Lynfred Meals and Wines

Sausage & Veggie Kabobs, served with a Lynfred Vin de City Red!

I’m in the middle of my much-needed vacation right now, so not too much to write…in fact it’s 4PM and I just woke up!   Now that’s a vacation.

These kabobs are really easy to prepare and make…a lot of chopping but that’s basically it.  The one issue I’d say we had was we used a grill pan instead of a grill so that kabobs, by virtue of their shape, were directly against the pan in spots and off the heat in others, so it took a lot longer to cook than it should have.  If you don’t grill them, try cooking the ingredients first then putting them on the skewers.

ITEMS!

! 4PM is early, tomorrow I’m going to try to extend it beyond that.

! Happy New Year everyone!!!  Have fun and stay safe!

Recipe from the Private Kitchen of Lynfred Chris Smith
Makes 6-8 servings

INGREDIENTS

2 smoked Polish sausage links, cut into 1-inch pieces
2 large green bell peppers, cut into 1-inch squares
1 large sweet red bell pepper, cut into 1-inch squares
2 medium onions, quartered and separated into sections
25 cremini mushrooms [ED.NOTE, these are just regular mushrooms], left whole and wiped clean with damp paper towel
1 bottle of your favorite garlic marinade

DIRECTIONS

1 - Place smoked Polish sausage pieces and all vegetable pieces in a non-metal container.

2 - Pour marinade sauce over contents, and mix thoroughly to coat. Let sit 30-50 minutes.

3 - Remove contents from marinade (reserving marinade for later).

4 - Thread sausage and vegetables alternately onto skewers; arrange as you like.

5 - Cook 15 to 20 minutes over medium-hot coals on a grill, turning to brown on all sides.

6 - Brush kebabs with reserved marinade.

7 - Once all sides are browned, arrange as you like onto a platter.

Please recommend Lynfred in the food directory.

Pistachio Crusted Pork Chops w/ Parsnip Puree, served with a Roussanne, Vintage 2009, Reserve!

Ok, this ALMOST broke into the top 20 but I’m waffling over getting rid of the Cheddar Broccoli Soup.  That said, this meal was fantastic.   Really, REALLY easy to make everything, and fast.  For the parsnip puree, think extremely smooth buttery mashed potatoes and you’ll know what you’re in for…it’s really great.

Also, as you can see by the last picture, dogs love it as well.

ITEMS!

1 - Parsnips, new food we’ve never tried!

2 - This recipe isn’t just for pork.   Try it with chicken and steak as well.  It’s good on pretty much everything.   Yes, chicken, steak, and pork is everything.

3 - Buy pistachios with the shells on to save money.  Only takes about 1.75 ounces of chopped and shelled to get to 1/2 cup.   Only takes about 15 minutes to shell them.

4 - Always serve pork chops with applesauce.

Please recommend us.

Recipe from the Private Kitchen of Lynfred Chris Smith
Makes 2 servings of the pork chops and lots of puree

INGREDIENTS

Pork Chops

2 count 4-6 oz. pork chops
salt and pepper, to taste
1/4 cup mustard
1/2 cup chopped pistachio nuts
1/2 cup fine breadcrumbs
1 tablespoon olive oil

Parsnip Puree

1 pound parsnips (3-4 pieces), peeled and chopped
salt and pepper, to taste
1 cup heavy cream
1 cup milk
few sprigs fresh thyme
1/2 stick butter, room temperature
2 to 4 cloves garlic, peeled
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese

DIRECTIONS

Pork Chops

1 - Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

2 - Season both sides of chops with salt and pepper.

3 - Sear both sides in a hot skillet.

4 - As chops are searing, combine chopped pistachios, breadcrumbs, and olive oil in a bowl. Mix thoroughly.

5 - Remove chops from the pan and spread mustard on one side.

6 - Dredge in pistachio mixture, and spread other side with mustard. Flip over and coat once again.

7 - Place on a sheet pan and bake in the oven for 8-10 minutes.

8 - Once baked, set aside and allow to rest.

Parsnip Puree

1 - Place peeled and chopped parsnips in a pot of boiling salted water, along with the garlic cloves.

2 - Turn down to a simmer, and cook until parsnips and garlic have softened to fork-tender.

3 - Drain and set aside, reserving some of the liquid.

4 - In a separate saucepan, bring heavy cream, milk, and thyme to a boil and cook to thicken.

5 - As this thickens up, place parsnips and garlic in a food processor with butter and a few tablespoons of the reserved cooking liquid.

6 - As the mixture processes, strain the heavy cream and thyme reduction.

7 - Slowly add to the parsnip puree until fully incorporated. Add the Parmesan cheese, and pulse to mix.

8 - Salt & pepper to taste.

Macaroni & Cheese with Bacon, served with a 2007 Cabernet Sauvignon!

As the name suggests, if you like macaroni and (lots of) cheese and bacon, you’re going to love this dish.

Along with starting a weekly Tuesday post and hopefully ramping up from there in October, I’ve really gotta start taking notes while we’re cooking the meals instead of trying to remember them afterwards.   Also, if you check out our actual page you’ll see our top 20 Favorite recipes.  Well, since I’m blanking in the overall impression section, if you’d like to recommend us, please do so here.

Coming today as well, wine history and info.

On to the items!

ITEMS!

1 - Make absolutely sure your bacon is nice and crispy before moving on.  And the thicker the bacon, the better.

2 - I personally thought there were too many bread crumbs in this recipe.   Next time I’m probably going to use about a half a cup less, maybe even more than that.  Ah forget it, cover it with bacon!

3 - As you can see from the pictures, this just baaaaarely fit our 16x9x2…so if you have one slightly bigger, I’d use that instead.

4 - There are many names for Fontina cheese, so look them up before shopping in case you can’t find something exactly named Fontina.  The taste of the Fontina right out of the packaging is very swiss cheesy, but adding the other ingredients and cooking brings the taste down quite a bit…so if you don’t like the taste of it right away, don’t worry.

Recipe from the Private Kitchen of Lynfred Chef Chris Smith
Makes many, many servings

INGREDIENTS

1 - 4 cups large elbow macaroni (about 11 ounces) - we used one medium box (see ingredients picture)
12 thick-cut bacon slices, diced
3 cups fresh coarse breadcrumbs made from French bread
1 cup (packed) finely grated Parmesan cheese
1/2 cup chopped fresh Italian parsley
2 garlic cloves, minced
3 tablespoons all purpose flour
6 cups whole milk
6 large egg yolks
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
3/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
3 1/2 cups (packed) grated Fontina cheese

DIRECTIONS

1 - Preheat oven to 350°F.

2 - Butter a 13x9x2-inch baking dish.

3 - Cook macaroni in heavy large pot of boiling salted water until just tender but still firm to bite. Drain. Rinse and drain again.

4 - Cook bacon in heavy large pot over medium heat until crisp, about 10 minutes.

5 - Transfer bacon and 1/4 cup pan drippings to large bowl.

6 - Add breadcrumbs, 1/4 cup Parmesan cheese and 1/4 cup parsley to bacon; toss to coat.

7 - Add minced garlic to remaining pan drippings in pot and sauté over medium heat until fragrant, about 30 seconds.

8 - Add flour and whisk 3 minutes.

9 - Gradually whisk in whole milk, then egg yolks, salt and pepper.  Cook until mixture thickens, whisking constantly, about 12 minutes.

10 - Add 2 cups Fontina cheese and remaining 3/4 cup Parmesan cheese; whisk until cheeses melt. Remove from heat.
11 - Mix in macaroni and remaining 1/4 cup parsley. Stir in remaining 1 1/2 cups Fontina.

12 - Transfer macaroni mixture to prepared dish. (Can be prepared 6 hours ahead).

13 - Cover macaroni and breadcrumb mixtures separately and refrigerate.

14 - Before continuing, bake refrigerated macaroni mixture, covered, at 350°F until just heated through; about 30 minutes.)

15 - Sprinkle breadcrumb mixture over macaroni mixture. Bake just until topping is golden, about 15 minutes.

16 - Let stand 15 minutes before serving. 

Texas-Style Ribs, served with Lynfred Vin de City Red and Strawberry Rhubarb!

In talking with my wife about this recipe, and you can believe this or not, I don’t think I’ve ever had ribs in my whole life!   That is very strange, but I’m pretty sure it’s true.  I don’t know if I thought they were always too messy, or there was always something else I wanted to order, but for whatever reason they’ve never been on my plate.

After tasting the sauce and rub in this recipe, that is a mistake that will never happen again.

There are a lot of ingredients, but they combine very well and each one can be tasted individually at the same time.  It’s actually kinda ridiculous how all these ingredients come together exactly right.

ITEMS!

- There were no measurements given for the rub, so it’ll turn out different and to taste every time.  Don’t worry about the exact measurments, throw the ingredients together based on the tastes that you like.

- The bbq sauce and rub in the recipe below are NOT just for ribs.  We’ve used it on baked chicken breast and hamburger already and it’s fantastic all around.  Go nuts!

- Molasses is in the syrup aisle.   I can’t believe how no matter how many recipes we do from Lynfred, there’s STILL things that show up that I have never bought in my life.

Coming soon - Mascarpone Petite Fours (yeah I don’t know what that means either, but from the recipe they seem like some kinda white chocolately and cheesecakey bites) and Pinot Grigio wine of the month information!

Also, please recommend Lynfred for the food directory if you so desire…

Recipe from Lynfred Winery Chefs Chris Smith and Joe Hetman
Makes 8 servings (at least)

INGREDIENTS

5 pounds baby back pork ribs, cut into 8 pieces of  5-6 ribs each

8 oz Chris & Joe’s barbecue rub:
    paprika
    Lawry’s seasoning salt
    cayenne pepper
    coarse black pepper
    onion powder
    granulated garlic
    brown sugar
    dried tarragon
    parsley
    cumin
    chili powder

4 cups Chris & Joe’s barbecue sauce:
    4 cups ketchup
    1/2 cup molasses
    1/2 cup bourbon
    1/4 cup brown mustard
    3 tablespoons hot pepper sauce
    2 tablespoons Worcestershire
    1 tablespoons smoked paprika
    1 teaspoon garlic powder
    1 teaspoon onion powder

DIRECTIONS

1 - To make the sauce, combine all ingredients and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to a medium-low simmer and let thicken for about 15-18 minutes.

2 - Preheat your oven to 300 degrees.

3 - Rinse ribs under cold water. Pat dry.

4 - Arrange ribs bone side up on 2 large baking sheets (cookie sheets work) with rims.

5 - Brush 1/4 cup sauce on each rib piece. Sprinkle each with 1 teaspoon of the rub.

6 - Turn the ribs over and repeat on the other side.

7 - Add 1/2 cup water to each pan; this ensures additional moisture.

8 - Bake the ribs meat side up for about 1 1/2 hours.

9 - Continue baking until the ribs are deep brown, every 30 minutes adding 1/2 cup of water and basting with the sauce, for about 1 1/2 hours more.

10 - Prepare your barbecue to medium-high heat, or preheat your oven’s broiler. Grill the ribs until lightly charred, about 2 minutes per side.

Grilled Pork Sausages w/ Spiced Figs, served with 2009 Chenin Blanc!

This is another one of those meals where you (and by you I mean me) read the ingredients and think “how is this going to taste?”   But it really did work out well.   The prep time on the fig sauce is quite awhile, so I’d highly suggest you make it the day before or allow yourself plenty of extra time (I’m talking 3 hours or so).

The fig sauce was great with the sweetness of the pork sausage, and we really enjoyed this.  As you can see though, the servings are probably a bit small for most people, so this would definitely be one of the starter courses in a larger meal or should be served with some kinda base.  To which I always say “rice”.   Anywho it’s a cheap meal, and it’s really good.  Check it out!

Also, it says below that you should put one-half sausage per plate, but as you can see from the pictures we really cut the sausages in half but left the two halves attached and served the entire sausage.

Go Hawks!

Recipe from the Private Kitchen of Lynfred Chef Chris Smith
Makes as many servings as sausages you cook

INGREDIENTS

2 cups red wine vinegar
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 1/2 cups (packed) dried black Mission figs (about 11 ounces)
1 cinnamon stick
12 whole cloves
2 teaspoons water
1 teaspoon cornstarch
5 sweet Italian link pork sausages (about 1 pound)

DIRECTIONS

DO AHEAD: Fig sauce can be made 1 day ahead. Cover and chill.  Before serving,  heat up sauce again as it will have hardened.

Fig Sauce:

1 - Stir first 5 ingredients in heavy medium saucepan. Let stand 30 minutes.

2 - Stir over low heat until sugar dissolves.

3 - Bring to boil; reduce heat to medium-low and simmer until figs are softened and vinegar is slightly syrupy, about 45 minutes.

4 - Mix water and cornstarch in small bowl; stir into fig mixture.

5 - Boil and stir to thicken slightly, about 1 minute. Let stand 1 hour.

Sausages:

1 - Prepare barbecue-or grill pan if cooking indoors- (medium heat).

2 - Grill sausages until browned and cooked through, turning frequently, about 15 minutes. Remove from grill.

3 - Holding sausage with tongs, cut in half lengthwise. Repeat with remaining sausages.

4 - Grill sausages, cut side down, until browned, about 3 minutes.

Serving:

1 - Place 1 sausage half on each plate. Divide figs among plates, about 3 per serving. Drizzle sauce over and serve.

Also, if you’d like, please recommend us.

Wine info coming soon.

Chickpeas and Chorizo, served with a 2007 Merlot!

Not only is chorizo one of the greasiest sausages I know about, it’s also one of my favorites.  I know there’s lots of different kinds, but whatever one I can get at my local supermarket is the one I’m talking about.

This meal would be perfect to whip up for a barbecue, laid out with some crusty bread - we used french loaves.  It’s definitely going to go into our regular barbecue spread.   It was one of the cheaper meals we’ve done, and between prep and cook time it was ready to go in about 15-20 minutes.   And of course the taste was fantastic.   We weren’t sure how the chickpeas would be since the only cooking they get is from the chorizo heat.  However, the consistency of the slightly cooked chickpeas and the chorizo matched really well.  If you cooked them thorougly, the whole dish would be really mushy and probably wouldn’t taste as good.

A+ on this one!

PS - if you’d like to recommend Lynfred in the Tumblr food directory, please visit here, and thanks!

Wine info coming next…

Recipe from the Private Kitchen of Lynfred Chef Chris Smith
Makes many servings

INGREDIENTS

9oz chorizo sausage, in one whole piece, outer casing removed
4T Spanish olive oil
1 Spanish onion, finely chopped
1 large garlic clove, crushed
14oz canned chickpeas, drained and rinsed
6oz roasted sweet red bell pepper, patted dry and sliced
1T (or to taste) sherry vinegar
salt and pepper
finely chopped fresh parsley, to garnish
crusty bread slices, to serve

DIRECTIONS

1 - Cut the chorizo into 1/2-inch dice.

2 - Heat the oil in a heavy-bottom skillet over medium heat, and add the garlic and onion.

3 - Cook, stirring occasionally, until the onion is softened but not browned.

4 - Stir in the chorizo and cook until heated through.

5 - Spoon the mixture into a bowl, and stir in the chickpeas and roasted red bell pepper.

6 - Splash with sherry vinegar and season to taste with salt and pepper.

7 - Finish with a generous sprinkling of parsley.

8 - Serve hot, or at room temperature, alongside plenty of crusty bread.

Braised Short Ribs, served with a Lynfred Pinot Grigio Reserve 2008!

I’m trying a couple of new things starting with this post.   The recipes we use are from Lynfred Winery and do come with a wine as everybody knows.   We’re given a lot of information on the wines but I haven’t been posting it.  I’m going to start posting it, as a different post to avoid things getting too lengthy.  Also, we listen to a CD while we’re making the meals.  I’m going to post what happened to be playing during the making of each meal because it does really set a tone for when we’re cooking that particular meal.   Cheesy, who cares?

So without further ado:

It’s interesting to me how when you read a lot of recipes, you’re not sure how it’s going to work (even after following each step).  Such was the case with this recipe.  Wasn’t sure how it was going to turn out before we laid the meat on the veggies - it didn’t seem like there was enough - but it all turned out well.

Some notes to consider, as the meat turned out a bit dry for us (but was still very flavorful):

1 - Cut the meat into smaller pieces than you see here.

2 - Turn/baste the meat more often.  We did it about every 20 minutes and that was way too long.  Every 5 to 10 minutes would’ve been better.  Make sure the meat is sitting IN the sauce and not ON TOP of the sauce.  If necessary, add more beef stock.

Recipe from the Private Kitchen of Lynfred Chef Chris Smith
Makes 4-6 servings
Listen: “Mean Everything To Nothing” by Manchester Orchestra

INGREDIENTS

12 short ribs - boneless - 4 to 5 oz. each
1 onion, peeled, medium cut
2 carrots, scrubbed, medium cut
2 stalks celery, cleaned, medium cut
½ cup vegetable oil
½ teaspoon sweet basil
¼ teaspoon sage
¼ teaspoon thyme
Flour, for dusting ribs
Beef stock
1 - 14 oz. can tomatoes, chopped

DIRECTIONS

1 - Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

2 - Place onion, carrots and celery in lightly greased roasting pan.

3 - Place short ribs on top.

4 - Pour ¼ cup oil evenly over all and sprinkle combined spices as evenly as possible on top.

5 - Brown in preheated 400 degree oven, turning as necessary. Do not let vegetables burn.

6 - When nicely browned, add remainder of oil and dust with flour, blending well.

7 - Cook for 5-10 minutes.

8 - Add beef stock, stirring to mix well until slightly thickened.

9 - Add chopped tomatoes and blend.

10 - Cover, return to oven and cook 1 to 1 ½ hours or until tender, turning meat occasionally (again every 5 to 10 minutes, 20 minutes is too long).

11 - When ribs are cooked, remove to clean pan and strain sauce. Adjust seasoning and thickening.

12 - Remove excess grease. Pour sauce over ribs.

13 - Hold until ready to serve in a warm place, but do not continue to cook.

14 - When serving, serve 2-4 ounces of ribs with 5 ounces of sauce. A fresh vegetable garnish may be used.

15 - Serve with boiled new potatoes or fresh mashed potatoes.

Shepherd’s Pie, served with Lynfred’s Oktoberfest wine!

I’ve never had Shepherd’s Pie before, and this did not disappoint.  It’s the perfect meal for a cold evening.   While this wasn’t the hardest meal we’ve ever prepared, the Shepherd’s pie was very involved…there are lots of steps to follow, so allow an hour or a little more for preparation, and don’t feel overwhelmed by how big the recipe is…it’s really not too bad once you get down into it and it’s really worth it.

We actually cooked this meal awhile ago so I can’t remember impressions (usually I type out these posts within a day so I don’t forget…maybe I should start writing them down).   The only thing I do remember is that if you have a big enough pan, feel free to use more cheesy potatoes.  We used 1.5 pounds per the recipe, and it was really good, but the top layer of potatoes was pretty thin, so we had some bubbling up of the filling (as you can see in the closeup) even though we tried to form a good seal around the edges.  More potatoes would have probably helped.

Here’s just a couple of other things:

-rather than buying shredded pork, we bought some pork sirloin cuts and chopped them up.

-Boursin.  Cheese.  RULES.   Get some!  The Garlic Herb kind though, not the pepper one.  We used the whole wheel rather than half for the potatoes.  I would’ve used even more.

And that’s about it.  Try this one out!   We ate it between the both of us in just two meals (it re-heats very well)!

Makes 8 servings
Recipe from the Private Kitchen of Lynfred Chef Joe Hetman

INGREDIENTS

For Mashed Potatoes

1 1/2 pounds russet potatoes
1/2 cup half and half
2 ounces butter
3/4 teaspoon kosher salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 egg yolk
1/2 round of Boursin cheese

For the Meat Filling

2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 cup chopped onion
2 carrots, peeled and diced small
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 1/2 pounds cooked, chopped pork
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons tomato paste
1 cup chicken broth
1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
2 teaspoons freshly chopped rosemary leaves
1 teaspoon freshly chopped thyme leaves
1/2 cup frozen corn kernels
1/2 cup frozen green peas

DIRECTIONS

1 - Peel the potatoes and cut into 1/2-inch dice.

2 - Place in a medium sauce pan and cover with cold water.  Set over high heat, cover and bring to a boil.

3 - Once boiling, uncover, decrease the heat to maintain a simmer and cook until tender and easily crushed with tongs (approximately 10 to 15 minutes).

4 - Place the half and half, butter and Boursin cheese in a sauce pan and heat until warmed through, about 2 to 3 minutes.

5 - Drain the potatoes in a colander and then return to the saucepan.

6 - Mash the potatoes and then add the half and half, Boursin and butter.

7 - Season with salt and pepper and continue to mash until smooth.

8 - Stir in the yolk until well combined.

9 - Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.

10 - While potatoes are cooking, prepare the filling:  place the vegetable oil into a 12-inch sauté pan and set over medium-high heat.

11 - Once the oil shimmers, add the onion and carrots and sauté just until they begin to take on color, approximately 3 to 4 minutes. 

12 - Add the garlic and stir to combine. 

13 - Add the pork, salt and pepper and cook until browned and cooked through, approximately 3 minutes. 

14 - Sprinkle the meat with the flour and toss to coat.  Continue to cook for another minute. 

15 - Add the tomato paste, chicken broth, Worcestershire, rosemary, thyme and stir to combine. 

16 - Bring to a boil, reduce the heat to low, cover and simmer slowly for 10 to 12 minutes or until the sauce is thickened slightly.

17 - Add the corn and peas to the pork mixture and spread evenly into an 11 by 7-inch glass baking dish. 

18 - Top with Boursin mashed potatoes, starting around the edges to create a seal to prevent the mixture from bubbling up and smooth with a rubber spatula. 

19 - Place on a half sheet pan on the middle rack of the oven and bake for 25 minutes or just until the potatoes begin to brown.

20 - Remove and allow to cool for about 10 minutes before serving.

Miniature Cuban Sandwiches, served with a 2006 Cabernet Sauvignon!

I was already a big fan of Cuban sandwiches, so I was pretty excited about making the miniature version.

One could make tons of these pretty quickly for a party, or just make a few for a snack. And they taste fantastic with the wine.  Great food for a lazy summer day.

Makes 12 mini-sandwiches.  For more, get more ingredients.
Recipe from Lynfred Chef Joe Hetman

INGREDIENTS

12 count bakery fresh rolls, sliced
3/4 lb thinly sliced parma ham (any ham will do)
3/4 lb sliced roasted pork
12 slices of chihuahua cheese
1 head fresh curly endive (lettuce or green onions will do)
1 jar country butter pickles (sandwich slices work well)
1/2 cup equal parts yellow mustard and mayo mix

DIRECTIONS

1 - Preheat oven to 350.

2 - Spread mustard/mayo mix on either side of rolls.

3 - Layer pickles, ham, endive, pork, and cheese however you want on each roll.

4 - Place on a sheet pan and heat through until cheese is melted (about 15 to 20 minutes).

5 - Serve warm (they are also good served cold).