Wine Snitch: Ravenswood Petite Sirah

When thinking of what you will drink during the football game most people chose beer. I still think that beer smells like feet. Believe me, I wish I liked beer, it would make tailgates, baseball games and Irish pubs a lot easier to navigate. I like Belgian beer, but just a little of it. So when faced with what to chose to drink during the Patriots/Ravens game that will decide who goes to the superbowl, I chose Ravenswood Petite Sirah - simply so I could look at the bottle and drink it and yell "I own you" every time I see the Raven on the label. 

Now for the review!

The result of a cross between the noble Syrah and a relatively minor Rhône variety, Peloursin, Petite Sirah is by far one of my most favorite single varietals to drink. The Petite in Petite Sirah is in regard to the size of the grape, not the size of the juice, Petite Sirah is generally, meaty with big blackberry and blueberry flavors and generally makes a wine with a high alcohol content. 

The label for this wine states that it is big and delicious and unapologetic filled with black fruit and chocolate flavors. Me thinks its okay, its great for a wine that cost less than $9 but it definitely does not live up to what Petite Sirah can be. Like Chris said - its a good Wednesday night wine. So, for the relatively low price, its a good wine for the money.

The Particulars

Winery: Ravenswood
Varietal:Petite Sirah

AVA: Napa Valley, Petite Sirah

Vintage: 2009
Alcohol: 13.5
Price:  between $8-12

Rating = BUY IT

Vegetable Chili/Soup

 

The other morning in Vermont we woke up to a real temperature of -12 degrees at the base of the mountain. That is just beyond ass biting cold. The kind of cold that makes your body shivvvver and curl in on itself just thinking about it, where your eyes squint and your shoulders hunch over in an attempt to push all of your body's warmth into your core so you can hold onto it.

The kind of day where you either make chili, or soup, but definitely not ice cream. Its also the kind of day that you put a little of grandpa's cough syrup in your coffee. Just for good measure.

I wanted to make both - soup and chili, but I didn't want to take the time to make both, so I winged this sort of mish mash of the two. I'm sure Rachel Ray has some annoying name for the combination of a Chili and a Soup similar to her famous "Stoup" which is stew and chili, but I'm not Rachel Ray so I didn't think of one.

Here goes - trying to remember what I did from memory.

1 onion diced

4-5 carrots cut on bias

4-5 celery stalks cut on bais

16 oz sliced mushrooms

 - throw those in the pan with some olive oil and let them get happy together

Add

Cumin, chili powder, salt pepper

 - let that get hot for a minute or two

Add

28 oz tomato sauce

15 oz diced tomatoes

2-3 cups veggie stalk

1/2 can chipotle chilis in adobo diced (and the sauce)

1/2 bag fire roasted frozen corn

Let that simmer on the stove for about 30 minutes. Serve with sour cream, cornbread, single malt scotch, whatever.  

Enjoy! It was awesome - don't skip the adobo - it makes it. 

Milk Chocolate Guinness Ice Cream...yes

I have wanted an ice cream maker for the longest time. 

Every time I have mentioned this, Chris has said "we do not need an ice cream maker, we do not have room for an ice cream maker, it will just be clutter." 

I got an ice cream maker for Christmas. 

This was the first ice cream that I made.

Chris loves the ice cream maker. And has made a list of additional flavors that he would like me to try my hand at.

Really - ice cream is expensive to buy, and more often than not it tastes sub par and is full of crappy ingredients. Get yourself an ice cream maker and your own, however you like, with whatever ingredients you like.

Chris has asked that my next flavor be Tiramisu - we'll see if I can indeed pull that one off.

This ice cream. I made it for friends a couple weeks ago - there was the sound of spoons clanging against bowls and tongues licking them clean - that is how good this ice cream is. It tastes like eating a chocolate bar and drinking a Guinness at the same time, but better, because it's ice cream.

I searched for Guinness recipes the web over, and kept finding recipes that called for 15 egg yolks.  There was no freaking way I was going to make an ice cream that called for that much yolk. It wasn't until I found the recipe with milk chocolate that the egg yolks were reduced to an acceptable amount (in my eyes) and it was a David Lebovitz recipe, and let's be honest, he really never steers you wrong.

With this recipe, everyday is a good day for a Guinness. Put this recipe right in your face. And if you don't have an ice cream maker, come to my house, I do, I will share.

What is your favorite ice cream flavor?

Salmon Burgers with Wasabi Mayo

She may not be pretty, but she sure is tasty! 

I know, way to start off the new blog, with an iphone picture of this hot mess, but to be honest, most images on this blog are going to come via my iphone, simply because the shit I make is going to be so good there will be no time for fussing around with my digital camera. 

This was awesome. Don't buy those hockey puck salmon burgers at Trader Joe's make a double batch of this (6 big burgers) and freeze some of them to pull out when you need an easy dinner. 

I adapted this recipe from this one: Sushi Inspired Salmon Sliders with Wasabi Mayo

the only changes I made were that I added extra red onion to the mix and also added fresh parsley (which I think it needed) and some fresh lemon juice. I also added a little lemon zest to the wasabi mayo.

Seriously. Make this shit. I also made an asian inspired slaw to go with this, it was purple cabbage, carrot, red onion and a killer sauce. I will make another batch and post it soon - it went faster than I could grab a pic of it.

Cheers!