comfort food

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There is little better than a hearty meal paired with a good glass of wine and someone you love, a good book, or a favorite TV show. (Hey, I love spending time with others, but I adore my “me time” just as much!) It’s even better when said hearty meal is simple and whipped up from what’s in the fridge. On a dreary recent evening, I took advantage of a few fine ingredients in the house to make a one-skillet meal that included some delicious Spanish wine, in the meal as well as in the glass.

food and wine pairing

This skillet was all about the ingredients. I don’t generally buy tomatoes in the winter, but I had a major tomato craving and went for these beauties from Backyard Farms, a company I came to know through a blogger event a couple of summers ago.

Backyard Farms tomatoes

The other ingredients? A red onion, chorizo, white beans, and whole wheat couscous. I started off by heating the chorizo and onion on medium until sizzling and browning an then added in the chopped tomatoes and white beans, letting everything simmer until combined.

chorizo skillet

In a separate pot, I cooked up the couscous. I just love pearl couscous; it’s a cozy touch to a meal.

whole wheat couscous

The final piece of the skillet was a glug of good Spanish red wine by Pena do Lobo. The grape the wine was made with is Mencia. The wine was lush and fruity with a slight herbal note to it, and it was a nice little addition to the skillet.

Pena do Lobo wine

When all was said and done, we had a nice little bowl of white beans, chorizo, and tomatoes and a soul-warming red wine. Add in a fire, and the night was complete. Meals like this, with a little music for kitchen dance parties, make me want to cook again!

Happy Friday! Do you have any fun weekend plans? In addition to more work around our new house and some projects on the condo we are selling, I have a birthday outing and a brunch outing. Bring on the weekend!

Tags: chorizo, comfort food, cooking with wine, Food, food and wine pairing, food and wine pairings, recipe

I say it time and time again, but the best part of blogging, by far, has been the friends I have made. There are so many people I’ve met that I may never had encountered otherwise, and I am thankful for it every day.

Over the past few months, I’ve had some great dinner dates with blogger friends; these “supper club” dates are definitely something I look forward to. On our last get together, we finally tried Estelle’s, the latest from Boston chef Brian Poe.

Estelle's Boston

This comfort food-centric establishment was perfect for the night we visited. Despite it being officially spring, snow was falling outside, and I think we were all a little disgruntled with the weather. A great beer selection, cozy atmosphere, and good friends were the perfect remedy.

I was excited to see that one of the many beers Estelle’s serves is Boont Amber Ale, from the Anderson Valley, one of the places we visited on our last wine country vacation. (We’re going to Sonoma in 10 days. . . the thought literally has me wanting to jump up and down on my desk.)

Boont Amber Ale

I love Anderson Valley Brewing Company beer just as much as I love the great wines that come from the region. It doesn’t hurt that it is gorgeous up there.

As we often do, we ordered a bunch of appetizers to share. Estelle’s menu has so many delicious sounding items on it; I am eager to try them all. Being a lover of all things pickled, I love the platter of pickled veggies and a pickled egg. I could easily eat this for my entrée next time.

pickled vegetable plate

My photos didn’t all come out great, but we also enjoyed massive slabs of cornbread, hushpuppies, deviled eggs, and a chopped salad. Obviously, by the time my entrée, a shrimp po’ boy came, I was pretty much stuffed. After a few bites for dinner, this made a perfect Thursday lunch.

shrimp po boy

I also stole a couple bites of the husband’s fried chicken. Fried chicken rarely equals my mom’s, but this was really great. The mac and cheese on the side was the perfect comfort food.

fried chicken

I balanced out all of the fried food with some garlicky greens. I can’t get enough of these.

garlic greens

Though we were all stuffed, we decided to share an order of red velvet whoopie pies, because they were there. How can you pass up red velvet whoopie pies? The restaurant overheard that it was my birthday the day before, and kindly brought the dessert out with candles.

It was a sweet end to a really warm and welcoming meal. Estelle’s is a great place to grab a beer and a bite and a welcome addition to the South End.

red velvet whoopie pies

Tags: Boston, comfort food, Dining out, Food, Restaurants, Southern food

A sauce so delicious you want to put it on everything? This is it. Last summer our friends hosted us at a fantastic July 4th barbecue. It was hot and sunny, we had spent the earlier part of the day on the boat (Just over 2 months til boating season!), and we were relaxing around the fire pit with fun friends and amazing food. Venezuelan friends of our friends brought a green sauce that they apparently are asked to bring to every party. I’m not even sure what I was supposed to put it on, but once I tasted it, I wanted to put it on everything, so I did.

Fast forward to February, this cold and dreary month where things have been stressful in this household, to say the very least. The summer sun and sea can’t come fast enough; at least then when our nasty neighbor is making me sick with her smoking I can go sleep on the boat!

I had a random craving for steak last week, and this green sauce popped into my head again. A quick Google of “Venezuelan green sauce” brought me to this page, which features a recipe for Guasacaca. I didn’t know the name, but going by the way the sauce tasted, the ingredients sounded right, so I decided to make it. guasacaca ingredients

Guasacaca is a vibrant green sauce that combines avocados, green peppers, garlic, onion, vinegar, and oil with generous amounts cilantro and parsley. The vinegar gives it a little tang while the herbs make it bright and flavorful.

oil and vinegar

To my Guasacaca, I also added two Thai green chili peppers, not Venezuelan, I know, but I wanted a little bit of heat. It was a good decision.

guasacaca

For Thursday night dinner, I picked up four small sirloin steaks at Foodie’s Urban Market, which is dangerously close to my South End office. They have such a great selection of all sorts of food, wine, and beer, and while it’s pricey, it’s also handy for picking up one or two items during the week.

sirloin steak

I simply prepped my steaks by seasoning on both sides with sea salt and pepper and grilling them to perfection on my grill pan. I topped the steaks with the Guasacaca and served with mountains of steamed spinach and baked sweet potatoes, both of which found their way dipped in the Guasacaca as well.

steak with guasacaca

This meal was perfect, a mix of winter and summer and a delicious way to brighten up a challenging week. The addition of a Chilean red wine on the side definitely didn’t hurt.

How are you keeping warm and hopeful for brighter days this February?

Ingredients: (adapted from original recipe posted on on Venezuelan Food and Drinks)

1 medium onion, roughly chopped

2 green sweet peppers, seeded, deveined, and roughly chopped

2 ripe avocados, peeled and seeded

2 cloves garlic

2 spicy green chili peppers

Half a bunch of fresh parsley leaves

Half a bunch fresh cilantro leaves

A third cup red wine vinegar

1 tablespoon salt, or to taste

Pinch of black pepper

1 cup olive oil

Add all ingredients except for the olive oil to food processor and puree until smooth. Slowly stream in olive oil until combined completely.

Serve this sauce with meat, fish, vegetables, chips, crackers. . . it’s so delicious it goes well with just about everything.

Tags: comfort food, dinner, Food, Guasacaca, meal planning, meals, recipe, steak

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