Wine Paired Dinner in the Barrel Room at Leonesse Cellars

I love pairing the wines of Leonesse Cellars with our menu's.
Tim Kramer is the wine maker at Leonesse, who has consecutively scored in Connoisseurs' Guide to California Wine- 90 points for the Cab Franc/Merlot; 91 for the 05 Merlot Signature Selection and 89 for the 06 Melange de Reves- 'my favorite'!!

So faced with the task of creating a menu for the first ever,
'wine club dinner' made public (by popular demand),
Chef Daragh and I have come up with the following little morsels... we hope to see you tasting, biting and sipping in attendance!

Dinner To Commence, October 24th, 2009

First Course
Garlic Viognier Prawns over Garlic French Bread
Paired with 2008 Viognier

Second Course
Game Terrine
Paired with 2005 Signature Selection Series Merlot

Third Course
Petite Boeuf Wellington with Dauphine Potatoes & French Creamed Spinach
Paired with 2006 Signature Selection Series Merlot

Fourth Course
Golden Beet & Brandy Wine Tomato Sorbet
Paired with 2006 Vineyard Selection Series Syrah

Fifth Course
Harvest Fruit Soup in a Brandy Snap Bowl with Whipped Mascarpone
Paired with 2005 Cinsaut Dessert Wine

To Purchase Tickets, Please Contact:
The Beautiful & Talented Jasmine Gioia at
jasmine@tvwinerymanagement.com

Yours in Food,
Chef Leah & Daragh

Papa Pomodoro Soup, Just in Time for Fall!

Fall is in the air... and this is my favorite season for soup!
I love papa pomodoro, which I made at the Bistro over the weekend. We sold out, mostly because our staff kept sneaking bites. This is a classic Tuscan dish made with bread and meant to achieve a thick silky porridge texture... it is total comfort food! Papa pomodoro is super low in fat, high in Lycopene, a known cancer fighting agent, and is also a top TEN antioxidant fruit. Yes, tomatoes are a fruit, not a vegetable, so get cooking and get fruity my little foodies!

Ingredients for Papa Pomodoro

nocoupons

• 1/2 cup good olive oil
• 2 cups chopped sweet purple onion (2 onions)
• 1 cup medium chop carrots, unpeeled (3 carrots- I like the purple & yellow heirlooms)
  
• 1 fennel bulb, trimmed, cored, and medium-diced (1 1/2 cups)
• 4 cloves garlic sliced super thin
  
• 3 cups- of diced ciabatta bread (1 inch cubes)
  
• 3 (28-ounce) cans good Italian plum tomatoes
• 3 cups chicken stock- organic OR home-made!
  
• 1/2 cup good red wine - leonesse melange de reves is perfect for this!
  
• 1 cup fresh basil leaves- chiffonade (cut into long, thin strips)
• 1/2 cup of chopped flat leaf parsly
• 1 Tsp red chili flakes
  
• Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 1/2 cup freshly grated Pecorino Parmesan
  

For the topping:

nocoupons

• 2 cups cubed garlic buttered ciabatta
  
• 2 ounces thickly sliced pancetta, chopped (or not for you vegetarians)
  
• 12 whole fresh basil leaves- green or purple
  
• 3 tablespoons good olive oil, plus more for garnish
• 3 cloves garlic- (fry garlic in olive oil, to infuse it for soup garnish)
  
• Salt and pepper
• 
  

Directions

Slice ciabatta bread in half and lather with garlic butter, then sprinkle with pecorino cheese- cutting into 1 inch cubes- bake the 3 cups (that will go into our soup) at 375 for about 10 minutes- just shy of crispy. For the remaining 2 cups that will act as the garnish- bake until golden brown (like a crouton).

Blend tomatoes in blender or bowl of a food processor fitted with the steel blade and process just until coarsely chopped.

Heat the oil in a large stockpot over medium heat, add onions cooking over medium-low heat for 8 or so minutes, then garlic, red chili flacks, carrots & fennel. Cook for another 2-3 minutes, leaving the vegetables al dente'.

Add the tomatoes to the pot along with the chicken stock, red wine, basil, 1 tablespoon salt (or to taste), and 1 tsp of fresh ground pepper. Bring the soup to a boil, lower the heat, and add cubed- baked ciabatta, stirring as you go. Partially cover soup and allow to simmer for 30-40 minutes.

Meanwhile:

For the topping, place the pancetta and basil on a sheet pan large enough to hold them in a single layer. Drizzle with olive oil, sprinkle basil with salt and pepper (no S&P on pancetta- it is salty enough!) and toss well. Bake for 15 to 20 minutes, until all the ingredients are crisp. The basil leaves will turn dark and crisp, similar to above picture. This is perfectly fine, and super yummy!

Beat soup with a wire whisk until the bread is broken up. Stir in the Parmesan and taste for seasoning. Serve with a dollop of masarpone or creme fraiche, then sprinkle pancetta and garlic infused olive oil then add your whole crisp basil leaf to the top with ciabatta cube.

This soup is great the next day too. Just add veggie or chicken stock to loosen up a bit, as it will thicken up.

Bon Appetite,

Ms. Delyte

Life if a bowl of stinky cherries

Life is a Bowl of Cherries, and we most definitely sometimes get the pits. It just sucks when you bite down hard and lose all your teeth.

This is how I summarize my life these days, and many others I know. It seems like it's raining pits. Big hard, smelly, hurt your teeth, pits. Of course when something is bothering me, I refer to it as being smelly.. as a chef- that equates to bad news. I could get on the Julie Powell train and start using such profanity as the 'F' word, but then my daughter would pinch me and my (Italian/New yorker) mother- who reads my blog- would smack me into tomorrow. So I'll stick to smelly and stinky... then I can say, "What the stink is going on", Who the smell platted this dish". In our current stress induced environment, keeping things light is important.

So what do you do when you find out your sister was recently diagnosed with stage 2 breast cancer. If your me, you fall to pieces (thank you patsy). Then you jump on the computer & research diets. So I did just that, finding a lot of the obvious- eating a good clean diet of fresh foods. I get that, but what I don't get is why most postings and sites did not refer to the many benefits of eating foods that are organic, local and free of BST, Hormones, GMO's Pesticides etc.

I think the whole thing is stinky.. from Jo Jo having The Big C- to all the bullshit politics within our food system. When Richard Berman (Washington, D.C. based lobbying Co) has an opinion about organic foods and the documentary 'Food Inc', we better start looking at our blueberries a bit closer, as they may just stab you in the back. I don't know about you, but having to inspect every damn thing that goes into my yap, is a pain in the caboose. Yet we are forced to do just that, at least if we want to stay healthy and eat a diet that is not laden with artificial sludge.

Am I making you hungry yet.. HA!

Sorry.. but I think we all need to be a bit more comfortable speaking about our current food system, and exactly what it is we are buying/biting into. I see so many people avert their eyes, or become suddenly faint (woosie) when this subject matter is brought up. At least good, clean organic food doesn't stink! That's a start!

When someone you love is ill, and you want so desperately to help them, you start a journey that I think few are truly prepared for. My food journey is truly just beginning- so watch out, close your eyes and plug your ears.. I have a lot to say about the STINK.

Yours in Food....
Ms. Leah Delyte