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Tuscan Sun Chat

March 14, 2012 in Food, Travel, wine by traveleatlove | 9 comments

I am back from California, wishing I was still there but full of great memories and waiting on a shipment of fantastic wine to help us extend our vacation. I have more photos on my laptop and posts brewing in my head about Sonoma and Napa than I can even put into words right now, so hopefully you won’t mind seeing lots of vineyard shots over the coming weeks. It was heaven.

Signorello Vineyards

We really squeezed out every last second of our trip; when our friend Chef Robin White, a friend of Under the Tuscan Sun’s Frances Mayes, invited us to participate live in a tweet-up celebrating Mayes’ new book The Tuscan Sun Cookbook, we had to zip over to Napa Valley one last time to participate, even if it meant a little bit of anxiety on my part about getting to the airport on time. Turns out our flight was delayed five hours anyway, so I am glad we didn’t spend any more time in the airport than we had to.

Robin is the queen of virtual dinners, hosting all sorts of fun events that bring people together from all over to feast on food and wine and share the experience via Twitter. She wowed us with a Venge Wine Dinner at her home, and we have had fun participating in her Soup Week events.

The live portion of this tweet-up was hosted by Signorello Vineyards on the Silverado Trail in Napa Valley. Despite the soaking rain, the drive was beautiful, lush, green, and scenic.

Signorello Vineyards

The tweet-up was attended virtually by people from all over the world using the hashtag #TuscanSunChat. I was lucky enough to be with Robin, one of the hosts, and a bunch of wine country locals.

Signorello Vineyards

Signorello’s chef kept a constant stream of hot pizzas coming to the table that they had set up for us. He was cooking up the pizzas from The Tuscan Sun Cookbook  outside in the rain, and they were delicious. This one had chili oil and agave nectar on it, giving it a kick of spice and a hint of sweet. With the chewy crust and flavorful toppings, it was pretty spectacular.

pizza

We also had this margarita pizza. Everything on it was so fresh. The pizza made excellent fuel for all of our tweets!

pizza

And of course there was wine. Signorello poured their Seta, a blend of Semillon and Sauvignon Blanc, which was crisp, acidic, and full of lemony flavor, a bright contrast to the grey day outside.

Signorello wine

We followed that with Signorello’s Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon.

Signorello wine

My husband has attended a few tweet-ups with me, mostly in California, and I think he finds them a little funny. Most of the guests were communicating via Twitter more than we were talking. I , like many people, am a huge fan of Under the Tuscan Sun, so I found it a lot of fun to be tweeting with Frances Mayes and her husband. I am looking forward to picking up a copy of the book to bring a little bit of Tuscany to Boston!

Tags: California, Food, Italy, Napa, pizza, Travel, wine

Easy Veggie Soup

March 8, 2012 in Food, recipe by traveleatlove | 8 comments

More vegetables! I absolutely love blended, creamy soups, and despite the warm weather yesterday was craving something hot and comfy. A veggie soup was just the thing, light enough for the weather but a little bit comforting too. This “recipe” would work with all sorts of vegetables. I totally eyeballed it and used what I had in the house.

I started by thawing about two cups of frozen cauliflower.

frozen cauliflower

And cleaning and chopping eight large carrots. (There were more than just the carrots in this pic; I can count. Winking smile)

carrots

One large white onion, cut into thin slices, tossed with a glug of olive oil went into the pot. I set the onions cooking low and slow while I boiled some water and prepped my potatoes.

onion

I used four fairly large potatoes, skins and all, boiled until soft.

potatoes

When the potatoes were ready, I opened a can of cannellini beans, drained them, and tossed them into the pot which now contained the cauliflower, onion, oil, carrots, one jalapeno, and ground black pepper.

white beans

I poured in just enough chicken stock to cover the vegetables and let them all simmer until soft.

making soup

And then I got distracted by my open windows, warm breezes, and blasting music. I figured a dance party was more important than photographing dinner.

The rest of the process included pouring the contents of the pot into the blender and blending until smooth. It was a bit of a hassle and mess to pour it in to the blender, but I find I am often disappointed by my immersion blender. It just doesn’t do the trick.

The soup was delicious, smooth and velvety with flavor from the chicken stock and onions. It was definitely one of those dishes that required several bowls to be satisfying; something with it might have rounded out the meal a little better. I actually made frozen fries at 10:00 pm because I was still hungry. I was really dreaming about cheesy bread again though.

I guess this soup gets two thumbs up as an appetizer or a side. I would definitely make it again.

Has this lovely weather changed your food cravings yet? I for one can not wait for tomatoes, corn, strawberries, and watermelon, but I will be happy to get through asparagus, ramps, artichokes, and fiddleheads first.

Tags: Food, recipe, soup, vegetables

Cabbage and Quinoa Salad

March 7, 2012 in Food by traveleatlove | 8 comments

Spotted: the elusive vegetable in my lately-lackluster diet. You know when you are sick, and you either lose your appetite or just want to eat junk? I was the junk eater over the past couple of weeks during my endless coughing, sinus pain, and fatigue. I ate plenty of lime tortilla chips and even ordered Domino’s cheesy bread a-la-Freshman year in college one night. It was gooooood.

This week, as we look forward to warmer weather, a trip to California, and some rest, I am finally craving vegetables again. I never thought that would happen. I decided to whip up a cold quinoa and veggie salad for healthy and quick lunches.

 

quinoa

I started by cooking up a few cups of quinoa. I don’t really follow any directions, just throw some quinoa in, cover it ever-so-slightly in water, and boil it until the water is absorbed. This time around, when the quinoa started to look done, I added about 1/2 cup of rice wine vinegar and let it cook a little more. Instant flavor!

While the quinoa was doing its thing, I tossed two jalapenos and a piece of ginger root into my mini chopper, creating a finely minced, very fragrant blend.

jalapeno and ginger

And I roughly chopped heaps of red cabbage. I used my vegetable scissors and just chopped away until the cabbage pieces were to my liking. I worried I had too much cabbage compared to quinoa, but it ended up being perfect.

red cabbage

To make the salad, I simply poured the hot quinoa over the cabbage, stirred in the jalapeno and ginger, and I was done. Isn’t it pretty?

quinoa salad

I loved all of the spice that the ginger and jalapeno brought to this, the crunch from the cabbage, and the tang from the vinegar. It’s the perfect on-the-go salad because there’s no mayo or other dairy to spoil. I ate my first bowl warm and went back for another cold bowl later, both really nice.

This salad would be great with all sorts of veggies and toppings like carrots, olives, and lemon juice. Even though it’s really simple, I am kind of excited to have found something I like so much that is also really easy and healthy. Maybe I can actually avoid being sick for awhile.

Are you craving crunchy veggies, or are you still on a wintry comfort food streak?

Tags: Food, quinoa, recipe, vegan

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