Komala’s Neighborhood

2009 Oyster Bay Sauvignon Blanc Marlborough, New Zealand. This is one powerful wine. Off the nose was gooseberries and cut grass.  It tasted like citrus, tropical fruit with super zesty, mouth-watering finish. This is would be a nice with whatever you got, even with Jill, James and Sandra or whoever you have over. 

 

2006 Sumac Ridge Black Sage Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon, Okanagan Valley, British Columbia. I was surprised by how good this wine was. Maybe this is a myth, but I have this idea you have to pay big for a good Canadian wine.  The nose of this dark red wine offered a combination of vanilla, honey, banana, and all spice. It bursts with a number of interesting flavours--all spice, cinnamon, and red fruit. The wine had a nice finish-- smooth with a hit of tannins.  I would like to try this with roasted or grilled meats, or even with a creamy pasta sauce. 

You have 8 bottles of wines in front of you, all of which are covered up. Four reds, four whites. Your mission to drink very slowly until you can identify the grape varietals for each wine bottle or you pass out, which ever comes first. If you like wines you should be able to identify these wines before you keel over with these very general guidelines.

French Chardonnay--Chablis

Appearance: colourless with green hues

Aroma: citrus, apple, pear, tropical fruit

Taste: in general, mineral, citrus, thin

Sauvignon Blanc:

Appearance: almost colourless, green hues, deepens slightly with age

Aroma: citrus, apple, pear, apricot, peach, nectarine, tropical fruit, fresh/green, asparagus.

Taste: fresh, grassy, crisp, punchy, big round melon tastes 

Gewurztraminer

Appearance: yellow pink/gold

Aroma: citrus, tropical fruit, floral

Taste: rosewater, sweet, spice

 

Muscat

Appearance: deep yellow to deepest gold, age dependent

Aroma: tropical fruit, floral

Taste: orange blossom, sweet

 

Pinot Noir

Appearance: brick red

Aroma: berry, plum, cherry, prune, dried fruit.

Taste: tannic, acid

 

Cabernet Sauvignon

Appearance: blue/black

Aroma: berry, dried fruit, fresh (cut grass, bell pepper), green/black olives

Taste: fruity, crisp

 

Zinfandel

Appearance: deep black with purple notes

Aroma: berry, dried fruit

Taste: dark fruit , oak

 

Shiraz

Appearance: dark red

Aroma: berry, cherry, plum, prune

Taste: berry, dark fruit, spice

White Wine

2007 Conundrum California White Table Wine. This is a not-to-be missed white blend. It combines sauvignon blanc, Muscat, canelli, chardonnay and viognier. Aromas and flavours of peach, mango, herbs and spice. Lush texture. Lovely.

Red Wine

2005 Salento Primitivo Puglia Italy. This is a super dark red wine with intense strawberry, spicy-peppery flavours; in short, one classy wine.

tasting at home... spot the makeshift spittoon. It's amazing what one can find lying around the house!

 

systematic approach to tasting. amazing to see the differences in appearance - whites are not whites. lemon, gold, lemon green. aromas: honey, petrol, citrus, apricots and yeast. taste: sublime!

grapes: trebbiano, chardonnay, riesling, gewurztraminer.

a simple italian, a new world chardonnay, a dry new zealand riesling, an off-dry alsace riesling, a burgundian chardonnay, a german gewurztraminer...

An entertaining way to talk about wine.

Anecdotes, le nez du vin, great food and excellent company. The credit goes to Dawid Koegelenberg, General Manager of Corrigan’s. He brings theatre, entertainment, and a character and flair to what could otherwise be staid, dull and lifeless.

Battling against the surroundings of a rather listless, dull private room, Dawid was terrific.

Guess the wine in a blackened glass – red or white. An interesting ice-breaker. And teaching us the sense of smell. Four bottles which contain different wine aromas (le nez du vin) – honey, lime, walnut and apricot.

Food and wine matching at Corrigan’s.  It gets the big thumbs-up from me.

Some highlights: Spanish Manzanilla with crispy olive filled with goat’s cheese and spicy harissa. Unctuous. Nutty aromas, firm structure of the sherry stood purposefully alongside the spiciness of the dish.

And the Maury Vintage 2007 (French sherry) was matched superbly with the chocolate fondant and chestnut dessert.

Yummy.

I have no trouble making moussaka, dolmades, spanakopita, or tzaziki, and turning phyllo into baklava, but my Greek dishes always turn out to be super greasy and heavy. Why?  I can’t seem make this stuff, I fail at it. How bad is it? I get horrible soggy goo all the time. On the surface of things, this a very simple, not complicated cuisine--all you need is an olive grove, fields filled with sheep, and swimming beautiful blue ocean of squid. Not coincidentally, all of these aren't nearby. 

Maybe you will have better luck than me with these recipes. 

Moussaka

1 large eggplant, about a pound sliced ¼ inch thick

2 tbsp olive oil

Meat Sauce

1 cup onion, minced

2 garlic cloves, minced

1 lb ground lamb or beef

1 cup canned tomato, coarsely chopped

2 tbsp tomato paste

½ cup white wine

2 tsp parsley, chopped

¼ tsp ground cinnamon

salt and pepper to taste

Cream Sauce

¼ cup butter

¼ cup flour

2 cups milk

1/8 tsp ground nutmeg

¼ cup parmesan cheese, grated

1 egg, beaten

salt and pepper to taste

Directions 

Fry the eggplant slices in a skillet set over medium-high heat until softened and lightly golden on both sides, 2-3 minutes. Set aside to cool.

Heat oil in a large sauté pan over medium heat and cook the onion until soft, about 4 minutes. Add the garlic, cook 1 minute. Add ground meat, turn heat to high, and cook until well browned. Drain any excess fat, then add remaining sauce ingredients, reduce heat to medium and cook about 20 minutes, until the sauce has thickened. Adjust seasoning.

Melt butter in a sauce pan over medium heat and stir in the flour; cook gently for 2 minutes. Add milk, stir to combine, turn heat to medium high and bring mixture to a boil, cook a further 2 minutes, remove from heat. Stir in nutmeg and 1 tbsp cheese, then cook mixture. When cool, stir in beaten egg into sauce and adjust seasoning to taste.

To assemble, lightly oil a 8x8 pan. Place eggplant in a layer to cover the bottom of the pan, top with meat sauce, repeat with a second layer of eggplant and sauce, then top with cream sauce and sprinkle with remaining cheese.

Bake at 350F for 45-60 minutes. Let stand 10-15 minutes before cutting into squares to serve.

Serves 4-6.

Dolmades

8 oz preserved vine leaves

2tbsp extra virgin olive oil

1 cup minced onion

¼ cup pine nuts

1 cup long grain rice

½ tsp ground allspice

1 tsp salt

1 ½ cups chicken stock or water

fresh ground black pepper to taste

2 tbsp mint, minced

4 tbsp fresh lemon juice

Directions 

Drain brine from leaves, rinse in cold water and then blanch in boiling water for 1 minute.

Place olive oil in a skillet over medium-high heat and sauté the onion until tender, about 5 minutes. Add the pine nuts, rice, allspice, 1 tsp salt, and the stock or water. Cover, turn the heat to medium-low and cook until the rice is somewhat tender but still quite al dente, about 10-12 minutes.

Cool in a large bowl, check the seasoning, and add the pepper, mint and half of the lemon juice.

Place one grape leaf shiny side down on a cutting board and put 1 tbsp mixture in the middle of the leaf. Fold over the stem end, then the side then roll up.

Place stuffed leaves in a roasting pan, add more stock or water to come halfway up the dolma, and cook covered over low heat for about 30 minutes.

Drain, serve at room temperature, sprinked with remaining lemon juice and a drizzle of olive oil.

Makes about 30 dolmas.

 

Spanakopita

2 lb spinach

2 tbsp olive oil

1 cup onion, minced

½ cup scallion, minced

salt and freshly ground black pepper

1/8 tsp ground nutmeg

1 lb feta cheese, crumbled

¼ cup fresh dill, minced

1 lb phyllo dough

8 oz melted butter

Directions 

Parboil the spinach until it wilts, then drain, squeeze dry, and chop.

Place olive oil in a skillet over medium heat, add the onion and scallion and sauté until soft, about 5 minutes. Remove to a bowl.

Add the spinach, feta cheese, dill and season to taste.

Roll in phyllo into triangle shape.

Bake in a pre-heated 350F oven from about 20 minutes, or until nicely browned.

Makes over 40 pieces.

Tzaziki

1 cup plain yoghurt

1 cup cucumber, peeled, seeded and shredded

2-3 garlic cloves, minced

2 tbsp olive oil

1 tbsp lemon juice

2 tbsp mint leaves, minced

salt and fresh ground black pepper

Directions

When I wasn't cooking or hiding from the rain, I spent it outside, around the house, in the forest. I took my camera on a couple of my walks with my little sweet Tao. So interesting what you see when you have a camera on hand. I couldn’t believe the beauty that surrounded me; the lovely specs of flowers, and the warm dying flowers were pretty. And then, I turned my attention to the tree trunks. I saw detail--texture, shapes and layers of patterns--maybe for the first time. Walking home, I could only think I live in one beautiful place. 

 

Reds

Over the years I've discovered that Chinese food is high in nutrients, low in calories and well-balanced. Meat doesn’t dominate the cuisine—vegetables do, and fish plays an important role. There are no dairy products, very few animal fats, and grains are plentiful. Sweets? Well, there’s not much. The texture is usually crisp, delicate, but I’ve tried heavy and oily dishes plastered with MSG-- not  a big fan of the stuff.

The other thing that’s unique about Chinese cooking is the technique; it’s pretty much all about stir-frying. A small amount of oil is poured into a super hot work and few ingredients are added, stirred and cooked in a short period of time; there’s no slow cooking here. It's all about speed. This technique requires ingredients chopped up into uniformly small pieces so that the food will cook evenly, absorb the seasoning and retain their freshness, juiciness and crispness.

Here are a couple of my favourite healthy, easy-to-do recipes: a soup, an appetizer, and main dish. 

Hot and Sour Soup

7 oz extra firm tofu, drained

4 tbsp soy sauce

1 tsp sesame oil

3 tbsp cornstarch, plus an additional 1 ½  tsp

1 boneless breast of chicken, cut into 1 X 1/8 inch matchsticks

3 tbsp cold water, plus 1 additional tsp

1 large egg

6 cups chicken broth

1 cup bamboo shoots

2 oz dried shiitake mushroom, soaked in hot water to soften and sliced thin

5 tbsp black Chinese vinegar

1-2 tsp chili oil

1 tsp ground white pepper

3 medium scallions, sliced thin

 Garnish

cilantro

Directions

1. Press tofu between two pie plates weighted with a heavy can for 15 minutes.
2. Combine soy sauce, sesame oil, and 1 tsp cornstarch with chicken in a bowl, let marinate for 10 minutes.
3. Combine 3 tbsp cornstarch with 3 tbsp water, set aside.
4. Combine remaining ½ tsp cornstarch with remaining 1 tsp water in a small bowl, add egg and beat with a fork until combined, set bowl aside.
5. Bring broth to a boil in a pot over medium-high heat.
6. Reduce the heat to medium-low, add the mushroom and bamboo shoots.
7. Dice the tofu into half-inch cubes, and add to soup along with the chicken, including the marinade, stirring to separate any chicken that sticks together.
8. Simmer for 3-5 minutes.
9. Stir cornstarch to recombine. Add to the soup, increase heat to medium-high and cook until soup thickens and turns translucent, about 1 minute.
10. Stir in vinegar, chill oil, pepper, and remaining 3 tbsp soy sauce, turn off heat.
11. Drizzle the egg mixture into soup slowly in circular motion.
12. Let soup sit 1 minute, then bring to a gently boil and stir to distribute the egg.
13. Serve in bowls with scallion garnish.

Postickers

2 cups napa cabbage, chopped

½ tbsp salt

½ lb ground pork or shrimp

2 tbsp ginger, minced

1 ½ tbsp garlic, minced

2 tbsp soy sauce

3 tbsp sesame oil

1 egg

1-2 cups chicken stock

package of Chinese dumpling  or wonton wrappers

Cornstarch slurry (1 tbsp cornstarch and 3 tbsp water)

Directions

1. Salt cabbage and let stand in a colander for 20 minutes. Rinse with water and pat dry.
2. Combine remaining ingredients except the stock in a large bowl.
3. Place a small mound of filling in centre of wrapper and brush edges with cornstarch slurry.
4. Crimp the edges if desired and rest the dumplings with sealed edges straight up.
5. In a hot sauté pan coated with oil, place dumplings flat side down and cook until golden brown. With the pan cover ready, add one cup of stock, cover immediately. Be very careful here, the liquid will splatter.
6. Cover until the filling is firm, about 3 minutes, then remove the cover and boil the liquid until it evaporates and the dumplings become crisp again.
7. Serve with dipping sauce.

Spicy Soy Dipping

1/3 cup soy sauce

1/3 cup rice wine vinegar

1/3 cup sliced scallions

1 tsp sesame oil

1 tbsp sambal oelek (chili sauce)

Directions

Combine in bowl and serve with potstickers. 

Tangy Citrus Noodle

½ lb dried spaghetti or vermicelli style noodles

1 tbsp garlic, finely minced

2 tbsp oil

3 tbsp soy sauce

2 tbsp dry sherry or sake

2 tbsp rice vinegar

2 tbsp sesame oil

1 tbsp light brown sugar

¼ tsp Chinese chili sauce

¼ tsp Sichuan peppercorns, grounded

1 tsp orange peel, grated or finely minced

½ cup green onion, chopped

¼ cup sesame seeds

Directions

1. Combine garlic with oil, set aside.
2. Combine remaining sauce ingredients in a bowl.
3. Toast sesame seeds in an ungreased skillet set over high heat until golden brown , add to sauce.
4. Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Lightly salt water, and then add noodles and cook until al dente, 3-5 minutes.
5. Drain noodles and transfer to a large serving bowl.
6. In a small skillet over medium heat, sauté garlic for 30 seconds, then add remaining sauce ingredients and bring to low boil.
7. Add sauce to the noodles, and toss well 

You can add steamed vegetables or shrimp to this dish