Grapevine Cottage

Connie and I did something absolutely fascinating recently.  We attended a hearing of the Hamilton County Alcoholic Beverage Commission. 

Many years ago, when I was a commercial loan officer, I had a delightful customer by the name of Doug Pendleton.  He owned a western store.  I left that bank and he closed his business and we lost track of each other.  Then, he remarried and the lovely lady he married happened to be not only a friend from Kiwanis but the ex-wife of my closest male friend.  Small world, eh?  Time marched on and Doug and Linda bought a gourmet grocery and wine store in Zionsville, Indiana. 

Zionsville is a quaint village with a brick main street.  My grandparents moved out there  in the 30's.  The home they lived in is the home that a friend later grew up in.  Another small world.  Grandpa was one of the instigators behind the brick main street.  When my brother John and I were kiddos, Grammie would walk us from their home down to the main street and we'd visit the grocery and get a doughnut from Aunt Doris, then to Silver's Menswear where Grandpa worked before he died, then on and on.  Zionsville became one of my favorite places. 

The Grapevine Cottage has been our go-to wine store since Connie and I met.  All of the folks who work there are so knowledgeable.  We can take a menu in and they can choose the perfect wine for us.  Doug writes a weekly newsletter that's a must-read for me.  (You can subscribe my visiting www.grapevinecottage.com)  He's become known as The Wine Guy.  But, in addition to wine, they've got a wonderful gourmet food selection. 

Now, fast forward.  My favorite gourmet food store was Frasiers.  It was owned by Joy and Myron Frasier.  Let's just say I've known Joy for a couple of years.  Like, I was the first babysitter for her kids.  Joy and Myron decided it was time to not work 70 hours a week but they didn't want to totally get out of the business. So, they closed the store instead of selling it. 

Turns out Doug and Linda saw a tremendous business opportunity.  Frasiers is on the northeast side of Indianapolis.  Zionsville on the northwest.   The old Frasiers location would be perfect for a second Grapevine Cottage.  They applied for a license and were absolutely startled to find some package liquor stores at the hearing.  These folks wanted them to have to buy a package liquor license that would've precluded them from selling the variety of grocery items they now carry.  And, coincidentally, the package liquor license is MUCH more expensive.  Ah, they were really afraid of the competition.  The big guys were trying to squash the little guys.  Now, I've owned a small business for about 22 years.  Before that, I was a commercial loan officer for small businesses.  The power grab by the big guy honked me off.  Where was free enterprise?  Isn't that what our country was founded on???  Connie was equally honked off.  We knew we really didn't have time to go.  But, we felt compelled to go.  What if the big guy was trying to trample me?  Wouldn't we want our friends to show up?

I'll cut to the chase here.  Doug and Linda got the license.  Their attorney was magnificent as were they.  The 25 supporters in the hearing probably set a record since it's the naysayers that normally show up.  The owner of Crown Liquors lost a lot of customers that day when he ranted against Doug and Linda.  I know I'll never step foot in one of his stores again. 

So, here's to Doug and Linda, free enterprise and the little guy winning.  We're so looking forward to having a Grapevine Cottage close to us. 

Meatloaf Burgers

We had a bunch of ground meat leftover from the meatloaf.  (NB - I'll not post the recipe because it just wasn't that good.)  What to do with it???  The great debate ensued.  We're home at 7:00 tonight.  When do you get back from Columbus tomorrrow?  What'll spoil?  How much time will the various dishes take?  Decisions, decisions.  You probably go through the same thing.  I make out a menu every Sunday yet invariably, there's a wrench in the works.  The wrench this week was about a pound of leftover ground meat.  That stuff just doesn't stay good very long.  So the original plans for a ham steak with bourbon sauce were tossed and replaced by burgers.  Not just any burgers but burgers with ground beef, turkey and sausage.  Seasoned with the leftover bread crumbs from the meatloaf last night and the leftover dipping sauce from the tempura Monday and some barbecue sauce.  I put everything together then did a sample.  We couldnt' think of anything we'd do differently so I put the patties together.  Connie heated up the grill and I put them on.  Then, nothing.  Little, teeny, tiny flames.  Enough to roast maybe a mini marshmallow.  Or, maybe I'm giving them too much credit.  At that rate, we'd be eating dinner at 6 am two days hence.  The propane was out.  Time to whip out the grill pan.  Now, the grill has a major advantage - the heat envelopes the meat so bacon wrapped around the side cooks.  And, it cooks much more quickly.  But, the grill pan did work so we did have dinner.  The rosemary foccacia was a bit, umm, crisp.  And, the Greek Mac and Cheese sat in the oven for long enough to develop a relatively crispy crust.  But, it all tasted great.

What did we think?  I gave this a five.  Connie initially gave it a four because he gave the Greek Mac and Cheese a five.   And, he doesn't like to give out two fives in one meal.  Actually, for him to give out two fives in one week is rare.  Maybe in a month.  Then, after he'd eaten a few more bites, he says, "You know, maybe you're right.  This is a five."  He commented on the fact that he'd seen me put them together and cook them and he couldn't believe how moist they were.   So from a very sturdy and pretty dry meatloaf that neither of us cared for too much came some fantastic burgers that we'll repeat again and again. 

Meatloaf Burgers

Ingredients:
1 lb ground meat, beef, turkey and sausage mixed
3/4 c soft bread crumbs
1 T soy sauce (we used leftover tempura dipping sauce)
1/2 c barbecue sauce
5 green onions, diced
salt and pepper
4 slices bacon
1/2 c barbecue sauce

Mix the ground meat, bread crumbs,

soy sauce, barbecue sauce and green onions. 

Shape into patties.  Wrap the bacon around and secure with a toothpick. 

Top each patty with barbecue sauce. 

Grill sauce side down.  Top the bare sides with barbecue sauce.  Then, turn the patties and put more barbecue sauce on the already grilled side. 

Turn them once more.  You're trying to get the barbecue sauce to pretty much caramelize on the patties.  You may need to cook the patties on their side in order to get the bacon to cook through. 

Winemakers Grape Cake

I've seen photos of this cake several times.  It got to the point that I didn't care what in the heck it tasted like, I wanted to make it because it looked so daggone cool.  I bought grapes to make it.  Please don't ask how many boxes of grapes went to the compost bin.  We're just not dessert eaters.  So, it didn't get made.  Perpetual menu item.  Always a bridesmaid, never the bride.  Well, this last weekend, this cake became the bride.  Thank goodness!  It was easy to make, tasted really good and yes, it looked incredible.  We ate it for dessert, then we ate it for breakfast.  It was great both times.  I'd have liked for it to be just a wee bit more moist but my guess is that how it tasted was how it's supposed to taste.  We'll make it again - for the cool factor and the fact it really does taste great.


Winemakers Grape Cake

Ingredients:
Butter and flour for preparing the cake pan

2 large eggs, at room temperature

2/3 c sugar

4 T unsalted butter, melted

1/4 c extra-virgin olive oil

1/3 c milk

1/2 t vanilla

1 1/2 c flour

3/4 t baking powder

A pinch of salt

zest of 1 lemon
zest of 1 orange
10 oz small, fresh purple grapes

Powdered sugar, for garnish


Directions:

Preheat your oven to 350°.  Butter and flour your springform pan.  Make sure you shake out any excess flour.

Combine the eggs and sugar in your mixer.  Beat them until they're thick and lemon-colored. 

Then, add the butter, olive oil, milk and vanilla. 

Mix them until they're blended.

Next, your dry ingredients.  Sift the flour into a large bowl.  Add the baking powder and salt.  Then, add the lemon zest and the orange zest. 

Toss them well to assure they're well coated with flour. 

Pour the flour mixture into the egg/sugar mixture.  Stir with a wooden spoon until well blended. 

Put the bowl aside for 10 minutes.  That will allow time for the flour to absorb the liquids.

Stir the grapes into the batter. 

Spoon the batter into the springform pan. 

Arrange the grapes in a pleasing pattern.

Bake for 55 minutes at 350.  The top will be dark golden brown and will feel quite firm when pressed.  Cool, the top with a dusting of powdered sugar.  Serve in thin wedges.

adapted from Epicurious

Roasted Brussels Sprouts with Cabbage and Pine Nuts

Food and Wine strikes again.  Actually, no, they pretty much hit a home run with this one.  Isn't the English language funny?  Strike out means something totally different than strikes.  At any rate, I was reading the magazine in the car on the way to work (yes, I ride in with my hubby if I have no out-of-the office appointments) and saw this recipe.  At that point I was the owner of a mongo bag of brussels sprouts from Sams.  Now, I'm the owner of HALF of a mongo bag.  I may make this again to use up the bag.  This was that good!

The recipe says to serve immediately so I rushed to make sure the pasta and the veggies came out at the same time.  Not to worry.  This is VERY forgiving.  We ate it warm the first time and cold for lunch the next day.  I almost liked it cold better because the flavors had had an opportunity to blend and the cranberries had plumped right up.  The ingredient list and directions look a bit intimidating.  It's not as tough as it looks like it might be to put together.

Roasted Brussels Sprouts with Cabbage and Pine Nuts

Ingredients:

1 lb brussels sprouts
1/2 c pine nuts
6 T extra virgin olive oil
salt and freshly ground pepper
3 T fresh lemon juice
2 T honey
2 t Dijon mustard
1/8 t cayenne pepper
1/2 t ancho chili powder
1 1/2 lbs cabbage - red or green
1/2 c dried cranberries
4 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
1 oz Parmesan or Romano cheese, thinly shaved

Directions:

Trim the ends off the brussels sprouts then quarter them.  Toss them with about a tablespoon of olive oil. 

Roast them at 450 for about 15 minutes.  They'll turn a lovely golden brown as they caramelize. 

You can either set these aside and heat them back up with the garlic or prepare the rest of the recipe poste haste and not have to reheat these.

Either roast the pine nuts in the oven for about 3 minutes or toast them in a small skillet on the stovetop.  Be careful because they burn quickly!

Now, it's time to make the dressing.  Whisk together the lemon juice, honey, mustard, cayenne and ancho chili powder.  Then, whisk in 1/4 c of the olive oil.  Set the dressing aside for the flavors to blend. 

Toss the cabbage, cranberries and pine nuts together in a large bowl.

 

Heat the remaining olive oil in a medium sized skillet if you're reheating the brussels sprouts, a small one if you're not.  Slice the garlic very thinly. 

Saute it until it's golden brown.  If you're reheating the brussels sprouts, add them just before the garlic is done.  Stir constantly so the garlic doesn't burn.

Time to put it all together.  Add the garlic and olive oil plus the brussels sprouts and the dressing to the cabbage mixture.  Toss it well and serve.

Amore Vietato

Everyone has a nickname for their significant other. Some are not pronounceable in polite company. Those are the unfortunate ones who are not happy. Others, like me, are very happy in their relationship and still have to chuckle at the idiosyncrasies of our mates.


Connie has his own challenges and chief among them is to send him to find something with indistinct directions. So, Connie, please get me the blah, blah blah. It's on the second or third shelf from the right, or it could be on the left, it's in a skrunchy packet with pinkish...


The grumbling starts immediately.


It's not that he doesn't know what I am looking for. It's just that he, like most guys, never gets beyond the first level of things. If it isn't close enough to bite him in the arm (euphemism), then he isn't going to find it.  The back of the shelf may as well be the North Pole.



Send him to the freezer. Fuggedaboudit! He'll be standing there hoping that the pork chops will leap from the shelves and land in his pocket.

Now on the other hand, he's pretty darned patient when it comes to hunting for something on the internet.  Well, ok, more patient than he is hunting in the pantry or freezer.


So, let's find a cool Valentine's day drink to enjoy before our meal. Simple enough. Type Valentine's Day Drink Recipes into Google and guess what? Many responses, thousands upon thousands. (How many people go past the first two or three pages?) Connie clicks on the second link. It is a link to an extremely popular young woman's magazine which will go nameless here.



A couple of clicks later and the grumbling starts. Do you know that they say? “Our 15 top Valentine's Day drink recipes”, but once you click through, there are some nice pictures, some enticing sounding drinks, but no recipes! When you click on search on their website, it comes back “not found”. Grumble, grumble, grumble.  By this time I'm standing behind his chair commiserating.  After some more grumbling, he did the practical thing and went and searched on the drink name, Amore Vietato, or Forbidden Love.


What did we think?  Very tasty. Interesting flavor combination with the tartness of the orange and the sweetness of the strawberries and syrup. We had the Hendricks gin which was called for in the recipe. It is different. It is not juniper based gin, just different. Anyway, I would suggest giving this a try. Pretty nice.  The color was perfect for Valentine's Day.  And, the orange peel hearts? 

Perfect touch.  Thank you, Sweetheart!


Amore Vietato (Forbidden Love)
For two:

Ingredients:

4 oz of Hendricks Gin
2 oz of Blood Orange Juice (couldn't find it. Used fresh squeezed OJ and some maraschino cherry juice for the coloring)
Simple syrup (we use 1:1)
4 strawberries (hulled)
4 slices of cucumber (we didn't use it. This is a Hendricks thing. They always seem to call for cucumber because of the botanicals they use in their gin. Didn't seem worth buying a whole cucumber for 4 slices in two drinks.)
Orange peel for garnish


Directions:
Muddle the fruit and the simple syrup in a cocktail shaker. Add the gin and the juice. Add ice. Shake, shake,shake. Strain into a chilled martini glass. Garnish with the orange peels formed into hearts.

Kiss the one you love (it's Valentine's day). And enjoy!



adapted from:  blogs.forbes.com/lisamogensen/2011/02/08/seductive-cocktails-from-the-vegas-experts/

Bloody Mary Grape Tomatoes

Let's just start by saying that this recipe says it serves twelve.  We made 1/3 of the recipe and inhaled the tomatoes.  Two of us.  Now, maybe if you've got other appetizers.  Or if one of two of the group doesn't like tomatoes.  But, even with middle of the winter, you've got to be kidding grape tomatoes, we inhaled a whole pint of the things. 

Back up a minute here.  Connie told me that there was something calling his name at the Midland Arts and Antique Mall.  We had to run a couple of other errands on Saturday so I suggested we run by the mall and find the elusive voice.  Turns out I was the only one to find anything.  I found two cookbooks.  One was The Best American Recipes 2002-2003 by Fran McCullough and Molly Stevens.  Four others in the series live at my house.  They're all excellent cookbooks.  I proceeded to read it to Connie on our way from downtown to Zionsville - about a 20 minute drive.  This was the first recipe that we both found appealing.  Ok, fine.  We didn't just find it appealing, we chattered on and on about it.  What a unique idea this is.  And, different.  It's not an appetizer we've ever seen.  We immediately decided to make it for our Valentine's Day feast. 

The rest of the story, and you knew there was going to be a rest of the story about the elusive voice, now didn't you, is this.  I got to the breakfast chapter and found a recipe for Jordan Marsh blueberry muffins.  That is the ONLY thing Connie has talked about from his kidhood that he really wants me to recreate.  I looked at him and commented that indeed something had been calling his name.  It'd just taken me to find it for him!

The muffins, however will have to wait a bit.  The tomatoes and four other recipes are for this week.  Now, we can't wait til we've got our own cherry tomatoes.  This will be a regular during tomato season.  And, when we're craving real tomatoes during the winter?  This will work just fine.  And, we'll probably try using our homemade pepper vodka next time just to switch it up a bit.


Bloody Mary Grape Tomatoes

Ingredients:
3 pints firm small red and yellow cherry tomatoes
1/2 c vodka
3 T white wine vinegar
1 T confectioners sugar
1 t finely grated lemon zest
3 T kosher salt
1 1/2 T coarsely ground black pepper

Directions:

In the end of each tomato, cut a small X.  Bring a pot of water to a boil.  Put a bowl of ice water next to the stove.  Using a slotted spoon, dip five tomatoes at a time into the boiling water.  Count to three seconds and remove them and put them into the ice water. 

Once all the tomatoes have been dunked, drain them and put them into a large, shallow bowl.  Now, it's time to peel them.  Since you've dunked them in the hot water, peeling them will actually be quite easy.  Took the two of us about three minutes total.


Mix the vodka, vinegar, sugar and lemon zest and pour it over the tomatoes. 

Toss the tomatoes until all of them are coated.  Refrigerate for 30-60 minutes to allow to marinate. 

To serve, put the salt and pepper in two small bowls. 

Use toothpicks for the tomatoes and dip away. 



adapted from The Best American Recipes, 2002-2003

Daring Cooks: Soba Noodles and Tempura

There's a group of foodies called the Daring Kitchen.  You can either be a daring baker or a daring cook.  Well, now, those who know me well know I am not a daring baker.  Do I need to underline or italicize that?  So, I joined the daring cooks side of things.  Once a month a challenge is posted.  You're supposed to cook whatever it is and post it on a certain day or opt out and let them know.  I opted out of the cassoulet with homemade duck confit in January.  Something about a party for 170 people at my house.  And, two other parties in a month's time.  So, this month it's Hiyashi Soba and Tempura.  Something I've never made.  And, something I never order because sushi is always the first choice.  I did try udon noodles once.  Hated them.  And, was very afraid the soba noodles would be equally bad.  So, needless to say, I was totally delighted when the soba noodles were wonderful.  Like, if lunch wasn't already made for tomorrow, I'd be making another batch for tomorrow.  My guess is this is actually a pretty easy meal to pull together if it's something you've done before.  In my case it wasn't and I managed to dirty almost every bowl in the house.  But, it was worth it. 

Hiyashi Soba

Ingredients:
for the noodles:
2 qt water plus 2 cups more
6 oz soba noodles

for the sauce:
3 T soy sauce
2 T rice vinegar
1/2 t sugar
1/4 t dry mustard
1 T vegetable oil
1 T sesame oil

for the toppings (any combination you like):
ham
chicken
cucumber
bean sprouts
tomatoes
toasted nori
green onions
wasabi powder
finely grated daikon
pickled ginger

Directions:
Bring the two quarts of water to a boil.  Add the soba noodles

and stir to separate. Add one bundle at a time.  Once the water comes back to a boil, add a cup of cold water.  Repeat this once or twice.  The recipe said twice but our noodles were done after one repetition.  Pour the noodles into a colander and rinse them with cold water.  Put them in a container and refrigerate them.  I know, sounds weird but it really does work.  While the noodles are cooling, dice finely or julienne whatever toppings you're going to use.  Put each topping in a separate bowl. 

We used green onions, cherry tomatoes and baby corn.  The latter wasn't on the "list" but it worked just fine.  Now, you need to make the sauce by combining all the ingredients.  To serve, put some of the noodles in a bowl.  Sprinkle the top with some nori and some chopped green onions.  We didn't have nori.  Oh, well. 

The traditional way to eat this is to put the toppings into the sauce, then dip the noodles in and slurp away.  We poured a bit of sauce over the noodles and sprinkled them with the toppings we wanted.  Much easier and it tasted great.  Pretty easy thus far.

Now, it's tempura time...

Tempura

Ingredients:
1 egg yolk from a large egg
1 cup ice water
1/2 c flour, plus more for dredging
1/2 c cornstarch
1/2 t baking powder
vegetable oil for deep frying
very cold vegetables or seafood:
onion rings
mushrooms
green beans, trimmed
eggplant, cut into strips
green bell pepper, cut into strips
carrots, peeled and sliced diagonally

Directions:
Pour oil into a heavy, deep pan.  Bring it to 320 for vegetables and 340 for seafood. 

Prep your vegetables. 
 
 

 
Mix the ice water and the egg yolk in a bowl.  Mix the flour, cornstarch and baking powder in another bowl.  Add them to the water/yolk mixture all at once.  Stir just until combined.  Lumps are fine.  Place the bowl with the batter inside another bowl filled with ice. 
 
 

 
You want the batter to be very cold.  The combination of the very cold batter, cold vegetables or seafood and the very hot oil are what will create the crispy tempura.  It's called temperature shock.
 
Put dredging flour in a large, shallow bowl.
 
Line up your prep station.  From the oil out you'll have the tempura batter, the dredging flour then the seafoods and vegetables.  We used eggplant, mushrooms and shrimp.  I'd do the mushrooms and shrimp again any day.  The eggplant, not so much.  
 
Once the oil has reached it's temperature, dredge the food in the flour then in the batter then gently put it into the hot oil.  Do a few pieces at a time so the temperature of the oil doesn't drop. 
 
 

Drain on paper towels.

 
 
 

 
We served ours with the same dipping sauce we used for the soba noodles.   





adapted from The Daring Cooks - recipes provided by Lisa at Blueberry Girl.  Her inspirations were from About.com-Japanese food, Globetrotter Diaries, Pink Bites and Itsy Bitsy Foodies.