Perrin Reserve, Cotes du Rhone 2007

Perrin Reserve, Cotes du Rhone 2007
$10
Dekalb Farmer's Market

Having always been a fan of the Rhone wines, especially their peppery layers and hints of flavors that earn tags like "wet earth" and "underbrush," I am always on the lookout for something both affordable and quaffable from the region. This means, of course, picking through bottles from southern Rhone vintages, mixing primarily grenache and syrah grapes. (Apparently in the northern Rhone, of the red grapes, only Syrah is planted.) The southern Rhone is of Mediterranean climate--arid and wind swept, with some worry about cold winds sweeping down the valley. In the past thirty years, the Rhone has become synonymous with "French red wine," (or so they say), and this means a lot of plonk comes out of the region. Of course, plonk is pretty good these days. Just not that interesting.

So I'm not sure where to place this one. It is fruity and light. Cherry blossoms linger on the tongue. This is balanced with white peppercorn, and both flavors fade into a kind of grassy slope. I would give it a strong rating for a $10 wine. I find it more drinkable than fruit forward California wines at the same price point. In fact, I opened a bottle of this after starting with a Hahn Cabernet, which was a typical Hahn offering: flawless; complex; and it cold cocks you. One glass only, please. I could drink the Perrin Reserve all day. While working in the garden. It's a little short up against a steak, but it wasn't completely destroyed by the tri tip roast we made last night.

Rate it: buy again.

brown lentils with cinammon and cumin seeds

This is a warm and fragrant dish, easy to prepare on a Sunday afternoon and will last most of the week for hot lunches. It balances spices and has a mild heat to it. The finish is long and sits on the palate.

For starters:

• wash 2 cups brown lentils, add to 3 quart pot with 5 cups water
• bring to boil, hold for 10-15 minutes
• reduce heat to medium--or whatever will give a rolling simmer--and cook an additional 20-30 minutes, gauging when the lentils are soft and creamy.
• add 1/2 cup chopped fresh cilantro during last five minutes of cooking
  

For finishers:

• heat 3 tbsp of peanut oil on high heat
• add 2 tsp of cumin seeds, let them sizzle for one minute
• add 1/2 of a large onion (or 1 small one. or whatever)
• drop in 1 tbsp of butter after the onions soften
• sprinkle in 2 tsp of Indian curry powder
• .mix.
• dust with cinnamon, to taste.
• .mix.
• turn off heat

When the lentils are completely ready, mix in the finishing sauce. Let stand at least a few minutes. Then go to flavor country.

VARIATIONS TO TRY: I would like to try this with French green lentils. I have enough to choke a horse in the basement, so can give it a try. French green lentils are supposed to be the best, in terms of keeping their shape and texture throughout cooking.

UPDATE: the cooking times upstairs will produce a softer dish. I am still trying to master texture.

Tri Tip with fresh herbs

My first tri-tip of the grilling season was a mix of thrill and disappointment. While the overall product was quite good, many touches were missing.

Herb rub:

fresh rosemary (handful)
fresh thyme (handful)
cracked fresh pepper
olive oil

First off--too much rosemary and thyme, not enough pepper. Ratio was greatly skewed, and next time I will back off the rosemary and thyme. I prepped the steak by sprinkling it with a thin layer of GARLIC SALT. I followed it with sea salt. This works quite well.

the grill:

550 degrees. 2 minutes per side sear. (4 minutes)

it was on-and-off storming, and this affected my fire. I heated the brick oven up to 550, but put the grill on the pit a little too late. The grill itself wasn't hot enough for the meat, and the sear left something to be desired. On the one hand, the meat squeezed right up and the result was juicy. The crust, however, was weak. The thyme and rosemary remained soft and squishy. I think a hotter oven (600+) with a pre-heated grill will do better. Increasing sear time is more problematic, as the outer layer of skin can dry up, which is NOT the crust we want.

350-400 degrees. direct heat. circa 20 minutes.

I was paranoid about burning the meat, and removed it once to check temperature (at about 14 minutes total time). The internal temperature was about 100, if my weak thermometer is to be believed. I put it back on for another ten minutes, and pulled it even though the thermometer indicated a low temp. The result was medium rare, and more on the rare side of it, so no fears about burning the meat.

I would have preferred to throw on the plate setter and cook the meat on indirect at 400. The weather kept me from doing this.

Cashew Dal

Recipe: French Lentils With Cashews Time: About an hour

2 tablespoons butter or peanut oil

1 large yellow onion, chopped

1 tablespoon curry powder or garam masala

1/4 cup tomato paste

1 cup chopped cashews

1/2 cup dried French green (Le Puy) lentils, washed and picked over

Salt and freshly ground black pepper

1/2 cup yogurt for garnish

1/4 cup chopped parsley for garnish.

1. Put butter in a large pot over medium heat until it is melted and foamy (or shimmering if using oil). Add onion and cook, stirring occasionally, until soft and golden, about 5 minutes. Stir in spice blend and keep stirring for a few seconds, until it becomes fragrant. Add tomato paste and cook, stirring frequently, until it darkens, another couple of minutes.

2. Add cashews and stir to coat them in onion mixture. Cook and stir just long enough for them to warm a bit. Add lentils and enough water to cover by about an inch.

3. Bring to a boil, then turn heat down to medium-low so mixture bubbles gently. Cook, stirring until beans are soft, 20 to 30 minutes; add more water as needed to keep everything moist. When lentils are cooked to desired tenderness and mixture has thickened, stir in some salt and pepper, then taste and adjust seasoning. Serve, garnished with a dollop of yogurt and a little parsley.

Yield: 4 to 6 servings.

Steaks, with a (sage) rub

This rub does not excite, but it is workable:

dried thyme (whole)
dried rosemary (whole)
dried sage (powdered)
cracked pepper
coarse sea salt

I'm beginning to think that rubs add texture more than anything else, although the sage came through (bright and sweet) to counteract the thyme and pepper.

BIG GREEN EGG NOTES:

I'm having a gasket issue which I will fix up next weekend, and I think it led to the following problem. I let the grill get very hot. It ran for ten-fifteen minutes at 650 degrees. It allowed me to clean the grill (which really worked), and also put a nice sear on it. But when the grill surface is that hot, and the internal temperature of the egg is sitting at 650, 1.5 minutes on the sear blackens the meat. That wasn't the real rub, however. It was the cooking afterwards (5.5 minutes or so) at a slightly higher heat than normal, thanks to my gasket issues, that cooked the meat too much.

The meat also was allowed to sit for nearly ten minutes, which helped the juices to settle, and I'm sure it cooked during that time as well. I should cut the cooking time down to 4.5 to 5 minutes if the temperature stays up around 500 degrees.

simple dal

Here is a recipe attempted from the Minimalist's old column. The link includes many more good recipes, so is worth reading on its own.

recipe:

Recipe: Lentils With Curried Tarka Time: 45 minutes

1 cup dried brown lentils, washed and picked over

2 1/2 cups water, coconut milk or vegetable stock, more if needed

4 tablespoons butter or vegetable oil

1 cup chopped scallions

1 tablespoon lemon zest

1 tablespoon curry powder

Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Chopped fresh cilantro leaves.

1. In a medium saucepan, combine lentils and liquid and bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Turn heat down to medium-low so that mixture bubbles gently, cover partly and cook, stirring occasionally, until lentils are just tender, 20 to 30 minutes. Add liquid as necessary to keep them a little soupy.

2. Put butter in a skillet over medium heat until it is melted and foamy (or shimmering if using oil). Add scallions and lemon zest and cook, stirring frequently, until soft and fragrant, 3 to 5 minutes. Stir in the curry powder and cook and stir for another minute or so. Add a large pinch of salt, some pepper and the cilantro leaves. Cook mixture (the tarka) for just another 30 seconds or so, then turn off heat.

3. When lentils are cooked to desired tenderness, stir scallion mixture into the lentils. Dal should be moist but not soupy; if it is not, add more water and heat through. Taste and adjust seasoning and serve.

Yield: 4 servings.

In this attempt, I doubled the recipe and the cooking time (roughly). I also used 1/2 of a yellow union and some scallions. I added the curry powder late, and more salt. Good result! Lots of dal for the week.

Salmon on the Grill

Simplicity ought to be a virtue in grilling, at least when you want the flavor of the meat and the quality of its preparation to shine. As such, I am experimenting with a very simple method of grilling atlantic salmon fillets. The fillets are huge (two weighing nearly one pound each). They are also, unfortunately, unequally thawed. One is fine; the second is thawed enough to allow me to move forward, I believe.

I am putting them on tinfoil on the grill, and basting them with a lemon-butter-parsley-sea salt sauce. Roughly 1-2 tablespoons butter, quarter wedge of lemon, few sprigs of parsley.

I set up the Big Green Egg for indirect cooking, laid down a sheet of tinfoil, and stuck the salmon fillets on with the grill still heating up. It took approximately 5 minutes to hit 300-350 degrees. I'm having difficulty with heat on my grill right now. It's time for a serious cleaning.

Start cooking time at 6:00. By 6:05, hit 380. Shortly after, 400. Holding steady there. Pulled it off shortly after 6:20. The total cooking time was likely 25 minutes. Big Green Egg recipes said 18 minutes at 450, so we'll see how this stacks up.

UPDATE: the salmon was delicious. Not overcooked, but definitely on the medium side. Could have been a little less done. A nice presentation, too.