Wine Dinner at Rivera in Downtown

Last week, I got together with friends for dinner at Rivera in Downtown. We brought wine, and the chef created the tasting course to pair with our wine. Both the food and service at Rivera were outstanding, and we had a great time. I'd love to go back there for another wine dinner soon. Among 5 of us, we opened 7 bottles. Here's the list.

Bollanger, Champagne, Brut Rose(Ay)...62% PN, 24% CH, and 12% PM, of which 5-6% of red wine (Pinot Noir from Ay and Verzenay Grand Crus) is added to this cuvee. Berry tea, fresh minerality, spice, sour dough, yeasty. Soft and delicate palate, wet minerality, exhotic spice, brown sugar, very balanced and elegant.

2004 Didier Dagueneau, Blanc Fume de Pouilly, "Silex"...It's Dagueneau's "Grand Cru" wine. Compared to the same vintage we tasted last year, this one definitely tasted more "opened up" and awake. Preserved lemon, big time slate, spice, high acidity with round palate. Petro. Beautiful texture and minerality.

2004 Camille Giroud, Corton Grand Cru, "Le Rognet"...Lately, I'm so happy that 2004 Burgundy are showing so well. And, this wine was especially amazing among 2004 reds I've had this year. Le Rognet is located in Ladoix-Serrigny (right on the border to Aloxe-Corton). Giroud makes very elegant-style Corton. Dark garnet. Cherry, soil, mushroom, earthy. Fresh acidity, berry, spice, tingling fruity sweetness. Very smooth and soft. Tea candy. Elegant long finish.

1971 Pio Cesare, Barolo...Beautifully aged Barolo. I thought this could age even many more years. It was hard to believe this wine is older than me. Beautiful dense garnet color. Leather, coffee bean, dry konbu and mushroom aroma. Earthy. Truffles, chocolate, dry fruit. Smooth tannins. Long finish.

1998 Numanthia (Toro, Spain)...100% old-vine Tempranillo (70-100 years old). My first time to try this wine. 1998 is their first vintage. Aged in 100% new French oak for 19 months. Dense ruby color. Somewhat medicinal aroma, cookies, furniture, dry berry. Milky chocolate, berries, big tannins on the palate. Smoky character. It's a big wine and went great with the lamb chop.

1999 Numanthia (Toro, Spain)...99 vintage was quite different in taste than 98. Chorizo, furniture, cola, dry cherry on the nose. Dark cherry, soft tannin, mid+ acid. 99 vintage tasted more balanced and somehow older than 98.

1985 Giuseppe Mascarello, Barolo, "Belvedere"...Traditional producer from Monforte d'Alba. The wine was unfortunately a little off when we opened. It smelled like old fruit basket. But it did have some perfume.

Making Biwa-shu (Loquat liqueur)

Our home-grown fruits are really awesome this year. We've got the super-juicy oranges, lemons, and biwa (loquat)!

So, I made "Biwa-shu" (loquat liqueur). In a 3-liter jar, I combined about 2.5 pounds of biwa, 4 lemons (fruit only, sliced), 1 bottle of Muscat de Beaumes de Venise (fortified sweet wine - VDN from Rhone), 1 bottle of French Brandy (just a generic brand), and some agave syrup (maybe 3-4 oz).

The jar will be stored in a cool dark storage. The liqueur will be ready in 1 year. Meanwhile, I will have to remove the lemon (after 2 months). I can't wait to taste it next year!!

Tomorrow, I'm going to make this year's ume-shu (plum wine).

Yuzu-scented Sato-imo (Taro root) and Konnyaku (yam jelly) Stew

My wonderful donabe pots...

Planning dinner menu is so much fun because of donabe. I had a bag of large sato-imo (taro root). So, I decided to make a quick stew by using my soup & stew donabe, "Miso-shiru Nabe".

The recipe I came up with is so simple. I got the sato-imo, konnyaku (yam jelly...full of fiber and practically non-calorie), and leftover konbu (kelp) from making the dashi stock. I sauteed them with some ginger, and added the dashi stock (made from konbu and shiitake mushrooms), yuzu jam, and soy sauce.

After braising over low-heat for about 30-35 minutes, the dish was ready. Because of the natural effect of FIR (Far-Infrared Radiation) of this wonderful donabe, the taro root developed the very nice dense texture without breaking apart. All the ingredients soaked the full flavors of the broth. Because the flavor is so rich, this dish is almost hard to believe it's completely vegan.

What a wonderful life. I posted the recipe on toiro's website. Please check it out.

Benjamin Leroux's Auxey-Duresses (blanc) with Japanese soybean stew

In my trip to Burgundy in April, one of the most memorable producers I visited was Benjamin Leroux. I really love the style of his wines and admire his wine making philosophy.

I opened 2007 Benjamin Leroux, Auxey-Duresses the other night. 2007 is the first vintage under his own label, and this generally "under-rated" appellation wine is, in fact, one of Benjamin's signature bottles.

This is a blend of grapes from three different vineyards (Boutonnieres, Macabree, and Hautees) right next to Meursault. As soon as I put my nose on the glass, my mind immediately tripped back to the moment I tasted the same wine in his cellar. There was so much going on in this wine. The aroma had the beautiful rich fruit, orange peel, pineapple, honey, and minerality. The palate was so vivid with the spice, lemon, and fresh tartness. The wine reminded me of Meursault a little bit. It was just so gorgeous, rich, and had a long finish.

And, surprisingly, the wine had a perfect mariage with my rustic "Buddhist-style" soybean and vegetable stew! Because I made it with my soup & stew donabe, "Miso-shiru Nabe", and it was cooked in the oven for abou 40 minutes, the dish developed the nice nutty robust flavors and lived up to the wine very nicely.

My happy moment.

The best (donabe-smoked) chicken wings...wow

Maybe I've posted too many pictures of my donabe smoked chicken wings by now. But, I just can't help it, because every time I make donabe-smoked chicken wings, it's simply amazing.

There is no trick at all. In fact, this can be the simplest chicken wing dish you can find, because the chicken was seasoned only with salt & pepper. Then, they are put in my donabe smoker, "Ibushi Gin" with the smoke chips. The donabe is set on the gas stove for about 15 minutes (of which 8 minutes with the lid on), then let rest for about 20 minutes after the heat was turned off. That's it. Really. This beautiful donabe smoker is smokeless. So, you don't have to worry about your kitchen to be filled with the smoke. Wonderful, isn't it?

Voila, the aroma was so gorgeous and the chicken was perfectly smoked. The sakura (Japanese cherry blossoms tree) smoke chips give the very nice elegant smoky aroma.

Here's the back side of the smoked chicken wing. We smoked about 15 wings (for 2 of us) and they were gone in less than 10 minutes!

Happy donabe life.

Shrimp and Yellow Chives Stir-fry with Black Vinegar Sauce

My body naturally wants more kurozu (Japanese black vinegar - made from brown rice) as the weather gets warmer toward summer. Among all the remarkable health benefits of the Japanese black vinegar (eg. keeping the blood clean, reducing the cholesterol, etc.), it helps preventing your body from fatigue. So I often make black vinegar drinks so that I can keep going in the warm weather.

I also use black vinegar in many dishes I make. Because black vinegar is slowly aged (normally 1-3 years), the flavor of the black vinegar is much softer than regular rice vinegar. It also has the natural sweetness and more umami (savory flavor) components than rice vinegar.

For lunch yesterday, I made a Chinese-style quick stir-fry shrimp with black vinegar sauce and it was really great.

Shrimp and Yellow Chives Stir-fry with Black Vinegar Sauce

Ingredients:

1/2 pound large shrimp

1 tablespoon sake

1/4 teaspoon each salt, Szechwan pepper, and Chinese five spice

1/2 tablespoon potato starch

1 tablespoon sesame oil

1 clove garlic, thinly sliced

1 small knob ginger, sliced into shreds

3 oz Chinese yellow chives, cut into 2" length

(Sauce)

2 tablespoons black vinegar

1 tablespoon soy sauce

1/2 tablespoon sesame oil

cilantro

la-yu

Procedure

1. In a bowl, mix the shrimp with the sake, salt, Szechwan pepper, Chinese five spice, and potato starch.

2. In a cup, combine the ingredients for the sauce and set aside.

3. Heat 1 T sesame oil in a saute pan. Saute the ginger and garlic until fragrant over medium-high heat.

4. Add the shrimp and saute until they are almost cooked through (2-3 minutes).

5. Add the Chinese yellow chives and continue to saute for another minute.

6. Transfer the sauteed ingredients to a plate. Pour the sauce. Top with chopped cilantro and some la-yu.

Fantastic!

Burgundy Girls' Wine Dinner at Gjelina

I got together with my friends whom I traveled Burgundy with at Gjelina in Venice. This time, we sat at the table in the patio. It was a lovely evening. I really enjoyed their pizzas there. Among 6 of us, we opened 8 bottles...not bad, right?!

Parigot & Richard, Cremant de Bourgogne, Brut Rose...I just had the same bottle last week. Lovely.

2004 Louis Jadot, Domaine du duc de Magenta, Chassagne-Montrachet 1er Cru, "Morgeot" Monopole Clos de la Chapelle...From the monopole "Clos de la Chapelle" vineyard (owned by Domaine du duc de Magenta) within Abbaye de Morgeot cru. Little advanced. Dust, pear. Rich palate with stony minerality. Mid+ acid, spice. Elegant.

2004 Etienne Sauzet, Puligny-Montrachet...Honey, mineral, spice on the nose. Distinctive acid and minerality of Puligny. Very clean and smooth. I want to call it classic beauty.

1996 Louis Carillon, Puligny-Montrachet 1er Cru, "Les Champs Canet"...Dark golden color. After 5-10 minutes, the secondary nose turned to more pleasant fruit plus spice and honey. Beautiful minerality and creamy texture.

2007 Louis Carillon, Puligny-Montrachet...Super bright and young clean minerality. Powerful fruit (especially after 2004 and 1996 Puligny), high acid. Gorgeous.

2002 Domaine Pavelot, Savigny-les-Beaune 1er Cru, "La Dominode"...From the very steep slove. About 45% of the vines are 80-year-old. Aged in 30% new oak. Spice, berry, wet soil, brown sugar. Very balanced nice fruit.

2001 Pio Cesare, Barolo...Classic style. Balanced and complex.

1990 Domaine & Selection, Volnay 1er Cru, "Les Taillepieds"...Their wines are made by the growers on metayage. Very "Volnay" and beautiful. Soft berry, wet soil. Soft and round palate, acid, very smooth. Some meaty "animal" character on the palate. Elegant long finish.

Donabe "tagine" cooking...Kurobuta Pork with Miso-Dijon-Orange Sauce

Tonight was another whimsical donabe cooking with random ingredients...

I stopped by at McCall's Meat & Fish in Los Feliz to get inspired in the afternoon. This is my favorite store for high quality meat/ fish in LA. In fact, it's actually hard for me to just walk in there without knowing what I want to buy beforehand, only because everything looks so delicious there and I feel like I want to buy everything!

Today, I ended up with their Kurobuta pork chops. They looked really amazing. Each piece was about 1-inch thick. The meat was so fresh and high quality that I could totally eat it by just pan-frying with only salt & pepper seasoning. But, on the way back from the store, I already had what to do in mind.

Kurobuta Pork Chop with Miso-Dijon-Orange Sauce

I marinated the meat in 2T sake, 1/2T light-color soy sauce, and 1T grated ginger for about 20 minutes. Then, in the skillet of my tagine-style donabe, "Fukkura-san", I lightly seared both sides of the meat in some butter.

The meat was transferred to a plate. After wiping the excess grease from the skillet. Some sesame oil was added and I sauteed garlic, shallot, haricot vert, zucchini, and enoki mushrooms. 1/4 C sake was added to deglaze. The sauce mixture (whisk together 2T miso, 2tsps Dijon mustard, 2T juice from orange, 1/2T light-color soy sauce, 1T mirin) was added and stirred with the vegetables. The meat was brought back to the donabe, covered with the lid, and cooked for 5-6 minutes over medium-heat.

About 1 minute before turning off the heat, I quickly opened the lid and sprinkled some orange zest. After turning off the heat, the donabe was rested for 2-3 minutes with the lid on.

The power pork dinner was ready. So easy, right?

But it's really this magical power of the Iga-yaki donabe which cooks this gorgeous meat so perfectly with its natural far-infrared-radiation (FIR) and heat retention.

The dish was served with the donabe rice. The meat was so succulent and packed with a lot of flavors. It was quite amazing. The miso sauce and the vegetables made a very nice accompaniment for the meat. The pork was cooked so perfectly that I ate it so fast.

Happy donabe life.

Donabe cooking class report...Tokyo Izakaya Dishes

We had our first outdoor cooking classes in our patio last Saturday and Sunday. The theme was "Tokyo Izakaya Dishes" with tagine-style donabe, "Fukkura-san".

All the dishes, except for the rice, were cooked with this very versatile tagine-style donabe.

Tagine-roasted fingerling potatoes with the yuzu-kosho mayo made the wonderful amuse-bouche. Curry yakisoba was a very healthy-style, because it was made with a little amount of oil and a lot of vegetables, and it was steam-fried with the donabe.

Miso acqua pazza was made with the sashimi-grade corvina fish. I was happy that our guests found this dish so easy to make and they loved the flavors.

"Sake lover's" sukiyaki was made with Berkshire gold kurobuta pork. Unlike regular sukiyaki, my "sake lover" version has no sugar in the sauce, so the dish made the great pairing with the wine. The dish was served with the super shiny plain white rice, made with the double-lid donabe rice cooker, "Kamado-san".

It was a great fun cooking Izakaya-style dishes outdoor, and I was so thankful to our very enthusiastic guests!

Here's the full menu of the class. Happy donabe life.

Theme: Tokyo Izakaya-style Dishes with “Fukkura-san”

Menu

Tagine-roasted fingerling potatoes with yuzu-kosho mayo

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Steam-fry curry yakisoba

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Miso acqua pazza

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Sake-lover’s ginger pork sukiyaki

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Donabe rice

Wine Selection

2008 Chateau de La Greffiere, Macon-La Roche-Vineuse Blanc “Sous le Bois”

(Bourgogne, France)