We’re celebrating 20 years with a retro-style Open House. Walk through the winery, sample new releases at the barrels, and enjoy light fare while you pick up your fall club selections.
This event is reserved for Remy Wines Bell’Amici club members.
More Details TBA.
Save the date — more details coming soon!
If you joined us last week for wine club, then you ate the following and this is why and how!
d’anjou pear, honeycomb, pecorino
We seated you to platters of honey in its comb, red d’anjou pears and a beautiful Pecorino (Italian sheep’s milk cheese). We made the platters prettier by adding some color in the form of pea shoots and rosemary flowers. The pear and honeycomb leapt right out of our 2018 Fischerman’s Pinot Gris, the saltiness of the cheese balanced it all out. Many asked — I found whole trays of honeycomb at Barbur World Foods on Barbur Boulevard, a true delight. If you haven’t stopped there yet — do.
The second course was all local focus, highlighting our friends at Even Pull Farm; I really couldn’t be more impressed with the consistently high quality of their produce. Look for them at the McMinnville Farmers’ Market this year. I built this course off of what they had in season.
Orchiette pasta with rapini and green garlic.
To be honest, I was originally inspired by their arugula — it was so peppery and a delicious pairing with the Dolcetto but it bolted…c’est la vie or c’est farming. I was fairly committed to the idea of a pepper component with the Dolcetto by that point, but I also wanted to bring out some of the more subtle flavors in the wine. We served you orchiette with green garlic — mild compared to traditional garlic application — and rapini. Rapini can get a bad rap for being bitter, but this was sweet and delicious!
To make this dish, I sauteed, over low heat, the green garlic, pignoli (pine nuts), fresh chopped oregano and maybe or maybe not some lemon rind — depended on my mood/palate. I brought the pasta water (salted always) to a rolling boil and threw in the
Paired with 2016 Jubilee Dolcetto
chopped Rapini, let it cook for a few moments then added the orchiette. Brought it all back to a boil, strained it, tossed it with the green garlic then finished with olive oil, shaved Parmesan and freshly ground black pepper. I used my stone mortar and pestle to grind the pepper, as with many things in life, the process dictates the product. I never buy pepper unless it’s still in peppercorn form — freshly cracked black pepper is a flavor far and apart from “black pepper.”
Lastly, we served Porchetta with fresh orange zest over the top. The
Nick’s Porchetta
Porchettas were cooked in a deep pan with a shallow pond of our Pinot Gris, bay leaves, chili peppers, peppercorns and rolled with fennel seed, garlic, chilis. When cooking Porchetta, go low and slow, “baste” occasionally and cook uncovered “until the outside is gorgeous, crispy, mapl-y brown,” that’s what Carmen said when I picked them up. It’s always important to give credit where it’s due, and if you’ve had Nick’s Italian Cafe Porchetta (and now you have) you would understand why I asked to pick up uncooked Porchetta from Carmen — leaving me just to cook them off. Speaking of Carmen — two events to make note of:
I cooked each Porchetta for about 3.5 hours then let them rest for at least 1/2 hour. The longer they rest, the easier they are to slice.
Remy and her mom, Joan.
Going back to giving credit — when we were in recipe testing stage — it was Erin that said the Porchetta would be better with some citrus to really tie in the Sangiovese. The truth is, we have a cracker-jack team and they make my job easy. I know they…Erin, Hannah, Diana, Sharon and Jonathan took great care of you. You may not have seen, but we also couldn’t do this without Annika, Ralph and Dan. And of course, my Mom, who I mentioned in the last post, helped us prep for several of the parties. It’s a team effort to deliver something extraordinary ever time.
Hannah and Sharon
For dessert (most days) we served the 2014 Barbera, which is now sold out!
Oh you vegetarians…I almost forgot. I roasted fennel bulbs with garlic, cippolini onions, carrots, tossed in a 30 year aged balsamic. I was trying to pull out the same elements in the wine with your dish as I was with the Porchetta!
We have another series coming up, so look for one more set of recipe collections. Thank you for being club members and for challenging me to deliver something fantastic every time.
xo
R
Buon Appetito!
Recipe Collections
My mom released a cookbook when I was about 13 years old, it was called Recipe Collections. She had been the Culinary Director of the International
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Pinot Noir Celebration and the book (recipe cards in a small wooden wine box) was a compendium of the many great dishes that had been served at the event during her tenure. Each recipe had to be broken down from, “serves 150” to “serves 6” or something along those lines. So she tested and tested things at home in the kitchen. Mom is a phenomenal cook, one of my older brothers became a Professional Chef then taught Culinary School and now writes great articles for different publications reviewing restaurants. (You can sample his writing here). Cooking has been a skill I inherited through osmosis rather than study. Mom helped me prep for these meals, though the “recipes” are all mine. That said, I don’t really cook from recipes, just from the heart, so here is my best rendition of what I made for you this week and why.
Course 1
Course 1
Farro Salad with shiso, basil, mint, ricotta salata, cara cara oranges, peaches, nectarines, smoked salt.
Served with 2018 Germaine Gabrielle Rose and 2016 Kiona Sangiovese.
You asked me how I do the pairings; I look for flavors in the wine (with our team) then try to match those flavors and highlight them with the food. When Erin first tasted the 2018 Rose she said “Nectarines!” and I ran with it from there.
I like farro because it’s a bit nutty (like me), and works as a building block. Emmer Farro from Blue Bird Farms in Washington is really delicious, it’s what I used. Bring your water to a rolling boil, add the farro, boil for a few minutes then simmer for an hour or until you’ve reached your desired texture – I like mine a little al dente. The herbs I chose were both for freshness and to brighten the flavors of the salad, the shiso specifically has a licorice quality to it that I find in a lot of my red wines, especially the Sangiovese. The fruits, as previously mentioned, were all flavors that we found in one of the two wines we paired with this dish. The ricotta salata was for the saltiness, a cheese that is quite mild but has great salinity.
Course 2
Course 2
Braised Short Ribs
Served with 2016 Jubilee Dolcetto and 2015 Lone Madrone Lagrein
Start with a very deep, thick bottomed pan. Use a hot, hot fire underneath to heat some olive oil, salt and pepper your short ribs then put them fat side down into the oil, they should sizzle and pop. Brown them on all sides. Dust with cinnamon and turmeric, throw in chopped onions and shallots (ours were from Even Pull Farm), at this point I try to turn everything a bit so the onions will caramelize while I’m getting everything else in the pot. Now add the following: Star Anise (just a couple, these are strongly flavored), whole garlic, big pieces of fresh ginger, Bay leaves (mine were home grown – plant a laurel bush as a nice natural green screen and to give yourself a lifetime supply of the best bay leaves ever), chopped carrots at least 1″ long, then fill the pot to the top with sliced cabbage (Even Pull and Boyer Farms). If you can turn it, do – if you can’t – oh well. Add some stock to the pot to get things going, as it cooks, the veggies will release a lot of liquid, so I only fill the pot about 
half way with stock. Cover and put into a 250 degree oven until falling off the bone. I find braised meats are best the next day so I cooked yours one day in advance, braised for about 4 hours then put them back in the oven for about two hours before serving them. This overnight rest also gives you a chance to skim the fat off before reheating so they aren’t greasy. The spices were really subtle in this dish but very important; cinnamon, turmeric, ginger, anise, think about those flavors the next time you take a sip of my Lagrein.
The menu will most undoubtedly change before the April parties – but don’t fret – it will be good too! Lastly, our team has really made these events great and I would be remiss not to mention everyone. From the folks you see and interact with during the party to those making it all come together in the office and doing the dishes, I’m only able to do this because we have a great team. Thank you Annika, Ralph, Erin, Hannah, Diana, Sharon, Jonathan and Dan!
And of course – Thank You Bell’Amici!
Remy
If you like Remy’s cooking, you’ll be blown away by her longtime friend Chef Kate Romane and friends from Black Radish Kitchen in Pittsburgh. While our Fire Dinner has sold out, we still have available tickets for the Friday Evening Social on July 12th. Purchase tickets on our website.
Next available Bell’Amici party dates: Email Hannah at wine@remywines.com. Very limited seating still available.
Thursday, April 11th at 2:00pm
Saturday, April 13th at 12:00pm (very limited)
Thursday, April 25th at 2:00pm
Friday, April 26th at 6:00pm
Sunday, April 28th at 3:00pm
