Happy New Year with a Bottle of Corbiers and a Cassoulet.............let's get this party started (mini Weekend Wine Review)

Gerard Bertrand Corbiers is rich, spicy, has a full body, fruity AND a sweet bargain at World Market for $9.



I am so excited about the new year! New recipes to try, wines to sample, writing projects, bread making.....who could ask for more :-)

Ok, let's check out this "new" book and a cassoulet.

On one of my outings to My Favorite Books I came across this slender volume, Classic French by Marie-Pierre Moine. We enjoy trying different versions of cassoulet (even though the basic premise is the same) so this book was put to the test.



Breton Pork and Bean Casserole
Porc aux Haricots

Ingredients.............

2 TB olive oil
1 onion, chopped
2 garlic cloves, chopped
1 pound shoulder of pork, cubed
12 ounces lamb (we used lamb steaks and cut it off the bone)
½ pound sausage
14 ounce can chopped tomatoes
2 TB red wine (Hahahaha…….I used about a ½ cup) and it was perfect
1 TB tomato paste
Bouquet garni
14 ounces canned cannellini beans, drained
1 cup breadcrumbs (from homemade bread!!)
Salt and pepper

Ready to roll? Here are simple directions.

Preheat oven to 325 F. Heat oil in Dutch oven and simmer up the onion and garlic. Don’t you just love that aroma, gets the juices going and you are hungry before you are halfway through the prep!

Remove onion and garlic with slotted spoon and set aside. Now add the meat to the pan and fry up. Do this in batches if you need to so it’s not crowded in the pan. Once browned, return onion and garlic to pan. Stir it up well!

Now tip in tomatoes, wine (have a sip for yourself), tomato paste and 1 ½ cups water. Season well and add Bouquet garni. Cover and once it starts boiling, cover, then pop that bad girl in the oven for an hour and half.


Now you are free to do something else for that hour plus. Walk the dog. Clean out that closet and give up on the clothes you haven’t been able to wear for 4 years (Goodwill bag), read another couple chapters of Game of Thrones………..



Ok, hour and half is up. Carefully remove that hot and heavy Dutch oven. Remove bouquet garni and stir in beans. Sprinkle bread crumbs over casserole and return to oven, uncovered, for 30 minutes.

Perfect meal for a wintery evening. Or a cold damp evening. Very nice with a side salad and baguette.

Mmmmmmm…warms the tummy. Pass the wine.



Happy New Year to all! I wish you a year of prosperity and happiness!

Grilling, Baking, Riding and Visiting!

What a lovely Christmas. Our son and daughter-in-law visited, 10 days of leave from the Army life and I hope we fed him as much home cooked chow as he wanted. Doug grilled lamb chops (with rosemary, garlic and olive oil) one evening. Another evening we had a gumbo with lots of sausage and shrimp, topped with breaded okra. For Christmas dinner Doug slowly roasted a standing rib roast over charcoal with woody chunks of pecan. Heavenly.



Two nights later he heated it over a charcoal fire for another dinner.



We did our annual Christmas Eve ride (for BBQ this time) and put 275 miles on the Road King, taking almost 5 hours. It was meant to be a warm day with temps about 72 F (22 C) but noooooooo........it never warmed beyond 52 F (11 C) and let me tell you. We froze. Froze! Thankfully we had on riding pants and that buffered the wind some but our hands and feet we as ice blocks. We did finally arrive at Phil's BBQ (in Eufala Alabama) and ate a drool worthy chopped pork sandwich and saucy baked beans. Then we rode to a Dollar Store and bought hoodies so we could get warm. It's a long ride when you are freezing and the hoodies did the trick.



BYOB (Bake Your Own Bread): I sent my last submission in to Cathy and she will do the roundup before passing the bread basket to Heather. Only three entries (from me) for December.

Soda Bread
Sage and Onion Bread
Hamburger Buns

Doug bought me a beautiful French pan for Christmas....behold!



In January there ought to many long loaves which will have a variety of herbs and cheeses as I experiment.

It was great seeing family and we had a wonderfully long stretch of time off.

As you can see my comment field is back again. I would either forget to turn the comment option off or I wanted them on particular posts so.......there you have it! (me dancing around with a L on my forehead...but you experiment with a notion and then adapt). Popular opinion was in favor of having the comment field.

That's it for now......off to the kitchen!

Caprese Bacon Chicken and a Mini Weekend Wine Review: La Vieille Ferme

An inexpensive French wine we like to enjoy with a variety of dishes. Good deep coloring, quaffable with berry fruit tastes an sometimes a hint of pepper, medium-bodied beauty we love to have gracing our table.


International night at our place. We enjoyed this French wine with Caprese Bacon Chicken. Draw in a big breath, savor the aroma and sit down to a damn fine meal. I love eating at home.



This is a dish served at Olive Garden restaurants but I modified it quite a bit. No cream in the fridge so.......I made it as I wanted to and...viola!

Use roma tomatoes, garlic, fresh basil (heavenly scent as you pick from the garden), a tiny bit of tomato sauce, sea salt, pepper, mozzarella cheese and chicken breasts. I actually used chicken tender as the breast meat is too dry for our taste.

8 bacon strips
4 boneless skinless chicken breast halves (or chicken tenderloins)
1 TB olive oil
½ tsp salt
¼ tsp pepper
2 Roma tomatoes, sliced
6 fresh basil leaves, thinly sliced
4 slices mozzarella cheese

Fry up the bacon. Set aside. Now saute the tenders then set aside. Next toss the Roma tomatoes in the skillet with garlic and basil and a tad of tomato sauce. Place the tenders into a baking dish and smother with tomato mixture. Top with bacon then mozzarella. Use the thick cut slices of mozzarella.

Bake at 350 F for about 30 minutes.

Easy...so easy.



Bon appetit and ...Buon appetito!

Christmas in Connecticut is the December Movie at Food n' Flix!

This movie is about a food columnist who fabricates a lovely life in which she is a fantastic cook, loving mother and owner of a country estate. This is a fairy tale that's about to be exposed. Elizabeth Lane is no kitchen professional and she isn't married nor does she have a baby or country estate. But her boss/editor doesn't know any of this.

Yardley, the boss, asks her to host a Christmas dinner for a returning war hero. As Elizabeth can not even boil an egg, she enlists the help of her friend Felix who actually is a whiz in the kitchen. He's hoping to open his own restaurant and agrees to assist Elizabeth in the charade, cooking all the goodies for Christmas dinner.

Romantic interest in Jefferson, the war hero, makes it complicated as....she is supposed to be married. Her friend John actually does have a country home and John is also in love with Elizabeth. She agrees to marry John if he'll pull off the deception she needs to keep her job and fool her boss (Yardley).




There is zero chemistry between Elizabeth and John.

Elizabeth Lane: John, when you're kissing me, don't talk about plumbing.
John Sloan: What? Oh, I'm sorry, what should I talk about?
Elizabeth Lane: Well, do you have to talk?

One of the food scenes was a Post-Marathon Christmas Food Fest - Late Night Snack, Chicken Drumsticks - Cold Chablis which Yardley tucked into.



I must say, Barabra Stanwyck was quite a babe back in the day.



Head over to Food n' Flix and see what else is being served. Happy Christmas!!


Thanks to Girlichef for hosting this month at her site!!

Update on Squirrel Head Manor Happenings.......128 Mile Ride, New Bar, Cocktails

I'm a lucky woman. When the weather is nice we are able to ride and grab lunch, enjoy each other's company...just have fun. These photos are from a month ago but I have been a lazy thing not uploading until now.

Doug took us to St Marks where we enjoyed a seafood meal and watched the boats drift by on the river. It was a popular day out for bikes.


Then we rose the long way back through the Appalachicola National Forest. 128 miles and great weather.
Doug's bike was the best looking one out there. See...he's growing his hair back! Bet you all thought he was really bald from previous photos.



I had fun...clearly. :-)




For the longest time we used a two shelf bookcase as a bar. Hey, it worked well..........



Now we have a slick looking piece of furniture that was not intended for use as a bar, but it works very well! Our Christmas gift to each other this year. Best ever big gift has been the gate.



We are enjoying it, fixing up a spare room.



Happy Holidays to this concoction!




Toasted Marshmallow Amore. What a beautifully made cocktail! I posted this over at Cocktail Puppy.

But this one....My Favorite ever. Santa Baby.....he makes a rockin' martini!



Best of all this month is a visit from our son and daughter-in-law. My babies came home for Christmas and we've been able to enjoy a few good meals with them. (Ok, this is from the wedding reception...but I don't have a photo from this week)
Love them!


Life is good. I hope yours is too.

Cheers!

Soda Bread

Did I have anything I wanted to share today...besides cooking talk? I really did think so but my attention deficit problem has my mind wandering.....about lots of things with Christmas approaching. Ok, so...when I think of it I'll give you a holler.

Bread again. Trial and error.........this bread recipe was a challenge because the bread book has measurements for 1 pound loaves. My bread machine is for 1 1/2 to 2 pound loaves.

Irish Soda Bread



After the second rise, take a knife and quickly slash a cross in the top of the bread. It doesn’t enhance the quality of the bread, tastes just the same, but it was traditional to put the cross to scare the devil away. (In this case, it’s the devil who is baking the bread )

Ingredients:
2 teaspoons or ½ packet of yeast
2 cups bread flour
1 teaspoon caraway seeds
1/3 teaspoon baking soda
1 TB sugar
2/3 teaspoon salt
1 TB butter
2/3 cups buttermilk

I added all this to my machine and used the dough setting. I don’t know what was going on with that bread machine last night but it started making an intermittent whining noise and it shook a little. As I wasn’t sure how the dough ought to look, I guess it turned out ok. After the dough cycle completed I shaped it into a loaf and baked at 375 F for 30 minutes. This morning I had a slice toasted with marmalade. It was good.

This particular bread machine book will be tossed into the bag going to the used book store. It’s difficult to figure out the measurement (sometimes) and I don’t have a 1/3 teaspoon measurer (something it calls for frequently in the recipes). The book is from 1995 and you know bread machines have come along way since then. Besides, there are so many bread recipes online so I can grab those as needed.



I am participating in BYOB!


Want to join in at BYOB? Check out the link above and enjoy!

Want to get Messy? Try Tyler Florence's Salt and Pepper Wings

I know there are other people out there who love messy, hands on meals as much as I do. Being a step away from needing professional help with my clumsiness, It's great to enjoy a meal where it’s expected to drop a sticky wing, smear chicken grease on a drinking glass and dribble blue cheese sauce on the tablecloth. It helps me blend in. If you are like me, the Salt and Pepper Chicken Wings will provide respite from wearing the proverbial “slob crown” (For the record, it’s not a “get out the entire roll of paper towels sloppy")



Last week I wrote about the nice gift Alexia Foods sent me, courtesy of a giveaway from Joanne at Eats Well With Others. That post is HERE After looking at all the delectable recipes and photos in Tyler Florence’s book Family Meals – the Salt and Pepper Chicken Wings with blue cheese sauce won out for a messy weekend feast. And it’s easy!



Cut tips off wings. Douse with 3 tablespoons olive oil. Salt and pepper. Now place on a cooking sheet and bake for 45 minutes at 400 F. It wasd against Doug's natural instincts for me to bake these wings. He always grills them. Can't say that now :-)

See? Easy. This worked out to be two meals for the two of us. I think I’ll double the batch next time.

Onion Rings courtesy of Alexia Foods



This evening I am hoping for a big bowl of cassoulet and a glass or two of wine. My bread machine will get the kneading process going on fresh baguettes (as we speak it ought to be working) and I will finish it off and shape and bake it when I arrive home. Win-win!

Hope you all are staying warm and enjoying the holidays!

Mini Weekend Wine Review: 2010 Banfi Chianti Superiore

First off, thank you to Efe Selcuk for following my site!

This Tuscan Sangiovese from Tuscany was very good. A Chianti wine that had a medium body, a taste of plums, holding up well to a pasta and Bolognese sauced dish. We wish there had been a tad more to enjoy after dinner was over.



A richly colored deep red with 13% alcohol content. Great buy at World Market.



Cheers!

People can be so cruel

People can be so cruel. When it comes to animals I have a soft heart and I just can not wrap my head around the fact that a dog or cat can be thrown out of a vehicle and abandoned like a piece of trash.




To the person who dumped this poor animal – I know the chances of you reading this is about a gazillion to one – but I curse your insensitivity, your callous disregard for another living creature which most likely did you no harm….you discarded a dog as you would a piece of garbage. This little guy depended on you for everything in his life. For warmth, for food, for shelter and for love. How could you be so heartless? Karma. I hope it bites you in the ass threefold.

We live in a rural area. As town moves out closer to us over these past 20 years we've seen more traffic, more homes sprouting up. But our little road still seems a good place for people to dump their unwanted pets.

Latest case -
The dog will not let me near him. He ran when I shook a bowl and showed him food, almost getting hit by a car in the process. If I can get within 100 yards of this poor fellow it’s amazing. A few times a week he sits near the edge of the road where I assumed he’d been dumped. He just waits…and waits. Heartbreaking.



At present he has taken to hanging out near the woods around the corner from our property. He barks up a storm but you can see he’s scared and hungry. One day as he was barking like crazy I said a few soothing words and let him see me place food on the ground. As soon as Doug and I were a good distance away he scarfed up the food. You could tell he was ravenous. Hopefully he will trust me one day and then (to him) the ultimate betrayal as I cart him to an animal hospital. If he’s lucky he’ll get a home. At worst, he’ll be put to sleep because face it….there are so animals in need to adoption and not enough who are willing (or able) to provide a home.

Our shibas are rescue dogs. Spoiled silly now, but one of them sure didn’t have a great start in life. If you can adopt, please contact your rescue organizations or your local shelter. Give them a chance at a good life because they sure can enrich your life.

Now, as we are talking about pets, Here is a good article from Natashya Kitchen Puppies regarding remembering your pets during the holidays. And some good advice all around!

Sage and Onion Bread for BYOB (Bake Your Own Bread)

Thank you to my newest follower (#121) for joining my reading group!

News here is – the BYOB (Bake Your Own Bread) sisterhood has accepted me as a participant to bake my own bread for a year. That’s the goal – no store bought breads. That being said, you aren’t actually kicked out if you need to grab a loaf of sandwich bread or frozen biscuits. That’s not an epic fail of the homemade code……..just a minor setback . We all gotta do what we gotta do.

To quote Captain Barbossa, “the code is more what you'd call "guidelines" than actual rules.” So yeah………I think I’m up to the challenge and have been having a ball making bread so far. It’s such a complex thing. Bread. Yeast is living and if you have water too hot – dead. A flat “loaf” of dense hard to eat bread.


Sage and Onion Bread



I used the bread machine to do the kneading and first rising then finished it out on my own. Tricky stuff there as the recipe came from a Better Homes and Gardens Bread Machine cookbook. Therefore, it didn’t have directions on time or temperature to cook.



Ingredients........

1/3 cup finely chopped onion
4 teaspoons margarine or butter
1 cup milk
3 tablespoons water
3 cups bread flour
2 teaspoons sugar
2 teaspoons dried sage or crushed sage
¾ teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon active dry yeast or bread machine yeast

In small saucepan cook the onions in hot butter or margarine until tender. Cool slightly. Seriously…cool it or it will cook the yeast before you get started. And how much would that suck?!

For my machine I added the liquids first, then the gently mixed dry ingredients except the yeast. Next I added the onions. Atop all this I placed the teaspoon of yeast. A full minutes later I thought, “Oh no….what if the onions are still too hot. What if they destroy the yeast?. Crap!!”



Set the machine to Dough and let it do the work. I peered inside the bread machine when it had a half hour to go and it just didn’t look like it was rising properly……. so I thought I’d ruined it.

No worries……it came out well and filled my bread pan properly.

As I mentioned before, this recipe is from a bread machine cookbook so I had to guess how long for the second rise and temperature to cook, how long, etc.

I guessed correctly! After the dough cycle was finished I placed it in a bead pan, covered with plastic wrap and let rise another half hour. Baked at 375 F for 25 minutes – perfect! We were so pleased.



Atkins be damned! I’d be a miserable failure on that diet!

Cutting into it the aroma of sage stuffing rises and you’d swear a bowl of Thanksgiving stuffing was sitting before you. We had this with black beans and rice, smoked sausage and beer breaded cheddar cheese balls.



I am participating in BYOB!


Want to join in at BYOB? Check out the link above and enjoy!

Mincemeat Danish

Danish. I love almost as much as pie.



It was a herculean effort not to eat more than one wedge of this - just barely cooled long enough to slice once removed from the oven.



This recipe was adapted from Marie’s site The English Kitchen. You could omit the mincemeat and use strawberry jam or just have the cheese filling.



Ingredients:
1 tube crescent rolls
1 8-oz. package cream cheese, softened
1/3 cup granulated sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3 tablespoons all purpose flour
1 cup mincemeat

Roll the dough out. Mix cream the other ingredients except mincemeat, use a whisk. I used my Nigella whisk.

Now spread the cheesy mixture along the center of the dough. Top with about a cup of mincemeat. Fold the dough back over and bake at 375 F for 15 to 20 minutes.

If you don't cut little strips off it could be a more presentable sight merely folding the dough over the top.

Now I have a huge jar of mincemeat so...I suppose you'll be seeing more desserts featuring the Cross and Blackwell specialty.

If you make this let me know how yours turned out. Email or Facebook or Twitter me!

Mini Weekend Wine Review: Goats Do Roam

We love Dave Matthews. We have every CD he's put out. Know what else we love from South Africa? Goats Do Roam wines.
What a dream - to live on a farm/vineyard where I could see goats all the time (I am a HUGE fan of the humble goat) and experience life on a vineyard. Wine making and goat herding,..........bliss. Ok, I got off topic before I even started.........

We've been a fan for quite awhile of this label. I love the play on words. This particular 2009 red went stunningly well with a lemon roasted chicken and balsamic roasted yellow onions. Medium body, tastes of cherry. Not strong cherry.......a nice hint.




From the bottle, "Our timeless goat icon, inspired by an ancient Mesopotamian artifact, symbolizes the importance of balance and composition, the core of our winemaker's art."

True that, fancy enough words to tell you this is 72% Syrah and a bit of Grenache.

Read more about Goats Do Roam HERE.

Recommended. An affordable wine which pairs well with many dishes.