Family Dinner

A few months ago, I moved into a new apartment in the Inner Richmond neighborhood in San Francisco. It's a spacious three bedroom, 2.5 bath, with a huge kitchen, dining room and living room. We also have a nice backyard and a garage. It's the ideal space for entertaining and dinner parties. I forgot how wonderful it is to have a dining room! We've decorated it with various wine-related items (like this awesome poster that my friend gave me and I had framed), as well as a corner bookshelf where we keep glassware and cookbooks. It might be my favorite room in the apartment (other than my private bathroom).


So naturally, we've instigated "family dinners" which we tend to have every other Wednesday. I usually do the cooking, with the help of my roommates, and we invite a few friends over for wining and dining. Last night we made an Asian inspired meal, and all dishes were things that I had never made before! An Asian Virgin, if you will.

Miso Soup
(makes 5 servings)

Ingredients:

• 4 cups vegetable broth
• 1 cup water
• 1 sheet of shredded nori (seaweed)
• 1 block of tofu, cubed in 1-inch pieces
• heaping 1/3 cup of white miso paste
• 4 green onions, chopped
• 1 teaspoon of low sodium soy sauce
• 1 teaspoon of sesame oil
  

Preparation:

• Simmer vegetable broth and water
• add seaweed and cook for 5 minutes, let simmer
• lower heat and add the rest of the ingredients, letting the miso disolve. Cook for about 5 minutes on lowest heat
• Serve and enjoy!

Broccoli with Anchovy Paste, Garlic, Lemon and Breadcrumbs
(serves 4-5)

Ingredients:

• 2 broccoli heads
• 2 TB anchovy paste
• 2 garlic cloves, chopped
• 2 TB olive oil
• juice of one lemon
• 1/2 cup of whole wheat breadcrumbs

Preparation:

• Preheat oven to 350
• Bring a large pot of water to boil. Once water is boiled, add broccoli florets and cook for 2-3 minutes
  
• Heat olive oil in a large skillet
• Add chopped garlic and anchovy paste, stir
• Drain broccoli and add to skillet
• Stir to coat with olive oil mixture and add lemon juice.
• Cook for 2-3 minutes, then transfer to a baking dish
  
• Top with breadcrumbs and bake for 5-10 minutes, or until crumbs have crisped
• Serve and enjoy!

Miso Sriracha Glazed Salmon (from The Sriracha Cookbook)
(serves 6)

Ingredients:

• 3 Tbsp sesame oil
• 1/2 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
• 1/4 cup reduced-sodium soy sauce
• 1/4 cup white miso paste
• 3 Tbsp Sriracha
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 6 6-oz salmon fillets, about 1 inch thick
• Steamed rice, to serve
• Sliced green onions, for garnish (optional)

Preparation:

• Preheat the broiler. Line a rimmed baking sheet with aluminum foil, and set aside.
• In a small nonreactive mixing bowl, combine the oil, brown sugar, soy sauce, miso paste, Sriracha and garlic.
• Place the salmon on the prepared baking sheet, and baste with the Sriracha mixture. Broil 6 inches from the flame, basting the fish once more after 2-3 minutes. Broil for a total of about 10 minutes, depending on the efficiency of your broiler. Watch the fish carefully while you cook. The basting liquid is prone to smoking (or burning) because of the sugar in it.
• Serve over steamed rice, and garnish with green onions.

Yummies: Volume 9

I hate to begin my blog posts with an apology for how I have not posted in a while, but, well there it is. I have some good excuses, though: I recently moved to a new apartment; I got a new, very busy job; and I've been doing some traveling. Okay, so those aren't really good excuses. But the point is, I'm back in the game.

This past Sunday my new roommate and I decided to venture to my old 'hood to get some necessities at the Farmer's Market. The original intent was to go and buy more ground lamb for the kofta that I was making that night (which turned out awesome, by the way, and I highly recommend this recipe from Epicurious.com). But once I got there, I just had to pick up some yummies from all my favorite stands, including spinach Fettuccine from Home Maid Ravioli.

Spinach Pasta with Shrimp, Tomato, Pepper and Scallions
Makes 4 servings


Ingredients:

• 4 cups Fresh-made spinach pasta (Fettuccine, Linguine or Spaghetti)
• 1 lb of large shrimp (you can purchase pealed and deveined to save time, but I recommend buying it with the shell on and pealing yourself because the flavor is better)
• 1 TB of olive oil
  
• 1 large red pepper
• 2 garlic cloves
• 2 Campari tomatoes, chopped
• 1 cup grape tomatoes, halved
• bundle of scallions (don't use ends)
• 1/2 cup cheap white wine (i.e. Sauvignon Blanc or Pinot Grigio)
  
• bunch of basil
• S&P to taste, and red pepper flakes (if preferred)

Preparation:

• Boil a large pot of water (do NOT use salt or olive oil in the water)
• Once water is boiling, add pasta and return to medium hear.
• Cook for about 7 minutes, or until pasta is desired tenderness
  
• Drain and place back into pot.

Meanwhile...

• Peal and devein shrimp, if needed
• Cut shrimp in half to form bite size pieces
  
• chop red pepper, scallions and garlic into bite size pieces
• heat 1 TB of olive oil in large skillet
• add garlic and saute for 30 seconds, then add peppers and scallions. Saute for 4-5 minutes
• add shrimp and saute until pink (about 2 minutes)
• add 1/2 cup white wine and saute until wine thickens and sauce forms (about 4 minutes)
• season with salt, pepper and red pepper flakes
• add fresh basil
  
• Pour over pasta and serve with Parmesan cheese

Notes:

• For the white wine, you can use cheap wine that has been open and sitting in the fridge for a while. I used Yellow Tail Sauvignon Blanc that my roommate opened a week ago and didn't drink.
• When you open white wine and leave it in the fridge for too long, don't dump it in a drain. Keep it in the fridge and use it for cooking - it will last a while!

History of a Wine Snob

This post is dedicated to my dear friend, Julie. Without her, I would have forgotten that I still had blog followers (or, at least one).


I suppose it's taken me so long to post because I've been very busy with a new job marketing one of my lifelong passions: wine. I say lifelong because it began in the womb. Yes, that's right. My mother indulged in a glass of white wine every now and then when she was pregnant with me. And I turned out just fine, right? My father helped facilitate my budding passion for wine when I was a young girl. At dinner time, he would pour me a wine glass full of water, with a splash of wine. I called it "wine with water" - though it was really more like watered down juice. As I got older, he poured less water and more wine. By the time I was sixteen or seventeen, I was allowed a small glass of wine at dinner with my family. This method not only built my astounding tolerance for alcohol, but it made me appreciate wine for the luxury that it is.

I'd like to thank my father for building my level of taste by spoiling me with his astounding collection of wines that he has been building for the last forty years or so. He has an impressive library from my 1985 birth year; which, fortunately for me, was one of the greatest years of wine production in history. My brother is insistent that '88 was better, so we often have dueling tastings and this Christmas we battled these two Cheateau Margaux.


In college, I didn't have my father around to serve bottles of expensive and delicious wine. But I knew the difference between good wine and bad wine, and I had a few favorites that were in the $10-$15 range at the local grocery store. I wouldn't be caught dead drinking out of a bag of Franzia (in fact, the thought of it makes me cringe). And I can count the number of times on my hand that I've had a glass of Charles Shaw, or "two buck chuck" as most of you refer to it. I've never understood the purchase of Charles Shaw. Why would you go to Trader Joe's and pay $2.o0 for a bottle of not so good wine when you can pay $5.00 for a bottle of great Nero D'avola! Trust me, it's worth the extra $3.00. Sometimes I would go out to the frat houses with a four pack of mini bottles of wine. It was sort of a trademark.


My senior year of college I visited my friend in San Francisco and we took a trip to her house in St. Helena. We tasted at Duckhorn, St. Supery, Cakebread, Napa Wine Company and Domaine Chandon. I still remember my first sip of Duckhorn Merlot in their beautiful tasting room overlooking the vines. It remains to be my favorite California wine, and I'm currently aging a bottle in the safety of my dad's cellar.

That day in Napa, I decided that I needed to live in the Bay Area so that I could be close to this mecca of wine and develop a career around it. Fast forward four years; here I am living in San Francisco, a city I lovingly call home, and working at a fun and exciting wine company. Life is good.