10 Wines for Your New Year’s Celebration
What’s not to love about Champagne? It goes with every type of food, it’s perfect all by itself and it makes any occasion special. Going into the next decade of the 21st century certainly calls for a drink – of something special! Cheers!

Top 5 Best Selling Champagnes over $30:
1.    Veuve Clicquot Brut Champagne – $40
2.    Ariston Aspasie Brut Rosé Champagne – $33
3.    2002 Perrier-Jouët “Fleur de Champagne Belle Epoque” half-bottle – $40
4.    Krug “Grande Cuvée” Brut Champagne – $120
5.    Marguet Pere et Fils “Cuvee Reserve” Brut Champagne – $33

Top 5 Best Selling Champagnes for $30 or less:
1.    Ariston Aspasie “Carte Blanche” Brut Champagne – $25
2.    Nicholas Feuillatte “Blue Label” Brut Champagne – $25\
3.    Laurent-Perrier Brut Champagne – $30
4.    Michel Loriot “Cuvee Reserve” Brut Champagne -$30
5.    Philippe Gonet “Brut Reserve” Champagne – $30

Serve with Mini Potato Pancake Appetizers

Recipe:

Mini Potato Pancakes

Ingredients:
2 russet (baking) potatoes, peeled
1 small yellow onion
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 egg beaten
1 teaspoon salt
freshly ground black pepper to taste
1 cup Crisco or peanut oil for frying

1. Finely grate the potatoes and onion onto a freshly washed kitchen towel.  When all is grated, wrap the towel around the pieces holding the towel over the sink and wring out all excess liquid.

2. Place the potato pieces into a mixing bowl and add the flour, egg, salt and pepper.  Mix thoroughly.

3. Heat the oil in a large frying pan over medium high heat. Pan is ready when you splash cold water from your fingers into the pan and it sizzles.

4. Using a tablespoon, drop potato mixture into the pan. Cook about 2 minutes per side, until the surfaces are brown and crispy and the insides are tender and cooked through. If your pan isn’t large enough to cook the pancakes all at once, do them in batches.  Add more oil to the pan if necessary.

5. Transfer to a paper towel lined plate and keep warm in 200 degree C oven while you finish cooking the rest. Serve warm with toppings of your choice.

Favorite Toppings:
Sour Cream with a sprinkling of scallions or caviar
A little granulated sugar
Applesauce
Apple/Onion Chutney – homemade or store bought

Enjoy with a glass of your favorite Champagne.

Soup and Wine
As winter approaches and the weather begins to get cooler – or colder, depending on where you live, soups are easy and delicious to have for lunch or dinner. When I was at Costco last week they had small bags (6 large onions) of sweet Mayan onions that I thought would be perfect for onion soup.

When I was getting ready to make the soup yesterday, in the back of my mind I kept thinking that a fruity Chardonnay would be a perfect pairing with the sweet onions. Lucky for us, we didn’t have to look far for the wine. Since this is the time of year we always seem to be in a race to drink wines we’ve had in the cooler a little too long I knew we had to have a Chardonnay that was ready to drink.

Since most Chardonnays don’t age well, we knew it was time to open the 2007 ZD. The first whiff was wonderfully fruity – I knew it would be perfect, and it was.

2007 ZD California Chardonnay
A blend of fruit from 4 California wine regions – Napa, Carneros, Monterey and Santa Barbara.

Gold color in the glass. Bursting with fruity aromas of peach, mango and pineapple with hints of nuts and spice. Flavors of pineapple, peach and honey with hints of vanilla and oak. Medium bodied. Nice fruity finish. Drink now. $24 at NapaCabs.

We served this wine with the easy to make, French onion soup. An excellent match.

French Onion Soup
Ingredients:
2 Tbs butter
2 Tbs olive oil
6 Cups thinly sliced onions*
1 clove garlic paste
1/2 tsp salt
sprig of thyme
1/2 tsp Worcestershire sauce
1Tbs flour
6 Cups beef broth
6 toasted baguette slices
1 1/2 Cups grated Gruyère cheese
1/4 Cup dry Sherry
*If you are using yellow onions instead of sweet onions, add 1/2 tsp sugar

Directions
Heat butter and olive oil in a heavy skillet. When the butter starts to bubble, add sliced onions and simmer with lid on pan for 10 minutes.

Remove lid,turn heat up to medium high and stir. Keep stirring onions until they begin to turn brown – but not burned. This will take 25 – 30 minutes. This is the most time consuming part.

Heat a cup of beef stock in the microwave for about 50 seconds, then add flour and stir well – add to onions. Add remaining stock, garlic, Sherry, thyme and Worcestershire sauce to onions. Stir well and bring to a simmer. Cover loosely and simmer on low for 1 hour. If liquid reduces too much add a little water. Add salt and pepper to taste.

While soup simmers, slice the baguette and bake until toasted but not brown. I use the toaster oven.

Grate the cheese.

When ready to serve, put baked baguette slices on a foil lined cookie sheet, top with cheese and put under broiler until browned.

Ladle soup into bowls. Then using a spatula, remove browned cheese covered baguettes and place on top of soup in each bowl.

We served this soup with a salad.

Riesling
Riesling is the most food compatible wine in the world. Because of it’s relatively low alcohol content, fruity acidity and a range of dryness levels, it goes well with a variety of foods. It’s also the fastest growing white wine in the U.S. in terms of sales. Washington State’s Chateau Ste. Michelle, is the largest Riesling producer in the country.

Up until now, unless you’ve tried the wine or heard about it, there was no way to know if the bottle of riesling you were buying would be too sweet or too dry. No more guessing! The International Riesling Foundation has come up with a “Riesling Taste Profile” to be used on the back label of the bottle. The simple chart will help the wine buyer find the style of riesling he/she is looking for:

This spring, Chateau Ste. Michelle will feature the “Riesling Taste Profile” scale on two of it’s new releases: the 
2008 Winemaker’s Cabinet Riesling and the 2008 Waussie Riesling.

Dry riesling pairs well with creamy or fatty cheeses like Brie or Munster or salty cheeses like Gruyere or Asiago. The acid in the wine cuts through the fattiness or the creamy cheeses and sets off the saltiness of the saltier cheeses. Chicken and riesling is a no-brainer.

Here’s a tasty recipe for Chicken with Riesling that is easy to prepare and tastes great the next day:

Chicken with Riesling
8 chicken thighs (bone in and skin on)
Salt and pepper to taste
1 Tbsp Extra-Virgin Olive Oil
2 Tbsp unsalted butter
4 shallots, chopped
3 Tbsp cognac
3 cups dry riesling wine
12 sprigs flat leaf parsley
2 small bay leaves
2 sprigs fresh thyme
A pinch of nutmeg
2 Tbsp unsalted butter
8 oz mushrooms, quartered
Juice of one lemon (about 3 Tbsp)
2 egg yolks
2/3 cup crème fraîche
Finely chopped parsley for garnish

Season the chicken pieces with salt and pepper. Heat the oil and 2 Tbsp butter in a heavy wide Dutch oven or braising pot. When hot, place the chicken pieces in the pot. Brown the chicken on all sides, turning with tongs from time to time.

Lower the heat, and add the chopped shallots and cook for another 2 minutes or so.

Remove the Dutch oven from the heat. Pour in the cognac, return to the cooktop, and flame it. When the flame dies, stir in the wine, parsley, bay leaves, thyme, and nutmeg. Cover the pot and reduce the heat to low; simmer gently for 20 minutes or until the chicken is nearly cooked through.

Meanwhile, heat the remaining 2 Tbsp of butter in a wide fry pan, and sauté mushrooms for several minutes, stirring from time to time, until the mushrooms are tender. Add the lemon juice and set aside. 

When the chicken has cooked 20 minutes, add the mushrooms to the chicken, along with any accumulated mushroom juices.

Continue to cook the chicken for another 10 minutes and then remove the chicken pieces to a deep heated platter. Cover loosely with foil and hold in a warm place while you finish the sauce.

Finish the sauce: turn up the heat and reduce the braising liquid to about 1½ cups; it can take several minutes for the excess to boil off. Once reduced, remove the bay leaf, parsley, and thyme sprigs, and then reduce the heat to low.

In a small bowl, beat the egg yolks with the crème fraîche, and then add to the reduced sauce. Heat the sauce gently for a minute or so, whisking often to avoid curdling, and to encourage thickening. If any juices have accumulated under the chicken, add it to the sauce.

Remove from the heat, and correct for salt and pepper seasoning. 

Pour the thickened sauce over the chicken pieces, sprinkle with some finely chopped parsley, and serve with buttered noodles, spaetzle, or mashed potatoes.

Makes 4 — 6 servings

Finding the Perfect Wine for Beef Stew
From the Dallas Morning News
by Tina Danze

THE MISSION: Find wines that cost less than $20 to pair with Beef Stew in Red Wine With Onions and Mushrooms.

THE FOOD: Beef Bourguignon (the French name for the stew described above), served with a side of garlic mashed potatoes.

THE TASTERS:
•Hunter Hammett, sommelier, Pyramid Restaurant at The Fairmont Dallas.
•George Howald, Serendipity Wine Imports
•James Tidwell, master sommelier and certified wine educator, Cafe on the Green, the Four Seasons Resort and Club in Las Colinas
•Barbara Werley, master sommelier; wine director, Pappas Bros. Steakhouse
•Cathy Barber, Taste editor
•Tina Danze, freelance writer

The wine panel at the Dallas Morning News debated this month’s pairing entree: Would it be a rustic Beef Stew in Red Wine With Onions and Mushrooms, or the classic Beef Bourguignon that Julia Child translated for the American kitchen?

Actually, the two are the same dish. Julia simplified the technique somewhat for the stew recipe in the ’90s. But each name conveys a slightly different image. If you want an earthy, peasant-style dish for a casual family gathering or pumpkin-carving party, call it beef stew. If you want a traditional French dish for a stylish dinner party, call it Beef Bourguignon.

If you’re going to the trouble of cooking for hours and marrying the flavors overnight, you want a wine that enhances your culinary achievement. Too bold or tannic, and the wine can overwhelm the stew; too light or uncomplicated, and the wine falls flat.

After tasting 14 wines with the stew, here are the top 2:

2004 Lungarotti Rubesco, Italy
Elegant yet earthy, this wine came in a close second for our panel pick. “It’s an approachable wine,” said Hammett. “It’s delicious with a bite of the onion and mushroom, and it rounds out nicely on the finish.” Tidwell liked the wine’s complexity, which meshed well with that of the stew. “It has an earthiness and a fruitiness which complements the dish without overwhelming it,” he said. Both Werley and Howald hailed it as a versatile, solid food wine. $12

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2004 Taurino Salice Salentino Rosso Riserva, Italy
Although not a wine that panelists would uncork for sipping solo, this lesser-known varietal turned out to be the best match for the stew. Barbara Werley said that Southern Italian wines such as this one are made for food like this – comfort-food dishes that have complexity. “This wine becomes bright on the mid-palate. Its earthiness gives way to fabulous fruit,” said Werley. “I wouldn’t serve it as an aperitif, but with the meal, it’s perfect.” James Tidwell identified a “mushroom earthiness” in the wine that he found compatible with the dish. $14

Which wine did we cook with?
2008 Cartlidge & Browne Pinot Noir, California
Often Beef Bourguignon tastes too winey – a result of cooking with overly assertive or tannic wines, or just too much wine.

The goal was to find a fruity, medium-body wine, such as this domestic pinot noir. To keep the wine from dominating the dish, the wine was supplemented with canned beef broth, adding just enough to cover the beef.

A terrific stew can be made with any number of wines. Julia Child recommends a zinfandel, and many recipes call for a burgundy. But bear in mind, the wine matches were tailored to the dish, which was made with a fruity, medium-body California pinot noir. Feel free to experiment.

Here’s the Recipe:

Beef Bourguignon – Beef Stew in Red Wine with Onions and Mushrooms

Beef Bourguignon is a classic French dish of inexpensive beef simmered with vegetables in a wine-based broth.

INGREDIENTS
4       pounds boneless beef chuck cut into 1 ½ – to 2-inch cubes
Vegetable oil for browning the meat
2       cups sliced onions
¾     cup sliced carrots
1        bottle of medium-body, fruity, young red wine (divided use)
4       or 5 large unpeeled garlic cloves, smashed
2 ½  to 3 cups canned beef broth
2 ½  to 3 cups canned drained Italian plum tomatoes
2       bay leaves
1        teaspoon dried thyme
Salt and freshly ground pepper to taste
24     small frozen pearl onions, defrosted
3       cups quartered fresh mushrooms (such as cremini)
5       tablespoons softened butter (divided use)
3       tablespoons flour
Dry the meat thoroughly with paper towels – damp meat won’t brown well. Film a frying pan with 1/16 inch of oil and set over moderately high heat. When very hot but not smoking, brown as many pieces of meat as will fit in one layer without crowding. Turn frequently to brown on all sides – 3 to 5 minutes; this is a very important flavor step, so don’t take shortcuts. Transfer the pieces as they are done to a 3-quart, heavy-bottom, flameproof casserole or Dutch oven.

Preheat oven to 325 F.

Skim all but a spoonful of fat out of the frying pan. (If burned, discard all the fat and add fresh oil.) Add the sliced vegetables, stirring and tossing for 3 to 4 minutes to brown lightly before scraping them out over the beef. Pour a cup of the wine into the frying pan, swishing and scraping up any browned bits and coagulated juices. Pour the liquid into the casserole. Add the garlic, the remaining wine, and beef broth to the casserole to cover. Fold in the tomatoes, bay leaf, thyme and salt to taste. You should have enough liquid almost to cover the beef; add more beef broth if needed.

Bring the mixture to a simmer on top of the stove. Cover and transfer to the preheated oven and cook for about 3 hours, turning and basting the meat several times, until just fork-tender. Check the dish after 15 minutes to make sure it is not boiling; reduce oven temperature if it is bubbling too vigorously; it should maintain a simmer.

While the dish simmers, prepare the pearl onions and mushrooms. Heat 1 tablespoon butter in a heavy saucepan or skillet over moderately high heat until the foam subsides, then sauté onions, stirring occasionally, until browned in patches. Season with salt and pepper. Add water to come halfway up the sides, then simmer, partially covered, until onions are tender, about 15 minutes. Boil, uncovered, stirring occasionally, until liquid is reduced to a glaze, 5 to 10 minutes. Set aside.

Heat the 1 tablespoon butter in a large, nonstick skillet over moderately high heat until foam subsides. Add mushrooms and sauté, stirring, until brown and any liquid that the mushrooms give off is evaporated, about 8 minutes. Season with salt and pepper.

When beef is tender, pour the contents of the casserole into a colander set over a saucepan to collect all the liquid. Wash out the casserole and return the pieces of beef to it. Press the juices from the solids in the colander into the saucepan. Degrease the cooking liquid and taste very carefully for seasoning. You should have about 3 cups of liquid. Boil it down rapidly if its flavor needs concentrating. Remove from heat.

Using clean hands, blend flour and remaining 3 tablespoons of the butter into a paste with your fingers. Whisk the butter-flour paste into the degreased sauce. When thoroughly incorporated, bring the sauce to a boil to thicken. If not thick enough, repeat the process using ½ tablespoon each of flour and butter.

Add the sauce, prepared onions and sautéed mushrooms to the beef in the casserole and simmer for 2 minutes to blend the flavors. This dish is best if made a day or two ahead of serving, as its flavors meld and develop overnight. Cool, uncovered, before chilling, covered. If making ahead, it’s easier to remove fat from the surface after chilling. If you can’t make it a day or two before serving, at least time the preparation so that it sits at room temperature for 1 hour before serving. The dish may be reheated, covered, in a 350 F oven. For faster reheating, remove stew from the refrigerator an hour before putting in the oven.

Makes 8 servings.

SOURCE: Julia Child, The Way to Cook

The right stew meat

Chuck roast is the best choice of stew meat for this dish because it can hold up to long, slow cooking and has enough marbling to baste itself as it cooks. Don’t be alarmed by the layers of fat within each cube of chuck; the fat melts out, leaving behind flavorful, fork-tender meat. After the dish is cooked, you will have an opportunity to remove the grease; it’s easiest to do this after chilling the dish overnight in the refrigerator.

Leaner cuts of stew meat will not be as tender or flavorful, so resign yourself to degreasing after you cook the dish, rather than avoiding the fat on the front end.

And consider this pearl of wisdom from Julia Child’s The Way to Cook (Alfred A. Knopf, 1989): “Cuts like the rib and rump will fall apart, and something like the eye of round will shred.” That’s not a pretty prospect, so stick with the chuck.

Flavor tip: Cook a day in advance

The secret to the best stew is making it a day (or even two days) ahead. A day in the fridge gives the flavors a chance to meld and develop. Working ahead has other advantages too: You won’t be nervously monitoring your stew in front of your guests, and you can degrease the stew easily when the chilled fat solidifies on the surface.

Crisp Sauvignon blanc
When most of us think of wine with eggs, we usually think of eggs benedict at a Champagne brunch. Good, but eggs are great for any meal. Once in a while we have eggs for dinner and we always enjoy it and wonder why we don’t do it more often. You don’t have to limit yourself to champagne either. Eggs go with many wines – depending on how you cook them and what you serve with them.

Roast sparagus served with a fried egg on top, with a sprinkling of proscuitto on top is a real treat. Serve with a glass of Sauvignon blanc – one of the most versatile wines, and you have a fine meal.

I found a great recipe at Cakebread’s website:

Olive Oil Fried Egg with Roast Asparagus and Parmesan
Serves 4

1 bunch large asparagus
2 T.extra virgin olive oil
1/4 c.Parmesan Reggiano cheese, grated
salt and pepper
.
4 large eggs, room temperature
1/4 c.
extra virgin olive oil
salt and pepper
.
extra virgin olive oil
parmesan cheese, grated
4 proscuitto crisps* (optional)

Preheat oven to 400° F. Trim the woody end off of the asparagus spears. Arrange in a row on a sheet pan, drizzle with olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Roast in the middle of the oven until asparagus are tender, about 10 minutes. Dust with the parmesan to lightly coat.

When asparagus is ready, heat a small non-stick skillet over high heat. Add olive oil and crack an egg into the pan. The egg white will puff and sputter as it hits the hot oil so be careful as you add the eggs to the pan. Remove from the heat and spoon the hot oil over the top to set the egg. Season with salt and pepper. Arrange a few asparagus spears on warm plate. Top with a fried egg. Feel free to drizzle with more olive oil and grated parmesan cheese. Garnish with the prosciutto crisps if using. Serve either as a first course or serve two eggs per person with a green salad and loaf of crusty bread as light spring meal.

Enjoy with a glass of Cakebread Cellars Sauvignon blanc

*Proscuitto crisps are made by drying out thinly sliced prosciutto on a parchment lined sheet pan in a 225°F for 30-40 minutes until dry.