February 26, 2011 new recipes

Tonight's recipes are from Mario Batali's Molto Italiano. For a kid who hated fish and still dislikes very strong fish flavors, I find myself fascinated by seafood. This evening, we made Barbecued Octopus with Grilled Escarole and Mint, and Broccoli Sauteed in Wine and Garlic. We drank a 2006 Regilli Frascati with this (it was also in the broccoli), which was really past its prime. So we switched to a 2009 Fontana Candida Frascati, which was much nicer, with aromas of peaches and a little grapefruit.

The octopus came out much more tender than I feared it would, and the flavors were nice, but it didn't quite pop, to use an overused term. Makes me wonder if it is the dish or the execution--I may have to try this again some time. I did learn how to clean an octopus from the folks at the Sydney Fish Market, since my frozen octopi came fully equipped with eyes, beak, and innards. It was still a fun dish to make.

February 22, 2011 new recipes

This evening we had two simple and very tasty dishes. From Epicurious.com, we had Penne with Broccoli and Mushrooms. This is a simple and very tasty, satisfying dish. It was easy to taste each ingredient. We also had a simple salad in three parts: diced avocado dressed with salt and hot smoked paprika, yellow cherry tomatoes with salt and pepper, and diced red bell peppers with Old Bay Seasoning. We just made this one up, and the seasonings really matched each vegetable.

The wine is from the Vineyard, one of our favorite local wine shops. Their Vineyard Central Coast Cabernet Sauvignon is bottled by Castoro Cellars. It is not one of those huge cabs--it was a nice counterpoint to the creamy vegetables and pasta we had--nice oak and plum flavors and aromas, smooth tannins in the finish.