dinners (some featuring Indian dishes) as Rotary fundraisers and I heartily recommend the practice. We make our donation by providing the food and wine and guests contribute cash for a worthy cause. And everyone benefits from the enjoyment that inevitably comes when food, wine and friends are combined.
January 2012 – La Dolce Vita
Going italian at d'angelo estate winery in naramata
We didn’t know quite what to expect when we drove to Naramata last week to join five other couples for an Italian dinner and vertical wine tasting at D’Angelo Estate Winery.
During a stay in the summer at the winery’s bed and breakfast we seemed to have learned about the dinner by chance while we were chatting with owner Sal D’Angelo. It sounded too good to pass up, so I made sure our names went on the guest list immediately.
The first surprise came when we walked into Sal’s dining room. We were among the last to arrive—having made the two-minute walk from our B and B room—and there sat Sal, at the table with the other guests. I had expected that he would be busy in the kitchen, as he had told me that he would be cooking the dinner. Nope. His 82-year-old mom was visiting from Ontario and had taken over kitchen duties, like any self-respecting Italian matriarch.
As I took my seat beside Sal, huge trays arrived, borne by his lovely daughter Steph, who runs the tasting room and looks after much of the winery’s voluminous paperwork. Salumi, cheese, olives, crackers, vegetables—typical Italian appies, abounded. A prosciutto made by Sal’s dad back in Ontario was a big hit. Paper thin slices of cured pork, but without a hint of fat. His slow-baked porcetta was equally delicious.
Lined up at each place setting were five wine glasses, each awaiting a sample of one of five vintages of Pinot Noir that have been produced under the D’Angelo label in Naramata (Sal also still has his first winery in Ontario, where his son has now assumed winemaking duties). Once we all had our samples, Sal led us through a tasting of each, but not before dropping a teaser. Three of the first four years (2005-2008) had won gold medals, the other a bronze (the 2009 vintage hasn’t been released yet). Which, he asked, did we think hadn’t won gold? Eventually, not at all to my surprise, only a couple of guests got it right. My choice got the majority of votes, and we were wrong. It was a great indication that individual taste plays a huge role in the popularity of any wine, and a good reason not to take awards and ratings too seriously.
Soon the dinner began to arrive. Bowls of pasta with tomato sauce, plates of sausages and pork, salads, lots of seasonal veggies, the works, all served family style, just as one would expect from a family of Italian heritage. Once we were all happily enjoying the food and a variety of other “surprise” wines that Sal opened, Mama d’Angelo pulled up a chair and joined us.
Throughout the two-and-a-half hours or so that we sat, Sal regaled us with information about wine and winemaking, anecdotes from his decades in the industry and his history in Ontario (where he established the first winery in the Amherstberg area—there are now about 20). The electrician-come-college instructor and amateur wine-maker was seen by many as a lunatic, not least because of his enthusiasm for putting up Wine Route signs on roads in the area. Highways employees would remove them and Sal would replace them in what became an on-going battle.
D’Angelo Estate Winery is exactly the sort of operation that Angela and I have come to seek out in our travels. Small production with the hands-on operation of a jack- (or jill) of-all-trades. Sal is the winemaker and vineyard manager. Each day he’s usually working out among the vines, at least until harvest, when his attention turns to turning the fruit into wine.
Our conversations continued, with enthusiastic participation from everyone at the table, until the subject rolled around to a dessert wine that was sitting in oak barrels out in the winery building, aging until a targeted spring release. We should do a barrel tasting, Sal said and, like the Pied Piper, he led his followers out into the chilly night air (the temperature would drop to -6 degrees C that night, effectively stopping further development of grapes in the vineyard), through the dark yard and into the winery.
He didn’t bother looking for a wine thief (the traditional glass tube used to extract samples through a barrel’s bunghole), instead using a clean length of tubing to siphon a half litre of the Port-like liquid into a glass beaker. Soon we were all sampling this delicious, not too sweet elixir. We learned that, wanting to remain authentic in his production, Sal had transported barrels of his Merlot to a Pentiction distillery, which turned the wine into brandy. It was that brandy that he used to fortify the sweet wine. We also got to provide input into what it would be called on the label. Port is a name that can only be used for products produced in a specific region of Portugal.
The dinner came to an end and another two-minute walk took us back to our cozy B and B room (the Petit Verdot), where we would spend two nights, taking the opportunity to visit other wineries in the area.
On the next day, when I stopped into the wine shop to make some purchases, I thanked Sal for the marvelous evening. And asked him to put us on the list for next year.
October 2012 – La Dolce Vita
During a stay in the summer at the winery’s bed and breakfast we seemed to have learned about the dinner by chance while we were chatting with owner Sal D’Angelo. It sounded too good to pass up, so I made sure our names went on the guest list immediately.
The first surprise came when we walked into Sal’s dining room. We were among the last to arrive—having made the two-minute walk from our B and B room—and there sat Sal, at the table with the other guests. I had expected that he would be busy in the kitchen, as he had told me that he would be cooking the dinner. Nope. His 82-year-old mom was visiting from Ontario and had taken over kitchen duties, like any self-respecting Italian matriarch.
As I took my seat beside Sal, huge trays arrived, borne by his lovely daughter Steph, who runs the tasting room and looks after much of the winery’s voluminous paperwork. Salumi, cheese, olives, crackers, vegetables—typical Italian appies, abounded. A prosciutto made by Sal’s dad back in Ontario was a big hit. Paper thin slices of cured pork, but without a hint of fat. His slow-baked porcetta was equally delicious.
Lined up at each place setting were five wine glasses, each awaiting a sample of one of five vintages of Pinot Noir that have been produced under the D’Angelo label in Naramata (Sal also still has his first winery in Ontario, where his son has now assumed winemaking duties). Once we all had our samples, Sal led us through a tasting of each, but not before dropping a teaser. Three of the first four years (2005-2008) had won gold medals, the other a bronze (the 2009 vintage hasn’t been released yet). Which, he asked, did we think hadn’t won gold? Eventually, not at all to my surprise, only a couple of guests got it right. My choice got the majority of votes, and we were wrong. It was a great indication that individual taste plays a huge role in the popularity of any wine, and a good reason not to take awards and ratings too seriously.
Soon the dinner began to arrive. Bowls of pasta with tomato sauce, plates of sausages and pork, salads, lots of seasonal veggies, the works, all served family style, just as one would expect from a family of Italian heritage. Once we were all happily enjoying the food and a variety of other “surprise” wines that Sal opened, Mama d’Angelo pulled up a chair and joined us.
Throughout the two-and-a-half hours or so that we sat, Sal regaled us with information about wine and winemaking, anecdotes from his decades in the industry and his history in Ontario (where he established the first winery in the Amherstberg area—there are now about 20). The electrician-come-college instructor and amateur wine-maker was seen by many as a lunatic, not least because of his enthusiasm for putting up Wine Route signs on roads in the area. Highways employees would remove them and Sal would replace them in what became an on-going battle.
D’Angelo Estate Winery is exactly the sort of operation that Angela and I have come to seek out in our travels. Small production with the hands-on operation of a jack- (or jill) of-all-trades. Sal is the winemaker and vineyard manager. Each day he’s usually working out among the vines, at least until harvest, when his attention turns to turning the fruit into wine.
Our conversations continued, with enthusiastic participation from everyone at the table, until the subject rolled around to a dessert wine that was sitting in oak barrels out in the winery building, aging until a targeted spring release. We should do a barrel tasting, Sal said and, like the Pied Piper, he led his followers out into the chilly night air (the temperature would drop to -6 degrees C that night, effectively stopping further development of grapes in the vineyard), through the dark yard and into the winery.
He didn’t bother looking for a wine thief (the traditional glass tube used to extract samples through a barrel’s bunghole), instead using a clean length of tubing to siphon a half litre of the Port-like liquid into a glass beaker. Soon we were all sampling this delicious, not too sweet elixir. We learned that, wanting to remain authentic in his production, Sal had transported barrels of his Merlot to a Pentiction distillery, which turned the wine into brandy. It was that brandy that he used to fortify the sweet wine. We also got to provide input into what it would be called on the label. Port is a name that can only be used for products produced in a specific region of Portugal.
The dinner came to an end and another two-minute walk took us back to our cozy B and B room (the Petit Verdot), where we would spend two nights, taking the opportunity to visit other wineries in the area.
On the next day, when I stopped into the wine shop to make some purchases, I thanked Sal for the marvelous evening. And asked him to put us on the list for next year.
October 2012 – La Dolce Vita
Food and wine pairing at our home table
Last week provided us with a couple of chances to pair wine with food, and one delightful surprise that simply appeared on our table.
One of my favourite easy dishes to make is linguini with clam sauce. Not the thick, gooey white sauce that you might find at the Old Spaghetti Factory but a nice, easy one that uses nothing much more than white wine, clam juice, spices and lot and lots of clams. For a dinner to feed four I use a large can of clams. You just can’t have too many clams, in my opinion.
For this meal I kicked it up a notch by adding fresh clams to the linguini just as it neared the al dente stage. When the mussel shells opened I strained with the pasta and added them, with a half cup or so of the pasta water, to the sauce. I mixed the works together over a heated burner until the sauce was partly absorbed, then served it with a simple salad.
For the wine, I turned to a Viognier from Ruby Tuesday (now Ruby Blues), the delightful Naramata winery that we fell in love with last year.
Viognier is like the little cousin to Riesling. It’s fruity but less crisp and acidic, easier to drink without food but still nice with it. The Zero Balance has a nice hint of orange to it. The pairing was delightful.
On Saturday night we celebrated our wedding anniversary with dinner at the new Kootenay Thai Restaurant in Creston. I mentioned to Angela that I planned to ask owner Anthony Kwan to just bring us a meal with his favourite dishes. Perhaps he is psychic, or just extremely perceptive because he brought a bottle of wine to our table and told us he had our meal planned, if that was okay with us. The wine was a 2007 Merlot from Sandhill, one of my favourite wineries. The winemaker, Howard Soon, is a friend, the Hong Kong native told us. Red wine doesn’t come to mind immediately as a match for Thai food, but the spiciness of the Merlot stood up nicely to the many tastes of our meal. We thoroughly enjoyed our spring rolls with sweet chili sauce, rice with pineapple, cashews and prawns (beautifully presented in a hollowed half pineapple), garlic prawns with carrots and broccoli, and, the piece de resistance, a whole deep-fried fish from Malaysia with three-flavour sauce. When we finally finished a dessert of deep-fried bananas and coconut ice cream we felt like we would need to roll home.
Finally, on Sunday it was Easter dinner, featuring baked ham, scalloped potatoes, roasted yams and peppers, green salad and a fantastic coconut lemon cake for dessert. The wine selection was easy. I opened a bottle of rosé (from Zero Balance, the eerily appropriately named winery in Naramata. It’s one of the Holman group of wineries that was under receivership last time I checked, and we’ve enjoyed all of the white wines we purchased there last June) and we sat with our guests on the deck to enjoy the last of the day’s sunshine. Part way through dinner I opened another rosé, this time from Creston’s Skimmerhorn Winery. It’s been one of our favourites since the first vintage. The crisp wines went perfectly with our meal and the company, as it typically does, made everything about as good as one good hope for.
May 2011 – La Dolce Vita
One of my favourite easy dishes to make is linguini with clam sauce. Not the thick, gooey white sauce that you might find at the Old Spaghetti Factory but a nice, easy one that uses nothing much more than white wine, clam juice, spices and lot and lots of clams. For a dinner to feed four I use a large can of clams. You just can’t have too many clams, in my opinion.
For this meal I kicked it up a notch by adding fresh clams to the linguini just as it neared the al dente stage. When the mussel shells opened I strained with the pasta and added them, with a half cup or so of the pasta water, to the sauce. I mixed the works together over a heated burner until the sauce was partly absorbed, then served it with a simple salad.
For the wine, I turned to a Viognier from Ruby Tuesday (now Ruby Blues), the delightful Naramata winery that we fell in love with last year.
Viognier is like the little cousin to Riesling. It’s fruity but less crisp and acidic, easier to drink without food but still nice with it. The Zero Balance has a nice hint of orange to it. The pairing was delightful.
On Saturday night we celebrated our wedding anniversary with dinner at the new Kootenay Thai Restaurant in Creston. I mentioned to Angela that I planned to ask owner Anthony Kwan to just bring us a meal with his favourite dishes. Perhaps he is psychic, or just extremely perceptive because he brought a bottle of wine to our table and told us he had our meal planned, if that was okay with us. The wine was a 2007 Merlot from Sandhill, one of my favourite wineries. The winemaker, Howard Soon, is a friend, the Hong Kong native told us. Red wine doesn’t come to mind immediately as a match for Thai food, but the spiciness of the Merlot stood up nicely to the many tastes of our meal. We thoroughly enjoyed our spring rolls with sweet chili sauce, rice with pineapple, cashews and prawns (beautifully presented in a hollowed half pineapple), garlic prawns with carrots and broccoli, and, the piece de resistance, a whole deep-fried fish from Malaysia with three-flavour sauce. When we finally finished a dessert of deep-fried bananas and coconut ice cream we felt like we would need to roll home.
Finally, on Sunday it was Easter dinner, featuring baked ham, scalloped potatoes, roasted yams and peppers, green salad and a fantastic coconut lemon cake for dessert. The wine selection was easy. I opened a bottle of rosé (from Zero Balance, the eerily appropriately named winery in Naramata. It’s one of the Holman group of wineries that was under receivership last time I checked, and we’ve enjoyed all of the white wines we purchased there last June) and we sat with our guests on the deck to enjoy the last of the day’s sunshine. Part way through dinner I opened another rosé, this time from Creston’s Skimmerhorn Winery. It’s been one of our favourites since the first vintage. The crisp wines went perfectly with our meal and the company, as it typically does, made everything about as good as one good hope for.
May 2011 – La Dolce Vita
an okanagan love affair
With the first printing of The Butcher, The Baker, The Wine & Cheese Maker now sold out, it’s safe to say there are going to be a lot of happy people around the province when Christmas gifts are opened this year.
In the interests of disclosure, let me first explain that author Jennifer Schell also edits Food and Wine Trails magazine, which is a Black Press publication. I am a contributing writer for the magazine. I have never met Schell other than through emails.
Not so many years ago, self-published books were the refuge of conspiracy theorists, local historians and UFO abductees. How times have changed. This year, some of the best books to cross my desk have been published by their authors, and Schell’s ranks among the very best of those.
I was looking forward to getting a copy of the book Schell subtitles An Okanagan Cookbook as soon as it was announced as being in the planning stages. The author, who has an unbridled passion for wine and food and the people who work with them, intended to create a book that celebrates producers throughout the Okanagan. Farmers, winemakers, chefs and others who toil, often in the backeground, to bring food to tables in homes and restaurants throughout the province were about to get their time in the spotlight.
Having written a couple of series of stories about similar folks here in the Creston Valley, and being an avid amateur cook and wine enthusiast, I knew that The Butcher, The Baker, The Wine & Cheese Maker would be my kind of book. When a copy arrived at my office, inscribed by Schell, a few minutes flipping through the pages proved that this was no wet blanket to cool my eagerness.
Nicely organized into menu-like sections—starters, main courses, desserts and cheeses—with additional pages devoted to a number of old-fashioned home recipes and then some wine and food events, the book is chock-full of short biographies of people. Some are even penned by the food and wine producers themselves.
One recipe, for instance, for fig and blue cheese ravioli, is matched with short bios of chef Jeremy Luypen of Oliver’s Terrafina Restaurant, cheesemaker Gidda Pedersen of Poplar Grove Cheese and winemakers from Hester Creek Winery. It’s a clever and absorbing way to connect food with the producers of the ingredients for a wonderful experience at the table.
Schell comes by her passion for food producers honestly. She grew up on an Okanagan farm, with her grandparents’ farms on each side.
“This cookbook is a love letter to all those who have created, grown and nurtured our special valley on this earth,” Schell writes. “They are a delightful confluence of old and new world, blending their international influence and flavours with our local bounty, establishing a cuisine that is distinctly Okanagan. Through their recipes and stories, I am pleased to introduce you to these gifted people who bring this local food to your table every day.”
Having visited the Okanagan many, many times, largely to experience the very things that Schell celebrates in this book, I find it a genuine treat to get an up close and personal look at the individuals who grow and make the food, produce the wine and bring it to restaurant tables around the BC Interior. Some of the faces are familiar from our visits, but many more now feel like, if not friends, at least acquaintances I would like to know better.
We visit wineries, festivals and markets wherever we can so that we can take away a small share of the passion and enthusiasm we invariably find. In The Butcher, The Baker, The Wine & Cheese Maker, Schell has delivered a generous helping of those very qualities, all in one very sumptuous package.
For more information, visit www.anokanagancookbook.com.
December 2012 – La Dolce Vita
In the interests of disclosure, let me first explain that author Jennifer Schell also edits Food and Wine Trails magazine, which is a Black Press publication. I am a contributing writer for the magazine. I have never met Schell other than through emails.
Not so many years ago, self-published books were the refuge of conspiracy theorists, local historians and UFO abductees. How times have changed. This year, some of the best books to cross my desk have been published by their authors, and Schell’s ranks among the very best of those.
I was looking forward to getting a copy of the book Schell subtitles An Okanagan Cookbook as soon as it was announced as being in the planning stages. The author, who has an unbridled passion for wine and food and the people who work with them, intended to create a book that celebrates producers throughout the Okanagan. Farmers, winemakers, chefs and others who toil, often in the backeground, to bring food to tables in homes and restaurants throughout the province were about to get their time in the spotlight.
Having written a couple of series of stories about similar folks here in the Creston Valley, and being an avid amateur cook and wine enthusiast, I knew that The Butcher, The Baker, The Wine & Cheese Maker would be my kind of book. When a copy arrived at my office, inscribed by Schell, a few minutes flipping through the pages proved that this was no wet blanket to cool my eagerness.
Nicely organized into menu-like sections—starters, main courses, desserts and cheeses—with additional pages devoted to a number of old-fashioned home recipes and then some wine and food events, the book is chock-full of short biographies of people. Some are even penned by the food and wine producers themselves.
One recipe, for instance, for fig and blue cheese ravioli, is matched with short bios of chef Jeremy Luypen of Oliver’s Terrafina Restaurant, cheesemaker Gidda Pedersen of Poplar Grove Cheese and winemakers from Hester Creek Winery. It’s a clever and absorbing way to connect food with the producers of the ingredients for a wonderful experience at the table.
Schell comes by her passion for food producers honestly. She grew up on an Okanagan farm, with her grandparents’ farms on each side.
“This cookbook is a love letter to all those who have created, grown and nurtured our special valley on this earth,” Schell writes. “They are a delightful confluence of old and new world, blending their international influence and flavours with our local bounty, establishing a cuisine that is distinctly Okanagan. Through their recipes and stories, I am pleased to introduce you to these gifted people who bring this local food to your table every day.”
Having visited the Okanagan many, many times, largely to experience the very things that Schell celebrates in this book, I find it a genuine treat to get an up close and personal look at the individuals who grow and make the food, produce the wine and bring it to restaurant tables around the BC Interior. Some of the faces are familiar from our visits, but many more now feel like, if not friends, at least acquaintances I would like to know better.
We visit wineries, festivals and markets wherever we can so that we can take away a small share of the passion and enthusiasm we invariably find. In The Butcher, The Baker, The Wine & Cheese Maker, Schell has delivered a generous helping of those very qualities, all in one very sumptuous package.
For more information, visit www.anokanagancookbook.com.
December 2012 – La Dolce Vita
pairing wines with indian dishes
This week’s wine recommendation came courtesy of Vikram Vij and Meeru Dhalwala, who operate the highly rated Vij’s Restaurant in Vancouver. I regret that I haven’t been to the restaurant, or met the successful couple.
I was browsing the Creston and District Public Library bookshelves last week when a cookbook called Vij’s at Home caught my attention. I’m a sucker for cookbooks and I love Indian food, so I added the volume to my takeout pile.
While I leafed through the book at home my mouth began to water and a distinct rumbling could be heard coming from just above my belt. I began to insert torn pieces of paper whenever I came across a particularly appealing recipe whose ingredients I knew I could find without any great effort.
Equally as interesting was the introduction, which touched upon the pairing of wine with the many flavours of Indian food. When I read that the restaurateurs enjoy Ehrenfelser wine with their dishes I was hooked — I knew I had just the thing in my cellar.
On Sunday afternoon I got to work. For one dish I would make green beans, potatoes and spinach in coconut curry. The other would use one of the bags of nice, large prawns sitting in our freezer, the happy result of our Creston Rotary Club’s recent fundraiser. Prawns in pomegranate curry sounded very tempting, more so because the first step is to caramelize a couple of large, finely chopped red onions. I’m a big onion fan.
I had also recently purchased a book with 100 bread recipes and had been attracted by the author’s simple approach to making naan bread. Of course not everyone has the appropriate oven in which pieces of dough are slapped onto a vertical surface for baking, and this recipe simply instructed that the dough be pan-fried in a bit of olive oil. Light, chewy, spiced naan bread is a wonderful addition to any meal whose sauce is worthy of sopping up.
I also cooked a cup of quinoa, which has become one of our favourite starches. It’s as easy to cook as rice and has a pleasing flavour and texture.
As I worked frantically to keep the pans on each of the stove’s four burners from burning their contents, the aromas were more than enough to stimulate the digestive juices. So was the knowledge that a bottle of Ehrenfelser from Naramata’s Lake Breeze Vineyards was chilling in the refrigerator.
Uncorking that bottle once the dishes were all under control immediately evoked memories of visits to what is one of the most beautiful vineyards in the province. The vines slope right down to Okanagan Lake, the landscaping is immaculate, the tasting room is welcoming and the patio food service is as good as it gets. We have enjoyed all of our visits there, but none more than when the weather is hot and the sky is blue. It’s a place to relax and appreciate the great beauty we enjoy in our province.
Lake Breeze produces very nice wine, including one of the Okanagan’s few Pinotages. But it’s the rich, just slightly sweet Ehrenfelser that we have opted for on those beautiful summer days. The grape is a German cross from Riesling and Sylvaner vines and the result is similar to Riesling but with less acidity. Even with less acid, Ehrenfelser pairs as well with spicy foods as most Rieslings.
Wine in glasses and food on plates, we sat down, clinked the crystal and dug in. The pomegranate curry was slightly tart with an abundance of complex flavours, complemented by the caramelized onions. I’m pretty fussy about not overcooking seafood and the prawns were plump and juicy. The vegetable dish was delicious and we thought that with the addition of stock it make a great soup. Our starches, the quinoa and the naan bread, were perfect. The naan was chewy and light, nicely spiced by the tablespoon of garam masala I added to the dough, which consisted only of flour, water, salt and yeast.
We eventually pushed ourselves back from the table to start cleanup, happy to know we had leftovers for a couple of weeknights, and grateful for the recommendation to pair our Indian meal with Ehrenfelser. I couldn’t have been happier with the result.
March 2011 – La Dolce Vita
I was browsing the Creston and District Public Library bookshelves last week when a cookbook called Vij’s at Home caught my attention. I’m a sucker for cookbooks and I love Indian food, so I added the volume to my takeout pile.
While I leafed through the book at home my mouth began to water and a distinct rumbling could be heard coming from just above my belt. I began to insert torn pieces of paper whenever I came across a particularly appealing recipe whose ingredients I knew I could find without any great effort.
Equally as interesting was the introduction, which touched upon the pairing of wine with the many flavours of Indian food. When I read that the restaurateurs enjoy Ehrenfelser wine with their dishes I was hooked — I knew I had just the thing in my cellar.
On Sunday afternoon I got to work. For one dish I would make green beans, potatoes and spinach in coconut curry. The other would use one of the bags of nice, large prawns sitting in our freezer, the happy result of our Creston Rotary Club’s recent fundraiser. Prawns in pomegranate curry sounded very tempting, more so because the first step is to caramelize a couple of large, finely chopped red onions. I’m a big onion fan.
I had also recently purchased a book with 100 bread recipes and had been attracted by the author’s simple approach to making naan bread. Of course not everyone has the appropriate oven in which pieces of dough are slapped onto a vertical surface for baking, and this recipe simply instructed that the dough be pan-fried in a bit of olive oil. Light, chewy, spiced naan bread is a wonderful addition to any meal whose sauce is worthy of sopping up.
I also cooked a cup of quinoa, which has become one of our favourite starches. It’s as easy to cook as rice and has a pleasing flavour and texture.
As I worked frantically to keep the pans on each of the stove’s four burners from burning their contents, the aromas were more than enough to stimulate the digestive juices. So was the knowledge that a bottle of Ehrenfelser from Naramata’s Lake Breeze Vineyards was chilling in the refrigerator.
Uncorking that bottle once the dishes were all under control immediately evoked memories of visits to what is one of the most beautiful vineyards in the province. The vines slope right down to Okanagan Lake, the landscaping is immaculate, the tasting room is welcoming and the patio food service is as good as it gets. We have enjoyed all of our visits there, but none more than when the weather is hot and the sky is blue. It’s a place to relax and appreciate the great beauty we enjoy in our province.
Lake Breeze produces very nice wine, including one of the Okanagan’s few Pinotages. But it’s the rich, just slightly sweet Ehrenfelser that we have opted for on those beautiful summer days. The grape is a German cross from Riesling and Sylvaner vines and the result is similar to Riesling but with less acidity. Even with less acid, Ehrenfelser pairs as well with spicy foods as most Rieslings.
Wine in glasses and food on plates, we sat down, clinked the crystal and dug in. The pomegranate curry was slightly tart with an abundance of complex flavours, complemented by the caramelized onions. I’m pretty fussy about not overcooking seafood and the prawns were plump and juicy. The vegetable dish was delicious and we thought that with the addition of stock it make a great soup. Our starches, the quinoa and the naan bread, were perfect. The naan was chewy and light, nicely spiced by the tablespoon of garam masala I added to the dough, which consisted only of flour, water, salt and yeast.
We eventually pushed ourselves back from the table to start cleanup, happy to know we had leftovers for a couple of weeknights, and grateful for the recommendation to pair our Indian meal with Ehrenfelser. I couldn’t have been happier with the result.
March 2011 – La Dolce Vita
rieslings pair with many kinds of food
I was in the grocery store last week, drawn to the seafood section. Into my basket went packages of fresh mussels and clams and a couple of pieces of cod. Not having the time or inclination to bake on another dreary Sunday I picked up a loaf of jalapeno ciabatta bread, too. While I made my way down the aisles my thoughts had already turned to my next stop, the liquor store. Rieslings were what I wanted and I could almost taste how they would go with dinner. Bouillabaisse was on the menu.
A can of clam juice, a nice fennel bulb, celery and a few other things completed my grocery mission and I moved next door to the wine shelves.
Our BCLB store might not have a spectacular selection of German wines but, to be honest, it’s not all that easy to find a bad Riesling. Unless, that is, you pick up a sweet one and have a particular distaste for sweet white wines. Many of us cut our wine-drinking teeth on wines like Black Tower and Liebfraumilch, both semi-sweet and containing at least some Riesling. They aren’t to my taste any more, and haven’t been in many years, but to each his or her own.
From the shelves I selected two Rieslings, both from the Mosel region of Germany, which includes the Moselle, Saar and Ruher rivers. It is prime Riesling country. I chose a 2009 Riesling made by Nollen and, proof that the Germans aren’t immune from the obsession with goofy labels that include birds and animals, called Notorious Rooster.
It had a 0 sweetness rating. The other choice was a 2008 Selbach, with a 1 sweetness rating. Both had a 10 per cent alcohol content, a refreshing change from the 14 per cent and upward alcohol levels in most red wines these days.
At home, I put the bottles into the refrigerator to chill and got to work at the stove. Slices of onion, leek, celery and fennel were sautéed in olive oil until soft, then a few cloves of chopped garlic was added along with the can of clam juice. I let that cook on low heat for a half hour, then added some water and a bit of white wine (pretty much anything will do, but I didn’t want to use my Rieslings). Into the pot went the rinsed mussels and clams in their shells, chopped pieces of cod, about a pound of nice big prawns I had in the freezer and the remainder of some crabmeat we had left over from another meal. Italian spices, salt and pepper and a half teaspoon of saffron were quickly mixed in.
The seafood cooked quickly in the hot liquid so I sliced the ciabatta, set the table and opened the Notorious Rooster. In no time at all we were savouring our meal and commenting on how delicious the juices and various seafoods went with the apple and pear flavours of the wine. For a dinner that took a half hour to make from start to finish, it was a definite homerun.
The best part? We didn’t have company on this day, so we were rewarded with the knowledge that leftovers would form the next night’s dinner, along with the Selbach. The truth is that the bouillabaisse was just as good on the second night and the wine might have been even better. Pretty nice for a heat and eat meal, and another bit of proof that some foods and wines go perfectly together, each enhancing the characteristics of the other.
April 2011 – La Dolce Vita
A can of clam juice, a nice fennel bulb, celery and a few other things completed my grocery mission and I moved next door to the wine shelves.
Our BCLB store might not have a spectacular selection of German wines but, to be honest, it’s not all that easy to find a bad Riesling. Unless, that is, you pick up a sweet one and have a particular distaste for sweet white wines. Many of us cut our wine-drinking teeth on wines like Black Tower and Liebfraumilch, both semi-sweet and containing at least some Riesling. They aren’t to my taste any more, and haven’t been in many years, but to each his or her own.
From the shelves I selected two Rieslings, both from the Mosel region of Germany, which includes the Moselle, Saar and Ruher rivers. It is prime Riesling country. I chose a 2009 Riesling made by Nollen and, proof that the Germans aren’t immune from the obsession with goofy labels that include birds and animals, called Notorious Rooster.
It had a 0 sweetness rating. The other choice was a 2008 Selbach, with a 1 sweetness rating. Both had a 10 per cent alcohol content, a refreshing change from the 14 per cent and upward alcohol levels in most red wines these days.
At home, I put the bottles into the refrigerator to chill and got to work at the stove. Slices of onion, leek, celery and fennel were sautéed in olive oil until soft, then a few cloves of chopped garlic was added along with the can of clam juice. I let that cook on low heat for a half hour, then added some water and a bit of white wine (pretty much anything will do, but I didn’t want to use my Rieslings). Into the pot went the rinsed mussels and clams in their shells, chopped pieces of cod, about a pound of nice big prawns I had in the freezer and the remainder of some crabmeat we had left over from another meal. Italian spices, salt and pepper and a half teaspoon of saffron were quickly mixed in.
The seafood cooked quickly in the hot liquid so I sliced the ciabatta, set the table and opened the Notorious Rooster. In no time at all we were savouring our meal and commenting on how delicious the juices and various seafoods went with the apple and pear flavours of the wine. For a dinner that took a half hour to make from start to finish, it was a definite homerun.
The best part? We didn’t have company on this day, so we were rewarded with the knowledge that leftovers would form the next night’s dinner, along with the Selbach. The truth is that the bouillabaisse was just as good on the second night and the wine might have been even better. Pretty nice for a heat and eat meal, and another bit of proof that some foods and wines go perfectly together, each enhancing the characteristics of the other.
April 2011 – La Dolce Vita
pairing wine with food and hockey
I chilled a bottle of Ruby Tuesday Pinot Gris to take to our dinner hosts on Sunday evening. The meal would include prawns, I knew, so the Pinot Gris would likely work quite nicely.
Then came the phone call.
“Do you still watch the hockey games?” I was asked. The caller, our dinner hostess, asked because the Canuck-Sharks game was scheduled to coincide with our invitation and she knows we don’t have cable or satellite in our home.
“Sure,” I said. “I can watch most of the games on my computer.”
“How are we going to plan dinner when you guys want to watch the game?” she asked.
“We can just dash downstairs to check on the game once in a while,” I suggested.
Her husband had other plans. The game was on when we arrived and he and I settled in—there would be no dashing downstairs to check on the progress of the Western Conference final’s first game. We were there for the duration and dinner would have to wait.
We were well into the second period of the game when my friend showed me a couple of bottles of wine. They were both from Bordeaux, gifts from the parents of a Rotary exchange student we each had staying in our homes several years ago. Choose one, he said.
We continued watching the very entertaining game, a great change from the smothering style that Nashville used to almost derailed the Canucks. Opening the bottle and pouring the wine was assigned to one of the non-game watchers in the house.
From the first sip, I was in love with the wine. It was a grand cru from the Saint-Emilion region of Bordeaux and had a long, smooth finish to complement the bone-dry, earthy flavours
The wine was from Chateau Grand-Corbin-Despagne, which has a long history, even by Bordeaux standards. The family’s presence in the area dates back to 1655 and grapevines were planted on the present-day property about 200 years ago. To be sure, this is not one of the legendary premiere grand cru estates, and its wines do not command prices of several hundred dollars or more. But Chateau Grand-Corbin-Despagne produces some very nice wines at affordable prices.
Interesting to note that the wine in our bottle had only 12.5 per cent alcohol, a couple per cent lower than one would expect from a New World wine containing 75 per cent Merlot. That is purely a reflection on the vineyard’s climate and location—there was absolutely no sweetness whatsoever in this wine, while a hotter region in the US or Australian version would produce a wine with more than 14 per alcohol and still have traces of sweetness.
We clinked our glasses and sipped our way through the third period, managing not to spill a drop while we cheered for the Canuck’s tying, then winning, goals. In this case the pairing of a very nice Bordeaux happened to match perfectly with the Canuck’s ninth of the necessary 16 wins to take the Stanley Cup.
Declaring the wine to be a good omen, I jokingly asked my friend if he could come up with seven more bottles, one for each of the wins we hope the Canucks have left in them this year. It wasn’t until that comment that I noticed the bottle offered another good luck omen. The vintage was 1994, the last time the Canucks were in the Stanley Cup final.
June 2011 - La Dolce Vita
Then came the phone call.
“Do you still watch the hockey games?” I was asked. The caller, our dinner hostess, asked because the Canuck-Sharks game was scheduled to coincide with our invitation and she knows we don’t have cable or satellite in our home.
“Sure,” I said. “I can watch most of the games on my computer.”
“How are we going to plan dinner when you guys want to watch the game?” she asked.
“We can just dash downstairs to check on the game once in a while,” I suggested.
Her husband had other plans. The game was on when we arrived and he and I settled in—there would be no dashing downstairs to check on the progress of the Western Conference final’s first game. We were there for the duration and dinner would have to wait.
We were well into the second period of the game when my friend showed me a couple of bottles of wine. They were both from Bordeaux, gifts from the parents of a Rotary exchange student we each had staying in our homes several years ago. Choose one, he said.
We continued watching the very entertaining game, a great change from the smothering style that Nashville used to almost derailed the Canucks. Opening the bottle and pouring the wine was assigned to one of the non-game watchers in the house.
From the first sip, I was in love with the wine. It was a grand cru from the Saint-Emilion region of Bordeaux and had a long, smooth finish to complement the bone-dry, earthy flavours
The wine was from Chateau Grand-Corbin-Despagne, which has a long history, even by Bordeaux standards. The family’s presence in the area dates back to 1655 and grapevines were planted on the present-day property about 200 years ago. To be sure, this is not one of the legendary premiere grand cru estates, and its wines do not command prices of several hundred dollars or more. But Chateau Grand-Corbin-Despagne produces some very nice wines at affordable prices.
Interesting to note that the wine in our bottle had only 12.5 per cent alcohol, a couple per cent lower than one would expect from a New World wine containing 75 per cent Merlot. That is purely a reflection on the vineyard’s climate and location—there was absolutely no sweetness whatsoever in this wine, while a hotter region in the US or Australian version would produce a wine with more than 14 per alcohol and still have traces of sweetness.
We clinked our glasses and sipped our way through the third period, managing not to spill a drop while we cheered for the Canuck’s tying, then winning, goals. In this case the pairing of a very nice Bordeaux happened to match perfectly with the Canuck’s ninth of the necessary 16 wins to take the Stanley Cup.
Declaring the wine to be a good omen, I jokingly asked my friend if he could come up with seven more bottles, one for each of the wins we hope the Canucks have left in them this year. It wasn’t until that comment that I noticed the bottle offered another good luck omen. The vintage was 1994, the last time the Canucks were in the Stanley Cup final.
June 2011 - La Dolce Vita
Oyster po'boys with pinot blanc
When I saw tubs of oysters on special earlier this month I knew immediately what supper would be. All that was left to decide on was a suitable wine.
The plan? Oyster po’boys. This sandwich has been a tradition in the New Orleans area (a place I long to visit) since the depression era. A couple of stories compete to explain how the sandwich got its name. One says that a former streetcar employee who owned a restaurant gave striking streetcar workers free sandwiches, which came to be called “poor boys” after the men who ate them. Another says that the sandwich was tossed in for free to new customers who purchased a nickel beer at another restaurant. The “poor boys’ lunch” soon became synonymous with the sandwich and, in Louisiana, where New Orleans is called “N’awlins”, it became the po’ boy.
Because there would only be the two of us at dinner, I didn’t opt for the traditional French baguette, instead choosing couple of soft, chewy buns. I pan-fried oysters I had dipped in beaten eggs and then cornmeal. Preparation for the bun was simple—one side was slathered in seedy mustard, the other in a mixture of tartar sauce and chili sauce to kick the taste up a notch. A pile of mixed greens provided a nice bed for the juicy oysters.
The wine? I chose a Pinot Blanc from Blue Mountain Vineyard and Cellars. From its location near Okanagan Falls, Blue Mountain has been producing fine wines for a couple of decades now. It is a family-owned operation that tends to go its own way in the wine world. No VQA labeling, little or no participation in big wine events and rarely to be found advertising in wine publications. The Mavety family started the business with a vision of how they wanted to operate and it’s been a highly successful one.
Within a few days, a couple more dishes called out for white wine. It’s a rarity in our home, especially in the winter, to drink more than a bottle or two of white wine in a month.
The first was a recipe that has quickly become a favourite for its simplicity and ease of preparation. A Japanese pancake, the dish starts by laying strips of cooked bacon to cover the bottom of an ovenproof pan. A couple of inches of coleslaw-type vegetables goes on top, mixed with eggs, flour and spices. The baked result is turned over onto a plate and cut into pie slices. It makes a wholesome, filling meal and is completed with the addition of a sauce or two. I chose a Black Widow Winery Viognier that we had enjoyed on our last visit to Naramata. With a hint of sweetness to balance out the tart and spicy home-made sauce, it went nicely with the egg and vegetable dish.
The third white was a blend from Zero Balance Vineyards, one of a half dozen Holman-Lang wineries in Naramata that are now in receivership. The bottle was opened to enjoy with another quick meal—stir-fried vegetables, rice and jumbo black prawns pan-fried with a curry sauce intended for biryani dishes. The sauce has a strong, but not overwhelming curry flavour with none of the sweetness that many other curries have. Again, the match worked well.
Part of the joy of cooking is, at least from my perspective, thinking about what wine will enhance the flavours of the dish. I try to imagine how the tastes will work together and it is always fun to see if my selection is appropriate. What’s the worst that can happen? The match doesn’t work, you set aside the wine glasses in favour of water, then enjoy the wine afterward, on its own or with some slices of cheese.
January 2011 – La Dolce Vita
The plan? Oyster po’boys. This sandwich has been a tradition in the New Orleans area (a place I long to visit) since the depression era. A couple of stories compete to explain how the sandwich got its name. One says that a former streetcar employee who owned a restaurant gave striking streetcar workers free sandwiches, which came to be called “poor boys” after the men who ate them. Another says that the sandwich was tossed in for free to new customers who purchased a nickel beer at another restaurant. The “poor boys’ lunch” soon became synonymous with the sandwich and, in Louisiana, where New Orleans is called “N’awlins”, it became the po’ boy.
Because there would only be the two of us at dinner, I didn’t opt for the traditional French baguette, instead choosing couple of soft, chewy buns. I pan-fried oysters I had dipped in beaten eggs and then cornmeal. Preparation for the bun was simple—one side was slathered in seedy mustard, the other in a mixture of tartar sauce and chili sauce to kick the taste up a notch. A pile of mixed greens provided a nice bed for the juicy oysters.
The wine? I chose a Pinot Blanc from Blue Mountain Vineyard and Cellars. From its location near Okanagan Falls, Blue Mountain has been producing fine wines for a couple of decades now. It is a family-owned operation that tends to go its own way in the wine world. No VQA labeling, little or no participation in big wine events and rarely to be found advertising in wine publications. The Mavety family started the business with a vision of how they wanted to operate and it’s been a highly successful one.
Within a few days, a couple more dishes called out for white wine. It’s a rarity in our home, especially in the winter, to drink more than a bottle or two of white wine in a month.
The first was a recipe that has quickly become a favourite for its simplicity and ease of preparation. A Japanese pancake, the dish starts by laying strips of cooked bacon to cover the bottom of an ovenproof pan. A couple of inches of coleslaw-type vegetables goes on top, mixed with eggs, flour and spices. The baked result is turned over onto a plate and cut into pie slices. It makes a wholesome, filling meal and is completed with the addition of a sauce or two. I chose a Black Widow Winery Viognier that we had enjoyed on our last visit to Naramata. With a hint of sweetness to balance out the tart and spicy home-made sauce, it went nicely with the egg and vegetable dish.
The third white was a blend from Zero Balance Vineyards, one of a half dozen Holman-Lang wineries in Naramata that are now in receivership. The bottle was opened to enjoy with another quick meal—stir-fried vegetables, rice and jumbo black prawns pan-fried with a curry sauce intended for biryani dishes. The sauce has a strong, but not overwhelming curry flavour with none of the sweetness that many other curries have. Again, the match worked well.
Part of the joy of cooking is, at least from my perspective, thinking about what wine will enhance the flavours of the dish. I try to imagine how the tastes will work together and it is always fun to see if my selection is appropriate. What’s the worst that can happen? The match doesn’t work, you set aside the wine glasses in favour of water, then enjoy the wine afterward, on its own or with some slices of cheese.
January 2011 – La Dolce Vita
Everything is just peach, thank you very much
Like asparagus, peaches are best when they are grown locally and consumed soon after picking. Both are now available year-round in grocery stores, but neither is nearly as satisfying outside the local growing season.
I picked up a dozen from a small Erickson fruit stand on Saturday and my thoughts immediately turned to salsa (okay, so I ate a couple while those thoughts were turning into something worth dwelling on). Dinner was to be barbecued ribs, Jasmine rice and corn on the cob—I’d picked up a dozen ears at the Farmers’ Market earlier in the day (while we’re at it, let’s add corn on the cob to the list of fruits and vegetables which are largely disappointing when purchased out of our local season). A little sweet and savoury salsa on the side could surely only add to our enjoyment of the meal.
For the salsa, I finely chopped some sweet white onion, then sliced and diced three peeled peaches and a couple of seeded tomatoes. Into the bowl went some freshly grated ginger, ground pepper, sea salt and good extra virgin olive oil. The fruit’s sweetness demands a tart component so I cracked open a bottle of white wine vinegar we purchased at The Vinegar Works in Summerland, which makes vinegar from a selection of grape varieties. This one was made from Gewurztraminer fruit. The salsa was quite wonderful and a bottle of South African pinotage paired nicely with the meal’s flavours.
When I opened the refrigerator the next morning the remaining peaches turned my thoughts to brunch. A quick visit to the grocery store and I was ready to go. I started by cutting a half dozen rashers of bacon into quarter-inch slices and browning them. Then I prepared a double batch of waffle batter, using a recipe that calls for buttermilk. When the first waffle was baking I peeled and sliced three peaches, then added them to a pan with melted butter. Once the peaches started to soften I sprinkled a handful of brown sugar over top and stirred until the fruit was coated with the butter and sugar mixture. The sauce was allowed to cook while I continued making the waffles.
The rest was easy-squeezy. A nice light and crisp waffle on each plate was topped with the caramelized peaches and made even more decadent with a dollop of whipped cream. The crisp bacon bits were sprinkled on top.
It was a cloudy, even dreary, Sunday morning and we had nothing significant planned, so I put aside notions of cappuccinos or orange juice and went to the wine cellar to retrieve a split (a small, 375ml bottle) of Moscato wine. Moscato, made from the very aromatic Muscat grapes, is a great brunch wine because it has some sweetness and is typically low in alcohol. While we have enjoyed many Italian versions of Moscato d’Asti (made in the Piedmont region), this one was a bit special. We had purchased it at La Stella, a winery that overlooks Osoyoos Lake, and I recalled from our tasting that it had a peach flavour.
La Stella’s version, Moscato d’Osoyoos, is very aromatic and just slightly effervescent. It features citrus, peach, honeysuckle and papaya flavours and a very pleasant hard candy finish. To say that our small glasses of the 9.5 per cent alcohol wine enhanced our scrumptious peach waffle brunch would be an understatement. I only wish I had purchased more bottles of the La Stella wine, which is now sold out.
For those who are unfamiliar with La Stella, I highly recommend a visit to the tasting room just north of Osoyoos on Highway 97. This boutique winery produces wines in a distinctly Italian style from grapes grown on the lakeshore. We have yet to taste a La Stella wine we didn’t consider outstanding and we wouldn’t think of driving past without stopping for a visit to the Tuscan style winery.
La Dolce Vita – September 22
I picked up a dozen from a small Erickson fruit stand on Saturday and my thoughts immediately turned to salsa (okay, so I ate a couple while those thoughts were turning into something worth dwelling on). Dinner was to be barbecued ribs, Jasmine rice and corn on the cob—I’d picked up a dozen ears at the Farmers’ Market earlier in the day (while we’re at it, let’s add corn on the cob to the list of fruits and vegetables which are largely disappointing when purchased out of our local season). A little sweet and savoury salsa on the side could surely only add to our enjoyment of the meal.
For the salsa, I finely chopped some sweet white onion, then sliced and diced three peeled peaches and a couple of seeded tomatoes. Into the bowl went some freshly grated ginger, ground pepper, sea salt and good extra virgin olive oil. The fruit’s sweetness demands a tart component so I cracked open a bottle of white wine vinegar we purchased at The Vinegar Works in Summerland, which makes vinegar from a selection of grape varieties. This one was made from Gewurztraminer fruit. The salsa was quite wonderful and a bottle of South African pinotage paired nicely with the meal’s flavours.
When I opened the refrigerator the next morning the remaining peaches turned my thoughts to brunch. A quick visit to the grocery store and I was ready to go. I started by cutting a half dozen rashers of bacon into quarter-inch slices and browning them. Then I prepared a double batch of waffle batter, using a recipe that calls for buttermilk. When the first waffle was baking I peeled and sliced three peaches, then added them to a pan with melted butter. Once the peaches started to soften I sprinkled a handful of brown sugar over top and stirred until the fruit was coated with the butter and sugar mixture. The sauce was allowed to cook while I continued making the waffles.
The rest was easy-squeezy. A nice light and crisp waffle on each plate was topped with the caramelized peaches and made even more decadent with a dollop of whipped cream. The crisp bacon bits were sprinkled on top.
It was a cloudy, even dreary, Sunday morning and we had nothing significant planned, so I put aside notions of cappuccinos or orange juice and went to the wine cellar to retrieve a split (a small, 375ml bottle) of Moscato wine. Moscato, made from the very aromatic Muscat grapes, is a great brunch wine because it has some sweetness and is typically low in alcohol. While we have enjoyed many Italian versions of Moscato d’Asti (made in the Piedmont region), this one was a bit special. We had purchased it at La Stella, a winery that overlooks Osoyoos Lake, and I recalled from our tasting that it had a peach flavour.
La Stella’s version, Moscato d’Osoyoos, is very aromatic and just slightly effervescent. It features citrus, peach, honeysuckle and papaya flavours and a very pleasant hard candy finish. To say that our small glasses of the 9.5 per cent alcohol wine enhanced our scrumptious peach waffle brunch would be an understatement. I only wish I had purchased more bottles of the La Stella wine, which is now sold out.
For those who are unfamiliar with La Stella, I highly recommend a visit to the tasting room just north of Osoyoos on Highway 97. This boutique winery produces wines in a distinctly Italian style from grapes grown on the lakeshore. We have yet to taste a La Stella wine we didn’t consider outstanding and we wouldn’t think of driving past without stopping for a visit to the Tuscan style winery.
La Dolce Vita – September 22
