November 2007 Archives

Since few of us live on farms any more, less of us know what our food looks like. I mean in the ground, not on the plate. Brussels sprouts make a good example. Since they are related to cabbage, and cabbage grows close to the ground, one cabbage per plant, you might think that a garden of Brussels sprouts might look like a Liliputian cabbage garden, and would be a royal pain to harvest. Actually, now that you've seen the picture at the left (click for a pop up larger version), you know that the sprouts grow on the trunk of a three or so foot high plant, and that harvesting only requires removing them from the stalk/trunk.

Another thing we miss by not wandering around in the Brussels sprout patch, is the knowledge that these plants have enormous leaves, rather like those of a fig tree. Even though the Iacopi Farms stand at the Saturday Ferry Plaza Farmer's Market offers Brussels sprouts in season, and although they often display the stalk with the sprouts and leaves, I had never taken note of the leaves until yesterday. I overheard Chris Consentino (chef at Incanto), who was holding a stalk replete with leaves and explaining to a companion how he was hoping to get a supply of the leaves because they would be delicious with some olive oil and anchovies. (!) This had never occurred to me, which probably explains why he is a chef and I'm wasting part of my Sunday afternoon writing about overheard conversations.

Being somewhat obsessed with wine, I attend tastings held by three groups of folks. One of these groups holds two tastings a month with one being a structured, thematic, educational tasting, and the other one consisting of a Bring Your Own Bottle blind tasting. These two wines were my contributions to our last event.

2006 Clos Roche Blanche Touraine L'Arpent Rouge - France, Loire Valley, Touraine (11/21/2007)
Here's something new, a wine made from Pineau d'Aunis, sometimes called Chenin Noir. Light red/purple ruby color, quite light and translucent with marked thinning towards clear at the edge; remarkable looking, really. Nose of ripe fruit, brambles and dust. Medium plus body. Tastes a bit sweet and spicy, like a Beaujolais mixed with Chinese five-spice powder. Medium finish with dusty, sweet tannins and a spicy aftertaste, like an Asian candy. An interesting wine, which will be too sweet and lacking in acid for Burgundy aficionados, and a little too weird for the Beaujolais crowd. But, adventurous souls wanting a different wine for sipping on the patio on warm summer nights will be pleased. (86 pts.)

2005 Joseph Swan Vineyards Cotes du Rosa - USA, California, Sonoma County, Russian River Valley (11/21/2007)
At the winery they play a game when they pour this wine. You are told it is made from a southern Rhone varietal, and then you have to guess. If you guess Carignan(e), you guess right. The color is a dark ruby red but it isn't quite opaque. Nose shows earth and a touch of petrol and acid floating above ripe fruit that hints at California. The wine has a medium-minus body, stern tannins with a touch of bitterness and is strongly acidic. The finish is predominately tannins and acid. Because of its earthiness and relatively high acid, this wine would be easy to mistake for a French effort. The Oxford Companion to Wine says that carignan is is high in acid, tannin, color, and bitterness, but low in finesse and charm, which makes it unsuitable for early consumption and unworthy of aging. This wine is not that bad, but my take is that it is better at providing a chance to taste a wine made only from carignane than at providing real pleasure. (85 pts.)

No one did very well in figuring out what these were, and I promised to behave myself next time.

One of the vendors at the local Farmer's market had some nice butternut squash last week, so I made the following soup. I elected to not use a recipe that roasts the squash because I wanted to avoid the resulting carmelization which leads to sweeter squash soup.

2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1/2 cup diced onion
1/4 cup diced celery
1/4 cup diced carrot
Nutmeg, salt and freshly ground black pepper
About 4 cups chicken stock
One butternut squash, peeled, seeded and cubed (1-inch chunks)

Heat olive oil in large pot, add onion, celery and carrot and cook until onion is translucent. Add squash and stock. Bring to a simmer and cook until squash is tender. Use a blender and puree the soup in batches until it is completely smooth. Return blended soup to pot. Stir and season with nutmeg, salt, and pepper. Serve as is, or get fancy and stir in some mascarpone cheese or crème fraîche as a garnish.

The hardest part about this recipe is peeling the raw squash (hmmm, maybe that's why people roast it). The chicken stock, was made from a Thomas Keller recipe and used chicken feet. which I'm sure made a big difference (it sure made a difference in time)!

Of course, as soon as this was done, Indian Summer arrived here in San Francisco, and barbecuing while drinking chilled rosé wine seemed top of mind instead of eating winter squash soup, but things will get back to normal soon enough.