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!

 

Our Core Values: What Crosby Roamann Stands For

We are proud of our core values. Keep reading to learn what Crosby Roamann stands for.

Our core values guide our brand in all production and marketing efforts:

1. Sumptuous and delicious wines for all occasions, with
2. A focus on terroir, and
3. A luxury lifestyle philosophy.

Let’s start with the first one: Sumptuous and delicious wines for all occasions

If we were to say there was one single idea that guided everything that we do, it would be our commitment to producing world-class wines that are sumptuous and delicious for all occasions.

A great example of this is our Cheese & Charcuterie Board Experience!

Enhance your visit to wine country with a cheese and charcuterie board from our select Napa Valley salumeria. The Crosby Roamann Tasting Salon Experience includes a private, guided tasting through our winery and a selection of current-release Estate Bottled Crosby Roamann and Sean W. McBride wines. Our modern tasting room is located in Napa’s Crusher District, just a few minutes from downtown.

Book The Tasting Salon Experience and add on a Cheese & Charcuterie Board when checking out. 

Book Now

The next of our the 3 values is to focus on the terroir.

“Making distinctive wines with character and a sense of place is the bedrock of the Crosby Roamann ethos."

  - Sean, Winemaker for Crosby Roamann

This quote speaks to our focus to create terroir-driven wine. We believe that the finest wines in the world express their time and place, in a word -- their terroir -- the idea that wines should express not just the soil and temperature of the vineyard, but also the people whose hearts and souls produced them.

Learn More

The last of Crosby Roamann's 3 values is that we feel our brand and wines fit into a luxury lifestyle philosophy.

And by the necessary constraints of our first two values — to create delicious wines for all occasions and have a focus on terroir — the finest wines in the world are made in the smallest of quantities and are highly sought after by collectors all over the world.

Shop Now

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We’d also love to share some photos from our art and wine event in the Hamptons. The White Room in Bridgehampton, NY hosted the Crosby Roamann team at an exclusive event on earlier this month where we offered the perfect pairing of authentic art with sophisticated wine from Napa Valley. Thank you to all who attended!

Enjoying Anderson Valley Pinot Noir Month with Grilled Flank Steak and Chimichurri Sauce

Enjoying Anderson Valley Pinot Noir Month
with Grilled Flank Steak and Chimichurri

We love this simple steak recipe for so many reasons. For one thing, flank steak grilled over charcoal in a Webster BBQ was one of my father’s staples on the weekend. I think we must have eaten this at least three times a month during the summer. Flank steak grilled over a very high heat will develop a wonderfully smoky thick crust while maintaining a perfectly-pink medium temperature when sliced into. It makes a perfect Memorial Day or Father’s Day centerpiece.
 
We pair our flank steak these days with a chimichurri sauce inspired by our friends from Argentina, who came to visit us in Napa in 2015 for a week and prepared a true Argentinian steak night feast with multiple cuts of beef paired with this wonderful sauce. We adapted our own version of this from Bon Appetit, below.
 
There are few things in life as pleasurable as simple recipes like this one. It’s a hard recipe to go wrong with, and very easy to customize to your liking. Make it as spicy or mild as you prefer. The Fresno chile adds a delightful red sparkle.
 
This time of year, we are pairing most of our evening meals with various shades of Pinot Noir. In honor of Anderson Valley Pinot Noir month, try our 2018 China Block Pinot Noir Anderson Valley Produced & Bottled by Sean W. McBride – available online for a limited time.

$1 Shipping on 12-bottle boxes through June

Crosby Roamann has $1 shipping on all cases through June. Put a case together now and enjoy our wines all summer long!

 

Chimichurri with Grilled Flank Steak

#CookingWithCrosbyRoamann

Ingredients:

• Chopped finely:
  • 1/2 Fresno chili
  • 1 medium Shallot
  • 5 garlic cloves
  • ½ bunch cilantro
  • ½ bunch Italian parsley
  • 2 Tbspn. Oregano
• ½ cup red wine vinegar (we make our own)
• 1 Tsp. Kosher salt
• ¾ cup extra-virgin olive oil

Preparation:

• Stir the chili, shallot, and garlic, with a pinch of cilantro, in a medium bowl with the salt and vinegar. Let sit for 15 minutes.
• Stir in the remaining greens and oregano.
• Using a fork, whisk in the olive oil to make to make a chunky paste.
• Use half of the sauce to coat your flank steak on all sides. Set this aside to marinate for at least 30 minutes and up to a half day. Transfer the remaining half of the sauce to a large (2 cup) liquid measuring cup.
• Using a handheld blender on high speed, puree the remaining half of the sauce to a form a lightly chunky paste. Serve this with your grilled flank steak.

 
 
Enjoy in good cheer,
Juliana & Sean

Recipe Feature: Matzoh Brei

 

Matzoh Brie is a traditional breakfast during the Passover holiday. We grew up with our grandparents making this dish for us on vacation, splendidly sprinkled with generous amounts of sugar on top!

Ingredients

• ½ box of kosher Matzoh for Passover (1/2 lb. of matzoh) broken into 1/4s and smaller pieces
• 12 eggs
• ¼ - ½ cup water (if necessary)
• ½ Tspn kosher salt
• ¼ stick butter
• 1/3 cup Demerara light brown sugar
• Maple syrup, confectioner’s sugar, jam, or honey for serving.

Directions

• Beat the eggs is a large glass bowl or baking pan, at least 2 inches deep, like the one pictured.
• Season with salt.
• Add the broken pieces of matzoh, stirring to coat and break up the larger pieces as you go.
• If there isn’t enough beaten eggs to fully coat and saturate the eggs, add ¼-cup to a ½-cup of water and turn the matzoh pieces to fully immerse them in the egg mixture.
• Let the matzoh-egg mixture rest for at least 30 minutes and up to an hour.
• Melt the ¼-stick of butter without letting it brown.
• Add the matzoh-egg mixture and reduce the heat, stirring the matzoh-egg to allow the mixture to evenly cook over medium heat. Every two or three minutes, add a large pinch of the Demara sugar and turn the sugar into the eggs, scooping up any bits of egg stuck to the bottom and the sides of the pan.
• You will know the matzoh-egg mixture has been fully cooken when it begins to brown slightly and is no longer runny.

Transfer to plates and garnish and serve with Maple syrup, confectioner’s sugar, jam, or honey.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Recipe Feature: Chicken Milanese

 

 

 

 

One current recipe offering, Chicken Milanese, is a delightfully tasty, beautiful dish that pairs nicely with Crosby Roamann’s best white wine selections like a Sauvignon Blanc or a Chardonnay from our boutique Napa winery. On this night, however, we chose to pair it with our 2018 Jewel of Skyland Pinot Noir from the Santa Cruz Mountains, alongside our 2016 Crosby's Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon from Napa Valley.

Chicken Milanese

Top with a mound of arugula and chopped vine-ripened tomatoes, garnish with lemon

Paired with boiled butter potatoes with dill and mustard (See our German Potato Salad recipe)

Ingredients

2 cups all-purpose flour
3 teaspoons kosher salt, divided, plus more for seasoning
2 large eggs
2 tablespoons heavy cream (optional)
2 cups fine plain dried breadcrumbs
2 pounds boneless, skinless chicken breasts (or purchase chicken scaloppini)
Freshly ground black pepper
2 cups olive oil for cooking
3 tablespoons unsalted butter

Garnish

1 pound fresh arugula
4 vine ripe tomatoes
1 lemon, cut into 4 wedges

Preparation

• Whisk flour and 1 teaspoon salt in a wide shallow bowl. Lightly whisk eggs and cream in another wide shallow bowl until the yolks and whites are just streaky. Mix breadcrumbs and 2 teaspoons salt in a third wide shallow bowl. (See pic)
• Pound chicken breasts between sheets of wax paper to 1/4” thickness, being careful not to tear. Season lightly with salt and pepper.
• Working in batches, dredge one chicken breast at a time first in the flour mixture; shake off excess. Then -- Dip in egg. Turn to coat; shake off excess. Last -- Dredge in breadcrumbs, pressing to adhere; shake off excess—transfer slices to tray until you are prepared to fry them.
• Heat olive oil over medium heat to 350°F. Add butter to skillet and adjust heat to maintain 350°F, just barely smoking. Add chicken breasts, one or two at a time, being careful to leave a one-inch gap around each edge. Let this fry 3-5 minutes per side until just golden brown (see pic).
• Clean your saute pan between each round of cooking, as the old oil and butter will turn the breadcrumbs black and burnt. Rinse the saute pan with water and wipe it clean before each round of chicken, being careful to pour a fresh 1/3 cup of olive oil and a fresh tablespoon of butter into the pan before each round of chicken breasts.

Divide fried chicken among plates. Garnish with arugula and tomatoes sliced into 1” chunks. The perfect accompaniment is a pinch of good sea salt and a lemon wedge. Bon appetite!

Pair with a Crosby Roamann Best White Wine

The acidity, flavors, and textures of the Crosby Roamann’s best white wines perfectly enhance and heighten the flavors of this Chicken Milanese recipe to create a most memorable dining experience.

Our highly regarded Crosby Roamann boutique Napa winery offers the best white wines for pairing with this and other poultry or seafood dishes.

Special Member Discount & Library Release

Another week begins in quarantine, and we are motivated to help you get through this. As promised, we are unveiling the third special surprise of the month --

Members enjoy an extra 10% discount -- this week only. Premier Members enjoy 10% and Collectors enjoy 20% off already discounted wines. No code necessary, simply login and your extra discount will be automatically applied. Combine these discounts with 12-bottle orders for even more savings.

Chardonnay Library Release: 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017. For this week only, we are re-releasing a very small number of bottles of Chardonnay from our library to pair with Steve's Chicken Paprikas (recipe below) -- a pairing made in heaven.

And if you haven't decided to become a member yet, now would be a really great time to join! We offer complimentary shipping for our members on all orders, and other perks and incentives like comped tastings, invitations to exclusive events (in better times) and member gifts.  If you'd like us to place the order on our end we are happy to do that too, just reach out to Juliana.

We also wanted to share a family recipe that's a true comfort food for us, and we hope it will offer comfort to you too!  See below for Steve's Chicken Paprikas and Nokedli (Dumpling) recipe.  This pairs stupendously with our 2017 Chardonnay, which Steve (Juliana's dad and Hungarian American émigré) would have loved.  

Warmly,

Juliana & Sean 
 

 

Steve's Chicken Paprikas and Hungarian Nokedli (Dumplings)

Ingredients for Chicken Paprikas

• One whole chicken (3lb) cut up into ten pieces (each split breast cut in half, with legs, thighs, and wings separate) and seasoned generously with salt
• One tablespoon butter
• Three tablespoons olive oil
• Two heaping tablespoons (divided) of Sweet Hungarian Paprika like this one from The Spice House.
• One large yellow onion, diced
• One tomato, diced
• One 4 oz can of V-8
• Salt & Pepper to taste
• Two green bell peppers, sliced
• 1/3 cup Sour Cream

   
Directions for Chicken Paprikas

1. Melt the tablespoon of butter in the olive oil in a large Dutch oven (or stock pot) on the stove top. (We use this one from Williams Sonoma.)
2. Sear the chicken legs and thighs, skin side down, for two minutes, then turn and sear two minutes more. Remove from heat and set aside, then repeat with remaining pieces of chicken, leaving the oil and shmaltz to saute the onions next.
3. Add the diced onion and cook until translucent -- 3-5 minutes -- then remove the Dutch oven from the heat. Sprinkle on 1 heaping tablespoon of the sweet paprika and stir it into the onions, then return the Dutch oven to the stove top and add the chicken back to the pot, skin side up, nestled together.
4.  Add the diced tomato and the 4 oz can of V-8, then sprinkle the second heaping tablespoon of Hungarian paprika on top.
5. Cook, covered, on medium heat for 40 minutes until the chicken is tender and falling off the bone.  
6. Add the two sliced green bell peppers to the pot and recover, then cook for another 10 minutes, until the peppers are tender but not limp.
7. Finally, remove the Dutch over from heat, and gently stir in one-third cup of sour ream, stirring gently until absorbed. Serve chicken in its bright red-orange sauce on top of the nokedli (see below).

Ingredients for Nokedli (Dumplings)

• 4 eggs
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 and a half cups water
• 3-4 cups of flour
• 1 large pot filled with salted boiling water
• 1 tablespoon butter & 1-2 tablespoons olive oil (to coat the Nokedli)

Directions for Nokedli
Note: You will need a spaetzle maker like this one to prepare the dumplings.  

1. Bring large pot filled with salted water to boil.
2. Combine eggs, salt and water, beating well with whisk
3. Add flour, a little at a time, and only enough flour to make a soft, sticky dough.  This should be somewhere between 3-4 cups of flour.  Let the dough rest for 10 minutes.
4. Add about one cup at a time to the top of the spaetzle maker, straining the dough back and forth across the pot, letting the dumplings fall into the boiling water.  Keep adding dough a little at a time to the spaetzle maker until you are through with the dough.  
5. Stir nokedli in boiling water for a few minutes and immediately strain.  
6. Add olive oil and butter to the pot, then stir the Nokedli back in.  Add salt to taste.  Ladle into bowls and add the chicken paprikas on top. 

Cast Iron Porterhouse with Bérnaise, French Fried Potatoes & Green Beans

We don’t make or eat a lot of red meat, but when we do, we want it to be special, like when we make this easy cast iron skillet-fried porterhouse with a simple Béarnaise sauce, which helps to brighten the whole dish. We pair the steak with homemade hand-cut French fries, which are perfect for dipping in Béarnaise, and we usually add a green bean side dish sautéed with shallots and garlic, and sometimes a bit of small green zucchini to add sweetness. (Sean worked as a short-order cook in college, and he used to hand-make three hundred pounds of potatoes per day. He still uses the same recipe he picked up during those years, calling for hand-cut potatoes fried twice.) The trick, if you can call it that, is getting everything off the stove top at the right moment, so we pre-prep all three dishes, and prepare the Béarnaise sauce first and set it aside in the fridge while we fry the steaks and potatoes and sauté the green beans. Bon apetit!

We love to pair our 2014 Crosby's Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon with this steak dinner. The soft but concentrated wine compliments the porterhouse perfectly!

Special equipment:

• A cast iron 12”-skillet
• A meat thermometer
• An immersion blender
• Something to deep fry potatoes with: we use a 3-quart sauce pan with a 6-quart fry basket, but a deep fryer would work just as well

 

Ingredients for the steaks:

• Two thick-cut porterhouse steaks, at least 2" thick
• Salt & Pepper to taste
• 2 tbsp vegetable oil

Ingredients for the French fries:

• Four large russet potatoes
• About 8 cups of vegetable oil

Ingredients for the Béarnaise Sauce:

• 2 tbsp dry white wine
• 2 tbsp Champagne vinegar
• 2 tbsp fresh tarragon leaves, minced
• 2 large egg yolks
• 1 shallot, minced
• 1 stick unsalted butter, melted

Ingredients for the green beans:

• 1 lb fresh green beans, ends trimmed
• 1 small green zucchini, ends trimmed
• 1 shallot, sliced thinly
• 1 bulb garlic, sliced thinly
• 1 tbsp. fresh tarragon leaves, chopped
• 4 tbsp olive oil
• 2 tbsp unsalted butter
• Coarse sea salt and black pepper, to taste

Serves 4.

Pre-prep & make the sauce:

• Season the steaks liberally with salt, set aside.
• Prep the French fries:
  • Skin the potatoes
  • Cut the potatoes into 1cm-thick slices, then into 1cm-cube sticks
  • Wash the cut potatoes in cold water, making sure to rinse off as much starch as possible, then pat dry with a clean dish towel or paper towels
  • Set the potatoes to the side
  • Bring your cooking oil to 350 degrees in your fry pan
  • Working in batches, fry the potatoes for 5 minutes, just until they start to take on a bubbly appearance and brown only lightly at the edges, then remove them from oil and set aside.

Prepare the sauce:

• Combine the dry white wine, Champagne vinegar, and 1 tbsp fresh minced tarragon leaves in a small saucepan.
• On medium heat, reduce the vinegar mixture for two minutes, or until the shallots are translucent, then set aside to cool.
• Melt the butter
• Meanwhile, place the 2 large egg yolks in a medium bowl and whisk in the vinegar tarragon and blend briefly with the handheld immersion blender on high
• Next, add the remaining 1 tbsp. tarragon and slowly add the melted butter to the egg mixture with the immersion blender on high. (It may take a couple minutes to blend fully; make sure to incorporate all the solids.)
• Let the sauce chill in the refrigerator as you prepare the rest of the meal.

Prep the green beans:

• Thinly slice the shallot and garlic, then set aside
• Bring 1 quart of water to a boil, and blanch the green beans for three minutes.
• Remove the beans from the boiling water and run under cold water. Then set aside.
• Meanwhile, slice the zucchini on a bias roughly ¼ inch thick, set aside.

Now that you have everything prepped, it’s time to put it all together! Sauté the steaks at the same time as you re-fry the potatoes and sauté the green beans.

• Bring the oil for the fries back up to 350F and pre-heat the oven to 450F.
• Working in batches, re-fry the potatoes until they are golden brown.
• When done, transfer to a rimmed baking sheet lined with paper towels and sprinkle with coarse sea salt.
• As each batch of potatoes is finished, transfer them to paper towels, sprinkle with sea salt, then incorporate into them into the previously cooked batches.
• As your potatoes are cooking, bring your cast iron skillet up to high heat with 2 tbsp of vegetable oil. When the oil starts to smoke, sauté the steaks 4 minutes per side, then transfer to a rimmed baking sheet and put in the oven at 450F for 2 minutes. Check the internal temperature of the steaks every two minutes until it reaches 125F. Then remove the steaks from the oven and let them rest for 5 minutes.
• As the steaks are cooking, bring a medium sauté pan up to medium-high heat. Add olive oil. After a minute, add shallots, garlic, zucchini, and green beans. Sauté, turning consistently, until the shallots and garlic have browned and the zucchini has softened and lightly browned. Cook the green beans to taste … we prefer them still a little crunchy. When they are done according to your preference, remove immediately from the heat, and top with coarse sea salt and a cracked black pepper. Serve immediately.

Seared Sea Scallops

We’ve fallen in love with this recipe we picked up a from a fellow winemaker. It’s a wonderful appetizer to cheer up a Saturday night dinner at home; it’s not hard to make, and it makes you look legit!

Enjoy it with our 2015 Chardonnay, Carneros, Napa Valley  Price: $34.00  

Seared Sea Scallops in a bed of Sautéed Leeks and Cauliflower Puree

INGREDIENTS

Cauliflower puree (separate recipe below)
4 leeks, thinly sliced (3-4mm)
9-12 medium sea scallops, patted dry, season with salt
1 oz. domestic farm raised sturgeon caviar
sea salt and pepper to taste
olive oil and butter for sautee

PREPARATION

Prepare the cauliflower puree from instructions. Plate in shallow bowl in wide circle.
Thinly slice the leeks and sauté in butter and oil till just crunchy; remove to top cauliflower puree.
Add more butter to pan and sear scallops 1-2 minutes per side. Place 3-4 scallops per plate on top of leeks.
One teaspoon caviar in the middle of the scallops

Cauliflower Puree

INGREDIENTS

1 head cauliflower, stem and tough stalks trimmed, florets roughly chopped
1 cup chicken stock (or water)
2-3 tablespoons heavy cream
2-3 tablespoon unsalted butter, room temperature
Salt and pepper to taste

PREPARATION

Combine cauliflower and chicken stock in a medium saucepan, and bring to a boil over high heat. Reduce heat to a simmer, cover, and cook until cauliflower is very tender, about 5 minutes. There should only be a very small amount of liquid remaining.
Add the butter, and, using a manual food processor (you can find one here), process until smooth, adding the heavy cream slowly as you go. Season with salt and pepper. Serve hot.

A Thanksgiving Mishmash

As Thanksgiving is approaching, we find ourselves in a contemplative and particularly grateful kind of mood, so while we usually illustrate news and goings on around our valley in the world of wine, like our recent posts on harvest and the wine country fires, this month we thought we would step out of that mold and discuss some other topics. We were inspired in this endeavor by a particularly fun blog post from Sam Sifton at the New York Times.

Naturally Thanksgiving affords us a time to reflect, and to count our blessings. As the holiday falls right around the birth of our daughters, we are naturally thankful for them, for the myriad ways they’ve changed our lives for the better, for the ineffable joy they give us.  We are also in eternal gratitude for the bounty of new experiences we share together and for the journey our life is taking together. It’s hard work, all of it, but these moments together to stop, reflect, share a meal and a good bottle of wine, make it all worth it, no matter where we are.

As Audrey would put it, “I realize that only two months ago my home, Sonoma, was in flames. I also realize how lucky I am to have such amazing family to go to when this happened, and to be with, and snuggle with every day of those fires. I am so grateful to be able to spend that time with them, and also be able to go back to an unharmed home.”

We are also posting our Thanksgiving recipes for this year – not the traditional roast turkey with dressings, but, seeing as how we are going to be overseas for the holiday and want to tone down the kitchen time – something a little bit more relaxed and easier to cook. You can find the recipe for our Turkey Pot Pie, below.

And seeing as how each of us is going to be lazing on the beach this Thanksgiving weekend, we want to share our beach reading for the weekend. Audrey and Scarlett are newly obsessed with the Rick Riordan series … it’s something about a boy who finds out he’s the demigod offspring of Poseidon – here is the link to Amazon to find The Lightning Thief. Juliana is suggesting a trio of books, including Anything is Possible, by Elizabeth Strout, and Sean, as usual, is bumbling through Plato’s Complete Works, although no one, including him, can figure out why.

Finally, we wanted to share our harvest mix tape with you … it’s a bit of mishmash this year, including some new and some old from all our recent favorites. You can email us to request a free copy of the CD, if you’re a trilobite like Sean, or download the Spotify tracklist here.

Wishing you and your families the best this Thanksgiving season!

With love from Napa Valley,

Audrey & Scarlett & Juliana & Sean

Turkey Pot Pie

Adapted from our kitchen staple (the book that sits out on the kitchen counter more than any other) Bride & Groom, First and Forever Cookbook, by Mary Corpening Barber and Sara Corpening Whiteford.

• Some olive oil, a tablespoon of unsalted butter
• A yellow onion, chopped kind of finely
• Some garlic, chopped
• A carrot, chopped into half inch squares
• Some fresh thyme, or dried thyme
• Some salt and pepper
• A little white wine (optional, or not)
• A dash of flour (also optional)
• 1 jar Alfredo sauce, like Classico
• About three cups a purchased roast chicken, shredded
• A package of frozen peas
• Frozen pie crust, defrosted
• An egg yolk, beaten

Saute the onion, garlic, and carrot in olive oil and butter. Season with salt and a dash of pepper, add the thyme. Add the white wine and scoop up the brown bits on the pan. Add the flour, and blend. Set aside and let this cool briefly. This whole process takes about 10 minutes.

Add the Alfredo sauce to the mixture, and mix in the shredded chicken and frozen peas. Blend this all together, and crack a bit of pepper into it. Scoop the mixture into four 1½-cup ramekins (French onion bowls also work well, if you have those but no ramekins).

Roll out the pie crust and put a ramekin on it. Cut a wide circle around the ramekin – this is the size of the pie crust topping that you need for each bowl, so repeat four times. Cover the ramekins with the pie crust and pinch down the edges.

At this point, you’re pretty much all set, but here’s the really fun part, especially for kids – take the remaining pie crust and cut out the first initial of your guests’s names. This initial should be gently placed on top of each ramekin. Use a pastry brush to coat the pie crust with beaten egg yolk and glue the initials down.

Place the pot pies on a baking sheet and bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes; they should be golden brown, if not, keep baking!