Let's "fall" into some great tastes!!!

Greetings everyone!

Summer if definitely over here in the South - thank goodness! And as the temperature drops along with the leaves, a dog's thoughts lightly turn to those of  . . . grilled lamb!!!

This past Friday night I was able to experience something I hadn't tasted in quite a while - grilled lamb chops! These were prepared in the simpliest manner - lightly coated with either olive oil, salt and pepper or olive oil and greek seasonings. These thick cut chops were then plopped onto a searingly hot grill (charcoal, not gas, I'm a purist and so is Mom and the Coyote, thank goodness) and allowed to cook until they were a dull red in the center. Completing the meal were some tender-crisp haricot verts and mashed sweet potatoes. The wine was a most excellent Cline small berry mouvedre. It even says on the back of the bottle that is pairs well with grilled lamb and boy, they weren't kidding! Everything about this wine is deep and intense, from the the black cherry and plum nose to the dark purple color to the luscious purple and dark red fruit flavors of plum, raspberry and currant. If you've ever tried the Cline Mouvedre - then give the Small Berry a try. I'd put it in the freezer for about 10 minutes and then decant for 20.

The following night Mom wanted to thank the Coyote for his help in putting up a fence to keep my two crazy canine companions, Callie and Sophie, from taking themselves for walks! Having had meat the night before, it was decided that fish would be the main course that night; steele head salmon to be precise. Every now and then Mom gets her kitchen mojo working just right and she took on the challenge of preparing the fish two different ways. First she took on poaching it in dry vermouth, blanc de noirs, butter and fresh rosemary, basil and thyme from the herb grarden out back. Next, she decided to take a spicier route and rubbed the salmon with blackening seasonings and olive oil. Next came the red wine reduction to pair with the blackened salmon - she started with a 1/2 stick of butter and about 2 cups of zinfandel (yes, the red one - Four Vines Cuvee to be exact). Then she added some chipotle mustard, dijion mustard, some Sandeman's Character Sherry, a bit of agave sugar and bit of Cointreau Noir. This lush, dense, spicy sweet reduction went great with the fish! The uneaten sweet potatoes and haricot verts from last night were served again, but this time the wine was white! There were two choices on the menu that night - a Roussanne from the Rhone region of France and a lovely bottle of 2008 White Knight Viognier! Both stood up to, but did not overpower, the poached and the blackened fish. Both are delicate but not wimpy by any means. They are smooth, medium bodied wines that have good fruit/acidity balance.

So that's all I have to report for now! I'll snag Mom's Simply French cookbook to see what I can coax her into preparing this weekend!

Bone Apetite!

Sammy

stay tuned folks!!!

Hello everyone!

I know it's been a while since I've posted, but Mom hasn't really taken on anything new lately. But this weekend - we'll have Elk!

So check out the blog this weekend to see what I think!

Bone appetit!

Sammy

Ahhh, the great outdoors . . . and campfire cooking!

My mom and the Coyote went camping a few weeks ago in Southeastern Missouri. Now fishing is not really my thing so I opted to go to a dog spa with Callie and Sophie instead. However, when they returned they provided me with some notes they made on a delicious meal they prepared one night. So with their permission, here it is!

"Broiled rainbow trout - campfire style"

There is probably nothing better than eating the fish you actually caught! Each time we went to the river we caught at least one fish so two days of fishing yielded four decent sized rainbow trout. Once they were cleaned, we decided to try our hand at actually cooking them over the campfire. The Coyote got a blazing fire going which yielded some great logs to use for a basic broiling technique. Our fish were cleaned but not fileted, so my thought was to flavor the fish from the inside out. Once I had greased the aluminum foil with butter, I placed a fish in the center. Inside i sprinkled on salt, pepper, onion powder, just a hint of garlic powder and laid down some thin lime slices. Then I folded the aluminum foil around the fish to ensure that it would cook but not burn. Chris, aka the Coyote, pulled out some medium sized logs that were white but still on fire. I laid the fish packets on the logs and after 5 minutes pulled them off and checked them. They were returned to the flames for another 3 minutes.

What awaited us  for dinner that night was a truly wonderful meal that could not be duplicated in an ordinary kitchen. The intense heat stuck the skin to the foil, so when we un-wrapped them the skin peeled away leaving only the tender flaky meat behind. The spices and lime did not overpower the delicate flavor of the trout, but complimented it nicely. The campfire also lended another fantastic flavor element to the fish: smoke. Since the foil was heavy-duty, the meat of the fish only picked up a hint of it - this was no "ash tray" fish for sure! The meat was tender and the juice from the lime slices helped to keep it succulently moist.

We paired the fish with what we had left a lovely Sauvignon Blanc from Lucky Duck. That was an amazing combination: the zestiness of the wine picked up the lime and pepper on the fish. When the Sauv Blanc was gone we moved onto Lucky Duck's Chardonnay. Also a winner! The unoaked Chard was minerally and really brought out the fresh water flavor components in the fish.

It was a successful meal on many levels - one, we caught enough fish to eat and two, we cooked them almost to perfection!

~My thank to my mom and the Coyote for contributing to my blog.

Next post: a dog's take on grilled asparagus with zagablioni sauce!

Viva Italia! four paws up for lamb ragu and Splendido!

Since there was a break in the heat Mom decided to pull out a great fall recipe from Wine Spectator magazine.


Being that I am a border collie (or mostly border collie) the idea of lamb naturally appeals to me. And this dish starts with ground lamb, browned and then combined with carrots, onions and celery and cooked until the veggies are tender. Add a touch of tomato paste and a few cups of dry red wine. She let the wine cook away completely, then added some broth, canned tomatoes, and spices such as rosemary, oregano, cumin, thyme, coriander, salt, pepper and crushed red pepper. She let that simmer for a few hours, then tossed it over some pasta and covered it with a bit of chopped mint and parmasean cheese.

Amazingly, this dish has not one clove of garlic but the spices blend together to provide a glimpse into what is probably a local favorite in Tuscany. I can imagine local farmers setting down to steaming bowls of this once the day's work is done. Tired and hungry, the noble border collie comes to the kitchen for a pat on the head and a bowl of leftovers.

While I am not a drinker, I did taste the Poggio Alle Sughesi's 2001 Splendido that was served with the meal. The vines for this wine grow within a grove of olive trees. The dense rich plum flavors and dry finish blend well with the ground texture of the lamb and the rosemary and thyme. I can see why humans would want to drink a sangiovese-based wine with the dish. I had a bowl of water with mine, which also went well with the main course.

So I give the meal 4 paws up, which is what I was once my belly was full!

That's all I have to report for now folks.

Bone apetit!

Welcome to the Epicurial Dog Blog

Hello!

Welcome to the Epicurial Dog blog!

I am Sammy, a border collie mix that decided to adopt a human, Delynn about six years ago. Dee and I adopted Callie, another border collie mix, about a month later. Soon after Callie Delynn started dating a "coyote" named Chris, but he looks like a human to me. We have now added a lab/pit bull terrier mix to our pack, Sophie. She's a good enough considering she's not a border collie, after all.

Well anyway, to the point of this blog. My mom and Chris went to Paris in 2005 and since then they've been really into cooking good food. Not "haute cuisine", but good food. Like fondue, some great French recipes from Joel Robeshon's cookbook "Simply French" and other recipes they have found either online or through magazines such as "Wine Spectator" or "Food and Wine" magazine.


Now I was a stray for the first part of my life, so I can appreciate the idea of sampling something before you eat it. When I was a stray it was to avoid eating something that would make you sick later on. Now that I have a home and a mom who loves to cook, I am given the luxury of sampling to appreciate the delicate intricacies that is human cooking.  And who better to pass judgment on human food than an animal whose sense of smell is exponentially greater than that of a humans? After all, 90% of tasting something lies within the nose.

As a way of introduction to the blog, I will give a review of my first dish that my human Delynn ever served me: Brazilian Pizza


Actually, she didn't mean to serve it to me, but she left it out on the stove and Callie and I helped ourselves. We are dogs after all. get over it.


Basically, it was delicious! Although the crust was store bought, it was thin as to not interfere with the flavors of the pizza. Let's move onto the sauce, which was white - Alfredo based to be exact. This mild, creamy and heavy sauce paired well with the two spicy meats, hot sausage and raspberry-chipotle braised chicken. It was topped with layers of mozzarella, provolone, and Parmesan cheese. The creaminess of the cheeses and the sauce balanced the spicy meats. Plus, it was consumed along side some excellent South American Merlots and Cabernet Sauvignons whose extremely fruity and lush flavors paired beautifully with the pizza.


I give it four paws up!