Tag Archives: pinot gris

Indulgent and delicious: Garlic Soup

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It’s fall and it’s soup season. As I thought about our dinner and recent CSA pick-up, an amazing Garlic Soup came to mind.  Hubs and I had sampled this delectable dish during a wine-tasting trip to Sonoma. On a whim, we indulged in a multi-course tasting meal and wine pairing at J Vineyards  in the Russian River Valley.  J Vineyards is one of the first vineyards founded by a woman in Sonoma (Judy Jordan), and renowned for its sparkling wines.

Creekside at the lovely J Vineyards

The Garlic Soup was served in an espresso cup as the amuse-bouche. The tiny cup packed a powerful punch: creamy, complex, almost toothsome. All that flavor from a pale, cream-colored soup! It was a total shock. We had to know more…after lunch the chef came to chat with us and the other guests. We inquired about the soup, and a few moments later, he produced a print out of the recipe. I have saved the tattered piece of paper and proudly pulled it out on Saturday to prepare it for dinner. But no more espresso cup-sized portions. I wanted a bowl to myself.

I’ve reproduced the recipe below and borrowed a photo for the visual. My only regret is I do not know the chef’s name – he modestly did not share it on the recipe itself. The photo below is from the Smitten Kitchen blog, which posted a similar recipe from “Bon Appetit.”

Creamy Garlic Soup courtesy of the Smitten Kitchen

Creamy Garlic Soup
recipe adapted from the J Vineyards Bubble Room

Ingredients:

2 tablespoons butter
1 cup onions, thinly sliced (1 medium onion)
15 garlic cloves, smashed
1 cup Pinot Gris or other dry white wine
1/4 bunch of fresh thyme, chopped, no stems
1 quart vegetable stock
1 bay leaf
2 cups of French bread, cubed into 2″ pieces
3/4 cup heavy cream
Salt and pepper to taste
Chives for garnish

Instructions:

Heat butter in a large soup pot. Add onion and garlic, cook over medium heat for 10 -12 minutes. The onion and garlic should begin to caramelize. Add the wine and thyme, continue to cook for 10 minutes. Add the stock and bay leaf. Bring to a boil, reduce the heat and simmer for 30 minutes. Remove from heat and add bread cubes, allow to sit for 10 minutes. Remove the bay leaf.

Use a hand held blender and puree until smooth. Add the cream and taste for salt and pepper. Serve in a shallow bowl and garnish with chives.

Yield: 4 cups, or 2 bowls.

Warning:  Highly addictive.

And, if you are planning a visit to Napa or Sonoma, go to J Vineyards and reserve a spot for lunch or dinner at the Bubble Room.

Shrimp Tacos and All the Fixins

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Novagirl, I thought your recipe for Honey Lime Shrimp Tacos was awesome.  I made a few modifications here and there. I added a tablespoon of orange juice to the marinade as I was low on lime juice and used a grill pan to cook the shrimp in my apartment. Here’s the final product:

Honey Lime Shrimp Tacos

The grill pan worked like a charm. I cooked the shrimp about 2 minutes on the first side, then 1 minute on the second side and they were perfect. Still tender and slightly charred. They missed the smokiness you’d get from a real grill, but this definitely worked in a pinch.

Grilling Shrimp on Grill Pan – side 1

Grilling Shrimp on Grill Pan – side 2

Grilled Honey Lime Shrimp

I was pleasantly surprised at how well the shrimp turned out on the grill pan. Had never cooked them on it before, and it was fast, tasty and gave them nice char marks, too.
Here is the spread of fixins that I prepared: shredded cabbage, sliced radishes, shredded cheese, salsa verde, pico de gallo, chips and soft corn tortillas.  The cabbage was from my CSA pick-up. and the radishes were a gift from Steve at Berkshire Bounty Farm. As an aside, I still have over half a head of green cabbage left after making a large batch of coleslaw and using it here as an accompaniment to the tacos. It is hard work making use of an entire head of cabbage.

Shrimp Taco Fixins

A few final words on this meal. The shrimp and salsa verde got big thumbs up. The wine pairing of Pinot Gris with the spicy salsas and shrimp worked well, too. The pico de gallo, while easy on the eyes, was lacking something. We thought it was salt, so Hubs added a healthy dash, but that wasn’t it. I think I was too aggressive on seeding the tomatoes, leaving it too dry as I had suspected earlier. Lesson learned.

Tomatillo Madness

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So what happened to the tomatillos? As many folks suggested, I prepared salsa verde, and was pleasantly surprised at how easy it was and downright tasty. No fear factor anymore, my little green friends. The technique I had seen down in Mexico was more complex, using a comal, and probably more authentic, too, but the end result of this recipe was delicious. I boiled the whole tomatillos, then used the hand blender to blend them with white onion, cilantro and jalapeno. No need to marginalize this because of its simplicity – it definitely worked.

Looking to get a head start on things, I made the salsa verde Monday night in prep for Wednesday’s night menu inspired by Novagirl’s comment on shrimp tacos. Sad to say, the salsa verde has virtually disappeared by Wednesday afternoon. Uh-oh. I foolishly gave away 1/2 the batch thinking that it would never be consumed, but underestimated the addictive nature of salsa verde and tortilla chips.

Looking deeply in a glass jar: Salsa Verde (practically) all gone

I am such a fan of salsa verde now that I would even outright purchase tomatillos to make it again. Yum. So, I also prepared Pico de Gallo to make up for the salsa verde shortage.  I chopped and seeded 2 small tomatoes, chopped 1/4 of a medium-sized white onion, 1/2 jalapeno pepper and a few sprigs of cilantro. Mixed them altogether and listo, fresh Pico de Gallo. Since I had done such an expert job of seeding the tomatoes, the salsa turned out a little dry, so I added a handful of chopped cherry tomatoes that I had on hand from my CSA pick-up. They worked like a charm and added some interesting, if nontraditional, color.

Pico de Gallo with heirloom tomatoes and yellow cherry tomatoes

What to drink tonight? Beer would be an obvious choice, but I was thinking of a glass of wine. This dish is a tough one because it has a lot going on, particularly the heat from the jalapenos in both salsas. I thought about the bottle of J Vineyards Russian River Valley Pinot Gris that I had chilled in the fridge. I decided to do some research before risking it and opening this bottle I’ve been saving for a year. I was thrilled to find a reco from Snooth.com for Oregon Pinot Gris (close enough!), suggesting medium-bodied, fruity whites. A rose’ would work, too, or Torrontes from Argentina. I like Snooth’s tag line: Drink Better Wines.

Looking forward to tasting: J Vineyards 2008 Russian River Valley Pinot Gris

I stumbled upon a similar taco recipe from Food & Wine for Shrimp tacos with Pickled Red Onion Salad  in a post on Blog Your Own Wine.  I’ll have to try that at some point, too.

In the meantime, off to pull all this together into dinner. Stay tuned,  Novagirl!