Lovers’ Steak with Dante Rivetti Bricco de Neueis Riserva 1996

When the Globe and Mail published Lucy Waverman’s recipe for Lovers’ Steak last week, Michèle and I independently had the same reaction: here’s our Valentine’s Dinner. Lucy has become one of our favourite food writers; her recipes are straightforward and we haven’t been disappointed in any one of them.

Lovers’ Steak is a New York Sirloin – your butcher may know it better as a strip loin steak – that’s marinated for one hour in olive oil, chopped garlic, grainy Dijon mustard, Worcestershire sauce, sambal oelek, and chopped fresh rosemary. The steak is pan seared and then oven roasted. It’s accompanied by a sauce made with cherry tomatoes, chopped onion, thinly sliced garlic, slivered King mushrooms, and beef stock.

Lucy’s recipe included Potato Confit, so we made that as well. The recipe is simple and quick, so something perfect for a Monday night and an unproven chef (that's him over there on the right).

Michèle assumed the role of both prep chef and executive chef, making sure that the meat wasn’t overdone. She has an uncanny sense of when meat is done. For us, 5 minutes in the oven (instead of the 8 to 12 minutes in the recipe) was enough for medium rare.

Our Lovers’ Steak turned out beautifully (you have to go elsewhere today for modesty) with wonderfully integrated flavours where each ingredient plays a role in the ensemble, but nobody hogs the stage. The sambal oelek adds just the right bite.

For the wine, I chose Dante Rivetti Bricco de Neueis Riserva 1996, DOCG Barbaresco, 14% ABV. We’re becoming bigger fans of the Nebbiolo grape and this bottle shows us why. The appearance of the wine is identical to an aged Burgundy, ruby with notable brick tones. Aromas of red cherry and other red fruits, plum, dried herbs, floral (violet, I think…maybe roses), liquorice, and tar. The high acidity is tart at first; surprisingly austere but softens a bit as the wine has time to open up. Cherry and minerality dominate on the taste. Good drying tannic structure as well. Impressive length. Definitely a food wine. Where the wine seemed austere on its own, the flavours, tannins and acidity all matched up perfectly with the steak and its accompanying sauce. Nebbiolo often demands cellaring and patience. Boy, does it pay off. And yes, 1996 is the year we got married.  ♥☺

For dessert, Michèle made another one of Lucy’s recipes: Chocolate Soufflé with Orange Cream. Another winner!

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A Little Daube’ll Do Ya

For us, wintertime means more full-bodied food, full-bodied wines.

When I was growing up, my mother made a mean beef stew. It was one of my favourite meals and my fondness for hearty dishes with braised meats hasn’t diminished. It defines comfort food.

I recently came across a recipe from Wine Spectator for “La Daube de Boeuf” that fits my definition of comfort food. This particular recipe is from the Bordeaux region but you can find “daube” recipes throughout the regions of France. It’s simple to make (hey, I did it!), fast, and delicious.

I made a couple of changes from the recipe. First, the recipe calls for “press wine”, a wine made from squeezing the pomace (skins, stems, seeds, pulp, spent yeast) in a press. Its tannins, even astringency, make it a wine perhaps better suited for cooking than quaffing. As far as I know, press wine is impossible to find here but, as the recipe mentions, any full-bodied wine will do. However, the key characteristic of press wine is tannins, so I’d recommend going to Vintages and picking up a Madiran, Mourvèdre, or Pinotage. I didn’t have time to head to Vintages, so I picked up an inexpensive Minervois from my local LCBO outlet.

Second, I added some “herbes de Provence”, which adds a bit more oomph to a recipe that seemed bland to me.

The recipe suggested that this dish is better as a leftover, so I made it a day ahead of time, stored half in the fridge and froze the other half. With two servings, we matched two different wines: once staying true to the recipe's origin with a Left-Bank Bordeaux (so Cabernet Sauvignon was the dominant Varietal) and once with a Syrah-Grenache-Mourvèdre blend from Languedoc. The flavours of the dish are so integrated and mellowed out that both wines really shone.  But I give the edge to the Languedocien.

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Takin' It Slow

We try to make the most of summer: lots of golf, every dinner out on the patio with cooking on the grill, all weather permitting. Like most couples I know, the grill is the domain of the man of the house (yes, another of Dave’s domains)…well, OK, the prep is Michèle’s job but the grill is mine.

Most of our grill cooking is fast and furious. High heat, quick results. But I’ve wanted to try some more slow cooking out there. When I saw David Lee’s recipe for slow-cooked honey-garlic-rosemary ribs in the Globe last month, I knew I had my first full effort, including all the prep. The bonus is that Chef Lee (David Lee…you have to like that name) made the recipe grill-friendly.

The good news? Ribs are one of those foods that are quite awful if not cooked properly. But when cooked well, they are wonderful. These ribs were real...and they were [almost] spectacular.

But I can still do better. For us, the recipe needed more garlic. And salt and pepper. (I still don't have enough experience as a cook that I automatically add salt and pepper. You must tell me this stuff.) I had a lot of trouble getting the apple wood chips to smoke sufficiently using a smoker box, but I got that figured out now. Just make sure you get the smoker box right on top of the flame source to get it smokin’. And you won't need four cups of wood chips.  Temperature is important for slow-cooking, so use a thermometer inside the grill; don’t rely on the temperature on the lid of the grill. (My lid thermometer showed a temperature that was a good 50 degrees higher than the reading inside the grill.)  It's easy to check the temperature when you turn the ribs every 20 minutes, and adjust as necessary. 

The other great thing about slow-cooking is that it’s a wonderful way to while away an afternoon. Cooking these ribs takes about 3 ½ hours, turning the ribs every 20 minutes. So puttering around the patio, catching up on my reading, it’s very relaxed. I’m hooked.

For the wine, I chose a Zinfandel, which I love with ribs. Black cherry and raspberry, cassis, bit of pepper and some chocolate. 15.5% ABV! But you’ve a few more options from the family of full-bodied reds: Tempranillo & Malbec (both Spain and Argentina have a culture of slow-cooked and grilled meat), Sangiovese, Syrah…these are all good choices. And with the rosemary in this recipe, you can go with something from Languedoc.

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Peppered Lamb Loins with a Garlic & Dark Chocolate Sauce with Barossa Shiraz

Lamb is the traditional Easter dinner in our house. No exception this year. How about combining 2 Easter classics: lamb and chocolate? Michèle found a brilliant recipe in Food & Drink, the LCBO magazine: Peppered Lamb Loins with a Garlic & Dark Chocolate Sauce. I know…a garlic and chocolate sauce with lamb?! The recipe comes from Jennifer McLagan, whose book, FAT: An Appreciation of a Misunderstood Ingredient, got good buzz last year. Jennifer has a website and a blog that I’m going to check out more often.

The peppercorns are a great accompaniment to the lamb, like a pepper-steak. No doubt, the sauce was a very pleasant surprise: adding the dark chocolate makes for a rich sauce that mellows out the garlic and the peppercorns. Michèle served the main with a carrot-ginger purée and kale.

For the sommelier, what really made this dish even better was the wine. I hesitated between two Aussie varietals…Grenache or Shiraz. I went for a Barossa old vine Shiraz, aged in American oak. The wine had a port-like character: aromas and flavours of black cherry, prune, sweet spice (cinnamon), chocolate, and pepper. Well-integrated tannins. Normally, I wouldn’t describe this fruit-forward, full-bodied wine as food-friendly. But in this case, the wine’s flavours matched up extremely well with the chocolate sauce, which softened the wine’s tannins. I think that an Australian Grenache (or Grenache-Shiraz-Mourvèdre blend) would match up well, as would a Touriga-Nacional-based wine from Douro in Portugal.

Definitely a winner!

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Lamb Shanks Braised in Red Wine & Napa Valley Meritage

My wife Michèle’s birthday came around recently and, among other things, I decided to whip up some lamb shanks and a white bean purée.

Regular readers will know that I’m new to cooking so, no, I haven’t tried braising lamb shanks before, or anything else for that matter. Turns out, this braising recipe is remarkably easy. I picked up 4 humongous Alberta lamb shanks from the friendly folks at Saslove (at the Market). When I was out running some errands, I (fortunately) caught an interview on CBC’s All in a Day with Michael Farber, chef at Farbs Fitchen and Wine Bar, who talked about doing venison osso bucco. He mentioned two key points in braising: first, make sure the meat is well-seared and, second, don’t put too much stock in the pot, otherwise the meat will more boil than braise. The lamb turned out very well: tender (not quite "fall off the bone") and flavourful. The red wine I used for braising was from Argentina:  Alta Vista Atemporal Assemblage 2007, a blend of Malbec, Cabernet Sauvignon, Syrah, and Petit Verdot. The white bean purée was great as well.

For a matching wine, the key here is the cooking method. Braising takes many different flavours and blends them together. Nothing really stands out, but the total effect is delicious. I also used a blend in the cooking wine. I continued with this blended theme, with a big Bordeaux-style Meritage from Napa Valley with Cabernet Sauvignon the major player at 82%. You can go big with the wine with a dish like this, making it the star of the dinner. Other options are a blend of Grenache, Syrah, and Mourvèdre from Languedoc or an Amarone.

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Gramercy Tavern's Guinness Stout Ginger Cake

Heading into my wife’s birthday, I decided to try my hand at a dessert as part of a weekend-long culinary extravaganza. (Well, an extravaganza in terms of effort for me!) Many chefs will tell you that desserts are a world unto themselves: different techniques, ingredients that act (react?) differently. It’s no accident that many chefs specialise in only making desserts…or not making them at all.

A while back, a friend had mentioned the Gramercy Tavern's Guinness Stout Ginger Cake. With Guinness Stout, molasses, ginger and other spices (cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg, cardamom), it’s got a taste profile that I think we’d like. The recipe didn’t appear overly complicated.

The first step is “In a large saucepan over high heat, combine the stout (1 cup) and molasses (1 cup) and bring to a boil. Turn off the heat and add the baking soda. The mixture will foam up energetically. Allow to sit until the foam dissipates.” Sounds easy. OK, a large saucepan. How large is large? A quart-sized pot looks about right. Into the pan go the stout and molasses.  As the mixture heats up, I turn my attention to the next step, preparing and mixing the dry ingredients. Ah, a cardinal sin of cooking: turning your back on a boiling pot. I suddenly hear this hissing sound coming from the stove. Foam up energetically? Uh huh. The molasses and Guinness mixture are roiling out of the pot and all over the stove. We have a ceramic-top stove, so it’s like watching the lava from Vesuvius overrun Pompeii. Oh, the humanity! It was a very sticky, black, awful mess to clean up, especially the stuff that had burnt onto the stovetop.

Fortunately, my wife was out at that point, so I was able to clean up everything before she came home. Otherwise, I probably would have had my kitchen privileges revoked. (Her only comment when she got home: “Are you trying to make caramel?”)

I had bought a six-pack of Guinness. So, after helping myself to a bottle of Guinness for medicinal purposes, I re-started. This time, I stared down the pot with the molasses and the Guinness Stout. Really, the mixture goes from placid to a frenzy in a couple of seconds. Fun to watch, if you can keep it in the pot, which I did the second time. The rest of the way was uneventful. How was it? Dark, heavy, moist, aromatic, and spicy…delicious. I served it with unsweetened whipped cream, but icing sugar sprinkled on top would work as well.

We skipped having a dessert wine, but you have a few options here. Wine should be sweeter than the dessert. This dessert’s not overly sweet, so you don’t have to go all the way to an Icewine; an Ontario late harvest wine should work just fine. I’d also try a 10-year-old Tawny Port, especially if you can match the raisin and spice profile.

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Muscadet…and Mussels with Peas & White Wine

Like most people (I think), my wife and I first choose what food we’re having and then we find a wine to match. Every so often, though, we choose the wine first. I had recently purchased the Château Salmonière, Muscadet Sèvre & Maine, 2008 and thought that mussels would be a good match. Muscadet comes from the Nantais region in France, where mussels are a traditional dish. You rarely go wrong in matching food with wine from the same region.

In our house, mussels are a traditional wintertime dish (as opposed to muscles, which are a rarity here year-round). We don’t have the classic ceramic cooking pots for mussels, brought directly from the stove to the table, but we seem to do just fine without them.

For our latest molluscular indulgence, I used the recipe for “Cozze in Pentola” from Massimo Capra’s book, One Pot Italian Cooking. It’s easy to make…scrubbing the mussels takes the most time. The sauce is made of white wine, green peas, tomatoes, tarragon, and heavy cream. We like our mussels to be swimming in the sauce; next time, I’d double up on the sauce, allowing it to reduce and become thicker. If you have extra sauce, you can always serve some baguette to soak it up.

The Muscadet and this recipe for mussels were a great match. The wine had lemon and just a touch of floral on the nose, there’s lots more citrus and minerality in the mouth. It’s still young and has great, crisp acidity to cut through the creamy sauce. It’s made from the Melon de Bourgogne varietal. Despite its name, Melon de Bourgogne has disappeared from Burgundy. It’s now THE varietal in the Muscadet region, where the Loire River empties into the Bay of Biscay on the western coast. Enjoy!

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Ushant Lamb Stew & Corbieres

I came across an interesting and simple recipe on the Michelin site last week.

It's a lamb stew from the island of Ushant (or Ouessant en français), which is located in the English Channel. It's part of France. Population 932. As you can see from the accompanying video, the cooking is supposed to be over (and under) a peat fire. I made it a few nights ago but, no, I did not cook it that way; I used the oven instead. Other changes I made: I threw in some za’atar (a mixture of thyme, oregano, and marjoram) that we got at a Mid-Eastern specialty store and I used lamb shoulder only. The recipe also calls for a "swede", which is rutabaga! (Are there lots of rutabagas in Sweden?) Note that the list of ingredients does not include meat stock, but you do need it, enough to cover everything but the potatoes on top. Turned out very well! For best results, make sure that your ingredients are right at the top of the pot.

In the accompanying video, they mention that the peat fire imparts a smoky taste. It's one of those rare recipes where I immediately thought that you could drink Scotch with it (the dish, not the recipe…although you can always drink some scotch as you’re waiting for the dish to cook). But we had a good red from Corbieres, a blend of old vine Carignan (50%), Grenache (25%) and Syrah (25%). A superb match!

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Steamed Halibut with Fresh Ginger & Vouvray

I went in a Chinese direction for dinner a few nights ago: Steamed Halibut with Fresh Ginger, the recipe courtesy of Nancie McDermott. If you’ve the right equipment for steaming, as we do, this dish is easy to prepare. Halibut has a delicate flavour, so the fresh ginger, green onions, and sesame are the dominant flavours. Although the recipe calls for 10 minutes of steaming, it’s easy to overcook the fish, so next time I’d remove the fish from the heat completely when the steaming is finished and you’re preparing the finishing touches. Served five-spice rice and stir-fried baby bok choy as side dishes.

For the wine, I avoided the somewhat obvious choice (gewürztraminer) and went with BOUGRIER VOUVRAY 2008, AOC Vouvray, France; 11.5% ABV. It’s an off-dry Chenin Blanc with good, crisp acidity. Aromas of peach, citrus, pear, and red apple as well as floral notes. Red apple and grapey flavours on the palate. Light-bodied, good balance and moderate finish. An above-average match with the food; worked great with the ginger and sesame flavours in this light-bodied dish. I think that an Alsatian Muscat could also work here.

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Mulling Over a Reader’s Question

Rhonda writes, “I love mulling wine at Christmas, but I never know what to buy for mulling. I don't want to buy something so yummy I feel as though mulling it would be a waste, but I am also a firm believer that you can't create a silk purse from a sow's ear. Thoughts?”

Rhonda, your question brought back some very good memories of Germany, where they have "glühwein". The literal translation is glowwine, but I'm not sure whether it's the wine that glows or the drinker! It's very big there at the Weihnachten markt (Christmas market) and during Fasching (the week before Lent, also known as Carnival). The winters in Germany can be damp to the bone, so when you're out at the market or watching a Fasching parade, a cup or two of glühwein really hits the spot. They sell it on the street, which is very civilized.

Which wine to use? I agree with your comments about not using anything too yummy (or expensive) or too cheap either. I think that you should use a wine that you would be happy to drink ordinarily. So, for example, if you don't like Beaujolais Nouveau, don't use that.

Even so, and depending on your recipe, there can be some very dominant ingredients in mulled wine, such as clove and cinnamon. Don’t be disappointed if any wine’s flavours are overwhelmed.

I would go with something fuller-bodied but not too much tannin or acidity. Generalizations in wine are dangerous and varietal styles can be all over the map, but with that caveat out there, here’s what I would try in order of preference: Zinfandel, Petite Sirah, Carmenere (from Chile), Malbec (usually from Argentina), and Monastrell (aka Mourvèdre in France). If you make a fair bit of mulled wine, you could prepare several batches using different wines, and invite family and friends to pick a favourite.

Here are some specific recommendations for some fuller-bodied wines that might work for a mulled wine:

• L.A. Cetto Petite Sirah 2007, # 983742, Price: $ 11.95, 13.5% ABV, Mexico
• Spinelli Malbec, # 143750, Price: $ 7.95, 13.3% ABV, Italy
• Fuzion Shiraz Malbec, # 83188, Price: $ 7.45, 13.3% ABV, Argentina
• Bodegas Castano La Casona Monastrell, # 143743, Price: $ 8.95, 13.5% ABV, Spain

The Monastrell and Spinelli Malbec are relatively new to the LCBO but they may be in short supply as a couple of high-profile wine critics recommended them. You can check the LCBO on-line inventory (and look for inexpensive Carmenere, Zin, etc). Fuzion has been out for over a year and there was huge buzz about it (terrific value for money).

Let me know what you try and how it works!

[Update, Jan 14, 2010:  If you're looking for a mulled wine video-recipe, click here for one from Beppi Crosariol.]

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