A Riff on Eggs Benedict

I am writing sporadically lately, because I am in the process of packing up my house, preparing to move. A tedious process, and time consuming. Still, I had to share something. The last time I wrote I gave the recipe for Rosemary Parmesan Biscuits, which were awesome. I cannot recall if I wrote about my desire to try them as a base for a sort of Eggs Benedict? Well, I did. Try it, I mean. OMG.

I always prefer to make things from scratch, so I had the biscuits, which I toasted, cut in half, face down in the pan where I had cooked up some bacon, and then fried some potatoes. I made a quick Hollandaise sauce for one:
 

Hollandaise for One

1 egg yolk
2 tablespoons water
1 tablespoon tarragon vinegar or lemon juice
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
1/4 teaspoon salt, or less

Set a small pan of water to simmer. Have everything measured and ready, with the melted butter at hand. Test a small bowl; when set over the simmering water the bottom of the bowl should not touch the water. With the bowl off the pan of water, place the egg yolk and the water. Whisk together and set over the simmering water, whisking briskly until the mixture begins to thicken. Add the vinegar or lemon juice and whisk again until the mixture begins to thicken. With this small amount, it will not take long. Slowly, drizzle in the melted butter, whisking constantly until the mixture has grown in volume and is smooth and creamy. Remove from heat and serve immediately.

Once I removed the hollandaise from over the simmering water, I added a splash of vinegar to the water and cracked in two eggs to poach for 3 1/2 minutes. I cut each of the 2 slices of bacon into 2 pieces and laid them onto the biscuit halves. I set the poached eggs on top of the bacon and spooned the hollandaise over the eggs. It was a remarkable breakfast. Very rich, and not one I do often - maybe once every couple of years. The timing was right, the biscuits were fantastic and I just love Eggs Benedict. This was a bit of a riff on that concept of English Muffins, Canadian Bacon and Poached Eggs, but oh my was it good!

I hope someone out there gives this a try.


My passion is to teach people how to create a harmony of flavors with their cooking, and help pass along my love and joy of food, both simple and exotic, plain or fancy. I continue my journey in ethnic and domestic cuisines, trying new things weekly. I would love to hear from you, to help me continue my journey to explore diverse culinary experiences and hopefully to start you on a journey of your own. Join me at A Harmony of Flavors Website and Marketplace, Tumblr, Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and sign up for my Newsletter.  
 

Three Recipes made an Excellent Dinner

Pork Tenderloin in Dukkah Seasoning

Continuing on with trying out foods and pairings, since I have so many wines fresh in my memory, last evening I recreated 2 recent recipes, but with an addition. I had made Pork Tenderloin in Dukkah Seasoning a couple of weeks back for some friends. I made aioli from scratch and served little medallions of the pork on thin slices of baguette with the aioli. An inspired pairing with the Rioja wine I served. Ever since that night, I have been thinking of making the pork again, since it was so very good, and I didn't get to taste much of it.

Okay, that part was easy, because I had everything I needed. I thawed the pork and got it marinating in Hoisin sauce. In the meantime, I was thinking about biscuit recipes and I got an idea. I went ahead with it and mixed up the biscuits as I was thinking of it. The recipe was quite savory, and I thought these biscuits would go very well with the pork. Here is the recipe, which made 8 large biscuits:

Rosemary Parmesan Biscuits

¾ cup evaporated milk
2 tablespoons white vinegar
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
2 teaspoon sugar
1 teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon baking soda
4 teaspoons shallot, finely minced (about 1 medium shallot)
½ cup Parmesan, finely grated
¼ cup cornmeal
1 tablespoon fresh rosemary, finely minced
½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 stick cold, unsalted butter
2 tablespoons butter, melted
Coarse salt, for sprinkling

In a small bowl, combine the evaporated milk and vinegar; stir and set aside to thicken. (Buttermilk may be substituted for this step). Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Sift together the first 5 ingredients into a medium bowl. Alternatively, place ingredients into bowl and whisk to combine. Add in the next 5 ingredients and whisk together. Grate the stick of butter with a large holed grater, into the flour mixture. Using a pastry cutter, cut in the butter with the flour until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs.

Add in the thickened milk and toss with a fork to combine. Once mixture begins to come together, gather the dough into a ball. If the dry ingredients are not coming together add up to 2 tablespoons more milk. Do not make the mixture too soft.

Turn out onto a floured surface and flatten the dough. Fold it over and flatten again, and repeat about 5 more times. This gives the finished biscuits beautiful layers. Pat out the dough to about ¾ inch thick and cut biscuits with a 3 inch cutter. Set onto a lightly greased baking sheet, well apart. Brush tops with the melted butter and sprinkle with the coarse salt. Bake the biscuits for 12 to 15 minutes, until risen and browned.

The Final Product

While roasting the pork tenderloin (about 25 minutes at 450 degrees), I made a new batch of Aioli. This time I didn't have any parsley on hand, so I made it without. I am also in the process of packing up the house to move soon, and had packed up my immersion blender. Since I made the aioli with that little blender last time, it was the first place I went. Alas, it was no longer in its place. So, for the first time, I made a mayonnaise by hand with a whisk. It went far faster than I had expected and was quite simple. Likely it was because the recipe is very small, but the results were as silky smooth and beautifully yellow as last time, minus the parsley. Once the biscuits were done, we sat down to eat, and that combination of the pork with the Dukkah seasonings, the Parmesan Rosemary Biscuits and Aioli was just like heaven.

My passion is to teach people how to create a harmony of flavors with their cooking, and help pass along my love and joy of food, both simple and exotic, plain or fancy. I continue my journey in ethnic and domestic cuisines, trying new things weekly. I would love to hear from you, to help me continue my journey to explore diverse culinary experiences and hopefully to start you on a journey of your own. Join me at A Harmony of Flavors Website and Marketplace, Tumblr, Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and sign up for my Newsletter.  
 

Making Good Wine and Food Pairings

I hope everyone is not tired of me writing about the Winefest Renaisasance! It was a lively evening, the first of what will hopefully be an annual event. All the proceeds benefit the Boys and Girls Club of Aberdeen; a worthy and noble cause.

The fact is that though I am still recuperating a bit from all the cooking and inventing of recipes last week, it was really fun and rewarding. I found that making up recipes from scratch is not as hard as I once thought. I found that while I knew in past I had made some really great wine and food pairings, this is the first time they were served to the public. Serving to family members is one thing. Being family they are more forgiving. I had not dealt much with public. Last year I did appetizer foods for a retirement party, which hosted a lot of people I didn't know, but the venue was familiar, and family and friends were involved. This Winefest was really public in all senses. It was well received, for which I am grateful. Many of the foods were praised repeatedly and for that I am not only grateful, but relieved and fulfilled. I am so grateful for my talents and the ability to give people a pleasurable experience.

Wine tasting is an interesting experience. There are so many styles of wine and so many grape varieties. One vintner's style with a grape can be so far different from anothers as to be unrecognizeable. Some wines go best with food. Some are teriffic all by themselves. Some can go either way. The thing is to have an open mind. Don't blacklist a grape on the basis of one wine. Try others, try it with food. My goal for this Winefest Renaissance was to instruct people to taste the wine first. Take some time examining what flavors and aromas are present. What does one like or dislike about the wine. Is it enjoyable?

Once that part is done with, try the wine with food. Obviously not just any food will be a good match for any wine. That is where my talents came into play. I have tasted a lot of wines in the course of the last 25 years. I have had ample opportunity to taste wines with various foods and develop a sense of the flavors of each, and how they harmonize. The common phrase is "wine and cheese", yet not just any cheese will pair with just any wine. Knowing what works best together and presenting these flavors to the public was my part of this event. I tried to present each wine in the very best light, creating the foods that would pair best and bring out the best flavor of both the wine and the food. There were many people who commented that the wine alone was not one they would really like to sit around and sip. With the food, however, it was just wonderful. And that was the whole point.

Fig, Mushroom & Goat Cheese Tarts 

I created a sheet with different wine grape varieties that cross referenced the foods and flavors that go best with each wine. It is easy, though time consuming at first, to go online and research. Look at any site that talks about a Cabernet Sauvignon, for example, and see what food pairings are recommended. Being a bold wine, Cabernet pairs well with bold flavors. I researched recommendations for about 20 kinds of wine in order to put this sheet together. When I contemplated creating recipes to go with the 6 wines I chose, I used that list. I went down the column of choices and selected items that sounded like a good combination for a recipe. In the case of the Cabernet Sauvignon, I chose beef, walnuts, rosemary and gorgonzola cheese. These flavors were perfect with the wine.

Asparagus, Pine Nut & Goat Cheese Tarts

For the Pinot Noir, I chose figs, mushrooms, and goat cheese from the list and created little tarts by first sauteeing the mushrooms; the figs were soaked in Sherry and drained and added to the mushrooms. With the addition of crumbled goat cheese and placed into mini pie pastries, these flavors went perfectly with the wine.

For the Sauvignon Blanc I chose asparagus, pine nuts and goat cheese and used them to make little tats on puff Pastry. Each appetizer pairing was well planned so the flavors would bring out the best qualities in the wines. Take time to research when serving foods and wines. Obviously, one cannot always have every person tasting the exact wine to go with the exact food. When showcasing a wine though, it is worth the time and effort.
 

My passion is to teach people how to create a harmony of flavors with their cooking, and help pass along my love and joy of food, both simple and exotic, plain or fancy. I continue my journey in ethnic and domestic cuisines, trying new things weekly. I would love to hear from you, to help me continue my journey to explore diverse culinary experiences and hopefully to start you on a journey of your own. Join me at A Harmony of Flavors Website and Marketplace, Tumblr, Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and sign up for my Newsletter.

Winefest Renaissance 2013; a Success

Well, the Winefest Rennaisance 2013 event was held last evening at the Ward Hotel in Aberdeen. All proceeds are for the benefit of the Boys and Girls club of Aberdeen. Mine was the official Wine and Food Pairing and Rating table. My sister in law came to help me out, for which I am extremely grateful. My foods were a hit, and my pairings were spot-on. Word got around and we had people waiting for a seat most of the time. It was a little bit of a madhouse at first. The idea was to have people rate the wines as they tasted, and some did work at it early on. After an hour or so of tasting all kinds of wines, few people had any interest at all in the rating part. The food and the wine pairings continued to hold their interest. 

Squash, Apple, Leek and Asiago Triangles

In all, I created 8 new recipes just for this event. I wrote about the Squash, Apple, Leek and Asiago mixture. I made extra to fill a galette for dinner a few nights back. Last night I served the mixture rolled into Phyllo triangles. Sadly, they were the least sought after of the appetizers. Most people wanted to try a particular food, so they were served the wine that paired with that food. The Squash Apple Leek and Asiago Triangles were delicious paired with the Kendall Jackson Chardonnay Grand Reserve. The flavor of the apples was made more apparent when the wine was sampled alongside the appetizer.

The absolute biggest hit of the night was the Flank Steak with Gorgonzola Walnut Spread, which was served paired with the Conn Creek 'Herrick' Cabernet Sauvignon blend. The pairing was particularly wonderful together, but people just liked the Flank Steak flavors and word got around. We had people saying, "I heard I had to come down here and try these little Steak Appetizers!" Not the wine, mind you, though it was a great wine for the pairing.

Flank Steak with Gorgonzola Walnut Spread

Indian Spiced Chicken with Cilantro Sauce

The pairing that surprised me the most was the Anderra Carmenere and the Indian Spiced Chicken with Cilantro Sauce. I hoped the flavors would go well together. I had not tasted any of the wines prior to creating these recipes, so I was going strictly on the descriptions for the wines that I could find online. The Anderra, being from Chile, seemed like it should go well with spices and cilantro. I smelled the wine when I opened it and was pretty sure it wouldn't be a wine I liked, just based on that initial sniff. As with all things, one should not judge too quickly. When I actually tasted it, it surprised me no end. Flavors of pepper and cherry came through and made it quite interesting. I tasted it with the Indian Spiced Chicken with the Cilantro Sauce and it was amazing. I had been having people ask for that wine and food pairing second only to the Cabernet and Flank Steak.

I will write more on this event in a couple of days, but for now, I am glad it is over, and now I can focus on such other things as making a wedding cake and moving. I believe the Winefest was a success, and if it becomes an annual event, this should have given everyone a solid basis for the knowledge of what went well and what needed improvement. For a first time event of this magnitude, I believe it was spectacular.


My passion is to teach people how to create a harmony of flavors with their cooking, and help pass along my love and joy of food, both simple and exotic, plain or fancy. I continue my journey in ethnic and domestic cuisines, trying new things weekly. I would love to hear from you, to help me continue my journey to explore diverse culinary experiences and hopefully to start you on a journey of your own. Join me at A Harmony of Flavors Website and Marketplace, Tumblr, Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and sign up for my Newsletter.

Progress on Foods for the Wine Tasting Event

Making the galette

I wrote the other day about the Wine Tasting event coming up this Saturday evening. I have been busily prepping the recipes I created to pair with the 6 wines I will be showcasing. So far, I made the squash and leek mixture for what will (hopefully today) be the little Squash Apple Leek Phyllo Triangles, to be accompanied by the Kendall Jackson Chardonnay Grand Reserve.


While I was typing up the recipe, thinking about how good this mixture was, it occurred to me it could also be placed into a 13 x 9 casserole, topped with a little more Asiago mixed with bread crumbs and made into a Squash Apple Leek Gratin. And to take that yet another step further, how about making a galette with the filling? A galette is nothing more than a rustic pie. Using a pie pastry, just roll it out, place on a baking sheet, pile a filling in the middle, leaving about a 3-inch edge. Flip the edges up, folding as necesary to just hold the filling in place and bake. Easy.

First Bite.

The filling was just so delicious, I decided to make a half batch more with the rest of the squash and apples. I didn't have any more leeks, so I just substituted a thinly sliced onion. I already had pie pastry in the freezer. So there I had a most delicious galette for dinner that night, and probably tonight as well.

Squash Apple Leek Galette with Asiago Cheese

I also made the Gorgonzola Walnut Spread for the Flank Steak, which will be accompanied by Conn Creek "Herrick" Cabernet. Yesterday I started the day by soaking dried figs, chopped small and put to soak in some dry Sherry while I went outside to shovel the freakishly heavy snowfall we got overnight. When I came back in, the figs had plumped nicely, and I started working with the mushrooms and shallots, sauteeing them on high heat to brown and evaporate all the moisture from the mushrooms. I added in some finely chopped fresh rosemary, salt and pepper and combined with the drained fig pieces. So far that mixture also tastes really fine. I will be adding in a little log of Chevre goat cheese and then placing the mixture into mini tart pans lined with pie pastry, and then baked. I cannot wait to try those. Even without the cheese, the mixture is delightful. These little mini tarts will accompany the Kenwood Pinot Noir.

I also made andouille sausages wrapped in puff pastry and sliced into little coin shapes and baked. The andouille is of local (meaning VERY upper midwest) origin. It is nicely spiced, but not hot-spicy at all. These little andouille coins will accompany the J Lohr Syrah. Last evening, with an abundance of hamburger in  my freezer leftover from a side of beef from a year back, I got out a package of the hamburger. Since 2 andouille sausages were left from making the little appetizers, I decided to make Hamburger Andouille Gumbo, shown here. Not authentic with hamburger, but the rest of the flavors were, and it was so delicious for dinner last evening.

Today will be another terribly busy day. I have to marinate chicken and broil it, broil some asparagus and chop it, make a cilantro sauce for the chicken, make a marinade for the flank steak, wrap the Squash Apple Leek mixture into the Phyllo, and probably a few other things I am forgetting at the moment. Thank heaven for sticky notes, because right now there are so many of them stuck all over my pages of recipe ideas it looks like a flock of birds in the wind.


My passion is to teach people how to create a harmony of flavors with their cooking, and help pass along my love and joy of food, both simple and exotic, plain or fancy. I continue my journey in ethnic and domestic cuisines, trying new things weekly. I would love to hear from you, to help me continue my journey to explore diverse culinary experiences and hopefully to start you on a journey of your own. Join me at A Harmony of Flavors Website and Marketplace, Tumblr, Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and sign up for my Newsletter.

Lots of New Recipes to Create

There is a Wine Tasting event in town this weekend, for the benefit of the Boys and Girls Club of the Aberdeen Area. I am participating in this event by showing people how to rate wines, using actual wine rating sheets, and then tasting food prepared expecially for specific wines. If anyone out there has tried a wine and disliked it, you may want to rethink.

Wine and Food Pairings for the Wine Tasting Event

I have held wine tastings in my home, for family or select friends, just to demonstrate what differences can be found when one tastes a wine alone, versus with a food that goes well with the wine. One sister said she didn't like Chablis. Or, for that matter, the Crab Cakes I served with that wine. I asked only that she taste and give it an opportunity. She tasted the Chablis and was pleasantly surprised. We went through the rating process and proceeded to tasting the Crab Cakes. Once tasting the Crab Cakes, which she was reluctant to try, she said they were actually pretty good. Once tasting the Crab Cake with the Chablis, she was shocked! The flavors changed and it was as if it was a completely different wine. The Chablis tasted diffferent, and far better, with the food, and the Crab Cakes became amazing.

This is the way to really find out what ones tastes are. It is not enough to taste a wine once and dismiss the entire scope of that grape on the basis of one wine that didn't meet with approval. There are so many vintners out there in so many countries, all making wines in different styles, out of the same grapes.

Now that I got thoroughly entrenched on my soapbox here, my topic was "lots of new recipes to create". Back to the Wine Tasteing event, I am going to hand out rating sheets for 6 of the many, many wines to be tasted at the event. I am also preparing a particular appetizer to go specifically with each of those 6 wines. I researched online what the wine style is for each of these 6 wines, so I could pair a food accurately. That means I have 6 new recipes I will be creating this week. I hope I have some time in between to get back here and report progress.

I am going to be showcasing six wines. The list here shows the wine with the food pairing I am making. I am creating all these are recipes specifically for this event, and while they all "Taste" great in my mind, there is always the question of how they translate into actuality. Until then! Cheers!



My passion is to teach people how to create a harmony of flavors with their cooking, and help pass along my love and joy of food, both simple and exotic, plain or fancy. I continue my journey in ethnic and domestic cuisines, trying new things weekly. I would love to hear from you, to help me continue my journey to explore diverse culinary experiences and hopefully to start you on a journey of your own. Join me at A Harmony of Flavors Website and Marketplace, Tumblr, Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and sign up for my Newsletter.

Wine Tasting, Rating and Pairing Foods

Delightful Rioja

Life is getting hectic. My husband and I hosted a little wine tasting last evening for a couple of friends. We will be a part of a big "Wine Renaissance 2013" event this coming weekend with all proceeds to benefit the Boys and Girls Club of Aberdeen Area. Our little wine tasting last evening was a bit of a primer to show our sponsor what Rating wines is all about.

We have hosted a few wine tastings over the last few years, helping people to try new wines, both alone and then with a food paired for that wine. This helps people to better distinguish what about a wine they like, and if it is one they like alone, or if it is better with food. Using a rating sheet to mark down all pertinent descriptors is another way to learn more about a wine and ones likes or dislikes. I put together some wine rating sheets years ago, but have continued to refine them as time passes and more ideas come up.



Asparagus Appetizers for
White Graves Bordeaux wine

I have an ability to "taste" foods in my mind when reading a recipe, and it serves me very well also when trying to pair foods with wines. I will be making some little appetizer foods to pair with the wines for the Wine Renaissance event next weekend, and that should keep me busy all week long. (Add to that we are moving in a little mover a month and I have a huge household to pack up.)

For last night's little wine tasting I served a white Graves from Bordeaux I had never tried before, along with three I'd had before, though not recently. Knowing about the styles of a wine helps when pairing foods. I knew that the Graves would be quite dry and minerally, and those kinds generally pair well with something like asparagus. Asparagus can be tricky  to pair with a wine, but these little asparagus appetizers went extremely well, making a slightly austere wine taste more rounded and buttery.


Pork Medallions in Dukkah Seasoning on bread with aioli:
served with a red Rioja wine

I paired a pork tenderloin, marinated in hoisin sauce and then rolled into Dukkah seasoning and roasted. The Dukkah had almonds and hazelnuts in it along with cumin and coriander and I just felt those flavors would go well with the Rioja wine I served next. I made aioli and spread that onto tiny rounds of bread and broiled the aioli to take the harsh edge of garlic off. One little medallion  
of the pork went on top. They went so nicely with the Rioja wine.



Saffron Almond Wafers:
paired with a sweet California Muscat wine

For the third wine, a California Syrah, I made the same little beef rolls from flank steak that I had made before, and again the pairing was perfect. The last wine, a dessert Muscat from California, was a tougher pairing. It is hard to  make a dessert that is not too sweet. If the food is too sweet, the wine willl taste sour. I decided to try and make some cookies that were heavy on nuts, as that will usually go well. My little cookies turned out great. I called them Saffron Almond Tea Wafers. They would be perfect with a nice cup of tea or coffee, but they were absolutely perfect for the Muscat dessert wine.

Last night went perfectly and our guest enjoyed the wines and food pairings so that was a success. Now I am geared for next week's event and all the foods to prepare over the course of this week. I am going to invent recipes for all of the 6 wines I will showcase, so recipes will be turning up either here or on my website soon.


My passion is to teach people how to create a harmony of flavors with their cooking, and help pass along my love and joy of food, both simple and exotic, plain or fancy. I continue my journey in ethnic and domestic cuisines, trying new things weekly. I would love to hear from you, to help me continue my journey to explore diverse culinary experiences and hopefully to start you on a journey of your own. Join me at A Harmony of Flavors Website and Marketplace, Tumblr, Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and sign up for my Newsletter.