Date night with Pinot Noir.

We live in a very small town.  Not as small as the town I grew up in, but by most people's standards, Guerneville is a very very small town.  We have a handful of restaurants and even fewer good ones, a used bookshop, a hair salon, some art galleries, a coffee shop, and my little cafe/market.  So when Daniel and I decide that a date is much needed, Guerneville's options for dining get tiresome very quickly.  Fortunately, just around the corner, tucked away on the other side of the Russian River is a fancy fancy hotel and restaurant, Applewood Inn, that just so happens to have a Michelin Star.

As one would expect, a Michelin Star in the touristy heart of the Russian River Valley means you can charge a whole lot for your dishes and your dining room will be bustling almost every night.  Good for them!  And lucky for us, they have a night for locals, showing Guerneville some love.  Every Sunday night Applewood offers a three course meal for $30, and corkage is waived if you bring a Russian River Valley wine.

Every week I check in on the menu that is posted online, and this past Sunday's looked superb.  Garden lettuces with chevre, pistachios and apples, followed by crispy duck confit with lentils and fennel salad?  This is a wine lovers dream meal, and oh we are wine lovers.

To drink with the duck, we had to bring Pinot Noir.  There are few pairings that are as classic and perfect as duck and Pinot Noir.  But which Pinot?  We decided upon Copain to get around paying corkage (even if it isn't Russian River fruit, they waive it for us - working in the industry has plenty of perks here).  But Copain has a number of Pinot Noirs, each bottle with its own personality.  We wanted something with more structure and body, a wine that could stand up to the flavorful and fatty duck.

We chose the 2009 Kiser "En Bas," one of Copain's single vineyard designate Pinots.  I've found all of Copain's Pinots to be lovely - very well balanced and exceptionally delicious - but the ones from the Kiser vineyard in Anderson Valley are particularly pretty.  Besides, we're running low on our stock, so we had to revisit this wine to decide if we wanted to purchase more.  The '09 "En Bas" needed to decant, so we sipped it slowly and let the flavors unravel over the course of a long meal.  Notes of ripe cherries, fig and raspberry mingle nicely with a soft woodiness and subtle warm spices.  Think clove and cinnamon and allspice.  This wine is a beautiful garnet color and is light on the palate, but has a density of robust flavors, which paired wonderfully with the huckleberry sauce that moistened the duck and flavored the lentils.  The bright fruitiness of the sauce contrasted the richness of the duck meat, and the wine captured all of those elements in one simple sip.

I took a picture of the duck confit, but honestly, their plating on this one was not that exciting nor pretty.  Best that you just imagine a gorgeous plate of duck and lentils and fennel and leave it at that.  They did much better with the salad course, which was fantastic and looked appetizing. 

Turns out we really like the '09 "En Bas" and probably should snatch a few more before the vintage sells out.  I'll add that to the to-do list.  And maybe you should too. 

Waste not.

Last week at my little farmer's market, I spied Daniel's favorite - bunches of heirloom carrots in all their multi-colored, tangled glory.  If you look at them in just the right way, you'll find they have legs and arms and thank goodness they are rubberbanded together because they might just get up and walk right out of your tote.  I've been told that their gnarliness is an indication that growing conditions weren't quite right, but I think they're fabulous.  They are roots after all.  I snatch up a few bunches and hold tight, happily squirreling them home.  With a simple splash of olive oil, salt and pepper, they're into a hot oven to become the silkiest, sweetest, most gorgeous side dish ever.  Roasted carrots are outrageously easy and make Daniel extremely happy - we're all winners here.

But what to do with those intimidating, guilt inducing carrot tops?  I've heard of carrot top soup, but that sounds rather blegh.  And sure, you can add them to chicken stock and it's great!  I was roasting a chicken that day and should have used the carcass for stock, but I already have two very large jars of homemade stock in my freezer that haven't moved in months.  I take that back, they moved from my last freezer to my new one, despite Daniel's insistence that we need not move frozen jars of stuff we don't use.  But we might!  Just wait until soup season starts!

So what to do with those carrot tops that I just can't throw out because because because?  I decided to do with them what I do with any extra herb or green I have lying around, begging to be made into something more delicious.  Pesto!  Whirred up with some good olive oil, lemon juice, garlic, and a healthy handful of walnuts, the carrot tops transformed into something earthy, grassy, and rich.  The walnuts added a gentle toasty depth and thickened the pesto nicely.  Originally I was planning on using it to dress my roast chicken, but upon tasting it I decided that it needed something fattier - bread and cheese.  Thus another dinner was born - carrot top pesto pizza with radicchio, roasted summer squash, garlic blossoms and feta.  Slow roasted tomatoes rounded out the meal, which was made complete with a few glasses of Copain's 2010 Tous Ensemble Pinot Noir, our house red.  We're extremely spoiled, that gem of a wine is just so so good and we have so so much of it!

CARROT TOP PESTO

carrot tops
a good glug of good olive oil
salt and pepper
garlic cloves, crushed
lemon juice
a handful of toasted walnuts

Combine all ingredients in a food processor and blend until a smooth pesto forms, adding olive oil as needed and seasoning to taste.  The carrot tops are a little stemmy, so they take a while to puree.  

Use like any pesto - with pasta, pizza, cheeses, crudites.  

Beginnings

It's September.  Autumn.

Anytime the seasons begin to change, I feel inspired by the newness of it all.  The fresh colors, smells.  Ideas take root and grow; some flourish, others wither, tired and forgotten.  As is with any whisper of seasonal life, which can't survive the full year.

In the spirit of beginnings and innovation and an escape from that stagnant feeling that lingers after a hot and sweaty summer, I've decided to venture out yet again in this blogging word world to entertain all of you with my musings on food, drink, and fun.  Hopefully I won't be bored with it by the time winter sneaks in.  The idea isn't novel, to say the least, but I was encouraged to step it up a notch when the boy (DS) sheepishly admitted to pairing his movies with his meals.  Nerdy?  Totally.  But super awesome as well?  Definitely.  Thus, I thought about recording our adventures in the perfect pairings.  What is more exciting than celebrating things that belong together?  Given our combined talents in the kitchen and behind the bar, and our devotion to the finest things in life, this will be a delight.

And so, for my premier post I've decided to bid farewell to a blissful summer and welcome fall with open arms.

Fork.  The farmer's market in my neighborhood in Brooklyn is always bustling on Sunday mornings.  I need to get my tired ass out of bed earlier to snatch up the last of the season tomatoes and beat the crowds to my favorite salad greens.  I always have to work at noon, so sometimes the rushing stresses me out and I end up making impulsive decisions and spending way too much money.  This past Sunday was no different, and although I missed out on my prized cherry tomatoes, I scored big with long beans.  Long beans?  These things look funny.  Aquatic even.  I had to buy them.

I'm not a LOVER of green beans.  Fresh, they are sweet and satisfying, but too often they turn into a forgettable mush.  Long beans are similar in flavor, but a bit more subtle.  Fun facts: they are also known as snake beans, are a variety of the cowpea, and are great sources of all sorts of good nutrition.  Thanks wikipedia!  Though typically used in Asian dishes, I decided to sing of summer and went for a bright and colorful bean salad.  When served with grilled chicken and roasted tomatoes, it made for a tasty meal.

SO LONG SUMMER SALAD

long beans, corn, olives, lemon, dill

Vinaigrette
3 lemons, juice and zest
3 tbsp white wine vinegar
1/3 cup olive oil
2 tbsp honey
2 tbsp chopped red onion
1 heaping tbsp mustard
lots and lots of dill
salt and pepper to taste

Mix all ingredients together.  I used my immersion blender for faster emulsification, but a whisk will do just fine.

Salad
long beans
green beans
corn
kalamata olives
cheese*

After blanching the beans and chopping them into bite-size pieces, combine with cooked corn, chopped olives and cheese.  *I wanted to use feta, but didn't have any at home, so instead went for the nutty, butterscotchy Roomano, a super aged gouda.  It worked very nicely with the salty olives and the citrusy dressing.  Pour vinaigrette over and mix thoroughly.  Garnish with more dill. 

Glass.  I can't help it, I love those light, fruity red wines.  With a slight chill, they become refreshing and vibrant.  To pair with the brightness of this summer salad, we decided to drink a 2009 wine from Passetoutgrain, Burgundy from the producer, Fontaine-Gagnard.  Sometimes hyphenated (Passe-Tout-Grains), this appellation is unique in that all PTG wines must be blended.  For reds, that means a mixture of Pinot Noir and Gamay.  This particular domaine, run by Richard Fontaine, focuses on traditional methods to produce a smooth and structured wine, which whispers of ripe cherry and plum, thyme, lavender.  Casual drinking perhaps, but certainly thoughtful and intriguing.

Play.  End of summer.  What better way to celebrate the transition into colder, less friendly weather than with the final match of the U.S. Open?  I'm a sucker for sporting events of most kinds (not golf), and especially love ones that involve international rivalries and beg you to look your finest when in the stands.  Last night was the ultimate match between a previously unrivaled Rafael Nadal and newcomer hotshot, Novik Djokovic.  What tennis!  What strength!  What speed!  The whole match was a shocking display of ability, deftness, and athleticism.  Truly incredible and altogether impressive.  When everyone in the room ooos and aaahs and gasps with disbelief, you know you're witnessing something outstanding. 

VICTORY

Although my step-brother and I were quietly rooting the win for Djokovic, we were vocal in our support of Nadal, hoping for a long and hard match.  He rallied in the third set, but was dominated in the end.   Check out the highlights, thank you YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EHF9z0v9Y0Y

Alas, another season over.   New beginnings.