Perfect Pairings: Oysters & Sauvignon Blanc

Oysters are one of my favorite delicacies.  They are one of those amazing foods that feel both simple and luxurious at the same time and are an exciting treat on the beach or in a sophisticated restaurant.  I love nestling up to the bar at Balthazar for a few freshly shucked oysters and a glass of wine, but even more, I love sucking my own at home with a few bottles of wine. 

Brancott Estate made my dreams come true when they sent me a case of their Sauvignon Blanc and an oyster shucking kit complete with level 5 cut-resistant gloves and a shucking knife.  Included was a bottle of their classic Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc, The Letter Series 'B' Sauvignon Blanc, and the Flight Song Sauvignon Blanc. 

Needless to say, I immediately went to the store and picked up 18 oysters and my oyster party was born. 

I love briny oysters, so I picked up the briniest they had: 6 Barron Point, 6 Barcats, and 6 Kumamotos.  I made my own Mignonette Sauce with red wine vinegar, shallots, and freshly cracked pepper, and served it along side these beautiful bivalves. 

I opened the three bottles of wine, and served a glass of each for everyone, and we dug in.  First of all, Sauvignon Blanc and oysters is a perfect pairing with oysters, and are especially delicious with briny oysters.  I've never done a mix and match pairing with three different wines and different styles of oysters, but I loved it, and so did my guests. 

It was really interesting how the flavors of each oyster changed with each wine, and how each oyster kind of naturally gravitated towards its best wine pairing.  I really loved the Barcats with the Flight Song, and the Barron Points with the Letter Series, and the flagship Sauvignon Blanc with...everything.

Although I styled this shoot inside, I recommend shucking outside where spills and flying oyster shells won't be an issue.  Do yourself a favor and pick up those level 5 protective gloves and some dedicated dishtowels; those oyster knives are sharp, slip easily, and no one wants to lose a thumb. 

There are still a few months left to summer, which means lots of time to have your own Oyster & Sauvignon party.  I think I have a new summertime tradition in the making, this party may need to become an annual celebration! 

Cheers!

Tasting Notes:

Brancott Estate Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc:  The Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc is the flagship wine of Brancott Estate, and is an exquisite Sauvignon Blanc.  This wine is sweet and crisp with flavors of grapefruit, citrus, pear, tropical fruit, with a slight vegetal note and an underlying saltiness (my favorite).  You can never go wrong with this wine.  Never.

Brancott Estate Letter Series 'B' Sauvignon Blanc:  The Letter Series 'B' is a great Sauvignon Blanc for Chardonnay lovers.  It is a bit more round on the palate due to its time on oak, yet has bright flavors of grapefruit, guava, passion fruit, white peaches, and a crisp vegetal note signature to all Brancott Estate Sauvignon Blancs.   

Brancott Estate Flight Song Sauvignon Blanc:  The Flight Song is the lightest of the three wines, in both alcohol level and calories.  It is light and crisp with flavors of grapefruit, lemon, and tropical fruit with nice minerality.  I'm such a big fan of this wine - a glass of cold Flight Song is perfection on a hot summer day. 

Mignonette Sauce

1/2 cup red wine vinegar
1/4 cup minced shallots (I like them roughly chopped, but that's just me)
1/4 t ground pepper

Mix in a bowl and serve with freshly shucked oysters.

Styling Notes:

Silver Oyster Forks - Vintage
Silver & Glass Pitcher - Vintage
Silver Trays - Vintage
Bottle Opener - Viski
Gold Coasters - Ikea
Glasses: Riedel

Empire Oyster - A Hedonistic Oyster Feast

Last weekend I was invited to the Empire Oyster event at the Maritime Hotel - a hedonistic feast of all you can eat oysters for New York’s Oyster Week.  The event was hosted by Thrillist, and featured restaurants such as the BLT Fish Shack, The Blue Water Grill, Crave Fishbar, Soju Haus, The Liberty NYC, and The Monarch Room.

A Day in the Life of a Bonacker…. Or Clamming Next to One…

Bonacker: the name for a native people of the Springs Area of East Hampton, New York.

One might be familiar with the Springs as the home to influential American painters, Jackson Pollack and Willem de Kooning, but the root of the community as home to baymen, fishermen, and farmers go way back some hundreds of years…or so this story begins…

Set to meet my clamming partner at daybreak…errr, 9am (it was a Sunday, give me a break, a girl needs her beauty rest), I made it out to the waters a little after 10am. Not fully awake, wading waist-high through Gardiners Bay, off of Three Mile Harbor, jolted me back to life. Al Lester welcomes me (aka Albie, aka Swampa is a true Bonacker, as well as a craftsman, contractor, jokester, and a real deal swamp man) and has gotten a head start.

He has jerry-rigged a rake attached to a belt, attached to a basket, combing the bay floor for clams and dropping them into another cleverly jerry-rigged basket that sits in hole of a cut out boogie board, keeping the clams cool in the water. As a commercial clammer, he has a order to fill of 800 clams for his family’s farm stand, Round Swamp, which also has incredible pesto pasta salad among other homemade prepared dishes.  By the afternoon and he makes it seem more like meditation than work.

Heading Out

Keepin the Clams Cool

Not so fast, all you eager clammers out there, everyone digging needs to be a local and licensed (read: pay taxes). However, with new rules, resident license holders can bring a guest (Thanks, Mom!). Also in the rules, each person cannot exceed more than 100 clams per person, but, that’s getting ahead of ourselves.

A few tips and how-to’s:

 -   Hold the rake with one hand and with light pressure
 -   A slight bump in the seafloor will indicate a buried clam
 -   Dig by moving the rake back over the bump and scratch the surface back and forth to wiggle the little guy free
 -   Pull the rake directly up towards you and gauge your findings


After a few pulls resulting in only some rocks and barnacles, I felt something suctioning to the bay floor. With a slight tug-of-war, I pried the little sucker free. A buried treasure, an Easter egg of the sea,  I found a clam!

Before chucking him into your basket, as we were told,  measure him against the gauge and toss any that are under size back to the bay. Next summer they will be prime for the plucking.

Al offered some other boy scout tips and tricks of the trade: if you stumble upon a “hot spot” of clams your first expert move is to “take a range” (unsure if that is a nautical or a Bonaker original term). From where you are standing in the water, line up two points on the shore with another two points at another angle of the shore. The intersecting point is where you stand (Consider this post a modern day topography class) and, in other words, a clam haven. Another power move is to rake 360 degrees from that point. As we know from social situations, friends like to hang out in groups, same goes for clams.

This Girl Found a Hot Spot!

Through the midday sun, I was equally worked on my Bonaker’s tan, filling up my basket with bounty and finding more peace than my yoga practice. Chatting with other clammers, you start to feel as if you are inducted into a community. Everyone chats with Al, as he is THE guy and nothing short of famous in these parts. Let’s just say if there was a clam club, he would be VIP (No euphemisms here). Al even regulates the area, quelling drama on the seas when a group of Long Island guys with heavy inflections when they had come back for another round after poaching their allotted amount. A jocular teacher even called out to me for “cheating” when I substituted the rake for my hands to pry a clam loose. Even the novice over here gets her chops busted.

Boat Full of Bounty

Over four hours traipsing and traversing the waters, I gathered a basket full of little necks, cherrystones, chowders, and even a random oysters! 

Here’s a rundown of the different types of clams:

Little Necks: The smallest of the clams. Great eaten raw or placed directly on the grill for a few minutes until they open and served with lemon and garlic
Cherrystone: The midsize guys. Best in Italian dishes like baked clams or linguine a la vongole.
Chowders: The big suckers. Perfect for cooking in dishes like the aptly named clam chowder soup and the Hampton’s Classic, Clam Pie.

With pruned, water-logged fingers and an upper body workout to rival that of any yoga class, I drag my bounty ashore. A day as a true Bonaker, or next to one, I enjoy the fruits of sustainability and the peace of the waters. Until Fall’s scallop season, Om Shreem Maha Lakshmiyei Namah.

Traditional to the East End of Long Island is the Clam Pie also know as a Bonac Clam Pie. Here is a recipe adapted from my Mom’s clam pie. Her words, “a little of this, a little of that, just go by feeling”.  Thanks again, Mom!

East Hampton Clam Pie recipe by my Mom

Pie Crust. An easy way to cheat is to store-buy your pie crust.  And I’m into the idea of cheating, especially after a full day of clamming. If you are feeling ambitious, follow your favorite pie crust recipe, but there’s no need to pre-bake the crust.

Mom's Clam Pie!

Pie Filling

3 C. of Shucked Clams, about 18-20 Clams 
1/4 C. Clam Broth (Clam Juice from Clams)
3 Small Red Potatoes
1 Onion
2 Stalks of Celery
6 Bacon Strips
1/4  Tsp. Oregano
2 Tsp. Flour
1/4 C. Cream


Preparation

Rinse clams well under cold water.
Steam clams open and reserve clam broth to add to mixture
Cut the potatoes, celery, and onions and the clams in bite size pieces.
Saute vegetables in clam broth, and once cooked, add the clams, bacon, cream, flour, broth, and oregano (and any other of your favorite spices). 
Once cooked, transfer filling into pie crust
Bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes

xx Erica Schwartzberg

FTF - Oyster Vision

Foodie Twitpic Friday - Oyster Vision!

We're smitten with this twitpic from Proenza Schouler's Jack and Lazaro with Yoko Ono.

 ...and now we're craving a deep dozen of Blue Points...

A Night Out - Oysters & Absinthe - Brooklyn

Not long ago we visited the new Brooklyn spot Maison Premiere for a hit of Oysters and Absinthe.  We normally will choose champagne to pair with our Oysters (really, what else does a girl need in the world?), but we welcome the change for a  proper Absinthe drip. 

Image via Urban Daddy

Lets chat for a second about  the drip.  The center piece of the epic horseshoe bar is a green marble obelisk that slowly drips cold water over sugar to sweeten the absinthe that is a replica of a drip from the Olde Absinthe House in New Orleans. (More on the obelisk here.)  Cold water drips over a cube of sugar that is placed on an absinthe spoon and slowly dissolves the sugar into the Absinthe.  When the water to Absinthe ratio hits a certain point, the oils that are dissolved during distillation are emulsified, creating a creamy or cloudy effect, known as louche. 

More serving instructions can be found at The Wormwood Society.

Ye Olde Absinthe House

Maison Premiere has an impressive list of Absinthe varieties, new territory for this Gastro Girl, but it is good to know there is a place to go where one can learn.  One is inspired to try every type of oyster and every type of Absinthe to up one's connoisseurship as quickly as possible (read, we'll be back Maison Premiere).

We chose the Frappé and ate the St Simon, Nootka Sound, Faloy Bay, Stellar Bay, and the Goosepoint varieties.  All were delicious and briny, just how we like them.  We were surprised how the Absinthe complimented the Oysters; the Anise, the combination of sweet and salty.  Divine, we say.

Maison Premiere
298 Bedford Avenue
Brooklyn, NY 11211
347-335-0446



If you're craving an Absinthe cocktail and aren't within a stone's throw of Brooklyn or New Orleans, we've included a recipe from the 1930 Savoy Cocktail Book:


Absinthe Frappé

2/3 Absinthe
1/6 Syrup of Anisette
Double quantity of water

Shake up long enough until the outside of the shaker is thoroughly covered with ice. Strain into a small tumbler.

Let's Bring Back: Eccentrics & Fabulous Fêtes

Some people have the amazing ability to change the world dramatically. These people define our world - and everything we accept to be reality.

Ms. Peggy Guggenheim was one of those characters - the one woman who defined the American art scene in the 1930's and 1940's. Peggy Guggenheim was a wealthy heiress who started the Art of This Century Gallery (1942 - 1947), which featured work from international artists such as Calder, Dali, Arp, Breton, Braque, Chagall, Chirioo, Kandinsky, Klee, Ernst, Pollock, and Duchamp to name drop a few. Her gallery featured the work of contemporary Surrealists, the Dadaists, Abstract Expressionists, Futurists, Kinetic Sculpturist, as well as up-and-coming American artists. Ms. Guggenheim was an original bon vivant, an influential woman of outrageous style and taste, and a powerful philanthropist.

Ms. Peggy Guggenheim

What a better person to channel than Ms. Guggenheim for a celebration of a book that is a call to revive the lost arts of our culture, Ms. Lesley M.M. Blume's Let's Bring Back: An Encyclopedia of Forgotten-Yet-Delightful, Chic, Useful, Curious, and Otherwise Commendable Things from Times Gone By?

To launch the book Miss Blume, along with the hostesses of The Society threw a lavish fête on Thursday, and yours truly, the Gastronomista Girls were in attendance. The party was catered by our friend and frequent collaborator, the ever-talented Jennifer Lynn Pelka (whose gold-dusted chocolate delights you might remember) who served up quite an extraordinary menu of foods inspired by the artists of Peggy Guggenheim's early collections.

Ms. Blume, Bringin' it Back

The fashions of the evening were to be 1940's inspired - although many guests came sporting other Modern Art inspirations - from Surrealism to the Dadaists (we were hoping to see a fashionista inspired Le Violin de Ingres by Man Ray - but alas).

A few we appreciated:

Let's Bring Back: Dapper Gents

Let's Bring Back: Poetry in the Salon

Let's Bring Back: The Ladies of The Society

Let's Bring Back: Warm Sweaters and Killer Color Combinations

Let's Bring Back: Chainmail

Lisa Salzer wore 40 pounds of metal - and made it look light...

Is it a shoe - or an Ice Cream Cone?

We will go with the latter.

Servers wore Magritte Inspired Bowlers

Photos by the Billy Farrell Agency.

Zacapa Rum put together killer concoctions for the night - there was a punch bowl of Pickford Punch, Zacapa served neat, and (our favorite) the Zacapa Rum Manhattan. We traditionally like our Manhattans with Bourbon (Old Man Emerson likes his Atomic), but we are now obsessed with the Rum reinvention of the Classic.

You know what they say...

Birds of a Feather..Flock Together

Photo by the Billy Farrell Agency.

Zacapa Manhattan

2 oz Zacapa 23 Rum
¾ oz Sweet Vermouth
3 dashes Orange Bitters

Stir with large ice cubes until well-chilled, strain, and garnish with an orange twist.

Delicious. Bottom's up!

Zacapa Neat.

We simply must spend a few minutes on the curious delicacies that were served - with inspiration from Peggy Guggenheim herself and the Futurist Cookbook, each course with its own back-story. Pelka served hand-held vintage-feeling Waldorf salads (honoring the institution where Peggy and her artsy friends spent many of their nights), "Drunken Liver" (since Peggy Guggenheim claimed she was drunk for five straight years), and delicious hazelnut butter cookies in the shape of the pipe in Magritte's iconic "C'eci nest pa une pipe" painting.

Click Me for a Bigger, and Therefore Better View

Here are a few of our favorite shots from the night:

Cape and New Brunswick Oysters with Champagne Mignonette

The first bite from the last night on the Titanic, when her father died.

Photo by the Billy Farrell Agency.

Our favorite: a Calder Meat MobileEveryone was invited to take a bite.

Photos by the Billy Farrell Agency.

"Totalrice"

Arancini balls building on the blasphemous Futurist idea of making

Risotto with beer, rather than wine.

Photo by the Billy Farrell Agency.

Noses!

Italian Breasts in the Sunshine

Based on a classic Futurist recipe, Almond cakes with raspberry nipples

&

A Piece of A Pollock

Pelka presented Ms. Blume with an edible version of Jackson Pollock's dripped paintings: dark chocolate brownies with dripped white chocolate and salted caramel. Guests were invited to hack off their own piece and chow down.

Referencing Dali, a Surrealist-inspired graveyard of melting candy

Candy Handmade by Pappabubble

The Hostess with The Mostest...

 

These Two Gastronomista Birds had a Grand Old Time.

Oystering

Oystering

by Richard Howard

“Messieurs, l’huitre étoit bonne. Adieu. Vivez en paix.”
—Boileau



Secret they are, sealed, annealed, and brainless   

And solitary as Dickens said, but   

They have something to say: that there is more   

Than one way to yield. The first—and the hardest.   

The most nearly hindered—is when you pull   

Them off the rocks, a stinking, sawing sedge   

Sucking them back under the black mud, full   

Of hermit crabs and their borrowed snailshells,   

Minnows scattering like superstitions,   

The surf dragging, and every power   

Life permits them holding out, holding on   

For dear life. Sometimes the stones give way first.   

Before they will, but still we gather them,   

Even if our hands are bloody as meat,   

For a lunch Queen Victoria preferred:   

“A barrel of Wellfleet oysters, points down”   

Could last across the ocean, all the way   

To Windsor, wakening a widow’s taste.   

We ate them this afternoon, out of their   

Armor that was formidably grooved, though   

It proved our own reversal wiser still:   

Keep the bones and stones inside, or never

Leave the sea. “He was a brave man,” Swift said,   

“Who first eat one.” Even now, precedent   

Of centuries is not always enough.

Driving the knife into muscles that mould   

The valves so close to being impartial.   

Surrender, when it comes—and it must come:   

Lavish after that first grudging release   

Back there in the sea, the giving over   

Of despair, this time—makes me speculate.   

Like Oscar and oysters, I feel “always   

Slightly immortal when in the sea”: what   

Happens now we are out? Is the risk worth   

While for a potential pearl? No, what we’re   

Really after is the moment of release,   

The turn and tear of the blade that tightens,   

Tortures, ultimately tells. When you spread

The shells, something always sticks to the wrong   

One, and a few drops of liquor dribble   

Into the sand. Scrape it off: in the full   

Half, as well as a Fautrier, a Zen

Garden, and the smell of herring brine that   

Ferenczi said we remember from the womb,   

Lunch is served, in shiny stoneware sockets,   

Blue milk in the sea’s filthiest cup. More   

Easily an emblem for the inner man

Than dinner, sundered, for the stomach. We   

Take them queasily, wonder as we gulp

When it is—then, now, tomorrow—they’re dead.

Via The Poetry Foundation

Resolve.

Over half of New Year's Resolutions hold up for approximately 3 months, 71% make it to 2 weeks. That's pretty grim, people. We've heard the tips: set realistic, personal resolutions and write them down...but somehow we don't think it will help much. Enter Monina Velarde, who has designed a charming website that makes 2010 seem to be the year when we can accomplish anything.