Placeres Sensoriales Rioja 2017

In English, “Sensory Pleasures.” This tasty little item is from a cellar called El Vino Prodigo, a name that perhaps signals the winemaker’s ambitions.

Made from 25 to 40-year-old vines, this 100% tempranillo, dark red Rioja has a bouquet of plums, blackberries, and cinnamon. The palate is medium to full bodied, with red fruits, good acidity and a long finish. For what is described as the producer’s entry-level wine, Placeres Sensoriales Rioja would benefit from aeration.

I had this with Thai red curry. Homemade, not takeout. Here’s the recipe that I used. Although the site is heavy on ads, the recipes are good.

Imported by Polaner Selections, Mount Kisco, NY. $15.99. Strongly recommended.

Spanish Holiday: Paella With Sausage, Chicken and Shrimp

When it takes three hours to prepare, it’s  not really a holiday.  But your family and friends will be glad you went to all that effort.

Paella originated in Valencia, on Spain’s Mediterranean coast.  If the Wikipedia entry is to be believed, there are three main types of paella.  I’m not sure that Spaniards would consider this recipe authentic, but it turned out really nicely.  It’s adapted from Bon Apetit.  The main difference between their recipe, which was for 10 people, and what is presented here is the quantities:  I reduced the meat quantities significantly and increased the vegetables.  There’s still enough to serve six people here.

Budget approx. 3 hours for prep and cooking time.  This should go well with both red and white wine.  My go-to wines would be Rioja, something from Languedoc, or Côtes du Rhone.

• 3 TB olive oil or more, divided
• 1 lb sweet or hot Italian sausage, cut up
• 1.25 lb boneless chicken breast
• 2 [VERY] large onions
• 6 garlic cloves
• ¾ lb tomatoes, chopped
• 1 bay leaf
• 3 medium zucchini, sliced lengthwise and then crosswise into quarters
• 2 large red bell peppers
• 1 lb uncooked shrimp, peeled, deveined
• 1 clove garlic
• “generous pinch” + ¼ tsp saffron threads
• 1 ¼ cups Arborio rice
• ¾ tsp salt
• 2 ½ cups low-salt chicken broth
• 1 tsp paprika: Pimenton de la Vera
• ½ cup fresh parsley, chopped

Heat 1 – 2 tablespoons olive oil in a large, heavy skillet.  Add sausages and sauté until cooked through.  Transfer sausage to a bowl and set aside.

Sprinkle chicken with salt and pepper and cook in batches.  Cook approximately 6 minutes.  Turn over, cook another 6-8 minutes.  Cut up chicken into smaller pieces and place in bowl with sausage.

Toss shrimp with 1 clove of minced garlic and 2 tablespoons of olive oil, and a pinch of saffron.  Set aside.

Add onions and 5 cloves minced garlic to pot, adding more olive oil if necessary.  Sauté until soft, about 10 minutes.  Add tomatoes and bay leaf.  Stir and cook for 2 minutes.  Add zucchini and bell peppers.  Stir; cook for two minutes; turn off heat.

Paella: it’s what’s for dinner.

Heat oven to 375 F.  Brush a 18x12x2 ½ in roasting pan with olive oil.  Add rice and ¾ teaspoon salt to vegetable mixture.  Spread rice mixture into baking dish.  Add chicken and sausage.

Place broth, paprika and remaining saffron into the same pot that you used to cook the meat and vegetables.  Bring to a boil, add to baking dish.  Cover tightly with aluminum foil and bake for 40 minutes.  Remove from oven, place shrimp on top of the rice mixture.  Cover again with foil and bake another 20 minutes or until shrimp is just done.   Garnish with parsley and serve.

Ravishing Braised Radishes

During the Great Depression, my grandfather fed his family with his gun and his garden.  From that magic plot in upstate New York, he grew more vegetables than any home gardener has a right to grow in a measly 250 square feet.

When we visited in the summer, all kinds of good things at dinner had come out of the garden.  But the one vegetable that I couldn’t get into was the humble radish.  Magenta and the size of a large marble, I just didn’t care for their spicy bite.  My grandfather would dip radishes fresh out of the garden into a saucer with salt and eat them, one after the other.

Your author with the humble radish.

Well it’s fall, and what do you think we got with last week’s share from our CSA?  Two hefty bunches of radishes.  Casting about, I found a recipe for braised radishes.

2 bunches radishes

1 tb butter            1 tb extra virgin olive oil

1 tb extra virgin olive oil

½ tsp salt         1/2 tsp sugar

1 small onion – or substitute 2 shallots

1 clove garlic – optional.

Water approx. 1 cup

Sauté onions until soft, perhaps 6 minutes, in olive oil and butter.

Clean radishes, removing the tops and the ends.  Halve or quarter them if they’re large.  Add them to the pan and sauté for a few minutes, covering them in fat.

Add salt and sugar, stirring.  Add water.  There should be a decent amount of water in the pan, but the radishes shouldn’t be covered.  Bring to a boil, cover the pot and turn down the heat.  Simmer for 20 minutes or until water is reduced to a glaze.

They’ll be tender and piquant and will make  a nice side dish for a fall meal.

Serendipitous Butternut Squash

At the end of dinner the other night, my wife said, “This is a keeper. You should write this down.”  So I did, and I think it’s worth sharing.

Squash sautéed with pears and ground turkey.  Don’t laugh till you’ve tried it.  Once again, into the breach with a brief to cook dinner, but with no clear plan and no green vegetables in the house except lettuce.   But I did have a squash and fresh garlic, thanks to my fabulous CSA.

It was an evening of improvisation that turned out very nicely.  The squash was sautéed and then braised, and the pears make the meal, adding a nice touch of sweetness.  I served it with a green salad and rice.

A note of caution:  The quantities of herbs and spices are approximate, as are the quantities of broth and red wine.  I was just trying to get dinner on the table and didn’t take notes, or photos, as I went along.  While I used vegetable broth because that’s what was open, chicken broth would surely work fine.  If I had toasted walnut oil, I’d mix it 50-50 with olive oil to give the meal more of an autumn vibe.

Ingredients:

•  1 medium sized butternut squash.  Approx 1.5 lb
• 1 medium onion, chopped
• 2 barlett pears
• 2 large cloves of garlic, minced
• ¼ cup red wine
• thyme – approx. 1/2 teaspoon
• cardamom – a pinch
• ½ tsp salt
• 2 – 4 tbs olive oil
• 1 lb ground chicken or turkey
• 3 tbs toasted walnuts
• vegetable or chicken broth – enough to cook squash.  Ca. ¾ cup.

Toast the walnuts for 2 minutes and set aside.

Heat the olive oil in a large pot.  Add the onion and sauté over medium heat while you peel the squash and discard the seeds.  Cut the squash in half, then into half-inch cubes.

When the onion is soft, add the squash and salt, turning several times to ensure it’s coated with oil.  Saute squash for 10 minutes.

Add the red wine and bring to a boil.  Reduce heat and simmer.  When the red wine is reduced, add garlic, thyme, cardamom and ground meat.  Brown the meat.  When it’s cooked, add the broth.  Cover and reduce heat; cook for 20 minutes.

Cut the pears into half-inch or smaller pieces and add to the pot, cooking for about five minutes.  Add the toasted walnuts before serving.

Pork and Vegetables with Red Wine Sauce

In our house, the cooking goes in waves.  For a month or two, I’m totally organized, I know what I want to prepare, and I have a list.  Right now, I’m at the other end of the spectrum.  Plan?  What plan?  With a bare minimum grocery list, I’m flying through the store, picking vegetables that look good and hoping to prepare everything nicely later.