Tag Archives: wine

Adventures in Food and Wine

Posted on January 8, 2012 by AnnieRie

Saturday here was lovely. One of those gifts of a day that you can’t waste indoors. We decided to bag the planned yard work, and the house projects and go for a ride.

We haven’t been to our favorite wineries in ten months. We have been pretty much home bound doing renovations and repairs, and the entire first year of my husband’s retirement had us working here and not playing. We vowed to remedy that lapse of adventures and trips this year.

We chose to travel the back roads to Virginia, and to stop at a popular year round farmer’s market in Leesburg on the way. I wanted to get some goodies from Mock’s greenhouse, but they weren’t there. Bummer! We did get some apples and some yoghurt and butter though.

We then went down to Linden Vineyards in Linden, VA. It is a lovely site just below the Appalachian Trail near Front Royal VA.

We did a cellar tasting of their new individual vineyard designated reds and chardonnays, and sat on the enclosed deck drinking a glass of library wine, the 2003 Claret. Jim Law, the owner and winemaker likes to open old wines in the winter and offer them by the glass paired with local cheeses and sausages. So, I could count this as a Dark Days lunch, but the baguette wasn’t local.

The 2003 Claret — in the winemaker’s words, from the Linden website library section:

Aromas:

Black raspberries and plums, aged balsamic, pipe tobacco and herbes de Provence.

Palate:

Pine resins, candied blackberry, tapenade and cedar; full bright acidity & gripping tannins.

Food Pairings:

Robust meat dishes with reduction sauces.

Vineyard:

Hardscrabble Vineyard (65%), Fauquier Co. on top of the Blue Ridge at 1,300 to 1,400 feet with an eastern to southern slope. Deep, well-drained mineral soils give cherry character and good structure. Vine ages from 12 to 19 years. Glen Manor Vineyard (25%), Warren Co. is on the western slope of the Blue Ridge about 7 miles west of Linden Vineyards at an elevation of 1,100 feet. The deep, fertile soils give roundness. The vines are 9 years old and trained on the French lyre system. Avenius Vineyard (10%), Warren Co. is just 1 mile north of Linden Vineyards at 1,300 feet contributes good acidity and verve. Vine age is 7 years.

Vintage:

2003 was a difficult vintage both in terms of yields and concentration. As the growing season unfolded, it became evident that in order to ripen our red grapes we would have to greatly reduce yields. This is because of a cool, cloudy summer that slowed vine and fruit development. Severe cluster thinning began in July and continued into September. It was not until October that we experienced some good warm sunny weather. Harvest was from October 20 to November 10, 2003. No single vineyard wines were bottled in 2003. All our best vineyard sites were declassified into this Claret.

Winemaking:

Native yeast, warm fermentation and early pressing give the wine its pretty aromatics and supple texture. Aged in 50% American oak, 20% Hungarian puncheons, and 30% French oak for 19 months. 65% Cabernet Sauvignon, 23% Cabernet Franc, 12% Petit Verdot. 1,040 cases produced.
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As you can see, we love going to Linden. Jim Law is a master, called a perfectionist by many, and cares deeply about what he grows, makes and sells. Sitting on the deck and watching the skyline changes on the Blue Ridge Mountains is one of our favorite activities. We also bought some wine to bring home and cellar.

We then wandered down to Glen Manor, sitting just below Shenandoah National Park and the Skyline Drive. From the description above of Linden’s Claret, you can see that Jeff White used to grow grapes for Jim at Linden, but for the past few years has opened his own winery. His setting is even more spectacular, and you can sit outside and watch the cars far up in the hills driving the Skyline Drive.

He makes just a few wines so far, but still some winning varietals. His sauvignon blanc is made in the style of a New Zealand wine, all citrusy and perfect to pair with seafood. We had to indulge in some of it to bring back for a treat for seafood dinners.

All in all, a beautiful day in the mountains just two hours southwest of us.

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Posted in Adventures, Locavore, Travel, Wine and tagged Linden Vineyards, Locavore, travel, wine. Bookmark the permalink.

Dark Days Week Six Happy New Year!

Posted on January 2, 2012 by AnnieRie

We ended up staying home on New Year’s Day. We had been out three of the last five nights, and were not in the mood to drive to relatives. We wanted to finish some outside work before it got windy so I decided to make a crockpot beef dinner.

I turned it into a Dark Days Meal. All thrown together in the crockpot. I made:
Local Beef Short Ribs
Potatoes
Leeks
Red Onion
Tomato Sauce
Kale
Napa Cabbage
Carrots

First though, I browned the beef ribs. They were from Triadelphia Lake View Farms, and bought at the farmer’s market earlier this year.

The tomato sauce is from Quaker Valley in PA. I used it to augment the tomato/veggie sauce I had made earlier this week using stuff from my garden and the CSAs that I found in the freezer. It made a rich sauce that coated the kale and cabbage. I placed the beef on top of it all with salt, pepper, cinnamon, garlic, dried peppers (grated), and a touch of local honey. All the veggies were CSA veggies from Zahradka Farm or Lancaster Farm Fresh Coop.

Served it with a Linden Hardscrabble Bordeaux blend, from VA. Great comfort meal on a cold night.

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Posted in Dark Days, Food, Locavore, Wine and tagged Dark Days Challenge, Food, Locavore, wine. Bookmark the permalink.

Dark Days Challenge Week Five Christmas Dinner

Posted on December 27, 2011 by AnnieRie

I suppose I subscribe to the philosophy when I accept a challenge to go big or go home. Being somewhat crazy, I decided to make Christmas dinner be our dark days meal for the fifth week of the challenge. I am leaving the easier dinners for when I am really running out of vegetables. Besides, I can’t believe the lovely romanesco cauliflower that was in our first Zahradka Farm CSA delivery last week. All ready to roast, it looks just like a Christmas tree, doesn’t it?

Dinner ended up being:
Roasted Cauliflower
Hydroponic tomatoes with goat cheese and basil and balsamic
Stuffed butternut squash
Virginia country ham on sweet potato biscuits
Linden Hardscrabble Chardonnay

The biscuits and ham came home with us from my brother’s house, so I do know that the biscuits were made using regular flour, one of the few non-local items in the meal. I just warmed them up in the oven.

The squash were stuffed with a honeycrisp apple, squash I roasted earlier in the week, local black walnuts, local honey, and local butter. The squash were from the Lancaster Farm Fresh CSA that just finished before Christmas.

The tomatoes came from the nearest grocery store, but Hummingbird Farms on the Eastern shore of Maryland grows lovely flavorful tomatoes year round in their greenhouses, hydroponically. The cheese was the end of the Firefly Farms chevre log. The basil from Mock’s Greenhouses in Berkeley Springs, WV.

The balsamic is not local, but bought from St. Helena Olive Oil Co., when we went there in 2006, I brought back three bottles of their aged balsamic. This is the last bottle. I need to order their oil and vinegar again, while it is cool enough for them to be shipped without damage. I buy their Napa Valley olive oils by the half gallon.

The wine is one of my absolute favorites from Virginia, Linden Hardscrabble Chardonnay. This was the 2008 vintage, the second year of our hot dry summers, and this wine is big and beautiful. It is made in the Burgundian style. Jim Law is a master of terroir, and his wines show his love of the land. If you meet him, he will tell you he is first and foremost a farmer, who happens to grow some of the most amazing grapes on his land that borders the Appalachian Trail near Shenandoah National Park.

Dinner doesn’t need to be fancy. Just flavorful. The wine, the salad, the roasted veggies, and the salty tang of country ham, all came together to make a lovely Christmas dinner for me and my husband. We do cherish the quiet times, far from the rat race we lived through in our journey to retirement. Our first Christmas since he retired, and it was a special one.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

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Posted in Dark Days, Family, Food, Locavore, Retirement, Wine and tagged Dark Days Challenge, Food, holidays, Locavore, wine. Bookmark the permalink.

Dark Days Challenge Week Four

Posted on December 19, 2011 by AnnieRie

It’s Sunday night. The night I usually cook my local meal for the Dark Days Challenge

I went way out there this week. Making gnocchi with local spelt. My local sources are on my page linked above on the blog.

Dinner:
Heirloom tomatoes with goat cheese, basil, olive oil and balsamic.
Sweet potato gnocchi with maple syrup and sage brown butter.
Maple pork sausage with onions and peppers.
Boordy Reserve Chardonnay.

Besides the salt, pepper, cinnamon, olive oil and balsamic, everything else was local.

Tomatoes and basil from Mock’s Greenhouse. 70 miles
Sausage and butter from South Mountain Creamery. 35 miles
Maple syrup from Patterson’s Farm, PA. 200 miles (yes, outside my 150, but one of the nearest sources of maple syrup to MD)
Sweet potatoes, onions and peppers from LFFC CSA. 100 miles
Goat cheese from Firefly Farms. 140 miles.
Spelt from The Common Market, Frederick MD 20 miles.
Ricotta from Natural by Nature. 100 miles.
Sage from my garden, 10 feet

Spelt was difficult to source, but The Common Market sells it in bulk, as well as in bags from Shiloh Farms. I bought bulk. I can also get it from Atwater’s by buying bags of Daisy, or by mail from Rodale or Small Valley. I saved the postage and bought bulk, even though they don’t know whether each batch is from PA, OH or maybe NY. In my rules, if I can source it locally, I will sometimes substitute if I can’t easily pick up the item. Having it shipped adds greatly to the cost. Same for maple syrup. There is a place in MD that makes it and sells it. Buying it when I am out costs less than ordering and paying for shipping.

The wine is from Boordy and went very well with the gnocchi. I have to admit, the white spelt which is a pastry flour is way finer than wheat flour, and the potatoes were also very fresh and almost melted when baked. I had to greatly increase the amount of flour to make the gnocchi, but they came out beautifully.

The recipe was from Food Network, with my changes to use spelt.
1 1/2 pounds sweet potato, baked in the oven, then peeled and smashed
1/2 cup ricotta cheese
1 tsp cinnamon
3/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp freshly ground pepper

Mix together. Add 2 cups of spelt, 1/2 cup at a time. You may need even more spelt as you are rolling out the gnocchi. Form a large ball. Divide into 4 pieces. Put more flour on the board. Get the right consistency by feel. If they are too wet, add more spelt. Keep on the side on a baking sheet. Heat salted water to boiling. Drop in enough at a time not to crowd them. Fish out after 5-6 minutes, and put under a foil tent to stay warm.

In the meantime, make the maple cinnamon sage brown butter. I used 3/4 stick equivalent of my dairy’s butter, 12 sage leaves, 2 TBSP maple syrup, 1 tsp cinnamon.

Bring the butter to a boil in a large pan, add sage and stand back. Stir and continue browning butter, then remove from heat and add cinnamon and maple syrup. Caution: it does foam up quite a bit, so be prepared to stir vigorously. Pour over the gnocchi and the sausages, which were baked in the oven with a little butter, two small onions chopped, and a few of my last CSA peppers.

Enjoy!

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Posted in CSA, Dark Days, Food, Locavore, Wine and tagged Dark Days Challenge, Food, Locavore, wine. Bookmark the permalink.

Dark Days Challenge Week Three

Posted on December 12, 2011 by AnnieRie

I find Sundays to be the best day to do the Dark Days Challenge as I am home watching football, and dinner can be made around games and halftime. I promised the OM (old man) in amateur radio lingo (as an aside I am the XYL or X young lady, single women are YLs) that he wouldn’t suffer with bad meals because I am doing this challenge. So far I think I am delivering really good food while staying within the parameters of the challenge. All of my sources are now being listed on my local resources page.

It all started with sauerkraut. I made my first batch of sauerkraut two weeks ago. This is the last of it.

I put a new batch together in the pail and will have more for meals over the holidays. Probably taking some to my brother’s house for Christmas Eve. The cabbage is from our CSA.

The sausage I bought Saturday at the Silver Spring year round farmer’s market.

Sausage, sauerkraut, and a honeycrisp apple from Quaker Valley. Ready to bake.

I made a spinach salad. Spinach from Our House Farm, rest of the veggies from the CSA, and cheese from Bowling Green Farm in Howard County. Vinaigrette from Catoctin Mountain Orchards. Spelt bread from Atwater’s. Butter from South Mountain Creamery. The wine is a 2000 Linden Hardscrabble Cabernet Blend from VA from the cellar. Virginia has some phenomenal wineries, and Linden’s wines are some of the best here. This wine is still a baby after 11 years.

The finished dinner, including a side of roasted root veggies left over from earlier in the week. The veggies were all from the Dupont Circle Farmer’s Market or the CSA, and all were local and organic, including the huge roasted black radish which was wonderful after slow roasting. It also included plum tomatoes, celery, carrots, onions and greens. After roasting the veggies earlier this week I strained and saved the veggie stock to use later for other meals.

Who says Dark Days have to be dull? We can cook great meals with local ingredients, with a little planning.

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Posted in CSA, Dark Days, Food, Locavore, Wine and tagged Dark Days Challenge, Food, Linden Vineyards, Locavore, wine. Bookmark the permalink.

Drink Naked

Posted on December 11, 2011 by AnnieRie

One of my favorite sayings. Many years ago, Naked Mountain was featured at a White House dinner, proving Virginia wine had come of age. We started collecting reds from our favorite vineyards, making us locavores or locawinos (is there such a word) long ago.

We started collecting them in 1990, and many have proved to be spectacular years later.

Besides the few Maryland wineries we love, like Black Ankle and Boordy, we have many favorites in Virginia.

Here are just a few samples of excellent big wines years after cellaring.

The Linden 2000 was amazing, not even ready to drink.

Dark Days Week Two – Dinner Extraordinaire

Posted on December 7, 2011 by AnnieRie

When the better half, or the OM (old man in amateur radio lingo) raves about how amazing dinner was, you know you found a winning recipe.

I had leftover CSA veggies to use. The fridge is out of control. Today is CSA day. What to make with turnips and Jerusalem artichokes? Enter Serious Eats to the rescue.

Turnip, Jerusalem artichoke and apple soup. Somewhat easy to make. Immensely satisfying. Add to that some Red Apron Lamb sausage, some Atwater’s baguette, and cleaning out the spinach, tat soi and radish in the crisper to make a side salad. All local except for the olive oil, salt and pepper.

The soup recipe is below.

2 small leeks, cleaned and chopped
1 clove garlic, chopped
1 small onion, diced
olive oil

Start with these in a heavy cast iron Dutch oven. Soften first, then sweat them in a 1/2 cup of water, until water almost evaporated.

Add diced turnips (3), Apples (2) and Jerusalem artichokes (about a pound total) with 2 cups more of water and a pinch of salt. Simmer it all covered for 45 minutes on low heat, then puree in a blender.

Served with a side salad of spinach, tat soi, radish and a peach vinaigrette. Sliced bread and the leftover lamb sausage from Red Apron butcher. And, of course, a local wine. Boordy Reserve Chardonnay.

Delicious.

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Dark Days Challenge Week One – Dinner and Lunch

Posted on November 29, 2011 by AnnieRie

Sunday night I kicked off the Dark Days Challenge by cooking an almost completely locally sourced dinner, and then Monday had a lovely lunch of leftovers to make it a “twofer”.

My rules are in my previous post. This meal came from within a 100 mile radius, since my CSA sources are about 80-90 miles away in Amish country. We pick up our CSA about 8 miles from our property so that is the distance I traveled to get most of my dinner. A few things came from my trip Christmas shopping to Frederick and Thurmont, and from a visit with friends to the Dupont Circle Farmer’s market. I stocked up on local items while on these two trips so have lots in the larder and freezer for future meals.

Sunday Menu
Green Salad
Turkey Breast w/chutney
Sweet Potato Galette
Pumpkin Ice Cream

The wine was local as well. Black Ankle vineyards is my favorite Maryland winery, and this Gruner Veltliner is a perfect match for turkey.

The salad:
2 heads Baby Flashy Troutsback Lettuce – organic – Friends Road Organics – CSA
1 shaved carrot – organic – Elm Tree Organics – CSA
Six cherry tomatoes from my garden
(bag ripened from the final culling of the vines prior to frost)
1 Black Radish, peeled, sliced – organic – The Farm at Sunnyside (Dupont Circle Market)
Cremini and Button Mushrooms – organic – The Mushroom Stand (Dupont Circle Market)
Peach Vinaigrette – Catoctin Mountain Orchards Thurmont MD
Pistachios – the only non-local item on the salad

The galette:

Recipe Sweet Potato Galette

2 Beauregard Sweet Potatoes – organic – Eagle View Acres – CSA
1 large bunch spinach – organic – Farmdale Organics – CSA
1 head tatsoi – organic – Hillside Organics – CSA
1 package Firefly Farms Black and Blue Goat Cheese, crumbled
Salt and pepper to taste
Turkey Stock, homemade from Maple Lawn Farms fresh turkey, using neck, gizzards, heart and liver
1 TBSP butter – South Mountain Creamery

I cooked down a large quantity of greens (spinach and tatsoi) in skillet using a splash of organic extra virgin olive oil (not local, I wish we could grow olives here) and a quarter cup of my homemade turkey stock. Set them aside and prepared skillet for creating the galette. Dropped a tablespoon of butter in the skillet, let it melt, and added first layer of thinly sliced sweet potatoes, topped with greens and cheese, then repeated three times, and seasoned with salt and pepper. I made sure to press down the final layer just before putting it in the oven, and added a tiny bit more of my stock to keep it moist.

Baked in a 350 degree oven in the skillet for about 45 minutes. I use convection bake for this to speed up the baking and keep the bottom from browning before the potatoes are done. A bit messy to plate but definitely good. Next time I would use the other cheese from Firefly which is a creamier blue. This one got a wee bit chewy.

Reheated the turkey breast in the oven with a drizzle of turkey stock. Turkey breast was leftovers from our Thanksgiving all natural fresh turkey from Maple Lawn Farms in Maryland, made Friday. Veggies and stock for the turkey all local, veggies from CSA (carrots, onions, celery) and stock made in advance from the innards.

Served it with a side of the last of the wild blueberry chutney a friend brought home after her summer in Maine. I give them all tomatoes in the summer and they exchange things, like milk from their cows, and others have eggs from their chickens.

Dessert was pumpkin ice cream from South Mountain Creamery.

Monday was beautiful here, so we decided to eat out on the patio. I made a salad with leftovers of the turkey and pretty much the same other items, like carrots, mushrooms, and served it with cheese from Bowling Green Farm and an apple from Quaker Valley Farms (Dupont Circle Mkt). I did add dried cranberries from our organic supermarket. They are not local obviously. The vinaigrette was Catoctin Mountain Orchards Blackberry Splash. Cider from Black Rock Orchards in Lineboro MD.