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February 12, 2021January 21, 2021

Valentine’s Day origin hardly romantic

How did our current Valentine’s Day celebration come about? As with many of our favorite holidays, there are dark and murky tales surrounding its origins.

Not-so-lovely beginnings

One school of thought is that the Valentine’s Day holiday originated with the Roman fest of Lupercalia, held February 13 – 15, which included fertility rites.

Another possible explanation is that Roman Emperor Claudius II executed two men, both named Valentine, on February 14th back in
different years during the 3rd century. The martyred men were recognized by the Catholic Church with sainthood and thus the recognition of St. Valentine’s Day.

Yet another interpretation says that a jailed priest named Valentine was in love with his jailor’s daughter, and sent her a letter before he was beheaded. The Feast of Saint Valentine was recognized by Pope Gelasius in 496 A.D.

Through the years, Valentine’s Day evolved into a celebration
of love. The first mention of this is in Chaucer’s late 14th century poem, “The Parliament of Fowls.” Shakespeare mentions St. Valentine’s Day in A Midsummer’s Night’s Dream and Hamlet.

Heartfelt cards

While Valentine’s Day cards were previously imported from Europe, in the mid1800’s, Esther Howland of Worcester, MA started designing and selling Valentines domestically, and is credited with starting the Valentine’s Day card industry in the United States.

By the late 1800s, cards were mass-produced, and by 1916, Hallmark began producing them. According to the Greeting Card
Association, with nearly 150 million Valentine’s cards sent each year — not including kids’ classroom cards—it’s the second largest card-giving occasion, Christmas ranking number one.

Cupid

Perhaps you are familiar with Sam Cooke’s 1961 hit, “Cupid,” which begins:

“Cupid, draw back your bow And let your arrow go Straight to my lover’s heart for me…”

Bows, arrows, and a flying cherub, how did they become symbols of Valentine’s Day?

Cupid is known as the god of affection. In Greek mythology,
he was known as Eros, the son of Aphrodite, the goddess of love and beauty. In Roman mythology, he was the son of her counterpart, Venus, but in a chubby- cheeked, child-like form.

While our Valentine depiction of him is shooting arrows to pierce the heart and make someone fall in love, legend has it he might carry two arrows, one golden arrow with a sharp tip to make people
fall in love, the other a blunt lead arrow to make someone fall out of love. Ouch!

Those sweet Valentine’s Day treats
Heart-shaped boxes of chocolate, or pink and red M&Ms, are among the most popular candies to give and get for Valentine’s Day, but what about those little candy hearts or conversation hearts, as
they’re known?

Their story dates back to 1847, to Boston pharmacist Oliver Chase’s candy machine invention that rolled lozenge dough into wafers, ultimately known as Necco wafers (an acronym for the New England Confectionary Company).

Supposedly inspired by the growing market for Valentines, in 1866, his brother, using vegetable dye, found a way to print words on candy. The iconic little heart shapes weren’t made until 1902, however.

Wishing you a sweet Valentine’s Day!

December 16, 2020December 3, 2020

Yes, there are decent sweet wines

Most wine aficionados, geeks, and the pinky lifters look at sweet wines as “syrupy sweet little nonentities” that should not be taken seriously and dismiss them as undrinkable trash. Unfortunately, in some cases, they happen to be right. This country, whose citizens are known to have a monstrous sweet tooth, has been subjected to some incredibly poor sweet wines that have nothing at all to offer them except being an inexpensive, slightly alcoholic, grape flavored, soda pop without the bubbles.

Enter Bordeaux France, the ancestral home of many of the world’s fi nest wines, some of these being sweet wines. These wines are so popular in Europe (more specifically in Russia) that we rarely see them here. Sweet wines, often called Dessert Wines, display all of the charm and character that made the classical Bordeaux wines famous and are once again appearing on our shores. Might I suggest that we drop our sweet win prejudice and give these wines a fair trial?

Just FYI, Château d’Yquem, a Bordeaux sweet wine, was awarded the highest rating a Bordeaux wine can achieve, Premier Cru Supérieur, and sells for $250+ a bottle.

Let’s start by stating one very important point: it is ILLEGAL in every wine producing country of the world to add sugar to wine to sweeten it or increase its alcohol content; in ancient Germany, the penalty was death. Wines are made sweet in Bordeaux when growers take the gamble of losing their entire crop to frost or disease and leave the grapes on the vine long enough to create natural sugars enhanced by a good fungus called botrytis cinerea. The botrytis not only enhances the grape sugars but also adds its desirable and distinctive flavor and aroma to the finished wine.

2015 Château Dauphiné Rondillon 750 ml ($42).
This wine, as do all of the Bordeaux sweet wines, displays a golden color that is almost hypnotizing and eagerly invites the first sip. The aroma is outstanding, displaying wildflowers, citrus, and summer stone fruits. On the palate, the wine presents peaches, honey, crème brûlée, tangerine, and the unmistakably pleasant flavor from the botrytis. These all continue to the finish where they seem to last indefinitely. This is a prime example of a Bordeaux sweetie and may change your mind about sweet wines forever.

2019 Château La Hargue 375 ml ($15).

This wine presents a brilliant golden color and an attractive aroma of exotic fruit, citrus, and vanilla. The aroma proceeds nonstop to the flavor, where it is enhanced by the sweetness. The finish will impress you with its extraordinary length. If you believe that all sweet wines taste the same, the 2019 Château La Hargue will change your mind.

2018 Château Tanesse Palissades 375 ml ($15).

Another melody of a similar tune, however, this one has incorporated the Muscadelle grape into the blend for added interest, depth, and color. This is truly a summer wine as it very prominently displays the aromas of summer flowers and the light-colored summer fruits. There are hints of citrus, such as tangerine and grapefruit, which carry on to the flavor and then transition to a fresh and fruity, almost overpowering, finish. This wine could be considered the perfect ambassador for sweet Bordeaux wines.

Château la Rame 750 ml ($35).

This wine is the most kaleidoscopic of the quartet, presenting an ever changing experience. Here too, the wine shares similar flavors and aromas to all Bordeaux sweet wines but presents its flavors in a different order, making for even greater interest. It is the summer fruits that take preference over the floral aromas. These fruits carry through to the flavor and are amplified in the finish. This wine, like all of the others presented here, can prove to be the perfect end to a perfect meal.

December 2, 2020December 4, 2020

Holiday treats, savory and sweet

Holiday and New Year celebrations may be more restrained this year but you can still enjoy a treat or two, savory or sweet.

One of my favorites is rumaki. It’s a combination of chicken livers, bacon, and water chestnuts marinated in a soy, brown sugar, and garlic sauce with fresh ginger.

I know, I know. Many of you are already making a face at the word, liver. But just give this a try. In all my years of cooking and catering, rumaki was always a favorite among my clients.

My mother would make it New Year’s Eve if they were entertaining. My sister and I weren’t invited to the actual celebration, but a special plate of appetizers was always prepared for us.

Rumaki
1 lb. chicken livers, deveined and fat particles cut off , cut into 1” pieces
1 lb. good quality bacon, sliced in half length wise
2 cans whole water chestnuts. Cut each chestnut into half rounds
1 cup soy sauce
1⁄2 cup brown sugar
3 cloves garlic, minced through a garlic press
1⁄4 cup dry white wine ginger. If using whole, peel a piece about 1⁄2” in length and cut that into 4 pieces. If using ground, about 1⁄2 teaspoon.
Round, wooden toothpicks
Frilly toothpicks for presentation

Lay out each bacon slice onto a wooden board. You may have to do this more than once, depending on the size of your cutting board.

Starting at the bottom of the piece of bacon, place one water chestnut. On top of that add a piece of liver.

Using a toothpick, start at the end of the bacon, just under the chestnut and liver, and begin to roll up the bacon, as tightly as possible. Skewer each piece and set aside.

Combine soy sauce, brown sugar, wine, garlic, and ginger. Mix thoroughly and put into a heavy-duty plastic, sealable bag. Put each piece of rumaki into soy mixture and seal the bag.

Marinate at least six hours to overnight. I usually always do the overnight method. That way they are ready to go into the oven at any moment.

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Line a sheet pan with foil. This just helps with clean-up.

Bake for 35 to 40 minutes. You want the bacon to cook completely. At this point, I exchange the toothpicks for the frilly ones and plate. Some people heat the soy mixture to a boiling point and serve alongside the rumaki. Personally, I think they have lots of flavor as is.

Moving on, desserts were seldom on our menu growing up. I’m not sure why, except dessert, unlike other foods, is an exact science. You can’t just throw anything you want into desserts because it will change the texture and cooking time.

However, as I got into my catering career, I realized that dessert was always on the menu. Most of my customers would ask me to make desserts that they didn’t normally make themselves. Desserts require time and attention. I began experimenting, on my family of course (husband and two daughters) and they were always willing tasters. Here’s one of their favorites.

Apple Cream Cheese Tart
(For the crust)
1 1⁄4 cups all-purpose fl our
1 1⁄2 sticks unsalted butter
1/3 cup sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla
(For the apples)
3 Granny Smith apples
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
3 tablespoons Cointreau
1⁄4 cup sugar
2 to 3 teaspoons cinnamon
(Cream-cheese filling)
8 oz. cream cheese, softened
1⁄2 cup sugar
1 large egg
2 teaspoons vanilla
Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees
9, or 10, inch tart pan with removable bottom

Place butter, flour, sugar, and vanilla into a food processor and process until completely combined. Remove and wrap in plastic wrap while you mix the apples. Don’t clean the processor. In a large bowl, combine sugar, cinnamon, Cointreau, and lemon juice.

In a large bowl, combine sugar, cinnamon, Cointreau, and lemon juice. Peel, core, and slice apples thin and add to cinnamon mixture. Continue until all apples are done. Mix apples thoroughly with cinnamon mixture.

Take the pastry out of the refrigerator, and by using your hands, place pieces of dough over the tart pan. Begin to press down on dough until the entire bottom of tart pan is covered. I usually go up the sides as well.

Mix the cream cheese, egg, sugar, and vanilla in the processor and process until completely combined.

Spread the cream cheese mixture over the entire pastry.

Begin, on the outer edge, to place apple slices. After you have the first row placed, begin the next layer and start again where the apples meet. You want the apples to look pretty. Continue until you reach the center. I will usually add some of the apple juice mixture. You will probably have apple slices left. Enjoy!

Bake tart for 35 to 45 minutes. I usually put the tart pan into a larger pan to catch any juices. You want the tart to look beautifully golden. Take out and cool slightly.

Melt apricot or peach jam along with some Cointreau. Bring to a boil and brush the whole tart with the apricot glaze.

Once the tart is cool enough to touch, I begin to play with removing it from the bottom. Sometimes it will get stuck in places, but usually comes out easily. Place the tart, with bottom attached, onto a platter to serve.

October 2, 2020October 8, 2020

My ‘aha’ moment with Ram’s Gate

It all began with an email from Ram’s Gate Winery announcing the updating and upgrading of their label and website, which proved about as exciting as an email announcing national rutabaga day. (Editor’s note: I resemble that remark.) There was, however, some interest in the name Ram’s Gate Winery as it was a name I had never encountered. Some judicious research turned a question into one of those very pleasant “aha” moments.

Ram’s Gate Winery is located in the Carneros district of Sonoma County California, the place where some of the world’s finest grapes are grown. As you can well imagine, that piqued my interest. I proceeded to order some of their wine and learned that I had missed a winery that, without much fanfare, was producing excellent quality, and not simply “off the shelf” wine, but rather classical art in liquid form.

Ram’s Gate 2019 Rosé ($38). This pink wine captures all of the flavor and aroma nuances of the Pinot Noir grape and then wraps them in the free and open floral style of a rosé. Made from 90% Pinot Noir and 10% Grenache, this wine displays an aroma that will delight the senses as the flavor dances across the palate. Strawberries, raspberries, and pomegranates abound in the aroma while it is citrus which captivates the tongue.

Ram’s Gate Sauvignon Blanc 2019 ($38). Sauvignon Blanc is brought to new heights of excellence in this offering from Ram’s Gate. This wine accentuates all the fruit flavors rarely found in some of the current varieties. Gone are the overpowering grassy flavors and aromas that have always been associated with this wine, and in place are the rich fruit-tastes of nectarine, melon, and mandarin orange. Oak and vanilla are also present as under-flavors as they add their individual charm. If you have tried Sauvignon Blanc in the past and had been turned off by the grassy and vegetative aromas and flavors, try this wine; it is totally different and totally exquisite.

Ram’s Gate 2019 Pinot Blanc ($38). The Pinot Blanc grape has seen little service in the United States. One sip of the Ram’s Gate 2019 Pinot Blanc will have you scratching your head in wonderment as to why this delightful wine has been overlooked. The wine’s calling card is its rich apple, peach, and melon aroma. The flavor mirrors its aroma with a suggestion of honey and a hint of oak sitting gracefully in the background. This is an excellent wine that, because of its rarity, should be sought out and sampled.

Ram’s Gate 2017 Sonoma Coast Pinot Noir ($48). This wine is a true child of California and reflects the fine hand of Ram’s Gate vintners; it opens with the harmonious aroma of currents, cherries, red berries, and pomegranates, accompanied by a hint of incense in the background. The flavor incorporates the elements of the aroma and merges them with blackberries, blueberries, vanilla, and oak, finishing with a fruity and full experience. I cannot say enough about this wine, nor heap enough superlatives. It is a pure delight and can accompany almost everything. If you miss this wine, you will have missed one of the great joys in the wine world.

Ram’s Gate 2016 Hyde Vineyard Syrah ($70). This wine takes the Syrah grape to new heights and what a “wow” wine it is. Deep and dark in color, it captures the heart and soul of the Syrah grape and all that it offers. Each element making up this wine is massive; it displays a rich and inviting black cherry, plum, blackberry, and coffee aroma. The flavor is expansive and enjoyable, featuring blackberry, coffee, and spice before transitioning to a fruity finish hat lingers on the palate for a very long time. This is very big in all dimensions; however, I can assure you that I put this wine in the “money well spent” category.

By Bennet Bodenstein