What's Pressoir Cooking?

December 16, 2020
by Justine Puaud

Italian feast!

Last weekend, we had a Christmas dinner with my wine loving friends. We love to pick a theme and this time we decided to head to Italy! We cooked for about 4 hours in my friend’s tiny kitchen and prepared wonderful dishes.

The menu:

Aperitif : Focaccia with burrata and French porcini mushrooms

Appetizer: Homemade ravioli filled with ricotta and parmesan, grated black truffle

Main course: Osso Buco with Milanese Risotto and Gremolata

Cheese (you know I’m French…)

Dessert: Traditional Tiramisu

For those who don’t know, gremolata is a green sauce made of chopped parsley, lemon zest, and garlic. It is the standard accompaniment to the Milanese braised veal shank dish ossobuco alla milanese. We changed the recipe a little bit and added some olive oil. It was my first time with gremolata and I have to say it really balanced the dish and brought a lot of freshness without adding too much acidity.

For the Osso Buco, we used Chef Ludo Lefebvre’s recipe. If you get big veal shanks like we did, I recommend that you cook the dish for 3 hours and not 2 hours.

We paired this traditional Milanese dish with a Ronchi di Cialla 1996 wine made with 100% Schioppettino, an indigenous grape variety located in the region of Friuli-Venezia Giulia. It was superb! There was an elegant bouquet of spicy notes mixed with soft fruit aromas. The 1996 vintage was a good year in the Cialla area, perhaps slightly warmer and drier than usual.

What's Pressoir Cooking? Coq au Vin

November 11, 2020

By Jaime Dutton with guest chef Tony Warnke

As we amble into fall, its time to pull out the Dutch ovens and make warming stews and one pot meals. Over the weekend I visited a good friend in the Hudson Valley for a fall getaway. It was such a treat on so many levels to take a little space and breather in the beautiful countryside.

I had the fun job as sous chef to my friend Tony and we prepared a take on Julia Child’s Coq au Vin. Following his directions, I chopped onions and garlic, peeled carrots and cleaned and sliced mushrooms. We picked herbs from his garden and chatted over the bottle of Vacheron Sancerre that we opened during the At Home Session with Jean Laurent Vacheron.

We started cooking around 12pm and placed the lid on the Dutch oven around 3pm when we popped it in a low 250 degree oven where it stewed until we ate dinner around 7pm. Tony accompanied the meal with mashed potatoes and a fresh green salad.

We were spoiled with fantastic wines that Daniel brought and great company. Lots of laughs were shared as we heard Julia chuckling in the background while we cleaned up the mess.

We pretty much followed this recipe from PBS to a t with just a few additions - a bunch of fresh carrots in the end when we put it in the oven and tons of fresh herbs. In addition to the rosemary, we added fresh thyme and oregano.

Bon Appétit!