Entries tagged with ‘foodporn’:

Two wines from Michelle

This weekend, Katie’s friends from Oakland ame over for dinner. They brought the wine, and I cooked. I realize that I’m not really good at this whole “food porn” thing (since I totally forgot to take pictures… some photographer I am!), so describing it will have to suffice. The menu was as follows:

• A simple butter lettuce salad with goat cheese, toasted walnuts, red grapes, and a champagne vinaigrette
• Grilled rib-eye steak with a cabernet and wild mushroom reduction
• Roughly mashed fingerling potatoes with fresh rosemary and dill from the garden
• Sweet white corn on the cob

There were plans for dessert to be fresh berries from the market drizzled with honey and served atop vanilla ice cream… but that just didn’t happen.

The wine Michelle brought was great though:

Benziger 2004 “Oonapais” Sonoma Mountain Red

I really liked this wine. A couple of things before the tasting… First, I’m very intrigued by the whole biodynamic thing that Benziger is doing… it’s pretty far out stuff.

Secondly, the packaging of these wines was done very nicely. From the recycled textured paper used for the label, to the printing on the cork, their designer is paying attention to detail and doing a really good job.

Anyway… on to the wine… This is a really big, full-bodied wine. Some nice soft hints of blackberry and cassis up front, then lots and lots of asian spice, black pepper, white pepper, and bell pepper—it is seriouslyspicy! A nice long finish rounds out a really lovely wine. Very nice.

(Cork'd Review: 91.0/100)

Ledson 2005 Monterey Orange Muscat

This was also a really nice effort. Not too sweet, but still thick and viscous, with hints of melon and honey. A surprising amount of structure, and a really interesting velvety finish. Just outstanding.

According to Michelle, this was the saving grace of her tasting there. Everything else was pretty “eh”, while this one rocked the house.

(Cork'd Review: 91.0/100)

Brassfield Estate 2005 Pinot Grigio and Grilled Ahi Tuna

I based this from a recipe in the May 2007’s “Cooking Light”. A (barely) grilled Ahi steak with a white bean and onion salad. With summer on it’s way, I paired it with Brassfield Estate’s 2005 “High Serenity Ranch” Pinot Grigio.

It’s a very simple wine, but that said, it’s also extremely drinkable. On the palate there are nice flavors of apple and just a hint of butter, and a nice bit of lemon in the finish rounds it out. Simple and nicely done, even if it doesn’t quite knock it out of the park.

(Cork'd Review: 88.0/100)

Pure Love Wines 2005 Layer Cake

I have to say, after all the hype surrounding this wine, I came away pretty unimpressed… It’s just too much for me… Too sweet upfront on the palate (kind of an artificial blueberry thing), kind of an awkward sour, flabby mid-palate, and then finally way too much alcohol in the finish.

Really not my cup of tea.

I paired this with a red pepper marinara I had made, and that was a pretty bad match. Outside of something crazy sweet like BBQ, I‘d be hard pressed on what to have with it.

(Cork'd Review: 85.0/100)

2005 Artezin with Pork Tenderloin and Bourbon Soaked Apples

This wine was just OK for me. I recall liking the 2004 quite a bit more. Upfront, it's quite fruity and (almost artificially) sweet… mainly super ripe cherry, followed by some nutty-mocha and pepper flavors. It's not bad, but for the $20+, I think it's a bit overpriced.

I paired it with a nice pork tenderloin, with polenta, peas, and some lovely green apples soaked in bourbon and sautéed.

The meal totally trumped the wine.

(Cork'd Review: 87.0/100)

Ray’s Station 2004 Cabernet Sauvignon

So, if you read the little bit on the back of the bottle it talks about a sea captain who opened a “rough around the edges” tavern in the late 1800’s, and how this “broad shouldered” wine is named after him.

Now, not to be mean here, but I’ve got to say that this is the most pansy-assed wine I’ve had in a long time. Don’t get me wrong, it’s not bad… but, seriously, this wine is about as machismo as a kitten napping in a flowerbed filled with pink flowers. “Rough” is not a term I would ever use when describing this wine.

At any rate, it’s a total “new world” wine, so up front there’s tons of super ripe jammy-berry flavors (this is a cabernet?), a bit of a flabby mid-palate, a hint of green pepper, and a heavy oaked finish. Given that bleak description it sounds like I should be totally panning the wine… but there’s something that’s “just enough” working for it—something in it is right, and made it quite drinkable.

I paired it with a nice grilled tri-tip, some roasted new red potatoes, and fresh steamed broccoli.

(Cork'd Review: 86.0/100)

Puerco Pibil

So, last week I ran across a video on digg from Robert Rodriguez that I apparently was on the Once Upon a Time in Mexico DVD. It basically consists of Rodriguez showing how to cook Puerco Pibil (pork butt in Red Achiote Paste). How’s that for being viral: something actually useful!

I like Rodriguez, I like cooking, and mostly, I like pork. I could never, ever be kosher.

As the weekend rolled around and I was getting ready to go shopping, I had this recipe floating around in my head. So, I figured I’d give it a try (and let's be honest here… who doesn’t love cooking pig in banana leaves?).

I slightly altered the recipe he uses… I toasted all the spices before grinding them (I’ve actually been doing this a lot more lately), and also using a fresh orange rather than juice.

Given that I’ve never actually had Pibil before, it’s hard to say if I did it any justice… but whatever I made, it was goddamned tasty.

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