Mother’s Day Dinner - Baked Stuffed Salmon

Making dinner for mom can be a challenge. She taught me how to cook when I was very young and since we have enjoyed many years of swapping tips, recipes and cooking together. With years of additional experience and having enjoyed meals in many destinations I have yet to get to, Mom has a broader palate than I do. Figuring out what to make that might offer something new as well as the enjoyment of a well prepared meal can be nerve wracking. But I take that challenge head on as often as I can. Cooking for others who appreciate the nuance of creating in the kitchen is one of life’s true joys for me.

Baked Stuffed Salmon is what I landed for the honor of making dinner for Mother’s Day. I waited until a few days ahead to announce my choice and was so happy to hear it was something she had never had. My challenge was clear. As I often do I searched around on the web for inspiration from what others had done before. If I could even stand on the shoulders of those “giants” for just a few minutes I knew I would feel good about the outcome. I took ingredients and preparation from several different recipes. The recipes that use a whole fish are intriguing and something that is on my list to try another time.

I complimented my main dish with a light version of Scalloped Potatoes and a sautéed asparagus with Garam Masala that has been making me happy of late.

Baked Stuffed Salmon

2 – 1 lb salmon filets, skins on (approx. the same size)
6-8 slices wheat bread, chopped
1 medium onion, chopped
2 tbsp capers, drained
2 Tbsp Basil, chopped
2 Tbsp Dill, chopped
2 Tbsp Parsley, chopped
¼ cup melted butter
¼ cup olive oil
Salt & pepper
1 lemon, for zest
Butchers twine
Water

Place the chopped bread in a large bowl, adding water 1 Tbsp at a time till it begins to moisten. Add the onion, capers, herbs and melted butter. Use additional water if necessary. The stuffing should be most, but not liquefied. Lay out one long strand of butcher’s wine that will run along the long side of the fish. Lay out 5 strands of butcher’s twine with about 1 inch between them over top. Exactly how long each is going to depend a lot on how thick your fish is and how much stuffing you make. More is better here. Place 1 salmon filet on an oiled surface, salt and pepper lightly. Place over top the twine. Zest lemon rind over the fish. Mound the stuffing up on the fish. Zest lemon rind over the stuffing. I squeezed some lemon juice over it for more zip and it did work well. Oil the outside of the second filet and place it on top. First tie off the 5 strands of twine, then finishing with the longest and last one. Place the stuffed salmon a foil line baking pan. Add any remaining stuffing over the fish and garnish with a few lemon slices. Bake until the fish flakes and the internal temperature is at least 125 and likely a bit higher to taste. We cooked it about 40 minutes or so and then began taking the temp and it was done not longer after.

I did pair several wines with dinner, including a pre-dinner aperitif of some of my homemade 2010 wild Concord rose. Mom liked that one the best and I left her the bottle to finish over the remainder of her leisurely weekend in VT. I wrote about my wine pairings for The Unreserved earlier in the week with the title “Pinot, but not Noir”. I used a Pinot Blanc and a Pinot Gris from two different parts of the wine world and had good experiences with both. The King Estate Pinot Gris is especially good with salmon, something we found last year when we were visiting the area. We are so excited to be going back, and this time we will be visiting King Estate with local friends.

For dessert I recreated a great closer that Francoise served at our recent trip to Montreal, sorbet with fresh fruit. I used a lemon sorbet from Hagen Daas with fresh cut strawberries that were tossed with a little lime juice and sugar.

With dessert I served a mixed drink from the March/April 2011 issue of Imbibe magazine, the Cheerwine Cocktail #1. Cheerwine is a cherry flavored soda that hails from NC which my parents found for me on their trip back up the East Coast in March. With some gin, lime and over ice the soda really shined. I can see why there is a faithful consumer base for it.

I pretty much figure this challenge worked out splendidly and as good as it could have. We all did enjoy the meal and I heard the leftovers were securely eaten.

Cheers!

Jason

Guest Post - Cassoulet From A Busy Mom

A special guest post today from our college friend Jen. She shares a recipe for cassoulet that works for the busy family. Something everyone might learn a few things from.

I first met Margot and later Jason back in the days of dinning halls, take-out food, and cheap drinks. Ahh college! My how our food and beverage worlds have changed! I was very honored when recently these same dear friends asked me to guest post on a topic I know very well, food and the busy mom.

First off I feel I should explain my culinary point of view, the one of the busy mom. Sorry if that sounds too "The Next Food Network Star" (I love that show btw! Did you guys see the finale?!). Anyway, I grew up having nightly family dinners with a mom who cooks and bakes like nobody's business. My family owns restaurants and I have done every job imaginable from the front of the house to the back. I read cookbooks like some people read the latest Oprah Book Club selection. And as a child I was the pickiest of eaters. Since becoming a mom to my twins over four years ago I think I've lost count as to how many times I've apologized to my parents for my childhood dinnertime theatrics! All of this has played some part in influencing my culinary point of view.

As a parent I am a firm believer that my husband (who by the way cooks too!)and I are not short order cooks. We make one meal and the kids eat what we prepare. Sure we have nights where there are protests, it's not perfect. We only ask that they try one bite of each item on their plate. And there have been nights when someone has refused dinner and gone to bed hungry. And you know what? It wasn't the end of the world.

Okay now on to the food! The dish that I have selected to share with all of you for a weeknight family dinner is quintessentially French, a cassoulet. I know you just read the word FRENCH and you are now rolling your eyes like how easy is this going to be? Won't it have to cook for hours? Hold on before you wave your white dish towel and surrender to the drive-thru window for another family meal... keep reading. Over the years I have adapted a version of this traditional slow cooking bean stew from a recipe in Rachael Ray's very first cookbook, 30 Minute Meals. Cassoulet is common in the south of France and incorporates meat, white beans, herbs and other vegetables.

Quick Cassoulet

3 skinless, boneless chicken breasts
2 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil
4 sweet sausages
2 carrots peeled and diced
1 celery stalk peeled and diced
1 small onion peeled and diced
2 cloves of minced garlic
1/2 cup of dry white wine (ask Jason for recommendations here)
1 can (15 oz.) cannelini beans, rinsed
7 sprigs of fresh thyme - strip the leaves
1 bay leaf
Salt and pepper to taste
1 can (14 oz) diced tomatoes
1 can (14 oz.) of chicken broth

Dice chicken into bite size pieces. Heat a deep pot or skillet on medium high heat with 1 tablespoon of olive oil. Add the whole sausages and diced chicken to your pot. Brown for 5 minutes then remove chicken and sausages from the pan. Add a second tablespoon of olive oil to the pan. Now add to the pan carrots, celery, and onion and cook for 5 minutes. Add garlic and then add the wine to the pan. Scrap up all the good "bits" on the bottom of the pan. Once you have done this now you can add the beans, thyme, bay leaf, salt & pepper, diced tomatoes and chicken broth. Slice the sausages into bite sized pieces and return them to the pot along with the chicken to finish cooking. Bring the pot to a boil then reduce to a simmer for 10 minutes. Discard bay leaf.

Garlic Croutons

1 French baguette
1/3 cup of extra virgin olive oil
2 cloves of garlic, smashed

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Slice 1 whole baguette and place the rounds on a cookie sheet. Bake until toasted about 7 minutes. Combine olive oil and 2 smashed garlic cloves and heat them either in the microwave from 45 seconds or on the stovetop for a minute. Then baste both sides of the bread rounds with the garlic infused oil. Serve the bread with the cassoulet.

Mom’s tips: I like to rinse my canned beans before I add them to the pot. I also prefer to use canned tomatoes with no added salt so I can control the salt in my dishes. I love Kitchen Basics stocks, flavorful and not filled with MSG and other things that I can't pronounce or spell. The leftovers for this dish are amazing since everything has had a chance to sit together for a spell. We love to place a few of the garlic croutons in a bowl and then heap the cassoulet over them. The juices from the cassoulet seep into the bread and well it's really delicious!

My husband and I spent our honeymoon traveling the French countryside and now as busy parents we rarely get out for a date night. With this recipe I can easily recreate a delicious French meal that can take me back to that moment in time before kids. Ahh! Seriously people a classic French dish on the table in 30 minutes! Who needs a bag of food from the drive-thru window now?

Enjoy,

Jen

Mother's Day at Dalice Elizabeth Winery

For Mother's Day my family (wife, me, sister-in-law, father, mother, brother) converged on the Dalice Elizabeth Winery in Preston, CT. They are open daily for wine tastings, but check their web site at http://www.daliceelizabeth.com/ for specifics before you go.

I was fortunate enough to talk with several of the winery's staff and get some history on the winery that will help explain my impressions of their wines. The wine-making operation has been ongoing for 11 years, but up until October of 2009 it was exclusively a wine-making school, aka ferment-on-premises operation, where groups of people contracted to make wine by the barrel on site and then take it home when it was complete. Last October they officially opened for retail sale, on-site tastings and private wine dinners.

While they train their adolescent Chardonnay vines all grapes for their wines are sourced from California and Washington. They expect to have site grown wines in 3-5 years. Anyone who has ever ventured into wine grape growing knows how much patience is required here.

They offer a range of wines including Chardonnay, Sangiovese, Syrah, Zinfandel and a Chardonnay Ice Wine. They also make a Cabernet Franc, but it has sold completely out and won't be available again until next year.

We tasted all of the available wines. A big thank you to Blaze Faillaci for finding an open bottle of the ice wine for us to try some of. It was indeed excellent. John Wilcox got us going with the Chardonnay and explained that they make both an oaked and a stainless steel style. He indicated that we were tasting the oaked version which was aged for six months in American oak. The aroma of this wine was very subtle and I couldn't really define it. The flavors spoke of melon and grapefruit for me, which Margot agreed with. The oak was very slight resulting in a refreshing taste and a smooth, medium finish. We ended up buying a bottle of this to share at the end of our tasting.

Having arrived on Mother's Day I think we might have been interested in more than the winery might have been planning to do for guests, but upon asking if we could get a cheese plate for six it was promptly served and was of excellent quality. The service gets high marks and for a young operation that is a wonderful thing to be able to do. The cheese plate included Parmigianino/Reggiano, blue, goat and cheddar cheeses accompanied by black and green olives, hot peppers, marinated tomatoes, a fresh tomato & green onion salsa and of course crackers. The cheddar cheese intrigued me right off the bat. I knew I had had the specific variety before, but couldn't remember where. As I write this I think it is a Beemster which hails from Holland. I never did ask.

The next wine John served us was the Sangiovese. Fans of Italian wines will know this is a the grape in Chianti as well as one part of the "Super-Tuscan" style wines. The wine was dry and had wood on the nose. I didn't ponder the flavors as I was busy talking and enjoying time with Mom. We were also celebrating my birthday (from the end of April) and my mother had purchased me a Harney's tea sampler containing four Oolong teas and a beautiful white tea pot. I was explaining how I came to know of Oolong tea and how I was going to explore it as part of my sommelier training. Back to the wines.

Blaze took over from here and served us the Syrah next. This wine was lighter than some Syrah's I have had and definitely was not the spicy, super-fruity Shiraz typical of Australia. That should not be taken as anything bad at all. For the sake of an analogy lets take Pinot Noir. Classic French Burgundy is made from this grape and is often a focused and refined example of what you can do with the grape. On the other hand you can get Pinot Noir from California and Washington states that is fruit-fotward, super earthy and full bodied. These are two different wines each with their own merits. I was recovering from eating a hot pepper so I can't say anything about the flavors of this wine. The lightness of it was echoed from around the table so I knew that much was true.

I did find that the Sangiovese and Chardonnay both went well with the cheese and olive selections. I don't think anyone else was specifically considering the pairings so I didn't talk about it much. The goat cheese was very creamy and smooth which was very nice indeed.

The next wine was the Old Vine Zinfandel from grapes sourced from Mendcino, California. From the very first sip I found this wine to have some perceptible sweetness, it made me think of my own Cabernet blend from 2008, an asset for sure. The wine was oaky with dark cherry and plum flavors. Margot also suggested blackberries. The tannins were well balanced and clean, and the finish was smooth. There were hints of hotness, but it didn't linger. This was my favorite wine of the day.

Blaze appeared with a partial bottle of the Chardonnay Ice Wine and all six of us got a small taste. I had never had one of these from the Chardonnay grape and had asserted the flavors might not be bent toward the apricot, peach and honey flavors of the Vidal ice wines I have enjoyed. There were aromas of honey and peach, but the flavors were more of orange and flowers with the honey behind them. With plenty of sweetness this wine could be savored by itself or with a flaky pie or tart containing apples and spice.

Taking the optimistic side of the local wine business I would expect that in the coming years the Dalice Elizabeth Winery will continue to find success. Once the vines on-site start producing they might be able to infuse a sense of place into their wines. Preston, despite being up the road from Foxwoods, is a rural area with farms and lot of trees. With ponds and lakes on, and adjacent to, the property the place is charming. As it is for the other New England wineries I have visited what you can grow locally offers some constraints, but with a sense of place, good service and pride in the craft the results can be very enjoyable.

All the wines are available for retail sale. The Chardonnay goes for $29, the ice wine for $55 for a split. The other wines are similar in price to the Chard.

We also got started on the 2010 Passport to Connecticut Farm Wineries program. I was familiar with this program from 2009. If you visit and get your passport stamped at 16 or more of the 30 participating wineries by November 7th you can be entered to win one of several resort trips to Spain. More information can be found at http://pressnewengland.com/blog/?p=604 and http://www.ct.gov/doag/cwp/view.asp?a=3260&q=399108.

Cheers!

Jason