Wine'ing Wednesday: Italian Wine Trivia

The word ‘Superiore’ is use to indicate wine with an alcohol content higher then the typical wines made in the region or by the specified grape.

How they do it: The grapes are dried before crushing to concentrate the sugars. More Sugar = More Alcohol!

How the Hushpuppy got it's Name

Hushpuppies are a southern tradition that started when people would feed their dogs pieces of the fried cornmeal batter when they begged for food. After the scraps were given to the dogs, the owner would say "Now hush, puppy."

Ooooo....ahhhh…..Umami!

If you are in the NYC area on Saturday, February 27, 2010 stop by the Umami Festival! Yours truly has been selected along with 3 other student to represent The Insitute of Culinary Education in the 2010 Cooking-Art Challege!

The Festival

Umami: Food and Art Festival is a non-profit, biennale event created in 2008. The festival works in partnership with other organizations in New York City to foster collaborations between artists and food professionals.

The Challenge

Teams of students from the city’s top culinary and arts programs will work together to turn the ordinary into extraordinary. They will have 80 minutes to create dishes exploring the relationship between cooking and art. A panel of distinguished judges will evaluate their efforts.

The Umami (pronounced: ooo-mam-ee)

Umami is the fifth taste sensed by the human tongue (in addition to sweet, salty, bitter and sour). Umami is a Japanese word meaning “savory” or “meaty” and applies to a sensation common in meats, cheese and other protein-rich foods or to “earthy” foods such as mushrooms and soy sauce.

Wine'ing Wednesday

Nine years ago Wine’ing & Dining Wednesdays were born. My sorority sisters and I would gather in a cramped dorm room to drink Franzia’s finest box wine, dine on the most decadent squeeze cheeses from aerosol cans and enrich our minds by watching Temptation Island.

Wine’ing Wednesday is back in 2010 and I couldn’t be more excited. As part of my culinary education I’m currently partaking in a six week wine course on Wednesday nights. Each class is so knowledge packed it’s a shame that after our 11th wine of the evening I’m a little foggy on what was first discussed. There are the customary ‘spit buckets,’ but why make someone wash extra dishes when my stomach is happy to oblige.


Wine’ing Wednesday’s Tip of the Week:

An indication of the quality of the wine is how specific the wine’s origin is labeled. If the wine’s label simply reads, ‘Product of France’ no single region or winemaker is taking the credit (or blame) for the final product.

If a label reads“Estate Bottled” or "mis en bouteilles au chateau" (roughly translated means "bottled at the chateau”), it means 100% of grapes used were grown and bottled on premise. This tends to indicate the winemaker’s pride in the final product and they want full credit.

2010 New Year’s Resolution Diet – FAIL

Butter weight, winter weight, a metabolism that has been declining ever since birth, whatever the cause, there is no denying that even my elastic waist-band chef pants have become a bit snug and my jeans….puh-lease, I haven’t attempted to put a pair on since Thanksgiving.

Think I’m kidding? I’ve decided to quit going to my acupuncturist because he makes me get on the scale every time I go and can no longer take the judgmental look he gives me when he notes the little red needle has moved right since my last visit.

I had every intention to kick off 2010 with a renewed commitment to gym and my gluten free diet. Ha! It’s only the third week of January and I’ve already cancelled my gym membership and consumed more glutinous bake goods then the first six months of 2009 – oops!

Unfortunately, I’m not surprised by my failure. As someone who recognizes their semi-addictive-overindulgent-instant-gratification-seeking personality, I knew I was in trouble when the first of the year coincided with the start of our Pastry course in culinary school.

I made it six lessons into to course but I cracked like a cookie on croissant day. I wish I could excuse my weakness on memories of a romantic getaway weekend in Paris that was filled with flakey croissants and decadent pain au chocolates, but that never happened. The truth, they were just so darn delicious! Before I could wipe the crumbs and chocolate from my lips I had rationalized eating two more using the following logic: (1) If I already had one, the damage has been done so might as well enjoy a few more. (2) It would be better for my system if I just ate all the fresh buttery croissants at once and have it out of my system in a few days then spreading the damage over a few days.

In ‘The End of Overeating,’ David Kessler talks about how drug addicts can rationalize using and then points out their brain chemical composition is nearly identical to those who overeat.

I guess the only thing left to say is, “Hi. I’m joannE. and I’m a baked-good addict.

Twitter me This

I realize I’m a year and half behind the coolest 14 year old you know, but twitter anyone? https://twitter.com/joanneejoannee

Just a few more reasons to join the Quinoa fan club…

Check out the Foodie Physician's latest article ~ Ingredient 911: Quinoa- The New Super Food

Halibut Over Wilted Escarole

Escarole has broad leaves and is less bitter then other members of the endive family. Despite the difference in appearance, it has almost the same taste as radicchio. High in folic acid, fiber, and vitamins A and K it thrives in the fall growing season

1 Tbs Butter

1/2 Tsp Chopped Fresh Dill
8 oz Escarole (approx 1/2 of a large head)
1 Medium Shallot
1 Garlic Clove
1 6-oz Halibut Fillet [1]
1 Tsp Olive Oil
Zest from 1 Orange
1/4 Cup White Wine
1 Lemon Slice (1/8 whole lemon)

1) Using a fork, combine 1 Tbs butter and ½ Tsp fresh dill in a small bowl.

2) Rinse escarole, shake off excess water, and discard the darkest, outermost leaves (these tend to be the most bitter).

3) Tear escarole into two inch pieces.

4) Finely mince garlic and shallot.

5) Season the halibut fillet with salt at pepper on both sides.

6) Preheat a small Dutch oven, or a saucepan with a tight fitting lid, over medium high heat.

7) Sweat garlic and shallots in the olive oil for one minute.

8) Toss in escarole and orange zest with the garlic and shallots.

9) Add wine and quickly place halibut, skin side down, on the bed of greens.

10) Top the fillet with the butter and cover.

11) Reduce heat to medium and allow fish to steam for approximately 12 minutes (8 minutes per inch of thickness).

12) When the fish in thoroughly cooked (opaque and flaky), place the wilted greens in the center of serving place and top with the the halibut fillet. Garnish with a squeeze of fresh lemon juice and season with salt and pepper.

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[1] Sea Bass, Salmon or Tilapia can easily be substitute for halibut. The same 8 minutes per inch of thickness cooking time would be applied

Foodie Fun Fact: Teriyaki

Teriyaki - "Teriyaki is derived from the Japanese root words teri, to shine, and yaki, to broil or grill. That’s the way traditional teriyaki looks: shiny and incised with grill marks." - John T. Edge, The New York Times

Being Single is Tough - and may cause bruising

No one will argue that dating is rough, dating in New York can be brutal and if you are as clumsy as I, it occasionally causes bodily injury.

After spending the holidays at home in a small town in North-Western-Central-PA I came back to New York to ring in the New Year. Feeling rejuvenated and perhaps optimistic that my dating drought may have come to an end, I accepted date with a rather nice fellow.

Not ready to re-squeem so soon after the NYE celebration, I opted for a low cut dress to help balance out my expanding “side effects” of Cookie-Palooza ’09. Although I stand at a commanding 5 feet 2 ½ inches, I can’t help but like the tall boys and opt for my highest sequined-heeled party shoes.

The plan was to meet for drinks (conveniently in my neighborhood) on Saturday night. Needing to replenish my cash flow I hit up the ATM on may way. As I pulled out my card I notice something might be missing. After taking a quick inventory I realize I no longer have my driver license. Hmm…. I know I had it on New Year’s Eve but that was three days ago!?! As I re-bundled and continued on towards the dark bar to meet up with stranger I met on the Internet with no form of personal identification I start brainstorming of people I would like to play me in Law & Order's adaptation of my life.

The actual date goes well and as we wrap things up, I’m thinking I may have kept my verbal diarrhea at bay and perhaps my socially awkwardness may be subsiding in 2010. By the time we finish our last drink the temperature was a blustery -42 degrees. He walks me back to my apartment and to avoid frost I’m practically jogging. Then out of nowhere I go down. To say ‘I tripped’ would be a bit of an understatement - I bit it, ate concrete, face planted, took a digger, nose dived into cement.

I took a few seconds to regain my composure and did a quick assessment to ensure all my appendages were still in place. Once I made it back to my feet I realized my knee caps were burning. I looked down to see my opaque black tights were shredded at the knees. I decided the thing to do would be to laugh it off and say, “I hope you are looking for a girl who is resilient.” (Don’t judge – you try and come up with some witty to say post face planting on frozen concrete)

The next morning I popped some aspirin but for once it was not for a hangover induced headache but for my battered knee caps and ego.


Photo of injuries below – Warning it's not pretty