On our way down to Georgetown the other day, Robert and I decided to swing by Esquin to pick up a couple of bottles of wine. I normally prefer to shop at my neighborhood wine shop because it is close to home and has a quirky charm. But, Esquin also has its pluses. Namely, that it is huge! If you are looking for a special or unusual wine, Esquin is the place to go (although, even they didn’t have the delicious Pericles that I tried at Crave last month.) Because Esquin has such a broad range of choices, I felt that I should try something a little bit different so I picked up a Croatian wine: Marko Polo 2005 Pošip. This was exciting for me because, well, trying a wine from a new region is always exciting, but also because I am one quarter Croatian myself!

Like most other European countries, Croatia’s wine making history dates back to before the rise of the Roman Empire. Still, it is only relatively recently (since Croatia declared their independence from Yugoslavia in fact) that Croatian wine has started to gain a presence in the world market. Croatia is divided into two large wine areas: the interior and the coastal area. Many of the interior vineyards were destroyed during the war, so the coastal region remains the most prosperous area of the two.

Like neighboring Greece, Croatia has many indigenous grape varietals including Malvazija, Dingač and my wine of the week, Pošip. Pošip is made on the islands of Korcula and Peljesac. Many consider it to be Croatia’s best wine. Pošip is typically a very dry wine with a golden color and full-bodied flavor. And, here’s a twist: with its high acidity and robust alcohol content (13-14%) Pošip can be paired not only with seafood but also chicken and even steak!

As intriguing as the idea of pairing a white wine with steak sounds, I don’t eat steak so I opted for a more standard seafood pairing instead. Since my family is doing Greek food for Christmas this year, I used this winesday as an opportunity to practice my Greek stuffed squid recipe. The squid are stuffed with a delicious filling of rice, mint, currants and pine nuts and are baked in a light tomato sauce. They are very good, but the squid have a real tendency to explode in the oven, no matter how lightly I stuff them. Thus, the practice run. I could care less what the food on my own plate looks like as long as it tastes good, but I certainly don’t want to serve exploded squid to guests for Christmas dinner.

Alongside the stuffed squid, I served grilled pitas with tzatziki and rosemary-roasted vegetables. The food was tasty, but ALL of my squid exploded. Every single one. That’s the first time that has happened. Hmmm…perhaps we will be serving stuffed grape leaves at Christmas instead.

The Pošip was great. It was much more citrusy than I expected given that it is so full-bodied and can be paired with meats. I generally think of citrus flavors with lighter wines and tropical fruit flavors with heavier wines so it was interesting to taste a very full-bodied wine with such light, lemony flavors. It almost reminded me of a really good retsina, minus the pine. It was a perfect match to the food!

My family and I had a wonderful Thanksgiving once again. The weather was sunny and gorgeous, and the food was extra delicious (our Thanksgiving dinner is always good but, somehow, this year, it seemed better than ever.) Here is the menu:

• Juniper and Herb Roast Turkey
• Gravy
• Stuffing
• Mashed Potatoes with Red Chili
• Baked Sweet Dumpling Squash
• Sauteed Brussels Sprout Leaves with Ginger, Lemon & Chili Flakes
• Mixed Greens Salad
• Cranberry Sauce
• Ice Cream Pumpkin Pie

Most of these dishes are standbys that we serve every year, or old favorites that we haven’t had in a few years (such as my mom’s famous ice cream pumpkin pie – glad to see that one make a return!) However, there are always some changes to the menu each year. This year, the big change was with the turkey. My mom always feels guilty because she refuses to brine the turkey even though all the recipes out there claim that you have to brine the turkey for best results. Her problem with brining is that it takes up so much valuable refrigerator space; you are required to get a container large enough to be able to completely submerge the turkey in it, and then somehow fit that into an already crowded fridge? That’s not so easy for anyone with a normal sized kitchen.

This year, my mom came across a recipe from chef Maria Hines, of Tilth restaurant here in Seattle, for Juniper and Herb Roast Turkey. Instead of brining, this recipe calls for salting the turkey a day or two in advance, claiming that this helps the turkey stay moist during roasting. Oh, and the turkey is also wrapped in bacon! Who needs brining when you’ve got bacon? The result was a delicious and moist turkey, and the pan drippings made the world’s most flavorful gravy. Mmmm…bacon gravy.

The other big change this year is that I was in charge of choosing the wines. This task usually falls to my sister but, since she is pregnant and can’t enjoy the wines herself, it hardly seems fair to make her pick them out. Plus, now that I’m known as “Miss Winesday” among my family members, I have a feeling the wine might be my responsibility from now on (as if I’m some sort of expert or something – far from it!) I bought a bottle of Maryhill Winery Pinot Gris and a bottle of Walnut City Wineworks Pinot Noir. The Pinot Gris was good but not particularly memorable; the Pinot Noir was excellent!

A note about Thanksgiving wines: People make a big fuss over which wines you can and can’t serve with Thanksgiving dinner but, if you do a little bit of research online, you will notice that a very broad range of wine types have been recommended by various wine experts. It’s as though each wine expert wants to be the more daring or creative one by recommending a wine that nobody has suggested before. The only wines you really want to avoid serving at Thanksgiving are wines that are too sweet, too oaky or too high in tannins. Other than that, I say pretty much anything goes!

I’ve had this notion in the back of my mind for some time now to try making vegetarian scotch eggs. What are scotch eggs you ask? Well, depending on who you are, the following description will either horrify or delight you. Scotch eggs are hard boiled eggs that are wrapped up in pork sausage and then breaded and deep fried. According to wikipedia, scotch eggs are of British origin and are typically eaten cold as a picnic snack.

My mom made scotch eggs for us as kids, and, for the longest time, I just assumed that everyone else had grown up with them as well. It turns out I was wrong. Anytime I have ever mentioned scotch eggs to friends or even strangers, nobody has ever known what I’m talking about. Well, last weekend, Robert and I were having dinner at Smith (where, incidentally, I put together a wonderful winter meal of beer-potted cheese with homemade crackers and balsamic roasted brussels sprouts) and, there it was on Smith’s menu: scotch eggs! I couldn’t believe my eyes. It was a sign; I knew it was time for me to attempt my vegetarian version of this British “delicacy.”

It turns out, I’m not the first to try this. Barrett, over at Too Many Chefs, has already worked up a recipe for vegetarian scotch eggs. Using his as a starting point, I developed my own recipe. First, I used Morningstar Farms crumbles in place of the Smart Ground just out of personal preference. Second, anticipating that a vegetarian scotch egg could end up being on the bland side, I decided to spice up my “meat mixture” a bit. I added minced onion and garlic as well as dried sage, dried thyme and cayenne pepper. I had a hard time getting the mixture both to stick together and to stick to the egg. It was too crumbly and lacked any of the natural stickiness that you get from real meat. To solve this, I pulsed the mixture a few times in my food processor to get rid of the larger crumbles and to make it into more of a uniform paste (and, yes, I do realize how gross vegetarian meat paste sounds.) I also dusted each egg lightly with flour to improve the stick factor. Finally, I let the formed scotch eggs chill for about 1 hour in the fridge (before coating with egg and bread crumbs,) thinking that this would also help prevent the eggs from falling apart.

I ended up baking the scotch eggs for longer than Barrett’s recipe calls for, mostly because I wanted to make sure the authentic sausage version I made for Robert was fully cooked (between this and the beef porcupines I made for Robert last week, it’s been like elliemay’s retro kitchen around here lately; bringing back my childhood favorites from the 1970′s!) The vegetarian scotch eggs turned out much better than I expected. They were full of flavor and not too dry (although they didn’t hold together too well once I cut into them.) The panko that I used for the outer coating crisped up nicely in the oven despite the fact that I hadn’t mixed it with any oil or butter. Unlike the Brits, we ate our scotch eggs warm, with home fries on the side.

In the comments section of Barrett’s recipe, one person notes that, as a child in school, they were given scotch eggs made with stuffing instead of sausage. That actually sounds like a really delicious idea. I’ve never been a huge fan of simulated meat, but I sure do love stuffing. Who knows? Maybe I can even bring them to Thanksgiving next year!

Click here for my Vegetarian Scotch Eggs recipe >>

For this week’s winesday, we are heading way down south to Argentina. I was looking through my past winesday entries, and I realized that I had yet to showcase a wine from Argentina, or any South American country for that matter. I’ve done wines from France, Greece, New Zealand, Austria, even South Africa but never Argentina. Argentina is actually the 5th largest producer of wine in the world so I’d say this winesday was long overdue!

Although Argentina has been making wine since the 1600s, its wine industry is just now starting to get some recognition. The main reason for this is that, up until recently, most of the wine produced in Argentina simply wasn’t very good. It was made from inferior, uninteresting grapes and most of it never left the country. In the 1990s, as internal demand for wine declined, many wineries in Argentina started looking to export more of their wine. However, in order to have a successful export business, improvements in the quality of the wine needed to be made. Many of Argentina’s wineries outfitted themselves with modern technology and began replacing the old, inferior vines with better varietals. As a result, wines from Argentina are now good and will only continue to improve.

Argentina produces its fair share of Cabernet Sauvignon and Chardonnay, but its top wine, arguably, is Malbec. Before Argentina popularized this grape, Malbec was primarily known for being one of the grapes used in blending Bordeaux wines. Now, because Malbec really thrives in Argentina, it gets to shine all on its own. To me, this makes Argentina a very exciting wine region. It’s one thing to make a really good Merlot or Chardonnay. But, to have your own signature grape that no other region is growing in any significant quantity? That’s pretty cool in my opinion.

Malbec is a very dark grape. Not surprisingly, it produces wines that tend to be very rich and full of dark fruit. Malbec wines are juicy and jammy and have plenty of soft tannins. Like most red wines, they go well with meat (particularly Argentina’s beloved beef!) However, because of their fruity character, Malbecs are said to be a good match for a wide range of foods including fish dishes and Mexican or Indian food.

My Malbec of choice for this winesday was Enrique Foster 2006 Ique Malbec. The sign at the wine shop described this as having all of the characteristics of an Argentinian Malbec so I figured I couldn’t go wrong there. For dinner, I decided to make Orecchiette with Baby Turnips and their Greens with spicy Italian sausages on the side. I picked up some baby turnips at the farmer’s market last weekend, and this seemed like the perfect way to use them. I love anything on orecchiette pasta. Orecchiette means “little ears” but they look more like little suction cups to me. At one point during the meal, I looked down at my plate and there was a pea-sized turnip perfectly nestled inside one of the orecchiette cups. It made me so happy (I get a big kick out of silly little things like that.)

The Ique Malbec was dark purple in color (and your teeth will be too after a few sips!) As I expected, both from knowing the typical characteristics of Malbec beforehand and just from looking at the dark color of the wine itself, the flavor was rich and deep. It tasted fruity, but more like dark, dried fruit than fresh fruit; somewhere between plums and prunes. It went well with the food but would also be great as a sipping wine on its own. Two thumbs up for this Malbec!

Friday night, I went out with friends for drinks at The Bottleneck Lounge. I had been meaning to check this place out since it opened, earlier this year, because I kept hearing it being described as a nice, simple, straightforward neighborhood bar. No frills. No gimmicks. That sounds like the ideal bar to me.

Bottleneck Lounge is located right in between snooty Capitol Hill and even snootier Madison Valley. This area used to be a bit on the seedy side. It never felt too dangerous to me, but, any time I walked from Madison Valley back up to Capitol Hill, I was guaranteed to pass by more than one shifty-eyed person loitering about. Hey, that’s what makes a city a city, right? If I wanted everything to be safe and sanitized and homogeneous, then I would live out in the burbs. Safe and sanitized and homogeneous seems to be the direction that this area of Madison is headed, however. Chocolate City, a notoriously troublesome club located just up the block from Bottleneck was shut down earlier this year (one of the people I was out with is a cop, and she was telling stories about being called down to Chocolate City every weekend.) Across the street from the former Chocolate City is Crush, a very upscale restaurant, and it’s only a matter of time before more places like this move in.

For now, though, there isn’t too much around which makes Bottleneck feel like a little hidden oasis. It is located just far enough from Capitol Hill as to not be overrun with young hipsters. It’s a good thing, too, because Bottleneck is pint-sized! There are maybe five tables and additional seating around the small bar. When we were there, the music was really mellow & not overly loud like some places prefer it. The bartender and waitress were laid back and very friendly. It felt really cozy & comfortable inside. Perfect for a rainy Friday night!

One glance at the menu will inform you that the owners of Bottleneck love dogs. Each cocktail on the menu is associated with a photo of a dog (plus one cat) and are given names such as “Dog Noir” and “The Ugly Chihuahua” (okay, so maybe there is some small amount of gimmickry here.) I tried two cocktails: “The Skirt Chaser” which is Absolut Mandarin, Campari, Rose’s lime juice and soda and “The Loyal Companion” which is Tanqueray gin muddled with fresh basil, Rose’s lime juice and soda. Of the two, “The Loyal Companion” was my favorite. It was so refreshing. And, the basil aroma that wafted over me as the bartender was muddling my drink was incredible.

In addition to cocktails, Bottleneck also has a small number of beers and wines available. As for food, they offer grilled panini sandwiches which looked very tasty. On Sundays, they have a bloody mary & grilled cheese sandwich special for only $10 (be forewarned: their bloody marys have an rather unusual secret ingredient that you may or may not like. I won’t divulge it here out of fairness to the bar.) They are also going to start hosting game day each Sunday which I am particularly interested in because I love me some Scrabble! Chess, Uno and Battleship will also be available for play. Prior descriptions were spot-on in my opinion: Bottleneck really is a great neighborhood bar.

Bottleneck Lounge is located at 2328 Madison Street and is open 4PM to 12AM Tues, Wed, and Sun and 4PM to 2AM Thurs-Sat (closed Mondays).

The two sugar pumpkins I received in last week’s CSA box had been beckoning to me all week long. “Cook me! Make me into something delicious!” But, what, I wondered? I had already considered the obvious choice, pumpkin pie, but I quickly ruled that out. Since it is just the two of us here, baking a whole pie wouldn’t make much sense. Besides, Robert has this little thing called will power (perhaps you’ve heard of it?) If I made a pumpkin pie, he would probably limit himself to one slice and leave the rest for me to either eat myself or guiltily throw away.

As I was puzzling over what to do with my pumpkins for a fifth day, Robert and my mom both independently suggested pumpkin muffins. I figured that was a sign and, as soon as they said it, pumpkin muffins started to sound really, really good. Last night, I halved and seeded my pumpkins and roasted them in a 350-degree oven until soft. I pureed the flesh and set it in the refrigerator so it would be ready for the morning. I used a basic buttermilk muffin recipe from Joy of Cooking and added to it 1 cup of pumpkin puree and a variety of sweet spices. They turned out very moist on the inside and super-crispy on the outside. I was a little aggressive in oiling my muffin tin because I hate it when they stick so think that is what caused them be so crispy. They were almost like pumpkin doughnuts (and there’s nothing wrong with that!)

I had no idea how much pumpkin puree I would get out of my pumpkins. They looked really small, and I was worried that I wouldn’t have enough for my muffins. Well, I ended up with about 3 cups which was way more than I needed. I decided to use up the rest by making pumpkin gnocchi. The recipe I used has a rather odd set of directions. It seems strange to me to cook the pumpkin puree with the flour over medium heat and then add the egg. Normally, I would mix the egg into the puree and then gently knead in the flour, all off heat. I was skeptical. I cooked a few of the gnocchi, and they were good so, weird directions aside, it all worked out in the end! I froze my gnocchi for an easy dinner later in the week. All they need is to be boiled and tossed in a brown butter-sage sauce.

After the gnocchi were done, I still had pumpkin puree to use up! I chose to make a pumpkin butter. A co-worker made some amazing apple butter the other day so I had butters on the brain I guess. I found a quick and easy recipe and just happened to have all of the ingredients on hand. I made just enough pumpkin butter remaining to fill a small jar. I can’t wait to try it on toasted crumpets or English muffins.

Finally, the seeds! My jack-o-lantern didn’t provide any seeds this year, and I was so disappointed because I love roasting the seeds like my mom always did when I was a kid. My sugar pumpkins relinquished a ton of seeds so I happily set to work cleaning and roasting them. I did something a little bit different this year. I followed this recipe which calls for simmering the seeds before roasting. I’m not sure if it was because of that extra step or simply because I was using the more delicate seeds from a sugar pumpkin this time instead of the hardier seeds from a carving pumpkin, but these seeds really puffed up and became light and crisp.

Yep, it was truly pumpkin mania in my kitchen today. What’s your favorite pumpkin recipe?