During my research I found out that the secret of moist and tender shish kebab is to mix the ground meat with diced lamb-tail fat. I didn’t want to go that far – and used Crème Fraîche instead. It supported the rich flavors of lamb meat and was absolutely melting in our mouth!

Shish kebab with Eggplant Hash and Tzatziki Sauce

Ingredients:
1 pound of ground lamb
1 garlic clove, minced
2 tablespoon Crème Fraîche
4 large shallots – peeled, halved lengthwise, root ends trimmed but kept intact
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 tablespoon chopped parsley
1/2 roasted pepper (optional)

For eggplant hash:
1 small eggplant
1/2 finely chopped red onion
1 garlic clove diced
1 can of whole tomatoes
4 small bay leaves
4-5 whole allspice
1 teaspoon of crushed red pepper flakes (optional)
1/2 cup chopped parsley
1 cup of white wine
2 tablespoons olive oil
salt and pepper

For Tzatziki sauce:
1 Greek yogurt
3 scallions finely chopped
2/3 English cucumber – peeled, seeded and diced or grated (squeezed in hand for an excess liquid)
1 tbs lemon juice
1 tablespoon of champagne vinegar
2 garlic cloves diced
dill or fresh oregano (optional) – mix together

Start with eggplant hash – it needs to cook through to get the right texture. Slice your eggplant into thick slices, skin attached. Spread slices over paper towel and season with salt. Let it sweat for few minutes, than pat dry with paper towel. Chop into similar size cubes.

In large heavy skillet heat the oil and stir in chopped onion on medium heat. Cook for a minute and add garlic and red pepper flakes, stir and let cook for few seconds (be careful, garlic can quickly turn brown and bitter). Bring up the heat and add all eggplant cubes. Season with salt and pepper and mix to coat all eggplant pieces with oil.

Add white wine and stir. Let wine almost evaporate on high heat and add whole tomatoes with a juice, crushing them carefully with your hand or spatula. Add bay leaves and allspice and stir into mixture. Turn down the heat, cover the pan and let it simmer for at least 20 minutes, or until the eggplant is soft, on low heat. Finish with generous amount of chopped parsley.

In a medium bowl, gently mix the Crème Fraîche, seasoning, garlic, sliced roasted pepper and parsley into the ground lamb. Roll the mixture into similar size balls. Place all your meatballs on metal skewers and the onions together on separate one.

(I have done the mistake to mix it together – the meat took only few minutes to grill, and I ended up with undone onions, so trust me on this one.) Light a grill and let meatballs sit in room temperature for a few minutes, so the flavors can combine.

Grill kebabs over moderately high heat, turning once, until browned on the outside. depends on the size of your balls – but it only took about 3 minutes on each side and they were done. You don’t want to dry them through. Transfer to plates, and serve with eggplant hash and dipping Tzatziki sauce on the side. Enjoy!

Wine pairing suggestions:
I was just tasting a new Spanish red from Priorat when making this dish. It worked great with the rich taste of the lamb and spicy eggplant hash. Priorat wines are usually priced over $20.00 a bottle, but this one could be just a pleasant exception to the rule.

Bodegas La Cartuja is a modern, sexy blend of Garnacha, Mazuelo, Cabernet Sauvignon and Syrah that just received 90 points from R. Parker. It’s my pleasure to recommend it with this week’s dish.

Meat spread

Ingredients:

½ lb combined turkey and brisket meat
4 table spoons of mayonnaise
1 table spoon Dijon mustard
1 table spoon high quality olive oil
1 table spoon hot relish (optional)
1 stick leek, sliced and slowly sautéed
½ small onion, chopped, sauteed
3 cloves of garlic, mashed
Salt and pepper
Handful chopped parsley and oregano fresh herbs

First, I took out the food processor and cut all the meat to small cubes, while checking for bones or fat I didn’t want in my spread. Added mayo, mustard and relish, seasoned with salt and pepper. Instead of adding more mayo, and pulse the processor. It still looked dry (depends how much of the meat you use), so I drizzled the mixture with high quality extra virgin olive oil.

In a frying pan, on medium heat, I sauteed chopped onion and leek in a little bit of olive oil. When the leek is sauteed slowly, it became such a tasty ingredient – so I added a little bit of water and let it cook for few minutes, until soft. Seasoned with salt and set aside to cool.

I have chopped bunch of fresh herbs I have out in the back yard (in my wooden wine cases). I picked parsley and spicy oregano to add some bite to it. Added to to processor, I pulsed it until smooth and added the cooked leeks and onion. Seasoned with salt and pepper again, after tasting the mixture. It was almost perfect, but it was still missing something. Oh, garlic! Of course! 3 cloves of garlic smashed and pressed into the mix. I took another taste – and yes, that was it!

We had a delicious lunch and still have more for tomorrow. This was a good transformation of meat that would be kind of “boring” on its own.

One of those lucky finds, when for $8 you get a perfect Sangiovese to accompany your tortellini dinner.

IL CANNETO is made from a blend of various clones of Sangiovese, cultivated on the hills of Maremma. The hot and dry climate in the province of Grosseto, with a very low rainfall, results in limited yield. Therefore the Sangiovese here has the premium concentration of flavors and color.

The wine aged for 6 months in stainless steel tanks to preserve the freshness of the fruit.

The Montellassi winery makes a number of wines, red, white and rose – and I am looking forward to grab some other bottles of their portfolio the next time.

Tasting notes:

Bright, ruby color and fresh aroma of dark cherries. On the palate, this is medium body red with lively fruit, bright flavors. I like the fact that the wine has enough weight on its own to accommodate even heavier meals, although it’s not supported with oak.  An excellent value!!! I will definitely go back for more!

Pinot is some of the most difficult varieties to cultivate and transform into fine wine. This wine is truly hard to deal with. Compare to other grape varieties, Pinot Noir grapes are sensitive to almost everything.

Vines are sensitive to unstable weather, frost can kill it, it doesn’t like the wind, the certain soil, and it must be kept low yielding, in order to produce any quality wines. Back in the winery, it is still sensitive to a certain fermentation methods, it might not like the kind of yeast you used and being highly reflective of its terroir  – the different regions can produce completely different wines. In other words, this wine is demanding plenty of hard labor.

Pinot Noir’s thin skin also makes it easier for a number of different diseases, such as mildew, bunch rot or infection by leaf roll, to attack. All these “prospective problems” that winemaker has to deal with, makes a production of a fine Pinot Noir a very risky business. It is a challenge, literally.

All these risky factors also drive the prices of the final product up. Therefore, when I come across cheap Pinot Noir, I am more than suspicious.  Unless it comes from Burgundy. There, in the origin of  this noble black grape, I am willing to take a chance with an unknown wine. Simply because those French just know what they are doing.

So, I grabbed the bottle of 2011 D’Autrefois Pinot Noir without hesitation. Simply because I know that Pinot Noir from Burgundy tastes like Pinot Noir supposed to taste. And this one wasn’t different. Although, it only costs $10.99. Seriously.  Yet it didn’t lack any quality of the true Pinot Noir – light – to medium body, delicate, a delicious crisp cherry undertone in the taste, great freshness and acidity. An excellent match to my seared salmon and sauteed spinach.

It might be tough for some, who believe that Pinot Noir wines are fruity and full body. Very much like Beaujolais that is sometimes confused for Pinot Noir. Intentionally or not. Seriously, I had people asking me: “Just show me your biggest, fruitiest Pinot Noir.” Ouch. What do you say, when “customer is always right”.  No, these wines are none of the above. They are supposed to be “thin” as one of my customers once referred to a Pinot Noir I showed him, with an open  disappointment.

But back to D’Autrefois Pinot Noir 2011. Seriously. If you want a gem, and know what Pinot Noir is all about, this is an incredible deal. I just loved it and will buy it again.

See other wines from this winemaker:

• Volver
• Campos Reales
• Paso a Paso Verdejo

I was excited to find this new Jorge Ordoñez/Rafael Coñizares join venture (Venta Morales project), a new wine from La Mancha, called PALLAS.

When I saw its label, it brought back some memories. The memories of my visit to Span, region of La Mancha, and my first meeting with the winemaker Rafael Coñizares. He seemed to be very shy, soft spoken man, who didn’t like to talk about his wines much. Or, could it be that I didn’t speak Spanish and he didn’t hold a conversation in English? Either way, we both preferred to drink those wines rather than talking about them.

Rafael Coñizares

The label of this new, 100% Tempranillo wine, is full of stones. Just like the large river stones, an underlayment of unique La Mancha sandy soils, with lots of iron, clay and chalk. La Mancha, the largest wine region in the world, with around 474,000 acres of higher altitude land devoted to vine growing, is “nurturing” its vines with rough winds, cold winters and hot summer days, turning into cold nights.

Combine that with almost no rainfall, and Rafael’s devotion to keep vine’s yields very low – and you have the recipe for concentrated, deep colors and superb flavors in wine.

Tasting notes:

Although this wine was stainless steel fermented, and didn’t age in oak, it offers surprisingly dark, ruby, almost purple color. Lovely aroma of dark berries and perhaps a little dust of cocoa.

On the palate it was fresh, full of yummy fruit flavors, reminder of dark cherries, sweet and acidic blackcurrant from my mom’s garden, with a little spice of black pepper. When you got to drink a greatly made wine , without oak, it actually shows you the bare, clean, unmasked wine flavors in its best glory. I loved what my husband said about Pallas, when he took his first sip: this wine is cheerful!  Yes, it’s rich fruity flavors with silky tannins made our dinner cheerful event.

Incredible value wine for hard to believe $8.00.  I left my second bottle opened till next day, and almost liked the wine better than when I first opened it. Which is sometimes the case with some really expensive, big reds, when the wine is not “opened” enough yet. But it hardly happens with wine in this price range. Kudos to Jorge and Rafael for this one!!!

By the way, if you follow my blog for a while, you know that I am crazy about Spanish wines. Especially those that I can consider “house wine” based on their, more than reasonable, price. Jorge Ordoñez, my favorite Spanish wine importer, put his seal on many great, affordable wines from different parts of Spain. Its common denominator is the uncompromising quality, no matter what the price tag. You can imagine why I felt like a kid in the candy store, when I saw this shelf at Boca Raton’s Whole Foods. Wow, they have some wise wine manager there!

I thought of this delicious way of serving salmon one day, when expected friends over for dinner. I wanted to make something fancier than my usual, simply broiled salmon, seasoned with salt and pepper. I would usually make it in my favorite kitchen appliance in the world (toaster oven), and saute some fresh spinach on olive oil with little bit of sliced garlic. This time, with just a little added – I must say that the Béchamel sauce brought the dish to an entire new level. The sauce is the most difficult part of this recipe. But don’t get discouraged – it sounds more difficult than it really is. To prepare this dish took me less than half an hour.

Seared Salmon on the bed of Sautéed Spinach and Caper Béchamel Sauce

Ingredients:

4 portions of salmon (or how many you need)

1 bag of baby spinach, washed

2 cloves of garlic

1 and ½ cup of milk

1 carrot, peeled and finely sliced

1 small shallot, finely chopped

1 table spoon unsalted butter

2 table spoons flour

2 dried cloves

1 bay leaf

2 table spoons chopped fresh parsley

1 tablespoon capers (drained)

Salt and pepper

In a small pan heat up the butter and saute chopped onion and carrot, slightly seasoned with salt and pepper about 3-4 minutes, until soft. Add cloves, bay leaf and 1 spoon of green parsley and let saute for a minute with onions and carrots. Sprinkle with flour, slightly mix together and saute for another minute. Add milk and whisk together on low heat, until thickened.

Strain the ready sauce, taste for seasoning, and spice it up with the rest of fresh chopped parsley and drained capers.  Set aside.

In a heavy pan (or in the skillet) heat olive oil, and put seasoned salmon (really, just salt and pepper), skin side down on hot skillet. Cook without touching at least 3 minutes, until crisp. Carefully turn around and finish cooking – about 2 minutes more, depends on the thickness of your fish.

In the meantime, start another pan, olive oil, add washed spinach and start turning it around until it reduces into about half of the original amount. Add salt and pepper, thinly sliced  garlic and cook few minutes, just it softens.

Pour Béchamel sauce to the bottom of the plate, add a little bit of sauteed spinach over it and place the portion of salmon on top. I have put a slice of lemon on to each salmon and seared a large shrimp for each plate, just for decoration purposes. OK, that shrimp was delicious too.

I have paired this dish with Adelsheim Pinot Noir. I loved it. If you feel more comfortable with white, you can either choose oaky Chardonnay, that compliments the sauce with its creamy, bigger body texture – or crisp, un-oaked Chardonnay, or other white variety wine, that will cut through the creaminess of the dish. Grüner Veltliner anyone?

Madame Pompadour

Supposedly, over two hundred bottles of champagne were ordered by Madame Pompadour (Jeanne Antoinette Poisson), per year, every year.  It was also the official chief mistress of Louis XV, who once said that “Champagne is the only wine that makes a woman beautiful .“

I have already written several blogs about champagne and sparkling wines in previous years, and I would hate to repeat myself. Yet, here comes this time of the year again, when we, more than ever, consider what kind of bubbles should be on our table for the end of the year celebration. The New Year’s Eve and the sparkling wines are inevitably linked together for generations. The champagne means celebration, victory and joy. Unlike with any other wine – when there is any reason to celebrate, we usually reach for champagne.

So I decided to make a revision of my previous blogs  – and that’s why I also visited the website of Total Wine & More. Just to get inspired about the bubbles that I may have tasted previously and forget all about it. Well, Total Wine is not exaggerating when they proclaim being the biggest wine store here in Florida. They had listed “just” 483 sparkling wines or champagne! Hard to imagine not be able to select at least one bottle that would meet your personal requirements.

At the same time, such selection could be quite overwhelming even for somebody who has tasted many of sparkling wines on regular bases. To be honest, I never was a big fan of sparkling wines. That was true at least until I was introduced to some truly great, great vintage champagne wines, and started to understand the huge difference between poorly made bubbles, and some pretty amazing sparkling wines.

Yet, my budget hardly allows indulging on premium choices. Therefore I was always on the look for inexpensive, yet exquisite alternatives. This time I ignored champagne altogether, with just one exception.  Laurent Perrier Brut  Non Vintage is not as well-known as perhaps Veuve Clicquot or Dom Perignon, yet it is a superb, fine Champagne with a reasonable price tag.

My intention this year is to stay within $20 budget (plus minus few bucks).  And no, that doesn’t mean that I have tasted all the sparkling wines listed by Total wine & more website. That would have been a steep task to accomplish. I have selected those that I tasted, enjoyed and believed that they were great value for its price.

Here are my favorite choices for sparkling wines of the world in 2012:
(please note that the indicated prices can vary, depending on the retailer and/or state)

Spanish Cava (made in traditional method, just like Champagne, but from different grapes):

$   8 Segura Viudas Brut Reserva N/V (non vintage)
$   8 Freixenet Cordon Negro Brut
$ 12 Segura Viudas Aria Brut
$ 10 Segura Viudas Brut Rose N/V
$ 15 Marques de Gelida Brut
$ 20 Llopart Brut Rose N/V (aged 5 years)
$ 22 Segura Viudas Brut Reserva Heredad
$ 25 Llopart Leopardi Brut Reserva (aged 5 years)

Italian Prosecco (a classic, quality Italian sparkling wine):

$ 14 Adriana Adami “Garbel 13″ Prosecco N/V
$ 12 Mionetto Prosecco Brut N/V
$ 12 Zardetto prosecco
$ 16 Adriana Adami “Bosco Di Gica” Prosecco Brut N/V
$ 20 Adriana Adami “Vigneto Giardino” Prosecco
$ 25 Mionetto Sergio Rose
$ 30 Mionetto Sergio Extra Dry

French sparkling wines:

$   9 Veuve de Vernay
$ 12 St Reine Blanc de Blancs Brut
$ 18 Louis Bouillot Blanc de Noirs
$ 36 Laurent Perrier Brut N/V  (Champagne)

$ 20 Scharffenberger Brut   (California – formerly known as Pacific Echo)
$ 20 Huber Grüner Hugo Rose Sparkling  (Austria)

I hope that your New Year’s Eve celebration will be full of joy, laughter, dance, friends and, most importantly – that your glass will be full at all times!

Have a happy and healthy New Year everybody!

Starting at total of 57 wine related pictures received, you were casting your own vote for the best six pictures, chosen for the finale.

We were considering the following, when judging entries:

• The technical quality of the picture (colors, focus, sharpness)
• The unique idea
• The unique surroundings
• The best and funniest holiday atmosphere

From November 28^th, when the final six pictures were posted on my blog, till Sunday, December 2^nd at 8:00 PM, you all had a chance to vote for your favorite one, and you did!

As of Sunday evening, my blog has received a total of 113 votes! 52 of those votes came in for a picture F – stunning 46.2% of total votes. An author of this lovely picture, and the winner of Vera Wine Club’s photo contest: “Sip in style this Holiday season” is Mr. Gregory Tousignant  from Connecticut.

Picture F

Please accept my sincere congratulations!!!

The photo contest was sponsored by the one and only Wine Enthusiast Magazine – and the winner will receive the Wine Enthusiast pack of 12 U Tumblers Party pack, Cabernet/Merlot Wine Glasses, valued at $77.70.

Now we know that Gregory will definitely Sip in Style this Christmas!!! I will ship the price his way as soon as I receive it from our sponsor.

The closest runner up was the picture C of Mr. Jason Mangini. His picture received 35 votes which makes for 30.97% of total votes. Although I didn’t announce another price at the beginning, I have decided to dig in, and send him a Vera Wine Club’s own price for the second place. Jason will receive a wine decanter with the original wine decanter brush from me.

Picture C

Thank you all very much for participating in our fun holiday contest. If you sent your picture, or just submitted vote for someone, I really appreciate it. Without you the contest wouldn’t be so much fun! I will be happy to come up with another contest in the future again!

From the total of 57 wine related pictures received, the 3 person jury (me, my photographer husband and visiting artist friend from Prague) has selected six best pictures.

Now, I would like to ask you, my readers, to kindly select the winner of this photo contest. Please consider the quality of the picture, its creativity and originality, when making decision.

The only winner, who receives the most votes, an author of the best picture, will receive the contest’s price: Wine Enthusiast U Tumblers Party pack, Cabernet/Merlot size. He or she can then SIP IN THE STYLE already these holidays!

Every picture is marked with a letter. Please review all finalist’s pictures, and vote at the end of this page. I am looking forward to see who won your wine and fun loving heart!!!!

Here comes our finale selection of the best 6 pictures, in no particular order:

Picture A

Picture B

Picture C

Picture D

Picture E

Picture F

Now, that you have reviewed all the final pictures, please vote for the one you liked the most. Your vote will decide who wins this contest! You can vote till the end of this week – end of the voting is on Sunday, December 2nd, 2012 8pm.

After that, we count all the votes and announce the winner.  I very much appreciate your help!

We don’t accept any more votes after 8:00 PM Sunday, December 2nd, 2012. This photo contest was completed.

I don’t know about you, but I always wanted to own a set of these “stemless” wine glasses. For some reason we called them “tasting glasses” among fellow wine professionals.  At various wine tastings I have seen people swirling wine in them and never actually tried one myself. They just looked so cool! Now you can own set of this winning Wine Enthusiast U Tumblers Party pack, Cabernet/Merlot size, and for free! I have been offered one set for a lucky winner of our Holiday contest. No, I wouldn’t keep it for myself, although it’s tempting.  I excluded myself and my family members from the contest.

So, what do you have to do to get the chance to win twelve of those wine glasses? Not much. Dig in your picture files and submit your coolest, wine related, Holiday picture for the contest.

To submit your picture for the Sip for free contest:

1) The picture must be an original artwork of the contestant

2) The picture must be sent to: vera@verawineclub.com, with subject line: Sip in style

Send your picture in .JPEG format, uncompressed, no later than Wednesday, November 21^st , 2012 at 8:00 PM – an official deadline

3) Your picture must be accompanied with following information:

a) Your full name, your email and mailing address (this wouldn’t be published, but we need to record your correct address to send you the announcement and the price, if you win. We will absolutely not share your information with anyone.)

b) Please accompany your submission with following disclosure (copy, paste and print-sign your name to your email):

I hereby declare that this submitted picture is my original artwork and I have the right to use it freely. If there is more persons in my picture, they individually agree with publishing it. I further declare that I am at least 21 years old. I understand that if my picture is chosen for the final selection, I agree and gave permission to Vera Wine Club to publish my picture on “I love vino” wine blog and further on Vera Wine Club’s Facebook page for the final public voting. (In case you want us to include a copyright information with your picture, please note the name to be published).

Please, keep in mind that without this signed disclosure your picture will NOT be submitted for the contest.

How do we determine the winner:

The first selection will be done at Vera Wine Club – all submissions will be confirmed to the senders and will undergo extensive selection by 3-member commission.

What criteria will be judged:

• The technical quality of the picture (colors, focus, sharpness)
• The unique idea
• The unique surroundings
• The best and funniest holiday atmosphere

The final selection of six pictures will be published on our blog for the public vote. The picture that will receive the most votes from fellow wine lovers, will win the Wine Enthusiast pack of 12 U Tumblers Party pack, Cabernet/Merlot Wine Glasses, valued at $77.70.

I am looking forward to your cool picture and I wish everybody the best of luck!