Another week of summer school is down, thank god! I’m tired. I volunteered to help out “the wife” this weekend at her winery’s wine club pick-up party. Let me tell you, I have the best of both worlds, that of a wine consumer and living on the fringe of being “in the industry.” I was recruited to do some pouring, help with set-up, and general support of the party. Here’s where it gets cool. The party included a cooking demonstration with Chef Mateo Granados;
and wine tasting seminar with Sonoma-Cutrer’s new winemaker Mick Shroeter.
The wine seminar was a side-by-side tasting of three of Sonoma-Cutrer’s 1999 Vintage Chardonnays, The Founder’s Reserve, The Cutrer, and Russian River Ranches.
So this won’t be a post with anything I’ve cooked (Yet!) It will be a gratuitous plug for the Sonoma-Cutrer winery and wine club, as well as for Chef Mateo and his catering business.
Chef Mateo’s focus is on Yucatan cuisine utilizing fresh, local, sustainably and organic or bio-dynamically farmed produce and meat. Let me just tell you, It is amazing! In addition to catering, Chef Mateo has a mobile restaurant that sets up in random spots around Sonoma County (mostly in the Healdsburg area). Here’s a great post from Heather Irwin (Bite Club Eats) on some of the latest gossip on Chef Mateo’s Mobile restaurant. (http://www.biteclubeats.com/2010/06/mateo-on-the-move-again.html)
So Today’s menu included four great dishes, each paired with one of Sonoma-Cutrer’s awesome wines.
1. Tacones, Olive oil Guacamole with Carne Asada – Paired with “The Cutrer”
2. Papadzules, an Egg Stuffed Tortillas with Pumpkin seed and epazote sauce – Paired with “Founder’s Reserve”
3. Ceviche curado with chicharone – Paired with “Russian River Ranches”
4. Empenadas stuffed with fingerling potato and fava – Paired with “Les Pierres”
The cooking demonstration covered the Ceviche Curado and Papadzules. Chef Mateo is really into cooking with what’s in season. He said he would normally use some tomato with the ceviche but they are not currently in season so he used rhubarb to add some tartness instead.
Here’s the recipe courtesy of Chef Mateo Granados.
Cured Bolinas halibut, chicarrones, & market greens—severs 4 people
Ingredients:
1 lb. halibut or your favorite white fish
5 Meyer lemons
¼ lb. pork back fat
1 bunch radishes
½ lb. curly cress or watercress
Good quality olive oil
Sea salt
Cure halibut:
-on a sheet pan place a layer of plastic to coat the bottom of the pan
-thinly slice fish
-add the juice of the 5 Meyer lemons
-cure 45 min. at room temperature
Chicarrones:
-dice pork fat into 2 inch dice
-generously salt the diced pork and let stand for 10 min.
-slowly render pork until crispy
-remove to cool
Market Salad:
-shave radishes
-pick cress
-mix together in a small bowl with a drizzle of olive oil and sea salt to taste.
Plate:
-arrange 4-5 slices of cured fish (do not dry) on a 10” plate
-garnish with market salad
-sprinkle chicarrone for texture
The food and wine pairings were all fantastic and it was fun to hang out with some wine club members, drink some great wines and play some croquette.
I’m kind of partial, but I have to say that being a wine club member over at Sonoma-Cutrer actually has some pretty serious benefits. This event was no cost to the wine club members! I highly recommend checking out this club, they do events across the US to accommodate their non-norcal members, so even if you don’t live in wine country you can enjoy the benefits of membership.
Well, I’m sorry I didn’t provide you a “Norcal Wingman” prepared Not Bad, hopefully this will be a viable substitute. The ceviche is an awesome warm summer day dish, it’s cool and refreshing especially when paired with a great Chardonnay.
Cheers
Brian
Norcal Wingman 