By Lizbeth Congiusti, The Sassy Sommelier

The first thing I think about when I think of February is how cold it is in Chicago.  I am from Chicago and I love the Arizona weather.

The second thing I think of is Valentine’s Day, going out for dinner, chocolate and enjoying a nice bottle of wine.

My idea of wine and chocolate follows everything I know about wine tasting, there are NO Rules, only guidelines to get you started.  Once you get started follow your nose and your pallet.  Your heart will lead you to what you like and what works best for you.

With any food and wine pairing you’ll need to pay attention to both the wine and the chocolate.     Red wine has tannin and chocolate has bitterness.  You’ll want your wine and your chocolate to be at least equal in their tannin and bitterness or even better your wine should be slightly sweeter than the chocolate.

Full bodied Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlots and Zinfandels with hints of cocoa marries well with bittersweet chocolate.   “Branham Jazz” is a blended wine with hints of cocoa and coffee, give it a try.

Milk Chocolate works well with Pinot Noirs because of their lighter tannins and essence of strawberry jam.  “Loring Wine Company” pinot noir collection makes an easy to pair with chocolate.

My favorite chocolate pairing is fresh strawberries dipped in white chocolate with sparkling wine or champagne.  “Soligo Prosecco Brut” from Italy has a sweet finish and complements the strawberry and sweetness of the white chocolate.

I learned a long time ago, my picks may not be yours so YOU need to keep tasting wine.   It truly is the only way to learn what you like.

Also, the economy has affected wine drinkers.  We are looking for values, we want to be sure we like the wine before we buy it and many of us are going back to what we know Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Chardonnay.  Under $20 is the preferred price BUT under $10 is BETTER.

Folie a Deux Menage a Trois a red blend is consistently good and a great price under $8 at Costco.

Bander Cuvee Natalie a blend of Riesling, Pinot Grigio and Sauvignon Blanc is something you’ll really love as it heats up in the valley.  Usually around $15 per bottle, you can ask your local retailer to order it for you.

By Kira J Wills, Guest Blogger for Foodies Like US
Check out her blog at: www.saturday-chef.blogspot.com

There are infinite things to learn about cooking:  techniques, knife skills, information on thousands of ingredients, how to salvage recipes gone wrong.  Every recipe teaches me something, as does every mistake.  One of  the most important lessons I’ve learned is that cooking is a labor of love, a gift to the senses.

Chefs on reality shows and the super-chefs of the Food Network nearly bludgeon viewers with their big idea of Cooking With Love, the use artful and creative preparation of food as a way to express affection to family and loved ones.  It is a beautiful sentiment, and realistically, a fantastic and wholesomely marketable way to promote celebrity chefs and their shows, and sell Food Network cookware.

But it’s also true.

The act of cooking serves a paramount purpose: nourishing the people close to you.  It is a simple task that can be incredibly profound, and it’s never more apparent than when you discover or create a recipe that inspires much more than just yummy noises.  A simple meal can be the bedrock of tradition and nurture celebration.  My understanding of the Cooking With Love concept has once again been reinforced by creating.  It is everything I love: rustic braised chicken suspended in a rich sauce studded with potatoes.  It is warming and hearty, and can be made in about an hour.  It is the perfect meal to make for your family on a holiday or on a brutal winter day as an edible “I love you.”

I have dubbed this dish Cooking School Chicken as I get to practice a lot of techniques—braising, deglazing, chopping—and because it has taught me the biggest cooking lesson there is.

Ingredients

1 pound baby red potatoes, cut in bite-size pieces

6 to 8 chicken thighs (with bone and skin)

1 teaspoon dried thyme

Flour for dredging

Olive oil

1 ½ to 2 medium leeks, washed and finely chopped

1 cup dry white wine

2 to 3 carrots, peeled, cut in edible pieces

4 cups chicken broth

1 tablespoon lemon juice (or juice of ½ lemon)

2 tablespoons Half & Half

Salt, Pepper

Parsley Flakes (optional)

Cut potatoes into even bite-size pieces, halves or quarters for the larger spuds.  Rinse.  Pour potatoes into a medium pot, cover with water and place over medium-high heat to boil while you chop vegetables and prep chicken.  Boil potatoes until they are soft but still a bit firm, about 4 to 5 minutes.  Drain.  Season conservatively with salt, pepper and a pat of butter.

Wash and finely chop leeks.  Set aside.

Peel and rinse carrots.  Quarter carrots lengthwise, then cut into roughly 2-inch strips  (Note: You can use baby carrots to decrease prep time.  I have used both.  I find that larger carrots impart more flavor.  And I really like peeling them).

Rinse and pat chicken dry.  Season with salt, pepper and dried thyme on both sides.  Dredge in flour seasoned with same spices.  Be sure to tap chicken gently to remove any excess flour.

Place the biggest skillet you have (16” of bigger) over moderately high heat and add enough olive oil to coat bottom of the pan.  When oil is hot, place chicken skin-side down and brown on both sides, about 5 minutes per side.  You may need to work in batches as not to crowd the pan.  Transfer chicken to plate.

Drain off oil, chicken juices and darkened flour and reserve in measuring cup.  Carefully wipe out any burnt bits from bottom of pan.

Place skillet over medium heat.  Add about 2 tablespoons of reserved oil, then leeks.  Sweat until leeks are soft and fragrant, about 3 minutes.  Season with salt, pepper.  Deglaze with white wine.  Cook until liquid begins to bubble at the sides.  Add carrots and 1 teaspoon of thyme.

Add 2 cups of chicken broth and stir to combine, allow to cook until liquid is boiling and has reduced a bit.  Add chicken, skin-side up, and juices from plate.  Cover and simmer chicken on low until meat can be easily removed from the bone with a fork and carrots are done, about 30 to 40 minutes.  Shake the pan peridocially while simmer.

When chicken is done, transfer to plate.  The leftover liquid should now be thicker and even formed a brown crust in some spots (don’t panic, it’s flavor!).  Increase heat to medium.  Add remaining chicken broth and stir.  Let sauce thicken and reduce for about 10 minutes.  Season with pepper and thyme if needed.  Add potatoes and two palmfuls of parsley flaskes for color.

When sauce has thickened to desired consistency, add lemon juice to brighten and Half & Half to thicken.  Check and adjust seasoning if needed*.  Add chicken back to skillet and leave on heat for a few minutes to marry flavors.

Serve immediately.  This can be made a day ahead of time.

Recipe Notes

*Lemon juice will bring out the flavor of salt, so use it conservatively when seasoning sauce and vegetables.

*Also, I almost always use Half & Half in place of heavy cream.  It’s readibly available, and a bit healthier.  Feel free to use cream if you wish

By Susie Timm, Chief Operating Foodie

A really cool (or should I say sweet?!) part of our business that is growing rapidly is the whole “people sending us cool stuff” part. Who knew? Start a food blog and people want you to taste their food, product etc.

We got a message from a gentleman named Ryan asking if he could send us a “must have” sweet ingredient: Wisconsin Natural Acres Honey.

Being from Wisconsin, I was immediately intrigued. Of course, because I am from Wisconsin, I probably would say “yes” to trying any local product from my home state. I was also intrigued because we are often skeptical of anything people call a “must-have.”

A week went by and the Wisconsin Acres honey arrived.

I whipped up a batch of biscuits (no, not from scratch—I am NOT a baker…) added some butter and drizzled on the honey.

Ok. Ryan was correct. This honey is a “must-have.” Hands down. The very best honey I have indeed ever tasted.

The flavor was so pure and clean tasting. Some honey has a strange aftertaste that is almost chemical. Not Wisconsin Acres.

They told me, “WNA is a place that some very lucky honeybees call home, and it’s where beekeepers are using centuries-old beekeeping secrets to produce the most pure and best-flavored honey in the world. Besides using no chemicals, the hives are “smoked” only with local organic applewood, and are placed in chemical-free fields of sweet-white clover and deep-purple alfalfa. Additionally, the honey comes from a single source without any blends from abroad such as China or Mexico.”

So THAT’S how they do it! They were also recently featured on the Food Network’s Unwrapped.

Happy bees make happy honey. Or delicious, and pure honey at the very least.

Chief Beekeeper and owner Doug Schultz has been honing his craft since he was a teenager in the 1980’s.

Next time I head back to Wisconsin for a visit, I will make a point to head to Chilton to see these bees in the flesh. Er…in the fuzz?

I look forward to using this ingredient as a natural sweetener in my cooking and who knows? Perhaps it will inspire me to bake.

www.wnacres.com

By Donna Boetger, Guest Blogger for Foodies Like Us

For as long as I can remember I’ve been a pushover for any menu item that includes foie gras.  Whenever I go to a high end restaurant my eyes go right to the appetizer section and I look for an offering of foie gras. I was shocked to learn that foie gras translates from the French to “fatty liver.”  I seem to remember seeing that ominous term on my last physical exam print out and hearing a “tsk tsk” from my physician. Could there be a correlation to eating too much foie gras? Sacre bleu! It’s not like I have foie gras every week or even once a month.  Known for living on the edge, though,  I am not going to change my deeply entrenched and hard earned food preferences and start resisting  my favorite slice of heaven. Besides, it’s possible all the butter, Devon cream, crème fraiche, Stilton blue and slices of prosciutto ingested over the years should be included in the list of more likely suspects. Pretty good rationalizing, huh?

 

There is something so sensuous about the silken texture of the lovely duck or goose liver as it melts on the tongue.  I’ve seen many creative presentations and one that still stands out in my mind was a couple of years ago when my husband and I attended the West of the West Culinary Festival and the chef from the Fairmount Princess served foie gras wrapped in cotton candy on a stick. It might sound a bit incongruous but the combination of sweet with the tender cube of foie gras was truly out of this world. Several years ago we were fortunate enough to taste foie gras in Strasbourg, France, which is considered the home of the world’s finest foie gras. It was served simply with a baguette, sweet butter, the foie gras and cornichons. Sitting at an outdoor cafe by the cathedral in Strasbourg noshing on foie gras, sipping a lovely white wine…it doesn’t get much better than that.  Café Bink’s in Care Free has a delicious foie gras terrine that I’ve ordered several times and Kevin Binkley regularly offers foie gras at Binkley’s.  His torchon of foie gras is marvelous.  Chef Vincent Guerithault at Vincent’s on Camelback does his Southwest-French fusion bit beautifully on foie gras with caramelized pineapple. Debra Knight at Mosaic prepared a lovely foie gras on a recent visit. I don’t remember all the ingredients now – possibly because I went far away somewhere into a state of ecstasy – but I believe there was some red grapefruit  and butter involved and the plating was a work of art. I managed to snap a photo before it disappeared.

 

Controversy does abound on the subject of foie gras. Many states now are outlawing the production of foie gras because animal activists consider it cruel to fatten the geese or ducks by force feeding them in a manner that causes their livers to swell. I am an animal lover but I can’t muster much indignance over the process.  If it produces succulent livers that taste like heaven on earth then they must be destined to be eaten . I will ignore the PETA folks and my fatty liver be damned. If I must go to that great French bistro in the sky then let it be by a torchon of foie gras.  Even better with cotton candy. 

I have only appreciated lamb as meat option for about five years. Prior to that, I had reservations. “Oh, lambs are so cuddly. Oh, my mother has a stuffed lamb collection in the house. Oh, I have seen them on the farm since I was a kid.”

Oh no. No longer. I am a huge fan. Lamb is delicious in almost every form I have tried it. Here’s a brief list of my faves:

Gyros (To me, the best way!), Shank, Chops, Skewered

I have toured all over this great nation seeking out the very best lamb recipes. In Arizona, I love My Big Fat Greek Restaurant’s Gyros. They bring tears to my eyes and I crave them at strange hours of the day (I have woken up at 2 AM craving gyros on more than one occasion!) I also love the lamb chops at Heirloom and the lamb-pops at Christopher’s.

For all of my adventurous foodie travels, I have never cooked lamb at home. I thought, “I will leave lamb to the experts. I don’t want to dry it out, screw it up blah, blah.” You get the point.

I have conquered my fear ladies and gentleman. With one simple recipe, I have proven that lamb is affordable, accessible and delicious. In my own kitchen!

In my spare time, I am moderately obsessed with reading cookbooks and cooking magazines. It’s a food porn sickness. But, it has made me a better chef ten fold! I was reading Rachael Ray’s mag (June/July 2009 which is filled w/ great recipes this month) last weekend in the Jacuzzi (my preferred place to read cookbooks) and I found this recipe and got very excited!  I headed out to Albertson’s and was very pleased to see they carry lamb in various forms. I picked up 1 lb of ground lamb for about $8. Well worth it!

 

 

Middle Eastern Sliders

            4 pita breads

            1-1/2 pounds ground beef (I used lamb because I didn’t even notice it was beef on the recipe!)

            1 teaspoon ground cumin

            Salt and pepper

            1 romaine heart, thinly sliced crosswise

            1 cup grape tomatoes, halved

            1/2 cup dill pickle slices

            1 tablespoon estra-virgin olive oil

            1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice, plus lemon wedges for serving

             3/4 cup store-bought hummus

Preheat a grill to medium-high. (I did this all on the stove top and warmed the pitas in the broiler)

Stack the pitas and wrap in heavy-duty foil; place on the grill and cover to warm.

In a large bowl, combine the beef with the cumin, 3/4 teaspoon salt and ¼ teaspoon pepper; shape into twelve 1/3-inch-thick patties.

In another large bowl, combine the romaine, tomatoes and pickles; toss with the olive oil and lemon juice and season with salt and pepper.

 

Remove the pitas from the grill. Transfer the beef patties to the grill, cover and grill for 2 minutes on each side for medium.

 

 

Spread each pita with some of the hummus, then top with some of the salad and 3 patties. Serve with the lemon wedges.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The only 2 changes I made were: substitute lamb for beef and I added tzatziki sauce (yogurt, lemon juice, cucumber, garlic, dill, s & p) to the pitas when they were filled.

After taking his first bite, my husband made a noise akin to a “squeal” and said, “Wow these are amazing.” I thanked Rachael for YET AGAIN proving her recipes are simple, delicious and easy to make at home.

So foodies, try this at home! It will be well worth it!