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Newsletter for July 2004 Your source for what’s cooking at OBW
25 South Indian Alley Winchester VA, 22601 540-662-1455 |
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Wine Dinners: June July, and August |
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Fridays: Join us on the Deck and Win Dinner for Two!
Join us for live acoustic music and upscale grill food, cooked right on the deck, from 5 to 6:30 every Friday, weather permitting. Bring some friends and join us for a great adult experience after work on Friday! Everyone who comes this Friday, July 9th can enter a drawing for dinner for two! The drawing will be held at 6:30 pm and you must be present to win.
June: Jim Law of Linden Vineyards
Despite a confusing start (several tables were not on time – please, if you are coming to a wine dinner, we start at 7pm with or without you), we had another great wine dinner, this month with Jim Law of Linden Vineyards. Guests tasted 8 of Jim’s wines in four flights and I prepared food to match each flight.
July 20: Willowcroft Farm Vineyards
On Tuesday July 20th at 7pm, Amy and Lew Parker of Willowcroft Farm Vineyards, from just south of Leesburg (near Oatlands, if you know the area) will discuss their wines. We currently feature their Riesling-Muscat and Cabernet on our wine list. I am building a menu around their 2003 Vidal Blanc, 2002 Chardonnay Reserve, 2001 Cabernet Franc, and 2003 Traminette. Cost of the dinner is $75 per person, all inclusive (including food, wine, taxes, and gratuity). Seated is limited to 24 guests by reservation only. Last month’s dinner sold out quite early and unfortunately we turned a lot of guests away. Reserve now.
August: Chrysalis Vineyards
Up next in August, we’ll be featuring the wines of Chrysalis Vineyards from just east of Middleburg. We currently feature five of their wines on our list: Sarah’s Patio Red (rosé of Norton), Viognier, Chardonnay, Norton, and Norton Reserve. Chrysalis Chardonnay is our biggest selling chardonnay, with good reason. Details next month.
One Block West will not be participating in this year’s Taste of the Town, which is a shame because the Free Medical Clinic is a worthwhile cause and deserves all our support. I told the organizers last year that feeding 175 people was putting a real strain on all our restaurant kitchens, especially those of us (most of us) who do not cater offsite. They decided to increase the number of tickets to 240 this year and move the venue to Shenandoah Valley Golf Club near Front Royal. The increase in attendees coupled with a venue that assures that I cannot get back to my restaurant in case of emergency made my decision to withdraw easy, but no less painful.
I am working with the Free Medical Clinic to organize a benefit night at One Block West, later in the fall.
We headed out to the mud bath at Long Branch on Sunday June the 6th for Vintage Virginia, the 23rd annual Virginia wineries festival. Despite nasty conditions (ankle deep mud and jungle-like humidity), I managed to taste wines from all the wineries (at least 50). In all, I tasted around 240 wines in a four-hour period, about one a minute! Talk about spit and run! That is all work and no fun indeed.
But I have good news to report. The state of Virginia winemaking has never been better and there are enough good Virginia wines that you could drink nothing but local wines and be satisfied. There is great promise for the state as vines mature, as new plantings come on line, and as more acreage is planted to vines.
I tasted a lot of average wine, a good bit of excellent wine, and only two wineries exhibited truly faulty winemaking. I was pleased with many, many wines and this is a marked change from even two years ago. The stand out of the day for me was Kluge Estate’s Brut sparking Virginia 2001. I was very nearly blown away—this is the best sparkler I have had in years from any country. I have put many of the good wines that I tasted on our list.
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Recently, I’ve been confusing customers with fava beans, lima beans, and edamame—light green beans all.
Fava beans (Vicia faba L.), are one of the oldest foods known to man, originating in the Mediterranean. Also known as horse beans or broad beans, favas are little known to Americans. They are a bright green color, even deeper than a lima and tend to be fatter and less symmetric than a lima, with a nuttier flavor. They come in long puffy pods and must be shelled out, blanched, and then shelled again to remove the outer skin from the bean. They are a lot of work, but the beans are very tasty. I enjoy them most sautéed in olive oil with a little pancetta and perhaps some porcini mushrooms. I am not at all a fan of the puree of fava beans that is popular in France.
Lima beans (Phaseolus lunatus), also well known as butter beans, come from Central and South America. We are all familiar with them, so no need to elaborate. Limas are the starchiest of the three beans and take the longest to cook by far. I enjoy these by themselves with a little butter.
Green soybeans (Glycine max L.) are known in the American market by their Japanese name, edamame (ed-uh-MAH-may). Edamame are special varieties of soybeans that are harvested while still green, steamed or boiled in the pod, and then shelled out. Edamame somewhat resemble a light green Great Northern bean in shape. They are available in most oriental markets and some supermarkets in the freezer section and are very inexpensive. Frozen edamame really need no further cooking, just to be rewarmed. Edamame lend beautiful color to my stir fried dishes and are essential in my fried rice dishes.
Here’s a recipe from the chardonnay flight of the Linden wine dinner. So many people enjoyed it that it is worth sharing. The only trick to getting the fish to cook evenly is to cut it into even slices. I cut grouper on the bias into ½” thick slices for consistent 5- to 6-minute cooking times.
Baked Grouper with Roasted Garlic Cream and Ragout of Favas, Pancetta, and Shallots
The garlic cream and ragout can be made days in advance and reheated. The prep and cooking of the fish takes less than 10 minutes, making this a great party dish.
Roasted Garlic Cream
8 heads of garlic olive oil aluminum foil water heavy cream
Preheat your oven to moderate, around 350F. Slice off the tops of the garlic heads and discard tops. Place garlic on a sheet of aluminum foil, cut side up. Drizzle with olive oil. Close the aluminum foil around the garlic to make a flat package and place in the oven for about 30-45 minutes, until the garlic is soft.
Allow the garlic to cool and then squeeze the pulp into a blender container. Add enough water (1/2 a cup or so to start) to allow you blend into a smooth paste. Force the paste through a fine mesh to remove any fibers. Place in a saucepan with an equal quantity of heavy cream and reduce gently until the sauce coats the back of a spoon. Season to taste with salt.
Ragout of Favas, Pancetta, and Shallots
2 lb fava beans 2 ¼” thick slices of pancetta, in ¼” dice 8 shallots, peeled and sliced into 1/8” rings extra virgin olive oil salt and pepper
Shell out the favas and then blanch for 60 seconds in boiling water. Cool in an ice bath and then peel off the outer skin. Add a bit of extra virgin olive oil to a sauté pan and cook the pancetta. Remove the pancetta from the oil and add the shallots. Lower the heat and cook slowly until well browned. Add the favas and pancetta to the pan and rewarm. Season to taste.
Baked Grouper
Grouper, cut into ½” thick, 3-4 oz slices, 2 per person Chives, minced Vegetable oil Salt and pepper White wine
Preheat your oven to very hot, as high as it will go. Brush a non-stick roasting pan with vegetable oil (or as we do at the restaurant, brush a sheet pan with oil, lay on a sheet of parchment paper, and brush the top of the paper with oil). Rub both sides of the grouper with oil and sprinkle with salt, pepper, and chives. Drizzle over a tiny bit of white wine. Reserve the remaining chives for garnish.
Place the fish in the oven and check after 4-5 minutes. When the pinkish flesh on top just turns white, take the fish out. It will still be a little undercooked in the center, but it will be done by the time you get it to the table.
Put two pieces of grouper on a plate, spoon a little sauce over the top, garnish with chives, scatter ragout around and serve immediately.
After 18 months of hard work, our wine list is essentially complete. Of course it will change as wines come and go, but the structure is now where I want it. We have 90 wines, all that will fit on a single legal-sized sheet: 40% white, 60% red, with a third being Virginia wines. I think we have an outstanding list for a restaurant of our size and scope. View wine list.
Friday June 25, 2004
Last night for some crazy reason I thought it might be interesting to keep a journal of what happened during a random day. Maybe it will be interesting, maybe not, but anyway, here goes a long stream of consciousness journal of what started as a pretty typical day.
8:03a My internal clock goes off and I manage to crack my eyes open. The time is unusual because I am up generally between 7:15 and 7:30. Once I gain some consciousness, I realize that the kids and the dog have been unusually quiet this morning, good for me. (rest of article…warning it’s long)
Outlook. Sockeye salmon, softshell crabs, asparagus, and strawberries are now behind us. Rockfish season is just opening in Massachusetts for large rock, so we may see some good-sized rock this month. King salmon are starting—not sockeye, but excellent nonetheless. On the veggie front, broccoli, new potatoes, summer squash, beans, eggplant are all coming over the next month, along with an abundance of stone fruit. Raspberries are in full swing now. Tomatoes are in the market but they are greenhouse grown and lacking both flavor and texture. Continue to dream about tomatoes for August.
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Copyright © 2004 Shenandoah Food and Beverage Holdings, LLC |
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