Wines with Georgia Blume

Thanks to Georgia Blume from T. Edward Wines for this great write-up!

Yesterday I spent some time at Jimmy’s No. 43, an East Village cavernous hangout with an extensive selection of artisanal beers, fresh local cuisine supporting the Slow Food movement, and a carefully crafted wine list made up of Neal Rosenthal and T Edward Wines.

I pulled our new Cotes de Brouilly out of my bag and offered some to Jimmy, and he in turn brought out a plate of roasted pork and boiled potatoes from an upstate farm, as well as some almonds. And just like that, a perfect wine and food pairing was created…

Domaine de la Roche St Martin Cote de Brouilly is produced by one man, Jean Jacques Bereziat. He makes less than 500 cases of Cotes de Brouilly a year and takes care of all the vineyard management and winemaking himself. The small domaine sits atop Mont Brouilly, where 60 year old vines of Gamay grow on blue volcanic soils. His wines are considered among the best of Cru Beaujolais.

Aromas of red berries, volcanic minerality and smoke continue on the palate with a tingle of the tongue. The old vines lend to a great concentration of flavor in the wine. After a bite of salty pork the apparent strawberry and red cherry notes become almost juicy, but are well balanced by bright acidity and soft chalky tannins that complement the texture of the potato. A hint of black pepper on the finish, a persistent length, followed by a crunchy almond to clear the palate for the next sip…perfection.

Jimmy's No. 43 Welcomes The Piggery!

We are proud to be hosting 4 CSA's this summer!

The Piggery is our heritage pork and charcuterie CSA. It is run by our friends Heather and Brad, whose farming methods are based on the principles of sustainability, convenience, and deliciousness. Brad is an expert charcuterer who makes all the cured meats and pates, right on the farm.

On Sunday, we helped to celebrate their new, ambitious CSA. They brought a pig, and demonstrated how to carve it into all your favorite cuts- pork chops to pork belly, snout to tail! We also had a bunch of great bluegrass bands playing!

We will be cooking all the different cuts on the Jimmy's No. 43 menu this week... Stop by to taste this delicious, sustainable pork!

Slow Roasting a Pig?

The other day I was chatting with John Taylor - aka Hoppin' John - low country cook, author, and purveyor of heirloom corn grits. I've looked at his blog a few times. I love the recipes. When I mentioned that pork was slow roasting in the Jimmy' s No. 43 kitchen, Hoppin' John offered this tasty fall chutney recipe as a proper accompaniment. Try this for Thanksgiving.

John Taylor's Fall Chutney
This recipe is easy and everyone loves it. I usually use 3 lbs of pears and make 5 pints and process them for 15 minutes, but I put this on my blog for folks who won't can and like small batches:

1 pound hard, underripe pears, peeled, seeded, and chopped
1 lightly packd cup light or dark brown sugar
1 cup apple cider vinegar
1 teaspoon mustard seeds
1/2 teaspoon cayenne
1/4 cup crystallized ginger, chopped
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground white pepper
1/4 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
2/3 cup light or dark raisins or a mixture of the two
2/3 cup chopped onion
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice

Cook the pears in water to cover until they are medium-soft. Drain, saving the water, then make a syrup of the water in which they were cooked and the brown sugar by boiling in a nonreactive pot until thick, about 20 to 30 minutes.

Add the pears and the remaining ingredients to the pot and cook for another 30 minutes, or until the raisins are soft, the onions are clear, and the chutney is thick.

The chutney will keep in the refrigerator for months.
Makes about 3 1/2 cups