Savannah Deux

This photo is my attempt at taking a food shot with a tini tiny camera. It is also representative of my affection for Savannah, GA. My family and I were there during the 4th of July holiday. We had a fabulous 4 days taking in the Riverstreet sights, frolicking on Tybee Island Beach, and of course eating at Uncle Bubba's. Uncle Bubba's is a seafood place that also serves wonderful side dishes like this Red Rice dish. This rice was so good I pulled out my Savannah Country Cookbook by Paula Deen, when I got home, and made it. It tasted a little different from the restaurant version (more tomato flavor), but good just the same. This dish actually tasted sweet to me, with the tomato sauce being the predominate ingredient. I selected a young fruity Beaujolais to go with it. Yes, you can have wine with southern food. You just have to match the flavors. The Beaujolais was fruity and low in tannin. It was a great match. This dish was good enough to stand on it's own, but it could also go as a side dish with....shall we say.... fried chicken maybe? Enjoy!

Paula Deen's Red Rice

1 cup chopped onion

1 cup chopped bell pepper

2 tbls butter

1 cup diced Hillshire Farms sausage

One 141/2-ounce can crushed tomatoes with juice

1 tbls Texas Pete or red hot sauce

1 cup tomato sauce

1 cup water

3 chicken bouillon cubes

Pepper to taste; add salt to taste if desired

1 cup uncooked white rice

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a saucepan over medium heat, saute onion and bell pepper in butter. Add sausage; heat until mixture is slightly browned. Add tomatoes, hot sauce, tomato sauce, water, and bouillon cubes. Season with pepper and salt as needed. Stir in rice. Pour mixture into a greased casserole and bake for 45 minutes.

serves 4 to 6

Stonewall Creek Vineyards

There's nothing like sitting with a glass of wine looking out onto a beautiful vineyard. This is a picture of Stonewall Creek Vineyards in North Georgia owned by Dr. Carl and Carla Flacker. Stonewall Creek is a relatively new vineyard that I had the privilege, recently, of actually planting some grape vines. This is a special place not only because of the eventual wines that will come from it, but the philosophy behind the growing of these vines, Sustainable Viticulture. Sustainable viticulture is the "in" thing these days. Working with the naturalness of the land and only treating the vines when necessary. Some of the grape varieties grown on the vineyard are; Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, and Petit Manseng. French varieties that do very well in Georgia. The planting of vines on this vineyard today, will yield wines three (3) years from now. Three years time is what is takes from planting to vinification for any new vineyard. Well worth the wait!

http://www.stonewallcreek.com/

Monteluce Vineyards

A couple of week-ends ago, I had the privilege of attending the unveiling of Monteluce Vineyards new vintage. Monteluce is a planned vineyard community in northern Georgia, equipped with rolling vineyard hills, Tuscan inspired homes, gourmet restaurant with wine bar, and a Wine University that provides wine classes every Saturday. I had a simple lunch of macaroni with cheese (5 delectable cheeses) and pomme frites....I know...I was having a carb moment. Four new white wines were available for tasting. I paired my meal with their newly bottled Viognier. This viognier was really good. Solid fruit and acidity paired pretty nicely with my meal. The picture you're seeing in the box is my view from the restaurant. It's breathtakingly beautiful here! I could go on and on but I'm going to let their web site speak for them.

http://www.montaluce.com/tuscanstyle.php

Enjoy

Steak and Bordeaux

There are hardly any words for this near perfect combination.....grilled steak and Bordeaux red wine. The question for dinner last night was, "should we go out?", "should we eat in?", "if we eat in, what should we eat?" This question lingered until about 10:00 pm. You read right...10:00 pm. That's when the decision was made to have Rib Eye steaks. My husband, who is a whiz at whipping together a dinner on the fly, grilled those baby's to perfection. I, of course, knew what to do while they are cooking.....pick the wine! There was no question that we needed a wine that had a little backbone, meaning it needed to be red and tannic. Now the question then was should we have a Syrah, a Cabernet Sauvignon, a Bordeaux, or a red Zinfandel. The single varietals (Syrah, Cabernet Sauvignon, Zinfandel) would have been fine, but I didn't want full fruit power with my steak. Instead I wanted something understated in power and that meant, going with a simple classic Bordeaux. This particular Bordeaux was a blend of 60% Merlot and 40% Cabernet Sauvignon. The Merlot brings to the wine understated berry flavor and body in the form of alcohol, the Cabernet Sauvignon brings to the wine a subtle, woodsy deep berry flavor and tannin. You know, part of what makes a Bordeaux wine so good is the wine makers or negociants choice of blending proportions of their native grape varieties. Lucky for us!

Les Caves Joseph Bordeaux - Trader Joe's - $7.99