Rain, Cheap Wine, and Meat Gravy

It's been raining a lot this year. Like, every other day for the entire year. Weather likes this makes me retreat into the safety of my house, and that means I end up in the kitchen with a wild hair to make something meaty, rich, and warming. Last night's dish turned out to be a meat sauce. I don't mean ground-beef-and-tomato meat sauce. I mean rustic, rich meat gravy. And good lord, was it delicious and bone-warming, which is exactly what I was craving.

This dish was actually inspired by Jason. Poor dear. He was moving someone all day, and of course it had to be done in the rain. I was getting home before him and just thought how nice it is, after a miserable day, to into a house that smells like food. So comforting.

So after stopping at the grocery and wine stores on the way home, I set about to making this ridiculous meal.





Meaty Gravy

1/4 olive oil (or more if you see fit)
Approx. 4 meaty beef short ribs
1 lb. loose Italian hot sausage
1 lb. pork shoulder (also called pork butt -- you might need to ask your butcher for just 1 lb. as it usually comes in much, much larger pieces. And make sure it's boneless.) Cut into 1" cubes.

1 yellow onion
2 big cloves garlic
4 oz. button mushrooms, thickly sliced

1 cup red wine (I used HRM Rex Goliath Zinfandel from California, which might be my favorite Cheap Wine of the Week)
3 oz. dried wild mushrooms

2 cups chicken stock
1 28-oz. can tomato puree
1 14-oz. can diced tomatoes
1 tbsp. oregano
1 tsp. fennel seeds
2 bay leaves

1. Soak dried mushrooms in 1 cup of red wine until soft, about 30 minutes or so. After they are soft, remove them from the wine and chop them into small pieces. Set both mushrooms and wine aside.

2. Heat oil in a large dutch oven until shimmering. Add hot Italian sausage, breaking up with back of spoon as it cooks. Once all pink is gone and sausage is slightly browned, remove to a bowl, leaving all fat behind in the pan. Add cubed pork shoulder and brown. Sprinkle beef short ribs with salt and pepper. Remove pork from dutch oven and add to bowl with sausage. Again, leave all fat behind. Add short ribs and brown on all sides. When finished, remove to bowl with other meats.

3. Add onions and garlic and cook until soft. Add sliced mushrooms and cook until they begin to give up some of their liquid.

4. Add red wine to deglaze pan and cook until reduced and thick.

5. Add chicken stock, dried mushrooms, tomatoes, oregano, fennel seed, and bay leaves and stir to combine. Add in sausage, pork, and short ribs making sure to nestle the ribs into the sauce.

6. This is where the cooking method is up to you. You can either braise it on the stove top (stirring periodically) or in the oven. I did mine on the stove for about and hour and a half, and then put it in a 400 degree oven for another hour, until the meat was tender, and the short ribs fell of the bones. I also let the bones simmer in the pot for a bit to get out some of that yummy marrow.

Once the dish is done, the meat should be shredded and just falling apart tender. It should be thick and very, very meaty. You can then put this right on top of pasta or polenta as is. As for me, I'm freezing half of it and because I love tomatoes, when I reheat it, will add another can of diced tomatoes.

So give it a try. And drink it with that delicious cheap wine.

Cheap wine lovers, unite!

I'm excited. I just stumbled across a great excuse for company. A new (to me) bottle of wine. I popped into The Wine Source in Hampden on Saturday, just planning to grab a couple of beers for my husband to drink while watching football. Lo and behold, when I walked in there was a huge tower of this wine. I checked it out to see what was going on.

There it was, a 2007 Bordega Borsao Monte Oton Garnacha. Okay, it was a garnacha, from Spain. I'm a big fan of that grape already. But then the deal sealer -- $4.99 a bottle. Let me say that again... $4.99 a bottle. On sale from $7.99. I love Spanish wines because of the great bargains they offer, so of course I had to try it. And what a nice wine. Full bodied with the lovely taste of berries, no oak, and a surprisingly long finish for the price. Very easy drinking, it begs to be shared with friends.

So go ahead and grab a few bottles and invite some friends over. Have someone bring cheese. Have someone else bring bread. It will be the cheapest party you've ever thrown. And the wine will make you feel so smart and thrifty, which we all need right now.

Praise Cheeses

I love cheese. I don't mean your ordinary affection for cheese. I mean, I live for cheese. Most of my meals contain some sort of cheese. It's probably not healthy to do that, but neither is the huge amount of red wine I down on a weekly basis. I can take something perfectly healthy, touted as good for you even, and turn it into an addiction.

That said, I'm going to have a cheese party. Not wine and cheese, but rather beer and cheese. I already know how to pair wines with cheeses. I need to extend my knowledge into another realm.

Currently, my favorite cheese has to be Comte. An unpasteurized French cheese, it's one of the older varieties. It's a semi-hard cheese, with a complex, nutty flavor. Absolutely delicious, it just fills your mouth and senses, driving you to eat more and more until you find yourself covered in cheese bits, eyes glazed, saliva and cheese-juice running down your chin. I have been known to work myself into a cheese-frenzy on more than one occasion. If you haven't had it, run to your nearest cheesemonger, posthaste, and request this divine deliciousness.

All this talk of cheese has me worked up. I need to be alone now. Bon soir.

My darling Clementine

We've been eating at Clementine restaurant in Baltimore's new improved Harford Road corridor quite a bit lately. Dinner at Clementine, drinks at Hamilton Tavern seems to be the norm.

I really enjoy this restaurant. We usually go early for dinner, because I never plan ahead for reservations, and I hate waiting for a table. We go everywhere early. It's a sign of my impending old age, I'm afraid. But it's not close yet.

Anyway, when we go we always seem to get the charcutterie platter ($13). I would recommend this for anyone interested in seeing what Clementine does very well. A housemade sausage, pate, pickles, and sauces, always with a cheese, cannot be denied. Their pates -- dare I say it -- rival my own mother's. Smooth and light, with the right balance of sweet liver flavors, it is some of the best I've ever had (Chameleon Cafe is right up there, too). The housemade sausage (the meats will vary) has yet to disappoint... and although I really don't like mustard, I love their whole grain version. The bread and butter chips that accompany this plate aren't quite as sweet as the ones I'm more familiar with, but in their own right they are nothing short of amazing. All this is rounded out with a piece of cheese that compliments the flavors, and slices of bread.

Last time we went, we skipped the entrees and just ordered off the apps list because we couldn't make up our minds about what to order. So in addition to the aforementioned charcutterie plate, we also ordered escargot ($9), welsh rarebit ($8), and smoked salmon toasts ($8). The escargot was already out of the shells, so no need to splash yourself with garlic butter, which is what I always end up doing. They were simple and good. The welsh rarebit was really the high point for me. Tender chunks of beef beneath a warm, cheesey sauce that I would have licked out of the dish if I were at home. I could bathe in that stuff. And lastly the smoked salmon toasts, which weren't a big hit for me, but only perhaps because I was so enamoured of that cheese sauce.

Other notable menu items I've ordered from Clementine include their shrimp salad sandwich ($9), which I now officially declare The Best Shrimp Salad in Baltimore. I don't know what they do, but the shrimp is always perfectly cooked, not rubbery, just soft and yielding to the bite like they should be. And the savory tomato mayo really adds the perfect touch. I always order it with a side of their amazing potato salad. They make their own cream cheeses for breakfast, so sometimes we go that route. But if the shrimp salad is available, go for it.

One night the week before they had lobster cognac potpie on their dinner menu, but sadly, budget concerns kept me from ordering that ($22). In all probability, it was more than likely nothing short of incredible, just based on everything else I've tried.

The prices are reasonable, with breakfast sometimes coming in under $10 if we stay away from their summery tasting basil lime elixer ($2.50) and just order bagels, or one of their breakfast casseroles, which comes with a side of potatotes and for $5 is just about the best breakfast deal in town. The cheesy grits are wonderful, warm comfort on a cold morning, but my only complaint is that the garlic chunks can be too big for me, but that's a textural thing. I like my creamy foods creamy, so its very subjective. And last but not least, if the mac n cheese is available, try it. At least once. It's well worth it. It's large enough to share as an appetizer, but also more than enough for one person. Again, $5, what a bargain.

I really like the atmosphere at Clementine. Warm wood tables and chairs, artwork that keeps me looking around the room, beautiful deep blue dining room, and a wait staff who actually seem to enjoy what they do. It gets busy, and even though you might have to wait a few extra minutes for your entree, drink, or check, it's always delivered with a smile. It really does feel like a family atmosphere, like a big dinner with your extended family. And all that is why I keep going back.

Clementine
5402 Harford Road
Baltimore, MD 21214
410.444.1497

Great Fall Wines

I've come across some nice fall red wines lately and thought I'd share a couple of them.

Once again I found another good wine from California's Clos La Chance Winery's Hummingbird Series. Back in August I stumbled across their delicious, unoaked Chardonnay (see my review here) and was excited to come across another of their wines. This time it was their 2005 Buff-Bellied Zinfandel. A big wine full of blackberry jam and red cherry flavors, with a slightly spicey oaked finish, I found this wine went perfectly with the evening's light meal of various cheeses (including Rogue Creamery's Smokey Blue, which can be found locally at The Wine Source), cured meats, and bread. This wine stands up wonderfully to the strong flavors of blue cheese, and many of fall's other earthy dishes. It's a very nice wine to keep you warm on these cool nights.

The next discovery was Cat Amongst The Pigeons Alley Cat 2006 Shiraz/Grenache, from the Barossa Valley in Australia. This wine is featured in the November issue of Food & Wine magazine, where I read it received a very good rating of 91 pionts in The Wine Advocate. The very next day I walked into The Wine Source, and it's right in front of me, ON SALE no less! I jumped at the opportunity to try it out. That evening my husband and I grabbed the bottle and headed over to Clementine for dinner. I fell in love with this wine at first sip. A beautiful deep color, full-bodied, with a long finish, this wine exemplifies what I love the most about red wines, particularly this time of year. It paired beautifully with the cheese, house-made pate, and sausage on our charcutterie platter. Every sip was better than the last. A couple of days later I stopped back by The Wine Source to pick up another bottle while it's still on sale. And before the week is over, I easily see myself picking up one or two more.

Ozzy Gives Me Headaches

So once again we found ourselves at the Hamilton Tavern in Baltimore last night. I'm telling you, this place is dangerously too close to our house. It's so easy just to pop in after work, telling yourself that you're only going to have a "beer or two." Yeah, right. It's just so relaxing and friendly inside, you find yourself lingering much longer, and many, many beers more, than you planned. Or maybe that's just me. Either way, after downing six delicious Ozzys last night, I'm paying the price.

Anyway, having tasted nearly everything on the menu at this point, the food really is worth all the hype. I even like their fried pickle chips, which is something I've never, ever enjoyed before. But last night I was willing to venture, since everything else has been so wonderful. They were out of mussels last night, so we had clams instead, and my god, were they amazing. I haven't had a single thing I haven't enjoyed.

Despite the unfortunate side effect, I see many more of them ahead.

Hamilton Tavern in Baltimore Gets It Right

So FINALLY the Hamilton Tavern in Baltimore opened Friday night to a good crowd. We've been waiting for this place, hell, any place to open in our neighborhood of Hamilton for the five years that we've lived here. But we're happy it wasn't just any place that opened. Because the Hamilton Tavern is exactly what we needed.

The place is just so warm and friendly, and the bartenders are some of the best I've come across in a long, long time. Despite the very crowded room, they managed to make sure no one waited an unnecessarily long time for a drink, and kept everyone's glasses full, all while maintaining a very positive and happy demeanor. They were rushed, but they sure didn't make it apparent.

The room is warm and inviting, with the original bar and hardwood floors. Maybe about 10 - 12 tables are available for those who don't opt to sit at the bar, some of them in the "front" room, and a handful towards the back, which is up about 3 or 4 steps. The back feels romantic and cozy, and if you want a more quiet dining experience, it's probably best to sit there. From the front you wouldn't think the Hamilton Tavern gets a lot of light, with it's somewhat smallish, high windows and heavy front door, but surprisingly it was bright inside.

Friday night we were there mostly for drinks, so we only ordered an appetizer of their house-made sour cream and chive dip and potato chips. The dip was nice and thick, and their potato chips our delicious. Thickly cut, they stood up to the dip and went wonderfully with all the great beers available. We all know the Brewer's Art connection, so you just know the beer would be good. So yeah, with Ozzy and Resurrection on tap, we were more than pleased. They also have a good, tidy little wine list with Martin Codax Alborino, which just happens to be my favorite wine of the summer. And for those who just can't get enough Boh, they have that, too, a bargain at $1.75 a bottle.

So since we drank our dinner Friday night, we decided to go back this evening for dinner. Right now they have a somewhat small menu, but I understand it will grow as time goes. We ordered the Roseda beef burgers ($9.00) and asked for them rare. Which is exactly what we got -- thank god. I can't tell you how much I hate ordering rare burgers and getting them medium cooked. The beef was wonderfully tender and just amazingly flavorful. The thick burgers came stacked high on a bun with lettuce, red onion, and a good, fresh tomato. Quite honestly, it was the best burger I've had in a very long time. We split an order of onion rings ($5.00), which despite looking heavy, were light and crispy. And for desert we got the peach cobbler, which was to die for. Warm, with fresh peaches, and less than $4.00, it was big enough to feed us both and offered the perfect ending to a very nice little Saturday dinner.

We had a great time at the Hamilton Tavern both nights and really look forward to heading back soon. The staff go out of their way to be welcoming, and the neighborhood is ready to be welcomed. I see nothing but success ahead, and on a very selfish note, that's great for me. Because I plan on going again and again. Go there yourself, and I think you'll see why.


Hamilton Tavern
5517 Harford Road
Baltimore, MD 21214
410.426.6365
(no website yet)