Chocolate Merlot Tarragon Truffles

Someone I hold near and dear recently commented that I talk about some, well, strange food combinations on this blog, and I know he's sitting out there somewhere looking at the title of this recipe and shaking his head.  Because it is not every day that you run into a combination of chocolate and merlot in the same truffle, not to mention the tarragon.  I'll get to the tarragon in a sec, but this gives me yet another opportunity to mention my favorite merlot...Red Bicyclette.

It's a little hard to track down, but if you ever spot it and you are a merlot-lover like me, give it a try.  Yum.  Meanwhile, back at the tarragon...I know you might be thinking, why on earth would I toss some herbs into a mixture of perfectly good chocolate?  Merlot maybe, but tarragon?  But be brave and do it...tarragon gives these babies just a teeny hint of that anise flavor that cuts the sweetness just the right amount.  That and rolling the truffles in a nice coating of unsweetened cocoa powder.

I'm pretty much in love with this recipe, and I think it has all kinds of possibilities.  Next time (and there WILL be a next time) I might swap out the tarragon for a little bit of cayenne pepper to get a sweet and spicy thing going on.

Fun fact: this recipe was created by Giada de Laurentiis, who made them for Prince William and his new bride when they visited the States.  I'm guessing that once they had a bite of these, they started planning their return trip.  :)

Chocolate Merlot Tarragon Truffles, from Giada de Laurentiis

• 1/3 cup heavy cream
• 1 12-ounce bag semi-sweet chocolate chips, such as Ghirardelli
• 1/3 cup chopped fresh tarragon leaves
• 3 tablespoons Merlot wine
• 1/8 teaspoon fine sea salt
• 1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Set aside.

Place the cream and chocolate in a medium bowl and place over a panof barely simmering water. Stir until the chocolate has melted and themixture is smooth, which takes about six minutes.

Stir in the tarragon, wine and salt until smooth.

Refrigerate for two hours until firm. Let the mixture stand at room temperature until moldable, which takes about 45 minutes.

Using a melon scoop, scoop level amounts of the truffle mixture on to the prepared baking sheet. Roll into 1/2-inch balls.

Place the cocoa powder in a small bowl. Roll the truffles in the cocoa powder until coated.

Arrange on a platter and serve or refrigerate in an airtight container.

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Grilled Rosemary Merlot Flank Steak

If you hang in with this post long enough I promise that there is a pretty fabulous grilled steak recipe at the end, but in the meantime...the backstory!

At least once a year...sometimes more...the Southern husband and I head north to my favorite place on earth, otherwise known as Vermont.  Sometimes the teenager comes with us, even though there is no cell phone service whatsoever in our little neck of the Vermont hills.  (Believe me when i say that in the teenage world, there is no greater love for one's mama than going outside the zone of Verizon coverage.)

Other things that are not in our little corner of Vermont: Movie theaters.  Starbucks.  Kentucky Fried Chicken.  ATM's.   Etc.  They do have a lot of these though.

Here's the Southern husband scanning the area for a gas station that will take that little gizmo on his keychain that allows you to pay for your gas without actually taking out your wallet.

Nope.  As a matter of fact, finding ANY gas station is a wonderful thing.  It's one of the reasons I love the place.  We are Away From It All whenever we go up there.

So imagine my surprise when we stopped at the one local supermarket on the way to our cabin to pick up essentials (milk, eggs, Oreos) and discovered that they had put in a teeny tiny wine section.  We were so shocked and amazed that we automatically picked out a bottle, just to make sure we weren't dreaming.  And it instantly turned into our new favorite merlot...right there in the middle of Poultney, Vermont.

Once we got home, the Southern husband sprang into action and ordered a case of it, and ever since then it has been our merlot of choice.  So when the grill was back in service for the season, I pulled out this tried and true recipe to see if it was as good as a steak marinade as it is was in my wineglasss.

It was.  And so here you go (finally!)...this is a recipe that I have talked about before, but since it is one of my faves I am talking about it again with a little extra twist.  First,  grab a bottle of YOUR favorite merlot, and mix up 3/4 cup of it with some chopped fresh rosemary, some chopped onion,  some beef broth and a few spices.  Pour it all in a ziplock bag, add a flank steak and let it sit in the fridge while you make the grilled vegetable salad.

First you need some lettuce.  I grow my own in an AeroGarden and pretty soon it is going to need its own zip code, there's so much of it.  But I do have fresh fresh fresh lettuce whenever I need it.

Now gather up whatever veggies you have around that catch your fancy.  I had some frozen artichoke hearts that I thawed out...

(Okay, that's not a frozen artichoke heart, but it's the only artichoke picture I have, and there's an artichoke heart in there somewhere.)    The picture below IS the actual asparagus that I used...



...along with some cherry tomatoes that I cut in half.  Scatter them all on a cookie sheet that you have lined with foil and spray or drizzle them with a little olive oil.  Toss on a little salt and pepper and pop them in a 425 degree oven for about 10-15 minutes.

When they are done, set them aside to cool a little while you make the steak.  Send someone reliable outside to grill the steak, and while they are doing that, pour the marinade into a saucepan.   Add a little tomato paste and mustard and boil it up for about 5 minutes.  When the steak comes off the grill, let it sit for about 5 minutes and then slice it thinly across the grain.

Now!  Cover half of each plate with lettuce.  Spoon some nice roasted veggies on top.  I think they are just fine plain, but feel free to drizzle a little dressing on top if you like.  Lay some sliced steak on the other side of the plate and pour some of the merlot marinade sauce on top.

You are now in paradise.  Promise. 

Grilled Rosemary Merlot Flank Steak with Grilled Vegetable Salad, steak recipe from Cooking Light

• 1 cup finely chopped onion
• 3/4 cup low-salt beef broth
• 3/4 cup Merlot or other dry red wine
• 1 tablespoon chopped fresh rosemary
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon dried Italian seasoning
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 (1-pound) flank steak, trimmed
• 1 tablespoon tomato paste
• 2 teaspoons Dijon mustard 

• lettuce
• your choice of vegetables to grill
• olive oil
• salt and pepper

1. Combine first 7 ingredients in a large zip-top plastic bag. Add steak; seal bag. Marinate in refrigerator 20 minutes, turning once.
2. Preheat oven to 425.  Line baking tray with foil and lay veggies in a single layer.  Spray or mix with a little olive oil and sprinkle salt and pepper on top.  Roast for 10-15 minutes.  Remove and let cool.
3. Remove steak from bag, reserving marinade.   Heat grill to high and cook steak  6 minutes on each side or until desired degree of doneness. Let stand 5 minutes. Cut steak diagonally across grain into thin slices; keep warm.
4. While steak cooks, combine reserved marinade, tomato paste, and mustard in a medium saucepan over medium-high heat, stirring well with a whisk. Bring to a boil, and cook until reduced to 1 cup (about 7 minutes).
5. Arrange grilled veggies over lettuce on each plate.  Place sliced steak alongside veggies, pouring a little merlot sauce over the top.

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Ravioli with Tomatoes in White Wine Sauce

This is one of those recipes that is perfect, perfect, perfect for those long days where everything goes wrong, but at the end of the day you still have to make dinner.  It's simple and delicious and comforting and only takes 20 minutes, and that's including slicing up those cute little grape tomatoes at a very reasonable rate of speed.

(Why are they called grape tomatoes, by the way?  Is it because they are shaped like grapes?  That seems like too easy an answer.  Please advise.)

Anyway, if you have some grape tomatoes hanging around, and a bag of frozen cheese ravioli in your fridge (and you should ALWAYS have an emergency bag of cheese ravioli in your fridge...trust me on this), you are twenty short minutes away from having a supper that will melt all your cares away.  You saute a little bit of shallot in some olive oil, and then add in those halved grape tomatoes and about a cup of white wine.  (Pour another glass of wine while you cook.  It will help speed up the melting-away-of-cares process.).  Let the tomatoes simmer in the wine for about five minutes, just until they are a just a little soft.  In the meantime, cook up your ravioli.  Once both the ravioli and the tomatoes are done, swirl a couple tablespoons of butter into the tomato-wine sauce, and then add the ravioli and stir lovingly.  You're in a better mood already by now.  Yes you are.

Now sprinkle with some fresh chopped parsley, grind a little pepper on top, put on some jazz, light some candles, and all of the sudden it's a great night.  This is guaranteed to work every time.  Give it a try and see!

Ravioli with Tomatoes in White Wine Sauce, adapted from Real Simple

• 16 to 18 ounces fresh or frozen cheese ravioli
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 2 shallots, chopped
• 1 pint grape tomatoes, halved
• 1 cup dry white wine
• kosher salt and black pepper
• 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 1/4 cup chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley

1. Cook the ravioli according to the package directions, drain, and return them to the pot.

2. Meanwhile, heat the oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the shallots and cook, stirring occasionally, until tender, 3 to 5 minutes.

3. Add the tomatoes, wine, ½ teaspoon salt, and ¼ teaspoon pepper and simmer until the tomatoes begin to soften, 4 to 5 minutes.  Add butter and stir until it is melted into the sauce.

4. Gently toss the ravioli with the tomato mixture and parsley.

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More About Florence

    When we lived in Florence more than thirty years ago I didn't have a camera and so have very few pictures of those long ago days. I am now making up for lost time.

   
     A  vinaio on via dei Neri. The chianti nuovo has arrived. Quite delicious -- even if the guy in the bar where we have breakfast says it's like spremuta (fruit juice).

    
     Early morning on the Ponte Vecchio before most people have got up.

   
     The fruit and veggies are so fresh and lovely.

    
    The colors just about pop out at you.

   
     If you have eaten your veggies, you certainly deserve cake and lots of it......

   
     Florentines take books and writing and printing and paper very seriously indeed as we all should.
     I have so many pictures they have spilled over here

Rosemary Merlot Flank Steak

Well, it's now reliably over 50 degrees most days here in the Northeast, and you know what THAT means.

It's GRILLING time.

Not that the resilient and reliable Southern husband won't happily dig the grill out from under a snowbank in the middle of February if I really need him to.

But let's face it, it's a lot more fun when the sun is shining, the birds are singing, the flowers are blooming and you don't have to wear your snow boots. This recipe is the perfect one to kick off grill season, and if you don't count the time I sent him outside in a snowstorm to roast those tomatoes for me, it's the first time the Southern husband has seriously cranked up the grill in 2010.

You need a nice flank steak for this one, and you marinate it for at least 30 minutes in a mixture of chopped onions, beef broth, chopped fresh rosemary, salt, oregano and (here's the beauty part) about a cup of red wine. I love a nice glass of merlot, so that's what my steak got to marinate in.

Once you have the steak on the grill, have someone reliable keep an eye on it while you make the sauce, which is basically a mixture of that marinade you just soaked the steak in, with some tomato paste and Dijon mustard stirred in. Boil it for about 7 minutes until it is reduced to about a cup. When the steak comes off the grill, slice it up and pour some of that sauce over the top, and summer will seem just around the corner.

Rosemary Merlot Flank Steak

1 cup chopped onion
3/4 cup beef broth
1 cup red wine
2 tablespoons chopped fresh rosemary
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
2 minced garlic cloves
1 pound flank steak
1 tablespoon tomato paste
2 teaspoons Dijon mustard

1. Combine first seven ingredients in plastic bag, add steak and marinate in refrigerator for at least 30 minutes.

2. Remove steak, reserving marinade. Grill steak for 6 minutes on each side or until desired degree of doneness. Let stand 5 minutes and then slice against grain.

3. While steak cooks, combine leftover marinade, tomato paste and mustard in small pot. Bring to a boil and cook until reduced to one cup, about 7 minutes. Serve sauce over steak.

Click here for printable recipe

Chicken with Mustard Wine Cream Sauce

This very well might be my all-time favorite dependable easy-but-elegant dinner recipe. Manageable enough to make for a crowd, easy enough to make for a lovely weeknight supper, elegant enough for entertaining, and 1000% reliable. Now, how many things can you say THAT about?

Here’s what you do: take a couple of boneless chicken breasts and pound them with a mallet or the bottom of a jar until they are nice and flat and all your frustrations are worked out. Heat up a couple tablespoons of olive oil in a skillet and lay those babies in there. Grind some fresh pepper on top and sprinkle them with salt, and don’t touch them for 6 minutes, then flip them over. Cook another 6 minutes, and by now they are nice and brown and done. Take them out and put them on a plate and cover them with foil. Now pour ¼ cup of white wine into the pan, and let it boil for about a minute. Pour in ½ cup cream, 2 tablespoons Dijon mustard and about 2 tablespoons of chopped fresh thyme and stir it all up until it is simmering nicely. Add in any juices from the plate where the chicken is resting. Let it simmer for about two minutes, during which time you can steam some nice thin asparagus.

The assembly: Nice little pool of mustard sauce on the plate. Lay some asparagus on top of the sauce. Chicken on top of that. Drizzle more sauce over all. Grinding of fresh pepper on the top. Light some candles, pour a glass of merlot, and dinner is served. How easy is that?

This fabulous sauce also works wonders with veal cutlets, shrimp and filet mignon. Just so you know. I wouldn't pour it over chocolate chip cookies, but pretty much anything else can benefit from a nice dose of mustard sauce. Don't you think?

Chicken with Mustard Wine Cream Sauce, adapted from Everyday Food

• 4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts (6 ounces each)
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon pepper
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1/4 cup dry white wine, or chicken broth
• 1/2 cup heavy cream
• 2 tablespoons Dijon mustard
• 1 teaspoon chopped fresh thyme
  

1. Sprinkle chicken breasts with salt and pepper. In a large skillet, heat oil over medium-high heat. Add chicken; saute until cooked through, 10 to 12 minutes, turning once. Transfer to a plate; keep warm.
2. Pour wine into hot skillet; cook, stirring, until reduced by half, about 1 minute. Whisk in cream, mustard, and thyme. Cook, whisking, until thickened, about 2 minutes.
3. Pour any accumulated chicken juices into sauce. Right before serving, pour a little cream sauce on plate. Place chicken (with any veggies you are using, I like asparagus) on top, and drizzle remaining sauce over chicken.

Click here for printable recipe

Spaghetti with Garlic Bread Crumb Wine Sauce

This is one of my favorite pasta recipes ever, and every time I make this one the Southern husband and I look at each other and say, why don't we make this more often? But absence makes the heart grow fonder, and I am VERY fond of how this looks, tastes, and is so very easy to throw together at the end of a long day.

And even better, odds are you have everything you need to make it at the spur of the moment. Any long strand pasta will do, although I think good old spaghetti works best. Bread for the bread crumbs -- any kind you have on hand. Butter. White wine. Fresh parsley. Parmesan cheese and fresh ground pepper. All stuff I highly recommend having in your kitchen at all times...and if you don't, I recommend going out to get whatever is missing JUST to make this delicious little dish, which is great on its own or as a side dish for grilled chicken or fish.

The sauce is made by melting up butter, garlic, white wine and a little salt. Meantime, you make the breadcrumbs by whirling whatever bread you have on hand in the food processor, adding a little butter and white wine, laying it all out on a cookie sheet and toasting it in the oven. Don't worry if your crumbs are a little mushy before they are toasted, I promise they will cook up to be golden and crispy, and you will have to have a stern talk with yourself about snacking on them before they go in the sauce.

Then all you have to do is cook the pasta and toss it with the sauce, some parsley and grated parmesan and those perfect little crumbs. Save some of the crumbs to sprinkle on top and give the whole thing a good grinding of black pepper. Comfort Food Extraordinaire.

SPAGHETTI WITH GARLIC BREAD CRUMB WINE SAUCE

• 1 cup fresh bread crumbs (2 slices bread chopped in food processor)
• 1 1/2 tablespoons melted butter
• 2 tablespoons white wine
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 4 garlic cloves, peeled and chopped
• 4 tablespoons butter
• 1/2 cup white wine
• 1 pound spaghetti
• 1/4 cup chopped parsley
• 1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese
• fresh ground pepper

1. Preheat oven to 350 and line a cookie sheet with foil.

2. Mix bread crumbs, melted butter and 2 tablespoons wine with salt in small bowl and spread in one layer on cookie sheet. (Don't worry if it's mushy).

3. Bake about 12 minutes or until golden.

4. Meanwhile, cook pasta until al dente.

5. Meanwhile again, heat butter, garlic, 1 tablespoon water and one teaspoon salt in small skillet for about 3 minutes until butter is melted and garlic is starting to turn golden. Stir in wine and simmer two minutes.

6. Toss together pasta, wine sauce, crumbs, parsley and cheese. Serve immediately.

Click here for printable recipe

Spiced Beef in Red Wine Sauce

I love recipes that introduce me to a new ingredient that I have never, ever heard of, and this was one of them. This is from an article published about 6 years ago in the New York Times by Nigella Lawson, and I think I have had the clipping bouncing around in my "need to make this recipe one day" file ever since. (There are recipes in there from the last century. So many recipes, so little time!!) I loved the whole idea of spiced beef cooking in red wine, I loved the idea of serving it on a bed of polenta (which is what we Northerners call it. The southern husband calls it grits.) The thing that kept kicking it to the back of the line was this one ingredient that sounded important, but mysterious and hard to find.

Ever heard of star anise?

Me neither.

Why I decided all of the sudden last weekend to figure this out -- who knows? -- but I called my source of all culinary information and it went like this.

Me: Hi Mom -- do you know what star anise is?
Mom: Of course. It's a spice.
Me: You don't have any, do you?
Mom: Of course. Do you need some?

I guess I am the only one without some star anise hanging around, and I felt the need to have my own jar of it, because you never know when you are going to need some star anise. At least now I knew it was a spice and not some exotic vegetable. A few hours later there I was in the spice aisle at Fairway with my very own jar. It is definitely a handsome little spice.

And smells just like licorice. Yum, yum...this was starting to feel good. The stew itself is a pretty basic recipe with a few excellent wrinkles to it. You start with a base of chopped carrots and onion -- but you also add some chopped bacon with it. Obviously there is the red wine part -- it simmers in the red wine for most of the cooking time. And of course there is the star anise which gives it a delicious sweet and spicy touch. I followed Nigella's directions to the letter and served it on top of a nice little pool of polenta, which was just PERFECT.

So there you have it, a Sunday dinner that is both comforting and just a little exotic. Let me know if you need to borrow any star anise....

SPICED BEEF IN RED WINE SAUCE, from Nigella Lawson

• 2 slices bacon, roughly chopped
• 2 large onions, roughly chopped
• 2 large leeks, white and light-green parts only, roughly chopped
• 3 medium carrots, peeled and roughly chopped
• 1/2 cup fresh parsley
• 1/3 cup flour
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 2 1/2 pounds chuck steak in 2-inch cubes
• 2 tablespoons vegetable oil, or more as needed
• Pinch ground cloves
• 1 1/2 cups red wine
• 2 cups beef stock or canned beef broth
• 2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
• 3 star anise
• 1 tablespoon light brown sugar

1.

Working in batches in a food processor, process bacon, onions, leeks, carrots and parsley until finely chopped. Transfer mixture to a large bowl, and set aside. Place flour in a freezer bag or other plastic bag. Season with salt and pepper. Add steak cubes, seal bag, and shake until cubes are well coated.

2.

Place a flameproof casserole dish over medium heat, and add 2 tablespoons oil. When hot, add beef in batches, turning until well seared on all sides. As beef is browned, transfer to a plate, and set aside.

3.

If casserole dish is dry, add 1 tablespoon oil. Place over medium heat, and add bacon and vegetable mixture and ground cloves. Sauté until softened, about 10 minutes. Meanwhile, in a medium saucepan, combine wine, beef stock, Worcestershire sauce, star anise and brown sugar. Place over medium-high heat, and bring to a boil. When vegetables have softened, pour liquid over vegetables.

4.

Return beef to pan, and stir well. Bring to a boil, partly cover, and reduce heat to low. Simmer gently until beef is tender, about 2 hours. Serve hot. If desired, stew may be cooked and then covered and refrigerated for up to 2 days or frozen for a month.

Click here for printable recipe

Boeuf Bourguignon, or Julia and Kate

If you haven't yet seen the movie JULIE AND JULIA, turn off the computer, stand up, and proceed directly to the nearest movie theater. Just make sure you eat something first, because this movie is not one to see when you are hungry. We saw it the weekend it opened, late Sunday afternoon, and it was pretty much 2 hours and 15 minutes of sheer heaven for me. Julia Child, Meryl Streep, food blogging, cooking, pounds and pounds and pounds of butter. I think now I understand what my tolerant Southern husband means when he rhapsodizes over Star Wars. THIS is a culinary Star Wars, and if Meryl Streep doesn't win her millionth Oscar for this, the Academy is going to have to answer to ME. (That should scare them.)

Anyway, the only thing I wanted to do when I walked out of the theater was make Julia Child's Boeuf Bourguignon. And because it was 7pm on Sunday, and I didn't have Julia Child's recipe, nor any of the ingredients, nor the five hours needed to make it, we went out to eat instead. And I pouted all week long until the weekend rolled around again and I had a clear window of time to shop, and cook, and cook, and cook.

Which is good, because this recipe takes FIVE HOURS. Which always injects just a teeny bit of pressure, because you really, really, really want to come out with something great at the end if you are going to spend FIVE HOURS making it. Not to mention the huge laundry list of ingredients that we needed to assemble first, including a chunk of unsliced bacon with which to make the "lardons" that go in this dish. Yes, I now know what "lardons" are. So there. And by the way, you can get a chunk of unsliced bacon at the deli counter. I think ever since this movie came out the deli counter guy is used to doling out unsliced bacon chunks.

Anyway. This is now the time where I have to admit that I did make one major departure from Julia's recipe, because one of the major ingredients in Boeuf Bourguignon is mushrooms. And, for me, mushrooms are the enemy. You may be friends with them, and I wish I could be, but I just...can't. And this recipe calls for a pound of them, and for all I know Boeuf Bourguignon translates into "beef dish that absolutely must be made with mushrooms," but there is only so far I can go, even for Julia, and mushrooms are not one of those places. So I am so sorry, Julia, but I substituted baby peas. Mea culpa, but there you have it.

OK, so I had my chunk of bacon, and my baby peas, and my bottle of Burgundy, and my five hours, and off I went. I even had some more dough from my baguette-making experiment of the day before, so in the midst of the Boeuf Bourguignon I also made another one of these to go with it:

Because that is just the kind of all-around French chef that I am.

So, to make an already too-long story short, after 5 hours of chopping and braising and simmering and baking and straining and stirring, all with my faithful and ever-hopeful dog by my side (she did eventually get the bacon rind, which I think in her doggie mind made the whole 5 hours worth the wait)...I was done! Moment of truth. I ladled it out, surrounded it with a ring of parsleyed rice, poured a glass of what was left of the Burgundy to fortify myself, and we dug in.

Oh my. Oh Julia.

Worth every last second of those 5 hours and more.

Recipe link below. Thank you, and good night.

Julia Child's Boeuf Bourguignon