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Cecchi's Vermentino--It's a Winner

If the discovery of a new dish does a lot for the world, what about the discovery of a new wine? 

My world was certainly brightened by a Vermentino from Cecchi Family Estates in Tuscany. Dry, bright and fresh with a touch of minerality, it's perfect for the food I like to eat-- Indian, Thai, Mexican and Middle Eastern.

The wine is Cecchi La Mora Vermentino Maremma DOC 2016 (in the glass at the front). The price is, amazingly, $15 or less. Vermentino isn't rare. It's one of the most important grapes in Italy, said Andrea Cecchi (at the top) during a lunch and tasting at Cecconi's West Hollywood. Vermentino is planted in California too.

The Cecchi wine stands out because it comes from a newer appellation, Maremma Toscana. Maremma was once considered wild and unruly, home to wild horses, Cecchi said. On the Mediterranean coast where the climate is dry, warm and windy, Maremma has been discovered as a wine area, and Cecchi sees great potential there.

The Cecchi Vermentino honors the region's horsey tradition with the name La Mora, which means female horse, and by showing a horse on the label (above). The wine is 100% Vermentino and was fermented in stainless steel.

The Cecchi family entered the wine business in 1893 and now has five estates, three of them with restaurants. At the Maremma estate, Val delle Rose, the restaurant serves local dishes such as tortello (a stuffed pasta) with ricotta and spinach, wild boar stew, osso buco and tagliatelle with meat sauce. 

Vermentino "is fantastic with fish dishes," Cecchi said. And for lunch we tasted it with calamari fritti with lemon and chili aioli (above).

And with organic salmon with caponata and aged balsamic, accompanied by baby broccoli (above).

The Vermentino even stood up to the acidic dressing on a first-course salad (above).

I could drink this Vermentino every day, but Cecchi thinks differently. "For me, every day wine is red," he said. His choice is the Cecchi Storia di Famigilia Chianti Classico DOCG 2014. Aged eight months in barrels and more than a year in bottles, it is 95% Sangiovese plus 5% Colorino Toscana, a red grape used to impart color.

Rainfall in Tuscany turned 2014 into a bad vintage, Cecchi said, requiring careful selection of grapes to produce this wine.  The alcohol content is 13%. The price is $21. 

Next Cecchi poured the elegant Cecchi Riserva di Famiglia Chianti Classico Riserva DOCG 2013, $41. Deeper in color than the Storia di Famigilia, it is 90% Sangiovese and 10% Cabernet Sauvignon. It's a beautiful, refined, dark cherry-red wine.

And then came the super Tuscan Coevo 2011, $106, which Cecchi is drinking in the photo. Coevo, meaning contemporary, is a fit name for this stylish blend of grapes from two areas. The composition is Sangiovese and Cabernet Sauvignon from Chianti, and Merlot and Petit Verdot from Maremma, Cecchi said.

Each varietal was fermented separately. The wine was then aged in oak for 18 months and in the bottle for 12 months. The alcohol content is 13.5%. 

Cecchi Family Estates is a large producer--70 million bottles a year. In addition to winery restaurants, the company plans to open a cooking school, but that won't be for a couple of years. 

Try Kumquats in Your Cocktails

Don't put that same old red cherry into your Manhattan, Old Fashioned or lemonade.

Instead, go bold with kumquats, bright orange, syrupy preserved kumquats that you can make yourself.

Kumquats are in season now, so pick up a few, or a lot--but hurry, because the season ends soon. Then set aside a few minutes for this easy task.

First, cut the washed kumquats in half and take out any seeds--there aren't many, and it doesn't matter if you miss a few. Then cook the quats in sugar syrup until the syrup is as thick as you like. Thin syrup makes a tangy drink sweetener. Thick is good too, as it will coat the fruit more--thickly.

Spoon the kumquats into jars and store them in the refrigerator. A big batch will last until kumquats are in season again.

SWEET PRESERVED KUMQUATS

1 (8-ounce) carton kumquats, about 1 1/2 cups
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1 cup water

Wash the kumquats well. Remove any stems. Cut the kumquats in half lengthwise and remove any visible seeds. 

Combine the sugar and water in a medium saucepan. Bring to a boil, stirring to dissolve the sugar.

Add the kumquats, bring to a boil and boil gently until the kumquats are cooked and the syrup is as thick as desired, 25 to 30 minutes. 

Spoon into a hot, sterilized 1-pint jar or two smaller jars. Let cool, then cover and store in the refrigerator.

Makes 1 1/4 cups. The recipe can be doubled.

Three High-End Cavas from Codorníu

Spain's cava is a great alternative when you want a sparkling wine that doesn't cost too much.

But not all cavas are cheap.

There are high-end cavas that can offer formidable competition to premium Champagnes. Take, for example, the three presented by Codorníu at a lunch at Ray's and Stark Bar, the restaurant at LACMA.

From the Ars Collecta collection, these cost from $50 to $150. In the middle, at $90, is the stunning Finca La Pleta Gran Reserva Brut 2007, aged on the lees for 90 months. The grapes are Chardonnay, and this was the inaugural vintage.

Those around me at lunch singled it out too. But we probably won't taste it again. Only 300 bottles were made, and two were consumed that day.

The $50 wine, Jaume Codorníu 2012 (above), is lovely too and more widely available. The grapes used are Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and Xarel-lo, each from a different vineyard.  

The same grapes blend in the 456 Gran Reserva Brut 2007, named for the number of vintages since the company started in 1551. Bright and fresh, this is the pinnacle of Cordorníu's cavas, and the price, $150, reflects that. The wine spent 120 months on the lees. Just 1,000 bottles were produced. 


The stellar wines out of the way, it was time for lunch accompanied by three cavas from the Anna de Codorníu collection, each about $15. Anna de Codorníu was an heiress who married Miguel Raventós, a viticulturist, in 1659. Since then, the Raventós family has owned Codorníu.

First up was the Blanc de Blancs Reserva, 70% Chardonnay blended with Parellada, Macabeo and Xarel-lo, grapes from the Penedés area. The dish it came with was yellowtail crudo with thin slices of kumquats, red chiles and cucumber aguachile (above).

On the side, there was hot bread to dip in fruity, peppery Mission Valley Arbequina olive oil with balsamic (above)

Chicken breast with English peas was accompanied by the Anna de Codorníu Brut Rosé, made from 70% Pinot Noir and 30% Chardonnay.

Such a pretty rosé deserves an equally pretty bottle (above).

The final wine, Dulce Anna (dulce means sweet), was made with the same grape blend as the Blanc de Blancs, but with much higher residual sugar. It, too, is in a pretty bottle. 

Dulce's companion was a bowlful of passion fruit mousse with honey and lavender ice cream, a beautiful pairing to end the lunch. 

Learning About Thai Hispanic Food

What would you learn to cook in a class about Thai Hispanic food?

Green curry with poblano chiles? Mole with coconut milk? Aguachile decorated with orchids?

None of the above, at least not at the Thai Hispanic class held at Sur La Table by the Royal Thai Consulate-General, Los Angeles. 

Instead, the four-recipe session featured seafood, which is what Latinos adore at Thai restaurants--spicy seafood soups, seafood curries, noodles with seafood and familiar fresh ingredients such as lime juice and hot chiles.

Chef Chaiwatt Siriyarn, who taught the class (at top and above), has spent 32 years studying customer tastes at Marnee, his popular Thai restaurant in San Francisco, and knows well what Latinos like.

The class appeared live on Facebook, translated simultaenously into Spanish by Ben Herrera (at right), head of food service for Huntington Memorial Hospital.  

Students included chefs, bloggers, culinary students and the Thai consul general, Tanee Sangrat (at right).

First they sampled miang kham, a snack of various tidbits wrapped in a leaf (above), and a coconut-coated dessert, khanom thom.

Then Siriyarn demonstrated four dishes and after each joined students at their work stations to assist, taste and comment. 

First he showed a spicy and sour seafood combo soup, called poh tak (above), loaded with fish, bay scallops, mussels, blue crab, shrimp and squid.

Next came stir-fried rice noodles with soy sauce and Chinese broccoli, guay tiaw pad si ew (above). "If you use this recipe, you will make pad si ew a lot better than at most Thai restaurants," Siriyarn promised.

As a change from so much seafood, Siriyarn turned green curry fried rice into a vegetarian dish, substituting cubes of imitation meat for fish, prawns and squid (above).

Last came three flavored fish (above), named not for the seasonings but for the three basic Thai flavors that it incorporates--sweet, sour and salty. It also contains lots of garlic and bits of garlic skin to make the flavor even stronger.

Siriyarn's presentation was heaped with multicolored ingredients. Students turned out appetizing versions too, including this one by Jazz Singsanong of Jitlada Thai restaurant.

Class members flocked to Singsanong's station (above) to taste her renditions of Siriyarn's recipes, which she laced Jitlada style with extra chiles. 

To refresh after the spicy flavors, Siriyarn served a Thai alternative to the Mexican red drink jamaica. Made with dried butterfly pea flowers from Thailand, it's a blue drink that turns purple when citrus juice is added.

Anyone who missed the class can get the recipes in Siriyarn's cookbook, "Thai Cuisine Beyond Curry" (above).

Meanwhile, here is the recipe for three flavored fish. Siriyarn used salmon, but other fish can be substituted, he said.

THREE FLAVORED FISH
Pla Sam Rod
From Chef Chaiwitt Siriyarn

4 tablespoons oil
1 (8- to 10-ounce) piece fish fillet, such as salmon, halibut, red snapper
Rice flour for dusting
2 tablespoons chopped garlic, with some skin left on
2 tablespoons chopped yellow onion
1 tablespoon diced red bell pepper
1 tablespoon diced green bell pepper
1 tablespoon ground pickled chile
1 tablespoon fish sauce
2 to 2 1/2 tablespoons sugar, to taste
1 tablespoon tamarind water
1/4 teaspoon paprika
Pinch sea salt, to taste
Steamed bok choy for garnish
10 pieces deep-fried Thai basil for garnish

Heat 2 tablespoons oil in a non-stick pan over medium high heat. Pat the fish dry. Coat with rice flour. Shake off excess flour and place fish in the pan. Cook, turning once, until the fish is cooked through. 

In another pan, heat the remaining 2 tablespoons oil. Add the garlic and fry until golden brown. Then add the onion, bell peppers and pickled chile and stir until the vegetables are softened. Add the fish sauce, sugar, tamarind water, paprika and salt. Cook until the sauce is slightly thickened, about 2 minutes. 

Place the cooked fish on a plate lined with steamed bok choy or other vegetable. Pour the sauce over the fish. Garnish with the crispy basil.

Makes 2 servings.

A Cookbook for Veggie Lovers

Vegetarian or not, you'll find lots of things you'll want to cook in Deborah Madison's latest cookbook, "In My Kitchen" (Ten Speed Press, $32.50).

The recipes may be vegetarian, but Madison is not. Therefore, she knows how to make meatless food that will please everybody, including meat-loving folks. In an introductory section, she tells how to do this.

Madison has a long career in vegetarian cooking. She was founding chef of the legendary Greens restaurant in San Francisco and co-wrote "The Greens Cook Book," which was published in 1987.

Last year, she was inducted into the James Beard Foundation Cookbook Hall of Fame and has won four James Beard Foundation Awards among other honors. "Inside the Kitchen" is her 14th cookbook. Here, she is signing it at Melissa's Produce on the first day of her cookbook promotional tour. 

Proof of any cookbook is in the tasting, and so Melissa's chefs prepared a variety of dishes from the book. One was baked ricotta infused with thyme on crostini. This is among the recipes that Madison has reworked from the past to simplify, redo flavors or bring up to date with new ingredients.

Impressive for a main dish is this potato and chickpea stew with sautéed spinach, accompanied by romesco sauce.


Another hearty main is lentil minestrone with kale.

Nice for a light meal is a caramelized onion frittata. Above, one of the guests at Melissa's is spooning it up. 

This salad is spectacular: citrus fruits, avocado and greens with a lime-cumin vinaigrette that dates from Madison's days at Greens.

Her rhubarb compote with raspberries is gorgeous. It's accompanied by plain sugar cookies--an extra for her appearance; they're not in the book.

The one cookie recipe she does include is a real winner, walnut nugget cookies, which she likes because they are not overly sweet. Above, she shows the recipe in the book.

And here they are at the tasting. With walnuts inside and out, they're wonderful.

WALNUT NUGGET COOKIES
From "In My Kitchen" by Deborah Madison

1 cup fresh walnut meats, plus extra pieces to finish the cookies
7 tablespoons butter
1 tablespoon walnut oil
1/4 cup white sugar
1/4 cup light brown sugar
1/8 teaspoon sea salt
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla
1 1/4 cups white whole-wheat flour or all-purpose flour
Powdered sugar

Heat the oven to 350 degrees. Line two sheet pans with parchment paper.

Break up the nuts in a small food processor until they resemble coarse sand. Watch carefully--it's easy to end up with walnut butter. If that happens, though, simply use it along with the bits and pieces.

Cream the butter with the oil until soft and well blended, then add the sugars, salt and cinnamon. When well combined, add the vanilla and then the ground walnuts. With the mixer on low, add the flour bit by bit until it's all incorporated.

Roll teaspoon-sized lumps of the dough between the palms of your hands to make small spheres. Place each one on a paper-lined pan. You should have between 30 and 35 in all. Insert a piece of walnut into each ball of dough, then bake for 15 minutes. The flour is a little dark, so it's hard to tell when they're browned, but 15 minutes will be enough time.

Let the cookies cool on the pans, then dust them with powdered sugar and remove to a serving plate. The cookies will crumble easily at first but will harden as they cool.

Makes about 35 bite-sized cookies.