April 10-Spanish Tortilla

Well, we were low on ingredients here today, but with our new chickens we’re getting a good supply of eggs. We had potatoes and onions in the pantry and that was about it. The first thing that came to mind was a Spanish Tortilla. When done right, it’s a delicious fully omelet like creation filled with fried onions and potatoes. I, however, neglected to use a non-stick skillet, so although our onions and potatoes fried nicely, the crust stuck to the pan. Our tortilla came out as more of a scramble. It was still delicious. Add some Mexican hot sauce and you’re good to go!

March 28-Southern Lunch

Our friend Tom Krig delivered a huge bag of collard greens this morning which got my into a southern frame of mind and inspired our lunch. We had fried chicken, collard greens with ham hocks, salad with homemade blue cheese dressing and hominy with vegetables. Hominy, in my opinion, is one of the most underused ingredients. I love the flavor and texture it adds to a vegetable dish. Mandy Grassini joined us for lunch. She’s got quite the plate! It was great to start brainstorming about our Happy Canyon of Santa Barbara AVA Open House August 9. Stay tuned for more details!

Bottling Lunch-Day 1

Today, Brooks brought in her homemade spicy pork sausages which she cooked up with kale and mushrooms. We that over polenta with a side salad. Tom Krig joined us and brought a bottle of Domaine du Vieux Lazaret 2007 Châteauneuf-du-Pape. We’re lucky the boys were able to take a quick break from bottling to join us.

March 20 Lunch

To catch up, we had Don and Mike from the International Wine Review here last week for lunch and a tasting. We opened up everything for them…just a few wines as you can see. For lunch with had green lentils with roasted chicken and scallions from the garden, pan roasted potatoes with red peppers, and butter lettuce salad with our house made dressing.

Winery Lunches

We have a daily winery lunch. At the wineries I’ve worked with (Au Bon Climat and Chêne Bleu) we take a break from work, sit together, enjoy a home cooked meal and catch-up. It’s great time… we get a chance to share what is happening in our respective job areas and often have the team meet visiting journalists, retailers, importers, etc. We often cook elaborate meals (depending on the mood), it’s seasonal and from the garden (the chickens produce some mighty fine eggs as well), we reinvent leftovers, Mirna does a taco feast at least once a week, and sometimes we have to get creative with what’s in the pantry. Each day, we open wines to share; sometimes they’re ours but most of the time they are from other producers. Stay tuned, we’re going to chronicle what we eat, who we shared it with, and what we drank. Prepare to get jealous.

Today, we had cobb salad with bacon, chicken, hardboiled eggs from our chickens, avocado and blue cheese. With it, we tasted the newest vintage of 2012 SYBARITE, 2012 Riviera Rose, and M5 Reserve. Glen Grisham, our Chambers brand manager, and Tom Adler, one of our label designers, joined us.

CdP

I had a great night in Avignon at a friend’s house two night’s ago. We had the opportunity to taste a bunch of great Châteauneuf-du-Pape and quite a few producers were there as well… they were perfumed and smokey. Not the wines.

Buoni Anni Sangiovese at Bouchon

Bouchon Beverly Hills ordered the Buoni Anni Sangiovese will have it on their list by the end of the week. Thank you so much to Bouchon for recognizing this great wine. Sommiliere Alex Weil comments “I know it will pair very well with our food and that our guests like sangiovese on the list. We just sold out of our other sangiovese so yours will be the only sangio on the list.”

Visit Alex Weil and give him our thanks at Bouchon in Beverly Hills
235 N. Canon Drive | Beverly Hills, CA 90210
p.310.281.5683 | f.310.281.5699 | http://www.bouchonbistro.com