July 2016 – Katie Curtis

Why I Love (Cheap) French Wine

30 July, 2016/in humbleonion/by Katie

First, let me start out by saying I am NOT a wine expert. This post is meant to share that as a decidedly NON-wine expert, I have found a few good wines that I am loving and a few reasons why, so I am sharing them in the hopes that you can take it and make it work for you in your (perhaps) non-expert wine drinking moments. (Julie and Henri, this excludes you if you are reading this since you both know more then I ever will).

I wanted to share this because I feel like I found a treasure trove by accident. It is the French wine section at our New Hampshire Liquor Stores.

Wherever you live, find a place that sells good wine, and head on over to the area marked ‘French’ or is broken down by French regions, like ours is. Once you are there, please note the prices.

They are not that bad! Right? Price points from .99 to .99. So this leads us to the first myth about French wines that I want to overturn.

Myth #1: French wines are expensive.

Ok, maybe some are, but I think the anxiety about them comes from the fact that some bottles are sold for a gazillion dollars because they are rare. For 99% percent of us, we will never be faced with the decision to open a ,000 bottle of a 1957 Bordeaux.

But guess what? The 2014 Bordeaux is only .

French people drink wine everyday and still somehow manage to give half of their income to taxes (little joke there) and pay for their homes and food and clothes.They care ALOT about quality and the time-honored traditions of terroir and flavor and cultivation. And they have figured out economical ways to make them.

Myth #2: French Wines are complicated.

I thought they were. Until I realized you can just fall in love with a region – or even a town – and every bottle from there will be delicious. French people care so much about the soil grapes were grown in that they got very specific about it, and started naming their wines after each town or region it was grown in. But start small and just pick one region and try some to and see if you like it.

My current favorite is Médoc. I learned about it from the (much better) food blog Manger.

Two quick travel stories from this year that I will share with you about Médoc wines:

First, When my husband took me to the AMAZING restaurant Primo in Maine for my 40th birthday dinner, we looked at a menu by a James Beard awarding chef, and an equally impressive wine list. I was overwhelmed by everything, of course. When I looked down the list of wines, I saw one from Médoc that was the cheapest one on the menu (!) at around . We were willing to splurge, but I knew from shopping at my local wine store that all the Médoc wines were delicious, and I wanted to do justice to the amazing food we were about to eat. So we ordered it and it was Heaven. Such a relief at such a big moment to love the wine you chose.

Second, when we went out to eat with a huge group to a steak house in the Outer Banks with my husband’s college friends, I spotted a Médoc wine that was again the cheapest bottle on the list, I think it was (hello dirt cheap for a steak house). I went to order it for our end of the table. The rest of the table followed suit and they ordered 3 bottles for everyone.

No pressure.

When it came, it was delicious. Sigh of relief and happy people all around.

Myth #3: All wines contain natural sugar.

When we traveled in France last summer, you might recall that I was reading a ton of food memoirs throughout our trip. I learned from Ruth Reichl’s book Comfort Me with Apples that Americans prefer sweet wine, so some wine makers dump extra sugar into the wine that sells in the US.

This little factoid is what made me turn to the French wines. I don’t believe in being a wine snob, or a food snob, but now that I taste a lot of the grocery store wines, all I can taste is the sugar.

Myth #4: A Sauvignon Blanc from France tastes the same as one from California.

Nope. The best thing my wine-savvy sister taught me is to take a wine, such as a Sauvignon Blanc or Cabernet Sauvignon, and buy one from a few different places. Italy, France, California, New Zealand, South America. Then taste them to see where you like them grown the best. Throw a wine party and taste them to see which ones you (and your friends) like.

Turns out a Sauvignon Blanc grown in France has many names. There is the Pouilly-Fumé, which Julia Child wrote about in My Life in France (favorite food memoir of all time). She also demystified the Pouilly-Fusse, since it is the French name for Chardonnay. Along with the Pouilly-Fumé however there is the Sancerre.

I love it. Not all of them are created equal though – since we have returned from France I have tried all of them and this one is my favorite bottle, ringing in at .99 but is a whole lot of goodness for that price. I just brought over a bottle today for lunch with my mom and sister and we all loved it.

To learn more about the Sancerre check out this (far more knowledgeable) wine person.

I have to mention one other winemaker from Médoc that have truly made some special evenings with friends and other celebrations. It is the Michael Lynch winery, and their reds and their white Graves have been so outstanding.

To learn more (and memorize their labels my friend! If you see them you are in good hands), check out this website.

Favorite Wine Recipes

I really love cooking with wine. Here are some of my favorite recipes – try them on your next adventurous cooking night.

Ina Garten’s Beef Bourguigon – Ina loves using Cote du Rhone in her cooking.
Chicken Fricasse – this recipe has me over the moon. I love it so.
Jacques Pepin’s Red Wine Beef Stew – favorite Christmas Eve dish ever.
Red Wine Braised Short Ribs – I love these so. Honorable mention for Pale Ale Braised Short Ribs.

Ok, happy eating (and drinking!) friends.

xoxo Katie

Mediterranean Stuffed Chicken Breasts

20 July, 2016/in humbleonion/by Katie

You guys! These Mediterranean stuffed chicken breasts are amazing! I am seriously drooling looking at the picture because they were so yummy. I just made them last week and I think I need to make them again tomorrow.

I love stuffing anything – chicken breasts, pork chops, zucchini boats. It is just a great way to take something boring and make it sparkle a wee bit. (Sorry, I’ve been watching too much Outlander). The options are truly endless for what to stuff them with – gouda/bacon/breadcrumbs? (super good in pork chops), sautéd veggies/kale/parm?, olives/mushrooms/fontina? But I seriously love these Mediterranean flavors. I first made it for my husband who loves sun-dried tomatoes and spinach. And my love of feta knows no bounds. So it was pretty easy to combine them.

When I first split the breasts open, I tenderize them with a meat hammer (free therapy). This makes the meat so tender and wonderful. Then I fill it with the flavorful stuffing, and I use a few toothpicks to close it, trying to lay them sideways so it cooks evenly.

One you have done this, the rest is so simple. Just heat olive oil in a pan, and sear on each side, about 4 minutes a side. Then you pop it in your preheated oven at 425, and let it finish cooking. The result:

Seriously, if you can crank your AC or find a day that is less then 90 degrees, put this on your meal plan for next week. You (and whoever else is at your dinner table) will thank me.

Happy Eating! xoxo Katie

Mediterranean Stuffed Chicken Breasts (printer version here):

Ingredients:

3 boneless skinless chicken breasts, sliced open and pounded thin

4 T. olive oil, divided

1 onion, diced

3 garlic cloves, diced

1 10 oz. package of spinach, thawed and squeezed of excess water

1 cup (about 14) sun dried tomatoes, diced

4 oz. feta cheese

Salt and pepper

Directions:

Preheat oven to 425.

Heat oil in pan on medium heat, then add onions with a pinch of salt. Saute for 3-5 min until soft, then add garlic. Cook for one minute, then add spinach and sun dried tomatoes, along with 1 t. Salt and ½ t. pepper. Cook together for about 5 minutes, stirring frequently, until tomatoes become soft and ingredients are well combined.

Lightly season chicken breasts with salt and pepper. Open up and spoon about ½ cup of spinach filling into each, then add about ¼ cup of feta. Close using 3-4 tooth picks.
Heat pan (lightly wiping out spinach mixture if using same pan) with remaining 2 T. olive oil on high heat. Place stuffed chicken breasts in when pan is hot, searing for about 4 minutes each side. Place in oven and cook for additional 6-8 minutes until cooked through.

Terra Firma

18 July, 2016/0 Comments/in Writing/by Katie

There is a man who walks around my neighborhood every day, the grandfather of two children who go to school with my kids. He is stout, balding, with curly white hair and a little dog who looks like he is dancing on his tip toes as they move, a contrast in big and solid vs. tiny and nimble.

He recognizes my car now, the one that I use to chauffeur four kids to lacrosse and baseball and skiing. And every time we pass, he gives a wave, a thrust of his arm that is part salut, part friendly greeting. Something about the way he does this is so encouraging. So life-affirming. It reveals some inner strength or hope that he possesses. He seems happy to see us. When he passed in the street while my kids are playing in the yard, he tells them the dog’s name. “Reee-chhhard” he says in a thick Russian accent. The dogs name is Richard. So we shout, ‘Hi Richard!’ when we pass them.

The other day when I was running, and they walked toward me. I stopped. “The dog is Richard, but what what is your name?” I asked.

“Vitale” he answers. A good name, one that sounds like “Veee-tah-ly” when he says it. Then he walks away with his wave, the one that makes me so happy.

It think it makes me happy because Vitale’s wave is one small sign of goodness that makes up our days, and more and more, as world events and doctors appointments and relationships hold so much uncertainty, I am holding fast to these small gestures. These small pebbles of community that, when we zoom the lens out, start to make something that resembles goodness.

What I want – what my heart and my head want – is to stand on solid ground that feels like concrete. For the bad news that keeps popping up on my phone to stop long enough to enjoy a summer afternoon, to be able to enjoy a retreat with out the re-entry to life being so heavy with grief. For my son’s NF-1 to just have smooth sailing instead of tests and questions and more tests and vague news that could be bad or it could be fine, only time will tell. For the world around me to dispense justice easily and readily, instead of painfully, slowly and insufficiently. For relationships to always bring out the best in each other. I want to stand on terra firma. I want Heaven to just be here already.

But people are broken. They make horrible, heartbreaking mistakes that hurt others unspeakably. And though people rightly feel angry about events, I can’t help but think that if our response to events divide us further, then the hate is winning. If our response is to judge others, love is losing. And when all we can see are the wounds, we miss the goodness getting in through the cracks. Around the boulders of hate and violence. I can’t help but see people make small gestures that reveal an innate goodness. Maybe it’s just a wave. Maybe it’s the way strangers smile at my children. These small acts are tiny, but they are helping me.

When all we pay attention to are the headlines and what the news gives us, we miss what’s happening right where we are. We definitely miss the good stuff, because the news doesn’t report that. When we go to church and see the same families week after week, like the family who, when life gave them a special needs child to adopt after having two boys of their own, said yes, even though they have shared that it was hard and scary. Every Sunday news crews could come down and see the brothers dote on their tiny sister with Down Syndrome whose smile lights up the whole church. When a friend’s child faced surgery recently and our community rallied around them, no news cameras were rolling and no journalists covered it.

There is such a goodness in our communities. A faithfulness.

My own faith is strengthened by the faithfulness of others. It is a kind of terra firma all its own.

I am learning that life will not deliver the certainty my head and my heart want. But faith will. The belief in each of us having a goodness that shines out when we look for it. When events happen to make us doubt this, we have to remove the doubt. Remove the anger and revenge and hard-heartedness that can bring us to a level where we become like the thing we hate. We need to keep finding the good and reaching out. Even if the rubble from the last heartbreak, the last sad headline, is blocking our view.

We can pour our worry and sadness towards our community, and find a way to build it up. Lend our faithfulness to each other with one nod, one smile, one wave hello at a time.

Shrimp Ceviche

14 July, 2016/in humbleonion/by Katie

Is there anything better to eat on a hot summer night then ceviche?

The first time I ever tasted ceviche was on my Honeymoon in Aruba, and I have been in love ever since (both with the dish and my husband).

I went to a tapas party last night, and decided to make ceviche because holy humidity. When I got there, it was the most amazing spread, filled with families from all over the globe, and the best food I have ever eaten. Rice and beans with octopus and mussels, garbanzo beans with spinach and buttered bread crumbs, stuffed fried sardines, manchego and olives and dates, spicy cheese fondu-type dips with cubes of bread, something amazing and creamy with chicken and mushrooms that was supposed to go into a tortilla but I ate it without and it was delicious, and flan for dessert. Plus there was plenty of Spanish wine and sangria. Can we discuss the amazing flavor of peach sangria? It tastes like a glass full of sunshine and fresh sweet peach flavor. There are a ton of recipes for this (this one looks amazing with rasperries), but what made it was the peaches were diced very fine, so they swirled in your mouth and infused flavor into every sip.

It was such a magical night, and as I left and went to my car, the stars were so bright, and the half moon echoed their glow, the heat of the day had turned into one of those sweet summer breezes that feel like a kiss from summer.

Usually, ceviche is made with raw fish that gets cooked in the acids of the citrus juices it is tossed with. (Mind blown, right?) I love it too, but I also love shrimp which can sit around in my freezer until I am ready to make this, unlike fresh fish ceviche. It also uses a lot of the same ingredients as gazpacho, my other favorite summer heat buster (there was so many amazing gazpachos last night too.)

I actually just ordered this on vacation and I was so excited to eat it when it came to the table. And it turned out just…meh. So when I went to make it for tapas, I turned to the recipe at Simply Recipes since I trust everything Elise makes, though I tweaked it with my own touches, like using the less spicy jalapeño rather then serrano chili so my kids could eat it, adding garlic (which I loved) and since I only had parsley I substituted that for cilantro and it tasted great, very fresh. Often at parties there are people who don’t love cilantro, so it is good to know you can make it with either herb.

Hope you are staying cool, having a lovely summer, and plenty of delicious summer dishes. Or just some cucs and cheese and bread, which is the best kind of summer eating.

xoxo Katie

Shrimp Ceviche Recipe (printer version found here):

Ingredients

1 pound medium-small shrimp, peeled and deveined
2 Tbsp salt
3/4 cup lime juice (juice from 4-6 limes)
3/4 cup lemon juice (juice from 2-3 lemons)
1 cup finely chopped red onion
2 garlic cloves, diced
1 jalapeño, diced
1 cup chopped cilantro or parsley
1 cucumber, peeled diced into 1/2-inch pieces
1 avocado, peeled, seed removed, cut into 1/2-inch chunks

Directions

1 In a large pot, bring to a boil water salted like pasta water. Add the shrimp and cook for 1 minute to 2 minutes. Remove shrimp with a slotted spoon and place into a bowl of ice water to stop cooking.(You can also defrost a bag of cooked shrimp if it is too hot in your kitchen, but I recommend cooking them yourself).

2 Drain the shrimp. Cut each piece of shrimp in half, or into inch-long pieces. Place shrimp in a glass or ceramic bowl. Mix in the lime and lemon juice. Cover and refrigerate for a half hour.

3 Mix in the chopped red onion, garlic, and jalapeño. Refrigerate an additional half hour.

4 Right before serving, add the cucumber and avocado. Add olive oil and more lemon or lime to taste, depending on if it is too acidic or not enough. (I loved it with 1-2 T. of olive oil, it seemed to meld all the flavors).

Adapted from Simply Recipes.