Gourmet-to-Go -- new @ FIndlay Mkt

Just opened this weekend: Fresh Table, a chef-owned gourmet-to-go business inside Findlay Market.
I tried several dishes, which graced our table on Saturday night, and everything was delicious.
We loved the panko-crusted boneless chicken breast, which I reheated in a warm oven for about 10 minutes -- it was like having fried chicken without the guilt. My kind of entree!
Not as guiltless but at least as yummy was the savory bread pudding, with ingredients that included leeks (a magic ingredient in my book) and a touch of cream. It was so tasty, I think we might have to get some for a holiday dinner for company!
Fresh Table also had some vegan offerings, including mashed potatoes made with soy cream and soy butter, and macaroons.
I'll be back!!

My Saturday treat

For the past couple of months I've been having breakfast at Findlay Market on Saturdays. Instead of my usual super-healthy home breakfast of oatmeal, cold cereal or whole wheat toast -- always with plenty of fruit and a pot of loose-leaf black tea, I bring some fruit with me and head to the market after an early morning exercise walk.
I buy coffee from either the Bean Haus or Skirtz & Johnston, and then select a breakfast pastry treat from among many wonderful choices.
Here are photos of some of those possibilities. The crepes from Taste of Belgium (bottom photo) might be the healthiest choice, but I might also go for one of the scones, croissants or Danish pastries offered by the other vendors.
It's quite a treat and a break from the ordinary!

Comfort food that's healthy: beef stew (really!)

Here's how to make a healthier version of a delicious like-mom-made standby. Use a small amount of high quality beef, add lots of flavorful veggies in addition to the standard carrots and taters, season creatively, throw in a bit of hearty red wine with the beef stock/broth and voila! Comfort food without the guilt.

The veggies that make the difference are leeks and dried porcini mushrooms (with their soaking liquid). Buy grass fed or Angus stew beef if you can get it. Wine that works includes zinfandel, carbernet sauvignon or (what I had on hand) shiraz/syrah. Serve the same wine at table along with a green salad and some crusty (preferably whole grain) bread.

Recipe: Healthier Beef Stew
(Serves 4)

Ingredients:

• 8 ounces stew beef in bite-size chunks
• 3 T canola oil
• 2 leeks, rinsed well, white and light green parts only, cut in half lengthwise and thinly sliced
• 3 large cloves garlic, peeled and minced
• 1 lb new potatoes (red or white), cut into bite-size chunks
• 3 large carrots, cut into bite-size chunks
• 1 large onion, peeled and cut into bite-size chunks (optional)
• 12 ounces sliced mushrooms
• 1 cup dried porcini mushrooms, soaked in 2 cups hot water for 15 minutes, drained and chopped
• 2 T flour
• Mushroom soaking liquid, strained to remove sand from mushrooms, about 1 1/2 cups
• 1/2 cup dry red wine
• 3 cups beef stock or beef broth
• Salt and black pepper, to taste
• 1 T dried thyme
• 2 large bay leaves

Instructions:

1. Heat oil in your largest saucepan or a Dutch oven over medium high heat. When oil begins to sizzle, add beef and cook, stirring, until beef begins to brown. Remove with a slotted spoon to a plate or bowl and keep nearby.
2. Add leeks and garlic to pot, stirring for 1-2 minutes until they begin to soften. Stir in remaining vegetables (potatoes through porcini mushrooms) and cook, stirring occasionally, until all the vegetables begin to heat up and start to cook, about 3-4 minutes.
3. Sprinkle flour over the veggies, stir well, and cook for another 2 minutes.
4. Return beef to the pot.
5. Add liquids (mushroom soaking liquid, wine and stock/broth), stirring well.
6. Cover the pot and bring the mixture to a low boil.
7. Remove cover, reduce heat to medium and add thyme, salt, pepper and the bay leaves.
8. Cook for another 30 minutes or until carrots and potatoes are your desired level of tenderness by testing with the point of a knife.
9. Discard the bay leaves before serving.

Great greens for fall

Even though summer produce is (sadly) going, going and gone, certain really healthy and yummy crops are heading into their own peak season. I'm thinking today about greens of all kinds, including kale, broccoli and spinach. While they may not have as many fans as do tomatoes or corn, these sometimes-bitter greens could not be healthier -- and CAN be made to taste amazingly delicious.

If you need to be persuaded about the health profile of greens, here's an excerpt from a nutritionist who writes for Epicurious:

• Go Green to Fight Cancer (by Megan Steintrager)
  

"Numerous scientific studies indicate that eating cruciferous vegetables—including kale, Brussels sprouts, broccoli, and collard greens— can block carcinogens. Leafy greens such as spinach and Swiss chard are vitamin-rich and brimming with phytonutrients, including flavonoids and carotenoids, that are linked to a host of health benefits. "Researchers have identified at least 13 different flavonoid compounds in spinach that function as antioxidants and as anticancer agents," George Mateljan writes in his book The World's Healthiest Food. Mateljan cites research suggesting that spinach can fight against breast, skin, stomach, and prostate cancers."

Over the next few weeks, I'll post occasional recipes based on spinach, kale and other cruciferous veggies. Here's hoping you'll enjoy some of them!

Recipe: Kale and Sweet Potato with Mustard-crusted Tofu
Serves 4

Ingredients:

• 1 14-ounce package firm tofu
• 1/2 cup whole grain Dijon mustard

4 tablespoons vegetable oil, divided

• 1/2 medium onion, sliced
• 1 tablespoon minced peeled fresh ginger
• 1 bunch kale, stem cut from each leaf, leaves thinly sliced crosswise (about 8 cups)
• 1 small red-skinned sweet potato (about 8 ounces), peeled, halved lengthwise, thinly sliced crosswise
• 2 tablespoons fresh lime juice

Instructions:

Cut tofu into eight 1/2-inch-thick slices. Arrange on paper towels; drain 10 minutes. Spread both sides of each slice with mustard.

Heat 2 tablespoons oil in large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add onion and ginger; sauté 1 minute. Add kale, sweet potato, and lime juice. Cover, reduce heat to low, and cook until potato is tender and kale is wilted, about 12 minutes.

Meanwhile, heat remaining 2 tablespoons oil in another large nonstick skillet over medium heat. Add tofu; cover and cook until heated through and crisp, about 2 minutes per side (some mustard seeds may fall off tofu).

Arrange kale and sweet potato mixture on plate. Overlap tofu slices atop vegetables and serve.

Best American Wines Over $20

These bottles definitely take us out of the everyday wine experience, at least for my budget. And while some are not too pricey -- the zin for $32 or the sauvignon blanc for $30 -- others I am sure will never pass my lips.

Nonetheless, as a companion posting to my Best American Wines Under $20 (below), it seems appropriate to give the complete picture of these 2010 Food & Wine awards. Unlike the earlier, less expensive list, if you want to try any of the higher-priced winners, you'll probably have to shop online or in a very well stocked store.




Whites

Sauvignon Blanc

2009 Merry Edwards ($30)
One of California's surest hands with pinot noir, Edwards also makes this perfumed, arresting Sauvignon. Assembled from several Russian River Valley vineyards—some planted to the aromatic Musqué clone—the wine combines tangerine and peach with Musqué's hard-to-define, not-quite-honeysuckle aroma.

Chardonnay

2007 Hanzell ($70)
One of California's first post-Prohibition chardonnay producers, Sonoma's Hanzell has long gone its own way, preferring an Old World sense of proportion over showy richness. That balance is epitomized in its long-aging Chardonnays, like this creamy, floral bottling from talented winemaker Michael McNeill.

Sparkling

2006 Schramsberg Blanc de Blancs ($36)
This all-Chardonnay bottling was the Davies family's original sparkler back in 1965; Richard Nixon served it on his 1972 trip to China. For the 2006 vintage, the wine was aged in the bottle for two years on its lees (spent yeasts), giving complexity to its flavors of yellow apple, pear and melon.

Reds

Pinot Noir

2008 Brewer-Clifton, Mount Carmel ($63)
There are easier places to grow grapes than this steep, ocean-cooled vineyard in Santa Barbara County, but Steve Clifton (also of Palmina) and Greg Brewer (Melville) started farming it themselves in 2004 anyway. Their 2008, an opulent Pinot with floral berry notes, makes it clear their work was worth it.

Merlot

2007 Pepper Bridge ($50)
In the excellent 2007 Washington vintage, Swiss-born winemaker Jean-François Pellet produced this cellar-worthy Merlot by combining fruit from the winery's two estate vineyards in the Walla Walla Valley—Pepper Bridge and Seven Hills.

Zinfandel

2007 A. Rafanelli ($32)
Because it sells exclusively from the winery rather than stores, this small, family-run Sonoma operation isn't broadly known except to Zinfandel lovers. Winemaker Rashell Rafanelli-Fehlman holds to the family style here—bright, lifted and juicy.

Syrah

2006 Qupé, Bien Nacido Hillside Estate ($40)
This wine, from the chilly 2006 vintage, suggests so. Bob Lindquist is one of the greatest interpreters of Syrah from the famed Bien Nacido Vineyard, and his winemaking shows the grape's full potential.

Cabernet Sauvignon

2007 Buccella ($150)
Overseen by Chris Justin and consultant Celia Welch (F&W's Winemaker of the Year in 2008), Buccella has swiftly become a top Napa Cabernet producer. The great 2007 vintage played to Buccella's strengths, resulting in a cassis-inflected wine of extraordinary polish.

Bordeaux-Style Blend

2007 Continuum ($140)
Robert Mondavi's children Tim and Marcia have moved on after the sale of the family winery. Their Cab-Sauv–based, gorgeously fragrant red comes from Pritchard Hill and Oakville vineyards, two of Napa Valley's most sought-after Cabernet locations.

Courtesy Food & Wine, copy by Richard Nalley

Best American Wines Under $20

Here's a list of affordable, delicious wines that recently won acclaim from Food & Wine magazine. I've tried and enjoyed several of them -- the Honig, the Elk Cove and the Columbia Crest, for instance, and will seek out the others.
More good news: they should be widely available in almost any large metro area in the U.S.

Whites

Sauvignon Blanc

2008 Honig ($16)
Winemaker Kristin Belair innovates with different winemaking methods on different parcels of grapes, allowing her, for instance, to emphasize the grapefruity character of a specific lot. The Napa winery itself is innovative, too: All energy needed for production, cooling and bottling is solar-generated.

Chardonnay

2008 Mount Eden Vineyards Wolff Vineyard ($20)
In 2008, bad weather in California's Edna Valley drastically cut the amount of fruit from Wolff Vineyard but packed flavor into the grapes. Jeffrey Patterson makes this wine exactly the same way he makes Mount Eden's pricier estate Chardonnays, producing a white with vivid flavors of pear, peach and lime.

Pinot Gris

2008 Elk Cove ($19)
Elk Cove benefited from the fine 2008 vintage in Oregon's Willamette Valley, where it's been producing top Pinot Noir and Pinot Gris since the 1970s. A cool summer and sunny fall meant ideal grapes, and winemaker Adam Campbell accented their brightness by fermenting this lemon-zesty wine in stainless steel tanks.

Reds

Pinot Noir

2008 Wallace Brook ($19)
This Oregon red offers the lively, aromatic appeal of Willamette Valley Pinot Noirs costing twice as much. An affordable secondary brand made by the Willamette Valley's Adelsheim Vineyard, one of the pioneering producers of Oregon Pinot Noir, this Wallace Brook shows the ripeness of the great 2008 vintage.

Merlot

2007 Columbia Crest H3 ($15)
This widely available Merlot comes from Washington's Horse Heaven Hills (hence H3), a promising region for complex, full-bodied reds. Its ripe blackberry fruit keeps some needed restraint thanks to the skill of winemaker Ray Einberger.

Zinfandel

2007 Four Vines, Old Vine Cuvée ($14)
Founder-winemaker Christian Tietje scoured vineyards from California's top Zinfandel counties—from Amador to Paso Robles—to assemble the fruit for this streamlined red. It's sumptuous in style, full of blackberry and blueberry fruit.

Syrah

2008 Red Car, Boxcar ($20)
Winemaker Carroll Kemp started Red Car back in 2000 in his Los Angeles driveway with two barrels of Syrah. His output has grown since then, but Syrah remains the focus, as in this highly polished red's array of classic, cool-climate Syrah flavors: plum, dark berries and black pepper.

Cabernet Sauvignon

2007 Louis M. Martini, Sonoma County ($17)
Michael Martini's winemaking team used vineyards around the county for a straightforward red that also has considerable finesse. That deft touch isn't surprising, as Michael himself has been making wine for more than 30 years, and his family for more than 100.

Courtesy Food & Wine Magazine, by Richard Nalley

Sonoma -- but without wine (for now)

There's a new restaurant on Oakley Square called Sonoma American and Mediterranean Grill -- where Kona Bistro used to be.
The owner is Israeli and added the "American" to his fare because he thought a lot of people wouldn't want to try the Greek/Middle Eastern dishes. But in their 10 days or so of business thus far, he says that 85% of the orders have been from the Med sections of the menu.
My friend and I went for lunch on Friday. There weren't many other tables filled but with the disruptive road construction going on in that section of Oakley, it's no wonder.
Susan ordered "the best lentil soup I've ever had" and a "scrumptious" house salad. She lives nearby and loves Mediterranean food, so I'm pretty sure she and her husband will be back.
My falafel wrap was only OK.
Ryan (the owner) says the real house specialty is their kebobs, so that's definitely what I'd try upon returning. The type of cuisine definitely has a good health profile, and especially for the neighborhood, it should be a good option.
Right now they only have a hard-liquor license. Until they can get a beer/wine license, they're letting people bring their own wine for a minimal $5 corkage fee. (I did notice that they have nice glassware behind the bar.)