Cooking with Crosby Roamann: Osso Buco

 

Cooking with Crosby Roamann: Osso Buco

Osso Buco (translated "bone with a hole") has been one of my favorite dishes since we first tasted this sumptuous dish at the Mario Batali West Village staple Babbo in the early 2000s. It's perfect in the early spring when it's still a little too cold for warmer pasta sauces and I'm in the mood for something hearty -- plus, the veal is in season. Personally, we like to dress this down and serve this dish with butter noodles or simply a good, crusty bread. You will want a small spoon to dig the bone marrow out, and I suggest eating it with a slice of crispy bread first, then digging into the main course. Enjoy!

Ingredients

• 6 tablespoons olive oil
• 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 4 portions veal shank
• ½ cup flour
• 1 cup each chopped onions, carrots, celery
• 3 cloves garlic
• 1 ½ cups dry white wine (we use leftover Crosby Roamann Chardonnay)
• 1 can chopped tomatoes, or whole peeled tomatoes chopped with their juice
• 2 cups veal, beef or chicken stock
• 1 teaspoon dry thyme
• Freshly ground black pepper to taste

 

Preparation

• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
• Melt the butter in a large casserole (big enough to hold all the veal shanks side by side) with the olive oil over medium heat.
• Dredge the veal shanks in lightly salted flour then shake off the excess and sear them on all sides in the hot oil and butter, then set them aside, and reduce the heat.
• Add a little more olive oil if the casserole is dry, then add the onions, carrots, and celery and, after a couple minutes, the garlic too, and lightly brown everything, stirring it all together.
• Add the wine, and reduce by a quarter. When the smell of alcohol has evaporated, add the tomatoes and juice and seasoning thyme and bring it back to a light boil. When it begins to boil again, add the stock, and return it to a light boil.
• Add the veal shanks, and baste with the sauce – about five minutes. At this point, cover the casserole and transition it to the preheated over to bake for about 1.5 hours. Baste several times during this time.
• When you are ready to serve, plate each veal shank in a shallow bowl, and add enough sauce to cover the veal shank about halfway. Sprinkle the veal and sauce with Gremolata topping (recipe below), and serve warm.

Gremolata (topping/garnish) a mixture of:

• 1 large garlic clove, very finely minced
• Grated rind of one lemon
• ¼ cup finely chopped parsley
• ¼ cup fine breadcrumbs

Adapted from Florence Fabricant – NY Times Cooking

 

 

Cooking with Crosby Roamann: King Crab California Rolls

Many years ago when I had just graduated from college, and was still trying to figure out what the hell I wanted to do with my life, and I was spending far too much time in New York City drinking and eating with friends (but then what else is a 20-something to do in the city?) there was a little French bistro near where we used to live in Manhattan called Bandol Bistro. (You can even still find a decades-old write up of the restaurant online here.) Bandol offered a Steak Frites brunch special for $18, which friends and I would order with a bottle of Bandol rosé.

Why do I mention this absurd story? Because I wanted to mention that there is no more perfect food pairing than Steak Frites and a bottle of rosé on a Sunday morning if you are with people you cherish.

So we've decided to go the other direction for this month's #CookingWithCrosbyRoamann and do something almost as bizarre -- pair Cabernet Sauvignon with King Crab. King Crab is in season currently in North America, and it's a perfect time on a chilly winter night to steam up a small portion of crab with some short-grained rice, avocados, and cucumber for your own homemade California Roll. Recipes below. Pair it with a bottle of Crosby's Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon and enjoy it with loved ones.

Bon appetit!

Ingredients -- Most of our ingredients are purchsased from Nijiya Market on Webster Street in Little Japan, but you can find them at most Whole Foods and speciality grocers around the states.

• 1.5 cups Sushi rice (we use this short-grain rice)
• 3 Tbspn Sushi vinegar (we use this vinegar)
• 1 Tabspn Aji-Mirin (like this one from Target, also check out this article on Mirin from Bon Appetit Magazine)
• Sake (for the sushi rice, any low-quality style will do)
• Nori -- use the best you can find, we prefer toasted "gold" grade like this one
• Wasabi -- again, use fresh Wasabi from the northwest if you can find it, if not, any premade style will do, as will wasabi "powder"
• about 3/4 lb. King Crab, frozen (or about 1 half crab)
• 1 avocado
• 1 Japanese cucumber
• Salmon roe (optional)

Special Equipment

• A rice steamer (we use this one from Zojirushi)
• A bamboo sushi mat (like this one from Amazon)
• A crab/lobster cracker (or at least a pair of strong kitchen scissors)

Preparation

• Add the rice with 2 cups of water to the rice cooker with one tablespoon of Sake, and let it sit for 30 minutes. Then cook the rice according to the machine's instructions -- our cooker takes about 20 minutes of steam time, followed by 10 minutes of absorption.
• Open the rice cooker and turn it off. Sprinkle sushi vinegar and Mirin, then stir with a flat wooden or plastic spoon (like the one which comes with the rice cooker). Let the rice sit for a couple of minutes until it is cool enough to handle, but not cold. Good sushi rice should be warm.
• Meanwhile cut your Nori wraps to 3/4 quarter length -- any shorter, and it may not close all the way; any longer, and it will leave an unsightly tail.
• When the rice is ready, using slightly wet hands, grab about a big handful of rice and spread a thin layer of sushi rice over about 3/4 of the Nori wrap -- I leave a thin strip at the bottom of the wrap, and about a 1 inch strip at the top of the wrap, as pictured.

• Spread 1/2 teaspoon of Wasabi (or more, to taste) in a straight line from left to right along the sushi rice.
• Spread 1/4 cup of fresh King Crab meat directly along the wasabi, top with a few thin slices of cucumber and avocado, and top with salmon rose if available.
• Using your thumbs to gently lift the bottom of the suchi wrap and your fingers to hold the meat and avocado in place, pull the bottom of the suchi wrap up and over the meat and vegeatble section of the wrap, then gently roll it forward till it closes. Squeeze the wrap gently.
• Cover the wrap with your bamboo sushi mat and PRESS the roll tightly, but not so tightly that crab pushes out the end of the roll! I like to Press, then roll the wrap a quarter turn, and then press again.
• Cut the roll using a moist and very sharp knife into six pieces, and plate accordingly. Top with extra salmon roe (optional)
• Serve with soy sauce and ginger and extra wasabi.

Enjoy!

Cooking with Crosby Roamann: Pork Schnitzel with German Potato Salad

Every year on Grandpa Bob's birthday we make something like this pork schnitzel. The recipe has changed over the years -- sometimes we make it with veal, the real Wiener Schnitzel style -- but often we make it with pork instead. Grandpa Bob loved it both ways. There are so many versions of schnitzel recipes out there, but the basic premise is always the same. A good example, and the version we checked out this year as a refresher, was this classic recipe from Martha Stewart: Wiener Schnitzel with Pork.

One thing that doesn't seem to change is the accompanying German Potato Salad. I have been developing this recipe for decades now, and we use it to accompany most of the schitnzels we make at home, as well as a lot of our summer BBQ. It's easy, delicious, and quick.

This dish pairs perfectly with both our Chardonnay and Pinot Noir. Check them out here.

Enjoy!

German Potato Salad

Ingredients

• 1.5-2 lbs. small red potatoes, quartered
• 3 scallions, whites and green parts, halved and sliced thinly
• 3 Tbspn European style butter
• 1 Tbspn olive oil
• 1 Tbspn white wine vinegar (we make our own with leftover white wine, and have it available for free at the tasting room)
• 4 Tbspn Grey Poupon Country Dijon Mustard
• 1 Tbspn dry dill (during the summer we sub this for fresh)
• 1 Tbspn Kosher salt
• Fresh cracked black pepper to taste

Directions

• Place the quartered potatoes in a small saucepan (like this one from Williams Sonoma) and cover halfway with cold water. Cover and bring to a boil, then uncover and simmer gently until the water has mostly evaporated, leaving only a tablespoon or two. Remove from the heat.
• Add butter immediately, then the olive oil, vinegar, mustard, dill, salt, and a crack of pepper. Add scallions. Stir to coat (try not to mush the potatoes too much!)

Enjoy!

 

Happy Holidays

 

Wishing you Happy Holidays and a Merry New Year.

(A Christmas Circular Letter) By Robert Frost
 
The city had withdrawn into itself
And left at last the country to the country;
When between whirls of snow not come to lie
And whirls of foliage not yet laid, there drove
A stranger to our yard, who looked the city,
Yet did in country fashion in that there
He sat and waited till he drew us out
A-buttoning coats to ask him who he was.
He proved to be the city come again
To look for something it had left behind
And could not do without and keep its Christmas.
He asked if I would sell my Christmas trees;
My woods—the young fir balsams like a place
Where houses all are churches and have spires.
I hadn’t thought of them as Christmas Trees.
I doubt if I was tempted for a moment
To sell them off their feet to go in cars
And leave the slope behind the house all bare,
Where the sun shines now no warmer than the moon.
I’d hate to have them know it if I was.
Yet more I’d hate to hold my trees except
As others hold theirs or refuse for them,
Beyond the time of profitable growth,
The trial by market everything must come to.
I dallied so much with the thought of selling.
Then whether from mistaken courtesy
And fear of seeming short of speech, or whether
From hope of hearing good of what was mine, I said,
“There aren’t enough to be worth while.”
“I could soon tell how many they would cut,
You let me look them over.”
 
                                                     “You could look.
But don’t expect I’m going to let you have them.”
Pasture they spring in, some in clumps too close
That lop each other of boughs, but not a few
Quite solitary and having equal boughs
All round and round. The latter he nodded “Yes” to,
Or paused to say beneath some lovelier one,
With a buyer’s moderation, “That would do.”
I thought so too, but wasn’t there to say so.
We climbed the pasture on the south, crossed over,
And came down on the north. He said, “A thousand.”
 
“A thousand Christmas trees!—at what apiece?”
 
He felt some need of softening that to me:
“A thousand trees would come to thirty dollars.”
 
Then I was certain I had never meant
To let him have them. Never show surprise!
But thirty dollars seemed so small beside
The extent of pasture I should strip, three cents
(For that was all they figured out apiece),
Three cents so small beside the dollar friends
I should be writing to within the hour
Would pay in cities for good trees like those,
Regular vestry-trees whole Sunday Schools
Could hang enough on to pick off enough.
A thousand Christmas trees I didn’t know I had!
Worth three cents more to give away than sell,
As may be shown by a simple calculation.
Too bad I couldn’t lay one in a letter.
I can’t help wishing I could send you one,
In wishing you herewith a Merry Christmas.
 

Last Call for Big Bottles!

 

Share the gift of this very limited library offering of Crosby's Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon from magnum with your friends and loved ones on Christmas and throughout the winter holidays. Or enjoy a 6-bottle library selection of Crosby's Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon in a beautifully branded custom wood box.

Holiday Vibes 2022

Good Vibes Only Thanksgiving Celebration 2022

 

Our Thanksgiving selections come in two shapes and sizes. Enjoy a 6-bottle set of Crosby Roamann Merlot, Laoise Vineyard Chardonnay, and Jewel of Skyland Pinot Noir, or a 6-bottle set of Chardonnay and Pinot Noir. Always feel free to add a little Cabernet to the mix. Shipping included on all Thanksgiving selections.

Join us for our Thanksgiving Open House, details below. We will be pouring 2019 Laoise Chardonnay, Jewel of Skyland Pinot Noir, and Crosby Roamann Merlot. If you cannot make it, we will miss you. Space is limited. RSVP HERE.

Crazy Good Vibes

 

As the 2022 harvest slowly comes to an end, the only thing we feel that we can say is that there are crazy good vibes. True, the end of harvest is always bittersweet -- We will miss the simple promise of a new vintage, and the sweet and musky scents of fermentation in the mornings, but the wines of 2022 are taught, succulent, and voluptuous, and we could not be more excited.

Visit us soon to taste the new vintage.

 

We are proud to introduce Silvano "Trino" Herrera as Crosby Roamann's Cellar Master. Trino has worked with us off and on for the past three years, only matriculating to maître de chai for the 2022 harvest season. Trino has been instrumental in growing our wine program, establishing new winery protocols, and overall improving the quality of the winery's trajectory.

We are amped to have him.

 

Sell the house. Sell the car. Sell the kids. This is a not to be missed event. Organized on extremely short notice ... Like most of the best things we do. We will be pouring a vertical of Sauvignon Blanc and some splashes of Chardonnay from large format (pictured at top).

$50/person. Members free.

If you cannot make it, we will miss you. If you can, RSVP below. Space is limited.

Saturday

November 5, 2022

4-7 pm

 

 

 

Harvest Update 2022

Harvest Update

What a whirlwind, crazy summer it has been! Exciting and challenging but full of joy. Tending to grapes is a year-round process, but it all comes to fruition this time of year:  Harvest season is when the whole Napa Valley really comes alive, and like the rest of the valley, the Crosby Roamann family harvest is fully underway.

Mostly cooler temperatures prevailed throughout the early summer, only to become blistering last week, forcing us to bring in as much fruit as possible in a very short period of time. To date, we have harvested all three vineyards of Pinot Noir from Sonoma County, as well as Sauvignon Blanc from our Estate Vineyard in Napa Valley, Chardonnay from Laoise and Maeve Vineyards, as well as Sangiovese and Zinfandel from Dry Creek Valley.

We also took the end of August to bottle two Chardonnay wines with new vintages of Laoise Vineyard Napa Valley and Maeve Vineyard Santa Cruz Mountains (a new release from us, and a vineyard that we are very excited to be working with).

We hope you will appreciate the fruits of our labor, enjoy our handcrafted wines and visit us soon. This month we are featuring the 2019 Old Saint George Pinot Noir Anderson Valley. On the palate the wine is still quite young and chalky, with notes of toasted oak, smoke, and clove, finishing with typical Anderson Valley forest floor flavors -- wet earth, funghi -- and a succinct minerality.

THANK YOU for being a part of the Crosby Roamann life. If you can't connect with us in person, you can find us on Instagram @crosbyroamann

The benefits of Crosby Roamann membership

With membership, you get our new releases of Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, and Cabernet Sauvignon, as well as a free annual gift, invitations to member-only events, and other perks. 

Members will receive six bottles per shipment. One in the Spring (March/April) and one in the Fall (September/October - weather depending).

Shipping is included in your membership. International memberships are also available.

 

 

 

Membership Tiers:

The Premier: Membership includes one bottle of each of our new releases; Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, and Cabernet Sauvignon.

Fall/Winter 2022: $405.00

The Collector: Membership includes two bottles of each of our new releases; Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, and Cabernet Sauvignon. 

Fall/Winter 2022: $810.00

Crosby's Reserve Club: Members receive a six-bottle wood box of Crosby's Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon every year in the Fall. 

Fall/Winter 2022: $810.00.

 

Visit our membership page to join us. 

 

WINE TRIVIA!

Did you know the diversity of Napa Valley's terrain, soil, and climate helped create distinctive wines from areas within the valley? A petition to the government led by the vintners and growers formed the American Viticultural Areas or AVAs which defines grape growing areas within Napa Valley, reflecting their unique regional designations.