Summer Dishes

Here are a few summer dishes that will brighten your dinner table.

Apricots are in full swing right now.  I buy them at the Trout Lake Market or Kitsilano Market.  Here is my recipe:

- About 20 halved and pitted apricots

 - A few tablespoons of dry white wine

 - A few tablespoons of honey

Heat oven to 400 deg C.  Have a glass of wine while waiting for the oven to heat-up.  Place the halved apricots on a pan.  Sprinkle some white wine and dab some honey over the apricots.  Bake for about 20 minutes. Baste a few times during cooking.  Turn the oven to grill for about 5 minutes. Watch carefully at this grilling stage as it will be quick.  Store the baked apricots in a tight lid glass jar. Serve the baked apricots over yogurt (great breakfast) or ice-cream (great dessert).

No cooking required for these beauties.

Roasted beets:

-  Peel and slice beets about ¼ inch. 

- Dab some good quality olive oil on the sliced beets

- A dash of salt.

Heat oven to 400 deg C.  Have a glass of wine while waiting for the oven to heat-up, of course.  Place the sliced beets, olive oil and salt in a baking pan.  Mix well.  Bake for about 30 minutes. Turn the beets a couple of times with a spoon to evenly roast.  When the edges turn slightly brown, it is ready.  Serve it as a side dish to any meat or fish entree. Or use it as a ‘surprise’ in a Greek salad.

Greek salad accented by some roasted beets

   

Summer Dish and Catherine & Pierre Breton 'Avis de Vin Fort'

One of the best things about summer in Vancouver? - Trout Lake Market on Saturdays.  Actually, better make that three things because there are also Main & Terminal Market on late Wednesday afternoons and Kitslano Market on Sundays.  I usually make it to least one of the market days in a week.  I tend to go wild and buy many things at the market.  I almost always buy zucchinis, tomatoes, garlic, onions and lettuces. If I make to the market early enough and, if there are fresh farm eggs still available, I always buy some of that too.

The best part about the Vancouver summer market is that it makes my dinners so easy.  My wife and I usually have a Greek salad and often have frittatas.  Here is my version:

o       1 clove of thinly sliced garlic

o       A dozen or so thinly sliced zucchini (Marinate with a pinch of salt for about ½ hour.  Drain the excess liquid).

o       A few thinly sliced tomatoes.

o       4 fresh farm eggs, roughly stirred with a fork.  Add a pinch of salt.

o       3-4 table spoon of good quality olive oil.

Preheat oven to 450 F.  Have a glass of wine while waiting for the oven to heat-up.  Heat frying pan to medium. You will need a frying pan that can go from stove to oven (i.e. no plastic or wood handle).  When the pan is ready, add the garlic.  Stir for a minute.  Add the eggs.  Place the sliced zucchini and tomatoes on the top of egg.  Cook for a minute or two. Add a few more drops of olive oil around the edges of the pan and on the top of egg.  Transfer the pan into the oven. Turn the oven to grill.  Check often – ready in about a couple minutes. Eh voila. 

Pick your favourite wine.  Whites work well.  I am currently stuck on Catherine and Pierre Breton Avis de Vin Fort.  The combo is fantastic, especially when dined out doors!  Happy summer! 

The wine is available at Kitslano Wine Cellars (W. 4th Ave & Vine in Vancouver - around $30 per bottle).  If you prefer to dine out, the wine is available at L' Abattoir, Cafe Regalade, and Tableau Bar Bistro.

Where is Auvergne and Who is Jean Maupertuis?

I vividly recall meeting Jean Maupertuis for the first time. It was at his domain – actually more like his house.  His basement is his cellar.  He is a vigneron at peace.  If he were in the pages of Tao Tse Ching, he would be in the phrase that describes: “Those who know, does not speak.”  He is quite and joyous at the same time.

For the last twenty years or so that I have been on this wine journey, I never seen a bottle from Auvergne from France in Vancouver.  I have seen cheeses from Auvergne, but not its wines.  If you were in Paris in a great bistro, like here or here or even in San Francisco, you would come across Jean Maupertuis from Auvergne.  His wines quickly sell out in France and it is impossible to get an allocation.  Sounds silly doesn't it?  Allocated wines from Auvergne?  Wines that barely cost mid twenties in Vancouver?

Auvergne is in the centre of France.  It is located high in elevation. Although it is no more than 100 km from northwest of Lyon, it takes a while to arrive at Auvergne.  You are constantly climbing.  My rental VW had its workout when I visited Jean Maupertuis last autumn.

To me, the wines from Jean Maupertuis are singular.  There is nothing like it.   It tastes like a fine Burgundy with a cracked black pepper.  It is made from the Auvergne Gamay – which is a different strain than the Gamay grown in Beaujolais or Loire.  Also, Jean Maupertuis vineyard is at a high elevation – about 500 meters above the sea level.  Because Auvergne is a geological contrast, where one hill is a risen limestone sea-bed and the adjacent hill is an extinct volcanic hill, the beauty and distinctiveness of wines speak clearly.  Pictured above is from a limestone hill cuvée ‘La Guillaume’.  Jean Maupertuis also makes ‘Les Pierres Noires’, which is just a couple kilometres away from ‘La Guilaume’.  Jean Maupertuis told me that ‘Les Pierres Noires’ is slightly more structured and it reveals its beauty later than ‘La Guillaume’.  By the way, ‘La Guilaume’ clocks in at 12% ALC while  ‘Les Pierres Noires’ weights in at a mind-boggling 11.5% ALC.  The wines taste ripe.  I have to scratch my head every time I enjoy a bottle over a meal.  I simply cannot comprehend how Jean Maupertuis makes perfectly ripe wines at that alcohol level.

To my surprise, I had a call from a French chef in town, who used to own a bistro is Paris and Savoie and now owns a restaurant in town.  He knew about Jean Maupertuis.  Upon ordering and receiving a case, he called to say that he opened a bottle as soon as the case arrived.  Upon tasting, he said: “The memories took me right back to France”.

Clos Roche Blanche Pineau D’Aunis Rosé – Summer!

Vancouver had a sunny day last week!  So, I decided to open a bottle of Clos Roche Blanche 2010 Pineau D’Aunis Rosé.  Clocking in at 12% alcohol, this rosé is quite distinctive.  The wine has a slight peppery taste that keeps the wine unique, tasty and fresh.  The wine is even better out of a fridge for about ½ hour – nicely chilled but not very cold.  It is not so easy to get an allocation of the rosé from Clos Roche Blanche because Catherine and Didier, proprietors, make so little of it.  There is a scant 0.4 hectares (about 1 acre) of Pineau D’Aunis planted at Clos Roche Blanche.  And what little of the rosé there is, the locals grab them quickly.   

“Brian, please reserve early if you would like some rosé”, hinted Catherine when I visited her last autumn.  I am so glad I did.  All of their wines are hand-bottled without filtration to keep all that ‘goodness’ of the wine.  Yes, hand-bottled without filtration to avoid the harshness of pumps associated with a bottling machine.  The wine has a bit of that beautiful cloudy appearance that I often associate with artisanal wines. Since wine is a living product, Catherine and Didier do their best to keep it ‘alive’. 

The family had the rosé with some prosciutto, followed by a grilled salmon.  For a reason I can’t quite explain, I now feel the summer is incomplete without the Clos Roche Blanche Pineau D’Aunis Rosé at our home.


The Pineau D’Aunis Rosé is available at KitsWine (2235 W. 4th Ave; T 604 736 7660 - website under construction). Please phone ahead to make sure there is some left.

An Artisan in Our Own Backyard – Mix the Bakery

Every time I drop by Mix the Bakery, I feel like we have a treasure in our own city.  Although I live across the city, I make a point of dropping by the Mix. Of all the great bakeries in Vancouver, the baguette from the Mix reminds me of the ones from France the most.  The baguette is crusty on the outside and moist & airy inside.  A tub of butter, a loaf of the Mix baguette, plus a glass or two of good wine equal BLISS.   

For all the years that I have been going to the Mix, I never met the baker.  So, I decided to meet the baker during my last visit and asked the staff.  “Rose is the co-owner and baker.  She is at the back”, the staff said as she gestured to the back.  I walked past the ladies of bakers at the back, the trays of resting dough, and the stacks of flour sacks.  I had to pause to take in the fragrance of baking permeating through the air.  The ladies said, “Keep walking.  More.  More.  Rose is in her office. Yes, to the left”.  I walked-in unexpectedly and met my local artisan baker hero.  The beauty of the baguette matches the beauty of the boulangère.

The Mix, in addition to the crusty Parisian baguettes, has a variety of breads, desserts, preserves, sandwiches and soups.  By the way, their preserves are essence of fruits.  And their coffees, made from the La Marzocco machine, are always perfect to my taste.  It is as though every single thing in the shop has been touched by the care and dedication of Rose and her staff.  The next time you want to catch an artisanal moment in our own city, I suggest the Mix.

As I walked out of the Mix, the spring passing rain had turned into a sunny afternoon.  And it is a Friday!  With a loaf of Rose’s bread in my arms, I reached to look at the business card that she had given me.  Her title says, ‘DOUGH GIRL’.



   

Odd & Perfect Couple – Chinon and Salmon

Here is a food and wine combination that I don’t think about too often: Chinon and Salmon.  At first, the combo sounds odd – like a peanut butter & jelly sandwich, sweet & sour soup, or Korean & Mexican taco. Our beautiful local salmons are now in season, starting with the Spring Salmon.

Chinon is an appellation in Loire, about 300 km southwest of Paris.  Chinon is a Cabernet Franc country.   Cabernet Franc is better known as Breton by the locals.  The locals sometime simply call the varietal Cabernet – meaning not Cabernet Sauvignon.  Chinon wears many expressions, all to do with where it is grown, vintage and, of course, the vigneron.  Gererally speaking, Chinon grown on sandy soils gives beautiful, perfumed wines that are meant to be enjoyed in its youth.  Bernard Baudry ‘Les Granges’ (pictured) is such an example. The same Chinon grown in a gravel and/or clay over limestone, will likely give structured wines that will benefit from some cellaring. 

Matthieu Baudry and his father Monsieur Bernard Baudry are seeking finesse and elegance in their wines.  Les Granges is usually no more than 12 to 12.5% alcohol.  The vines are grown in harmony with nature.  The grapes are harvested by hand – a rarity in the region nowadays.  The wine is fermented only using indigenous yeasts in concrete vats and bottled unfiltered in the late spring or early summer the following year.  The 2009 vintage is long sold out.  Matthieu informs me the 2010 Les Granges will be bottled this June.  The wine will be shipped this autumn and will arrive on our shores in October/November. 

The Les Granges 2008, the one I am enjoying now clocks in at 12% alcohol.   You can share a bottle over a dinner and don’t feel the vertigo.  The combination of Chinon Les Granges and our local grilled salmon is CONSCIOUS BLISS.

The Foillard Connection

When I was visiting the vignerons last autumn, happy coincidences kept happening.  I was beginning to believe the universe was conspiring in my favour.  It all started when I was visiting Jean Foillard in Morgon.  As I was visiting a number of vignerons in the region, I decided to stay at the bed and breakfast of Jean Foillard for a couple of days.  By the way, if you love France and wine, not to mention the beautiful villages, I strongly recommend Jean Foillard’s B&B.

 An Autumn Scene Steps from Jean Foillard's Domain

Back to the story…Well, Monsieur Foillard asked if I wanted to join the family for a lunch.  Oui!  In the middle of having a delicious lunch that Madame Foillard prepared for us, Monsieur Foillard stood-up, disappeared and returned with a bottle of white wine, declaring that the meal begs for a glass of white.  There was already a bottle of Côte du Py on the table.  I barely kissed my lips on the Côte du Py that Monsieur Foillard poured for me to taste enjoy.  The bottle of white was no other than Thierry and Jean-Marie Puzelat Le Clos du Tue-Boeuf Pinot Gris.  Crisp, minerally and delicious.  There were now two glasses of generous pours in front of meal.   BLISS CONSCIOUSNESS!  I chuckled and informed Monsieur Foillard that I will be visiting Thierry and Jean-Marie Puzelat of Le Clos du Tue-Boeuf in a few days.  A pause, then Monsieur Foillard glanced at me in a different light.  I am not certain but I think that was the moment when Monsieur Foillard decided to give me some allocation to import. 

 The Entrance to Jean Foillard's Tasting Room. Also Used For Harvesters to Enjoy Meals

Then, I was visiting Thierry and Jean-Marie Puzelat at their Le Clos du Tue Boeuf.  During a tasting, a sample of Pinot Gris was poured.  The very cuvée that Jean Foillard had poured for me at his domain only a couple of days ago.   I chuckled and told Thierry about the Pinot Gris at Jean Foillard.  A pause, then Thierry glanced at me in a different light.  I am not certain but I think that was the moment when Thierry decided to give me some allocation to import.

With Thierry Puzelat at Le Clos du Tue-Boeuf Amongst the Vines, Surrounded by Diversity of Forests 

Then, I was visiting Jean Maupertuis.  After a tasting, I followed him to his personal cellar for a tour.  What a cellar! Well, what do I see among the wines?  Jean Foillard’s ‘PI-π’ – a wine only made in certain vintages.  I chuckled and told Jean Maupertuis that I just visited Jean Foillard the day before.  A pause, then Jean Maupertuis glanced at me in a different light.  I am not certain but I think that was the moment when Jean Maupertuis decided to give me some allocation to import.

Jean Maupertuis among the Vines at Le Guillaume Vineyard (500 m above sea level on limestone)

Then to top it off, I was visiting Noëlla Morantin.  When I arrived at her domain, she had nothing to sell.  All her bottled wines were sold out.  Generously, she had to dip into her personal stash to give me a taste.  A conversation led to many things and Noëlla asked what other vignerons I was visiting.  I told her all the names.  Apparently, Noëlla just returned from Jean Foillard.  I am not certain but I think…

 Noëlla Morantin Pouring Generously in her Beautiful Chai/Cellar