I had a revelation (no not in the biblical sense — you have to be careful what you say this time of year — ) rather a seasoning one for cooking one of the most glorious meals of the season.  I recall that I saw some cooking show that touted the best seasoning for prime rib was a rather simple one, and I’m a sucker for easy.  Four little ingredients to season up that chunk-o-meat.

1. Salt
2. Fresh Cracked Black Pepper
3. Garlic
4. Thyme

Wow, fortunately I have been thinking about cooking this roast beast for many months and started up a nice little herb garden including that little leaved wonder, thyme.

Additionally I am lucky enough to have a great grocer in town, Oliver’s Market, with whom I placed an order for a five-bone prime rib last week.  I awoke this morning with visions of (no not sugar plums) but juicy, succulent, and mouth-watering beef!  I reread the chapter in “Keys to Good Cooking, A Guide to Making the Best of Foods and Recipes” by Harold McGee on Meat.  A very good book, not a recipe book, but a great reference in best practices on cooking in general.  I highly recommend anyone who enjoys cooking pick this up!  Anyhow, back to the beef…

My roast was delivered home by “the wife” at around 10:45 am and I immediately began the preparation.  The butcher is awesome, the bone is already cut nearly through, but still attached and the roast is already tied.  I have milled about 3 tablespoons of black pepper which I rub over the entirety of the roast.  I have also cut a large bunch of fresh thyme from my herb garden and have separated out the leaves from the stems.  I then rub about 5 tablespoons of kosher salt all over the roast.  Now, the revelation…

Last time I prepared one of these I think I just used some oil and rubbed the thyme leaves on the roast with the oil to afix them to the roast.  This time, I thought, why not make some paste with the thyme and garlic.  So I cut up a cube of butter, placed three large cloves of garlic and the thyme into the mixer and blended them all together until it became a smooth paste.  It was almost like icing a meat cake!

Into the oven which was pre-heated to 525F for a quick searing (NOTE:  I wasn’t really thinking and didn’t have the hood fan blowing so the damn smoke detectors started screaming about 5 minutes after starting).  After searing for about 10 minuted, I turned the beast down to 250 and will cook it 30 minutes per pound (11 x 30 = about 5 hours).  I’ll keep tabs on the internal temperature of the meat and pull it out at about 125 to 130 degrees Fahrenheit, which should leave me a great medium-rare roast!

Prime Rib slow roasting

I’ll report back on how well this endeavor turned out and update you on the wine pairing (yet to be determined, but I’m thinking Stags Leap Cab for me) let the uninterested drink the cheap plonk.

Merry Christmas to All, and to all a sharp knife!

NorcalWingman

So it is on to the Seven non-vintage Red wine of Spain. This box of wine is a blend of, you guessed it, seven varietals including 24% Shiraz, 24% Cab, 11% Garnacha, 11% Graciano, 10% Tempranillo, 10% Merlot, and 10% Petit Verdot. If you are after your century club, this may help…

Anyhow, this is a red with a baked/cooked fruit character, not too bad and definitely a valid second bottle if you are trying to save the good stuff or have a house full of people who wouldn’t differentiate a great bottle with a handle of Gallo.

Read that last part, good for large family gatherings that tend to happen around this time of year… Get my drift?

Anyhow, I wish you all the best and happiest of holidays! Merry Christmas and Happy New Year from the NorCalWingman!

Check it out

I got an extra pumpkin this year when we gathered up our annual haul for the “pumpkin hunt.”  It was a Cinderella, which apparently is one of the better cooking gourds.

I am pretty excited to get this thing gutted up and roasted.  I am dying to have a really good, homemade pumpkin pie, amongst other things I’m sure I’ll be making from the puree of pumpkin.  I also took the time to harvest some of the seeds, I’m thinking this pumpkin has some good ass genes and I want a repeat performance next year!

Anyhow, I’ve been absent due to life (school, work, kid, etc… etc… etc…)  School is done for the semester in a week or so and I’ll be graduating this upcoming Spring, so hopefully the time between posts won’t be counted in months, rather in days.

Happy Holidays everyone

NorcalWingman

I’ve been trying, with each batch of chili I make, to increase the heat by adding more and different peppers.  I know I could cheat by adding hot sauce of various makes just to “add heat,” but I think that when you kick up the fire that way you really sacrifice flavor.  So, I’ve kept chasing the perfect level of pain through pepper additions.

Pepper Power

Additionally this year, I was lucky enough to have our good friends provide the beef for this chili.  My buddy Zippy (yep, that’s his name people), bought a whole beef earlier this year and still had a few roasts left over so he got me a 2.6 lb cross-rib roast.  Now, just to let you know, I’ve had a few other tastes of this beef (named Durham) and it’s been some of the most flavorful and yummy I’ve ever had.

With all this going for me, here’s the recipe:

Ingredients:
2.5 – 3.0 Lbs. Beef Roast
1 whole, large white Onion
3-4 cloves garlic (about 4 Tblspn, finely chopped)
3 Serano Peppers
2 Jalapeno Peppers
2 Fresno Peppers
2 Habanero Peppers
1 Large Red Bell Pepper
1 Large Green Bell Pepper
5-6 Fresh or Frozen Tomatoes (I used some watermelon heirlooms frozen from last summer)
1/2 Cup Whiskey (I chose Gentleman Jack)
EVOO
2 24oz. Cans of Fire-Roasted Stewed Tomatos
10oz./each Dried Beans (White, Black, Kidney)

Spices/Seasonings:
Kosher Salt
Black Pepper
Cayenne
Ancho Chili Powder
Chipotle Chili Powder
Chili Powder
Smoked Paprika
Cumin
Coriander
Oregano

In a crock pot, large enough to hold all of this, open the cans of stewed tomatoes and start cooking.  Put crock pot on low.  First thing is to get the meat ready.  Pat roast dry with paper towels and cut into 1cm/1cm cubes, place into a glass/non-reactive bowl, once the bowl is half-full, season beef with all off the spices/seasonings (best guess or according to your tastes) continue cutting meat and once finished season beef again.

Finely chop up the garlic.  In a large skillet 12″ or bigger, heat olive oil to medium-high heat and add beef and some of the chopped garlic.  NOTE:  This will probably take 2 or 3 batches depending on your skillet/stove.  Once beef is in skillet, chop the 3 serano peppers into little rings (don’t worry about de-seeding), take a portion of the seranos and place into skillet with beef.

As the beef starts to brown take a portion of the whiskey and add to the skillet (carefully!).  I use a lighter to ignite the alcohol and cook it off.  Once fully cooked place beef into the crock pot, repeat for as many times as necessary to cook all of the meat.

The rest is super simple, Chop and de-seed the remaining peppers and add to the crock pot.  I dice some of the jalapeno and make some “nacho rings” but chop the others more finely.  I chop the bell peppers and onion rather large.

A note on the beans.  I pre-prepared the beans before beginning my chili.  I do not soak them overnight or anything.  I do however put them in a large stock pot with salted water, bring to a boil and let sit one hour.  I had done this a week prior for my “test batch” and froze the unused portion of beans for use in this chili.

The crock pot really does the rest.  I set my heat on low and set to cook for 8 hours. Test your chili’s flavor while cooking and add spices and seasoning as needed.  I usually add more cumin and salt at some point.

Now, some of you probably know what I’m about to say, but it bears repeating.  Soups, chilis and other things, while tasty after cooking for this long, really develop their best flavor after cooling down and being reheated.  So, I planned my cooking time into this.  I started my chili in the evening so that it would be finished in the morning and I could turn it off and put it into the fridge to cool, then be reheated and perfectly ready for competition.  Please consider this when preparing yours.

There are many “condiments” that I would recommend with chili, included in those are: Sour Cream, Shredded Cheese, Nacho Rings, Chopped onion (red or white) and most importantly Corn bread!

I was exceptionally pleased with this batch, after cooling and reheating it maintained a very good “heat” from the peppers and the flavor was great.

Cheers,
Norcalwingman

Now I know that it may seem unoriginal, uninspired and otherwise rote, but Fillet Mignon really does make a great dinner on Valentines day.

I’m lucky enough (as I’ve mentioned on several previous occasions) I have a killer market, with an outstanding butcher.  It just so happens that I got a call from “the wife” today prior to leaving the office that I should swing by the store on the way home to pick up something for dinner.  Without to much grousing, I agreed and on my way home stopped in at our Oliver’s Market.  Fortunately for me, being the day that it is, the best cut of steak was available on sale.  With an ample selection of sizes and ages I picked two of the darkest selections of Fillet, knowing that they would be the most tender and tasty!

So blah blah blah, who cares, right?  Fillet Mignon finished with blue cheese, fresh, thin asparagus, and fingerling potatoes sauteed in evoo, herbs, and garlic.  Yummy, n’uff said.

Here’s the best part, the wine.  We always put off drinking that “good” bottle for that “special” occasion.  So, today has to be one of those, right?

In case you are not interested in saving that special bottle, there’s a cool site you might be interested in: http://www.openthatbottlenight.com/  This is a great idea since we all probably have one, two, ten, twenty really kick-ass bottles that we’re “saving for a special occasion.”  This site says buck that trend and just do it.  I guess they’re the Nike of wine or something!

Okay, back to business.  “The Wife”  picked out a really decent bottle of Geyser Peak Cab, a reserve from 2007, given to her by their winemaker, and  no doubt that it would be a seriously good bottle of grape juice, but…  I wanted to kick it up a notch, Emeril style.  So I put her completely decent selection back, and grabbed a bottle that I’ve been sitting on for quite some time.  A 1999 Alexander Valley, Silver Oak, Cabernet Sauvignon.

So here’s the details:

1999 Silver Oak Cellars, Alexander Valley, Cabernet Sauvignon
12.9 % ABV
100% Cabernet Sauvignon
Release Date: August 1, 2003

Tasting Notes:  Herbaceous and earthy, reminiscent of many AV cabs, great fruit character, a blackberry jam (fresh, not cooked) on the mid-late palate.  Outstanding length of finish.  The color, brick to garnet.  Concentration is noticeable, but for a wine of this age very youthful.  The tannins have softened and mellowed, I would say this wine is in its prime.

Current Retail looks like $100/750ml

Again, we always save these great wines for that special moment, I’m guessing that we should be drinking these way more often!  Make yourself a great dinner and pair it up with the best you’ve got in your cellar.

Cheers and Happy Valentines Day!

Norcalwingman

A 2009 Grauburgunder Steirische Klassik from Neumeister.  This wine is made from an Austrian Pinot Grigio and has been a decent companion to my post Financial Statement Analysis MBA course, paired up with some Sonoma Jack cheese and crackers.

This is a nice light wine that has some Sauv Blanc / Fume Blanc characteristics and is a very easy drinking wine.  Easy to open (with it’s screw cap) and easy on the palate.  Nothing too complex here.  The wine was finished in some oak and there is definitely some wood on the nose.  The body of this light wine has a touch more body than that of a stainless-only white.

The details are as follows:
Varietal: Austrian Pinot Grigio
Alcohol: 13%
Wine Area: Südost-Steiermark
I can’t read Austrian, but if you do, check out the producer website here: http://www.neumeister.cc
Online Retail: $18-$24

It’s nice to be back, I’m hoping to get back into a more regular schedule of postings, I look forward to hearing from you.

Cheers,
Norcalwingman

In Vino Veritas: This wine was provided to me as a professional sample