Brett Zimmerman, Master Sommelier

This past weekend Felipe and I attended the Park City Wine Festival...and the best thing about it was Brett Zimmerman.

Please read my blog of July 10-11th on the Barolo Wine Tasting

Brett Zimmerman is Domaine Select Wine Estates Manager and a delightful presenter who knows his wines. It was a pleasure to attend last Friday's Barolo Wine Tasting Seminar and be able to speak with him, addressing such interesting things as location, types of soil, vines, and production of wine-making!

He also represented the Barolo wines he introduced from the tasting at the Saturday late afternoon Canyons Event--a fun three hour walk-around, with music and food from various Park City restaurants.

Zimmerman will soon be introducing my favorite Sicilian after dinner drink, Amaro Averna, to Utah! Yeah, Brett!

He is a Master Sommelier and holds a 2007 diploma to prove it. Allow me to say, there are less than one hundred Americans who have achieved this level of expertise and have passed the exam!

The headquarters of DSWE are located at 555 8th Ave. Suite 2302, NY, NY 10018
TEL: 1-212-279-0799 FAX:1-212-279-0499 http://www.domaineselect.com/

Or you can reach this knowledgeable and personable wine connoisseur through e-mail:
bzimmerman@domaineselect.com

Bannana Nut Bread for Travis

Travis--this recipe is for you!

The first thing to know about cooking and baking is, like war, you have to know you have allies to help you. Yours are your Mom, and brothers.

Here's a recipe for Banana Nut Bread

Your mom probably knows this one by heart, but just in case she's forgotten it, here it is:

Ingredients:

2 cups of sifted flour
1 teaspoon of baking soda
a pinch to 1/4 teaspoon salt
1 egg
1 1/4 cups sugar
1/2 cup of vegetable oil
2 TBS. of cream, half and half or milk
1 teaspoon of vanilla extract
2-3 ripe medium bananas--mashed—just when those suckers start to turn dark!
1 cup of chopped nuts: walnuts, hazel nuts, or any nut except peanuts will do...

Directions:

Grease 2 loaf pans and dust them with flour--toss the extra flour down the drain!

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Mix together the flour, baking soda, salt. Set apart.

Mix in another bowl the following: egg, sugar, vegetable oil. When combined well, add the flour mix to this and blend well with a big, wooden spoon. Add milk, or cream, and vanilla, smashed, mashed and mushed-up bananas and then mix well.

Fling in the nuts and stir. Save a few for the topping, if so desired. Then pour the batter into the buttered and floured tins.

Bake for 1 hour. Do a toothpick test...ask your Mom about that.

Cool on a rack and then turn over out onto a ceramic, porcelain or thick plastic dish. These may be frozen for later use.

Cool and serve with: ice cream. whipped cream, Macedonia fruit cocktail or with butter and jam.

Barolo Wine Tasting in Park City

July 10, 2009

( I was unable to post this blog yesterday! )

Barolo Wine Tasting Park City

Today Felipe and I tasted a Gavi villa Saparina which was extremely dry--probably would go nicely with fish.

Next we tasted: a red-fruited and aromatic wine
Barolo (Serradenardi) 2004
This would go well with wild mushroom risotto, pasta with truffles, venison, pheasant, or red meat

The 2004 Barolo Serralunga d'Alba was a nice wine, lighter in color and texture for my pallet.
this wine would sell for about $65.

Next we tasted a Barolo from Famiglia Anselmo 2003 and it was for me a wine of super tannins, also for about the same price as the Serralung d' Alba.
And last but certainly not least we tasted a 2001 Barolo Tenimenti (Vigna La Villa)

Fontana Fredda (Paiagallo) This wine sells for around $130 a bottle--if you can find it, and you can't here in Park city. Most likely places to locate it: New York and Florida.
It was a very earthy taste--a hint of mushrooms and truffles and less tannins than the Famiglia Anselmo.

Barolo is a small grape-growing and wine-producing area in the north of Italy and the wines are from the nebbiolo grape.

Here are some of my favorite red wines, most of which have body are robust: Dolcetto, which means sweet little thing , but isn't sweet at all, it's a lovely wine. Other favorites include: Nebbiolo, Barbaresco. Babera, Brunello, Gaja. I like all the expensive "aia's”: Solaia, Sassicaia, Lupicaia, Ornellaia, and less expensive but still great wines: Grattamaco, Tignanello, and the list goes on ... and on!

Sadly, after all those lovely reds, the last wine on the tasting menu was a 2006 Moscato (Moncucco) Fontana Fredda (Tenimenti), which Felipe and I didn't bother to try--I'd use that wine probably only for cooking veal! though some people like a sweet wine to accompany cakes and fruits after dinner...for me, you can keep them!

Drunk, Happy Halibut

Drunk and Happy Halibut

1 1/2 chunky white piece of halibut will serve 4 with a side dish of veggies and a lovely mixed green salad--I jazzed up the salad with tiny sweet and hot African red peppers the size of a fingernail and artichokes hearts in quarters, and a dressing of olive oil, anchovy paste and garlic!

Rinse the halibut well, and then pour over two cups of white wine and the juice of 1 lime.
Leave in the fridge for at least one day to "cook" and get loaded (marinated). I left it for two days, continuing to turn it from time to time.

Take out of fridge and let stand for at least an hour.

Season with : a smattering of olive oil, salt, cracked pepper, lots of paprika, garlic powder, seasoned bread crumbs and 1/2 onion flaked on top, add slivers of butter over the entire fish and bake in a hot over at 375 degrees for 25 minutes.

Perfectly boozed up, flaky and moist inside and with a crispy top--luscious with every bite!

Easy Summer Cooking...all in one pot: veal , sausage and peppers

I made this dish for a "literary salon" back in February, I believe, it was a mild and lovely Sunday. The party was at my friend and neighbor-artist, Marianne Haycook's beautiful digs in sunny south Florida.

We were graced with the presence of Lynne Barrett and Johnny Dufresne who read for us on the patio--check out the pics above. The group was totally mesmerized, hanging on every word. The writing was great and funny and poignant and the reading of it was just plain wonderful. They both read Memoir.

The platter above: Veal, Sausage, and Peppers: great for a party!

It's a snap...

Grill or fry the sausage--hot and/or sweet--5-7 lbs at least, yes you may also use Sicilian scivolata as well (these are skinny sausages made with fennel seed, grated cheese and parsley) or a combination of these

slice 3-5 lbs of veal into slivers

5-6 sliced (any old which way) potatoes of use the little red ones and quarter them

4-5 red pepper, sliced

3 yellow peppers, sliced

1 green pepper (just for color and the hell of it!), sliced

1 whole onion, sliced

4-5 garlic cloves sliced

1 1/2 lbs fresh tomatoes cut into wedges

1 cup of red or white wine

olive oil

parsley

3-4 yellow summer squash (optional)

3-4 zucchini (optional)

Cut the partially cooked and cooled sweet and hot grilled ( or fried) sausage on an angle..as thick or thin as you desire, and cut the hot sausage in fat rounds. the scivoata in inch pieces.

In a huge oven pan with high sides add the sausage, veal, peppers, onion, garlic, potatoes,tomatoes, salt and pepper to taste--easy on the pepper if you have a lot of hot sausage. (in this particular dish, I did add both types of squash after about 1/2 the cook time--it was a big crowd of good eaters!)

Irrigate with olive oil and wine, and say a prayer it'll turn out great. Place it in a hot oven and cook for an hour turning every so often.

Remember the my old Mafia cousin's adage: the more you put in, the more you find. May Gianni rest in peace!

Summer Picnic Pasta Salad

Summer Pasta Salad

1/2 lb cooked, drained and cooled creste di gallo--Cock's combs
1 can of Italian (Genova) tuna fish with oil
1 can of tuna packed under water--drain and toss the water!
1 /2 cup of diced sweet pepperoni--yours, or straight from the jar
1/2 cup chopped celery (optional)
1/4 of a red onion, sliced
2 Tbs. of tiny capers
1/2 cup of sweet gherkins sliced
1/2 cup of sliced black olives (I like the ones with Jalapeno)
1/4 cup of green olives stuffed with anchovies
1 Tbs of fresh parsley
1/2 lb cooked cannellini beans or pour straight form the can, cheater!
1 teaspoon of oregano
3 hard cooked eggs...quartered around the platter (optional)
3-4 small sweet tomatoes quartered and placed in between the egg pieces
1/2 lb. cooked cold, shrimp (optional)
Salt, coarse ground pepper
paprika (optional)
garlic powder (optional)
olive oil
champagne vinegar
a spritz of apple must!

Hint: do not add the tomatoes till the last minute. Or else serve each platter with the tom ates around and the salad plopped right smack dab in the center!

Today I made this without the celery, paprika or shrimp...it was super-duper YUM, FR said so, and he has a discerning, spoiled palate.

Serves 4-6, depending how generous you are dishing out the portions.

Osso Buco

Osso Buco
Literally translated as bone hole! It's the cut of meat that has the marrow in the center!

One summer night in San Felice Circeo I started to make this dish and halfway through the cooking of it--I ran out of PROPANE GAS! What did I do? I knocked on my neighbor's door, pot in hand and asked Licia if I could finish the cooking on her stove! That was the night the lights went out too, and we ate by candle light on the terrace overlooking the Maga Circe--a mountain profile of the the Circe who called to Ulysses.

It was the Feast of San Lorenzo--the day after the Feast of the Assumption (which is Ferragosto the 15th of August and one of the biggest holidays in Italy). Anyway, after dinner we sat with the lights out and an Amaro Averna in hand. Celebrating San Lorenzo is when you see the most amount of falling or shooting stars...that night we counted 16! And the magic of it made me feel I was just that age!

Ingredients:

5-6 veal shanks cut to about 2 1/2 to 3 inches thick...can use beef, but it takes longer to cook and sometimes remains a bit tough. I've done both--you just have to pay more attention to the beef.
1/4 cup of flour to dip the meat in (optional) I like this ingredient because it gives substance and texture to the gravy.
salt
black pepper
6-8 Tbs. of olive oil
2 carrots sliced
1 onion sliced
3 celery stalks sliced
4-6 plum tomatoes skinned
Now when I make this if I have a potato, a sweet potato or a zucchini, I use them as well. Not part of the true original recipe...but do you care if it's delicious?
2 cups of white wine
2 cups chicken or beef or vegetable broth
2 garlic cloves minced.

Directions:

Okay--this can be made in the oven...it takes 2-3 hours. It may be made on top of the stove and it takes the same 2-3 hours. Or you can brown the seasoned floured meat in 1/2 the oil and add all the broth and tomatoes and cook in the pressure cooker for about 1/2 hr. to 45 minutes and be sure your meat will be tender.

When the meat is cooked, pour the rest of the oil in a large Dutch over or iron heavy pot for stewing. Add oil, onion, garlic, carrots, celery and any other veggies mentioned above. Cook on high flame for about 5 to 7 minutes. Fling in the vino and let the alcohol steam off, and then add the meat and its broth and bring to a boil. Then reduce heat and let cook uncovered over a low to medium heat for 1/2 hr to 45 minutes--taste a potato for "doneness" if you added them. Taste and adjust seasonings.

Serve the sauce over fettuccine with some grated Romano cheese, and the meat as a second platter...

OR

Make it without tomatoes!

The men in my family go GAGA for this dish. I haven't a clue why, but Nico loves the midolo or bone marrow and Felipe just loves the whole thing!. This used to be a poor man’s dish due to the cheaper cut of the meat when my Aunt Jay, who just passed away a few years ago at 96, was growing up. Then one day she went to the Four Seasons in NYC and was shocked to find it on the menu and almost passed out when she read the right side and saw the price.