Continuing my culinary self-education, over the past few weeks I’ve been trying out my hand at the grill. I figured it’s the perfect time to learn, since the weather is nice and my friends are always hungry and ready to reap the benefits of my foodie experiments.Now, I’ve always thought of the grill as a kind of man machine. Which is why I usually stay far, far away. However, after taking a few notes from my mom I’ve realized that women can be just as good, if not better, grillers than men.
Last week I tackled the ultimate grill challenge: steaks. After quite a humorous conversation with the butcher about selecting the perfect piece of meat, I seasoned them down with Montreal steak seasoning and set to work. I must admit the smell of sizzling meat is quite intoxicating. About 4 minutes on each side and I had the perfect medium steaks. (I know the cool kids are eating their steak medium-rare, I’m just not ready for that yet.) These steaks were accompanied by some grilled red-skinned potatoes and blue cheese, and a grilled zucchini/squash salad.
Although my steaks were very delicious, I think they were outdone by the wine we chose to accompany them, Burly Cabernet Sauvignon Napa Valley 2004. If the name ‘Burly’ evokes in you images of big, hairy men, don’t be alarmed. The wine, although big and fairly masculine, is not hairy. It was rich, well-structured, with plenty of dark fruit flavors and subtle tannins. It paired perfectly with the meal, but was still the star of the show.
On Saturday the weather was a bit chill and overcast, so to liven up the mood I tried Hawaiian chicken. I let the chicken breast marinate all day in a Caribbean Jerk sauce. These were actually much easier, but took a bit longer on the grill than the steaks. I also drizzled some teriyaki sauce over pineapple slices and grilled these, too. Whether they were just being nice or not, my friends raved about this combo. For wine we did something simple, Black Box Chardonnay for the white drinkers and Coppola Director’s Cut Cabernet Sauvignon 2006. To me, Black Box is the best when it comes to simple, clean box wines. The Director’s Cut Cab is probably my favorite wine in the Coppolas series; it has a nice smokiness on the finish which went perfectly with the slight spiciness of the chicken.
Since these two grilling adventures were a success, I look forward to more great meals! Maybe it’s not such a man machine, after all.
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2 comments:
Keep asking my wife to do the grilling, but she refuses. She's a master in the kitchen, but won't touch the grill.
The Coppola Directors Cut Cab/Sauv is awesome. One of my fave CA wines.
Thank you for your fantastic comments about BURLY wine. I am the owner of BURLY Cabernet and appreciate these complimentary words.
Are you aware it received a 92 rating in the Wine Spectator and is on their list of "Top 100 California Cabernets"? It also recently won some Gold Medals at the Los Angeles Wine and Food Competition. Two of the Gold Medals were for "Best in it's Class" and "Best in Show". We are very proud of BURLY!
Where did you find the bottle you had for your cook out? I would like to thank the person who "put you on to" my Cabernet.
If you have any questions about where you might purchase BURLY or the history behind the wine, I would be more than happy to answer any and all questions.
Thank you again for the kind words. Hope to hear from you.
Hank BURLY Wines McCrorie Vineyard, LLC
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