Beaujolais Nouveau Est Arrive!

Today IS the day. My personal favorite wine day of the year.  But first, a little background:

At one past midnight on the third Thursday of each November, from little villages and towns like Romanèche-Thorins, over a million cases of Beaujolais Nouveau begin their journey through a sleeping France to Paris for immediate shipment to all parts of the world. Banners proclaim the good news: "Le Beaujolais Nouveau est arrivé!(The New Beaujolais has arrived!)" One of the most frivolous and animated rituals in the wine world has begun.
By the time it is over, over 65 million bottles, nearly half of the region's total annual production, will be distributed and drunk around the world. It has become a worldwide race to be the first to serve to this new wine of the harvest. In doing so, it has been carried by motorcycle, balloon, truck, helicopter, jet, elephant, runners and rickshaws to get it to its final destination. It is amazing to realize that just weeks before this wine was a cluster of grapes in a growers vineyard. But by an expeditious harvest, a rapid fermentation, and a speedy bottling, all is ready at the midnight hour.

Beaujolais Nouveau began as a local phenomenon in the local bars, cafes, and bistros of Beaujolais and Lyons. Each fall the new Beaujolais would arrive with much fanfare. In pitchers filled from the growers barrels, wine was drunk by an eager population. It was wine made fast to drink while the better Beaujolais was taking a more leisurely course. Eventually, the government stepped into regulate the sale of all this quickly transported, free-flowing wine. In 1938 regulations and restrictions were put in place to restrict the where, when, and how of all this carrying on. After the war years, in 1951, these regulations were revoked by the region's governing body, the Union Interprofessional des Vins de Beaujolais (UIVB), and the Beaujolais Nouveau was officially recognized. The official release date was set for November 15th. Beaujolais Nouveau was officially born. By this time, what was just a local tradition had gained so much popularity that the news of it reached Paris. The race was born. It wasn't long thereafter that the word spilled out of France and around the world. In 1985, the date was again changed, this time to the third Thursday of November tying it to a weekend and making the celebration complete. But wherever the new Beaujolais went, importers had to agree not to sell it before midnight on the third Thursday of November.
(courtesy of IntoWine.com)


*****TASTING NOTES: This year's Nouveau (I'm drinking Georges Debeouf's version, $7.33 with my Bottle Club discount at Joe Canal's in Lawrenceville. There are other bottlings, but they can be difficult to find) explodes with fresh cherries in the nose, filling the glass and eventually the immediate vicinity of the glass with cherry aromas. Also strong hints of raspberries in the first sip, along with earth, then vine, then semi-sweet grape jam as you swallow. The finish leaves a distinct grape-jam-on-toast taste on the palate, a deja vu from childhood. There's some structure here, though, and more tannins in subsequent sips than you might expect. This wine will pair superbly with the herby-spicy stuffings on Thanksgiving, as well as the buttery mashed potatoes, green vegetables and even cranberry sauce served over the holiday.  I actually think this might be a great quaff with the turkey sandwiches made from leftovers on the holiday weekend, too.  Pretty strong edition of Nouveau this year.*****

I know the enthusiasm for Nouveau has died down a bit in and around Philly. Celebrations around the world are expected to be more restrained than usual, as a very bad harvest has limited the production of the wine to about half of what is typically produced. It is still an unofficial holiday today in Washington DC. And in cities such as Chicago and Seattle there are still big celebrations and avid celebrants.

This remains a great day to quaff this simple, earthy, slightly fizzy preview of the French Gamay Beaujolais vintages for 2012, and to toast friendship, life and love.  And to score some bottles for Thanksgiving. It's still my favorite beverage on Turkey Day, an almost perfect foil for the savory and sweet flavors that mash together on the holiday.

So raise a glass of Beaujolais Nouveau today. There's still a lot to celebrate.  Many of us on the East Coast have survived an horrific hurricane unscathed. And love is in the air.

Au votre sante!

HOT DOG NATION

Saturday marked the 9th Annual NJ Hot Dog Tour, and for my fifth year, I was on it.  The Tour, conceived by retired  NYC police officer Erwin "Benzee" Benz and noted hot dog authority John Fox, who hails from Union, NJ, is the one of the best gatherings of food nerds I've ever met.  The folks on the Tour are something beyond hot dog aficionados; they are fanatical in their love of tube steak. Some, like John Fox, are as interested in the provenance of  their dog (where it was made, the meats used, the style and seasoning of the meat, the relative size per pound, the nature of the bun, the cooking process) as anything else.  It makes for fascinating conversation along the Tour, and spirited debate and discussion, post-Tour.

TWO busloads of the fanatics assembled at the traditional starting point for the Tour, the famous Galloping Hill Inn in Union.  Big hot dogs here, with large (too large, in my opinion) custom buns and a variety of toppings. I won't get into those nerdy details here; you can visit www.roadfood.com and the Hot Dog Nation page on Facebook for all the picayune details.  I'm gonna post some tasty pics here and a little bit of commentary, and that's all. Below: my dog at Galloping Hill, with mustard, chili and onions.

This year's Tour featured stops at some old favorites from previous Tours, as well as a couple of new stops. I tried to tweet live from each stop, but you can get caught up in the joking and sheer gastronomic fun of it all, and perhaps miss a few shots, but I think I caught most of everything sampled by the group on Saturday.

Case in point with the photo at the top of this post: that what's left of my hot dog from Marcie's Dog House in Clark, a well-equipped truck stationed in a municipal park, dispensing  a natural casing Sabrett hot dog, topped with a special sauerkraut, a blend of mustard, relish and cabbage, a terrific topping and a terrific dog.
Marcie's also turns out an excellent version of the North Jersey style Italian hot dog (pic below), a deep fried dog tucked into a half-moon of pizza dough ("pizza bread" in the local lingo) hollowed out to fit the dog, onion, peppers and fried potatoes. My tablemates thought highly of Marcie's version:

Next, we hit another hot dog truck, Uncle Petey's Weenies in Colonia, with a tasty chili dog and a special quarter-pound German-style dog, pictured below. I went for the chili dog, pacing myself and trying to hew as close to my low-glycemic-index diet as I could.  But this was a popular choice among a lot of the Tour-goers:

We headed to Elizabeth next, and two classic hot dog vendors virtually next door to one another. Jerry's Famous Frankfurters is as old-school and low-tech as it gets, just a simple walk-up window, strictly takeout, but for me, they make my favorite hot dog on this year's Tour, a grfilled, natural casing dog with a good snap, with mustard and red sauced cooked onions.  Simply spectacular:

Just a few doors away sits Tommy's, serving from a similar walk-up window both Italian sausage and hot dogs, and specializing in the North Jersey style Italian dog. Tommy's serves the best version of the genre I've ever had. Diet notwithstanding, I ordered one, pretty much passed up on the pizza bread and potatoes, and enjoyed the dog, onions, peppers, mustard and ketchup:

(yes, there's a hot dog in there somewhere)

Our last stop is an appropriately raucous and fun place, Manny's Texas Weiners in Union.  It's a fun place in part because owner Manny Niotis is a gregarious, back-slapping host and showman. It's also because he serves up righteously good dogs and a huge menu of breakfast, lunch and dinner favorites.  The pick here is the classic texas weiner, with mustard, onions and "Greek sauce", an earthy, dark, spicy ground meat sauce with noticeable clove, cinnamon and nutmeg in the mix, in the traditional Greek sauce tradition. "We open in 1979, and we've been busy since then," Manny told us as he greeted us in the parking lot of his busy restaurant.  No doubt due in great part  to this terrific dog:

So I've been on 5 of these NJ Hot Dog Tours, and this was the first one on which I didn't feel stuffed, bloated or otherwise uncomfortable.  I avoided as much bun as possible at each stop, drank water instead of any beer (I had permission from my doctor and dietician to eat on the Tour, but had to pick my indulgance; it was a hot dog tour after all), and didn't finish but a couple of dogs.  We also only hot 6 stops; previously we had hit as many as 8.

But it was great fun, in no small part to Benzee and Fox, who timed and mapped the Tour flawlessly, briefed us on the busses about our choices at each stop,and kept an even keel and good humor from start to finish.

Next year's Tour has already been scheduled: September 21, 2013. You should be a part of this bunch next year. You'll have a blast.

47 POUNDS!

I thought a lot about what to cover when I returned to blogging after an over 2 months absence. A vacation in the US Virgin Islands with the kids that included the impeccable beaches of St John?  Beers for my birthday at the St John's Brewers brewpub, the only decent brewpub in the Caribbean? Visiting the oldest active synagogue in the Western Hemisphere on St Thomas of all places?? Swimming all summer with the kids in the sweltering heat?  My ever expanding list of ailments and afflictions? I have to admit, none of that got my journalistic juices flowing.

But this week's haul from the Honey Brook Organic Farm caught my attention. The photo above shows you just the tomato portion of this week's share. That's 47 POUNDS of tomatoes in huge baskets and bowls on my kitchen counter, the single largest take-home of tomatoes we've had in the 7 years we've belonged to the Farm. In the foreground are two bowls of just heirloom varieties, in shades of green, purple, yellow, orange and dark pink. The background bowl and basket hold 30 lobs of "regular" and sauce tomatoes.

Yes, there will be ample amounts of insalata caprese  served at Casa Lawrenceville this week and next.and gallons of  fresh tomato sauce to be made.  And I suspect there will tons more tomatoes still to be shared in the coming weeks.

I better get to work. First up: some stuffed red peppers with fresh tomato sauce for dinner!

It's good to be back.

SUMMER HOURS


Sweet Jesus, it's been TWO MONTHS since I posted my last entry here.

We have a LOT of catching up to do!

Sorry for the absence.

The Mom and Pop

I've met a lot of successful small business people in my day, and I'll bet they held this belief in one form or another as they operated their business.  The above statement comes from Louie Desiato, chef/owner/winemaker of Mamma D's restaurant and winery in Pipersville, PA, whom I had the pleasure of interviewing last week for an article I'm working on.  Louie is the textbook definition of ebullient, and the embodiment of the tirelessly ambitious entrepreneur.

He runs one hell of a terrific Italian restaurant (get the meatball sliders and the gnocchi) and winery and is now venturing into the world of hard cider making.  And like everything he does, he seems to pour his heart and soul into it, and he makes one HELL of a cider.

Louie posted the above on his Facebook page, and I felt compelled to share it. Makes you want to visit his place every week. You should.

Fratelli Desiato Vineyards
 Mamma D's Restaurant 
6637 Easton Road 
Pipersville, PA 
215-766-9468

GETCHA BEER ON!

The most joyous time of the year for beer aficionados arrives in Philadelphia in less than 24 hours. Tomorrow marks the beginning of the 5th Annual Philly Beer Week, a 10-day celebration of the city's rich diversity and rampant enthusiasm for the brewer's art. Excitement for this year's festival has been building for weeks, thanks to the well-timed pre-publicity and very active presence of the participants and the organizers of PBW.


Several helpful and terrifically useful articles dropped in the Philly papers today, the best by Don Russell (aka "Joe Sixpack" in the Philadelphia Daily News), who also acts as Executive Director for PBW, full of tips and suggestions for maximum enjoyment of the week's festivities. The Inquirer's Craig Laban chimes in with a look on the rapidly growing beer scene and the several small breweries and brewpubs opening in the 'burbs.

But I'll tell you what my main resource for scoping out the what's-what of PBW will be: Jared Littman's brilliantly ambitious website PhillyTapFinder.com, where Littman will track - and preview - the tap offerings for every participating bar and  restaurant during the festival. Not only is the website easy to navigate, it's very easy to read, even on a smartphone (which may become a factor the further one explores each day's events).


Here is how Littman himself describes his format for Philly beer Week:

This is what we're going to do:   During Philly Beer Week, from June 1-10, we are going to post the tap lists for the current  and following day right here -- BOOKMARK THIS PAGE!  We are also going to post lists for particularly appealing future events.  To make this service even more valuable, we have included the descriptions of the beers (where available) so that you know what these new beers are.  We already posted a whole bunch of tap lists for June 1 and June 2, and we will post more everyday so please check back.  Please like us on Facebook, follow us on Twitter, and check out our blog, "Tap Talk," where we will be highlighting exceptional tap lists and events.

I think this website will make for a stress-free week of beer in and around Philly.  Now all that remains is the drinking--and sheer enjoyment--of the best beer-drinking city in America.  I hope I'll see you out there. Let's enjoy a few together!

Green, Green...

The most beautiful words of the Spring: "the farm in Pennington is now open."

And with that, the farm season at the Honey Brook Organic Farm in Pennington has begun. Our first pickup for this year was Sunday, and it was an impressive first day haul: a huge bunch of leeks, 4 enormous heads of curly green leaf lettuce in shades of deep green and chartreuse, a pound of baby bok choy, a pound of dark green, spicy arugula and SIX pounds of spinach.

Do you have any idea how much SIX pounds of spinach can be?

The farm was buzzing with eager members when we arrived on Sunday after church, everyone standing in line to sign in for the season and receive their fluorescent pink ID badges, milling around the counters filled with all of the greens we'd be taking home that day, kids playing out on the lawn under the giant gnarled tree and on its branches. It was a great first day, bursting with enthusiasm.

When I got home I bagged everything as quickly as possible for the fridges, trimmed and julienned the leeks for quick grilling next to the London broil I planned for dinner. Much of the leeks ended up sprinkled atop mashed potatoes, a nice little garnish. One of the giant heads of lettuce and a big fistful of arugula made more than enough salad for dinner, along with rainbow grape tomatoes, cucumbers, radishes and chick peas.

On Monday, I knew I had to start utilizing the spinach and searched online for a recipe for "chicken and spinach". Here's what I selected, from Food.com:


Bowties with Chicken and Spinach

Ingredients:

Servings:

  6   6

6-8

Units: US | Metric

• 16 ounces bow tie pasta
• 1 lb chicken breast, cut into bite-sized pieces
• 3 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 small onion, chopped
• 1 cup chopped red pepper
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 teaspoon salt
• pepper, to taste
• 1 cup chicken broth
• 1/2 lb spinach, rinsed and chopped
• 1/4 cup freshly grated parmesan cheese
• 2 tablespoons chopped parsley

Directions:

1. 1
   Boil the pasta until done.
2. 2
   Meanwhile, cook the chicken in oil over medium-high heat.
3. 3
   Add the onion, red pepper, garlic, salt, and pepper with the chicken.
4. 4
   Continue to cook and stir 5-7 minutes until chicken is almost cooked through.
5. 5
   Add the broth and spinach then cook until spinach is wilted and chicken is done.
6. 6
   Combine chicken mixture with hot drained pasta and toss well.
7. 7
   Top with cheese and parsley then serve.
   
   
   
   
   
   
   It turned out to be a great recipe. I had twice the amount of boneless chicken breast, so I just doubled up all of the ingredients.  Sophie wisely chose tomato-carrot farfalle, which we had on hand in the pantry, for the bowtie pasta and it really made for an attractive dish.  I amped up the garlic a bit, and used about a pound and a half of the spinach. Simple, full of spring/summer flavors, and it used a quarter of the spinach. Now I need to figure out what to do with the rest of the spinach.
   
   
   Any ideas?