Northwest chefs pair Italian dishes with Tefft Cellars sangiovese
Tefft Cellars sangiovese
Each issue, Wine Press Northwest sends a bottle of Northwest wine to two chefs and asks them to match a recipe to it. This issue's wine is the Tefft Cellars 1998 sangiovese, a Yakima Valley red that retails for about $22. The Tefft 1999 sangiovese is expected to be released sometime this summer or fall.
This red wine grape is best associated with Tuscany and is a star in top-quality Chianti, Brunello di Montalcino and Vino Nobile di Montepulciano. It's also blended with cabernet sauvignon to make spendy Super Tuscans.
Sangiovese is emerging as a potential niche star in Washington vineyards with about 100 acres planted and is finding its way into several wineries. This Tefft sangiovese is a joy to drink now and will age graceful for a half-decade or more. Behind the cherries and bright berries are rich layers of toasty vanilla from oak aging and dark fruit from 10 percent cabernet sauvignon, which really helps highlight the best of this classic Italian grape.
Nick's Italian Cafe,
McMinnville, Ore.
The Oregon wine industry certainly has its pioneers — David Adelsheim, Dick Erath, Bill Fuller, David Lett, Richard Ponzi, Myron Redford.
The chef for their chuck wagon would have to be Nick Peirano of Nick's Italian Cafe in McMinnville, the pinot noir capital of North America.
"I used to call Nick's the best restaurant north of San Francisco, and I can pretty much still say that," said Lett, owner of Eyrie Vineyards.
Nick's role in Oregon's wine history is not lost upon the winemakers.
"Nick's sort of evolved symbiotically with us," Lett said. "We all congregated there. He sold our wine, and we were happy to buy his food. He's been one of the biggest supporters in the state of Oregon for our wines."
The soft-spoken Peirano prefers to downplay his role.
"We've grown up with the wine industry," he said. "In 1977, there were five or six wineries in the area. Now, there must be 50 to 60, or more."
Next year, Peirano, 58, will celebrate the 25th anniversary of his restaurant, which he points out is "right across from the Mack Theater" in downtown McMinnville's historic Third Street.
It's also next door to McMenamin's Hotel Oregon. Even so, first-time visitors to Yamhill County might have a little difficulty spotting the front door of Nick's. There's no marquee, no neon sign, just some simple stenciling on a clear glass door. And the decor of the main dining room is just as low key.
"It's casual, and hopefully friendly," Peirano said. "The winemakers enjoyed the feeling of the place, and we certainly love to see them."
The quality of the food matches that of a trendy bistro, but Peirano makes the atmosphere of the former luncheonette comfortable and unpretentious, allowing for winemakers to sit at the counter without feeling out of place.
Locals sit down at a table for dinner wearing sweatshirts and jeans. In the background, Peirano's documented love of classic jazz comes through as a song by Louis Armstrong sets the tone for the rest of the evening. You stroll past bookcases stocked with a portion of Peirano's library while on the way to the semi-private second dining room in the back of the restaurant.
"In the old days, we'd bring kids in cribs and they'd be playing basketball and everybody would be all entertained," Lett said. "We'd refer to that room as 'the fun and games room.' "
One gets the sense that Nick's is an extension of his home, which is just four blocks away.
"Oh yeah, it's a job, but it's also been a great way to raise kids," Peirano said. "I've got two daughters, 23 and 26, and after school they'd come right in. There are not many jobs where you could have your children come into your office after school and play cards or work with you.
"In fact, my mom and my dad worked here toward the end of their life," he said. "And I have some people who have been employed here all 24 years."
Peirano, like many of the Oregon wine pioneers, migrated from the Bay Area. He grew up cooking with his family, and his only formal training came from working on the Santa Fe Railway.
"I had been in the service and got my degree, but my degree was in political science, and you don't do a lot with a political science degree," he said. "I knew some people who lived in McMinnville; the lease was up on this place, and the equipment was up for sale for not much. It was a fairly easy decision, and I had to support myself somehow."
He arrived at a formula that continues to work.
Nick's Italian Cafe serves only dinner, either a five-course, fixed-price meal (about $35 not including dessert) or à la carte. Artichoke with lemon-tarragon mayonnaise is usually one of the appetizers, followed by a small crock of minestrone soup, a choice of salad, a pasta dish and a selection of three entrées.
The blueprint for that famous garlicky Genovese soup is available in the International Pinot Noir Celebration's boxed set of recipes. "That was my grandmother's recipe, not mine," Peirano said, "so that's one of the reasons. And I've been asked for it so many times, we just did it."
Remarkably, Oregon pinot noir seems to match with nearly every item, and ingredients focus on the Northwest. His wine list is heavy with Oregon's most famous variety, and the Italian cuisine showcases the versatility of a luscious pinot noir.
"I try to cook for the wines of this area," he said.
That devotion to pinot noir became evident in 1986 when he helped found the International Pinot Noir Celebration, which lures pinot noir growers, winemakers and fans worldwide to nearby Linfield College for a three-day festival.
"I'm very proud of my involvement in that," Peirano said. "It's amazing that the little town has come to hold such an event where you can see people shooting pool and talking French."
It's no surprise that Paul Pintarich used three pages of his book on the early Oregon winemakers — The Boys Up North — to detail the role of Peirano and Nick's within the history of Oregon wine.
The wine list at Nick's reads like an encyclopedia of Oregon pinot, including Lett's world-acclaimed 1975 The Eyrie South Block Oregon pinot.
"This is the one that made Oregon famous," Peirano said, cradling a bottle as if he were showing off a godson.
You can buy that historic bottle for $425 at Nick's. Lett noted, "That's cheaper than we're selling it for."
Peirano doesn't get rich off selling wine. He typically charges only retail price plus $5 to $7, not the 100 percent markup at many restaurants. His staff knows the wines first-hand, and guests are entrusted with Spiegelau Grand Palais wine glasses, allowing for a vigorous swirl.
The well-deserved reputation for tender homemade pasta and Northwest wine offerings made Nick's a natural as we sought a pairing for Tefft Cellars' 1998 sangiovese from Washington's Yakima Valley. And ground lamb lasagna taps into what is perhaps Peirano's favorite portion of his menu — experimenting with pasta.
"It's a nice wine that goes well with food," he said. "It has nice acid and tannins and nice fruit. I thought it had enough sharpness to stand up to something heavy and rich, and it did. It complemented the food well.
"It's different from Italian sangioveses, which often have even more tannins," Peirano added. "The tannins were there, but they weren't over the top. I think that it is a good example of what the Northwest should strive for."
Nick's Italian Cafe, 521 NE Third St., McMinnville, OR 97218. 888-456-2511. www.nicksitaliancafe.com
LAMB, EGGPLANT & CARMELIZED ONION LASAGNA
Serves 8-9
Ingredients:
1 small eggplant, cut into 3⁄4-inch cubes
extra virgin olive oil
salt
3 tablespoons butter
3 tablespoons flour
11⁄2 cups milk
nutmeg, to taste
butter
1 16-oz. package dried lasagna noodles or enough to make three layers in a 10 x 12 in. pan, or homemade lasagna noodles (recommended)
3⁄4 pound ground lamb, sautéed until done, with some pieces crisp
3⁄4 pound sliced onion, carmelized by sautéeing in butter
1⁄2 pound sliced mushrooms
1⁄2 cup fresh ricotta cheese
1⁄2 pound freshly grated Parmesan cheese
1⁄2 cup pistachio nuts, shelled and halved
Directions:
1. Toss eggplant with extra virgin olive oil and salt. Bake at 350°F for 20-25 minutes or until raw taste is gone.
2. To make the Béchamel sauce, melt the butter over low heat. Add flour. Slowly stir in milk. Add just enough nutmeg for a subtle background flavor.
3. Butter bottom and sides of lasagna pan. Cook noodles in abundant boiling water. Then put in cold water, drain and dry.
4. Cover bottom of pan with noodles and layer all the lamb, all the eggplant and all the onions on top. Drizzle a third of the Béchamel sauce over this, and top with a third of the grated Parmesan.
5. Put second layer of noodles in pan. Top with all the mushrooms, all the ricotta, then with half of the remaining Béchamel sauce and half of the remaining Parmesan.
6. Place third layer of pasta in pan. Top with remaining Béchamel sauce, the remaining Parmesan and all of the pistachios.
7. Bake at 375°F until golden brown. About 20-30 minutes.
8. Cool 5-10 minutes, cut and serve.
CinCin, Vancouver, B.C.
CinCin, the showy Italian cucina in downtown Vancouver, British Columbia, is one of those rare places that lives up to its name.
Pronounced "chin chin," it's a toast made around the Mediterranean as a tribute to family, friends and the pleasures of fine food and wine.
This spring, CinCin won the Vancouver International Wine Festival gold medal for the first time in the restaurant's 10-year history.
"It was a very exciting day," said sommelier Robert Dziurman.
Executive chef Romy Prasad quipped, "It took us a week to deal with their egos."
CinCin faces tight competition just from its sister eateries under Jack Evrensel's Table Top Restaurant Group — Whistler Village's Araxi and two others in the greater Vancouver area, Blue Water Cafe and Ouest.
"(Evrensel) goes to each of them almost every day, so you never have time to relax," said CinCin General Manager Micheline Charach.
Prasad incorporates French and Spanish influences with local organic produce, fresh seafood and Canadian beef. He can put on a show for guests in his wood-fired open kitchen and feed them breads baked fresh on the premise.
"I heard there was no snow to shovel out here," joked Prasad, a native of South America. "Actually, I had a desire to be in this part of the world because there is a lot of good local food and produce."
Prasad, 39, spent five years in Europe working in the kitchens of Michelin two- and three-star restaurants. A tip from James Walt — a fellow graduate of the Stratford (Ontario) Chefs School and who now is at the Blue Water — led him to CinCin.
"The fact that I had worked with wood-fired ovens and grills in Spain and Italy was a major plus for me," Prasad said.
And finding the quickly evolving B.C. wine industry is a major bonus, he said.
"The local stuff is very impressive, like Mission Hill and Burrowing Owl, all of those places are coming of age," Prasad said. "They know their terroir, and they are becoming an aggressive force."
And CinCin has formed quite a wine program. In fact, Charach, 35, makes certain that the servers have a working knowledge of wine.
"I give them a wine test on their first interview," she said. "If they fail, they don't get hired."
For example, her questionnaire asks for the predominant varieties of Bordeaux, Burgundy, Piedmont and Tuscany. She doesn't expect them to know many of the bottles in the vast wine room, but Dziurman leads a 30-minute seminar for staff twice a week.
"There are 800 wines on the wine list, and of course nobody except for me knows about each of them, but the guests are expecting to match the wine with the food," said Dziurman, 33, who grew up near Marseille, France. "That's why I have the wine seminar for staff. We will bring winemakers to the seminars oftentimes to discuss their wines with our staff. It can be lost on a lot of people, but if you have a passion for the wine, it's easier. You try to dig deeper and find more information. But, of course, money (a bigger tip) is the motivation."
CinCin's long list of fans includes a litany of celebrities such as Tyra Banks, Faye Dunaway, Paul Newman, Seal, Sylvester Stallone, Sharon Stone and X-Files stars Gillian Anderson and David Duchovny.
"The city has been growing since I was a kid and has come a long way, especially as far as the restaurants," Charach said. "People want fine dining, and they want at home what they get when they go to New York or L.A. when they're on business or vacation. They are always comparing us to San Francisco.
"And the wine drinkers have come such a long way," she added. "Almost every table orders wine, and guests are requiring more information on wine."
Consumers are becoming more adventurous, too, which is why we chose Tefft Cellars' sangiovese from Washington's Yakima Valley.
"I know they are growing more of it in the New World, but honestly, I was a little skeptical," Dziurman admitted. "Then we tasted it, and I found it extremely good. I got more of mineral than tar and leather. It was herbal, less in fruit, but creamy with a little spice and black pepper.
"There's some licorice and lots of mushroom and organic flavors. I was really, really impressed."
Prasad and sous chef Andy Chong arrived at braised rabbit legs confit with oyster mushrooms and risotto.
"It was a nicely balanced wine with some fruit," Prasad said. "The tannins were soft, and that made it easy to work with. It's not a quaffing wine. It's a food wine, and the wine works brilliantly with the dish. And the price point that it comes in at is very affordable."
CinCin Restaurant & Bar, 1154 Robson Street, Vancouver, B.C., 604-688-7338 www.cincin.net
RABBIT LEG CONFIT WITH OYSTER MUSHROOM RISOTTO
Serves 4
Ingredients:
4 rabbit legs
3 cups clarified goose fat
2 sprigs thyme
10 whole black peppercorns
1 teaspoon coarse salt
2 cups oyster mushrooms
1⁄2 cup + 2 tablespoons butter
1 tablespoon minced shallots
1 teaspoon minced garlic
3 ounces red wine
1 cup + 1⁄2 cup veal stock
1 quart + 1⁄2 cup chicken stock
1 cup arborio rice
1 handful of chiffonade spinach
8 spears asparagus, sliced
Directions:
1. Place rabbit legs in a roasting pan.
2. Heat the goose fat in a large pan until liquid. Add the thyme, peppercorns and salt to liquid, and continue to heat until it begins to bubble.
3. Remove this liquid, pour it over the rabbit legs and place roasting pan in oven at 300° F for about 11⁄2 hours, or until the legs are tender. Remove and cool.
4. Saute the oyster mushrooms in 2 tablespoons of butter until golden. Remove from pan.
5. Place the shallots, then garlic in pan and sweat. ("Sweat" is a term that means cooking at medium heat until clear or translucent. Beads of moisture will actually form.)
6. Add 1⁄2 cup of butter and arborio rice. Toss to coat.
7. Deglaze with the red wine and reduce by half. Add one cup of the veal stock and two cups of the chicken stock. Cook over medium heat, adding two more cups of chicken stock, one cup at a time until all the liquid is absorbed and the rice is al dente.
8. Add the mushrooms, asparagus and spinach while the rice mixture is still hot. The risotto will provide the necessary heat to cook the asparagus and spinach.
9. Reheat the rabbit legs by placing them in a pan with the remaining 1⁄2 cup of veal stock and the remaining 1 cup of chicken stock. Gently reheat with a lid on until warm in the center.
10. Divide the risotto mixture equally onto four plates and place the rabbit on top.
Eric Degerman is associate editor of Wine Press Northwest. The Oregon native can be reached at 509-582-1509 or via e-mail at edegerman@tri-cityherald.com
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