Feeling Crabby?

After the annual haggling over pricing, the Dungeness crabs have arrived.  Around Sonoma County, we can soon indulge in crab-eating orgies in support of various Rotary, Kiwanis, and Soroptomists.  Or, you can grab whole crabs yourself for just $5.59/lb boiled and cleaned at your favorite supermarket.  As a Northern California native with deep New England roots, Dungeness crab season has always been my opportunity to demonstrate my ability to wield a nutcracker around a tasty crustacean. Bring your bibs, I can make a mean Ciopinno.  I can go pan-Asian and create a ginger and lemon grass-infused coconut milk broth for my succulent & crabby friends.  Or, if I really love you, I am more than willing to spend the time cracking and picking to create a mound of shell-less crab meat.  Last night, as a welcome home gift to my husband who had just endured three days in Houston, I decided to shell the two crabs. Shelling a lobster starts with the satisfying bounty of big claws and tail, and de-volves into the only-for-expert job of sucking meat out of legs or the daring, but blissful reward of the green tomalley -- the lobster's liver.  Shelling a Dungeness crab is a much more consistently rewarding process, provided that you embrace the briny challenge.  Not only do the legs and claws offer up tasty chunks, the body itself is a mother lode of easily accessed treats.  So, after a delicious lime & bourbon cocktail and 30-40 minutes, I had myself at least 4 cups of pristine crab meat. From here, the possibilities were endless.  I could eat the whole bowl myself before Peter came downstairs to check on dinner.  I could mix it with some of my home made chile & lime sauce for a Crab Louie.  I could make a Ciopinno for the lazy -- essentially a shelled tomato-based crab chowder.   What I decided to do was to make a simple pasta dish:

Ingredients:

> 4 cups shelled Dungeness crab

> Linguini, angel hair, or similar pasta

> Zest of one Meyer lemon or a lime, chopped finely

> Juice of one Meyer lemon or a lime

> 1/3 cup dry white wine (Sauvignon Blanc)

> 1/3 cup half & half 

> 1-2 tbsp chopped parsley or cilantro

Process:

Boil the pasta

Right after you drain the past while it is still hot, toss all of the ingredients, except for the parsley, together

Toss the parsley or cilantro on top of each serving

The choice for wine was easy.  The matching of Chardonnay and Crab is obvious, but I wanted something deeper, richer, and more luxurious to reward my crab-shelling effort.  The 2008 Bedarra Reserve Chardonnay, Dry Creek Valley was the perfect match for the dish.  It's the wine that reminds me that I can love Chardonnay.   

Also posted on: http://tastelocalwinesblog.com/

Pinot, Pumpkin & Praeternatural December Heat Waves

Fish Stew Served in a Whole Pumpkin

Climate change be damned, there is nothing like a drought-on-the-horizon mid December day in Sonoma County. Yesterday I awoke to brilliant sunshine, frost on my roof and all three dogs under the covers. By mid day, I was sweating in the garden pulling beets, clipping kale, picking the last of the serrano peppers, and wondering if I needed sun block. By sunset, I was lighting a fire and contemplating a stew for dinner. No time for slow-braised short ribs or coq au vin. A sea food stew would have to do. I remembered a fish stew served in a whole pumpkin that I had at a hole-in-the-wall Brazilian restaurant on Valencia & 24th back in the 80s. A tropical stew for a cold winter’s night that came hours after a what felt like a warm summer day. Here’s what I did:

INGREDIENTS:

The pumpkins

• Slice the tops off of two sugar pie pumpkins (the small ones about the size of a softball or grapefruit)
• Scoop out the seeds
• Bake at 350 for one hour; then turn off the oven and allow the pumpkins to sit in the oven for up to an hour more

The stew

• Dice, separately:
• 2 red, ripe Serrano peppers
• 1 shallot
• 1/2 of a fennel bulb (about 1/2 cup)
• 1 leek
• 1 large carrots
• 1/2 lb Crimini or white mushrooms

DIRECTIONS:

• Heat a small amount of olive oil in a heavy bottomed pot
• Add the pepper, shallot, and fennel and saute for about 3-4 min until soft
• Add the leek and carrots and saute for about 3-4 min until soft
• Add the crimini mushrooms and 1 cup dry white wine, cover and let cook until the mushrooms have released their juices
• Chop into 1/2 inch cubes: approximately 8 oz. snapper or other flaky white fish
• Add the fish along with 1 cup water, cook until the fish dissolves
• In the mean time, rinse and mix together 1/2 lb selections of other seafood (I used bay scallops, tiger prawns and calamari). Squeeze the juice of one lime over the fish along with 1/2 cup white wine, salt & pepper, 1/2 cup chopped italian parsley and 1 one diced Serrano pepper. Let sit while the snapper dissolves.
• 10 min before serving, add the fish to the stew, bring to a simmer, lower the heat and let it simmer for 10 min
• Place the pumpkins into plates or soup bowls, ladle the stew into the pumpkins, sprinkle with chopped cilantro and enjoy.

So what wine should we pair with this creation? A Praxis Viognier to capture the tropical mood? A Saracina Sauvignon Blanc to meet the citrus notes? Nope, I chose the Eric Ross 2009 Pinot Noir. Red wine with fish? A Pinot with spicy sea food? No problem. The fennel and mushroom based stock met the earthy tones of the Pinot perfectly. And the fruitier notes mingled with the sweetness of the pumpkin and the shellfish provided a perfect counterpoint to the spice of the Serranos. Fish and white wine pairing orthodoxy be damned.

Also posted on: http://tastelocalwinesblog.com/