Over the past weekend, I received several complimentary items from AprésVin located in Prosser, Washington. AprésVin focuses on producing oils and flours from the grape seeds left over from winemaking.
The materials they sent included a wood box with a sliding cover that holds five bottles of specialty grape seed oils. These were all labeled with 100 percent varietal grape-seed oil and Yakima Valley Appellation 2007 or 2008 vintage. Each bottle held 5 ounces. The varietals included Cabernet Sauvignon, Chardonnay Fumé, Chardonnay Morocco, Roasted Garlic Chardonnay and Cabernet Poivré.
In addition four types of flours produced from grape seeds were sent. The flours are packaged in small cellophane bags and hold eight ounces. The flours are 100 percent varietal and from the Yakima Valley Appellation 2008 Vintage. The varietal flours included Merlot, Chardonnay, Riesling and Cabernet Sauvignon. The packages were also labeled “Gluten Free.” These flours are to be added as a supplement to other recipe ingredients with a suggestion of 3-6 tablespoons per 3 cups of dry ingredients.
Yesterday was our first venture into the start of trying these products. Terry decided to coat several pieces of chicken with a Chardonnay flour mixture. He heated a bit of Chardonnay Fumé oil in a Le Creuset French oven and added the coated chicken pieces. A few minutes later I lifted the cover and the aroma of smoked chicken delighted me. At dinnertime, the chicken had a subtle enjoyable taste difference from the traditional chicken dish.
Yesterday was also a day for baking bread. I baked two loaves of bread using the same recipe except for substituting 3 tablespoons of the Chardonnay flour for white flour in one loaf. The most striking difference was that the Chardonnay flour bread added a palate-pleasing coloring to the finished product. It was noticeable that the plain white loaf rose about ½ inch more than that with the grape seed flour. As far as taste, Terry did not taste a difference although I noticed that the traditional loaf was slightly sweeter than the Chardonnay loaf.
We are looking forward to trying more recipes using these products from AprésVin and will update you via this blog.
Cheers! Kathy
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Leap Year – the Movie and Wine
Yesterday we went to see Leap Year. I’m not a movie critic and it’s probably a good thing as any number of times I’ve read a review by a movie critic and just didn’t agree with them.
Anyway, Leap Year is a feel-good kind of movie. If you’re into romantic situations, humor and Ireland then this may be the movie for you to see. If you’re into science fiction, violence then look for another movie.
The reason I’m even mentioning Leap Year is because of a couple of scenes that depicted wine and Champagne. The first scene takes place in the kitchen where two people are cooking dinner. It’s going to be a fine dinner with lots of garden vegetables and chicken. Suddenly a wine bottle appears and into the skillet goes a few splashes of wine, immediately followed by the cooks drinking from the bottle. Really! Couldn’t they have poured the wine into wine glasses? However, it was a great idea to add more flavor to the meal by adding wine.
Another scene, takes place at a wedding reception. There the actress (Amy Adams) is holding the fluted Champagne glass by the bowl not the stem!
Now I for one will never critique someone for how they hold a wine glass but I know that many people would like to know the correct way to do things and will learn from example. Wouldn’t it be nice if something as simple as holding the glass by the stem had been done? I don’t believe it added to the movie in anyway to hold the glass by the bowl.
Cheers! Kathy