Wine Wednesday - 2011 Da Da Da... Merlot

Ah, Merlot, how have I grown to explore what you have to offer. My initial knowledge was of Merlot as a blending grape but now know that it can be a stand alone varietal (thanks Nickel & Nickel!). Others have shunned you in the past decade due to the comments in Sideways, but sales have finally recovered in North America.

Da Da Da... by Robin Langton is a Naked Wine Ashley and I got a few shipments back and was pretty darn tasty. It wasn't spectacular but for the price point was a pretty solid choice.

2011 Da Da Da... Merlot, Lodi

Much lighter in color than you'd expect from a Merlot, nice purple color. Short legs.

Light red berry fruit on the nose, cranberry and strawberry, with a hint of herbs and cut grass, almost musky.

Very fruit forward on the palate, tangy cherry but lacked the ripeness. Slightly rough bitters mid-palate but finished smooth.

Good Merlot for the price point and for those new to the varietal. Would have again in another shipment of Naked Wines.

Cost: $8

Chili-Lime Chicken

At the start of this past summer, Ashley and I were experimenting with my glorious BBQ (Thanks to my lovely wife's birthday gift to me) and what to cook on it. As a result, we have BBQed pretty much the last few months straight. One of our new favorite dishes is a chili-lime chicken (or it works great on mahi as well).

Now this is less about exactness and more about your particular tastes. The main components are chili powder, olive oil and lime juice. The rest of the ingredients are up to you, your tastes, and ability to combine flavors into a good mix. In fact, I don't even measure amounts out and go for a certain aroma when everything is mixed together.

When you have everything mixed together, it should be a paste. I prefer not having it saucy, but also not having it a rub. Marinate overnight and you got a fantastic BBQ option. Remember, the ratios are up to you, want more lime? Then do it! Same with the heat (cayenne).

The ingredient list below shows greatest to least of how much I usually put in, on a very rough basis.

Ingredients

1 part chili powder

1 part lime juice

1 part olive oil (I use garlic)

Some cumin

Some garlic powder

Some onion powder/flakes

Some cayenne (for heat)

Some paprika

Some oregano

Some ground mustard

Some ground ginger

Some ground pepper

Some thyme

Directions

Mix and marinate for at least an hour.

Baked Corn Tortilla Chips

Easy to make. Yes.

Easy to destroy. Absolutely.

So I had some extra corn tortillas that I have been wondering what to do with... While making more tacos is always a good idea, I decided to play around a bit with making my own chips. Now I have pan-fried chips before and they came out pretty good, but I wanted to make something that might be marginally more healthy... same concept, just this time without oil and frying.

The result actually turned out pretty well for one batch, the other not so much. Apparently the timing on these are crucial. One minute short and they are chewy, one minute long and they look like you dropped them off in Yosemite for a weekend.

The fun thing about this is you can get really creative with the seasoning, presentation, and style. Baking them allows you to make simple chips all the way to Chili's Fajita Nachos. This time around I used a healthy amount of paprika and a very minor amount of salt.

Overall, it is very easy, once you get the timing down. Watch these pups like a hawk.

Ingredients

Corn tortillas (the older, slightly stale ones actually work better)

Seasoning (this round was salt and paprika)

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 400C.
2. Cut tortillas into quarters and lay them out on a cookie sheet. Make sure the pieces don't touch or they will come out more chewy than crispy.
3. Add the touch of seasoning that you prefer and pop into the oven for 8-12 minutes.
4. Watch these as soon as they hit the 8 minute mark. My oven's optimum time is 11 minutes and 30 seconds... the burned image above was from the mid 12 minute mark. These critters burn fast.
5. Enjoy!

Wine Wednesday - 2006 Shingleback Shiraz McLaren Vale

Last weekend two great friends of Ash and myself got married. It was a beautiful day and a great start to joining their lives together. In honor of the newly-minted marriage, I figured I'd throw up a wine that we have all shared together, the 2006 Shingleback Shiraz. Granted this was enjoyed almost a year ago so I just have my notes to go off of.

One of our favorite activities that the four of us do is the random, "hey let's hang out, have dinner and drink wine." It is pretty simple. 

Food. Wine. Fun. Got it? Good.

Back to the wine at hand, the following is the vintage information from the McLaren Vale in 2006:

 "Good spring rains created strong canopies that helped to see the grapes through some hot January weather. The burst of heat reduced vigour and led to slow, even ripening. The result was the early development of rich, vibrant varietal flavour. Whites were harvested from late February through to early March with the reds following on, and all fruit being in by the beginning of April. After prefect conditions rains arrived just as the last berry was harvested. The benevolence of the "weather gods" meant that vintage was extremely orderly, but more importantly, resulted in highly aromatic and varietal wines with balanced acidity and fine tannins."

I checked out the notes from other vintages in the Mclaren Vale, and while 2005 was apparently the best year (ever?) in the region, 2006 was no slouch itself.

Mental note, find a 2005 McLaren Vale.

Notes from the winemaker: "Deep red, ripe blackberry and strawberry primary aromas are overlaid with blueberry, chocolate and hints of vanilla. Fine-grained American and French oak subtly frame the rich berry mid-palate. A full-bodied wine that is seamlessly integrated from the first taste to the long, lingering finish."

With all that from the experts done with, here's my two cents.

2006 Shingleback Shiraz, McLaren Vale

The Shingleback Shiraz is a beautiful plum color and fills the nose with red fruit aromas with a hint of oak.

Very smooth start that begins with a rich blackberry flavor that remains through the end. Bright red fruits dominate before it gives way to hints of oak and vanilla approach at the end, but are very soft and non-abrasive. Seamless from start to a lingering finish. Surprisingly well-balanced.

Well-balanced and fantastic wine, especially for the price. This would be a good wine to share with those that may not prefer reds but are willing to venture out. This would pair well with a nicely charred pork chop or lamb. All the cellar tracking shows that it is at it's prime now and should not be held for any longer, so if you have a bottle, enjoy it tonight!

Cost: $16-$23.50

Wine Wednesday - 2010 Grassini Family Vineyards Equipo Sauvignon Blanc

I've totally sucked this summer at keeping this blog updated. I will not let it go the way of my previous habits of abandoning updating. I just need to find time and now that my job has cooled down I can return. Then again, I am writing this to keep a track record of my food and wine so who knows if any of you actually read these.

With the return of Wine Wednesday, I bring you the 2010 Grassini Family Vineyards Equipo Sauv Blanc. This little white was brought to me from my lovely wife after a weekend in Santa Barbara. If you know Ashley, you'll know why she had to bring a bottle of Equipo home. "Equipo" is "team" in Spanish and this wine is a salute to the team at Grassini Family Vineyards. They allocate a portion of their vineyards to the crew of Grassini and the everything else is up to them. They manage the grapes 100% and any decisions are up to them. The result is "Equipo," a decent Sauvignon Blanc.

2010 Grassini Family Vineyards Equipo Sauvignon Blanc

Slightly aromatic and fresh on the nose, with hints of what I'd call earthy, but not the earthy you get with a Pinot, more of a grassy flavor.

Fairly light-medium taste with a slight nutty, herbal and mineral edge. While the initial palate was quite broad, it finished on a fresh and narrow edge.

A decent Sauv Blanc that would pair nicely with any light savory dish with a smidge of pepper to it. A little pricey for the bottle (Should be $18) but it goes back to the "Equipo" (team), so it's worth the premium.

Cost: $23

Greek Yogurt Fruit Smoothie

Howdy all! First I want to apologize for my July hiatus. As happens, life occurred and it was a whirlwind of weddings, bachelor parties and activities with a whole lot of work sprinkled in. The result, my total disregard to the six of you who read this and no posts during July.

Have no fear, August is here and I am starting with a healthy one. Greek yogurt, that craze that's sweeping diets that are not called paleo is back for a second round.

As you could expect with a smoothie, you can put just about whatever it is you want in it: berries, bananas, mango, protein powder, the possibilities are only limited by your imagination. The crux to this recipe is the Fat Free Greek Yogurt and almond milk. After that, do whatever you'd like. Ash and I use our Magic Bullet for ease of use and consumption but blenders work fine.

You could even run some tests while enjoying your smoothie if you'd like.

Ingredients

1/2 cup Nonfat Greek Yogurt

1/2 cup Almond milk (we use vanilla flavor)

1/2 cup raspberries

1/4 cup blueberries

1/2 cup blackberries

1 banana

ice (for temperature)

Directions

1. Put into blender. More almond milk or ice will make it less viscous, more Greek yogurt or fruit will make it more viscous. Ice was used mostly to lower the temperature to a more enjoyable chill.
2. Enjoy. Easy isn't it?

Greek Yogurt Berry Parfait

After a week off due to the holiday, I thought I'd start this Monday with a dish my wife came up with for the 4th of July that fits with our aim to be more healthy in our lives.

Greek Yogurt has become a staple around our household and this adorable little dish has 6 oz of 0% fat Fage Greek Yogurt, 130 calories, 65mg Sodium, 18g of protein and 18g of sugar. Most of that sugar comes from the raspberry and blackberry filling that we made.

The best part was that we put these in mason jars that worked great for the BBQ and throughout the weekend. The recipe below makes 24 of these babies and you can substitute the fruit filling of your choice, the recipe works well with most frozen fruits.

Ingredients

144 oz. Fage Total 0% Greek Yogurt

2 packages frozen blackberries

2 package frozen raspberries

1/2 - 2 cups sugar

2 tbs cornstarch

2 tbs lemon juice

Fresh blackberries (for garnish)

Fresh raspberries (for garnish)

Fresh mint (for garnish)

Mason Jars, 8 oz.

Directions

Filling

1. Using a sauce pan large enough for the berries, begin to heat the frozen berries to a boil. During this time add in your sugar, cornstarch, and lemon juice. There is no set amount for these ingredients, add anywhere from 0 to 1 cup of sugar to taste, depending on how tart versus sweet you want the filling. More lemon juice will add to the sour (I prefer more tart than sweet but it is your choice). The cornstarch is there as a thickening agent, about 1 tbs per batch is good enough but you can vary it based on your thickness preference.
2. Once the mixture has reached a moderate boil, begin lowering the heat. The longer the filling is at a higher temperature, the more viscous it will become. After the desired sweetness and viscosity is reached, remove from heat and let cool to room temperature. This filling is good for 1-2 weeks after making.

Assemby

1. Depending on if you want chunks of fruit or a more smooth filling, puree the room temperature filling in a blender (or our new Magic Bullet, which was perfect for easy assembly).
2. Using 8 oz. mason jars, place enough filling (we started with blackberry) at the bottom. Put 3 oz. of Greek Yogurt on top, and top that layer with the next filling (to keep with a red/white/blue theme we used the raspberry). Top off with the remaining 3 oz. of yogurt.
3. Garnish with the fresh fruit that matches your filling (for easy flavor identification) and a mint leaf.  Place in the fridge and chill prior to serving. Greek yogurt keeps fairly well and these should be good for up to a week if kept in the fridge.