The Wine and Food Corner

Wohlner’s Weekly Flyer Ad for 3-4-10: HERE

Events:

Wine Dinner Thursday 3-13-10. See first page of this week’s flyer.

Menu Ideas Using this Weeks Ad Specials

(Advertised Specials are underlined)

Fast Weekday Dinner Ideas good enough for a Weekend Dinner Party:

Filet Mignon and Cremini Mushroom Risotto, Cecchi Reserva Chianti Classico

Dry Aged Rib Eye with Sauteed Mushrooms Baby Bellas, Cannonball Cab

Pork Chops with Mushroom Dill Sauce On Noodles,   Banfi Rosso Montalcino

Poached Salmon (Microwave Poached) with Dill Sauce,  WillaKenzie or Sockeye Pinot Noir

Red Wine Poached Pears

Pork Chops with Mushroom Dill Sauce on Noodles   Recipe

Pasta Bolognese—Not your Momma’s spaghetti sauce   Recipe

Poached Salmon (Microwave Method)   Check BLOG Tomorrow for recipe

Pears in Red Wine :  extremecookingblog.com

Other Ideas:

Basa Fish Tacos: Pan sear some Basa Fish and make fish tacos from our recipe from Paul Bacino–he used fresh salsa, grilled red peppers, cilantro, white onions and  pickled jalapeno pepper, and a nice squeeze of fresh lime.  Some sliced avocado is a must here.  Mexican Beer, a Tecate sounds good.

Salmon Tacos: Cook or use leftover cooked salmon to make some healthy and extremely tasty Salmon Tacos.  Simple and Fast.    Dice or flake apart cooked Salmon; make a dilled cole slaw dressing with Marzetti’s Dill Dip thinned with some rice vinegar.  It’s your choice whether to use soft corn tortillas or flour tortillas.   Mix the dressing with  Wohlner’s Cole Slaw Mix.  Try Sockeye Pinot Noir or an inexpensive pinot.

Dry-Rubbed Salmon Taco With Avocado Slaw:  Recipe I’d make a 3 changes to streamline this recipe. 1) Instead of  2 tomatillos substitute 1/2 cup of green salsa which will have the tomatillos in it. 2)  Use 1/2 of  a jalapeno in the dressing mix since the green salsa will already have some heat in it.  2) Use 4 cups Wohlner’s Cole Slaw mix instead of chopping and shredding head’s of cole slaw.  The dry rub has a little bit of coffee grounds–intriguing.  The author suggests Zinfandel wine.  Beer sounds good, too.

Salmon Po’ Boy Sandwich:  Lightly toast a small Wohlner’s Baguette or a Hoagie Bun or Brat bun, smear some Marzetti’s dip on the bottom of the open bread, fill with diced cooked salmon, place sliced dill pickle chip on salmon, top with Dilled Coleslaw (Marzetti’s Dill dip thinned with rice vinegar, toss with Wohlner’s Cole Slaw mix. Oh, man, I just made myself hungry.

My Mom’s Pear Salad: Slice a pear in half and remove core.   With the BOSC pears I’d leave the peel on.  If your not going to serve soon then rub cut face with a lemon so it doesn’t turn too brown.  Place a small tablespoon of Kraft Soft Cream Cheese on each pear and grate cheddar cheese( Black Diamond Cheddar) over pear and serve (or, instead of the cream cheese and cheddar, try crumbled blue cheese and chopped walnuts.) btw, a week ago the  bosc pears at Wohlner’s tasted really good.

Pear and Prosciutto Wraps with Blue Cheese

Hey, I had to get my blue cheese in here and this sounds incredibly good—pears, prosciutto and blue cheese!!

Ingredients (makes 20)

- 2 large pears

- a little block of blue cheese

- 10 good size thin slices of prosciutto

- a handful of arugula leaves

Peel and cut the pears into little wedges. Cut prosciutto slices in half lengthwise. Roll a prosciutto slice around the pear wedge, a little piece of blue cheese and a few arugula leaves. Place the wraps on a serving platter. Enjoy with sparkling water or a glass of wine.

{ recipe adapted from real simple }  Pic and recipe at sparkling ink

We are about to reach our 600th Wohlner’s FACEBOOK Fan, who will it be??

Check out the BLOG later in the week, I’ll add a few more recipes or ideas.

Bolognese, the traditional meat sauce of Bologna, Emilia-Romagna, is made with whole milk, white wine, and varying amounts of tomato.  The sauce should be cooked at “the laziest of simmers, with just an intermittent bubble breaking through the surface.” 2 to 3 hours is enough but 5 hours of lazy simmer is much better.  Because of the time it takes to lazy simmer it’s wise to make a double or, even wiser a triple batch—wise because your going to want this again very soon!

Tagliatelle is the preferred pasta, or other wide egg noodle, since it holds this sauce better.   Spaghetti is not the best choice.

For sauce

• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 1 small onion, chopped fine
• 1 carrot, chopped fine
• 1 celery rib, chopped fine
• 1.5 pounds ground chuck (or 1 lb. ground chuck and 1/2 lb. of ground pork)
• 1 cup milk
• freshly grated nutmeg to taste
• 1 cup dry white wine (Pinot Grigio ;but NO oaky chardonnay)
• a 28-to-32 ounce can whole tomatoes including juice
• 1 1/4 pounds dried tagliatelle (a wide egg noddle which holds the sauce better), or you can use rigatoni, fusilli, and conchiglie

1) In large heavy saucepan heat oil and butter over moderately high heat until foam subsides and sauté onion, carrot, and celery, stirring 2 minutes.

2) Add beef and pork and cook, stirring, 2 minutes, or until meat is no longer pink. NOW season mixture with salt and pepper (so the salt extracts the juices from the meat and into the sauce) and cook 1 minute more.

3)Add milk and nutmeg and cook, stirring, until most milk is evaporated, about 10 minutes.  (DON’T  combine steps 3 and 4.)

4) Add wine and cook, stirring occasionally, until liquid is nearly evaporated, about 10 minutes.

5) In a blender or food processor coarsely purée (semi puree maybe a better term) tomatoes with juice and stir into sauce. Cook sauce at the barest of simmers, uncovered, stirring occasionally, for 2 to 3 hours sauce will be thickened) and season with salt and pepper.  Longer and very slow cooking is even better.  If you had a very heavy earthen pot or an enamled cast iron pot, then you could try cooking this for up to 5 hours.

Sauce may be made ahead and cooled, uncovered, before being chilled, covered, 2 days or frozen 1 month.

Cook pasta/noddles as directed on package.

Wine:

Last week, at one of the free wine tastings, the Banfi Rosso di Montalcino (100% sangiovese) caught the attention of my pallette, and my mind  immediately jumped to a desire for Bolognese.  This wine tastes much better with a few hours to breath,  or open it in the morning.  Maybe I can get a chance to find out soon if it pairs as well with the sauce I expect it might.  If any of you try the two, please let me know.

ciao

Celebrate with us! This week is Albert Wohlner’s Anniversary(birthday).

Wohlner’s Grocery c. 1919, 33rd and California St.

 5 Free Wine Tastings Weds.-Sun. 4-7:30, this week

We celebrate and remember his birthday with 5 FREE WINE TASTINGS (Weds-Sunday, 4pm-7:30pm):  Check out the wines HERE

Wohlner’s Ad Flyer for the Week of 2-14-10:  CLICK HERE

Celebrate with us and fight this wicked winter with some festive fun. Have friends over for an aperitif, wine, cocktail, make a whole meal of appetizers and desserts. Have a brunch at home with friends. Host a dinner party with some menu ideas we give you below. Have a great Sunday dinner with a roasted free range chicken, and or our easy method for the perfect roast eye of round or sirloin tip roast.

Meet friends at Wohlner’s: Meet friend’s for lunch at Wohlner’s Deli Café. Meet some friends for one for one of the free wine tastings then buy a bottle of wine to share and enjoy a dinner at our Deli Bistro. Meet friends for Thursday’s Wine Dinner. Just meet friends. Be proactive and start calling, emailing or texting to get the ball rolling.

Thumb Your Nose at Winter –Enjoy Time With Friends and Family

Menu and Celebration Ideas using Ad Flyer Specials this week (sale items underlined)

Racelette Cheese: Here is a hot idea for a  winter dinner party or cocktail party. Racler means “to scrape” in French, so Racelette Cheese you heat and scrape. Or in German it’s Bratchäs, or "roasted cheese." Heat the Racelette Cheese in front of your fireplace as the Swiss traditionally do, or over an electric frypan and scraped off, or slices of the cheese are heated on a skillet. Then scrape off some of the warm cheese as it softens from the heat. Serve with Wohlner’s French Bread slices, Hard Salami, steamed or boiled Yukon Gold Potatoes, hard salami, sliced ham, sliced Prosciutto, Wohlner’s Wieners, grape tomatoes, raw or poached Asparagus and Broccoli, Gherkin pickles, pickled onions and baby corn, Town House Crackers, mushrooms, etc.  Article and pictures

 Traditional Racelette Cheese Dinner at La Racelette in France

The accent in Raclette dining is on relaxed and sociable eating and drinking, the meal often running to several hours. Read more on wiki  HERE and Our blog article here. Sip white wine (Pinot Grigio/Gris, Riesling, Gruner Veitliner, Chardonnay, or Rotari Champagne or Poema Cava Brut. Check out the free wine tastings for 20% off wines. Some of you crazy people out there may want to start with a Jagermeister, or not. Warm cheese + crusty bread + warm fireplace + fine wine + great friends = a wonderful evening.

Roasted Local Free Range Chicken from Plum Creek Farm—Sunday or Weekday Supper, or your last supper meal

I made this the other night and it was so good! . Rinse and dry the whole chicken, allow it to come to nearly room temperature. Wipe it dry again, then liberally season with coarse kosher salt and coarse black pepper. Place some halved Yukon Gold Potatoes, yellow onions, and carrots in the roasting pan. Roast at 450f for about 1 hour 10 minutes. It’s done when the juices run clear when pierced inside the thigh, or when it reaches 165 to 170f. Allow to rest 10 minutes before cutting.

For a sauce skim the fat form the pan juices, deglaze the pan with a little wine and/or chicken stock. Add the defatted juices back in the roasting pan and heat to boil for a for minutes to make a wonderful sauce. Recipe

The skin was so crispy and salty. Serve with the vegetables , steamed asparagus, crusty Wohlner’s Bread, and a nice Pinot Noir or Chardonnay.

Did you YABBA DABBA DO?  If not you have another chance with Bone-in Ribeyes on sale.  Ask the butcher to cut a 2.5" or better 3" bone-in ribeye and french the bone.  Here is our blog article for Thomas Keller’s Yabba Dabba Do dinner.  Add some roasted or steamed Asparagus and Potatoes Anna with Yukon Golds.  Note the butchers may not be able cut and french that for you after 5:30pm so you should call ahead.  They will have bone-in ribeyes all open hours

 Roasted King Crab v2.0 over Asian Noodles

Check out our new recipe for spicy roast crab legs while they are on sale for just $5.99/lb.–here

Does anybody do brunch for friends at home?  

Here are some brunch ideas:

**Smoked Salmon on toasted Wohlner’s Baguette slices. Top with some crème fraiche’, fresh dill, and a few capers.

**Mixed fruit plate with Fresh Fruit from the Deli’s Grab n Go, or make your own with diced Cantaloupe, fresh raspberries, supremed oranges, diced Fuji apples tossed in lemon juice, and fresh pineapple(only $1.89 each!).  Make a light sauce with orange juice, or orange juice/lemon juice, sugar, and yogurt.

Racelette Cheese and pan fried Yukon Gold Potatoes:  Article

**Roasted King Crab Legs and Roasted Asparagus. Simply oven roast plain King Crab Legs ($5.99/lb.) and Asparagus.  Serve each with melted butter.

Baked Eggs with Proscuitto and Tomato–Mark Bittman in NYT’s  and the RECIPE.  You can prep these ahead of time and then simply bake for 12 minutes while you enjoy time with your friends. 

Baked Eggs w/ Prosciutto and Tomato

Brunch Beverages:

Italian Soda

Orange Juice

Rotari Champagne (Champagne goes especially well with Smoked Salmon.)

Rotari Champagne Mimosas (Champagne and Orange Juice)

Rotari Champagne with a Fresh Rapsberry

Strong Brewed Coffee with CoffeeMate Flavored Creamer

Maker’s Mark Maple Coffee—use our recipe for Canadian Maple Coffee but substitute Maker’s Mark

Other menu ideas for this week:

-Eye of Round Roast Method 1 and Method 2 These would also work for Sirloin Tip Roast that’s on sale. 

-Pineapple and Apple Breadpudding with Maker’s Mark Bourbon Sauce

-Oven Roasted Pineapple w/ a Snowball (A scoop of Vanilla Ice cream rolled in toasted coconut) drizzled with Chocolate Sauce

–Crab Spread using the King Crab Spears on Sale.

–Smoked Salmon Spread with the Smoked Salmon on Sale 

–Host a White Wine and Rotari Champagne Cocktail Buffet

Check us out on FaceBook, become a FAN of Wohlner’s there.  Make comments or requests.  

See you at the Thursday’s Wine Dinner and the Free Wine Tastings Weds-Sunday

5 Free Wine Tastings this week and 20% off tasting wines—Weds. thru Sun., 4:00 –7:30.  Plus a Wine Tasting Dinner On Thurs at 6:30.  These sound so good I may camp out there this week.

These are 4 delicious wines--FREE

Wow, Napa Cab, Chianti Classico Reserva and Super Tuscans, Dry Creek Zinfandel, Spanish Crianza, Carneros Pinot Noir, Sparkling Cava! Much better than the wines you usually get at  FREE tasting!  20% off too.   Note: To me it looks like Saturday’s tasting are specialty sodas.

Why not stop by for a free tasting, then enjoy dinner at Wohlner’s Deli Bistro.  Buy a bottle of wine at retail and have dinner off the regular nightly menu.  You can now take the unconsumed wine home.  Invite friends and make an evening of it.

Wednesday, Feb. 24 – Robert Cinotto  Free 4:00-7:30

San Angelo Pinot Grigio,

Banfi Centine Toscana,

Cecchi Reserva di Famiglia Chianti Classico Reserva,

Banfi Rosso di Montalcino

Thursday, Feb. 25 – John Bruer   Free 4:00-7:30

Plungerhead Dry Creek Zinfandel,

Monteccillo Crianza,

Oberon Napa Cabernet Sauvignon,

Donna Laura Altea,

Helfrick Riesling

Thursday Tasting Dinner

Mexican Flavors Wine Tasting-Thursday 6:30

Try 6 Delicious Wines with 6 Great Appetizers!

•Roasted Pico de Gallo in an Avocado

•Chili Rellenos

•Shrimp with Avocado-Mango Salsa

•Chipotle Chicken Tortilla Soup

•Chicken Mole

•Bread Pudding with Dulce de Leche

Only $30 per person • Limited seating available • Reserve your tickets in the deli.

Friday, Feb. 26 – Kyle Dibbernwith   Free 4:00-7:30

Saintsbury Carneros Pinot Noir,

Carneros Chardonnay

Saturday, Feb. 27 – Ryan Penke—Craft Beers, Cider, and one Root Beer

Sprecher Special Amber,

Sprecher Black Bavarian,

Delerium Tremens,

Scumpy Organic Farmhouse Cider,

Sprecher Root Beer,

Also sampling Papio Salsas

Sunday, Feb. 28 – ‘The Dude’ Brian Lundin   Free 4:00-7:30

Don Olegrio Albarino,

sparkling Poema Cava Brut,

Vina Salceda Rioja,

Spanish Sons

As good as Roasted King Crab v1.0 is, I’m on  quest for the ultimate Roasted  Pepper Crab.  Version1.1 was not a step forward so I never posted it.  But the third try was so good I decided to not call it v1.2, and instead jump to v2.0.  With King Crab Spears at only $5.99 it’s time for you to try this new version.

Another suggestion is to serve over prepared Asian Noodles or Spaghetti so you can enjoy the wonderful

Here is the recipe:

Roasted Crab Legs v2.0

Serves 4

2 tablespoons canola oil
3-1 1/2- to 2-pound lobsters
1/2 cup dry white wine reduced in half
2 cups Black Pepper-Garlic Sauce, below (Make sauce ahead of time)
Juice of 1 lemon
2 scallions, green and white parts, cut 1/8 inch thick.

Cooked Spaghetti or Asian noodles for 4 people.

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 375f
2. With a cleaver or large, heavy knife, cut the tails from the lobsters’ bodies. Twist off the claws and halve each lengthwise. Cut the tails along the joints into 4 or 5 sections.
3. Heat large oven proof pan in the oven. Then add the oil and swirl to coat the pan. Add crab legs and reduced white wine to pan, return the pan to oven and roast for 10-12 minutes.
4. Make the Black Pepper Garlic sauce with the crab legs roast. (Or make sauce ahead of time.). Gently heat the sauce to below simmer, but do not allow to boil. Add Juice of one lemon, stir, and bring just to a simmer. Do not allow the mixture to boil or the sauce may break.
5. Pour the warm sauce over the crab, return to the oven of 1 or 2 minutes. Remove crab from oven and baste the crab with the sauce.
6. (Optional: Prepare some spaghetti or Asian noodles and serve crab and sauce on pasta/noodles.)
7. Garnish with scallions and serve immediately. It’s messy but good.

Noodles: As an alternative you could first roast the crab, then remove all the crab meat and set aside, then warm the crab meat in the warmed sauce.

Black Pepper-Garlic Sauce

This makes enough sauce for 6 to 8 people.

1 tablespoon or canola oil
20 garlic cloves, thinly sliced (20 is not a typo, and it is not as garlicy tasting as you may think.)
1 cup scallions, white and green parts, cut 1/8 inch thick
1 heaping tablespoon medium-ground black pepper
2 cups dry white wine
2 cups Chicken Broth or low-sodium canned chicken broth
2 tablespoons fish sauce (nam pla) (or 1 or 2 anchovies) (don’t worry you wont taste the anchovies or fish sauce)
Juice of 1 lemon
8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter, cut into 1-tablespoon pieces

· Heat a wok or large sauté pan over high heat. Add the oil and swirl to coat the pan. Add the garlic and stir-fry until soft, no more than 30 seconds. Add the scallions and black pepper, and stir. Add the wine, stock, fish sauce, and lemon juice and boil until the liquid is reduced by half, about 2-4 minutes.

· Transfer the warm mixture to a blender and blend on high speed to purée. With the machine running, add the butter to form a creamy sauce. Use or store. This makes enough sauce for 6 to 8 people.

Racler means “to scrape” in French, so this is cheese you heat and scrape. Or in German it’s Bratchäs, or “roasted cheese.” Heat the Racelette Cheese in front of your fireplace or over an electric frypan and scrap off some of the semi-melted cheese,  or heat slices of the cheese on a skillet.  Scrape the cheese onto the foods you are serving, traditionally: Wohlner’s French Bread slices, Hard Salami, steamed or boiled Yukon Gold Potatoes, hard salami, sliced ham, sliced Prosciutto d’ Parma, Wohlner’s Wieners, Gherkin pickles, pickled onions and baby corn, and not so traditonally grape tomatoes, raw or poached Asparagus and Broccoli,  Town House Crackers, mushrooms, etc.

The accent in Raclette dining is on relaxed and sociable eating and drinking, the meal often running to several hours

Over Diced Cooked Potatoes or Home Fries with Gherkins for Breakfast or Brunch

Grilled Racelette Sandwich (Proscuitto or ham optional)

Sandwich photos at pannihappy.com

Join us this Friday for a night of King Crab and Good Wine at Wohlner’s Bistro

  Menu

*King Crab

*Cheddar Twice Baked Potato

*Sauteed Green Beans

*Side Salad

*Butter

*Wine by the Glass-$3.00

*Any bottle of wine or craft beer from the store at retail, no corkage.

*Flights of Wine—A chance to experience a variety of wines—a sampling.

Flights of White Wine Bring friends and family and enjoy an evening of good food and fine wine.

Wohlner’s Bistro and Deli

Friday Feb 19th, 5:30-9:00

67th and Center

Make reservation at Deli

or call 551-6875

photo from LisaisCooking

Bordelaise Sauce—The impossible made possible

Filet Mignon is great but with Bordelaise Sauce it becomes transcendent. Bordelaise is silky, luscious, rich, it has depth of flavor without being heavy. Classically French for good reason, and like many worthy French classics it’s terribly time consuming, terribly difficult, and requires ingredients that are virtually impossible to find. It’s a reason you go to 3 star French restaurants.

Wanting Bordelaise, but not wanting to fly to France, I looked at recipes. Whoa, it takes 26 hours to make. It requires 10 pounds of veal bones. Roast the bones for 2 hours. Cook a stock for 24 hours. Make another sauce, Espagnole. Meanwhile reduce red wine and shallots. Then make the sauce with the red wine reduction, the 26 hour veal stock, and the Espagnole sauce. About 27 hours.  Too much time, too much work.  I need to find an better way.

Bordelaise made simple and in Omaha: Demi-Glace at Wohlner’s is the secret.  With Demi-Glace you can fast forward 26.5 hours; you go to the last steps which take about 3o minutes, most of which can be done ahead of time. photo at Angela’s Food Love

Classic French Demi-Glace: a 30 hour reduction

Frank’s Fast Forward Bordelaise—saves you 26 to 30 hours

Makes about 2 cups 8 servings (note: recipe can be cut in half)

Note: You can cut the recipe in half.  If so, use only half of the Demi-Glace Gold and 4 oz. of warm water.  Use a dry spoon when removing 1/2 the Demi-Glace Gold from the package, then place the remaining Demi-Glace Gold in a small zip lock bag and refrigerate for up to a couple months.

Bordelaise is classically served with Cote du Boeuf(3”prime rib cooked as steak)

Flowers and Champagne at Wohlner’s

Wohlner’s Weekly Ad Flyer for Valentine’s Day 2010: Click HERE FOR AD

Event’s:

-Wine Dinner—Spain. Thursday Feb, 11th. Menu on 1st page of Flyer.   Make reservation at the Deli.

-King Crab Dinner: Friday, Feb 19^th.

Valentine’s Weekend Menu Ideas with Wohlner’s Ad Specials

Valentine’s Day Breakfast in Bed or Brunch Eggs Benedict with Pan Fried Diced Potatoes– use Wohlner’s Canadian Bacon, buy or make some Hollandaise, poach some eggs, and toast English muffin’s.  Buy some sparkling  Asti, Prosecco, or Rotari to make a Mimosa with Orange Juice.

Appetizers:

Port Salut is a soft cheese with wonderful flavor. It’s become my favorite appetizer cheese; at room temperature it’s soft enough to spread on sliced Wohlner’s baguette.

Shrimp is always a great appetizer. Cold as shrimp cocktail. Or, make some shrimp spread or dip.

Dinner:

Lobster Tail and Filet Mignon — both on sale

Cornish Game Hens are elegant and easy –one per person.  I usually just season well with plenty of kosher salt and coarse black pepper then roast at 450f, but this recipe caught my attention:  Cornish Hens with Dijon and Rosemary

Lamb Loin Chop with Pomegranate Rosemary Sauce

Rack Of Lamb–classically coated with mustard and bread crumbs then cooked to medium rare.  Pinot Noir is the wine of choice here.

Cote du Boeuf—2” to 3” thick prime rib with frenched bone, cooked as a steakCote du Boeuf is a 2″ to 3″ thick piece of prime rib, the bone is frenched (ask Ed, the butcher, to do that for you), and it’s tied with a string.  Then season, pan sear, and finish in an oven until done to your liking (125f for rare, 130-132 for medium rare.)  See Frank’s 6 Easy Rules to Cook a Very Thick Wohlner’s Steak: Here.  Serves 2 to 4 people.  A bone-in rib eye is one of life’s great pleasures!  Here is Thomas Keller’s “Yabba Dabba Doo” Recipe –Cote du Boeuf with Bordelaise Sauce and Pommes Anna (double cut bone-in Prime Rib Steak with Bordelaise sauce and Skillet Potatoes Anna)  Check out the blog on Thursday for Frank’s “Easy” version.  Easy is a relative term here, but it’s very doable at home.

Valentine’s Day Lunch:

Buy some extra shrimp so you can make this:

Shrimp Po’ Boy on Wohlner’s Baguette:  Recipe

OR TRY Roast Beef Po’ Boy with Red Cabbage Slaw—Wohlner’s Own Roast Beef in the Deli, Wohlner’s Baguette

And don’t forget Flower’s and Champagne–We’ve got them both Roses and Rose’

Get the picture

Have a great Valentine’s Day

Shop Wohlner’s

Check back for updates and recipes.  Or ask us for recipes and ideas.