Blue Berries Season... Ohh the Possiblities

For about a month each year blue berries are in season in the Finger Lakes. From about Mid July through Mid August there are many places that offer you the opportunity to pick your own blueberries! As far as picking your own fruit this is one of the easier prospects especially when compared to strawberries or raspberries.

In a relatively short period of time you can harvest enough blueberries to last you through the year. They freeze extremely well and afford themselves to an unlimited variety of recipes.

When compared to the usual grocery store variety shipped in from some far of place fresh picked Finger Lakes blue berries are incomparable. If generally you find that you don’t prefer the bland grocery store variety don’t write them off entirely until you try these. I find that these berries have a much thinner skin, less tartness and more sweetness!

We visited the beautiful Sugar Shack Blueberry Farm at 824 E. Swamp Road in Penn Yan. We harvested about 8lbs of blueberries that we subsequently washed and divided into 1 ½ cup increments as this is the amount required for my favorite blueberry muffins. It is always easier to freeze things in smaller increments when it comes time to adapting to different recipes.

Blueberries can be used in a variety of recipes including muffins, cakes, pies, pancakes, cobbler, parfaits and smoothies just to name a few.

So I hope that I have motivated you to take a half hour out of your day to enjoy the wonderful bounty of the Finger Lakes throughout the year.

McGregor Unoaked Chardonnay

I recently tasted the McGregor Unoaked Chardonnay 2006. This style is becoming more popular throughout the Finger Lakes as vintners are becoming more apt at dealing with what could be very high acidity in their wines. Many still employ tons of new oak and malolatic fermentation to grapple with the high amount of acidity. Many times producing bland buttery tasting chardonnays. I personally prefer the unoaked style as it allows the fruit to shine through and the after taste to be much crisper.

This chardonnay is very unique in the nose with pronounced hints of lime, pear and apple that almost lead you to believe that this is a Sauvignon Blanc from the Loire Valley as apposed to a New Zealand Sauvingon Blanc which are generally much more grassy in the nose as apposed to herbal. The unusually cool weather of 2006 I’m sure had something to do with this. None the less the nose is very attractive. The taste takes a few sips to develop into a very pronounced lemon and sour apple. The body I would say is just about medium leaving you with a very crisp dry finish of building honey dew. Like many of the 06’s I feel that it is the clean mineralilty that carries this wine forward. Over all this wine is quite unique but unquestionably delicious and refreshing.

I paired this wine with fresh fettucini served with a grape tomato sauce and sautéed mushrooms. The acidity and sweetness of the grape tomatoes lent itself well with this Finger Lakes Chardonnay.


Fettuccini w/ Grape Tomatoes Sauce and Sautéed Mushrooms

Fettuccini:
-2 cups King Arthur all purpose flour
-1 cup semolina flour
-3 eggs (Finger Lakes)
-1 tsp kosher salt
-2 tsp olive oil
-2 tbsp water
Note: First I would like to point out that I like to use King Arthur flour when making pasta. For almost every other recipe I use Gold Medal flour but I feel the King Arthur flour give the pasta a much better texture and is worth the extra money.
-Whisk both flours together and turn out onto a clean work surface
-Whisk together the eggs, olive oil, kosher salt and water
-With the flour make a depression in the center with your fist
-With a fork slowly work the egg mixture into the flour (this should take about 10 minutes)
-Once combined knead the dough until it becomes smooth in text
-Allow to rest for a half hour wrapped in plastic wrap to allow the flour to absorb the moisture
-Cut of a small portion of the dough and run it through a pasta machine folding it in half several times and run it through the largest setting 3-4 times. This will knead the dough further resulting in a very smooth textured pasta.
-Run the dough through the machine reducing the size until you reach the second to thinnest setting.
-Allow to dry for 20-30 minutes and then pass it through the fettuccini attachment of the pasta machine.

Grape Tomato Sauce:
-1 pint of grape tomatoes (Finger Lakes)
-2 tbsp olive oil
- Fresh pepper
-heavy pinch of Vignalta Sale Alle Erbe Herbed Salt
- 1 tsp of Italian spices
-2 cloves garlic (Finger Lakes)
-1 shallot (Finger Lakes)
-1/2 cup red wine (Finger Lakes)
Please note that Vignalta Sale Alle Erbe Herbed Salt is sea salt that is mixed with fresh rosemary and thyme from Italy. ( Regular kosher salt will work as well)
-Place the tomatoes in an oven proof pan
-Drizzle with 1 tbsp olive olive
-Sprinkle with pepper salt and spices
-Broil for 10-15 minutes until they blister and burst
-While tomatoes are broiling sweat the garlic and shallot with the remaining olive oil
-Deglaze the pan with the wine
-Add the tomatoes and either smash with a spoon or blend with a stick blender
-Simmer for a few minutes to reduce

Sautéed Mushrooms w/ Red Wine:
-1/2 lb crimini mushrooms
- 1 tbsp olive oil
-1 clove garlic (minced) (Finger Lakes)
-1 shallot (minced) (Finger Lakes)
-1/4 cup red wine (Finger Lakes)
-few dashes of Parisian herbs
-salt and pepper
Note:
Parisian herbs is a mix from Penzeys Spices that includes: chives, dill weed, French basil, French tarragon, chervil and white pepper.
-Sweat garlic and shallots with the olive oil
-Add the mushrooms and
-Add salt, pepper and parisian herbs
-Deglaze with the wine
-Sauté for 6-7 minutes until tender