Sweet Potato Sabotage

I had my first cooking failure. Now usually I treat cooking like abstract art—turning mistakes into masterpieces, leaving nothing unsalvageable, but this was pretty unsalvageable. Consisting of pork chops, sauteed spinach, and sweet potato latkes, all drizzled with a sherry and garlic reduction, my envisioned meal sounded delicious. Paired with a bottle of 2008 Eos Estate Private Reserve Chardonnay, my veins pumped with anticipation.

Finding a recipe out of How to Cook Everything by Mark Bittman for Sauteed Pork Chops 8 ways (http://www.howtocookeverything.tv/recipe.php%3Fnid=68.html) , I wasn’t really concerned with the pork chops falling flat. This recipe is straight forward and easy to follow. (The link above, does not include the sherry and garlic sauce, but in step three, instead of adding butter, add 1 table spoon of garlic, and a 1/2 cup of not-to-dry sherry—I used cream sherry. Let the sauce reduce until it reaches a syrupy consistency and add the parsley, olive oil, and lemon juice.)

Then came the Sweet Potato Latkes. Now I’ve said multiple times, that when it comes to online recipes, make sure you use the ones that have high ratings, and good reviews. Not taking my own advice, I found this shady website: http://bullets-and-beer.com/recipes/SweetPotato.html. With a simple layout, no room for comments or reviews, and a sweet potato pancake recipe, followed by a sweet potato latke recipe, I really don’t know what I was thinking. But I read over the recipe, and it sounded simple enough, so I didn’t give it a second thought.

Luckily my smoke detector is hiding, because man was I producing a lot of smoke. Browning pork chops on the stove top requires hot oil and a hot pan. Once the chops were down, the kitchen was flooded with sizzling, searing, and smoking. Keeping my cool, I tried to be patient with the chops, allowing them to brown, which keeps all of those valuable juices inside, but in the back of my mind, thoughts of fire trucks zipping to my building looped indefinitely. Living in a high rise, its hard not to feel like big brother is watching some times.

Once the chops were set to simmer, I moved on to the sweet potatoes. Preparing everything ahead of time, all I had to do was take the potato mixture out of the fridge and begin frying. Now here is where things started to go awry. After heating some vegetable oil in a skillet I started with two small latkes. Giving them some time to brown, I went ahead and tried to flip them, but guess what, they fell apart in the pan. So scrapping the first round, I thought about what to do with the rest of the mixture. I asked Michael if adding some more flour, or another egg would help keep the mixture hold together better, and after a bit of research we decided that an egg might do the trick.

While mixing the egg, I turned to the skillet, only to notice yet more smoke, billowing out of the left over bits of sweet potato in the pan. Yanking the pan off the heat, the fire trucks started screaming in my head again, but I took a deep breathe and continued on. After cleaning out the pan, I heated some more oil, and placed one latke in the skillet. Noticing some brown edges I crossed my fingers, and went to flip. Success (although short lived). With the residual oil left in the skillet flaked with darkening bits of sweet potato I was faced with a dilemma. Should I spend time starting with fresh oil for every latke, or should I try to cook the sweet potato mixture into hash browns? With the pork chops almost done, I opted for the hash, only to discover that with out frying, the amount of lemon juice made the potatoes taste like pine-sol. Fed up with the ordeal, I popped a fresh sweet potato in the microwave, and sent the hash to the trash.

With the reduction sauce coming together beautifully, and the spinach perfectly sauteed, I shook off the sabotaging sweet potatoes, and plated as I had envisioned, sans the latkes. Pouring a glass of wine, I was ready to relax and enjoy.

Swirling the greenish-gold Chardonnay, I noticed the legs coat the glass like corn syrup, indicative of the very high alcohol content. Lowering my nose to smell, I was met with light floral aromas with an underlying warmth of caramel and citrus. Coating every crevasse of my mouth, the wine lay heavy on my palate with an oaky presence, but did not lack in acidity. Taking my first swallow, I wasn’t left with a lingering bitterness, but a soft finish with a slight caramel overtone.

Diving into the chop, I stabbed a good hunk of pork coated with the reduction, and some spinach. Presenting my palate with a flavor over load, the reduction was sweet and salty, while the pork provided a base, and the spinach some bitterness. Having the added freshness from the sweet potato provided a contrasting spectrum of flavors, and helped the pork avoid monotony. While it probably would have been better with the latkes, the sweet potato served its purpose, and was healthier than the oil soaked alternative.

Completing the tasting, I took another mouthful of wine. With caramelly features, the wine was able to bring out the layers of flavor in the reduction, while standing up to the fattiness of the meat. Bringing out the lighter floral overtones, the sweet potato enhanced the Chardonnay with its contrasting flavors. Leaving me with an overall warmth and comfort, the kitchen catastrophe was soon just a memory.

I’ll probably try sweet potato laktes again in the future, but the task will not be done without trepidation. But with so many recipes out there, there is bound to be a better one. Any suggestions? All in all, the meal ended with ease, and was yet another perfect pair.

Meaty, Meaty Meatloaf

Meatloaf and 2006 Oxford Landing Cabernet and Shriaz Blend: 4/5

American classics—grilled cheese, green bean casserole, pot roast, apple pie. Recipes that came from cupboards and freezers, combinations of miscellaneous odds and ends in a post depression America. In my mind, one recipe screams classic more than any other, a simple combination of ground meat, bread crumbs, some seasoning, and usually ketchup—meatloaf.

Meatloaf, as with many classic american comfort food recipes, is a product of the middle class. Nothing in the dish is rare, exotic, or hard to find. No ingredients are too expensive, and it is able to feed a family of four with some left over. But, classic recipes, usually are lacking in flavor.

Growing up we only had meatloaf a hand full of times. I don’t know if it was my mom’s recipe, or my dad’s distaste for ketchup, but no one really cared for the gelatinous brown mass, blood red, from its tomatoey bath.

But after receiving a call from Michael telling me he got an invitation to go see the Flaming Lips, I wasn’t feeling very motivated to go to the grocery store to make something for myself. So I opened the fridge, the pantry, then the freezer, and then Mark Bittman’s How to Cook Everything, which is now on my christmas list. With a pound of ground beef in the fridge, along with some veggies, ground venison in the freezer, and panko in the pantry, it was looking like meatloaf was for dinner. http://springpadit.com/ketherian/recipe/bittmansmeatloaf

Of all the meatloafs I’ve had in my life, none have included fresh herbs or minced carrot, and they all were basted in ketchup, so I was a little anxious to taste the final product of this recipe. Would it be better than mom’s? To spice mine up a bit, I added some Worcestershire sauce, some various spices from my cupboard, and what they hey, I had it my fridge, so I minced a rib of celery as well.

For you vegetarians out there, meatloaf is not the prettiest thing to watch while it is cooking. As the outside browns, fat is cooked out of the loaf, seeping onto the baking dish, some coagulating around the meat. Maybe that’s why my mom didn’t like to cook meat loaf. While you can cook meat loaf in a loaf pan, it retains it shape, so you can also make a loaf shape on a baking dish, which is what I did.

Since there was no shopping involved in this recipe, I was left pairing with a wine from my collection. I knew I wanted a red wine. Although the ground beef and venison I used were lean, they were still red meat, and were going to need some tannin to cut through all that meatiness. Now a heavier bodied merlot or a cabernet, would probably outweigh the herbs and spices in the meatloaf, and unfortunately most of my red collection is just that. But, continuing my search, I found something promising.

A blend of Cabernet and Shiraz, the 2006 Oxford Landing blend from south Australia, could fit the bill, not the most expensive wine, but I wasn’t making the most expensive meal, so it seemed perfect. With a description of blackberry and plum, and an alcohol content of 13.5%, the blend would have the perfect body to pair with the lean red meat.

To accompany the meatloaf, I decided on a baked sweet potato and some veggies. For those of you who have not had a baked sweet potato, I strongly suggest giving it a shot. In my opinion, sweet potatoes just have more flavor than traditional russets, while still lending themselves to a variety of toppings. While I like mine with sour cream or butter, you can also top them with brown sugar, cinnamon, candied walnuts, or even maple syrup, perfect to warm you up in the winter. Sweet potatoes are also healthier for you. Lower in empty starches, high in beta carotene, vitamin A, C, and B6, its something you can feel good about eating.

As the loaf made its way out of the oven, sweet smells of parsley, onion, and celery swept the space around me. On multiple occasions now, Michael and I’s neighbors have stopped us on the way to the elevator, and asked if we were the ones doing all of the good smelling cooking. What can I say? I am thinking of buying a dry erase board for our door and post the evening’s pairing.

Staring at the mass of meat, I studied the specks of green and orange. It just looked better than my mom’s. Worried that the loaf would crumble under the weight of my knife I started my first slice. To my surprise everything held together, and was cooked completely through. Examining the cross section, the various specks of other ingredients were perfectly suspended throughout the loaf like little flavor pockets waiting to be popped.

Swirling and sniffing, the wine smelled very oaky and acidic, but after a second swirl I could pick out some blackberry notes. Having aged a couple of years, the wine was darker in color, and had noticeable legs, but did not coat the glass like syrup. Upon first taste, I was over powered by the strong acidity, burning my throat on the way down. I began to worry that the meatloaf didn’t stand a chance.

Segmenting a small bite, I brought the meatloaf to my mouth. I was overpowered by the rich herby flavor of the parsley, with fresh compliments of carrot and celery. Even with wine on my palate the bold zest of the meatloaf was able to withstand the acidity of the wine. With the sweet flavor of the sweet potato, and the cruchiness of steamed veggies, I was in a 1950s dining room, complete with mom in pearls.

As I sat alone at my dining room table, I made the realization that food is best when shared. Not only is it the wine and food being paired, it’s also the company. But solitude aside, it was a perfect pair.

Three's Company

Baked Macaroni and Cheese with 2007 Ménage à trois Chardonnay: 4/5

When looking for a quick dinner, I strongly urge you not to grab a box, or a package, or something you will have regretted ingesting the moment you have finished. When looking for a quick dinner, a delicious meal can be whipped up in a few short minutes.

Since I had gone to see Up in the Air, with Rachel, by the time we were finished hanging out it was dinner time. Conveniently, directly across the street from the movie theater was a Dominick’s. So, without looking for a recipe, I decided to enter the store and see what spoke to me.

With quarter sized snow flakes falling from the sky like marshmallows, I was reminded of childhood. The days where mom would not have time to prepare an extravagant meal, yet despite raising two boys, going to school, and working, she was able to whip up something that we could share for dinner.

Many of you, when thinking of mac and cheese, would automatically picture the blue box. And while I am not saying that there was never a blue box meal in our house growing up, there was also something more.

I’m talking about homemade macaroni and cheese, simple, yet some much better than than powdered cheese and orange food coloring found in the tinfoil paper package. There would be the nights where my mom would pull that giant casserole dish out of the oven, seeing the tension in her face from the weight, and I would know that what was in that dish was made with a million times more love than what could come out of any box.

So when walking through the grocery store, with the marshmallow snow flakes falling outside, I was craving my mom’s mac and cheese. But, as any good cook will attest, no matter how hard you try, yours is never going to be as good as mom’s. So with that in mind, I wanted to put my own spin on the dish.

When I got home I thumbed through Mark Bittman’s How to Cook Everything and found his Baked Macaroni and Cheese recipe, http://www.howtocookeverything.tv/recipe.php%3Fnid=27.html, and compared my ingredients. While Bittman described his rendition as macaroni and cheese for “grown-ups”, because of using Emmenthal and parmesan cheeses, I wanted more traditional flavors, with a twist, so I chose cheddar, jack, and ricotta.

Now the thing about ricotta, some people love it, some people hate it. It’s a texture thing. And texture, in my mind, is just as important as smell. Me, personally, I love the texture of ricotta. Michael, on the other hand, does not, but luckily he had not waited for me to make dinner, and wasn’t hungry for my mac and cheese anyways.

For those of you who are unfamiliar with ricotta, it’s the cheese most commonly used in lasagna. It has an almost gritty texture to it, and is used more for the body of a dish rather than the flavor.

While Bittman uses bread crumbs for his recipe, I took the opportunity to again try Panko (japanese bread crumbs), which tend to crisp up a bit more than the traditional crumbs. With the smooth creamy texture of the cheddar and noodles, the slight grittiness of the ricotta, and the crunchiness of the Panko, the textures in the dish were sure to shock my palate.

I have been waiting for an excuse to try the Ménage à trois Chardonnay. The Ménage à trois California Red was one of the first red wines that I was really impressed with. With its upfront fruitiness, medium body, and slight tannin, it was a party for my palate, and since then I have been waiting to try their white, and what better excuse, with three cheeses in my mac and cheese.

The Ménage à trois Chardonnay is described as having citrus aromas from Monterey, tropical flavors from Santa Barbara, and fine structure from Mendocino, a “true ménage à trois”. With an alcohol content of 13.5% the wine’s body would be able to handle the heavy, creamy, textures of the mac and cheese, while the fruitiness and oak would be able to enhance each bite.

After a quick bake, the mac and cheese came out of the oven nice and bubbly, sending the warm smell of cheese and pasta through our apartment. As I corked the bottle and poured a glass, I was immediately over taken with the strong citrus aroma of the wine. After a minute to settle, a fresh swirl led to some more tropical scents of papaya and mango.

The crispy Panko topping of the mac and cheese, as with my mother’s crouton topping, was my favorite part of the dish. In one bite, I was immediately transported to my child hood home, taking a break from homework to sit down with my family and enjoy this heart warming dish. Although I would have liked it more if I had picked up some ham or bacon to include, the simplicity did not become monotonous thanks to the panko and ricotta.

Together the wine and the mac and cheese were made for each other. The body of the Chardonnay was able to stand together with the weight of the dish, without over powering it. The fruitiness and stronger acidity was able to break through the fat from the cheese, while cleansing the palate for a fresh bite.

The thing about it, and this is why I am beginning to despise boxed and prepackaged food, is the whole recipe only took about a half an hour to make. I mean it’s basically boiling some water, melting some cheese, and baking for 15 minutes. So the next time you don’t think you have time to make a meal, just think about it for a moment, there may just be a perfect pair a half an hour away.

Warming Up During Winter

White Bean Soup and 2007 Gnarly Head Pinot Grigio: 5/5

With sub zero temperatures right around the corner I thought it was time for some savory soup. Now I didn’t want to spend all day slaving over a pot, doctoring, and seasoning, and stirring. I just wanted to sauté, simmer, and serve. And If there is anything that follows those guide lines it would be a crock pot recipe.

When Brian and Lucy came over to dinner the other night, they decided to let me borrow their little pot of gold, Mark Bittman’s How to Cook Everything. From how to chop an onion, to how to prepare an artichoke, this book has it all: an overwhelming amount of recipes, great side notes, picture instructions on preparation, and a section dedicated to knife handling.

So as I was thumbing through the book, I found the soup section, narrowed my search to something main-course worthy, and settled on white bean and ham hock soup. But wait, white beans, don’t beans usually have to be soaked over night? According to Mark Bittman’s experiments, the only difference that occurred from soaking the beans over night was a reduced cooking time of a half an hour. Although he recommends buying beans that have not started to shrivel, and that are uniform in color, he does not say its necessary to soak. So I was willing to give it a shot.

While Bittman’s book does have a side note in the soup section about vegetables that can be added to soups that won’t effect the flavor, I wanted to make sure that the vegetables I chose were good ones. So I did some research online and found a recipe from the latest winner of The Next Iron Chef, Jose Garces, http://www.foodandwine.com/recipes/white-bean-soup-with-bacon-and-herbs, which included celery, garlic, carrot, and for a little extra pork flavor, bacon.

Both Bittman and Garce’s recipes also said to prepare the soup on the stove, and seeing as I had to get to a magazine release party, I wanted to make the soup in the crock pot. So I decided to do a little modifying. 3 hours before I wanted the soup to be ready, I started preparing the ingredients. After sauteing the bacon and cooking the veggies in the bacon grease, I brought the beans, chicken stock, ham hock, and veggies, to a boil. Once to a boil I transfered everything to the crock pot and cooked on high until the ready to serve 3 hours later.

Based on the consistency of the soup, the lighter flavors of the chicken stock, and vegetables, I thought that a white wine would be the appropriate accompaniment. While a Riesling or Sauvignon Blanc, might have held up to the earthiness of the soup, I think the floral and melon like qualities would have been to light to really awaken the flavors in the dish. Now a Chardonnay or Pinot Grigio, with their heavier bodies, oaky undertones, and rich fruit flavors, would definitely prove an equal match for the soup. But what to choose.

Now when at a liquor or wine store that offers a large selection of wines to choose from, I try not to let the marketing of the wine get in the way, but I have to tell you, I am a sucker for a funny, evocative, or shiny label. So my rule is, when at the grocery store, letting my inner child choose a wine is just fine, as long it is going to pair well with the food.

So as I was meandering by the Pinot Grigio, an interesting graphic caught my eye. A semi impressionistic illustration of a grape vine with a vibrant background of oranges and reds called to me. Stopping to look at the bottle, a 2007 Gnarly Head Pinot Grigio from California, I was amused by the description, soaked in surfing simile. The wine offered flavors of ginger, pineapple, pears, and apples with a finish that “kicked out” with style and grace.

I was sold.

When it came time to eat, Michael was entrenched in the television, watching his beloved show, soon to be off the air, Dollhouse. And while I usually detest the television blaring during dinner, I decided to show a little compassion.

I ladled two servings from the pot, topped each with crispy bacon and a sprinkling of freshly chopped parsley. To soak up the left over soupy goodness, I had popped some garlic bread into the oven, which was now ready, sending tendrils of garlic butter through the kitchen.

As we sat, I corked the bottle and poured two healthy glasses of wine, admiring the symmetry of the table. Immediately my nose was blasted with the strong aromas of pear and ginger, with the subtly apple in the background. The wine’s body was a nice medium, with a presence that could be felt, but did not leave your throat burning without something to pair it with.

Although Mark Bittman’s recipe suggested blending our pureeing the soup, I decided to go with Garces recipe and leave everything whole. I like the flavors in my soup to be distinct and recognizable, instead of overly melded together.

With the freshness of the parsley, the earthiness of the beans, and the smoky flavors of the bacon and ham hock, the soup washed over my palate like a fleece glove on a sub zero day. The contrasting flavors were able to provide amazing depth to the soup, while maintaining the cohesive feeling that the ingredients just took a bath together for the last three hours. The beans were cooked beautifully, melting like butter in my mouth. I don’t know if I will ever soak a bean again.

Together, the wine was able to cleanse the palate, while adding a fruity note to the over all effect of the dish. The smooth finish was able to cool my throat allowing for a fresh warm swallow of soup every time, something we wouldn’t have gotten with red wine.