So Simple And Yet So Ingenious

The other day I was in Whole Foods looking for something to make for dinner and I happened to take a trip down the freezer aisle. Although I had no interest in buying any desserts that day, something new caught my eye. I saw these "QB's" staring at me from inside the freezer case. A block of ice cream surrounded by a crispy rice treat. A ton of thoughts flooded my brain: "Why hasn't anyone made these before? Will they be any good? Why the hell are they called QB's? I have to buy them." Soon, they were in my cart and on the way home with me.
That night, after dinner, we broke them out. On first look, I was slightly disappointed by their size. They only come 4 in a box, and they are each about 1.5 inches on a side. However, what they lack in size they make up in taste. No, this isn't a gourmet snack by any means, but it is exactly what you would expect. The crispy rice treat is soft, crispy and full of marshmallow flavor - like the ones you used to make as a kid. The most surprising thing of all was that they didn't taste or feel stale in the least. I expected them to have more a an "old Rice Krispy Treat feel." The ice cream (I've only had the chocolate flavor - they come in vanilla and strawberry as well) was nothing special, but it suited the treat perfectly. It was a fine milk-chocolate based ice cream. Anything more would likely be too sofisticated for these things.
One thing I did discover about the QB's is that they taste somewhat better if allowed to defrost slightly before eating. If you have them directly out of the freezer, the ice cream is a little too hard.
I did find the "all natural" slogan on the box a little amusing, because when you eat them, they fell anything but natural.

Cassoulet

This Easter, we decided to have a small gathering at our house. Most of our family was going a little too far for us to want to drive with the kids. Instead, we stayed home with only my parents coming over for dinner. Since the group was small, we decided to branch out on the usual Easter meal. Trying to come up with a good dinner choice is always a little tricky for me, but luckily we are all somewhat adventurous (sort of - my parents only eat poultry and seafood). My wife and I decided on a cassoulet - with some substitutions. I've made it once before, but that time I used real (pork) bacon and pork sausages. With the restrictions on our protein choices, I made a few changes in the recipe. Although I'm sure the original one was richer in some way (bacon always makes things taste better), my pork-less version ended up much better than I expected. Warm, rich and surprisingly "meaty," this was a great meal.

Recipe for Cassoulet
1 lb duck breast - split into about 6 pieces (skin on)
1 lb garlic chicken sausages
8 ounces turkey bacon
2 cans cannelloni beans
14 ounce can of chopped/diced tomatoes
1 tablespoon tomato paste
2 cloves of garlic, chopped
1 large onion, chopped
1 large carrot, chopped
1 tablespoon dried thyme
2-3 bay leaves
2 cups chicken stock
Bread crumbs (plain and panko)
3 tablespoons olive oil
salt / pepper

Heat the oven to 325 F.
Heat the olive oil in a cassole if you have one (I used my Le Creuset Dutch Oven). Cut the bacon into strips and brown. Remove and reserve. Brown the duck and reserve. Cut the sausages into smaller pieces (3-4 per link) and brown and reserve.
Cook the onion and the garlic in the oil/fat until starting to soften, 3-4 minutes. Add the carrots and cook for 1 minute.
Add beans, tomatoes, tomato paste, thyme, and bay leaves to the pot and stir. Add all meat back into the pot and stir.
Pour in enough chicken stock to just reach the top of the contents in the pot.
Bring to a boil, then cover tightly and cook in the oven for 1 hour.
After one hour, uncover and cover pot contents with the breadcrumbs (both kinds) so that none of the contents are visible. Place back in the oven uncovered and cook for another 40 minutes.

I Can't Believe It's Butter

This weekend, my wife and I decided we needed a night out, so we got a couple of babysitters (the grandparents) and scoured through OpenTable.com looking for a place to eat. I saw that Butter had some openings, and I've wanted to taste Alex Guarnaschelli's food myself after seeing her dish out comments to the competitors on shows like Iron Chef and Chopped. Also, since Butter is always a hot-spot for the celebrities, we thought it would be fun.
When we arrived, we were seated right away in the Birch Room downstairs - at first it was a little odd, because we were the only people there. Our sense of loneliness was easy to overcome, and soon we got down to business. The waiter came over and explained the night's specials, but we had already figured out what we were going to have for dinner - we were giving the Tasting Menu a shot (mine with with wine parings).
One thing I found a little odd about Butter's tasting menu was that it wasn't the same for the entire table. My wife and I were served a completely different meal each. Luckily, we don't mind sharing, so we tasted a lot of great food last night.
Before the meal arrived, we were served some bread with butter - not a strange concept at all. It was one, however, that we were trying to avoid. With the meal we were expecting before us, neither wanted to fill up on bread. But how, may I ask, do you go to Butter and not try the butter? Some of the best butter I've ever had.
Our first course began with some soup. I was served the lentil bacon soup (it was one of the specials that evening) and my wife was served a potato leak soup with crispy onion rings in it (interestingly, this wasn't on the menu at all). Interesting side note: at the end of the meal, I asked for a list of the wines I had - they gave me a copy of our entire menu - and it appears we were given the wrong soups. Anyway, both were fantastic. I actually enjoyed the lentil bacon more than the potato leak (and my wife, the other way around), so we were happy with the serving snafu. The lentil soup was sweeter than I had expected, but those bites of bacon were awesome. As for the potato leek, it was great as well, mainly because of the crispy onion rings waiting to be found. For this course, I was given a glass of the Cleto Chiarli Sparkling Rosè Wine Rose Brut NV (Modena, Italy). It was nice, light and a little sweet. A clean way to kick off the drinking.
The next course consisted of a split of the special appetizer of the night. I received 2 deep fried crispy sardines and my wife received 2 deep fried crispy shrimp with a brown butter sauce. This was the only downer of the night for me. The shrimp were fantastic - warm, crispy and the brown butter sauce was fantastic. The sardines suffered a little because we shared the shrimp first. It was very cold in the dining room at that time, and by the time we moved over to the little guys, they had cooled down significantly. Fried food is always better hot. I imagine they would have been much better if I had gotten into them right away. This was paired with Moutard Brut Grande Cuvée NV (Buxeil, France) This was fantastic. I was a little surprised to get two glasses of the "sparkling" variety, but I was happy with the choices. This was obviously much more "champagne-y" than the first round. It had a deeper flavor and was much drier than the Cleto. I remember drinking this one pretty quickly.
After the first two courses, we began moving on to some more serious eating. Next up: pasta. I was given the Cavatappi pasta with homemade lamb sausage in a yellow tomato sauce, while my wife was given angel hair pasta with American caviar in a lemon butter sauce (I think - too much wine has clouded my memory a bit). At first my wife was scared of the caviar, but I convinced her to conquer her fears. Soon, she was enjoying it as much as I was. It had a nice, creamy texture, which went very well with the pasta. It didn't have the usual "popping" that I normally associate with caviar. My pasta dish was fantastic. The sausage was slightly overcooked and dry, but the taste was so good that I really didn't care. I could have had this for my entire meal and gone home happy. This was paired with Gruner Veltliner Fritsch “Windspiel” (Donauland, Austria) ’06. This wine was light, crisp and fantastic. I would buy this for my house - great summer wine. Mmmm.
Our next selections were more of the seafood variety - fish to be exact. My wife was served the olive oil poached striped bass with Tuscan kale, celery hearts and olives. This fish was fantastic. Buttery and light. I received the special fish dish - a nice piece of snapper encrusted with slices of purple potatoes. Again, this was fantastic. The potatoes provided the perfect crispy element to this dish. With this I was given the Albarino Burgans (Rias Baixis, Spain) - unclear on the vintage. This was a really nice Spanish white. I haven't been to crazy about most of the Spanish whites I've found in the States - although I really enjoyed a bunch in Spain. This one was one I'd have again.
At this point, we began to get a little confused. The tasting menu includes dessert, and we thought it was a 5 course meal. We had gone through 4 courses at this point, and assumed dessert would be next. I was a little disappointed to finish out the meal with a piece of fish - only because I was hoping for some meat, not because it was anything less than great. Then, to our surprise, we were brought two more plates, filled with the good stuff. My wife was given the seared Colorado rack of lamb and I was given a pork tenderloin. I can't even remember how it was cooked, but it was my favorite part of the meal. It was fantastic and it made me happy. The lamb was also great - and that was my wife's favorite on her side. This course was paired with Pavilion Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon. This was good, and I was happy to finally get some red wine. However, I think it was my least favorite of the entire night. Probably wouldn't go out and buy it, but would get it if it was on a wines by the glass list, and that's what I was looking for.
Now it was time for some dessert. When they brought us the plates, my wife asked what they were. Throughout the evening, we were given enourmous details on every dish and how it was prepared. For the desserts, were were told "This one is strawberry. This one is chocolate." Short and to the point. Neither are on the menu. My wife was given strawberries in a Zabaglione. Mine - well, it was some sort of warm chocolate cake. Both were rich and terrific. My dessert was paired with a glass of Mission Hill Riesling Ice Wine. I was very happy with this because that is my favorite type of dessert wine.
And then it was done. We were there for hours and I enjoyed every minute of it.

Welcome to a New Beginning

Welcome to my new blog! Although I had started my previous site as a place where I could store my thoughts and reviews about the wines I was sampling, it quickly became a place for my commentaries about my life in general. I've decided to take a step back and start all over again. I want to use this site to discuss all things related to food, drink, cooking and eating out. Hopefully, I'll write about things highbrow and low. We'll see how it goes.