Posts from — December 2007

So many times, we hear recommendations such as “this chicken dish matches well with a dry, white wine”, or “you cannot serve red wine at fish”. Franky, I was never able to remember what matches what, so I usually ignore such things. Besides, I like only sweet, white wines, so my choice is very restrictive. I imagine each of us has a particular taste in the case of wine, like in the case of food: if you don’t like how eggplants taste, this is it!

But have you ever heard about tasteID? TasteID is a measure of how you like wines, and you can read more about it, and even take the tests yourself on the TasteVine website, which is in the same time a search engine for wines and a social networking place for wine lovers.

Registration is very easy and free, all you have to do is to supply a username, a password and an e-mail address, and you are brought directly to your profile page, which you can customize on the spot by indicating your white or red wine preferences: sweet, dry, fruity…

If you want to establish your tasteID, you’ll have to fill in some questionnaires about a series of wines chosen in such a way that you’ll find them easily on the market, and they won’t empty your wallet or your credit card. Chances are that you have already tasted those wines, as they are quite common: Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Pinot Grigio, Pinot Noir, Riesling, Chardonnay etc.

After you rate one of the wines, you’ll be able to see the profiles of other people in the network who liked that particular wine, and you’ll be able to add them as friends, send them messages, or exchange opinions about your favorite wines.

The search engine returns wines that match your search string. For each item in the results, you have three options: to view more details, to review it, or to buy it online. Or you can read what other sites say about that wine. I tried to search “fish”, hoping I’ll get a list of wines that match with fish dishes, but I’ve got a list of wines which contain “Fish” in the name (maybe because the site seems to be quite young, and there are not many reviews in there yet).

If you want to learn about wine, you can study the wineries catalogue, which contains a lot of wine producers, with lists of their wines production by year. There is also the possibility to order online if you wish.

Briefly, I think I’ll use again my account I’ve created. This idea of bringing together wine lovers, in a social network, sounds good and I’m sure I’ll have the chance to improve my knowledge in this field.

Ingredients for two persons

• 4 eggplants
• 250 g. of bacon
• 1 red bell pepper
• 100 g. of mushrooms
• 100 g. of sour cream
• vegetable oil
• salt, pepper

Cooking procedure

1. Cut the eggplants in half, on length.
2. Take out the heart, leaving 1 inch from the eggplants.
3. Put the empty eggplants in the oven, at medium temperature, until you finish the rest of the preparations.
4. Cut the mushrooms in cubes. Salt and pepper them.
5. Fry them in vegetable oil, with 100 g. of water, for 10 min, at medium temperature.
6. Cut the eggplant’s heart, the red bell pepper in cubes. Salt them.
7. Put them on top of the mushrooms and add 100 g. of hot water.
8. Stir for 10 min.
9. Add the bacon cubed.
10. Fill up the empty eggplants with the mixture
11. Leave them in the oven, at medium temperature, for 20 min.
12. Put them on a plate and leave it for 5 min.
13. After that, add the sour cream.

Ingredients for two persons

• 800 g. pork sirloin
• 1 grapefruit for decoration

The sauce:

• 200 g. soy sauce
• 200 g. cognac
• 75 g. sugar

The vegetables:

• 100 g. carrots
• 100 g. leek
• 100 g. red onions
• 180 g. pepper
• 100 g. mushrooms
• 20 ml. sesame oil
• 20 g. ginger
• 100 ml. oil
• salt, pepper

Cooking procedure:

1. Put the pork sirloin in the oven, at medium temperature, for 20 min.
2. Slice it.
3. Fry the slices in the sauce (the cognac, the sugar and the soy sauce) until you obtain a caramel sauce.
4. Slice the vegetables thin.
5. Fry them in oil with the ginger until they diminish at half.
6. Slice the grapefruit.
7. On a plate put: the meat, on top – the vegetables, on top the grapefruit.

Ingredients for two portions

• 750 g. of lamb meat
• 400 g. of mushrooms
• 1 onion
• 2 spoons of sour cream
• 1 teaspoon of flour
• 1 spoon of butter
• garlic
• vegetable oil
• salt, pepper

Cooking Procedure:

1. Cut the lamb meat in big pieces. Salt and pepper it.
2. Make small cuts on its surface and fill them with garlic.
3. Put it in a pan with vegetable oil and 5 cups of water.
4. Put it in the oven, at medium temperature, for 35 min.
5. Than, take from the pan one cup of water.
6. Cut the mushrooms and the onion in pieces. Salt and pepper them.
7. Fry them in vegetable oil for 5 min.
8. Add the cup with the water you took from the meat pan.
9. Stir for 3 min.
10. Add the butter and make a white sauce with the flour and the sour cream.

Serve hot, with a salad (fresh or pickles).

Ingredients for two

• 300 g. of pork joint
• 500 g. of potatoes
• 4 tomatoes
• 2 carrots
• 2 onions
• olive oil
• parsley
• salt, pepper

Cooking Procedure:

1. Cut the pork joint in pieces. Boil it for 10 min. Throw away the water.
2. Cut the potatoes in pieces. Boil it for 10 min. Throw away the water.
3. Cut the carrots and the onions and boil it in 500 g. of water, for 10 min.
4. Add the meat and the potatoes and continue to boil them until the water is almost finished.
5. Cut the tomatoes small.
6. Fry them in olive oil, for 2 min, at medium temperature.
7. Add the rest of the food. Stir for 3 min.
8. Cut the parsley and add it.

Ingredients for two portions

• 1 kg. of small beans
• 500 g. chicken breast
• 2 onions
• dill
• tomato sauce
• vegetable oil
• salt

Cooking procedure:

1. Cut the chicken breast in pieces.
2. Grate the onions.
3. Fry in vegetable oil the chicken breast and the onions, for 3 min.
4. Add 100 g. of hot water and stir for 5 min.
5. Boil the small beans for 10 min.
6. Pour it over the meat and the onions and stir for 10 min.
7. Cut the dill and put in after you took the pan off the fire.

The same recipe can be done with chicken joints.

Ingredients for two

• 350 g. of the pork’s nape of the neck
• 100 g. of parsley
• 3 onions
• 1 lemon
• olive oil
• salt

Cooking Procedure:

1. Cut the meat in pieces, small enough to go in the mouth.
2. Cut the onions in small cubes. Salt them.
3. Cut the parsley small.
4. Squeeze the lemon.
5. Fry the meat, at medium temperature, for 2 min. Add 2 spoons of hot water.
6. Stir for 3 min.
7. Add the onion and 4 spoons of hot water.
8. Stir for 3 min.
9. Put the food on a plate and add the parsley and the lemon juice.

Serve hot, with potatoes as side dish.

Ingredients

• The meat from 1 rabbit
• 4 onions
• 200 g. of black olives
• 2 glasses of red wine
• 1 spoon with tomato sauce
• 1 cup with vinegar
• vegetable oil
• 50 g. of parsley
• 50. g. of savory
• 2 leaves of laurel
• 1 carrot
• salt, pepper

Procedure:

1. Cut the rabbit meat.
2. Mix it up with the wine.
3. In a receptacle put: 1 cup with vinegar, 1 spoon with vegetable oil, 1 carrot, 1 onion, and 50 g. of parsley, 50. g. of savory, 2 leaves of laurel, salt, pepper.
4. Add the meat mixed with wine.
5. Leave it in the refrigerator for 5 hours.
6. Boil the olives for 2 min. and throw away the water.
7. Cut the onions small.
8. Add the rabbit’s meat and fry them in vegetable oil for 5 min.
9. Add the olives, 1 glass of red wine, the tomato sauce and put the food in the oven.
10. Leave it there at medium temperature, for 15 min.

Ingredients

• 400 g. of white beans
• 2 onions
• 3 tomatoes
• vegetable oil
• salt, pepper, paprika

Procedure:

1. Boil the white beans for 25 min., at medium temperature, than throw away the water.
2. Simultaneously, but separately, boil 1 l. of water.
3. Put the white beans in it and boil until they are soft. Take it out to chill.
4. Blend the boiled beans with the food mixer
5. Slice the onions very thin. Salt them.
6. Fry them for 3 min.
7. Cut the tomatoes in small cubes.
8. Put them together with the fried onions, the paprika and the pepper. Fry them for 5 min.
9. Put the fried mixture on top of the bean pasta.

Serve cold.

Ingredients for 4-6 persons

• 700 g. potatoes
• 6 carrots
• 100 g. of small beans
• 4 parsnips
• 1 celery root
• 200 g. of various pickles: red bell pepper, cucumber, and carrot
• 250 g. of mayonnaise
• salt, pepper

Preparation:

1. Boil the potatoes in their skin, until they are ready (try them with a fork: it should pass through easily).
2. Skin them off and cut them in small cubes.
3. Boil the vegetables.
4. Cut them in small cubes.
5. Cut the pickles in cubes.
6. Keep 100 g. of mayonnaise aside.
7. Mix everything up with the 150 g. of mayonnaise, the salt and the pepper.
8. Put the mixture on a big plate, and build it in a cake shape, flat on top.
9. Cover it with the remaining mayonnaise, spread all over in a thin layer.
10. Decorate the dish with black olives, slices of red bell pepper and of pickled cucumber.

Put it for 10 minutes in the fridge before serving.