Wine And Figs

Now is the time of year when you see all those lovely fruits that have been soaking up loads of sunshine all summer long appear in the markets. Enjoying a visit to my favorite spot at the market, the fresh fruit and veggie section, I spotted those little jewels of a fruit that mother nature has provided us - Figs. Named for the mission fathers who planted the fruit as they traveled along the California coast, Mission Figs was my choice. These lovely little gems are power packed with vitamins and minerals. Figs are rich in calcium, potassium, phosphorus, iron and loaded with fiber! All that and much more in that tiny fruit package that can be prepared for your pleasure so many different ways. We had our Mission Figs the other night for an appetizer and as I was visiting Amanda's site the next morning, and low and behold she posted a recipe on figs! I will let you travel over to her site for her scrumptious recipe, but here is our simple one. Oops, sorry that I have no photo of the actual dish, but we were so engrossed in eating this lovely appetizer that I forgot to photograph them. But the picture above shows them before our preparation began.

Mission Figs With Goat Cheese And Bacon

Mission figs sliced in half

Bacon - precook your bacon, drain, crumble into small pieces

Goat Cheese - crumble in small enough pieces to fit on top of figs

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Line a baking sheet with foil and place the figs skin side down on the baking sheet. Bake until warm. Do not over bake as they may get too soft.

Remove from oven. Place warm figs on a serving dish, place goat cheese on top and then sprinkle the bacon pieces on top of goat cheese. Serve immediately.

The sweetness of the figs combined with the smooth goat cheese and saltiness of the bacon is heavenly! What wine to serve? Well I would serve a chilled bottle of Riesling or a nice cool Chenin Blanc with this appetizer as the fruitiness of the wines will pair well with the sweetness of the figs and cheese.

Speaking of wines, I had this good old faithful Chardonnay the other night that I pick up many times during the hot summer months. Georges Duboeuf 2005 Chardonnay was my choice for sipping out on the deck before dinner. I say "good old faithful" because it is a wine that I have purchased for many years and have never been disappointed in its quality. It is not a big heavy complex Chardonnay that many California Chardonnays can be, it is a nice French full of fruit wine that is good all on its own. And, tasting lovely chilled very cold, a perfect wine for a nice HOT summer evening here in Key West. Price - on sale this week at the market for $4.99 a bottle. Now that is a great deal!

Cheers!

Wine, Limes And Home With My Gnomes

As I was telling you all the other day, it is good to be back home and you notice things that you usually do not give a second glance to when you are around them all the time. So it is with my TINY yard here in Key West. I was out yesterday looking at some of my foliage and seeing what needed a drink since it has been so hot here with not much rain lately when I came up to my lime tree. I had caught a faint aroma of blossoms in the air while I was checking out the plants and low and behold my line tree is full of blossoms and had one lime ready for picking! There is nothing like the smell of blossoms from a fruit tree. We have sour orange trees on our property also and in the spring it is such a treat when they are in bloom. The aromas are heavenly and the blossoms are so delicate!

Speaking of limes brings me to my next subject, the wine that was definitely a summer sipper yesterday afternoon.

I popped the cork on a well chilled bottle of Pavao Vinho Verde from Portugal. The Vinho Verde grape makes a wonderful wine for summer as it is low in alcohol, 11%, and has an effervescence that sparkles on your tongue. On the palate is a refreshing, crisp lime flavor with a hint of peach. I have reviewed a few other Vinho Verde's this summer and have enjoyed them for sipping because they are a fun wine with those tiny bubbles that dance in your glass and perfect for summer. Also they are inexpensive, under $10.00.

Strolling around my garden with my glass of Pavao, I came across my favorite guy in my garden. His name is Jake and he is a gnome that has been with me for years! I have many photos of Jake and, when I was taking photography classes, I showcased him and a few other gnomes I have as my project. It was a wonderful project and many of my gnome photos are still hanging in my house keeping me company, just like my lovely ladies that I shared with you the other day. A couple of years ago while I was preparing the house for a hurricane that was coming upon us, I moved plants, lawn furniture, etc. into the house for safe keeping. Anyhow, after the hurricane we were cleaning up all the foliage that gets ripped off the trees and I noticed that I could not find Jake. I was in a thither! Jake, Jake, where are you? I never could find him. I figured he fell off of his pot and was swept away during clean up. Well, about 6 months ago I was cleaning out a closet downstairs here and who did I find under a suitcase? JAKE!!! I was so excited that he was still home! How he got there was a mystery to me. So I just assume he wanted to get out of the storm and headed into the house himself! Smart guy my Jake is!!!

Cheers!

Healthy Kick

Now that I am back in Key West and surrounded by all of my lovely cookbooks, I decided to get healthy with some grains. Thursday is my grocery day. To me, I know Deb get a life, this is like a social event. I get to cruise up and down the aisles of glorious foods and chat with an acquaintance, as there is always someone at the store that you know even if it is chatting with the cashier that I see every week. I actually look forward to my grocery day. I usually start preparing for my outing on Fridays! Yep, the day after I have just went grocery shopping. Friday's I start marking recipes in my cookbooks or pick up the magazines that I subscribe to and start listing the recipes I want to prepare the next week. Actually I have a hugh binder with all of the recipes listed I want to make sometime in the future that I refer to also. Then I make 2 lists. One list is recipes and where they are located. Second list is the ingredients that I will need to make the dish. I study my recipes and try to visualize, or maybe I should say "tastealize" what the dish will be like. Then I decide if I will make it my way or the books way. Then I go back over the recipe and my list to make sure I did not forget an ingredient because it makes me CRAZY when I get ready to cook and I realize I am missing one of the pieces! I am not the only one who gets "nuts" over this, as when I was over at Jenn's site the other day, she was talking about going shopping for her ingredients also. She made me chuckle as I know how she feels about the ingredient list!

OK, back to the grain subject! I was feeling like I needed a healthy kick this week so I picked up three packages of Arrowhead Mills brand of different grains to try this week. The one I chose for today is "wheat berries". Actually the package says Whole Grain Wheat, but these little gems are the berries of that grain. Wheat berries are the Mother Grain from which pasta, bread and flour are derived. When cooked, these little wheat berries pack a nut like flavor and are pleasantly chewy. Here is a chili that I made today and I got the recipe from Eating Well Magazine. This chili was very easy to make and was packed with tons of flavors!

Zesty Wheat Berry Black Bean Chili

2 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil

1 large yellow onion chopped

1 large yellow bell pepper chopped

5 cloves of garlic minced - I added extra, I love garlic!

2 teaspoons of chili powder

1-1/2 teaspoons ground cumin

1 teaspoon dried oregano

2 - 15 oz cans black beans rinsed

2- 14 oz cans diced tomatoes with their juice

1 to 2 canned chipolte chili's in adobo sauce minced - note: these are HOT so be careful

2 cups veggie broth

2 teaspoons of brown sugar

2 cups cooked wheat berries

Juice of 1 lime

1 avocado chopped

1/2 cup chopped cilantro

Saute the onion, bell pepper, garlic, chili powder, cumin, oregano in the olive oil over medium heat for about 5 minutes. Add the beans, tomatoes, chipolte, broth and brown sugar. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer covered for about 25 minutes. Taste and add salt and pepper if you think it needs it.

Stir in cooked wheat berries and heat through. Stir in lime juice. Serve with a garnish of cilantro and avocado. Delicious!

Now we had this for lunch so I did not serve a wine with it. In fact I am not posting about a wine today, can you believe that! Sorry. The wines we have had this week were ones that I have already told you about. But no worry - I will be back tomorrow with a weekend wine for you!

Cheers!

My Lovely Ladies

No food or wine today:( Deb's Art:) A few months ago Holler noticed in my section "about me" that one of my past times is painting. Along with food and wine, one of my passions is painting. Being in an old home in Key West, there is always something that needs to be painted, like shutters, walls, woodwork, etc. Yes, I do enjoy that aspect. But where I really feel good is in front of a canvas. I paint mostly with acrylics but have dabbled in oil. I got into painting after I was "burnt out" on photography. I was doing black and white film and developing all of my own prints. At first I found this very creative as I could manipulate the photo in the dark room and I felt really great because I totally developed my own prints. I even bought a mat cutter and started doing my own framing. This was all well and good except I found myself in the dark room for many hours. Why am I spending all of this time in the dark room when I moved from Ohio to Key West to be in the sunshine!!! So I put that type of photography on the back burner and headed to the canvas. I took a couple of classes at the community college here and got hooked. I mostly paint abstract as I feel you can really express yourself in that medium. In one of my classes, we had an assignment to do a portrait of ourselves. I was not excited about this assignment but went at it. That is how my abstract ladies series was born. I painted myself in an abstract manner. From there....

So Holler, per your request, here are a few of my ladies that keep me company every day. Please feel free to give me your honest opinion about my gals as I am always open for criticism. To me that is the best teacher of all. The funny thing about my ladies is they are faceless and nameless. So if you would like to suggest a name for one of them, please feel free to leave me a comment!

Cheers!

White Wine With That Jambalaya

Now here is a wine label that is "out there"! And of course, I could not resist. But on opening Joe Blow, a pleasant surprise popped out! Lots of ripe fruit aromas and nice floral notes. Usually I am sceptical about wines with all these crazy labels, but I have not come across one that is really terrible. There have been a few that I will not purchase again and I tell you that when I post them. One thing I found, which most wine lovers cringe when they hear this, if I am not totally satisfied with the wine I just fill up the glass with ice and enjoy the rest of the bottle. Not bad if it is 100 degrees outside! OK, let me tell you a little bit about my experience with Joe Blow.

2005 Joe Blow Wine Cellars White Wine from Manteca, California is a fun tropical blast of ripe fruit, nectarines is what I tasted, and crisp citrus. This wine is a blend of Chardonnay from their San Bernabe vineyard in Monterey and an addition of Viognier and Chenin Blanc from their vineyards located in Lodi. The Viognier added the floral touch and the Chenin Blanc added a bit of sweetness to it, although I do not like to use the word sweet, so lets say very ripe fruit! For under $10.00 is was a great summer sipper that went very well with my Shrimp Jambalaya.

Yep, being back south again, I had an urge for the lovely shrimp that is available here. Being tired of grilling the shrimp, although I really enjoy a good piece of grilled shrimp on a skewer with some fresh pineapple, I decided to use it in my Shrimp Jambalaya. Do you ever get that craving for tomatoes in a dish? Well, I was craving shrimp and tomatoes and figured this dish would satisfy both cravings! It did!

Shrimp Jambalaya

2 tablespoons of canola oil

1 cup chopped celery

1 cup chopped green pepper

1 jalapeno chopped

4 cloves of garlic chopped - I love garlic!

1 sweet onion chopped

About 1/4 cup of chopped parsley

1 tablespoon dried thyme or you could use fresh

1 Large Bay Leaf

1-3/4 cups of veggie broth or chicken broth

1 14 oz. can chopped tomatoes with their juice

1 teaspoon sugar

1 cup raw white rice

1-2 teaspoons of hot pepper sauce - or more if you like it spicy

Salt and Pepper to taste

1 lbs. medium size shrimp shelled and devained

Saute the celery, onions, peppers, garlic in the oil for about 5 minutes. Add the parsley, bay leaf, thyme and stir for about a minute. Stir in broth and tomatoes, sugar, hot sauce and rice. Heat to boiling, then cut heat to simmer and cook covered for about 15 minutes. Add shrimp and cook till shrimp is pink. Salt and pepper to taste.

This dish is really easy and that kind of comfort food that you need during the summer months once in awhile. Corn bread would be good with it, but I save that for a cooler month. I try not to use the oven too much during these hot days.

One note to you - if you need to hold this dish, say you are having company but you want to get things prepared before hand so you can enjoy a glass of wine with them as they arrive, I would omit the rice and cook it separately. Otherwise the rice will absorb all of your juice while you are waiting to serve. Then you can just put the rice in the bowl and top with the Jambalaya sauce with shrimp.

Sounds good ? You bet ya it is!

Cheers!

Wine, Fish, Back In Key West

It is always a nice thing to come home again after being away for a lengthy stay. On the drive home, all the familiar sights and colors seem new again. Brings a tinge of excitement into your tummy. Then all of your neighbors and friends are happy to see you and "catch you up" on all the neighborhood news. But one of the best things about coming home to Key West is the fresh fish. I could not wait to head to our local fish market and pick up some of their "catch of the day" which was Mutton Snapper. Our son Chris, who is a chef, is still in Key West and while sharing a few bottles of wine with us last night, he whipped up a great feast for us using the Mutton Snapper.

I found a new French Chardonnay at the wine shop! I picked up a 2005 Petit Bistro Chardonnay from the Languedoc Region of France. It is bottled by Laboure ROI who gets their grapes from the Central Massif to the Mediterranean Sea area. This was a nice French Chardonnay with a lovely touch of melony fruit and a hint of pineapple on the nose. The taste was fresh and clean with no heavy oak but lots of long citrus flavors. The alcohol volume was 13% and the price was under $10.00. It was a perfect match for the mutton snapper Chris prepared.

Chris seared the snapper on both sides over high heat and then finished it in the oven to keep the moisture in. He laid this fish over a serving of collard greens sauteed with bacon, shallots and garlic. On top of the fish he served a warm tomato sauce that he constructed from olive oil, shallots, fresh oregano, freshly chopped tomatoes, fresh chopped garlic and finished off with a touch of butter. We also had wild rice and freshly sliced Italian Country bread with a fruity olive oil to accompany the fish. It was a great meal!

Here are a few of my favorite sights driving down the Keys!

This photo was taken on the longest bridge that you must cross to get to Key West. It is called the 7 Mile Bridge. The first bridge, which you see here, was constructed by Henry Flagler and was just a little over 1 lane wide! That bridge is not in use now as they built a new bridge to handle the traffic. I always find this bridge amusing as I have watched this tree grow over the years on that old bridge with no dirt!

Another stop we always make on the way in is Baby's Coffee. Mike is the coffee drinker of the family and this place ships their coffee all over the world! Baby's is the southernmost coffee roaster in the U.S. They roast several different types of coffee and we buy it as a whole bean. It's great to grind up those beans for a fresh cup every morning. The aroma is awesome!

This is a photo of a house that is about half way down the Keys. It is hard to see the house due to the palm trees, but it looks like it would be a really nice place to live!

The trip up north was wonderful and I especially loved the Farmers Market. I already miss Lucy and Eugene from Boulder Belt Eco Farm's array of fresh organic veggies, especially those "Fairytale" eggplants that I showed you last week. But, Hey it's good to be back home again! (Wasn't that a line in a song by John Denver!)

Cheers!

Back In Key West

Hello to all of my blogging friends! The drive was LONG, but we are back home in Key West. I do not have much info today, as I am having trouble staying on line. Technical difficulty, one moment please! So I plan on being back with you all soon. In fact, just got home from the grocery store and a major wine stop. So food and wine tasting will begin tonight about 7. Hopefully more for you tomorrow, if I can get the computer to cooperate!

Looking forward to catching up with everyone! I cannot believe I missed a whole week:(

Cheers till tomorrow!