Trying to make sense of hashtags? What is #WW? Is it Wine Wednesday? Or Writer’s Wednesday? Or Wacky Wednesday? Keeping up on Twitter is sometimes confusing. But, for me, I think I will consider yesterday was Wine Wednesday.
We have been slowly working through older wines in the cellar. Buying local wines when first released, usually at a good price, and putting them away while drinking less expensive jug and non vintage stuff allowed us to keep some amazing wines stashed away. Out of sight. Out of mind.
We now are in the position of pulling out oldies but goodies, and enjoying that patience of 33 years of putting away more bottles than we drank. It also took organization. I kept an Excel spreadsheet that collated and tracked everything shoved under the cellar stairs in our old house. Now, I am working my way through that sheet.
Mostly doing OK. Pouring one or two down the drain, but keeping track did allow us to minimize the loss. We bought cases of cheap Bordeaux, years ago. I am talking $65 a CASE for some wines. Those we opened for parties, or with dinner on a weekend.
We joined a few case clubs, or cellar clubs, like Breaux. We get a case a year. Mostly really decent wines. I have posted before about being a “locapour” and choosing local wines to drink when I can. I think it makes eating locally even more fun, when you can pair a local wine with locally grown food. This lovely Cellar Selection Nebbiolo Ice became part of dessert last week, paired with a few slices of Bowling Green Farms Feta. Salty Feta, and deeply rich wine, a perfect pairing. Nice to enjoy while watching sunsets on the porch.
We also have done a few vineyard visits to places like the Finger Lakes, and Charlottesville. Put together a four pack or six pack, mostly of white wines, but with one or two good reds to put away. Our visit to Pearmund last Sunday brought us a couple of Ameritage to put away, and a few Chardonnays to drink now.
Last night we had leftovers, so to speak. I made lasagna the other night, and last night we had part of it for dinner. This was thrown together, no real recipe lasagna. Full of local items, but also using up stuff from the fridge, pantry and freezer.
I used to buy frozen lasagna all the time when I worked. I now make it from scratch, and use whatever is around. I made this “mess”, yes, it looks ugly, but ugly food tastes better, right? 🙂
The meat in this lasagna is South Mountain Creamery pork sausage. Very little of it, but enough to make it tasty. Taken out of its casings, I chopped two links of sausage and mixed with a jar of McCutcheon’s spaghetti sauce and herbs from my garden, and half a container of Pacific Organic red pepper tomato soup. Long on sauce and short on sausage. Below is a staple I buy at Costco, an organic soup that adds flavor to so many of my meals. It even jazzes up my gazpacho occasionally.
I had the last of the South Mountain mozzarella and some Bowling Green Farms cheddar in the fridge. It got mixed into the stack, and I cheated and used no boil noodles found in the pantry. The other item used was chard. Lots of sauteed chard to form part of two layers on the bottom. It certainly wasn’t pretty, but it worked out well. Really had a good taste.
Along with the lasagna, I put together a locally sourced salad. Romaine and orange cauliflower from the Catonsville market. Feta from Bowling Green Farms. Radishes from Breezy Willow. My first cucumber from the garden. Blueberries from Butler’s. And, blackberry splash vinaigrette from Catoctin Mountain Orchards.
I love fruit in salads. Summer berries are so good tossed on greens with cheese and other crunchy veggies. All in all, another relaxed patio meal, with another wine from down the road a piece. I am hoping this lovely weather holds for Father’s Day weekend. It has certainly been nice lately.
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AnnieRie Unplugged 