Category Archives: Wine

A Chicken Stew with Lovely Riesling & Winners of the Mark Bittman iPhone App

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I never need an excuse to uncork a bottle of Riesling.

It’s one of my favorite varietals because it goes splendidly with sweet-spicy-tangy Asian dishes, boasts a relatively low alcohol percentage compared to many of today’s fruit-bomb wines, and is downright easy to quaff.

But if I ever did need a reason to break open a bottle of this lovely, flowery, aromatic white, this dish would do the trick.

“Chicken in Riesling” is a recipe (see below) from the dearly departed Gourmet magazine.

Think of it as a quicker, lighter version of the classic coq qu vin, which is fortified with red wine and typically takes far longer than the hour needed to make this Riesling-based one.

I think of it as the ultimate in satisfying chicken stews. It’s got a comforting quality about it, what with the whole, little red potatoes (I left them unpeeled, too) and large chunks of carrots bobbing in it. But it also has a slightly luxurious nature from the mere 1/2 cup of creme fraiche or heavy cream that you stir in just before serving.

The result is a pot of tender chicken in a pool of brothy, creamy sauce.

And best yet?

Even after adding the Riesling to the pot, there’s still plenty left in the bottle to enjoy a glass or two with this dinner.

And now, without further adieu, the six winners of the Mark Bittman “How to Cook Everything” iPhone app:

As you recall, for this contest, I asked readers to name the one thing they wished this gifted New York Times food writer, known for his no-nonsense approach to cooking, could make easier in their life. Here are the winners who had the best responses:

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Ferry Building Happenings, Glam Foodie Fund-Raisers & More

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In San Francisco:

The offerings at the Saturday farmers market at the San Francisco Ferry Building just got a whole lot sweeter.

The Arlequin booth, manned by Luis Villavelazquez, executive pastry chef of Absinthe restaurant in San Francisco, will now be a regular fixture at that Saturday market, just steps from the Hyatt Regency San Francisco, beginning May 1.

The booth, which already had been up and running at the smaller Thursday farmers market there, will be selling the likes of malted cupcake with banana cream and Oreo frosting; strawberry and tobacco-infused scone with creme fraiche; spiced ramp and provolone biscuits; and milk chocolate macadamia nut cookies.

Find the Arlequin booth next to Blue Bottle Coffee’s exterior stand,  8 a.m. to 2 p.m. every Thursday and Saturday.

If luscious libations are more your thing, you won’t want to miss “Berries, Citrus and Rhubarb,” a fun cocktails class at the Ferry Building, 5:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. May 7.

Master mixologist Scott Beattie will conduct a hands-on class to teach you how to make market-fresh strawberry margaritas, classic mai tais, and gimlets.

Master distiller, Lance Winters of St. George Spirits in Alameda, will talk about micro-distillation.

The Ferry Building’s Il Cane Rosso also will serve up cocktail-friendly noshes. Additionally, participants will get to take home a recipe booklet.

The class will be held under the North Arcade of the Ferry Building. Tickets are $45.

City College of San Francisco invites you to its 12th annual “Wok on the Wild Side,” a benefit for its culinary arts and hospitality studies department, 5 p.m. to 9 p.m. April 26.

Participating in the star chef-studded affair are Staffan Terje of Perbacco in San Francisco, Bruce Hill of Picco in Larkspur, Laurence Jossel of Nopa, Jennifer Biesty of the Sir Francis Drake Hotel in San Francisco, and Mauricio Sibrian of John’s Grill in San Francisco.  They will be honoring City College alum, Tom Sweeney, the famous Beefeater doorman who has been welcoming visitors to the Sir Francis Drake Hotel for more than 30 years.

The chefs will be cooking up their specialties and being assisted by the students and faculty of the program.

Tickets are $150. For information, call (415) 239-3152.

You won’t want to miss another gala chefs gathering, 6:30 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. April 29, when “Taste of the Nation San Francisco” rolls into town on the Club Level of AT&T Park in San Francisco.

The benefit for Share Our Strength, will feature tastes from more than 40 top San Francisco chefs, including Dominique Crenn of Luce, Mark Sullivan of Spruce, Hoss Zare of Zare at Fly Trap, and Matthew Accarrino of SPQR.

Live music and a silent auction will add to the festivities, which will benefit one of the nation’s largest organizations dedicated to alleviating childhood hunger.

Regular tickets are $85. VIP tickets, which get you into the event an hour earlier, are $140.

Monday, April 26, dine at a Pasta Pomodoro in San Francisco or elsewhere in the Bay Area to do a good deed.

That night, the restaurant chain will donate 25 percent of profits from every “Cena di Familia” meal to local food banks to help families in need. The three-course, family-style meal, which feeds four, comes with choice of salad, pasta and dessert for $35.

Around the Peninsula:

Take a taste of more than 100 wines from all over Italy in one spot. You can at “Enoteca 100 Primavera,” an Italian wine tasting at Donato Enoteca restaurant in Redwood City, 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. May 1.

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Kobe Beef and Killer Cabernet Sauvignon Redux — at Signorello Estate

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There are many wonderful ways to taste wine in the Napa Valley.

Few are as grand yet intimate as the “Enoteca Signorello” tasting at Signorello Estate on the Silverado Trail.

Raymond E. Signorello, proprietor of the winery that his late-parents established in 1985 on 100 acres of former racehorse-grazing land, wanted to recreate the experience of wine-tasting in Europe. There, wine is often tasted with the winemaker at a table set with food for a more personalized and more relaxed time.

The result is the “Enoteca Signorello” food and wine paired tasting, where guests are seated in a private, light-filled dining room or on the lovely terrace beside the pool overlooking the vineyards, if weather permits. Oliver the dog will probably be on hand to greet you, too.

The special 90-minute tastings are by appointment only, 11 a.m. and 2:30 p.m. daily. Price is $65 per person. That might seem pricey. But this is no basket of water crackers that we’re talking about. It’s a flight of five wines, paired with seven, good-sized gourmet treats prepared in the winery’s professional kitchen by a chef.

In March, I was invited as a guest to one of these private tastings, which started being offered a year ago and feature menus that change with the seasons.

You’re welcomed with glasses of the 2008 Seta Estate, a Semillon and Sauvignon Blanc blend that had just the right amount of acidity and buttery-ness; and the 2007 Chardonnay Vielles Vignes Chardonnay, made from the fruit from the original 26-year-old vines planted on the estate.

They’re paired with two-bite hors d’oeuvres — a tiny chevre cake topped with julienned salmon cured with star anise and honey; and a crostini of albacore tuna poached in olive oil and dressed with preserved lemons, picholine olives and the fragrant North African ras el hanout spice blend.

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Kobe Beef and Killer Cabernet Sauvignon — at Two South Bay/Peninsula Restaurants

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Take some of the richest, most marbled beef around.  Pair it with an inky, full-bodied, Old World-style Napa Valley Cab.

What’s not to like?

Especially when it’s Snake River Farms’ American-style Kobe and Signorello Estate’s 2005 and 2006 Estate Cabarnet Sauvignon with its balance of raspberry, cedar, earth, and tobacco notes.

The two specialty producers have partnered for the past few years to introduce foodies to the luxurious combination of Kobe and Cab. In fact, Signorello even runs a “Kobe & Cabarnet Club,” in which participants receive three shipments a year of Kobe cuts with bottles of Cabernet Sauvignon. Each shipment averages $390.

If that’s a little too rich for your blood, those in the South Bay will be glad to know they can experience the “Kobe & Cab” magic in a slightly more economical way at two local restaurants.

The Grill on the Alley in San Jose is serving a 12-ounce New York Snake River Farms steak seasoned with grilled asparagus ($65) with a bottle of 2005 Signorello Cab ($75)  through at least the end of May.

And Quattro at the Four Seasons Silicon Valley in San Jose is featuring two dishes at lunch and dinner through the end of April: An open-face Snake River Farms tri-tip steak sandwich with porcini gravy, fried artichokes and aioli ($19); and a Snake River Farms rib eye with gigante beans, oven-cured tomatoes, black chanterelles and spinach ($45).

The 2006 Signorello Estate Cabarnet Sauvignon is available there by the glass ($21) or bottle ($85).

I had a chance to find out just how wonderful the meat pairs with the wine when I was a guest at a special kick-off dinner at Quattro last month that spotlighted not only Signorello wines and Snake River Farms’ Kobe beef, but also its incomparable Kurobuta pork.

The Wagyu breed is famous in Japan, where the cattle have been raised in the Kobe region for hundreds of years. Snake Rivers of Boise, Idaho crosses Japanese Wagyu with Black Angus cattle for its American-version of Wagyu beef.

No, Snake River Farms doesn’t massage its cows with sake and feed them beer as the folklore in Japan goes. Instead, the Snake River Farms cows are fed Idaho potatoes, white wheat, corn and alfalfa hay. While most other cows in the United States are brought to market at 16 months, the Snake River ones are fed up until they’re 30 months old, resulting in more flavor and a whole lot more marbling.

Just how good is this stuff? Uber-chefs, Michael Mina, Wolfgang Puck and Thomas Keller are huge fans, especially Keller who buys almost all of the Snake River rib eye caps produced (the extremely marbled muscle around the outside of a center-cut rib-eye steak).

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A Spacy Time with Fruit and Wine

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A visit to the Chabot Space & Science Center in Oakland is a guaranteed trippy time with its always interesting starry exhibits.

But on the evening of Sunday, April 11, things get even more spacy when the Smithsonian affiliate teams with my buddy, winemaker Elaine Villamin of Eden Canyon Vineyards for a “miracle fruit” and wine party.

If you haven’t heard of miracle fruit, it’s a West African berry that has the wondrous ability to alter your taste buds so that sour and spicy foods can taste as sweet as candy. It’s become a hit at cocktail parties, where folks will gather to experience the legal, temporary effects of the berry while eating different foods. Scientists also are exploring positive medicinal uses for the berry.

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