Cookistry

Do you remember the olden days, when Alexander Hamilton was some guy you learned about in history class, but you promptly forgot most of what you learned?

Now, he's everywhere. He's a historic superstar. Or a superstar of history.

The latest Hamilton-themed product is The Hamilton Cookbook by Laura Kumin. If the author's name if familiar, that's because she's the blogger at Mother Would Know.

The Hamilton Cookbook is both cookbook and history lesson. But rather than boring political history, this is food history. Well, okay, there's some political history, but I was more interested in the food. What did the Hamiltons eat, what cooking equipment did they have, and how did they cook it?

Turns out, some of the food from that time was a bit odd compared to today's tastes. Other food was very familiar. This book skips the recipes for lamb's tails and moves right along to foods that make more sense to our tastes, like apple pie, split pea soup, baked fish, and gingerbread cake.

And, to make our lives easier, the recipes are adapted to use modern equipment. That's a good thing, since I'm rather fond of all of my kitchen gadgets.

I picked this recipe to make since it's a good example of what you'll find in this book. And it's pretty darned tasty.

Syllabub is something that might sound vaguely familiar, but I'm pretty sure that most folks haven't made one. It's so simple, and the ingredients aren't difficult, so you can easily whip this up ahead of time and have it hanging out in the fridge, ready to serve. To adults only, of course.

This recipe says it serves 2, but I'd suggest making smaller portions. Perhaps divide by four since the heavy cream makes this pretty rich.

I also suggest tasting this for sweetness, since you've got both lemon juice and sugar, and those are tempering a wine that might be sweet or not.

This is the recipe as it appears in The Hamilton Cookbook:

Lemon Syllabub
Adapted from "To make Lemon Syllabubs a Second Way," Elizabeth Raffald, The Experienced English House-Keeper



Serves 2

This simple whipped syllabub is an elegant drink/dessert. Its creamy froth rises to the top of a glass, leaving a refreshing lemony wine on the bottom. Although it takes only minutes to prepare, allow several hours between preparation and serving so that the froth and liquid have time to separate. Use glasses wide enough to allow a spoon for eating the topping, which is similar to a lemon mousse. Select a white wine variety based on how sweet your want the syllabub to be. (Keep in mind that the topping resembles lemon mousse.) Using a dry white wine such as Sauvignon Blanc or Pinto Grigio will make the syllabub a bit tart, while a sweeter white, such as a Chenin Blanc or a Reisling will make the syllabub taste more like a sweet dessert.

Ingredients
1 lemon, cut in half, with rind grated from half and juice from one or both halves for a total of 1/4 cup juice
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 cup white wine
1 cup heavy cream

1. Rub the grated lemon rind into the sugar with your fingers until they are well combined. Mix the rind, sugar, lemon juice, and the wine.
2. Add the cream and whisk the mixture until it froths. Gently pour it into two glasses. Let them stand on a counter for about 2 hours, then refrigerate until serving. As the glasses sit, the froth will rise, leaving the lemony wine on the bottom of the glasses.

I received this book at no cost to me.

Seafood is ideal when you don't have a lot of time to cook. While shrimp isn't the cheapest thing at the store, frozen shrimp is great to have on hand. I buy it when it's on sale and stash it in the freezer for nights when I need a quick dinner.

This dish is not only quick to cook, you can also cook the tomato/vegetable mix ahead of time, and then reheat it and add the shrimp at the last second. Great for nights when you want to have dinner on the table a few minutes after you get home.

The Piment d'Espelette is a special type of paprika that comes from a specific area in France. It has a little bit of heat to it, but not a lot - it's certainly not like cayenne. If you don't have it, regular paprika is fine. Depending on your preference, you can use either sweet or sharp paprika.

You might notice that I used a cooking wine for this. I keep a few bottles on-hand for convenience, because I don't always want to open a bottle of good drinking wine just for a small amount for a recipe. A while back, I did some sponsored posts for Holland House, and I liked the product so much, I continue to buy it.

Because cooking wine has salt in it (to make it unpalatable for drinking, which is why they don't sell it as booze) you may not need to add much salt to recipes where you use it. As always, taste the food when it's nearly done and add salt if you think you need it.



I thought this was particularly good on top of rice or polenta, but you could also serve it as-is, or with pasta.

Shrimp with Marsala and Tomatoes

1 tablespoon olive oil
1 small onion, peel and cut into chunks
1/2 orange bell pepper, cored and cut into chunks
1/2 teaspoon Piment d'Espelette (or paprika)
1 14.5-ounce can petite diced tomatoes
1/4 cup marsala cooking wine
Salt and white pepper, to taste
2 pounds peeled raw shrimp (if it's frozen, thaw it)

Heat the olive oil in a saute pan. Add the onion and bell pepper and cook, stirring as needed, until the vegetables are almost cooked through.

Add the tomatoes and continue cooking, stirring as needed, until the liquid is reduced and thickened.

Take the pan off the heat and add the wine (to keep it from flaming). Place it back on the heat and cook for a few more minutes to reduce it again. Add a few grinds of white pepper. Taste for seasoning and add salt, if desired.

Add the shrimp and cook, stirring often, until the shrimp is just opaque.

Serve immediately.

Photo courtesy of Truvee The McBride sisters

You probably don't know this about me, but part of my freelance writing work is for a trade publication (in the non-food world) where I do phone interviews of people in the industry. Some of them are very interesting and some ... not so much.

So when I got a chance to do an interview the McBride Sisters, Robin and Andréa, co-creators of Truvée, I knew it was going to be fun.

Robin and Andréa are actually half-sisters (they have the same father), and they grew up on opposite ends of the world, but both grew up in winemaking regions. When they finally met, they knew that they were destined to be winemakers.

"When we met, we felt like we were invincible and we could do anything," they said.

The sisters are known as the first African American sisters to found a wine brand, and they are part of the very small percentage of women in the wine business, although they've seen more women coming into the industry since they started.

They started in the wine business about 10 years ago, first importing wines, then distributing. Finally, they made the leap to making their own wines.

The sisters make super premium wines in Marlborough, New Zealand and Central Coast, California. Their new wine brand (following the previous eco.love) is Truvée (pronounced true-vay), made with wines from the Central Coast of California.

There are two Truvée wines: a lightly oaked Chardonnay and a red blend.

When asked what foods were their favorites to pair with their wines, both agreed that the chardonnay was ideal with seared scallops. For the red, Robin suggested roasted or grilled meats, or perhaps a roasted chicken and vegetables.

Andréa thought the red worked well with barbecued ribs and said that they're currently working on a barbecue sauce recipe using the red wine that will be on their site very soon. (I have it for you here! Check below the interview for the full recipe.)

They're also working on other recipes to use or pair with the wines.

As far as drinking or saving the wines, they said that their wines are meant to be enjoyed young they're just about a year old when they're sold, but the red could be aged for up to five years.

They said that the quality of their wine in the bottle is "greater than the price" which makes it a good buy, and that consumers can be confident that they're buying from real people who are very passionate and "maybe obsessive with our craft."

Grapes are purchased from wineries that use sustainable practices, which they said results in a better quality grape, and they buy from several wineries to get exactly the right blend of grapes. One vineyard is over 100 years old and doesn't use posts or wires for the grapevines.

The choice of what wines to make actually came from the choices of vineyards to work with. Once they found those vineyards and knew what the grapes were, they decided what kind of wines to make. While they don't yet own their own vineyard in the US, they do have a 50-acre property in New Zealand where they grow sauvignon blanc and pinot noir grapes. It's possible they'll buy more grape-growing property in the future, but they also like the flexibility of buying from other grape growers.

Neither Robin nor Andréa were formally trained in the wine business, although both grew up in wine regions and Andréa has grape growers in her family. But when it came to their business, they learned as they went, and said that other winery owners were willing to help them. "It's a very close community - not really competitive."

While the winery currently products just the two wines, they hope to eventually launch some varietals, but first they want to make sure they're "very strong" with the current wines.

While I didn't ask the question during the interview, I found out later that Truvée is from the French verb “to find,” which refers to their separation for many years, and how they eventually found each other and founded a business together.

So far, I've only tried the red blend. I guess it's time for me to go out and find the chardonnay. For a list of places where you can find these wines, look here.

Blackberry Chipotle Truvée Red Wine Barbecue Sauce
Red wine sauce was produced in partnership with Susan Palmer, The Girl In The Little Red Kitchen 

Photo courtesy of Truvée

Prep time: 5 minutes
Cook time: 30 minutes
Serving size: 2 tablespoons
Serves: approximately 16

1 medium yellow onion, finely chopped
1/2 tablespoon avocado or grapeseed oil
2 cups fresh blackberries
1/4 cup ketchup
3/4 cup Truvée Red Blend Wine, divided
1/4 cup Balsamic Vinegar
2 whole chipotles in adobe sauce
2 tablespoons adobe sauce from the canned chipotles
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

In a large saucepan over medium heat drizzle the avocado oil and add the onions. Sautee until soft and translucent, about 5 minutes.

Add the blackberries, ketchup, 1/2 cup wine, balsamic vinegar, chipotles, adobo sauce, brown sugar and salt to the pan.

Bring to a boil and lower the heat to a simmer. Cook for 15 minutes or until the blackberries start to soften.

Remove from the heat and transfer to your blender. Carefully puree the barbecue sauce until smooth.
Place a fine mesh sieve over the saucepan and pour in the sauce into the sieve. Using a spoon, press the sauce through until only the solids are left, discard and add the remaining 1/4 cup of wine.

Return the saucepan to medium heat and cook for an additional 10 minutes.

Let the sauce cool slightly before applying to chicken, pork, beef or seafood.

Moscoto wine is becoming one of my favorites. It's not super-sweet, but sweet enough. I particularly like the sparkling versions. They seem so festive. And it's inexpensive enough that you can mix it with fruit juices or use it in cocktail recipes without feeling like you're ruining a fancy varietal wine.

In this case, I decided to do a play off the mimosa, made with champagne. Or even a bellini, made with prosecco. The idea is the same - sparkling wine and fruit juice. The moscato wine is light and fresh and easy to drink (and perfect for summer). and the citrus is always a good match for seafood.

Moscato Mimosa

Orange-pineapple juice, cold
Moscato wine (sparkling preferred), cold
Maraschino cherry (optional)

Fill your favorite sparking-wine drinking glass about 1/4 full with juice. Top with the wine. Add the cherry, if you like.

Serve.

If you prefer, you can change the ratio to 50-50, or even use 3/4 juice and 1/4 wine. It's up to you. And that cherry? Completely optional.

When I was growing up, one of my mother's signature dishes was shallow-braised pork shoulder steaks. She didn't call it that, and I doubt she thought in terms of signature dishes, but it was something that she made quite often.

When I watched my mother make those pork steaks, it was the most puzzling bit of cooking alchemy that I ever witnessed. She used a huge wobbly frying pan that had warped from abuse, so it was impossible for the bottom to heat evenly.

Sometimes the pan was covered, sometimes it wasn't. Sometimes she'd let the liquid cook out, and then she'd add more and cover it again. Sometimes she'd turn the heat off and just let it sit, and then turn it on again later.

It was almost like she had no idea what she wanted to do, or that she had no idea how long it would take to cook properly. But in the end, the dish turned out exactly the same every time. She probably knew what she was doing, but it confused the heck out of me.

Or maybe she was just lucky.

I still love pork shoulder chops, but I don't make them exactly the way mom made them. Hers typically had green peppers, maybe some onion, and they were finished with just a little bit of a cornstarch slurry to thicken the sauce at the end of cooking. And that's about it. They were simple, but good.

On the other hand, I tend to add extras.

If you think it's unusual to cook with Chardonnay, as far as I'm concerned, you can cook with pretty much any wine that you like - you just need to make sure the flavor of the wine pairs well with the food. And a glass of wine to go along with the meal would be a great idea!


This post is sponsored by Sutter Home, who sent me Chardonnay to work with. Other participating bloggers received other types of wine. Sutter Home also provided the giveaway items.

Shallow-Braised Chardonnay Pork Shoulder Steaks

2 tablespoons vegetable oil
2 pork shoulder steaks
4 stalks celery
1 onion
1 cup Sutter Home chardonnay
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon white pepper
1/2 teaspoon sweet paprika
1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley
1 generous cup bell pepper strips
1 teaspoon cornstarch (optional)

Heat the vegetable oil on medium-high heat in a large frying pan with a lid or other wide shallow pan that will easily fit the steaks.

Add the shoulder steaks and brown on both sides.

While the pork shoulder is browning, you should have time to slice the celery into 1/4-inch pieces and to quarter the onion and slice it into a similar thickness.

When the steaks are browned, add the celery, onion, chardonnay, lemon juice, salt, pepper, and paprika, and give it all a little stir.

The shoulder steaks shouldn't be submersed in the liquid, but there should be at least 1/4-inch of liquid in the bottom of the pan. If you have a very large pan, you might need more liquid. Add more wine, or you can add water, if you prefer.

Bring the liquid to a low simmer and cover the pot. Let it simmer slowly for 60 minutes, then add the parsley and bell pepper strips (I used frozen multi-colored pepper strips, but you could core, seed, and slice fresh bell pepper, if you prefer.

Cover the pan and continue cooking on a low simmer for another 15-20 minutes, The pork should be fork-tender. Remove the cover and continue cooking until the liquid has evaporated and thickened to create a sauce.

If you like (and it's what mom did) add a teaspoon of cornstarch to 2 tablespoons of cold water and add it to the pan, Cook, stirring, until the sauce thickens even more and coats the meat and vegetables.

Serve hot. I served it with rice, but it's also good with simple boiled potatoes.

But there's more!

Don't forget to check out the other two bloggers participating in this giveaway to see what they made and what wines they used.

Foodhunter's Guide to Cuisine made Orechietti with Veal, Porcini, and Spinach.
Miss in the Kitchen made a Tex-Mex Cheesy Rice Casserole

Thanks to the nice folks as Sutter Home, we're doing a giveaway of these items - all to one winner!

• Napa Valley Olive Oil    
• Sutter Home Wine Koozie
• Sutter Home Logo Tote
• Napa Valley Cabernet Portobello sauce
• Napa Valley BBQ sauce
• Sutter Home VinoAir
• Napa Valley Peach Salsa
• Napa Valley Garlic Mustard
• 2 Sutter Home Logo Vino
• Capabunga Sutter Home Logo
• 4 Napa Valley Chocolate Bar
• Sutter Home Ahso wine opener
• Sutter Home coaster
• Napa Valley soaps x 2
• Sutter Home Bubbly stopper
• Napa Valley Lotion

The giveaway has ended.

This post, as well as the giveaway, is sponsored by Sutter Home.

Yikes, that title pretty much tells you the whole recipe, huh? But to be honest, I just couldn't decide which ingredients I should highlight, because they all contribute merrily to the dish. I guess I could have included the rosemary, as well. Or the chicken stock.

But that would be overkill. Hah.

This would be great served over rice or alongside potatoes to soak up the really tasty juices. Or polenta, which doesn't really soak up juices, but it plays well with sauces and gravies.

Some crusty bread and a green salad would round it out nicely.

This post is sponsored by Holland House, and I used their white cooking wine for this particular recipe. Actually, I managed to use the whole bottle in a number of different recipes.

I hadn't used cooking wine much before these sponsored posts, but I have to say that it's handy to have on hand.

Previously, I created a mushroom recipe using red cooking wine. Check it out! It was really good!

Besides the red and white cooking wines, the other cooking wines are sherry, marsala, sake, and white wine with lemon. I think I'm going to pick up a few others to try.

While white wine is the natural choice for chicken, it also pairs well with pork, veal, or seafood. For this recipe, since I used chicken thighs, I could have used red wine, or some of the other flavors as well.



Oven-Braised Chicken with Artichokes and White Wine

1 12-ounce package (or equivalent) frozen artichoke hearts
1/4 cup sundried tomatoes in oil
2 tablespoons capers
1/2 cup Holland House white cooking wine
1 cup chicken stock or broth
1 spring rosemary
6 bone-in, skin-on chicken thighs
Salt, to taste

Heat the oven to 350 degrees.

Arrange the artichoke hearts on the bottom of a 9x13 pan. If you have a pretty pan, you can serve directly from the pan. You know, in case you want to do that.

Add the sundried tomatoes (reserve the oil), along with the capers, wine, chicken stock, and rosemary. If your stock wasn't salted, sprinkle a generous pinch of salt on top.

Arrange the chicken on top, skin-side up, and drizzle the remaining oil from the tomatoes on top.
Bake at 350 degrees until the chicken is cooked through and the skin is golden brown, about an hour.

Serve from the pan, or pile the thighs on a serving platter and scatter the artichokes all over.

If you like, you can remove the chicken and vegetables from the pan, skim off the excess fat, and thicken the sauce with a bit of cornstarch or flour.

This post was sponsored by Holland House, who provided product and compensation for recipe development. All words and ideas are mine.

Sometimes you just want an easy dinner, and this certainly fills the bill. There's almost no prep work - I bought sliced mushrooms because they looked good and they were the same price per pound as the whole mushrooms.

If you buy whole mushrooms, you can leave them whole, slice them, quarter them, or whack them into random pieces. It really doesn't matter.

As far as the chicken, I used chicken thighs, because that's my favorite for stewing or braising.

The bad thing about stewing any kind of chicken is that the skin tends to be ... well, not crisp. Actually, it's sort of flabby. I like cooking the chicken with the skin on for flavor, and in fact I brown it first. But don't necessarily eat it.

If you prefer, you can remove the skins before cooking. Or buy skinless, boneless thighs. Whatever makes you happy. The idea here is that this is a super-simple meal, so do what's easiest for you.

This recipe uses Holland House cooking wine. I posted one sponsored post for them and have another one coming little later, but meanwhile I'm working with the products for fun, and in fact I've purchased more of it because I'm finding that it's really handy to have around.

You could substitute your own favorite wine. If you're not using a cooking wine, add salt to taste, since cooking wine includes salt.

Chicken with Wine and Rosemary

2 tablespoons butter
5 chicken thighs (more or less, as preferred)
1 pound mushrooms, sliced
1 cup Holland House white cooking wine
1 sprig rosemary
Rice, for serving

Melt the butter in the bottom of a heavy bottomed pot - like a Dutch oven. Brown the chicken pieces on all sides, then add the mushrooms.

Cook for a few minutes more, stirring to get the mushrooms in contact with the bottom of the pot for a few seconds of browning.

Add the white wine and rosemary and cover the pot. Cook for 20 minutes, then uncover, stir, and cook until the chicken thighs are cooked through and the liquid has reduced a bit - another 10 minutes or so.

Discard the rosemary sprig.

To take advantage of the flavorful liquid, serve with rice. Or potatoes. Those would be nice, too.

This is NOT a sponsored post. I received products from the company for other posts, but since then I have purchased more of their products for my use.

Mushrooms and wine are a natural pair, so when Holland House sent me some of their cooking wines in order to do a couple of sponsored posts, I knew mushrooms would have to be involved.

This simple mushroom dish works well as a topping toasted bread with melted cheese, but it would also be great on top of a steak or burger, mixed with pasta, or served on top of some polenta. Or, if you're me, just pile them on my plate and eat them like a vegetable side dish.

This uses the red cooking wine from Holland House. If you're curious why cooking wine can be sold at a grocery store that can't sell liquor - and why it can be sold to minors - it's because the wine has enough salt added so that you wouldn't want to drink it. On the other hand, that level of salt it just fine when you're using the wine for cooking.

I like to think these tarts are both rustic and elegant. Maybe we need a new word - rustigant? Maybe the difference is the way you cut the bread, but in the end it's all about the taste. And these taste pretty darned good.

These would be a great appetizer for the holidays, whether it's a comfy-cozy casual family affair, or something a little more upscale. If you like, you can make the mushrooms ahead of time and reheat them on the bread while you're melting the cheese.

Mushroom Toasts

For the mushrooms:
2 tablespoons butter
1 large onion, diced
1 pound sliced mushrooms
1/2 teaspoon dry thyme
General grinds black pepper
1/2 cup Holland House red cooking wine

For serving:
Sliced toasted bread, rounds of French bread, or flatbreads
Cheese, as needed

To cook the mushrooms:
Melt the butter in a saute pan and add the onions. Cook, stirring for a minute or two until the onions start looking looking translucent, then add the mushrooms, pepper, thyme and wine.

Cook, stirring often, until all of the liquid is gone. You'll hear the sound of the cooking change from a simmering sound to a frying sound.

Cook for just a little longer, until some of the mushrooms get a little bit of browning. At this point, you don't want to stir often - you need to let the vegetables sit in one place long enough to brown a bit before stirring.

To make the toasts:
Choose a cheese that melts well - I chose a white colby cheese - and use as much as you like. I suggest a light touch, since the mushrooms are the star of the dish.

Top the breads with grated cheese and cook under a broiler just long enough to melt the cheese. Cut the bread into serving-sized pieces, then top each piece with some of the mushroom onion mixture. Serve warm or at room temperature.

Thank you to Holland House who supplied product for my use and compensation for recipe creation. All words and ideas in this post are mine.

Want to get friendlier with Holland House? Look for them on Facebook.

The fun thing about being a food blogger is that I get to sample all kinds of stuff. This time around, it's wine from a company called Uncorked Adventures, and they sent me two bottles of their wines.

Uncorked Ventures is a wine club - you know how it works, right? You sign up and get a monthly shipment of different wines to try. I've joined wine clubs before, and it's a nice way to sample a bunch of different wines. And since they're selecting them and they want you to keep buying, they're not going to send you anything that's weird and funky.

Uncorked has three different levels of wine club selections at different price ranges, so you can choose more affordable wines or more exclusive ones.

The other nice thing about the wines that Uncorked sells is that they're from actual wineries and they've been rated by people who rate wines. Long ago, I belonged to a wine club that only sold their own wines, so it's not like you could go to a wine shop and find anything from that same winery.

Uncorked also sells gift baskets, so if you're thinking about the holidays, you can buy someone a nice bottle (or two) of wine along with some extras.

The white wine I received was Sola Chardonnay. It wasn't a deep, okay chardonnay - instead it was a little lighter and crisp and fruity. Very balanced and drinkable. It would be a good wine for summer or for lighter meals, salads, or, just for a nice "watchin' TV" evening treat.

Along with the wine, I got a description of the winery and some information about the North Coast area of California. The company's website also has a whole lot of fun wine information in the blog section. Check it out, if you have a chance. Even if you don't buy any wine from them, you might find some information that could come in handy.

I received one or more of the products mentioned above for free using Tomoson.com. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will be good for my readers.

White wine pouch is skinny because it's mostly gone.

Hint: If someone offers me samples of wine or booze, there's a really good chance I'm going to take it. It's not that I'm a lush, but I like the occasional nip in the evening, and I like trying different brands and flavors.

I also like cooking with boozy things. Wine is good in tomato sauce, chili, and stews, among other things. If I don't care for the wine, I use it to make vinegar. Hard liquor works well in baked goods, ice cream, marinades, and more.

So when the nice folks at Bonfire Wines offered to send me wine, I said, sure, I'll take some.

The first interesting thing about the wine is the packaging. It comes in stand-up pouches with a spigot for dispensing the wine.

Since there's no oxygen - or very little - getting into the container, the wine stays fresh. It's a really neat idea, and the carbon footprint of this packaging is supposed to be a lot less than when glass is used.

When I was looking up places to buy the wine locally, I found a few websites that talked specifically about the packaging design so I guess it's pretty unique. I've seen plenty of boxed and bottled wines, but I'll admit I've never seen any quite like this before.

One thing I wondered about the packaging was how efficient it would be at getting all the wine out of the pouch, Would I need to cut it open to get the last 1/2 glass?

I needn't have worried, The bag was completely flat and and empty when I was done with it, and it emptied easily, with no need for scissors.

But, for me, it's all about the flavor. I received two different wines - a white wine called Ignite, and a red wine called Ember.

The white wine disappeared first. It was slightly sweet, but not as sweet as something like a moscato. I liked it a lot. I'm not enough of a wine snob to talk about intricate details, but it was a light, drinkable, happy wine.

I needed a little bit of red wine for a recipe, so I opened the Ember and sampled it. I'm usually not a red wine drinker because it tends to give me headaches, but I had no adverse reaction to this one at all, so that's a huuuuuge bonus.

Each pouch holds the equivalent of 2 normal bottles of wine, and since the pouch is so thin, it cools faster that a bottle. The really nice thing about the pouch is that since it's not an open bottle full of wine, you can use some wine for drinking or cooking and not have to fret about using it all as fast as possible. I really didn't notice any flavor change over the several days it took me to finish each pouch.

The other really nice thing about the pouch is that as you drink the wine, it gets smaller, so it doesn't take as much space in the refrigerator. I actually rolled up the top of the white wine pouch to make it fit in a less-tall space. You can't do that with a bottle, that's for sure.

I found one of these wine varieties locally for $15-18 for a pouch. So far, it's just available in a few states, but I have a feeling you'll be seeing it expanding into other markets.

So ... do you like the pouch idea? Or do you prefer bottles?

Disclaimer: I received this wine from the company for a review. I might be buying some for use in recipes as well. We'll see...

As a food blogger, sometimes you get ... interesting opportunities. Like a chance to chat with Nadia G host of Nadia G's Bitchn' Kitchen and Bite This with Nadia G.

Possibly the quirkiest of the cooks on the network, I was curious what strange turns the conversation might take.

We were supposed to be talking about Halloween cocktails and appetizers she created for a company called Once Upon a Vine. It's a wine company, so the drinks are wine-related. The other recipes are just fun.

But of course, I bounced her off-track a number of times to make the conversation more interesting.

Things you might not know are that:

• Both of her parents are Italian.
• She was (and still is. Ha!) an only child.
• She got her cooking-show start on YouTube in 2007.
• She prefers white wine to red.
• She once dressed as a "prom zombie" for Halloween.
• Her favorite Halloween candy is ... chocolate. Maybe that's too easy. 
• Her second favorite is what she described as a pressed-powder candy that is sweet and tart.
• She started a cooking show on Canadian TV in 2010 and started on the Cooking Channel in 2011.
• She thinks Montreal bagels are the best in the world. They're smaller and fluffier and more delicate than American bagels, she says.
• For Halloween, her mom once dressed her in a potato sack and cowboy hat, with big red dots on her cheeks - she still doesn't know what that costume was supposed to be.
• She doesn't bake a lot of yeast breads, but she does bake sweet breads. A recent one was and apple bread with home made caramel.
• This year for Halloween, she's going to dress as "dead and rotting Martha Stewart."

Yeah, that last one's going to get me some weird search traffic. For sure.

In any case, we talked about her family, and her career and her recipes. And of course I slipped in the fact that I've got a cookbook coming out next month *Pats self on back*

I stopped just short of offering her a cookbook, because that would have been weird. But now that we're besties, maybe she'll buy one.

Speaking of recipes, I've got a whole lot of her recipes, just for you. I haven't tried any of them yet, but they look pretty good. Or creepy. Or good. Whatever.

The food recipes are below, and wine cocktail recipes are available from The Wine Bar. Click on over. Glug, glug.

One wine-cocktail recipe that sounded pretty good to me was something she called The Witch's Brew. It included pear nectar, which is a little unusual, but not terribly hard to find, as well as some white wine and some thyme.

She said that when creating wine cocktails, you need to make sure the drinks are balanced and that the other flavors don't overwhelm the wine. That makes sense.

Her comment about Halloween food, though, really made me love her. She said that some Halloween food tastes as scary as it looks, with way too much food coloring and sugar. She likes food that tastes good, but still looks creepy.

The one that we talked about a bit - it fits her Italian heritage, and it sounded delicious, and it probably looks super-creepy - is her bocconcini eyeballs. It's cheese, olives, and prosciutto. That sounds tasty, right?

Nadia said that she prefers throwing Halloween parties rather than going out to bars where there are "twits in polyester costumes." Then she admitted that there could be some of those polyester-dressed twits at your own party, but at least they're your friends.

As far as her costume this year, it will involve a pastel sweater, too-high mom pants, and lots of blood and gore. That'll be perfectly appropriate when she's serving these:


Bocconcini Eyeballs with Blood Salsa
Recipe courtesy of Nadia G

For the bocconcini eyeballs:
8 large green olives stuffed with pimento
16 Bocconcini cheese balls
8 slices Prosciutto di Parma

For the blood salsa:
1 can whole San Marzano tomatoes
3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1 teaspoon aged balsamic vinegar
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 red onion, minced
1 handful fresh flat parsley, finely chopped
1 handful fresh basil, finely chopped
1/2 teaspoon dried Greek oregano
1/4 teaspoon hot chili flakes
1 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 teaspoon brown sugar
Freshly cracked pepper

Plus:
Crostini

Making the eyeballs: slice olives into 1/4-inch discs. Place an olive disc in the center of a bocconcini and trace around it with a sharp paring knife. Carve out a 1/2-inch piece of cheese from the outline and place olive slice in the hole. Wrap a slice of prosciutto around the bocconcini eyeball.

Making the salsa: pour whole can of San Marzano tomatoes into a bowl. Add olive oil, balsamic vinegar, garlic, red onion, parsley, basil, Greek oregano, chili flakes, salt, sugar, and lots of freshly cracked pepper. Mix with hands.

Divide eyeballs into pairs and place on individual plates. Add a couple of tablespoons of salsa to each plate. Serve with crostini.

Note from me: There was no photo for this. I'm tempted to make it JUST for the photo. Or you make it and post it and I'll link to it. Please?


Coffin-shaped Grilled Cheese Sandwiches 
with Melted Taleggio Cheese, Caramelized Onions and Apples
Recipe courtesy of Nadia G

For the caramelized onions:

1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
3 red onions, sliced in 1/2 inch slices
1/4 teaspoon sea salt

For the sandwiches:
1 large loaf sourdough bread
1 McIntosh apple, sliced thinly
4 wedges Taleggio cheese
Sufficient quantity butter

Making caramelized onions: Heat a non-stick pan on medium. Add olive oil, onions, separate them, and salt. Sauté for 10 minutes, then turn down heat to medium-low and cook for another 35-40 minutes, until onions are deep amber in color.

Making the sandwich: Cut sourdough into 1/2 inch slices, then into coffin shapes. Heat a pan on medium low and melt enough butter to coat the pan. Lay down a slice of bread, a cheese wedge, caramelized onions, 3 apple slices, and top with another slice of bread. Press down and cook for 3 minutes, until golden brown. Flip and cook for another 2 minutes, until cheese is melted.

Remove grilled cheese from pan, and serve.


Milk Chocolate Chip and Maple Syrup Glazed Bacon
Witch Finger Cookies
Recipe courtesy of Nadia G

12 bacon slices, minced
1/4 cup maple syrup
1 cup unsalted butter, large dice
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup raw sugar
1 large egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 cups all purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
Maldon salt, to taste
1 1/2 cup quality milk chocolate, in chip sized chunks
Raw skinless almonds

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Note from me: You'll need witch-finger molds for these, but at this time of year, you can no doubt find them at the grocery store. Off-season, you can probably find them online.

Making the bacon: In a medium frying pan, sauté the bacon until fat has rendered and bacon is crisp. Drain the fat from the pan, and add the maple syrup. Stir to blend, and sauté for 1 to 2 minutes until maple syrup becomes thick. Transfer immediately to a small bowl, and let cool.

Making the batter: With a standing or handheld mixer, blend the butter and sugars for 3 to 5 minutes until light and fluffy. Add the egg, and beat for 1 minute or until well blended. Add the vanilla, and beat for 30 seconds more. Stir in the flour with a wooden spoon. Add the maple syrup glazed bacon, and chocolate. Stir to combine.

Place almonds into the fingernail part of witch finger molds. Scoop dough into the molds, filling them 3/4 of the way, and bake in the center of oven until golden around the edges (about 9-10 minutes). Remove from oven. Pull the cookies out while still warm and with a paring knife cut off the excess cookies around the finger to shape it. Handle carefully so cookie doesn't break.

Transfer cookies to a wire rack to cool completely.

Spicy Onion Rings
Recipe courtesy of Nadia G

Canola or peanut oil
1 tablespoon ground cayenne pepper
1 tablespoon smoked paprika
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
1/2 teaspoon dried basil
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
1/4 teaspoon sea salt
1 cup all purpose flour
1/2 cup corn meal
3 large yellow onions, peeled, thinly sliced in rounds

In a high-sided saucepan heat the oil on medium until it reaches a temperature of 350F.

Making the batter: Combine the cayenne, paprika, garlic powder, dried oregano, dried basil, pepper, and sea salt in a small bowl. Stir to blend.  Set aside.

Making the onion rings: Add the flour and corn meal to a medium bowl. Whisk to combine. Toss the onion rings in the flour mixture to coat.  Deep fry the onion rings in two batches until crispy, and lightly golden (3-5 minutes).  Drain on a paper towel for 1 minute, and then add the onion rings to a large bowl. Add a large pinch of the spice mixture, and toss the onion rings to evenly distribute the seasoning.

Season with salt if desired, and serve immediately.

Crispy Fried Rigatoni “Chips” stuffed Mascarpone 
with Bloody Spicy Raspberry Coulis
Recipe courtesy of Nadia G

For the rigatoni chips:
1/2 lb. rigatoni
Sufficient quantity canola oil
Sea salt

For the filling:
3/4 cup Ricotta cheese
1/4 cup Mascarpone cheese
2 tablespoons maple syrup
1 teaspoon mint, chopped

For the bloody raspberry coulis: 
1 cup frozen raspberries, thawed
1 red chili pepper, halved, seeds and pith removed
2 tablespoons brown sugar

Making the rigatoni chips: Cook the pasta in salted boiling water until partially cooked (about half the cooking time recommended). Drain. Deep-fry the rigatoni in several batches in 350˚ F canola oil until crisp and golden.  Remove with a slotted spoon and drain on a wire rack. Sprinkle with sea salt.

Making the herbed filling: To a bowl, add the ricotta and the mascarpone and, using a rubber spatula, blend until smooth. Transfer filling to a piping bag with a small straight tip. Fill each “chip” with the filling.

Making the raspberry coulis: Puree raspberries and their juices, chili pepper and 2 tbsp brown sugar in a food processor.

Dip the rigatoni chips into the “bloody’ coulis and serve.

Thanks to Nadia G for taking the time to chat with me. I feel like we're BFFs now, so feel free to call any time, Nadia! You've got my number!

For some music for your Halloween party, Nadia recommended Once Upon a Vine's Halloween party station on Pandora.

All photos courtesy of Once Upon a Vine. Recipes courtesy of Nadia G. Used with permission. All rights reserved.

This is soooo simple, but so good. It's refreshing as a dessert, or scoop it into a glass for a slushy drink. This doesn't freeze completely solid, but I thought it was best at slightly warmer than freezer temperatures so the texture was soft rather than crystallized. But that's easy enough. Just let it sit out for a short while. Or, serve it right after churning. It was really tasty right out of the ice cream maker.

I used fresh pineapple, but I'm sure canned would be just fine. And toss in whatever liquid comes with the pineapple. It's all good.

Depending on how sweet or tart your pineapple is - and how sweet or tart your wine is - you might want to adjust the sugar level. I used a pink moscato for one batch and Sterling Vintner's Central Coast Aromatic White for the other.

My best suggestion: Use what you like to drink. The pink wine (it was very pale) didn't seem to color the resulting sorbet very much, but I'm sure a red wine would - so proceed at your own risk. I'm not sure what color you'd end up with, or if you'd like it.

While this recipe is perfect with just three simple ingredients - the flavor is fresh and bright - it could also be adapted easily. Add some vanilla for depth, or mint for its green sparkle, or some citrus for tartness. The options are endless.

What would YOU add?

Wine and Pineapple Sorbet

Mmmmm ... fresh pineapple!

1 cup wine (Sterling Vintner's Central Coast Aromatic White, here), chilled
2 cup chopped pineapple with juice, chilled
1/2 cup sugar

Blend all the ingredients in your blender (or food processor) until it's as smooth as you can get it. The sugar should dissolve during this blend, but give it a stir to make sure there are no grainy bits remaining.

Churn in your ice cream maker according to manufacturer's directions.

Note: If your wine and pineapple weren't chilled to begin with, chill them after blending, then give them a hearty stir before you churn. If you start with warm ingredients and you use a freezer-bowl style of ice cream maker, it might not freeze thoroughly before the bowl thaws. If you use a compressor-style ice cream maker, you can get away with using slightly warmer ingredients.

Serve directly from the ice cream maker, or pack into a container and freeze for later.