Mare e Monte: Cockles and Enokitake mushrooms

Mare e monte ... literally means Sea and Mountains

Yesterday walking on Main Street in Park City and enjoying the open craft market, Felipe and I found and re-made our acquaintance with Robert Angellli--robertangelilli@netzero.com --the mushroom-seller we met at last year's summer market. His wife, Amber was with him. She's a professional baker who will have more free time early September when we will have them for dinner. I bought the mushrooms from him. Excellent quality, as always.

For this dish I used cockles (3-4 lbs.) from New Zealand
2 small bunches of fresh Enokitake mushrooms

Wash the cockles thoroughly in cold water...then let sit in a bath of cold water for at least an hour. Rinse again. Pop them in a large fry pan and let them open. Rinse again if you need to. Save the water and filter it. (I use a paper towel and small sieve.)

Clean pot and add:

2 tablespoons of olive oil
1 tablespoon of butter
1/2 sweet onion minced
2 cloves of sliced garlic
4 slices of center cut lean bacon cut up as small as possible
Enokitake mushrooms, clean and separated
3 tablespoons of tomato sauce cooked with basil
chopped Italian parsley if desired
salt, pepper to taste

Cook the bacon, onions, garlic in olive oil and butter on medium-high for about 3 minutes

Cut off the base and separate the tiny mushrooms. Fling in the clean mushrooms, raise the flame to high and cook till mushrooms start to brown. salt and pepper to taste.

Add sauce, add 1/2 -1 cup of the clam broth and bring to a boil, lower to medium and add the cockles...you may discard half of the shells beforehand, if so desired.

Make a pound of spaghetti or linguine and drain it tight, add to the mare e monte...
Garnish with parsley and serve. (4-5 people)

Here's what I found on Wickipedia about these funghi, which when not cultivated are fatter, darker and more robust according to the pictures.

Enokitake (Chinese: 金針菇, Pinyin: jīnzhēngū;Japanese: えのき茸 enokitake; Korean: 팽이버섯, Revised Romanization: paengi beoseot) are long, thin white mushrooms used in Asian cuisines, particularly those of China, Japan and Korea. These mushrooms are cultivars of Flammulina velutipes also called golden needle mushroom. Wild forms differing in color, texture, and sliminess are called winter mushrooms, velvet foot, or velvet stem among other names.
Enoki, or Enokitake

Last night's dinner and the Willamette Valley IPNC

Our friend Maria Johnson stopped by last evening after work. Her family is all on vacation in OR and she's working--will leave on Tuesday. She's a top sales woman for Red Ledges in lovely Heber City. She's originally from Oregon and we've just come back from the International Pinot Noir celebration in McMinnville, OR in nestled in the Willamette Valley. So we happened to have on hand some lovely Pinot Gris (Maria prefers white over red...)

We invited Maria stay for dinner which consisted of: an appetizer of black olives, Delices de Dieux cheese and wheat crackers, a delightful dish of of beans, escarole and shrimp--olive oil, garlic and a splash of the wine we were drinking...of course. I served this with fresh brushetta, prepared by FR's sous chef's hands, followed by a crisp salad of cold scallops, butter lettuce, red onions, slivered almonds, and tomatoes drizzled with an aged apple must and my homemade Dom Perignon Champagne vinegar! The wine: two and 1/2 bottles of Willamette Valley Pinot Gris chill3ed to perfection.

A note about the Wine Celebration--in a word--fabulous. Felipe and I met interesting and personable wine-makers Michael Etzel from Beaux Frères, Luisa Ponzi from Ponzi, and Eric Hamacher from Hamacher. We also visited Domaine Serene. What lovely, dynamic people. And it was such a pleasure to see that they are using wonderful bio-dynamics and organic methods of grape-growing. Not only that the wine-makers of Oregon are not afraid to concur with each others and they speak openly of their successes and failures. A true feeling of fraternity and cooperation exists and I applaud it!

Our first elegant evening we had an intimate dinner at the Ponzi winery, hosted by Luisa Ponzi where we were served gourmet food with wonderful wine-pairings. During the festival weekend that followed, there were wine seminars, tastings and bountiful breakfasts--tables laden with apricots, peaches, blueberries, blackberries, Oregonian specialty Marion berries, raspberries, strawberries, black quarter-sized plump, meaty cherries, fresh yogurt and pastries. Two Italian espresso machines were set up and the barrista who served me every morning made an espresso that we call: "una creama di caffe!" Excellent!

Other elegant meals were the lunches served alfresco under huge pine trees on the Linden College campus, and a gala dinner with a dish of Cattail Creek Lamb that literally needed only a fork to cut it and melted in your mouth. So where is this outrageously scrumptious Oregon lamb? If you go to Costco in Florida or Utah, you'll find only lamb imported from Australia and New Zealand. What happened to America first???

And last but certainly not least to conclude the festival weekend we were given a memorable parting champagne and oyster Sunday brunch!

Speaking of which, today FR is taking me out for brunch! at the Stein Erickson Lodge in Deer Valley! Yeah!

Enjoy your Sunday!

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!