What can I say? Sometimes, I am just a lucky girl. Recently, I was given the opportunity to observe, taste and pour wine at two cooking demonstrations given by Chef David Burke.  And to top it off…it was my birthday! It was really a wonderful way to start my special day.

During the first demo, I was given a beautiful taste test of each dish Chef Burke created. His first dish was scrambled eggs with lobster served in an egg shell.  In his restaurants, he serves this dish in giant ostrich egg shells but for the purposes of this demo, and to show us what an appetizer portion looks like, he served the dish in regular egg shells. After showing us clever ways to remove the tops of eggshells, he spooned in a mixture of lobster meat and eggs which had been scrambled with chives and tomatoes. The finished dish was topped with crème fraiche and a dab of caviar. The presentation was beautiful and the dish itself absolutely delicious. There’s nothing like lobster, and it paired perfectly with the eggs, caviar and crème fraiche.

Dish number two featured his housemade Gravlax.  He cures the salmon with molasses and spices.  Thin slices were wrapped around pretzel sticks to make for ease of eating.  The crunchy sticks with the soft melt-in-your-mouth salmon was really heavenly. Alongside was a little frisee salad which had been drizzled with mustard oil, mustard seeds and most interesting of all….fried capers!

Then came the main course, and oh, what a course it was: Braised short ribs on a bed of polenta. The polenta was different than any I had eaten before in that he adds fresh corn kernels along with lots of pepper jack cheese. The fresh corn gave the polenta great texture, but the cheese gave it a nicely seasoned, slightly spicy flavor. This polenta definitely had an American flavor rather than the Italian flavor I’m used to. He seasoned his boneless short ribs with coffee and unsweetened cocoa powder before pan searing them and then braising them in an Asian inspired marinade for several hours. When served, they were moist and so tender.  They made me swoon…..really.

And last, but not least, dessert. We were treated to a grilled pepper pineapple tort. It was very unique, interesting and bursting with flavor. He seasons pineapple slices with freshly ground black pepper before grilling them.  Then he creates a tower of fresh strawberries sandwiched between two grilled pineapple rings. He fills the center with either ice cream or whipped cream. But here’s the best part: Chef Burke made an incredible syrup from fresh red bell peppers! What?!  I know….I was amazed too. In a saucepan, he combined diced red bell peppers with lots of sugar and apple juice.  This reduces down into a delicious and beautiful syrup which he drizzled over the entire dessert. Perfection.

After consuming all these wonderful dishes, and receiving a cookbook signed by Chef Burke, I moved on to a second demonstration. At this event, Chef Burke was preparing similar dishes for a different, bigger audience. The wine shop I work at was responsible for providing and pouring wines to pair with each dish. For this audience, he made a gazpacho soup which Stu Levine, our owner paired with a choice of rosè or dry sherry. Chef Burke then served his braised short ribs with polenta again (which I ate again…don’t tell), and we poured one of my favorite wines in the shop; the Arcangelo primitivo.  Lastly, we served a sweet dessert wine with the pineapple/strawberry dessert. All the featured wines are available from Vino 100 http://www.vino100whiteplains.com The audience really enjoyed themselves (as did I!), and lapped up all the food and wine.

Thank you to Chef David Burke, Stu Levine, owner at Vino 100…..and Happy Birthday to me!

Chef David Burke puts the finishing touches on his Grilled Peppered Pineapple Torte.

I know….it doesn’t sound very appetizing, but thankfully I’m not talking about wine made from chickens.  (That would just be gross.)  I am talking about chickens on the label and chicken jugs. Okay, maybe I’m not making sense yet. Let me start over.

I drink a lot of wine. Am I making sense now? And coincidentally, two recent wines I really liked both featured chickens on the label. One was from Italy, and the other from the state of Washington; two of my favorite places for fantastic wine. And all that chicken labeling made me think about chicken jugs; one of my favorite ceramic pieces from Italy.

Let’s start with the wine. The first one was a primitivo from Puglia, Italy. It comes from Primaterra Wines.  I consider this a real bargain find; one of those wines I call a “case buy”.  No, I haven’t bought a case though I probably should have, as we’ve gone through several bottles already, and I must admit to having a couple more waiting in my wine rack. It was about $10 and for that price, it really delivers. It’s nicely balanced making it an easy sipper. It goes well with food, but doesn’t Need food for it to taste good. I taste the bold and dark berry flavors I love; but it’s not too fruity. It has an alcohol content of 14.5%, so watch out, but really, it’s just delicious and at this price point, it could be my “house” wine.

The second wine with a chicken (well, on second glance, it’s actually a rooster) on the label was a syrah from Jones of Washington http://www.jonesofwashington.com.  It was one of the wines I poured at The Bite event in Portland last month and was featured by The Pacific Northwest Wine Club http://www.pnwc.com. It’s a nice bold wine with lots of dark berry, oaky, and leathery flavors.  It too has a 14.5% alcohol level. (I seem to lean toward these for some reason.)  Its winery won the 2012 Winery of the Year award for Washington State. I love this wine for its complex flavor and lingering taste.

Now as I said, these “chicken wines” made me think about my Italian chicken jug. Italy, widely known for its ceramics is home to the chicken wine jug. Supposedly the chicken wine jug came about way back in the mid 1400’s when the Medici family was the ruling family of Florence. One of the members of an opposing family wanted to murder one of the members of the Medici family.  When the assassins made their approach in the dark of night through a small village where the Medici family member had been attending a festival, the local chickens were awakened. They caused such a ruckus that the assassins were captured and received the fate originally intended for the Medici family member.  The end result is that the ruling family member was so pleased with the chickens that he ordered ceramic chicken jugs made to commemorate the event.  Since then, chicken jugs have been traditional gifts of good fortune and safekeeping……or so the story goes.

Do you enjoy Italian wines? Do you love Italian ceramics? Me too! Join me on a tour of Italy featuring food, wine…….and even chicken jugs if you’d like. Booking now for Spring/Fall 2014. Drop me a line and let’s talk about your trip: irene@bellagiornatatours.com