I’ve always wanted to know how to do that thing you see on TV and movies where someone is throwing pizza dough into the air without having it end up all over the place.  Here’s a quick little step by step video showing how to do it like a pro.  I’ve also added one of my favorite pizza recipes with a few wine pairing suggestions:

The Lowrider Pizza

This recipe is based on a pie served at Proto’s in Colorado. We took something good and made it orgasmic! How? you might ask. By adding more crisp, savory bacon.

Get yourself an unbaked pizza crust (we like the Pilsbury pizza dough at most grocery stores). In a bowl, mix together tomato sauce with about a TSP of chipotle Tabasco sauce or some other chipotle sauce. Add a little more to give the sauce a little Jackie Chan kick to your tongue if you’d like. Cover the pizza with shredded mozzarella, crisp bacon bits, small red onion slice and pineapple chunks. Don’t hate on the pineapple going on the pizza, it serves a purpose which is to counter the spice of the chipotle. Bake the pizza as fast as you can, then cover the pie with chopped cilantro.

Of course, when in doubt, add some more crisp savory bacon bits. It’s a simple pizza to make, but a good twist to feature the bacon.

lowrider baby, yeah!

Pizza and wine are one of the easiest wine pairings to do.  You could practially pull any red wine out to have with pizza.  Because of the spicy kick from the chipotle, I’d go for a red wine with a little more sweetness.  Jammy style, lighter wines like Quinta do Crasto from Portugal, Flora Springs Sangiovese, Cougar Crest Syrah and many Australian Shiraz will do the trick

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This was based off of Mario Batali’s recipe on FoodandWine.com but modified to pair with the wine(s).  It’s such a simple recipe, but the final dish benefits from the texture from the eggs on top.  We roasted broccoli with a little olive oil and a pinch of sugar to enhance the browning of the vegetables.

INGREDIENTS

1/4 LB pancetta
1/4 LB thick cut bacon
1 LB dry spaghetti
1 cup Parmigiano-Reggiano, grated
4 egg yolk, separated
Black pepper, freshly ground
Salt

pork products cooking together

In a 12- to 14-inch sauté pan, render and cook the pork products together until it is crispy and golden, 6 to 8 minutes. Do not drain the fat from pan and set aside.

Bring 6 quarts of water to a boil and add 2 tablespoons salt. Cook the spaghetti (we use wheat or whole grain), until tender yet al dente. Drain the spaghetti, reserving the pasta cooking water.

Reheat the bacon & pancetta in the pan with the fat and add approximately 1/4 cup of the pasta cooking water. Toss in the cooked spaghetti and heat, shaking the pan, until warmed through, about 1 minute. Add the grated cheese, egg whites and black pepper and toss until fully incorporated. Divide the pasta among 4 warmed serving bowls. Make a nest in the center for the egg yolk. Gently drop an egg yolk into each serving, season with more freshly ground black pepper and grate additional cheese over the top. Serve immediately.

Hahn Estate winery makes some exciting wines, and at Chéz Bakas we love the SLH series of wines which stands for Santa Lucia Highlands.  The Pinot Gris and Chardonnay are exceptional wines.  For this recipe, the Pinot Gris makes an ideal pairing because the wine compliments the flavors in the main dish without overpowering it.

I like pairing local foods with local wines, and because this is a dish rooted in Italian cuisine, an Italian style wine is my first choice.  We didn’t have a Pinot Grigio readily available, so I went with the next closest thing—Pinot Gris.  The wine and food stimulate the senses in a menagerie of wonderful smells, taste and texture.  This is a fairly simple dish, but chock full of flavor.  And hey, it’s got bacon in it!  Cheers

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Serves 4

INGREDIENTS

4 Filet Mignon Steaks
3 tablespoons olive oil
1/2 LB fresh porcini mushrooms, stemmed, sliced
3 garlic cloves, minced
1 1/2 cups whipping cream
1/2 cup crumbled Purple Haze blue cheese (with lavender)
2 TSP minced canned chipotle chiles or Chipotle sauce
1 TBSP fresh tarragon, chopped
Salt & Pepper

Heat 2 tablespoons olive oil in large skillet over medium heat. Add porcini mushrooms and tarragon and sauté until soft, about 4-5 minutes minutes. Add garlic and stir 1 minute. Add cream and bring to boil. Reduce heat to medium-low and simmer sauce until thickened. Stir in blue cheese cheese and chipotle sauce. Season sauce to taste with salt and pepper. DO AHEAD Sauce can be made 2 hours ahead. Let stand at room temperature.

Season steaks with olive oil salt and freshly ground black pepper. Heat remaining 1 tablespoon olive oil in another heavy large skillet. Cook steaks in skillet until brown on both sides and cooked to desired doneness, about 5 minutes per side for medium-rare. Rewarm sauce. Transfer 1 steak to each of plates. Spoon sauce over steaks and serve.

This recipe is fairly easy to execute as there aren’t many ingredients.  Julia Child or Jaques Pepin would (hopefully) like that there’s simplicity, yet extreme tastiness here.  The sauce is cream based, which means it’s thick and you need a wine to cut through the creaminess to stand up to all the flavor.  Keep it simple, a good Cabernet Sauvignon will be a nice pairing to the beef and rich sauce.

I liked the St. Supéry Dollarhide Ranch Cabernet Sauvignon because it has a tinge of spice on the palate.  It’ll mingle nicely with the hint of spice you get from the chipotle in the sauce.  In addition, the Dollarhide Cab is complex, but it won’t overpower the tender cut of beef.

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We love cooking with wine at Chez Bakas, and although leftover wine in the bottle doesn’t happen often, when it does I get excited about recycling the wine.  Leftover wine usually happens when we either try a bottle we don’t care for or when it just wasn’t necessary to finish the entire bottle.

Recycling and reusing is a good practice around the house, especially in the kitchen.  Use as much of each food item as possible, and reuse every drop of wine when you can.  Here are a few great uses for leftover wine:

1. Sauces

courtesy of getty images

Reduction sauces are an ideal way to use leftover white or red wine.  If you haven’t experimented with reduction sauces, take a run at it and play around with the basics of making a sauce.  Often times a stock (ie. Beef, Veal or Chicken) mixed with wine can be simmered for a while until the liquid is reduced to a sauce.  Stocks that are homemade are flavorful and easy to do, but they can also be found at most grocery stores, sometimes know as broths.  The Julia Child stock recipe is tried and true.

A 1:1 ratio of wine to stock is an easy recipe for sauce.  Pour them together into a saucepan and bring to a boil, then simmer down until the sauce is thick and almost not liquid.  I love doing this with ports or red wines for beef.  Pasta sauces simmered with red wines and a bay leaf are also more flavorful.

Some recipes that use wine for the sauce:

Poached Chicken in Truffles & Cream Sauce (uses white wine)

Chicken with Rosemary & Lemon Sauce (uses white wine)

Seared Duck Breast w/ Cherry Port Sauce (uses port)

Presidential Rack of Lamb a la Richelieu (uses white wine)

Filet with Mushrooms & Madeira (uses madeira)

.

2. Marinating Meats

courtesy of prevention.com

Marinating beef in red wine is an awesome way to add flavor and tenderize meat.  This is a great thing to do when making stews or even before grilling.  I especially like reusing wine this way because red wine can get kind of nasty to drink if it’s been open for longer than a few weeks, but not too nasty to use for marinating.  Here’s a recipe to try where the meat gets marinated over night:

Bouef Bourguignonne (marinate with red wine)

3. Hearty Stews

courtesy of getty images

One of my all time favorite recipes is the one listed above.  Bouef Bourguignonne not only uses beef that’s marinated but it’s slow cooked all day with an entire bottle of wine poured in.  On a cold day, a warm hearty stew-like dish warms the soul.

The idea isn’t too dissimilar to the concept behind sauces where slow simmering creates a thicker, richer sauce, but with stews, all the ingredients soak up the flavors and gain a wonderful texture.

As mentioned above, red wine can get too nasty to drink after being open too long, but works fine in stews even if it smells a bit off.

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When President and Mrs Reagan visited Paris in the mid 1980’s they did have many official functions including a diplomatic dinner with President and Madame Francoise Mitterand at the Elysee Palace (the White House of France)
Naturally, the diplomatic decorum demanded that the American guests of honor should return the invitation.
The Reagans were staying at the US Embassy and decided to honor the French President and first lady with non American food. The chefs at the US Embassy were French chefs.
The Lamb recipe is very fancy in terms of prestige. It was put together by chef Auguste Esccoffier at the turn of the 20th century. It was named in honor of Cardinal Armand de Richelieu, who was chief minister to King Louis XIII in the 17th century.

INGREDIENTS
2 racks, 6 chops each., have the butcher cut the chine bone for easy serving of chops.

Marinade:
1/2 bottle of white wine
1/2 cup of quality olive oil
1 medium onion sliced
1 whole bay leaf crumbled
1/2 teaspoon of dried marjoram, or 2 TBSP of fresh if available
8 black peppercorns, coarsly crushed
1/2 TSP of dried thyme, or 2 TSP of fresh
salt to taste

Marination needs to be a minimum of 4 hr. Overnight would be good. Keep turning and spoon over the rack.

Place in the oven and grill at 450 degrees for 30-40 minutes depending on cooking level preferred. Keep to lamb warm in the oven while the sauce is being made.

Sauce:
Place the drippings in a fry pan. Remove some of the fat. Add a cup of port or madeira. Reduce under high heat. Whisk in 3 tablespoons of butter one at a time. Serve the sauce in a gravy boat at the table.

marinate lamb AT LEAST 4 Hrs.

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INGREDIENTS
1 cup Soy Sauce
1 cup Sherry
4 6-OZ duck breast halves
12 frozen dark sweet cherries, thawed and halved
1 cup chicken stock
1 cup beef stock
1/2 cup ruby port
1 fresh thyme sprig
1 TSP cornstarch dissolved into 2 TBSP water
1/4 cup butter, cut into 1/2-inch pieces

Whisk soy sauce and Sherry in medium bowl to blend. Using a sharp knife, make diagonal slits on the duck breasts 1/2-inch apart making sure to not cut too deep (not through meat). Place duck, skin side up into glass baking dish. Pour marinade over. Cover duck with plastic wrap and refrigerate at least 2 hours and up to 6 hours.
Bring cherries, chicken stock, beef stock, port and thyme spring to boil in a heavy medium saucepan over high heat. Simmer until mixture is reduced to 1/2 cup.

marinate the duck breasts

Meanwhile, heat heavy large skillet over medium heat. Remove duck from marinade. Add duck breasts, skin side down to skillet. Cook until skin is crispy, about 10 minutes. Turn duck over and continue cooking to desired doneness, about 5 minutes for medium. Transfer duck to cutting board or other surface.
Add cornstarch mixture to port-cherry sauce. Bring to simmer, whisking constantly. Add butter one piece at a time until melted.

Slice duck breast and fan out on plates. Spoon sauce over duck then serve.

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Here it is loyal bacon fans, this year’s list of crisp, savory delectables that are sure to light up your taste buds like a pinball machine.  A year ago I provided a list of the top 10 bacon recipes for 2008 that you can see updated here.  This year, bacon became the cosmic glue that wove social media sites together.  There were highlights, and there were lowlights…well, the lowlights were most likely everyone’s lipid profile at the doctor.

I selected this year’s recipes based on a combination of pushing the boundaries of how bacon should be used and ease of making the recipes.  So here you go in no particular order:

1. Bacon Wrapped Mashed Potatoes

That’s right, I said it.  Bacon wrapped around mashed potatoes.  You may want to mow down some Lipitor and fish oil pills before taking on this dish.  It’s really quite simple—make the mash potatoes, and if you’re like my Mom or Paula Deen, you put a stick of butter in your potatoes.  Because I’m a real health nut, I only put a half stick of butter.  Keep the milk to a minimum because you want them thar potatoes to have the consistency of spackle.

Once you make the potatoes, slow cook some bacon in a pan half way.  You want to cook the bacon just enough that it starts to crisp, but you can still bend it without breaking.  Let the bacon cool on a paper towel, then weave the bacon together like fabric.  Put the bacon on a cookie sheet then put a dollop of mash potatoes in on the woven pig products.  Wrap the bacon around said potatoes, then bake until the bacon gets crispy.

If you really want to throw caution to the wind, put some cheese in there just to give your arteries the finger.

2. Bacon Candy

I didn’t have to look too far for this gem.  As it turns out, this recipe was the catalyst that led to my being hired at St. Supéry winery.  Back in March, Lisa DeBruin aka @winedivergirl and I were talking about bacon.  She mentioned she had a friend who had been experimenting with this recipe.  That person turned out to be @LesleyKeffer who is now my boss at the winery.  See what happens when you follow your love of bacon?

The recipe is simple: Crisp, savory bacon with BBQ rub, caramel, semisweet chocolate and crystallized ginger.  Check it here.

How lucky am I to work for someone who loves bacon as much as I do?  I freakin’ scored!

3. The Bacon Smootie

My wife was none to pleased when she saw what I was putting in our blender.  I’m not going to lie, it’s kinda weird. But it works.  The reason why is the chocolate, which goes with bacon quite nicely.  And chocolate also goes with raspberries, so together, the chocolate, raspberries and bacon are like the Voltron of savory flavor.  The recipe was very tasty, but gasey.  Go here to get the original recipe that started it all.

photo courtesy of prevention.com

4. Bacon Wrapped French Toast Sticks

Contrary to popular belief, this masterpiece is NOT made with Twinkies, it’s made with french toast sticks.  Of course if you really had no concern for your own well being you could substitute Twinkies, but I think the creme filling would be gross.  By using french toast sticks this actually qualifies as breakfast rather than a late night snack put together after too many bong rips.  The judges have awarded the Stonehenge concept with high marks, but the execution was lazy, so the judges had to dock them a few points because it wasn’t to scale.

photo credit unknown

5. The Lowrider Pizza

This recipe is based on a pie served at Proto’s in Colorado.  We took something good and made it orgasmic!  How? you might ask.  By adding more crisp, savory bacon.

Get yourself an unbaked pizza crust (we like the Pilsbury pizza dough at most grocery stores).  In a bowl, mix together tomato sauce with about a TSP of chipotle Tabasco sauce or some other chipotle sauce.  Add a little more to give the sauce a little Jackie Chan kick to your tongue if you’d like.  Cover the pizza with shredded mozzarella, crisp bacon bits, small red onion slice and pineapple chunks.  Don’t hate on the pineapple going on the pizza, it serves a purpose which is to counter the spice of the chipotle.  Bake the pizza as fast as you can, then cover the pie with chopped cilantro.

Of course, when in doubt, add some more crisp savory bacon bits.  It’s a simple pizza to make, but a good twist to feature the bacon.

lowrider baby, yeah!

6. Bouef a la Bourguignonne

This might be one of my favorite recipes of all time for winter.  It has two of my favorite things in life— bacon and wine.  Yum!  This is a hearty dish that you slow cook all day before serving.  It requires a little foresight and preparation the day before, but when you do it right it’ll all be worth it.

The recipe calls for 4OZ. of bacon, but by all means don’t let that stop you from adding more   The meat you select is important, don’t get the cheap stew meat, even though it’ll be tender, get something that’s tender to start with.  Tri tip is a good choice.

Get the recipe here

7. Maple Bacon Cinnamon Rolls

I nearly blew my ‘O’ ring when I first tried this breakfast item.  I mean, come on, it’s bacon wrapped or sprinkled onto or into cinnamon rolls.  Now is probably a good time to make a public service announcement about not eating all these recipes in the same week.  Space it out.  Your doctor will thank you for it.

The recipe is available from Delicious Coma and can be found here.

photo via Delicious Coma

8. Emeril’s Brussels Sprouts with Bacon (Video)

Emeril made last year’s Top 10 bacon list too.  Hmmm, this guy might be onto something.  This recipe was selected because you need vegetables from time to time, and what makes vegetables better?  Yep.  You got it.

Get it here

photo via Food Network

9. Heirloom Grilled Cheese Sammich w/ Tomato Bacon Soup

Comfort food plain and simple.  It’s quick and easy to make and when you think about it, what else do you need in life?  Many of the essential food groups are represented here, which is nice.  Anytime you can get vegetables in with your bacon it’s a good thing.

When I saw this recipe from Rick Massa on the Food Network site, I was hooked.  You will be too which is why it’s on the top ten list.

10. You Call It!

There are so many great bacon recipes, and throughout the year I’ve talked to many creative people online who have great uses for bacon, so we’re going to crowd source the final pick of the list.  Leave a comment below and let me know which bacon recipe YOU think should be on the top ten.  See you in 2010!

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1. In 1963, television sponsor, Coca-Cola approached TV producer Lee Mendelson about doing a documentary about cartoonist Charles Schulz and his comic strip. The documentary led to a two minute film that became the first animated Peanuts characters.

2. Vince Guaraldi wrote some original music based on the piece, and that first composition became the tune called “Linus and Lucy.”

3. The Peanuts documentary films was never sold, but CBS had committed to Coca-Cola. Executives from Coke asked Mendelson if he’d create a Christmas special. Charles Shulz spent the next week creating scenes called, “School Play”, “Sad Christmas Tree”, and “Ice Skating”.

4. The Children who sing Hark! The Herald Angels Sing were from the Bay Area in California.

5. Animators had difficulty animating Charlie Brown’s head because it was round. Side to side movement didn’t look right. Many of the characters heads didn’t look right after they made the jump from comic strip to animation.  Snoopy was the easiest character to animate which why he’s in so many scenes.

6. CBS execs were not impressed when they previewed Charlie Brown Christmas. They didn’t like the voices done by real kids, there was no laugh track, it moved too slow and they didn’t like Linus reading from the Gospel of Luke. Execs were quoted as saying, “You can’t read from the Bible on television.” Ultimately, CBS had made a commitment to their sponsor and reluctantly aired the special.

Charlie Brown and Linus

7. The originally airing of Charlie Brown Christmas brought in 15.4 million viewers, placing it second in ratings behind Bonanza. Charles Schulz and Lee Mendelson won an Emmy award for Outstanding Children’s Programming.

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Strawberry and Almond Spinach Salad

INGREDIENTS
1 LB baby spinach leaves, washed
1/2 cup sliced green onions
1/3 cup slivered almonds, drizzled with honey and slightly toasted
1 cup sliced strawberries
2-3 TBSP chopped fresh dill

INGREDIENTS FOR DRESSING:
1/4 cup red wine vinegar
1/4 cup sugar or Truvia
1 TSP garlic, minced
1/4 TSP sea salt
1/4 TSP fresh ground pepper
1/4 TSP dry mustard powder
1/4 TSP onion powder
1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil

In a small bowl, whisk together the red wine vinegar, sugar or Truvia, olive oil, garlic, salt, black pepper, dry mustard and onion powder.

Wash dill and pat dry or use a spinner. Trim off feathery ends, discarding thick stems. finely chop dill and set aside. Wash and slice strawberries.

Wash spinach and spin dry or pat dry with paper towels. Place spinach in large mixing bowl. Thinly slice green onions and add to spinach in bowl. Add slivered toasted almonds and chopped dill and mix together.

Whisk dressing a few time to be sure it’s well-mixed, then add desired amount of dressing to salad and toss.  To keep dressing from making leaves heavy, pour dressing around sides of bowl mixing spinach against it rather than pouring dressing directly on to spinach.

Arrange salad on individual serving plates. Toss sliced strawberries with 1-2 TBSP of dressing, then arrange strawberries over salad on each plate and serve.

Wine Pairings:
The strawberries deliver a bit of tanginess that would benefit from a touch of salt and pepper. This recipe is meant to be easy to make and easy to transport to parties. It’s colorful, it’s light and it’s healthy. Better yet, this recipe is created to pair with wines you’d expect to find at holiday parties like Chardonnay or Pinot Gris. An unoaked Chardonnay will be even better because the fruit and acidity will be more complimentary with the strawberries. Here’s a few wines I’d recommend:

+ Bethel Heights Pinot Gris – Oregon
+ Spann Vineyards Chardonnay/Viognier – Sonoma
+ St. Supéry Oak Free Chardonnay – Napa

Roast Lamb with Shallots, Mint and Mustard

Serves 6

INGREDIENTS For lamb:
1 crown of lamb made from two 8-rib racks (about 4 1/2 pounds total)
3 TBSP butter, room temperature
1 TBSP plus 1/2 TSP Dijon mustard
2 TSP dried rosemary

1 cup dry white wine
large shallots, chopped
1/4 cup chicken stock
3 TBSP fresh mint, chopped

For Spring Vegetables with Mint:
1 1/2 pounds new potatoes, halved
1 baby carrot bunch, stems trimmed to 1 inch, peeled
1 10 OZ. basket pearl onions, peeled
1 LB fresh asparagus, trimmed, cut crosswise into thirds

3 TBSP butter
3 TBSP fresh mint, chopped

Preheat oven to 450°F. Mix 2 tablespoons butter, 1 tablespoon mustard and 1 1/2 teaspoons rosemary in bowl. Season generously with salt and pepper. Place lamb in roasting pan. Rub all over with butter mixture. Roast 15 minutes. Reduce oven temperature to 350°F. and continue roasting until thermometer inserted into lamb registers 140°F. for medium-rare, about 40 minutes. Transfer lamb to platter; let stand 15 minutes.

Pour off fat from roasting pan and set pan aside. Melt 1 tablespoon butter in heavy large skillet over low heat. Add shallots and 1/2 teaspoon rosemary; sauté until shallots are tender, about 5 minutes. Add wine to roasting pan and bring to boil over high heat, scraping up any browned bits. Add wine to skillet. Add stock; boil until slightly thickened, about 6 minutes. Mix in 1/2 teaspoon mustard and mint. Season with salt and pepper.

Spoon vegetables in center of and around roast. Serve, cutting lamb into chops and spooning sauce over.

To make spring vegetables:
Place potatoes in vegetable steamer and steam 10 minutes. Add carrots and onions and steam until vegetables are almost tender, about 10 minutes longer. Add asparagus and steam until crisp-tender, about 5 minutes more.

Melt butter in heavy large skillet over medium heat. Add mint and vegetables. Season with salt and pepper and stir until vegetables are coated with butter.

Wine Pairings:
The right selection of lamb will make all the difference. Colorado lamb is some of the best in the country and should be readily available at most decent markets. The resulting holiday dish will be tender and flavorful which bodes well for a lighter style red wine. Cabernet or high alcohol reds will most likely overpower the flavors. Here’s a few I recommend:

+ Chateau Musar Rouge 1995 – Lebanon
+ Twisted Oak River of Skulls – Calaveras County, CA

+ Lucienne Pinot Noir Doctor’s Vineyard – Central Coast, CA

+ Cougar Crest Cabernet Franc – Walla Walla, WA

Herb Crusted Filet of Beef

Serves 6

INGREDIENTS
1 3-lb. Beef Tenderloin
3 TBSP Extra Virgin Olive Oil
1/2 cup Madeira
2/3 cup Vermouth
1/4 Cognac
1 bay leaf
1 TBSP butter
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 TBSP marjoram
1 TBSP fresh thyme, chopped
1/2 cup cold water
sea salt and pepper

HERB CRUST:
3 slices white bread, crusts removed
1/2 cup fresh herbs, chopped (thyme, marjoram, rosemary, parsley)
2-3 cloves garlic, minced

At least 2 hours before cooking, combine all ingredients together (not Herb Crust or Madeira) in a large bowl or pan. Place meat in mixture and cover entire cut of beef with herb mix. Refrigerate for later cooking.

To make herb crust, place bread in food processor with herbs and garlic. Process until well blended and fine. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

Grill Method: Preheat grill to medium high. Take beef out of marinade and set marinade aside for later. Cook each side of meat 4 minutes or so giving it a nice sear on all sides. After searing, move beef to upper rack or cooler side of grill and cook 20 minutes.

Oven Method: Preheat oven to 425°F. Oven sear beef (brown sides, about 5-7 minutes each side) then reduce heat to 350°F. Cook for 30-35 minutes making sure to baste throughout cooking.

After beef is done cooking, remove filet from grill or oven and place on a platter, then cover with foil tent. Place platter in oven with oven off and door open, or with the oven on WARM for 20 minutes. Take the marinade that was set aside and pour it into a small saucepan with 1/2 cup water. Bring to boil and reduce liquid by half, add madeira, then reduce by half. Serve sauce on the side late with beef. If you cooked the beef in the oven, you can use the roasting pan instead of a small saucepan so you get all the yummy bits.

To finish, rub herb crust mixture all over beef, brush a light amount of olive oil if needed. Place herb-covered beef back on the grill and cook each side about 2-3 minutes per side taking care to not burn the crust. If using the oven, broil each side for 2-3 minutes taking care to avoid burning.

Carve beef and serve with sauce on side.

Wine Pairings:
Here’s a regal beef dish that’s sure to be a crowd pleaser. If you actually like the people you have over at your house you can bring out the good wines to impress them. Better yet, pull out a magnum. If it’s your family and they’re driving you up one wall and down another you can opt for the lower tier swill. If you dine at Chez Bakas, chances are it’s all good stuff. Because this beef dish requires a little extra preparation, why not serve a wine that’s got a little extra Bruce Lee round house kick to the taste buds? I’d serve these wines with this dish:

+ Quinta do Crasto Old Vines Reserva – Portugal
+ Quilceda Creek Cabernet Sauvignon – Washington
+ St. Supéry Dollarhide Ranch Cabernet – Napa
+ Vilafonté Series C – South Africa

Garlic Roasted Chicken

garlic roasted chicken

INGREDIENTS
1 free ranch whole chicken
2 whole heads of garlic, unpeeled and cut in half horizontally
2 TBSP Extra Virgin Olive Oil
1 cup white wine
3/4 cup chopped fresh herbs: Rosemary, Thyme, Lavender, Marjoram
Salt and Pepper

Preheat oven to 375°
Rinse chicken inside and out with cold water. Drain and pat dry. Mix together 1 TBSP fresh ground pepper, 1TBSP sea salt and herbs in a small bowl.
In a 9×14 roasting pan, cover chicken with olive oil making sure to coat entire bird. Rub salt, pepper and herb mixture all over chicken including inside the cavity. Wrap chicken legs together with string. Put halved garlic heads into pan around chicken. Put roasting pan in oven on center rack and cook for 20 minutes. Baste chicken with wine and roast for another 25 minutes. Baste chicken again using pan juices. Turn chicken over and repeat process. After 90 minutes chicken skin should be golden brown. Chicken is done when clear juices run from thigh after poking with a knife.

Place chicken on platter with tail in the air so moisture and juices flow downhill to breast meat. Cover with foil and let chicken stand 10 minutes before serving with roasted garlic.

Wine Pairings:
Here’s a chicken dish that’ll go with that buttery butterball Chardonnay you’ve been wanting to open. It’s chicken. Keep it simple and enjoy! A few wines I’d serve:

+ Au Bon Climat Nuits Blanches Chardonnay – Santa Barbara
+ Sokol Blosser Evolution – Oregon
+ Domaine Jean-Marc Vincent, Les Hautes, Auxey-Duresses 2006 – Burgundy

Snowball Cookies

snowball cookies

INGREDIENTS
1/2 cup butter
2 TBSP sugar
1 TSP vanilla
3/4 cup chopped pecans
1 cup flour
1/4 TSP salt
Powdered sugar

Cream butter
Add all other ingredients, except the powdered sugar.
Mix well.
Shape into 1″ balls and place on a greased cookie sheet.
Bake at 350 degrees 15 minutes.
These should be light in color, not brown.
Cool and roll in powdered sugar.

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My Father-in-law called me up a few weeks ago and said, “I’ve got a vertical of Grange we should drink”.  We talked a bit about how best to enjoy these stellar bottles and decided to do a vertical tasting with food pairings the day after Thanksgiving.  After doing a little research, we found some great tasting notes for the 1992-1995 Penfold’s Grange.

If you aren’t familiar with Grange, it’s a wine conceived by Max Schubert, grown and produced by Penfold’s in Australia, and is considered to be Australia’s “first growth”.  That means it’s compared to the finest Bordeaux first growth’s like Chateau Margaux, Lafite Rothschild, Chateau Haut Brion and Chateau Latour.  The Grange blend was created in 1951 as an experimental blend by the then winemaker for Penfold’s.  He wanted to create an Australian wine to rival France’s most sought after wines with quality and agability.

The Grange was initially met with negative reviews from the press because it didn’t have the drinkability upon release.  Schubert was ordered to discontinue making the blend, however, he persisted.  A few years later, the Grange blend finally received the accolades it deserved which was about right because the wine wasn’t made to drink right away, it was meant to be a wine that’s aged before drinking.  The following wine notes and recipes were part of the tasting:

1992 Grange
93 points from Robert Parker
Out of all the wines in the vertical, this one resembled a Bordeaux the most. It wasn’t overly fruity or extracted but rather terroir-driven with refined fruit at its peak showing notes of elegance and aging. If tasted blind, I doubt many people would even guess this was an Australian wine. The Shiraz wasn’t big and jammy like many Aussie Shiraz’, it was restrained as was the Cabernet netting a mere 13.5% ALC.

1993 Grange
91 point from Robert Parker
The ‘93 was interesting as tasted in context to the other vintages. It showed signs of age and refinement but was still in its peak drinking window. Overall, this vintage was not rated that high but astute wine making was apparent as this Grange also showed finesse with a hint of younger fruit.

1994 Grange
91 points from Robert Parker
After smelling and tasting the 1992 and 1993, the 1994 started to resemble an Australian wine. Riper fruit, more youthful tasting with a tad more sweetness on the palate. Notes of blackberry, stewed plums, toasty oak and more density from the 89% Shiraz 11% Cabernet blend. This wine has a few more years of aging ahead of it but was already demonstrating why Grange is such a sought after wine.

1995 Grange
92 points from Robert Parker
The 1995 was the most acidic wine out of all four. Sweet blackberry liquer, ripe fruit and plenty of aging potential ahead of it. After tasting all 4 vintages in order, the ‘95 was so much more youthful than the 1992. There was a distinct progression of age across all four vintages.

we threw in a 1996 Shiraz for good measure

Of course, great wine deserves great food.  So we set out to find the perfect food pairings to go with these stellar wines.  Here are a few of the recipe items we made, and they were SUBLIME!  Absolutely stunning pairings.  Many Aussie Shiraz’s are rich and jammy, but the Grange is a wine of finesse and elegance.  Although it’s a blend of Cabernet and Shiraz, it’s not necessarily a wine to go with beef.  We wanted something more exotic and luxurious.  Here’s what we came up with:

Duck with Port-Cherry Sauce

INGREDIENTS
1 cup Soy Sauce
1 cup Sherry
4 6-OZ duck breast halves
12 frozen dark sweet cherries, thawed and halved
1 cup chicken stock
1 cup beef stock
1/2 cup ruby port
1 fresh thyme sprig
1 TSP cornstarch dissolved into 2 TBSP water
1/4 cup butter, cut into 1/2-inch pieces

Whisk soy sauce and Sherry in medium bowl to blend. Using a sharp knife, make diagonal slits on the duck breasts 1/2-inch apart making sure to not cut too deep (not through meat). Place duck, skin side up into glass baking dish. Pour marinade over. Cover duck with plastic wrap and refrigerate at least 2 hours and up to 6 hours.
Bring cherries, chicken stock, beef stock, port and thyme spring to boil in a heavy medium saucepan over high heat. Simmer until mixture is reduced to 1/2 cup.

marinate the duck breasts

Meanwhile, heat heavy large skillet over medium heat. Remove duck from marinade. Add duck breasts, skin side down to skillet. Cook until skin is crispy, about 10 minutes. Turn duck over and continue cooking to desired doneness, about 5 minutes for medium. Transfer duck to cutting board or other surface.
Add cornstarch mixture to port-cherry sauce. Bring to simmer, whisking constantly. Add butter one piece at a time until melted.

Slice duck breast and fan out on plates. Spoon sauce over duck then serve.

Presidential Rack of Lamb a la Richelieu
When President and Mrs Reagan visited Paris in the mid 1980’s they did have many official functions including a diplomatic dinner with President and Madame Francoise Mitterand at the Elysee Palace (the White House of France)
Naturally, the diplomatic decorum demanded that the American guests of honor should return the invitation.
The Reagans were staying at the US Embassy and decided to honor the French President and first lady with non American food. The chefs at the US Embassy were French chefs.
The Lamb recipe is very fancy in terms of prestige. It was put together by chef Auguste Esccoffier at the turn of the 20th century. It was named in honor of Cardinal Armand de Richelieu, who was chief minister to King Louis XIII in the 17th century.

INGREDIENTS
2 racks, 6 chops each., have the butcher cut the chine bone for easy serving of chops.

Marinade:
1/2 bottle of white wine
1/2 cup of quality olive oil
1 medium onion sliced
1 whole bay leaf crumbled
1/2 teaspoon of dried marjoram, or 2 TBSP of fresh if available
8 black peppercorns, coarsly crushed
1/2 TSP of dried thyme, or 2 TSP of fresh
salt to taste

Marination needs to be a minimum of 4 hr. Overnight would be good. Keep turning and spoon over the rack.

Place in the oven and grill at 450 degrees for 30-40 minutes depending on cooking level preferred. Keep to lamb warm in the oven while the sauce is being made.

Sauce:
Place the drippings in a fry pan. Remove some of the fat. Add a cup of port or madeira. Reduce under high heat. Whisk in 3 tablespoons of butter one at a time. Serve the sauce in a gravy boat at the table.

marinate lamb AT LEAST 4 Hrs.