Easter Fun

With Easter just down the road (it's early this year -- Mar 23, to be exact), it's never too early to begin preparing for that fabulous ode-to-spring Easter brunch or dinner. To help make your Easter celebration a little more special, and a little more vintage, you might want to check out this set of 12 Easter menu templates created by my friend Leslie Mansfield, and available via the Williams-Sonoma web site (in the search box, type in "Easter menus").

Leslie, who has a collection of more than 2,000 vintage menus, created this menu based on a 1902 European menu made during the famed belle epoque era. I just placed my order today, and -- score -- I'm happy to report that the set of 12 menus are now on sale for only $9.95 plus s/h. Want to add a little whimsy to your Easter? Here's a great place to start!

Haunted by the Land Lobster

My magical eight days of feasts (see Sept. 19: Eight Days in September) came to a wonderful end on Sunday with a scrumptious dinner with ckd at Langley's on the Green in downtown Windsor. (Thanks again, guys, for the treat.) Langley's boasts fabulous food/wine, beautiful decor, and great service. PLUS they do two or thing different things. (You do one different thing, you catch my attention; you do two or three things differently than all the other restaurants and you turn me into a stark raving fan.) (And best of all, National Speak Like a Pirate Day had thankfully passed, so ckd were back to their normal selves.)

One thing struck me more than any other during our dinner. The conversation among the four of us varied widely. Among the topics that popped up was another common dinner that we had shared earlier in the year, a wonderful feast hosted by Richard and Leslie Mansfield of Mansfield Winery fame (see July 19: My Cup Runneth Over). And what, of that dinner, in particular was still on our minds---was still haunting us, in other words? I was thinking it, and cd said it: the escargot.

So it's time to talk turkey when it comes to, what escargot producer Henri Maire calls the "Land Lobster." Here's a blurb about Henri Maire escargot:

As with all gastronomic delicacies, escargots exhibit varying levels of quality. Henri Marie's snails maintain an unwavering reputation for incomparable products. Their formula is quite simple. They begin with authentic Burgundy snails (Hélix Pomatia Linne), found only in the wild in southeastern France. They are then hand-sorted by size, washed, and cooked in an aromatic bouillon according to the same ancestral standards used in 1894. There are 116 types of edible snails, and the Helix Pomatia Linne is the unanimously proclaimed #1 in terms of flavor and texture. Nicknamed the "Land Lobster", it exhibits a similar texture to lobster, with an earthier flavor. These escargots are 100% natural, 100% organic, low-carb (Atkin’s friendly) and have very high nutritive levels. This tin of "Extra Large" size escargot contains 36 snails.

Where to buy these? Check out the Potironne company.

The next time I'm in Paris, of course I must visit l'Escargot Montorgueil. (Check out their menu with all the snail, er, escargot variations.

And finally, a classic escargot recipe:

Ingredients:

1/2 cup white wine

2 tablespoons minced shallots

2 cloves garlic

2 tablespoons butter

12 snails, removed from shells and rinsed twice in a weak solution of vinegar and water.

Directions:

1. In a small saucepan, reduce the wine, shallots, and garlic to a thick syrup.

2. Gradually, add the butter, stirring constantly to form an emulsification.

3. Add the snails and cook for 5-7 minutes.

Serve immediately with the sauce and plenty of French bread.

Serves 2

Ah, escargot--the distribution system for butter and garlic!

Note: Pic of escargot above compliments of AP, during her visit to France this summer.

You're Drinking Pineapple What?

Whew, temperatures here in Northern California/Sonoma County continue to jump above 90 degrees, making the one-last-hurrah-of-summer three-day Labor Day weekend perfect for some cold, refreshing wine--pineapple wine, that is.

That's right, pineapple wine. I was recently introduced to this by my friends Richard and Leslie Mansfield, who in addition to owning Mansfield Winery in the Napa Valley, also have Tradewinds Winery. TWW's first release is a 100% pineapple fruit wine. According to winemaker Richard, he puts the pineapple juice through the exact steps he does for a high-quality Chardonnay. The results? Well, I have to say, following my first few sips, I wasn't certain that this was for me. However, as I continued to drink, the wine grew on me. It's a bright, fruity (obviously!), and off-dry: sweeter than an oaky Chardonnay but close to a good citrusy Sauv Blanc. It's best served ice cold, and is a great accompaniment to spicy foods such as tacos, a Thai stir-fry, or a Mexican mole. And Leslie makes a mean sangria with it. I had to do some serious arm-twisting, but came away--just for you FROTB--with her Sangria recipe. Enjoy this cool, refreshing drink on this, the last hurrah of summer.

Tradewinds Pineapple Sangria

1 cup cubed fresh pineapple

1 cup cubed fresh mango or cantaloupe

1 cup sliced fresh strawberries

1/2 orange, quartered and thinly sliced

2 tablespoons Triple Sec or other orange-flavored liqueur (optional)

1 tablespoon sugar

1 750-ml bottle of Tradewinds Pineapple Wine

1 12-ounce bottle of 7-Up or ginger ale, chilled

Fresh mint sprigs, for garnish

In a large pitcher, combine the pineapple, mango, strawberries, orange, Triple Sec, sugar, and Tradewinds Pineapple wine. Stir gently to mix. Cover and chill in the refrigerator overnight. When you are ready to serve, stir in the 7-Up. Divide the fruit into six tall glasses along with two ice cubes. Pour in the Tradewinds Pineapple Sangria and garnish with a spring of mint. Serves 6

P.S. By Tuesday, September 4, there will be on this blog a MAJOR ANNOUNCEMENT. You will NOT WANT TO MISS THIS. Trust me on this. EXCITING STUFF coming. I would give you a hint, but, well, isn't the ANTICIPATION delicious too?

My Cup Runneth Over

The world can be a depressing place. Wars rage. Prices rise. Ice caps melt.

I, on the other hand, was born an optimist. I can always find something positive to enjoy, even savor. Take now, for example. It's the beautiful summertime with open-toed shoes and swimming and backyard barbecues. My beloved Cleveland Indians are only a game or two out of first place in the AL Central. The last poker tournament I played in, I won. I could go on. While others see the glass as half-empty, I'm definitely a half-full kind of person.

Sometimes though, by grace and mystery, my cup not only fills completely, it overflows. Like the other night. Picture this setting: I'm deep within the bowels of Howell Mountain, off the Silverado Trail in the Napa Valley...having dinner prepared by a classically trained chef (a graduate of the Ecole Ritz Escoffier at the Hotel Ritz in Paris)...while drinking wines prepared by the chef's husband, who's a classically trained (in Germany, no less) winemaker...while overlooking their Ghost Winery. Not only is G. with me, but so too are my good friends G. and R., and my friend K. and her husband C. And the chef and winemaker eat with us. It just doesn't get much better than that!

Let me introduce Richard and Leslie Mansfield. Leslie is the classically trained chef and has written 10+ cookbooks. Richard presides over Mansfield Winery, which produces ultra-premium wines. Together they host (on a referral basis only---it is their home) private dinners where they not only prepare the food and provide the wine, but dine with the guests.

For our meal, Leslie, who collects vintage menus, prepared a vintage menu for dinner. It reads like a what's-what of an incredible meal. Crostini with fig-olive tapenade; escargot from the Ritz; rack of spring lamb; mint orzo; apricot parfaits with late harvest Sauvignon Blanc toffee. With each course, Richard matched an appropriate (and, to me, perfect) Mansfield Winery wine. In short, it was the type of meal that one has maybe once every ten years. Maybe. Incredible, incredible, incredible.

My specific likes and thoughts? I've only had escargot once before in my life, and was a little hesitant this time, but it was wonderful: hearty yet not chewy (and, as Richard said, it's basically a distribution system for butter and garlic). The hit of the night was probably the orzo, the rice-like pasta with the bright summery mint. While I enjoyed all the wines, my favorite remains The Mansfield Winery's Umpqua Valley (OR) Riesling--clear, with amazing feel and, to me, clean without the heavy sugars so many rieslings have to me. We ate and drank and laughed. And there were no mishaps, either. C. kept his pants on (long story). G. and K. successfully passed through the metal detector on the way out so no vintage silverware went missing. And R. and G. invited us, on the spur of the moment, to another party the following evening.

As enjoyable as the food and wine were though, perhaps the highlight of the evening was simply the laughter among us all. To dine well and to do so with special friends...now THAT makes a meal truly a feast. The evening made me think about those special times and special moments in our lives. When our cups runneth over, what spills out isn't wasted, it isn't lost; those spilled nutrients, that spilled-over life, I like to think, fertilizes the world around us, leading to more great meals, fun times, and deeper connections with the special people in our lives.