As you know, Tabla takes it’s food and wine very seriously; mostly because all of us at the restaurant like to drink and eat!  But also because we pair the food on our 3 course menu with different wines from around the world, hopefully creating an interesting and delicious match.  Yet as some point, we ask ourselves, ‘what else would go well with this octopus?’ or ‘what food can we pair with a fino sherry?’ So recently Michael and I got together and tested the boundaries of pairing food and wine.

We decided that the best way to discover pairings and flavors which we would not have normally thought of, or which were not classic, was to cook a very eclectic menu and open a vast variety of wines all at the same time.  This way we could drink every wine with all the food, and hopefully discover something unexpected and delicious!  We also needed more than just the two of us to take on this experiment, so we recruited some help.

First my wife Kathleen, who had been in the service industry for a long time and has a great palate, and her best friend Courtney from J Winery in Healdsberg were on board.  To round out our numbers to an even 6, one of my best friends, Neil, who distributed Kermit Lynch wines years ago for Vintage House, and now works at Liner and Elsen joined us, along with his boyfriend Blain, for what was about to be a very interesting and tasty evening.

The wines that we decided to open for this occasion covered a wide spectrum of different tastes, winemaking methods, countries and microclimates.  Michael and I wanted a very diverse selection of wines for the dinner, and we got just that.
These are Michael’s picks:
Whites
2006 Arnaldo Caprai Grecante, Grechetto dei Colli Mentani, Umbria, It.
2007 Hippolyte Reverdy, Sauvignon blanc, Sancerre, Fr.
2004 Pierre Frick, Riestling, Alsace, Fr.
2001 Paysan a La Sansonniere, La Lune, Chenin Blanc, Anjou, Fr.
Reds
207 Le Clos du Tue Beauf, Gamay, Touraine, Fr.
2006 Francois Gay et Fil, Pinot Noir, Cherey-Les-Beaune, Fr.
2005 Uccelliera, Sangiovese Grosso, Rosso di Montalcino, It.
2001 Ribera Del Duero, Condado de Haza, Tempernillo, Sp.

These were the wines that Neil brought:
Whites
2001 Radikon, Oslavje, Venezia Giulia, It.
2004 Chateau d’Arlay, Cotes du Jura, Chardonnay\Savagnin, Fr.

The location of this momentous event was my home in Sellwood, where we were able to take a seat around my kitchen table and really go to work (yes, I really cook like this on my days off).  I designed the menu to have three distinct sections, each with 4 courses, and each containing ingredients that are either classically hard to pair with or that had strong seasonings and interesting flavor combinations.  I also put some pretty classic food combinations on the menu, in order to see if a classic paring results in a GOOD pairing.  Each round of four courses was plated on one large plate, so that we could circle around to each item, revisiting it with different wines.

The menu and our group tasting notes for each of the courses appears below.  The bold lettering describes the dish, the smaller text notes individual ingredients that are in the dish, and the italicized text represents flavors to keep in mind while tasting different wines.  But first allow me to add my overall thoughts on the task that we accomplished.

Pairing food and wine is both easy and difficult.  Somethings that seem like a guaranteed match on paper were way off on the palate(Gamay with Duck, Rosso with NY), and some wines that were truly out of the ordinary turned out to be delicious with a wide array of different food(crazy, apple-cider-y Radikon, Sherry-like d’Arley Chard/SB).  What I as a chef take from this, and what you as a cook or diner should also, is that food and wine have no boundaries as long as you keep an open mind to tasting new things.  Our time is limited, but not our palates!

Course 1: Seafood

Fennel-Cured Albacore Tuna Loin

-nicoise olives, preserved lemon

--garlic, red wine vin, pickled fennel

wine: Sancerre

Marinated Clams with Paprika
–garlic, onion, sherry vin, tomato pulp

wine: Radikon

Octopus and Potato
-roasted fingerlings, chorizo, parsley
–paprika, sherry vinegar

wine: Chateau d’Arley/Radikon 2nd

Fried Halibut in Saor
-orange, pine nuts, currants

–onion and pepper sweet and sour sauce,fried crust and orange zest

wine: Gamay/Chateau d’Arley 2nd

Course 2: Pasta and Salad

Romaine Leaves with Lemon-Anchovy Dressing
-spicy pumpkin seeds
–garlic, lemon, parm, dijon

wine: Grecante

Beet Tartar with Carrot Chips
-creme fraiche, capers, corichons
–worstershire, tabasco, lemon

wine: Radikon/Gamay 2nd

Kathleen’s Shrimp with Creamy Angel Hair Pasta
-chili, lemon, parm, white wine
–butter, parsley, creme fraiche

wine: Sancerre

Choke Duo
-marinated artichokes, fried sunchokes, fennel
–olive oil, garlic, lemon-parley dressing, caramelization

wine: Sancerre/Grecante 2nd

Course 3: Meat

Pan-Fried New York
-spinach flan, gorgonzola fonduta
–parsnip, eggs

wine: Haza Tempernillo

Crispy-Smoked Duck Breast
-green tea smoke, orange mostarda, chive oil
–mustard, duck, smoke, bitter orange

wine: Riestling/ Haza Tempernillo 2nd

Pork Meatballs
-red pepper romesco sauce
–chili, red wine vin, bread, almonds

wine: Riestling

Lamb Chops
-herb crust, mint-pea puree, sauteed maitake mushrooms
–lamb jus, sherry, lemon

wine: Anjou Chenin Blanc/ Haza Tempernillo 2nd

Make Limoncello!

This traditional after-dinner drink, or digestive, comes from Southern Italy, specifically the Amalfi coast and villages such as Sorrento and Positano.  I am lucky both to have visited both towns during my honeymoon.

The Italian side of my family came from Meta di Sorrento, basically a suburb of the beautiful and touristy town of Sorrento.  Known for it’s woodworking, marquetry, seafood and beaches, Sorrento is a vacation destination both internationally and for Italians looking for some sun.  But Sorrento’s main draw is it’s lemons and limoncello.

Made from macerating lemon peels in alcohol for a period of time, then straining the liquid and adding sugar, Limoncello is kept cold, making it a refreshing after-dinner drink for the summer months.

The trick to making great limoncello in America is to start it in the winter, when the lemons available here are at the height of their season in the southern hemisphere.  At Tabla, we have created a great batch of limoncello, keeping it local with the use of New Deal 88 Vodka from Portland.

After zesting what felt like 40 or so lemons, we added a few bottles of 88 proof Vodka the the lemon zest, allowing the mixture to macerate for over 2 weeks. Next we carefully strained the lemon zest out of the alcohol, squeezing every last precious drop of what was now brilliantly colored and super strong lemon vodka.

To this we added MORE vodka, then balanced it out with sugar and water.
The resulting color is beautiful and the taste reminds us that summer is not too far away!  Here’s to sitting outside in shorts and a linen shirt, no shoes, and a tiny glass of chilled limoncello in your hand, saving you from the summer night’s heat!

“Taste a little love of summer
Taste a little love of summer
Grandma put it all, in jars.”

This is a line from singer/songwriter Greg Brown’s song Canned Goods.  The song is a beautifully composed memory about the singer’s childhood, his family, acting like a child, and all the while in the background, there are lyrics about food, the cellar, supper, and home-made preserves.
I feel especially connected to the song because there are similarities with my childhood.  One of my favorite memories is of canning tomato sauce with my parents.  Late last summer, I was lucky enough to relive that memory with my family over at Tabla.

The Tomatoes

We were able to secure over 300lb of Heirloom tomatoes from our farmer/friend Jason of Red Truck Farms.  I was at the restaurant the day before our canning was to begin, and helped Jason walk 10 or 12 large yellow crates, neatly layered with beautiful tomatoes, into our private dining room for overnight storage.  I remember how happy he was to both get rid of so many tomatoes in one fell swoop, but also to see what we were going to do with them; our plan to preserve the fruits of his labor.

The Mill

Going back to that child memory, or memories as it were, (as a family, we canned tomatoes every year that I can remember before I went off to high school) the most important tool in the process was not the pot that we simmered the sauce in, nor the basil and pinch of salt that we used to season each individual jar, or even the jars themselves.  The standing crank food mill, made out of steel and a few small plastic parts, was always present in our canning process.  I was able to have my mom send it to me, and after a bit of repair, it was ready for 300lb of Heirlooms at Tabla.

The Method

This all happened on a Monday, when Tabla is closed, so we were able to get almost everyone there.  Kyle and Lia, Libby and Michael, even Adam all came and went right to work.  Synaca and I set everything up, and the rest of the day was filled with simmering sauce, people taking turns cranking the mill, cutting tomatoes to feed the machine, and sterilizing the jars we were canning with.  Dennis from FSA had dropped off more Ball Jars than I had ever seen in one place, and we used almost all of them up.

After simmering the sauce down for a while, (heirloom tomatoes have much more water in them than plum tomatoes do, which are typically the variety used) we poured it into waiting jars, almost to the top, then finished each one with a bit of basil leaf and a pinch of sea salt.  Then in small groups we lowered them into our giant vats of boiling water until they were sealed, signaled by the telltale ‘pop’ from the lids as the air left inside the jar begins to cool and shrink.

Scattered around Tabla stand these jars of summer tomatoes. They will soon be used up and gone, for we have finally started opening them and putting them on our menu.

Our Tuscan-Herb rubbed NY steak comes with a salad of roasted fingerling potatoes and arugula, dressed in our house-canned tomato sauce.  Come in to Tabla and taste a little love of summer, the staff put it all in jars.

-Anthony, dedicated to my awesome wife, Kathleen, who first played the song for me

With Pork Belly being cooked a thousand different ways, Lamb neck showing up in sauces and braises, and Beef Hearts stuffed into ravioli, I wonder if today’s eater feels threatened or challenged.  Or just plain excited to have an opportunity to taste and enjoy cuts of meat and the nasty bits of the beast that have never had the spotlight before.

A field of Marrow Bones, roasted and ready

Something like Bone Marrow, so visceral, so strong, so beefy, has long been essential in the creation of classic sauces, such as Demi-Glaze, and often a small silver spoon arrives to your table, inserted into the open bone of a veal shank, on a platter of Osso-Buco.  In an effort to take this unctuous, de-natured protein to a higher level over at Tabla, we decided to fry it.

Riffing on a classic paring of escargots and Bone Marrow, we created a dish for our Paris themed menu that includes a smooth garlic puree, Bordelaise sauce, and those little snails, along with fried Bone Marrow croquettes.  The croquette technique is something I got from José Andres’s book on spanish tapas. After roasting a hotel pan worth of 2″ marrow bones, we scoop out their luscious insides and pass the marrow though a fine strainer, creating a Bone Marrow puree. At this point, we can add this puree to anything and it will take on a bit of that Bone Marrow flavor and texture. To make the Bone Marrow croquettes, a basic Béchamel of butter, flour, and milk is built in a large sauce pan, to which a good amount of marrow is added, along with some garlic, shallot and parley. Once the Béchamel has been cooked down to the right consistency, we let the mixture cool down so that we can form the croquettes evenly and without burning ourselves.

Breading station (pureed egg wash works wonders)

Breaded and ready for the fryer

After being floured, egg washed, and breaded, they are ready for the deep fryer. There is something wonderful that happens when a croquette hits the oil. The outsides crisps almost instantly, then after about a minute, becomes a deep golden brown, all the while the Bone Marrow Béchamel becomes molten and creamy inside. The resulting dish is a mixture of crunchy, creamy, earthy, garlicky, with a hint of sweetness and acidity added by the Bordelaise sauce. Come in to Tabla soon to taste it!

Escargot, garlic puree, bordelaise sauce, and Bone Marrow croquettes