Wine Tasting ~ Gewurztraminer

So finally a wine tasting post! I have a few kinda mostly written... I should try to get them cleared out!

But this is November's Wine for the BakeSpace Wine Tasting Club.

I got to pick the November Wine and hoped that Gewurztraminer would be a wine that I actually liked. I'd heard that it was very similar to a Riesling and to date, that had been the only kind I actually liked.

Yay!! I chose well!!

I didn't really have a party for this wine tasting... just a last minute idea for a few friends to come over.

I planned to serve Spicy Curried Potato Pockets, Tandoori Chicken and Sweet Coconut Curry Rice. No one could make it for dinner... but I still had the Spicy Curried Potato Pockets to go with the wine. Jon and I did try the first wine with the Tandoori...


First up is the wine that I picked up.

Name: Fetzer

Region: Valley Oaks, California

Price: $7.99 (on sale)

Year: 2008

PHOTO of bottle:


Short intro from the wine maker about the wine:
"It’s often called gavurtz because it’s hard to say, and even harder to spell. This wine, though, is a secret weapon, great for taming spicy foods or sipping on its own. Enjoy the honeyed apricot and peach flavors in the glass, and breathe deeply to capture the aromas of rose petals and honeysuckle. Lots of people love this wine, even if they’ll never spell it. Just ask for gavurtz. We’ll know what you mean."

Review:
very clear yellow color
the cork smelled spicy... smells like wine...

Me ~ sweet, no squinchy face... not too sweet... Tandoori Chicken made the wine spicer... and it was sweeter after Sweet Coconut Curry Rice... burps fruity... kinda thick viscosity

Jon ~ sweet... goes well with Tandoori... burped peachy

(yeah... we're wicked classy)

Erin ~ smells winey... pretty good actually... peachy... fizziless champagne

Andrew ~ appley... same after... no aftertaste... would be nice used as liquid for fruit cocktail

Would you buy again?: Yes... I actually liked it one!

Wine Pairing Ideas/Recipes: It went very well with Spicy Curried Potato Pockets, Tandoori Chicken and Sweet Coconut Curry Rice. This is really the first wine I've had that I could really say, "Wow... this wine really 'goes' with this food!"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Erin & Andrew brought this wine...

Name: Chateau Ste. Michelle

Region: Columbia Valley, Washington

Price: $10.99

Year: 2008

PHOTO of bottle:


Short intro from the wine maker about the wine:
The magical combination of sun soil and water - the "terroir" of Washington state's world class growing region produces bright spicy Gewurztraminer grapes. A slow, cool fermentation preserves the wine's characteristic spice notes. Grapefruit and citrus flavors are lively on the palate in this refreshing medium-dry wine.

Review:
paler yellow than the Fetzer

Me ~ smells like wine... kinda squinchy face... sour sour apple... sweeter after Spicy Curried Potato Pocket.

Jon ~ smells like outside... sour-er... I don't mind sour... likes this one better... awful wine taste leftover... can taste grapefruit...

Erin ~ definitely wine... peachy... hitting the back of my mouth more... wants to suck on it, like hard candy... def taste grapefruit... loses sour after Spicy Curried Potato Pocket...

Andrew ~ more grape-y... like a snake-bite shooter... after burn like kerosene... 1st one was two sweet... this one is spicy like a peppercorn...

Would you buy again?: Probably not, not being a wine drinker... If I needed a Gewurztraminer... I'd choose the Fetzer.

Wine Pairing Ideas/Recipes: It went very well with Spicy Curried Potato Pockets, Tandoori Chicken and Sweet Coconut Curry Rice

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

So Erin & I liked the Fetzer better and Jon & Andrew liked the Chateau Ste Michelle.

I was totally lame and didn't take any pictures at all this day! Ok... actually I did take pics of making the Tandoori... but totally spaced when we started wine tasting.

So these are our newest friends/wine-tasters... actually... they've been Jon's friends for a very long time... but I just really met them at Ericka & Drew's wedding a couple months ago. They are very cool and you can expect to see more of them!


Aren't they cute??
(I stole that from Erin's facebook... shhh....)

And since I didn't take any pics that day... I just picked a picture of Jon and me that I like!

That was us a few years ago in Amsterdam. =)

Have you joined the BakeSpace Wine Tasting Club yet?



What are you waiting for?

Cathy's Cream Filled Cupcakes

The BakeSpace Challenge for September was to cook something from someone else's kitchen.

Everyone who wanted to participate signed up and Shane picked names for everyone.

I ended up with Cathy (The Dutch Baker's Daughter).

On my first browse through Cathy's recipes, I thought I wanted to make her Worstebroodjes. Dutch food. Definitely a challenge for me.

But time got away from me and I didn't think I'd have a good chance to do it. I didn't want to try working with dough on a week night and didn't have much weekend time left.

So after another browse through, I decided to go with her Cream Filled Cupcakes.

These are Cathy's.

They look like Hostess Cupcakes!


Yeah... mine don't look anything like that!

Cathy's Cream Filled Cupcakes
Filling Ingredients:
3 tablespoons flour
3/4 cup milk
3/4 cup unsalted butter, softened
3/4 cup sugar
1 t. vanilla

Cupcake Ingredients:
2/3 cup vegetable oil
2 cups water
2 tablespoons vinegar
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoons salt
2 teaspoons vanilla
3 cups flour
2 cups sugar
1/2 cup cocoa

Chocolate Glaze Ingredients:
1 cup chocolate chips
1/4 cup unsalted butter

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Line (2) 12 cup cupcake pans with cupcake liners.

In large bowl, combine all of the cupcake ingredients and mix until well-blended. Fill each cupcake liner 3/4 full and bake for 18 to 20 minutes or until cupcakes spring back to touch. Remove cupcakes from pans and allow to cool on wire racks.

In small pan, whisk 3 tablespoons flour with 3/4 cup milk. Heat over medium heat, whisking constantly, until mixture is thick. Remove from heat and allow to cool to room temperature.

Combine 3/4 cup butter and 3/4 cup sugar in large mixing bowl. Fit mixer with paddle and beat butter and sugar several minutes until fluffy. Add cooled flour/milk mixture and continue to beat until mixture is creamy. Add vanilla and mix until just combined.

Fit a pastry bag with a #5 tip and fill with buttercream filling. Insert tip about 1/2 inch deep into the top of each cupcake and fill cupcake with buttercream. Set aside any unused filling.

In small saucepan, combine chocolate chips and 1/4 cup butter. Over low heat, melt chocolate and butter, mixing together until melted and smooth.

Swirl the top of each cupcake into chocolate glaze, coating the top of each cake. Then, using leftover filling, pipe a swirl of buttercream on top of each cupcake.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Ok, so cake from scratch... I don't have much experience with it.

This is the only cake I can remember making from scratch.


It turned out fine (if you like chocolate), but I didn't have to 'fill' it! Just a layer of frosting in the middle, which I can totally do.

So anyway....

I followed Cathy's directions and mixed the cupcake ingredients well.

(those are bubbles, not lumps)

The thing I'm noticing about cake from scratch, well, chocolate cake from scratch anyway, is that the batter is wicked thin.

I made a huge mess!


I don't think it had anything to do with the margarita. I'm pretty experienced with those! Just not thin cake batter from scratch!

I won't show what a mess I made on the floor! But somehow there were lots of little drips there too!

Ok... so baked those for about 18 minutes.


So far so good!

Now on to the filling.

Perhaps I didn't get it thick enough.


Combined the butter and sugar.


Added the thickened (not thick enough??) milk and flour.


Hmmm... I guess it's not looking very thick, is it?

So that seemed way too thin.

It was a gazillion degrees in my kitchen, so that didn't help matters I'm sure!

I kept adding powdered sugar to try to thicken up.


Still didn't seem thick enough, but I had already added a ton of powdered sugar, so I decided to just go with what I had.

Melted the chocolate chips with butter in my double boiler.


Then dug out my cake decorating kit.


Pretty cool kit for someone who doesn't decorate cakes huh?

When my Uncle Joe passed away, my mom was cleaning out his apartment and gave me a lot of his kitchen stuff.

I have to say, even though I don't use it often, I really love this!

Now to find the #5 tip.

Hmmm... there doesn't seem to be one. There's a #4 and a #6, but no #5.

Maybe it ended up in here.


I dunno. But I used the #6.

And I made a HUGE mess.

My filling was too thin. I don't know if it was the heat in my kitchen or just an error on my part (probably the latter!), but it was thin.

Then I filled the bag too full and ended up like this.


That pic compliments of my little sous chef, Bob. He was a huge help!

Stuff was oozing everywhere... Bob kept running for bowls and towels to try to contain my mess. He can be such a great help when he wants to be!

Anyway... no 'action' filling shots.

But I pushed the tip into the top of the cupcakes and squeezed.

How long? How much? So soupy! So messy!

But I got it done.




Then to dip them in the chocolate.

I can totally do that!


A coating of chocolate hides a mess nicely!


But my filling was WAY too thin for the cute decorative design.







Look! I actually got some filling in there!

Anyway... everyone really liked these!

And they weren't hard to make, at least I don't think they would have been if I hadn't messed up the frosting!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

ETA!

I totally forgot!!!

Cathy this is for you!!


I know this recipe isn't on your blog. And even though I had a hard time filling these... everyone really loved them!!

Chicken Saltimbocca ~ Coast to Coast Cooking at BakeSpace

This is our third Coast to Coast Cooking from BakeSpace. I'd have to say, this has been my favorite so far.... Saltimbocca.

We had a lot more cooks this time and went as far away as Alaska and Italy!

I knew I wanted to make a Chicken Saltimbocca and looked at a ton of recipes online before finally settling on a Mario Batali recipe. I've never been a big Mario Batali fan. His show never really interested me, because he was mostly cooking things I wasn't remotely interested in cooking. But after trying this recipe, maybe I should give him another look!

I pretty much followed his recipe. I just increased the sauce by half and changed the oyster mushrooms for cremini. This reflects my changes.



Chicken Saltimbocca with Mushroom Marsala Sauce
1 C flour
Salt and pepper
4 (8-ounce) chicken breasts
4 large slices prosciutto
4 large sage leaves, plus 20 smaller leaves
1 cup extra-virgin olive oil
4 shallots, thinly sliced
1/2 pound cremini mushrooms, sliced into 1/4-inch pieces
1 1/2 cup dry Marsala wine
3/4 cup chicken stock
2 tablespoons butter
1 bunch Italian parsley, chopped to yield 1/4 cup

Pound chicken breast to 1/4 inch thickness. I'm really bad at this, so I just fillet them to that size. Season chicken with salt & pepper. Place one slice of prosciutto and one large sage leaf on each chicken breast. Then fold each chicken breast in half, like you're closing a book.

Dredge each folded chicken breast in flour and set aside.

In a small heavy pan, heat olive oil to 350F. Fry remaining sage leaves in oil for about 30 seconds. They cook VERY quickly so have a slotted spoon or spider ready. Don't walk away! Drain on a paper towel and season with a sprinkle of salt. Set aside.

Scoop out a few tablespoons of the oil that you used to fried the sage leaves and put it into a large hot skillet. Saute the folded, floured chicken breasts until golden on both sides. Add shallots and mushrooms and cook for about 5 minutes. Add Marsala wine and chicken stock. Simmer until liquid has reduced by half or three quarters. Stir in butter. Add parsley. Garnish with fried sage leaves.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Ok, I started with frying the sage leaves. At first I wasn't going to. I was just going to skip them completely. Mario's recipe called for 2 cups of olive oil. HELLO!! That's a lot of olive oil!! Then I decided to use a little pan and half the oil.

I'm really glad I didn't skip this step.


This was fun. Sage leaves are kinda thick and furry, and lots of them are rolled in on themselves. As soon as they hit the oil, they totally flatten out.

They cook wicked quick and turn into the most delicious little chips!


Most of these got eaten prior to garnish! I did use some to garnish some yummy Creamy Parmesan Polenta.

So... on to the chicken.

I'm really bad at pounding meat flat. I usually just opt to slice it really thin. Which only makes it thin, it doesn't make increase the surface area. But it worked.


Add a sage leaf to each breast. (next time I'd add more sage)


And prosciutto (I used 8 very thin slices for 4 breasts)


Fold in half


Dredge in flour


Mario's recipe called for additional olive oil to saute the chicken. But I decided to use the oil that I fried the sage in. I figured it had to pick up some yummy sage flavor.

Saute chicken breasts until browned on both sides.


Mmmm... don't they look beautiful??


Add the shrooms and shallots and cook for about 5 minutes.


One of my chicken breasts was considerably thicker than the others, so I covered it with a mini skilled to give it a little extra heat. I wanted to be sure it was cooked through.


So cook about 5 minutes until mushrooms have sweated.


Add Marsala wine...

I used a dry Cantine Florio Marsala... It was around $11


Last time I made something with Marsala, Jon said he didn't really like it. I knew I had probably used a sweet Marsala last time, so I picked dry this time. Plus this wine was rated at 88 points. (I guess that's supposed to be pretty good!)

Anyway... add Marsala & chicken stock and simmer until liquid has reduced by half (or 2/3rds)


I kept ladling this intoxicating broth over the chicken while it simmered.


When the liquid is reduced, it's ready to serve.


Isn't that gorgeous???


I served it with Creamy Parmesan Polenta & Roasted Asparagus with Parmesan.


The Mushroom Marsala Sauce was TO DIE FOR on the Creamy Parmesan Polenta.


The whole dinner was fabulous!




Yup... that's where I licked the plate. I HAD to!


This recipe is DEFINITELY a keeper!

Mario Batali, I'm sorry for doubting you!

But this wouldn't be Coast to Coast Cooking at BakeSpace if I didn't share some recipes from my fellow BakeSpacers with you, right?

So, this time we'll be boarding the BakeSpace Train and heading out to Burbank, California to check out Danielle's Saltimbocca. All Aboard!!

Wow!! Doesn't that look great?!
You can see Dani's recipe HERE at Cooking for My Peace of Mind.


Please have your tickets ready... we're heading out to Southwest Ohio to check out Sheryle's Chicken Saltimbocca with Lemon Sauce.

Yum... that looks so good!!
You can see Sheryle's recipe HERE at Cookie Baker's Corner. Looks like she's got a lot more than cookies baking over there!

Next stop... Indianapolis, Indiana for DD's Traditional Veal Saltimbocca with a Wine Reduction Sauce.

Mouthwatering!
You can see DD's recipe HERE at DDPie's Slice.

Our next stop is a bit further, you can relax a while in the Club Car! We're on our way to Mound, MN for Cathy's Chicken Saltimbocca with Creamy Mushroom Cavatappi.

Mmmmm... pass me a fork!
You can see Cathy's recipe HERE at The Dutch Baker's Daughter.

You have plenty of time to head to the Sleeper Car for a nap, because we're heading all the way back to San Diego, California for Shane's Saltimbocca al Bisonte! Bisonte is Bison! YUM!

Shane will usually give us something a little more interesting and his Bison didn't disappoint!
Check out Shane's recipe HERE at Culinary Alchemy.

Now be sure to have your cameras ready for this leg of the trip because we're heading out to Seward, Alaska to check out Moni's Pork Saltimbocca over Grilled Polenta.

Mmmm.. pork is my FAVORITE!
Check out Moni's recipe HERE at Alaskan Dermish in the Kitch.

We've chartered a private jet for our next stop, which is Modena, Italy for Dajana's Veal Saltimbocca all'Ortolana

Delectable!
You can see Dajana's recipe HERE at Baker's Corner... Somewhere in my Kitchen.

Seats & Tray Tables in their upright positions as we take off for Morris Plains, NJ for Michele's Chicken Saltimbocca Pasta Toss.

That looks great right? But don't stop there!! Chicken Saltimbocca is one of Michele's signature dishes.

You can see Michele's Chicken Saltimbocca Pasta Toss HERE and her Chicken Saltimbocca HERE at My Italian Grandmother.

All Aboard! Back on our BakeSpace Train we're heading back to Indianapolis, Indiana for Pamela's Slim Saltimbocca.

YUM! Doesn't look slim to me!
Check out Pamela's recipe HERE at Pamela's Palace2.

And all the way back to the west coast to Banning, California for Matt's Chicken Saltimbocca - Reconstructed.

*DROOL*
And you can see Matt's recipe HERE at The Outlaw Gourmand.

Now we have a very cool Coast to Coast Cooking Map!

Click the map to check it out!


Why aren't you cooking with us yet?

Check out the Coast to Coast Cooking threads at BakeSpace!