Category Archives: Wine

Spirit of the Season

Posted on December 7, 2013 by AnnieRie

Let’s start with the cookies, and then move on to the crafts fair and then to the winery. All in all, a busy weekend so far.

The cookie inspiration came from Rantings of an Amateur Chef.

I adapted it to use my butternut squash instead of pumpkin puree.

Pumpkin Molasses Cookies

What you will need:

1/2 cup butter, room temperature
1 cup light brown sugar

1/2 cup roasted butternut squash
1/4 cup molasses
1 large egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 1/3 cups flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 cup natural cane sugar, for rolling the cookies

In the bowl of a stand mixer, beat butter and sugar together until creamy and smooth. This took a while as i hadn’t softened the butter enough. Add the roasted butternut squash, molasses, egg, and vanilla extract. Mix at medium speed until well combined.

In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, spices, and salt. Add dry ingredients to wet ingredients, not all at once. I had about a cup at a time. Continue mixing until combined and it starts to clump up.

Refrigerate the cookie dough, wrapped in plastic wrap, for at least 1 hour. The dough can be chilled for 2-3 days. I chill mine overnight when I can. Because I made a double batch, I did divide it in half.

When you are ready to bake, preheat oven to 350° F. Line your baking sheets with parchment paper. Place the cane sugar in a small bowl or on a plate. Roll tablespoon-sized balls of dough in the cane sugar until well coated and place on prepared baking sheets, about 2 inches apart. Bake for 10–12 minutes, or until cookies look cracked and set at the edges. I put two sheets at a time in the oven. Top and bottom third.

The cookies will still be soft. Let them cool on the baking sheets for 2-3 minutes after removing them from the oven, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely. I made larger cookies and got about 30 of them per batch.

I made a double batch to take to the Conservancy. The holiday crafts fair, which was a huge success. Including some amazing crafts made by the children. Like this one.

I spent today assisting at the fair. Watching all the festivities and linking people with local farms for trees, and for holiday dinner items like beef and pork.

Then, we headed off to visit a new winery to try out some bubbly. Nothing like a good blanc de blanc to get you in the spirit.

Our first visit to Old Westminster Winery, and definitely not our last. What a wonderful family owned winery. Right up the road from Mt. Airy.

Just the beginning of the holiday season and already we are out and enjoying the festivities. Here’s to a few more weekends spent out and about.

hocofood@@@

1 Comment

Posted in Adventures, Community, Farms, Food, Howard County, Local Businesses, Locavore, Wine and tagged cooking, farms, Food, Howard County, howard county conservancy, local businesses, Locavore, MD Wine, wine. Bookmark the permalink.

Turkey Lurkey

Posted on November 30, 2013 by AnnieRie

My mostly local Thanksgiving meal. Done tonight for just the two of us.

Pretty traditional this year. Roasted turkey. Green bean casserole. Mashed potatoes. Sausage dressing.

Every element of the meal had local ties.

Let’s start with our turkey. An eleven pound Maple Lawn Farm fresh “hen”.

Brined for sixteen hours in advance. I found a basic apple cider, salt, brown sugar, orange peel, bay leave, garlic, rosemary and water brine.

Roasted at 450 degrees for 30 minutes, and 90 minutes at 350 degrees. Trickling Springs butter under the skin. Grapeseed oil rubbed over the top, and a poultry mix sprinkled everywhere.

Really moist turkey this year. The right amount of time in the brine, and it wasn’t overcooked. I have a crock pot full of bones, skin and the innards, with a couple gallons of water, which will cook all night to make stock.

Side dishes this year. My take on classics, but revved up a bit.

Mashed potatoes included goat cheese, butter and milk. These were CSA potatoes, a mix of Yukon Gold and white potatoes.

I made a green bean casserole using Breezy Willow’s beans. Blanched them first, then put them in a casserole with some organic condensed cream of mushroom soup I got at Roots. Half of the container became the base for the gravy. The onion on top the beans was a CSA yellow onion that I roasted yesterday until it was crispy. It added flavor without all that breading and greasiness the canned onions have.

The dressing was simple. Bread cubes mixed with turkey stock (I started the stock early today, using only the innards and water, celery, carrots and scallions. Cooked up about 4 ounces of Boarman’s homemade country sausage and mixed it in. A little sage, salt and pepper. Baked alongside the green beans.

Complementing the meal, a Finger Lakes Pinot Noir. 2007 Konstantin Frank.

Really a soft wine. Glad we opened it. It is just starting to fade a bit.

All in all, just enough food. I didn’t go overboard on anything other than making just a bit too many potatoes.

As for leftovers, I have two cups of shredded turkey to make a soup. One leg to use for a lunch salad next week. One complete breast for a salad or dinner. A couple of thighs for another dinner.

Keeping it local. Supporting small businesses. I may not have shopped today, but I did pretty well.

hocofood@@@

1 Comment

Posted in CSA, Farms, Food, Local Businesses, Locavore, Real Food, Wine and tagged cooking, crock pot cooking, crockpot soups, CSA, farms, Food, foodie, local businesses, Locavore, real food, wine. Bookmark the permalink.

Thanksgiving Wine Throwdown

Posted on November 24, 2013 by AnnieRie

MD versus VA. In the battle to be chosen for Thanksgiving dinner this year.

Mostly, in past years, we have relied on Linden for Thanksgiving wine. Either the Vidal Reisling or the Rose.

This year, there is a new kid in town.

Big Cork. With two wines in the running. Traminette and Vidal. Although I think the Traminette is the best turkey wine.

Being a locavore, and a locapour, I love using products from not far away to make for celebrations.

Like taking Stone House rolls to my brother’s, and also making Maple Lawn turkey at our house, so we can savor the holiday an extra day.

This year, I think MD wins the competition, and Traminette will go with us to Annapolis.

But, for our turkey, later this weekend, I may pull out one of those lovely Ankida Ridge Pinot Noirs, another good “turkey” wine.

As for Linden, they will be paired with lots of dinners in the next few weeks. They never go out of favor at our place.

For Thanksgiving, if you can’t find the Traminette, look for Elk Run’s Gewurztraminer. It is available in many local stores.

Put MD on the table for your Thanksgiving feast.

hocofood@@@

1 Comment

Posted in Food, Local Businesses, Locavore, Wine and tagged Food, foodie, Howard County, local businesses, Locavore, MD Wine, traditions, wine. Bookmark the permalink.

Field Trip Friday

Posted on November 22, 2013 by AnnieRie

Centered around the opening of the tasting room at Big Cork Winery, at its production facility in Frederick.

We first found their wines at the liquor store across from the Frederick Wegmans. Have been serving them at many dinners, and took some to the family reunion.

We will probably take the Traminette for Thanksgiving this year.

Tasting is $5. You get to taste all four whites, the current releases. Reds aren’t ready yet. They need a bit more time to develop.

As for the whites, the Chardonnay is very well balanced, and not one of those heavy huge overly oaked specimens found often from CA or South America.

The Traminette is related to Gewürztraminer. Spicy undertones, and the perfect turkey wine.

The Vidal Blanc is one of those go-to slightly sweet yet still acidic wines that pair well with spicy foods, like Thai.

The Late Harvest Vidal is dessert in a glass. Try it with salted caramels, or with a drier, nutty cheese.

We had some time to talk to Dave Collins, the winemaker. We first met Dave years ago at Breaux, and we are glad to see him setting up this winery in Maryland.

The facility is on “Shab Row”, just east of the main drag (Market St) and northeast of Carroll Creek Park.

The next time we visit, we may be tempted to have lunch at Family Meal, Bryan Voltaggio’s restaurant just a few blocks north of the winery tasting room.

I am thinking that their chicken pot pie fritters sound interesting.

Or, we may do Greek/Turkish at Ayse, just south on N. East St. Want something else to see? The Roads and Rails Museum is right across the street from Big Cork.

We haven’t spent nearly as much time discovering Frederick as we would like.

Sounds like many more day trips, lunches, strolls, tastings are to be scheduled for the future.

Maybe I should do some Christmas shopping there, and support those small businesses just to our west.

hocofood@@@

1 Comment

Posted in Adventures, Day Trips, Food, Local Businesses, Restaurants, Wine and tagged day trips, Food, foodie, hobbies, local businesses, MD Wine, wine. Bookmark the permalink.

Another Tidbit Tuesday

Posted on November 19, 2013 by AnnieRie

So many little things happening today and this week. Much of it locally driven, but some of it really interesting.

So, what is happening?

I am waiting to see if they launch the Minotaur rocket from NASA. The new time of launch is 2015 EST. We saw the last one from the back deck. Skies look clear enough to see this one, too.

I am checking with the NASA Facebook page for Wallops to get updates.

Today is my better half’s 63rd birthday.

When he gets home from his regular radio club dinner meeting, we will share the dark chocolate sea salt bar with the rest of the lovely red I got with my dinner at Bistro Blanc. It is half price wine night there.

I went up there for a few reasons. A quick perfectly cooked medium rare lamb burger, and a delivery to Chef Marc of a dozen long stems of my rosemary, and a huge bouquet of three kinds of sage. Cleaning up the herb garden.

While there, I sampled something new. Two words I never thought would go together. Chocolate. Grappa. Hey, don’t knock it! It isn’t bad.

Since my husband went off with his fellow radio friends, I postponed his birthday dinner until tomorrow night. Currently, I am marinating a strip steak from Clark’s farm.

It will be pan seared and finished in the oven tomorrow, to be served with roasted romanescu. And, I think I will open a really nice Virginia wine.

Speaking of wine, Big Cork announced on their Facebook page that their production facility will be open for tasting this Friday and Saturday. We hope to get there to see what they are offering. Their facility is in Frederick, just off I-70. Tasting time is 12-6.

Last but not least I have been working on scheduling the farmers who will be offering goodies at the Conservancy Natural Holiday Crafts fair on Dec. 7th. We hope to make your holidays special with goodies from local farms, as well as all those local crafters who will be there.

Tuesday Tidbits

Posted on November 12, 2013 by AnnieRie

Odds and ends about food and wine.

Like the grand opening of Petite Cellars.

Owned by the former owners of Perfect Pour, the store in Turf Valley has been completed and the ribbon cutting ceremony was this afternoon. Courtney Watson was on hand to cut the ribbon, along with Chamber of Commerce representation. We enjoyed the event, wishing them well and picking up a “local” gin, from Loudoun County VA (Catoctin Creek). Love having a specialty liquor around to use for entertaining, and finding locally produced items complements what is important to me.

Two days in a row, we have been out and about. Last night we attended the opening session of “Iron Bridge University”, this time the first of six tastings featuring the wines of Italy. Vince does a great job of leading the educational series. This one highlighted Tuscany.

The events are hugely popular. All 36 seats were taken, and there was a waiting list of dozens of people. The entire six event series is a sell out. Good to see another family owned local business doing well.

I also was impressed with the local farms providing the Bridge with meat and vegetables. Farms like Clark’s and Valley Haven, in Howard County.

At home today for lunch, we enjoyed locally sourced items, paired with a few new finds. Like these wonderful crackers we found at COSTCO.

These crackers are perfect with our ajvar, and my newest spread I made. I used the Bulgarian recipe as inspiration, but then just went off in my own direction.

The eggplant spread is in the small bowl. I used two eggplant and four green peppers, roasted and peeled. A few cloves of garlic, some lemon juice, salt, pepper, and olive oil. Processed in the “food pro” until the right consistency. Sharper in taste than the red pepper spreads I make, but still very tasty.

The salad on the plate was made with the Tuscan kale in our CSA box. Some scallions, pecorino, olive oil, salt, pepper, lemon juice and avocados I picked up at Boarman’s when I was ordering our Maple Lawn Thanksgiving turkey. None of it measured. Whatever looks good, is the way I make salads.

All in all, a very pleasant Monday and Tuesday to start our week. Crossing my fingers that it warms up a bit, so I can plant garlic.

Hmmm, food and wine and cooking. I need to find some other hobbies. Nah, I don’t think so. These keep us busy enough.

hocofood@@@

It’s Not Delivery …

Posted on November 9, 2013 by AnnieRie

And it’s not DiGiorno either. My latest attempts at thin crust pizzas. I think I liked the veggie one best, even though I love the fig, prosciutto, cheese and arugula pizza quite a bit.

This is what they looked like before being baked.

I used the COSTCO kit to make these pizzas. I haven’t yet mastered dough on my own, and most pizza crusts are too thick. These shells came six to a pack with two packages of garlic sauce and four of tomato sauce. I used one package of garlic sauce and half a pack of tomato. There is too much sauce in one pack for one pizza. Unless you like soggy pizza.

I made the pizza on the right using garlic sauce, dried mission black figs bought at Roots, Hook’s gorgonzola from Roots, prosciutto from COSTCO (that giant industrial size package) and a drizzle of lemon infused olive oil from St Helena.

Arugula scattered over the top when it is done.

The left pizza is a veggie pizza. Garlic and tomato sauce mixed. My absolute favorite mushroom pate from Roots (wish I could figure out how to make this), roasted green pepper, roasted garlic (From my garden), and two cheeses. One a pecorino and the other an Iberico. Italian herbs.

Baked at 400 degrees for ten minutes. Served with my fennel orange salad.

And a North Gate Rose of Chambourcin. Bought at the newly opened Petite Cellars. North Gate is in Loudoun County VA and is part of a large selection of local wines at the new store in Turf Valley.

Petite Cellars Grand Opening is Tuesday the 12th. Another addition to the Turf Valley collection of stores and restaurants by the Harris Teeter.

Interesting how in nine years, things have changed so much out here.

As for my pizzas, my husband declared them a major success. He likes thin crust pizza and these are crisp and full of flavor.

Thanks to COSTCO and Roots I can replace delivery pizza and store bought pizza, with almost homemade. I just have to conquer that problem with making my own dough and getting it thin enough.

hocofood@@@

3 Comments

Posted in Food, Howard County, Local Businesses, Locavore, Real Food, West HoCo, Wine and tagged cooking, Food, foodie, Howard County, Locavore, real food, VA wine, West HoCo, wine. Bookmark the permalink.

Leaf Peeping Weekend

Posted on November 4, 2013 by AnnieRie

This has been the best week when it comes to the fall colors around here. We headed out with friends for a leaf peeping trip through the back roads of VA.

I think most of the DC area also had the same idea. On our way through Front Royal the traffic was crazy. Skyline Drive was absolutely lovely above us as we sat outside at Glen Manor Vineyards.

we also took them to Linden to have some cheese, sausage and baguette while sipping some 2009 Avenius red.

The colors of the vines in the vineyard brought back memories of our trip years ago to Sonoma and Napa in November. Those same deep red vines.

All in all, we had one relaxing sunny afternoon. The clouds seemed to come and go, revealing shadows, highlights and patterns across the Shenandoah mountains.

Around here, we still have lots of leaves to come down. We can see some similar sights just up the road. We really need to head out for a lunch or maybe a picnic at Black Ankle. After all, it is just up the road west of us.

Or, we can hang out on the porch. Maryland is certainly showing our colors of fall.

Want to enjoy the colors on a leisurely hike. Come join us at the Conservancy Saturday morning to hike to the Patapsco River. More on that tomorrow.

hocoblogs@@@

Italian At Home

Posted on November 1, 2013 by AnnieRie

Instead of going out, or ordering in. Friday nights we like to try something new using what we get from our CSA.

Tonight I made a cross between Italian Wedding Soup and Escarole and Bean Soup, from that enormous head of escarole.

In other words, I made do with what we have.

The joy of cooking, derived from three seasons of CSA boxes, is the confidence that comes from knowing what may work together.

This recipe highlights that.

The escarole and bean soup was the base. But, I wanted some meat in this dish, so I knew Italian Wedding Soup included meatballs. A stop at Trader Joe’s while out this afternoon netted me a bag of their turkey meatballs, as I didn’t have anything else.

Trust me on this one. Next time I will make my own meatballs. Years ago I would have loved them. Now, they are a bit gummy, to say the least. Still, they added flavor to the dinner.

A stop at the Perfect Pour got my husband an Italian wine to serve with dinner.

A Verdicchio Vermentino blend. We are learning about Italian wines. Between wine dinners at Facci and Iron Bridge University we are slowly getting versed in the varietals from Italy. See, we really do occasionally go out to restaurants.

As for the soup, here is how I made it.

Start with the Soffrito (or the base). The Italian soffrito is the lightly sweated base of vegetables that create the flavor of a meal.

I used an onion, a shallot, three cloves of garlic and a carrot. All chopped finely and cooked over low heat in extra virgin olive oil.

Once it gets translucent and released its flavor, I added a dozen Campari tomatoes, quartered. You can use any types of tomatoes. I am saving my freshly canned and frozen stuff for later this winter.

One quart of chicken stock. I make my own from the chickens we get from local farms. Two teaspoons Italian seasoning. 1/2 teaspoon white pepper. A package of those meatballs. Let it all simmer for at least 20 minutes. The tomatoes will break down and color the broth.

Chop escarole. I used half that enormous head from my CSA box.

Chopped escarole and two cans of organic cannellini beans, and five more minutes of cooking, until the escarole wilts.

Serve with grated cheese. I used pecorino Romano this time.

Better than anything Olive Garden serves, that’s for sure.

hocofood@@@

1 Comment

Posted in CSA, Food, Locavore, Real Food, Restaurants, Wine and tagged cooking, CSA, Food, foodie, Locavore, real food, wine. Bookmark the permalink.

Personal Pan Pizza

Posted on October 30, 2013 by AnnieRie

My Way.

On one of those days that the foodie and the locavore collide. It all started with sending my husband to the store to get oranges and grapeseed oil. Oranges to use with the CSA fennel for a salad. A neutral oil so I can bake butternut squash to make hummus. He comes home with figs, which he decided would be perfect in a pizza.

The first fig, prosciutto, arugula and goat cheese pizza we ever had was in Napa Valley about five years ago. We have been attempting to duplicate it since then.

This time I went with grilling them.

Served with a local wine, using local goat cheese, arugula, scallions and garlic, I got a decent crispy thin pizza.

Early Mountain 2011 Petit Manseng, a very crisp version of a lesser grown grape. Early Mountain is north of Charlottesville VA. A fairly new winery that we visited on our weekend trip. We picked up a mix of their current wines. A young winery, under this ownership, we expect to see real growth in their offerings as their vines mature.

This dinner was really simple to put together. Spread some garlic and oil on crust from COSTCO. Add a few figs, some goat cheese, some prosciutto, some scallions. Drizzle some lemon infused olive oil over it. Put it on a screaming hot grill for a few minutes (500 degrees). Turn off the end burners (or use indirect placement over charcoal). Let it crisp up, and let the cheese melt. Some pepper ground over it. Arugula put on after removal from the grill.

Excellent meal on a very pleasant evening. We took it outside on the patio to enjoy the view. Leaves are getting close to peak around here.

Great al fresco dinner.

hocofood@@@

3 Comments

Posted in CSA, Food, Locavore, Weather, Wine and tagged cooking, CSA, fall foliage, Food, foodie, grilling, Locavore, VA wine, weather, wine. Bookmark the permalink.

M	T	W	T	F	S	S
			1	2	3	4
5	6	7	8	9	10	11
12	13	14	15	16	17	18
19	20	21	22	23	24	25
26	27	28	29	30	31

AnnieRie Unplugged

Category Archives: Wine

Spirit of the Season

Turkey Lurkey

Thanksgiving Wine Throwdown

Field Trip Friday

Another Tidbit Tuesday

Tuesday Tidbits

It’s Not Delivery …

Leaf Peeping Weekend

Italian At Home

Personal Pan Pizza

Looking for Something?

The Latest

Old Posts

My File Cabinet

Tags

Follow Blog via Email

Meta

Most Popular

When Did I Post?

Copyright Reserved