Maple Roasted Beets, Carrots & Fennel

Posted on October 11, 2015 by Stephanie

Is it surprising that a killer recipe was discovered in wine country? No, I’m not talking about Michelin star studded Napa. I’m talking about Washington state, down in the southeast corner in a little agricultural town called Walla Walla. “W2” is definitely on THE map when it comes to wine (and if it’s not on your map, now’s a really good time to google-research it and get on that bandwagon). And as many of you know, we are partners in a juicy venture there (full story on that HERE), which means we need/get to travel to W2 periodically for business reasons like…pouring lots of wine.

So, “there we were.” It was early May, and Spring Release Weekend in W2. Dave and I had traveled up to represent for Proper and share our latest vintage with our estate Syrah loving fans. We had a tasting event lined up, time in The Rocks with our vineyard managers, and other important to-dos, all of which are too much fun for us to technically call them “work” but still require a ton of energy. What is that saying? All work and no play makes Stephanie a very dull girl. Doesn’t it go like that? Well, don’t worry, we make sure we enjoy ourselves. Dave and I are huge fans of several wines being made in W2 by wineries such as Gramercy Cellars, Kerloo Cellars, Maison Bleue, and Rotie Cellars to name a few. Which is why we were at Gramercy’s release party one night, sampling Greg Harrington’s liquid art. The team at Gramercy always puts together a really fun yet casual party which makes for a relaxing atmosphere to just enjoy the wines being poured, but never forgetting that wine is made to accompany great food. This time there was some succulent BBQ, but honestly, I can’t even remember what, because once I clamped eyes on the roasted vegetables mounded beautifully on the table, I was sold out. Beets! Carrots! And fennel! Well, this roasted combination was so delicious that I had several helpings, and found out that the woman who was responsible for this fabulous concoction was the lovely Elisa Hope, friend of winemaker Greg Harrington and wife to Brian Hope, pastor of Mission Church in W2. Elisa was not only helping Greg throw a great party, but she also volunteered to help us pour wine the next day too. She graciously said she’d share her “recipe” with me, though it was intended for a party of 80 plus people, and even gave me permission to share it with all of YOU.

I did some testing this summer and found proportions to serve 6 to 8 people, and had some fun pairing this as a side with whole grilled fish and other grilled meats, and as a roasted salad served over pea shoots and other baby greens. The layers of flavor are so delicious from the roasted veggies, to the crunch of the fennel fronds and delicate leaves. It’s one of those recipes that works well with so many dishes or can stand alone, and a definite favorite which I will continue to make through the fall and winter months.

MapleRoastedBeetsCarrotsandFennel

Maple Roasted Beets, Carrots & Fennel

recipe by Elisa Hope of W2, adapted by Stephanie Kunstle

Note: This recipe is brilliant because you can do so much of the prep and roasting the day before you want to serve it. Combine the veggies with the vinaigrette just before serving, top with fresh fennel frond slices and their leaves and you’re good to go. Once the weather turns cold, I may just combine these veggies and dress them while they are still hot. See what floats your boat and enjoy!

Roasting Ingredients:

  • 14 small to medium carrots
  • 6 beets
  • 3 fennel bulbs (fronds and leaves attached)
  • 3 Tbsp. extra virgin olive oil
  • 1 Tbsp. maple syrup
  • salt and pepper

Vinaigrette Ingredients:

  • 1 clove smashed garlic
  • 1 and 1/2 Tbsp. extra virgin olive oil
  • 3/4 Tbsp. maple syrup
  • 3/4 Tbsp. orange juice (freshly squeezed is best)
  • 1 tsp. whole grain mustard OR Dijon if you like a little zing!
  • 1 tsp. sea salt

Toppings:

  • 1-2 fennel fronds, to taste, cleaned and sliced
  • about 1 heaping Tbsp. fennel leaves, torn or just barely chopped to break them up a bit

Preparation:

  1. Preheat oven to 400ºF
  2. Peel carrots and beets, keeping them separate to keep the colors true (if you let those beets near anything, all will be red!) and slice carrots lengthwise and then in half or thirds, and cut beets into 1 inch strips
  3. Trim fennel bulbs off fronds, peel off rough outer layer and slice into about 1/4-inch thick slices in whichever direction you prefer, reserve the fronds and leaves in the fridge for later on
  4. Combine the sliced carrots and fennel bulbs in a large bowl
  5. Place beets in a separate bowl
  6. Whisk together the 3 Tbsp. extra virgin olive oil and 1 Tbsp. maple syrup and pour 2/3 of the mixture over the carrots/fennel and the remaining 1/3 over the beets, stirring each bowl to coat the veggies well. Spread the beets onto a large baking sheet and the carrots/fennel onto another large baking sheet. Sprinkle generously with sea salt and some freshly cracked black pepper.
  7. Roast the beets and carrots/fennel separately at 400ºF for about 30 minutes. Let them cool and then chill the roasted veggies (still taking care to keep the beets separate) until  cold or overnight.
  8. Combine vinaigrette ingredients and toss ALL the veggies together with the vinaigrette. Top with sliced fennel fronds and scatter with fresh fennel leaves. Serve cold or at room temperature as a side, or over baby greens (pea shoots, anyone?) as a salad.

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Farmer’s Market Pappardelle

Posted on October 9, 2015 by Stephanie

It’s already October, and we are on the cusp of diving deep into roasted meats, soups, and hitting the comfort food hard. The weather has been so beautiful in Colorado, with a rainy day here and there to remind us that it won’t last forever. I’m still cooking with as much produce from the bountiful harvest season as possible before it quickly disappears. This has been a favorite at our house for the past few summers and there is just enough time to for you to still enjoy it too. The Sherry vinegar is what makes this, so it’s worth a trip to the store just to have this in your pantry.

Farmer'sMarketPappardelle

Farmer’s Market Pappardelle

recipe adapted from Gourmet, Farmer’s Market Féte

Note: serves 6

Ingredients:

  • 3 garlic cloves, minced
  • 3 Tbsp. Sherry vinegar (or a white wine vinegar if you must)
  • 1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil, plus more for drizzling
  • 1 and 1/2 lb. multicolored and multisize cherry tomatoes, halved (quartered if large)
  • 3 ears corn, shucked
  • 1 and 1/2 lb. medium zucchini
  • 1/2 cup very thinly sliced red onion
  • 8 to 9 oz. dried egg pappardelle or dried egg fettuccine
  • 1/4 lb. sugar snap peas, halved diagonally (because diagonal is just prettier…)
  • 1 cup small basil leaves, or torn if large
  • 1/2 cup mint leaves
  • Parmigiano Reggiano to shave over the top

Preparation:

  1. Bring a 6 to 8 quart pot of well-salted water to boil for corn and pasta.
  2. While water is coming to a boil, mince and mash garlic to a paste with 1/2 tsp. salt, then stir together with vinegar, oil, and 1 tsp. salt in a large bowl. Add tomatoes and stir gently, then set aside.
  3. Cook corn in boiling water until tender, 4 to 6 minutes, then remove with tongs and cool.
  4. While the corn cools, peel lengthwise ribbons from 1 side of a zucchini with a vegetable peeler into another bowl, stopping when you come to the seedy core. Turn zucchini a quarter turn, then peel more ribbons, stopping at core. Repeat on remaining 2 sides of zucchini (you will end up with rectangular shaped cores, reserve those for another use).
  5. Cut corn from cobs, and add the corn to the tomatoes.
  6. Cook pappardelle according to package directions until al dente. Just before pasta is done, stir in zucchini ribbons and snap peas, and cook for 15 seconds (if you’re at high altitude, another 15 or so seconds is a good idea). Drain pasta and vegetables together in a large colander. Add the pasta, zucchini and peas to tomato mixture with sliced onion, then toss gently.
  7. Add herbs and gently toss again. Serve with big shavings of Parmigiano Reggiano!

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Grilled Cheese with Prosciutto & Figs

Posted on August 19, 2015 by Stephanie

Oh yes, it’s another fig post: see here, here and here. I love figs. Being a native Colorado girl, there wasn’t a lot of “fig-exposure” as I grew up. I first learned to love them in Munich way back in 2003. They were everywhere in the autumn months, being brought up to German markets from Italy, just south of the border. We  moved to Munich just days before the opening of Oktoberfest (in hind sight, it was a blur of jet lag, furniture shopping on an empty stomach and feeling faint in IKEA, and lot of Bavarian-style bonding in my red dirndl). After the dust settled, I started German immersion language classes at the Goethe Institut. Literally, I thank God for that class. I met a woman — let’s call her Frau Hedberg — who became one of my nearest and dearest life-long friends (if I have my way, you’ll get at least one guest-post from her this fall). And I learned to speak some German. The struggle to buy fruits and veggies at the Obst und Gemüse stand, bread at the Bäckerei or serrano at the Metzgerei was very real before I had any Deutsche “skills.” Try doing laundry at the neighborhood laundromat with forty choices on your washer — all in German. Expletive. Expletive. Expletive. So to finally have the keys to set myself free from my language-prison was a game changer. My worrying habit of ordering a slice of cheesecake (all browned from the oven with golden raisins here and there) during the afternoon Kaffeezeit morphed into a food-shopping and then cooking habit. I regularly brought home cheeses I had never seen or heard of, and made beautiful cheese boards, complete with sweet, multifaceted jewel-toned figs. I love beautiful food, and I especially love it when beautiful food is delicious, and when it happens to be a part of ancient history. The fig is all of these. Now, I’m just grateful that the fig is sexy and appears every fall in large quantities from Whole Foods to Trader Joes to CostCo. Long live the fig, and thank you, California.

All that to say… I was skimming my Instagram feed today and stopped with mouth agape when I saw Hande’s photo of her grilled cheese sandwich with figs and prosciutto. If you ever find yourself in Rome, you’ve got to sign yourself right up to tour food and wine with Hande at Vino Roma. Though I’ve never met Hande, she befriended my dear sweet friend Nicky of delicious:days shortly after we moved from Munich and so a friend of Nicky’s is a friend of mine! I discovered her Instagram feed several months ago and I get my Rome-fix through her photos. I studied art in Rome during college, and frankly, you can never have too much Rome in your life. Anyway, as it so happened, I had prosciutto and figs and more cheese in my cheese drawer than I’ll ever admit to, and my original plan for dinner was becoming unrealistic since I walked away from everything right when I should have started cooking and took four giggling school girls out for frozen yogurt. So, Hande’s photo was the catalyst. I came home, started assembling while my cast iron griddle heated and minutes later, we had the most delicious dinner sandwiches. I’ll be making these as many times as I cross paths with figs in the next few weeks.

GrilledCheesewithProsciuttoandFigs

Grilled Cheese with Prosciutto & Figs

recipe adapted by Stephanie Kunstle, inspired by Hande Leimer’s @vinoroma Instagram feed

Ingredients:

  • delicious bread — I used an organic sprouted wheat bread with wheat berries, rye flakes, and flax seeds
  • Gorgonzola Dolce (about an ounce per sandwich), thinly sliced
  • two large slices of prosciutto per sandwich
  • about 1.5 to 2 figs per sandwich, quartered (Calimyrna, Brown Turkey, Smyrna, etc all work)
  • fresh arugula (if you can find “wild arugula,” it is spicier and more flavorful than standard arugula)
  • butter to smear on the outsides of your bread slices

Preparation:

  1. Heat your pan or even better, a cast iron skillet or griddle over low heat (it should get hot enough to melt butter but not burn it)
  2. While the pan/griddle is heating, assemble the sandwiches…
  3. Start by buttering the outer sides (grilling sides) of the bread, then begin layering the bread with slices of gorgonzola dolce, fold prosciutto over that, add the fig slices, top with a tiny handful of arugula, and finish with the second slice of bread which should be buttered on it’s grilling side.
  4. “Grill” the sandwiches until bread is toasted and golden on both sides and cheese is melted. If you have an iron sandwich press to set on top, that is a nice way to marry the ingredients. Slow consistent heat is the best so the sandwich is heated through (meaning, the figs will be warm and extra sweet if you take your time).
  5. Cut sandwiches in half, and serve with a salad of fresh arugula. I made a simple vinaigrette of extra virgin olive oil, white balsamic vinegar, and salt and pepper.

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