Valentine’s Day menu: spoil the one you love

There is nothing as powerful as sharing yourself; your time, your energy and your passion with the one you love.

To me very little can encapsulate this idea as readily as cooking a meal and, yet, I know few people who genuinely love cooking these days. It seems as though I’m watching an entire generation grow up in the shadow of fast-food and ready-to-eat meals. In fact, those two areas have been the source of almost all growth in food sales in North America for the past 5 years in a row.

And I’m trying to understand: the busy lifestyle, the need to continually be doing more… we all know that incomes don’t stretch as far as they used to and everyone is working just a little bit (or a lot) more than ever. You’re up before 6 to make it to work by 8 so that you miss the worst of rush-hour. Maybe you work through lunch or, if you go out, it’s for something quick. Then you’re lucky to be home by 6 and there’s just no time to make something from scratch!

Trust me – I get it. I’ve been there, in the trenches with you. It’s not easy yet I find myself pitying the busy-people more than a little. Why pity? Because these people have forgotten the joy one can find in cooking! The joy of creation, the joy of doing something well and the unabashed delight in putting a smile on someone else’s face… with something as simple as a cookie or, in this case, my Valentine’s Day’s menu.

I crafted this for the light of my life:

filet of beef tenderloin, local wild mushroom demi-glaçe

roasted local organic new potato

roast organic gold beets and butternut squash

steamed organic Swiss Chard

 This is not a complicated menu and yet, should you go to your local steakhouse, no doubt you would be charged in excess of $30 per person just for this entree… and more like $45 when one considers that the entire menu is organic and/or local, seasonal. If I told you that the beef came from a local cattle rancher and was grass-fed and free-range, hormone and antibiotic free and dry-aged for more than 40 days then the price goes up again: $60+ in most markets and an easy $100 in Las Vegas.

I’m not saying that it’s easy to afford the $150+ for just the food in a restaurant, much less the $100+ bottle of wine I would want to pair with it. By the time the night is over you will have spent $300++ and no, for most people, that’s not easy. But my grandma told me once when I was very young “Christopher never give money as a gift, it is a poor way to show you care“.

So let me help you show you care. Let me share a few tricks-of-the-trade and you can make this meal for less than half the price (total cost for these ingredients for 2 people was about $50 CAD at Hopcott’s); you and your special-someone will appreciate it twice as much!

1. BEFORE YOU COOK

There are a litany of things that all chefs do before they cook and all of these little steps get generalized as mis-en-placewhich means “putting things in their place“.

notice the marbling, the quality one gets from a local butcher

a) choosing the steak: notice how this beef is marbled; the fat is integrated right into the muscle meaning that, as it cooks, that fat will render and keep the meat moist. I got this from my local, artisanal butcher (Hopcott’s) and if you Google “local butcher” you’ll find one in your neighborhood as well

b) prepping the steak:  bring that steak out of the fridge an hour before cooking to come up to room temperature before you fry it: going straight from the fridge to the pan makes for tense/tough meat. Pat it dry on paper towel to wipe away any excess moisture and allow for proper searing which locks in the natural juices. Season as you will; the better the quality the less seasoning I use… for this steak all I used was Kosher seasalt and freshly ground black pepper

c) heat your pan: seems like a “no-brainer” but so many people neglect to heat their fry-pan enough. How hot does it need to be? Leave it at medium+ heat for 10-15 minutes before you start to cook so that the steaks start searing immediately and never, ever crowd the pan or you won’t be able to keep the pan hot (the steaks should never touch)

As much as possible, everything that can be done before you start cooking should be done. Once again, this is a key element to mis-en-place because our goal in the kitchen is to ensure we can spend as much time focused on cooking our food as perfectly as possible. So do it! Trim your veggies, dice your onions, set the table, open the wine – all before you ever start to cook the steaks. Now pour a half-glass of wine, start to sear the steaks, and enjoy the process! This is great cooking and these are the stunning wines I’ve sourced for you!

2010 Muga Reserva Rioja DOC

91+ points, $25+ CAD, EXCELLENT Value

*DECANTING NOT NECESSARY*

… perhaps the most enticing aspect to this wine is the rich floral aromas it offers at the same time as the ever-approachable ripe red and black berry tones (think of a bowl full of raspberries, blackberries, huckleberries and black currants); hints of vanilla, warm toasty oak and peaty-earth round out the bouquet. The palate is brisk enough to warrant food (medium+ zippy red/black currant acid) and the sultry/fine medium- tannin structure means you can enjoy this on its own, with food or even a great cigar! Bold flavors with a full, youthful expression mimicking the aromas are truly fantastic when one considers that the winery produces over 850,000 bottles of this: more of this is made than the total production of many small to mid-size wineries! Enjoy 2015-2020+ due to excellent construction.

… the only way this wine could be any better, more complimentary, with beef tenderloin is to grill that beef over a wood fire; the smokey tones of mesquite, applewood, hickory or whatever you use for your barbeque will play with the wines’ peaty/earthy tones and bring greater balance to the ample berry notes. The crispness/freshness of the acidity works perfectly with an unctuous sauce like demi-glaçe or a compound butter and the peaty/earthy notes will find unison with the wild mushrooms used in this example.

 2011 Chaberton Estate Reserve Syrah

Okanagan and Similkameen Valleys, BC

92 points, $31 CAD, EXCELLENT Value

**Silver/2014 National Wine Awards of Canada, BC**

*DECANTING NOT NECESSARY*

… there are producers in BC whose Syrah/Shiraz is easily on par with some of the top producers in the world. Dollar for dollar these wines can be compared to the northern Rhône valley (France), Barossa (Australia) or Colchagua (Chile) and yet, for the most part, they are unknown. But not for long! Chaberton Estates is just one of a litany of great Syrah  producers and the wine speaks for itself; textured aromas rich with red and black berries (raspberry, blackberry, huckleberry), dark flowers (irises, lilies, roses), cinnamon bark, pink peppercorn all colliding with a stunning synergy. The palate is brisk enough to warrant good food and yet balanced well enough to enjoy on its own; tight/focused full red currant acid frames a full/fine/chewy tannin structure that delivers an excellent concentration of flavors that mimic the bouquet. Excellent structure, this wine has the capacity to age gracefully for years and will continue to evolve: enjoy 2015-2025.

… this is a sophisticated wine; as such, pair it with food that is more subtle. Beef tenderloin is delightfully tender (hence the name) but rather lacking in flavor, especially when one compares it against cuts like a T-bone or ribeye. Let the musky, perfumed floral tones in the wine bring balance to the beef and elevate both! Savor the wine on its own or delight in how the fresh acid keeps the beef from weighing too heavily on the palate… the fresh berry tones will also balance the ultra-rich demi-glaçe.

2. WHILST YOU COOK

a) the pan: pan-searing steak is classic French cooking at its finest so don’t be afraid to emulate classic French methodology! We only drizzle a touch of oil (canola) on the steak before searing but otherwise it is a dry pan. This is important for purity of flavors as, if the oil gets too hot, it can impart unpleasant flavors on the beef.

b) turning the steak: Notice how I don’t turn the steak until it has seared perfectly on one side. How do I know it’s seared? It lifts easily from the pan! Now I just turn it over, spoon a healthy dab of butter on top to ensure it stays moist, and finish it in the oven

c) the oven and timing: I cooked this at 425F and, given the 1.5″ thick steaks, calculated approximately 90 seconds in the oven for every degree of “doneness”: RARE=90 seconds, MEDIUM RARE=3 minutes, MEDIUM= 4 1/2 minutes, MEDIUM WELL= 6 minutes, WELL=8 minutes… if you’re cooking for 5 minutes or longer, take a moment to spoon those lovely pan juices over the steak. It just takes a moment but makes the world of difference!

3. POST COOKING

organic produce just TASTES better!

I love cooking but I do not love cleaning. As such, I make every effort whilst cooking to ensure that when I’m done the kitchen is as clean and organized as possible. I want to enjoy my meal, savor every moment, and when it’s done take my wife and the remaining wine and curl-up on the couch. I can’t do that if the kitchen looks like a bomb went off! So take a moment while the steaks are searing, the veggies are roasting, the sauce is simmering and the greens are steaming: clean a few utensils, scrub the cutting board, wipe the counter. And never forget to just soak your pans when you’re done with them! My clean-up, post-meal, is rarely more than 10 minutes because it was drilled into me from an early age: Clean As You Go!

So enjoy your Valentine’s meal and enjoy the process! You just might find it so addictive that you’ll want to be sharing that special feeling more and more often! And it truly is like anything else in life; the more you do, the easier it gets. It’s still work, even for chefs, but it is rewarding work. It’s fun work and the kind of work that I now share with my 3-year old daughter who comes and helps me season food or scrub veggies in the big sink. She loves organizing my dirty dishes and YES! That inevitably means that I clean up after her cleaning-up but I wouldn’t have it any other way!

My daughter gets excited about baking scones with Daddy. She grabs a chair to come help with dinner and gets mad if she’s shooed off. She actually enjoys helping to unload the dishwasher. Is our family perfect? Far from it. But – but I’ve seen the gleam in her eye, the swelling with pride, when she tastes something that she helped to make and I am so humbled that I helped her find that within herself.

 This Valentine’s Day my hope is that you will remember: the most genuine happiness comes from knowing you have shared with the one you love and shared not just of your wallet, but of your self.

Many thanks to my friends the Hopcott family of Hopcott Meats (artisanal butchers) for the brilliant components for this meal; they truly are some of the best tasting, most tender, steaks I have ever had! And of course to Christopher Stewart Wines: importers of Muga for Canada and to Chaberton Estates of British Columbia for the generous sample bottles. As always you can find more recipes, free wine reviews and my notes on premium distillates and cigars on:

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A local (Irish) Christmas Dinner

Chaberton Winery

Hopcott's Meats

Who doesn't love Christmas? Even people from outside of the traditional Christmas areas (Europe and North America) embrace the season of gluttony giving! And what says giving better than being giving of your time, your space and your self.

Because, really, isn't that the whole idea?

And in my family Christmas has evolved as a tradition of making time to invite friends and family to the house:  fresh cedar boughs by the fireplace, the tree-trimming a celebrated afternoon to itself, the outside lights warm, inviting - without the post-modern garishness of a Chevy Chase Père Noël debacle. It's the only month of the year that sees Roger Whitaker, Bing Crosby and Alvin and the Chipmunks music played on a daily basis. My step-mom makes the most insanely decadent, melt-in-your-mouth, fattening-beyond-belief-but-who-cares? shortbread cookies. My Dad and I make menus requiring days of slavish labor in the kitchen with more than a few trips down to the basement to grab a bottle of this or that... it's the time of year when we celebrate the simple pleasure of being together with a decent meal and some good wine.

Now I've reached that point of my life where my parents and I are separated by long distance (a thousand kilometers or 700 miles) and a mountain range. Driving to their house just isn't the option it once was; what with a precocious 3 year old and her rapscallion 9-month old brother and so this Dad needs to do what my Dad did for me: I have to learn to create Christmas for myself.

Not an easy task. Or is it?

My friend Jenn Hopcott-Foxley invited me down to Hopcott's Meats the other day; something I never pass up on. I packed Clare (Thing #1) in the car and off we whisked along country roads and meandering dusty trails; the foothills to the north already cloaked in cotton-capes of fluffy wonder and the blustery clouds above promising more to come. And as we parked I could hear the query from the backseat "Daddy where are the donkeys?!". Hopcott's, you see, keeps a cute pen beside the store where little ones can pet the little ones and my daughter has been brave more than once - screwing up her courage enough to hand a carrot to the furry fellows.

Inside the store Jenn responded to Clare's question with due gravity and announced that the donkeys needed to visit their friends, the cows, in the barn and would be staying  until it warmed up enough for them to come back to the store. Clare stated imperially that "that's a very smart idea". I'm sure Jenn was much relieved.

And as Jenn and I discussed the upcoming "feast-ivites" of Christmas I spoke about how many Irish families (ours at least) were much more likely to serve roast beef than turkey - and thus this article was conceived. The entirety of this meal comes from Hopcott's and I'm proud that it showcases the brilliant quality fruit, vegetables and meat that are available not from within 100 miles - but much closer! And then I thought of my friends at Domaine de Chaberton winery in Langley (now Chaberton Estate) and realized that they were the perfect fit for a #Local Christmas Dinner (Irish-style).

This is a simple meal that I would be proud to share with any chef-colleague or picky relative; the ingredients speak for themselves. 

Baron of Beef (medium-rare) and natural beef jus

creamed leeks with Boursin cheese

steamed carrot "jewels", baby red potato and organic Swiss Chard

oven roast parsnip and baby turban squash

"petite salade" of roast beet, hothouse cherry tomato and organic peashoots

To me the key to this, and indeed any, meal is utilizing different cooking techniques to create differing flavors, colors, textures and aromas. Never forget that we eat with our eyes before we ever taste~! If the plate doesn't look amazing then we're bound to pre-determine that it "just-isn't-up-to-snuff".  Here are my tricks to making these stunning local components shine:

try searing the beef first, then adding veggies to the roasting pan

   1. Baron of beef is packed with tons of flavor but is a very lean cut! This means that over-cooking, even just a bit, will give you a dry roast. Go back to the basics: let your roast come up to room temperature before cooking, sear it well and then roast it "low-and-slow" which, for me, means about 290F until the internal temperature reaches 140F. Remember: when in doubt, cook your roast for less than you think it needs and rest it for longer! This roast was about 3-4 pounds and was 90 minutes cooking time, 30 minutes resting.

   2. When I make my creamed leeks I wilt them at least 30 minutes in chicken stock - they continue to soak up that rich, buttery flavor and only then do I add the cream and turn the burner down to it's lowest setting. Boursin is added just moments before serving to prevent scorching.

  3. When steaming veggies, remember that you can always put them back in for a few more minutes - but you can't "un-steam them". Check, check and re-check if you need to! And when I'm cooking for a large group I always cook in batches and put the cooked ones in a large ceramic bowl close to the stove wrapped in cling-film. Never overload your steamer or you'll end up with uneven cooking.

the baby-turban squash

4. Ever have woody parsnips in the winter? Try cutting the core out of them! The outsides can be lovely creamy goodness even if the center isn't. And baby turban squash is a great conversation piece... my wife couldn't believe it was more than decoration ;)

  5. Even in the middle of winter the local hothouses are growing delicious vegetables and fruit. This salad looks far more beautiful than I would have imagined considering it took less than 5 minutes to prep! And the diversity of flavors makes this a winner with the kids as much as the adults.

And, to me, no celebration is complete without a glass or three of wine. The dedicated team at Chaberton Estates has been putting their hearts and souls into crafting elegance from BC fruit and the results are nothing less than spectacular. Remember it was just this spring that Chaberton won first place in the #WTCRightBank (Wine Tasting Circle: Right Banks of the World tasting) with 92+points for their AC50 beating some absolute premier wineries. 

And so I was proud to serve this Siegerrebe which I knew would be brilliant with the creamed leeks and steamed veggies and the CabSauv (Cabernet Sauvignon) which is the natural pairing for beef. If you aren't familiar with Siegerrebe then you're in good company because I didn't know very much about the varietal either. It turns out to be fairly obscure and only has about 100 HA planted in all of Germany which is where it's from. Certainly the New World producers have crafted surprising greatness from a grape that most seasoned journalists are dismissive of. I'll let my notes speak for themselves on what I consider to be one of the best value aromatic white wines I had in 2014.

As for the CabSauv, there's not much I can say that hasn't been said before except for this: BC does not grow CabSauv well, with a few exceptions. In an area larger than France we grow less of this bold grape than some of the smallest regions in the world. But! But in those tiny pockets of the Okanagan and Similkameen Valleys, when the conditions are right and winemakers are using the utmost skill: something special can happen. This is a beautiful example of CabSauv and a great representation of that "something special".

2013 Reserve Siegerrebe 

Fraser Valley VQA

$17.95 CAD, 89 points Stunning Value

... the best part of this wine is the worst part of this wine: it's highly addictive nature! I am not a lover of sugary, ripe-fruit wines; I prefer the austere or the masculine: Big, Bold Bordeaux is my "thang" as it were. So, when I opened this bottle, I had thought that I was opening it for my wife. Well she's in bed and I'm pouring the last of it into my empty glass as I write  because it's just that darned good. Ripe exotic aromas of jasmine and apple-pears, grilled pineapple and lychee, mango and guava... a veritable Fijian fruit salad of exuberance. Pair that with exquisitely crafted full lemon-drop-candy acid and a concentration of flavors that far outweigh the negligible price and you have #StunningValue and then some. This was gorgeous with the creamed leeks (expected) but the real treat was how well it paired with roast beets: a new favorite for me!

Chaberton Estates Reserve CabSauv: great value

2011 Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon

Okanagan Valley DVA

$23.75 CAD, 89 points Great Value

... I actually don't have to look that far to find a $20-something Cab-Sauv (blend) that's been aged for 3 years before release; examples abound from Spain, Portugal, Chile... anywhere one might find viticulture en-masse for the past few centuries. But from British Columbia?! Ok - a beast of a different nature, I grant you. I had no idea the price when I made my notes: observing the rich aromas of bramble-berries (blackberries/blueberry/Saskatoon/black currant), musk and cedar... the perky medium+acid which showcases a professional medium+chewy tannin structure and very good concentration. No, I just made my notes and made the mental note that it reminded me quite a bit of a Cru Bourgeois Haut-Medoc, Bordeaux. That's a compliment by-the-way :). Well if you want Bordeaux, buy Bordeaux, but if you want #GreatValue - look no further... one would be hard-pressed to find this quality from that (or any) region for a similar price.

*****

dinner for the 9-month old

And so the lesson for me this December is that creating my own Christmas isn't nearly as daunting as I had thought it would be; I put the appropriate music on, we decorated the house with lights and tinsel and I took fresh, local, seasonal ingredients and treated them with the respect they deserve. We sat 'round the table, just the four  of us, and gave thanks for the richness in our lives and savored not only the meal, but the precious time we have together.

And so from my family - to yours - we wish the very best of the Holiday Season!

Many thanks to Jenn at Hopcott's for the fine fixings I used to create this lavish feast and to the exemplary team at Chaberton Estates for the sample bottles. As always you can find more recipes, free wine reviews, and my notes on premium distillates and cigars on:

dinner for the adults

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