Memorial Day with St. Francis

Great for Memorial Day and the unofficial first grilling day of summer, this is a Filet of Beef grilled with a Coffee-Cocoa rub, cheese grits and grilled asparagus - all paired with the St. Francis Old Vine Zinfandel!

The Contest

On May 12, I got and email from Matthew Smith. Matthew is an account executive at Nike Communications in New York City. Matthew said that he was a reader of this blog and was sending advanced notice about the “St. Francis Turn Up The Heat” contest that he was working on. You may remember that I featured the St. Francis wins previously here at Bobbyflayeveryday and that Dorothy and I visited the St. Francis winery several years ago.  I already knew that St. Francis has some great wines so I was excited to hear about the contest. To enter the contest, a person must make a video of themselves grilling a favorite summer recipe and pair it with a St. Francis wine – they didn’t have to ask me twice – I was already going to be grilling and pairing with St. Francis sometime this summer, so why not for Memorial Day and why not on camera! The theme of the contest is “St. Francis’ Quest for the Holy Grill.” Anyone who has followed this blog understands that this is really no quest at all. The location of the Holy Grill is not a secret hidden away since the Dark Ages. No, the Holy Grill is in my courtyard.

Here is the Treasure Map from St. Francis to the Holy Grill that I used in the video! Part of the Challenge was to pair some bold grilling flavors with a bold St. Francis wine. I chose to pair three grilled dishes with three different St. Francis wines. The contest video could not be very long – which was a real hardship. There was no way I could comfortably demonstrate one recipe/wine match so quickly, let alone three. So, I had to really cut down my original plan. In the video you see all three, but I really only was able to demonstrate one. All three are here on the blog however!

The video

Go watch the video and watch it on the contest website: 
http://www.youtube.com/user/StFrancisContest#p/a/f/1/Gr1Y4MUFX_U 

The contest will be judged by a panel of celebrity grilling “gurus.” The gurus will use the following point system to judge the videos:

40 Points: How well your video shows and explains how your grilling recipe turns up the heat to create the boldest flavors

20 Points: How well does your recipe pairs with St. Francis wines

20 Points: Demonstration of the recipe preparation

20 Points: Overall creativity of video

The finalist will be announced in August and the winners will be announced on September 15.  Now I am going for the win because the first prize is:

"A trip for 2 to Sonoma County with VIP visit to St. Francis Winery; Vineyards. Round-trip air transportation for two between San Francisco, CA and a major airport in U.S. nearest winner’s home, 2 nights’ accommodations and 1 day VIP experience at St. Francis Winery; Vineyards, double-occupancy hotel accommodations, airport transfers between airport and winery, and private tour and winery experience."

I don’t know how the grilling gurus will rate my video, but I would love to see what you readers think! After watching the video, please use the judges point system above and send me the score you come up with!

There were a few things that I had to leave out of my original script so that I could keep the video under the time limit. One major point that I wished I had more time for was my theme of “Preparing for the Pairing.” Most people give very little thought to the wine until its time to sit down for the meal and the meal itself has already been prepared. This means that the food/wine match is pretty mush left up to chance and getting a excellent pairing is sort of hit-or-miss. My theory is that you start planning for the meal and the wine at the same time, so its not dumb luck that everything goes together well. As I describe the menu below, I will talk you through my “wine strategy” for each course.

The Menu - Appetizer

The appetizer was a Salmon-Spread-Bread. I plank grilled salmon for another meal several days before the St. Francis challenge but I grilled some extra salmon then for this appetizer. I started by cutting up the salmon but it just flaked off into chunks. I put the mound of salmon chunks in a bowl and mixed it up with cream cheese. Then added dried, crushed basil and dill from Dorothy’s herb gardens.  I then sliced a loaf of long French bread on the bias that made small oval shaped pieces of bread. I brushed the bread with butter and put them on the grill to toast. Later we spread the salmon, cream cheese and herb mix on the toasted French bread.

We paired that with the St. Francis Chardonnay. I did a little research on the wines and here is what is said about this Chardonnay: “Rich with notes of citrus, melon and vanilla, this Chardonnay is a fresh expression of this hand-picked classic varietal. The grapes are 100% whole cluster pressed and fermented in different lots, then barrel aged for six months in French and American oak barrels prior blending. The barrel component adds a toasty complexity to the finished wine, complimenting the fruit and pear aromas on the nose. Medium to full-bodied, this Chardonnay has ripe fruit flavors, crisp high acid in the mouth and a rich lingering finish.”

My wine strategy in pairing the Salmon-Spread-Bread and the St. Francis Chardonnay keyed in on the wine’s aging in oak barrels that would give it a toasty, vanilla flavor that would go with the toasted French bread.  Also the Chardonnay had great fruit flavors (all the St. Francis wines do) and that went great with the cream cheese and bold salmon flavor of the spread. This wine can stand alone and would be a great summer afternoon sipping wine. You could drink this wine with no food at all after a sunset sail! But I think it was great as a snack or appetizer with the my Salmon-Spread-Bread. 

The Menu - Main Course

I went to visit my friend Mike Taglio and his family at Tag'z Five Star Meats. Please go check out their website at http://tagz5starmeats.com/. I asked Mike for his advice on a Filet of Beef - aka Filet Mignon. He brought out a filet that he said "was the best the cow has to offer!" Mike trimmed it up for me and when I left his store, I knew I had the best cut of beef in town. As you will see on the video, I made the rub with ground expresso coffee beans, cocoa powder, sage, Kosher coarse salt, ground red pepper and ground black pepper! I was going for the bold flavors that would match up with the wine, but I also wanted the rub to form an outside crust. You can see from the photo above the crust was forming. The wine I paired with the Filet of Beef with Coffee-Cocoa rub was the St. Francis Old Vine Zinfandel and I used three grilling techniques for my "wine strategy." I prepared the filet to insure an excellent pair with this wine. Grill Technique #1. I grilled the filet using indirect heat on an Oak Plank. For salmon, I usually use a Cedar Plank. Sometimes for BBQing beef I use a Hickory Plank. But when I read about the St. Francis Zin this is what I discovered: "The grapes for our 2007 Old Vines Zinfandel program must meet certain criteria to be included in this classic California wine. The vines must be at least 50 years old; many are as old as hundred years old. Once fully ripened the grapes are hand-picked, crushed then fermented in stainless steel tanks for twelve to eighteen days, then pressed and pumped to new American oak barrels for twelve to fifteen months of aging. The wine is then bottled and held for an additional four to eight months until release. This distinct “old world style” Zinfandel displays deep aromas of ripe black cherries and boysenberries laced with licorice, shadowed by spicy toasted oak notes that carry into a long luscious finish." I used an Oak Plank because I wanted the flavor of the oak in the meat to match the oak flavor in the wine. Also notice that I cut two strips of the Oak Plank off the end and laid them across the plank. I think that anytime you can incorporate power tools into your grilling then you get extra credit! When the filet had been rolled in the rub, I placed it over those strips. This held the filet off the surface to insure that the smoke from the plank surrounded the filet while on the grill. Grill Technique #2. I covered the filet and the plank with a pan for most of the grill time.

The pan trapped some of the smoke coming off the plank and further infused the filet with the smoky flavor. Using this technique I was actually turning the grill into a grill-oven-smoker combination! Grill Technique #3. I made a Wine Reduction sauce using the very same wine that later would be paired to drink with the filet. In addition to the St. Francis Zin, the wine sauce had chopped shallots, Kosher salt, ground black pepper and butter. This was all put together in a sauce pan over the grill and allowed to simmer down to about half its original volume. 

Remember a "commandment" of the grill is Never grill with a wine that you would not drink.  In other words, we never use any kind of cooking wine - we use the real thing or nothing at all! When the sauce had reduced down, I injected the sauce right into the filet so that the wine was inside the meat as it grilled. What better way to insure that food and wine will go together than to grill the food using the wine! Later, I also poured the wine sauce over the filet on the plate just before eating - perfect!

The Menu - Dessert

Dorothy made a terrific chocolate bundt cake. It was moist because of several secret ingredients she uses, but you will have to ask her about those ingredients yourself - they are a closely guarded secret!

While the cake was baking, I was at the grill and put together a sauce to be poured over the cake. I matched one more St. Francis wine. This time it was the Sonoma County Merlot. When you read about this Merlot it will be clear why I prepared the sauce the way I did: "Our 2006 Sonoma County Merlot is composed of hand picked grapes from vineyards through out Sonoma County. After fermentation is complete the wine is aged in American and French oak barrels for a full twenty-three months. Spicy herb and vanilla overtones give way to luscious plum and cherry flavors on the palate, with hints of chocolate and generous tannins on the finish. A true varietal classic with marked Sonoma County style." All I had to see was cherries and chocolate! In a sauce pan over the grill, I combined pitted dark sweet cherries with sugar, and a little cinnamon. Once the sugar had melted, I poured in the St. Francis Merlot - leaving plenty to drink with the cake later of course! I don't know how this could have been any better - maybe adding a scoop of vanilla ice cream would have made this reach dessert nirvana! 

I entered the St. Francis Turn Up The Heat Contest on the first day. You can learn about the contest at http://www.stfsavortheflavor.com/index.php?p=home

and all the great St. Francis Wines at http://www.stfranciswinery.com/

St. Francis is a great winery to visit. I hope to go there again, but this time as the Grill Champion! 

Memorial Day is the unofficial start of summer. The official start is, of course, on the Summer Solstice which this year will be on June 21st at 6:28 AM CDT. But I don't like it when I hear people refer to Memorial Day as the first day of Grilling Season. The whole point of this blog is to send the message that there is no one grilling season and if you look back over the history of this site you will see that I grilled in all weather. Go see "Grilling in the Snow" at http://www.youtube.com/user/dvcraig1101#p/u/6/M4DNoHGEafw If you are just now firing up the grill for the first time in a while - welcome back! Check out some of the recipes here on bobbyflayeveryday that you may have missed. It doesn't matter if you just started grilling or never stopped, remember - Just Grill It! Paul

    

Special Edition: Cinco de Mayo!

Cinco de Mayo is one of the great days of the year for grillers, so I just had to make a Special Edition for this special day. The menu came from three different Bobby Flay sources. The main course was from Bobby Flay's book, Grilling for Life (page 167) Smoky and Fiery Skirt Steak Fajitas with all the trimmings. The salad was from Bobby Flay's television show, Grill It! a Chunky and Crunchy Avocado Salad. And the special Cinco de Mayo drink was the signature cocktail at Bobby Flay's Mesa Grill, the Cactus Pear Margarita. The drink can be found on page 27 of the Mesa Grill Cookbook. 


VIDEO - Watch this Cinco de Mayo Fiesta being prepared on YouTube! 
Watch Part 1 at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pkCf65aJRv8
Watch Part 2 at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4qAKIIx3Dbg

The Cactus Pear Margarita is a whole story of its own. Several years ago, Dorothy and I were in San Antonio on the Riverwalk. We stopped at a bar and sat right along side the river. On the menu of specialty margaritas was a "Prickly Pear" margarita. A prickly pear is another name for cactus. I had never heard of a cactus margarita, but I was in Texas so I ordered it. It was great! I had another Cactus Pear Margarita on a second trip to San Antonio, but was never able to find it in Tennessee. I asked bartenders around here about it - but they never heard of it. I even had guys a Whole Foods look up Prickly Pear Syrup on their inventory list - nothing. Then I got Bobby Flay's book The Mesa Grill Cookbook and there it was! Best of all, Bobby included a place to order Prickly Pear Cactus Syrup. I went to www.cherisdesertharvest.com and ordered the biggest bottle they had. FedEx delivered it and I kept it for Cinco de Mayo. 

Using Bobby's recipe, I mixed two parts Tequila, with one part Triple Sec, one part Cheri's Desert Harvest Prickly Pear Cactus Syrup, and the juice from half a lime in a pitcher. Then came the best part. I brought "Snowie" out for the summer season. A few Father's Days ago, Dorothy got me a commercial grade snow cone machine! It may be the best gift I ever got. Its official name is "Snowie Little Blizzard," but we just call it Snowie for short.

You put ice cubes in the top of Snowie, turn it on and it throws out snow cone ice. Then I poured my Cactus Pear margarita mix from the pitcher over the ice and threw in another slice of lime. It was like I was back on the river in San Antonio again!

For the Avocado Salad and Fajita trimmings, I rounded up the freshest ingredients that I could find. Since it was Cinco de Mayo, I wanted as much stuff from Mexico as possible - everything you see here came from Mexico except the red onion. The Chunky and Crunchy Avocado Salad was made with Haas Avocados, diced tomatoes, black olives, cumin, smoked paprika, white wine vinegar, olive oil, parsley, kosher salt and ground black peppercorns. I scooped out the avocados with a mellon baller, mixed it all together and then before serving crunched up some blue corn tortilla chips over the top. I got the butcher to get me a cut of skirt steak - the only kind of steak that you should really use for fajitas. The only problem with skirt steak is that it can be tough if you don't marinade it and grill it correctly. I marinaded the skirt steak for six hours and grilled over low heat - it turned out tender and juicy. The marinade was olive oil, red wine vinegar, garlic, kosher salt, ground pepper and a dash of cayenne. I kept the marinade and basted the skirt steak while it sizzled on the grill. 

Wisdom of the Grill: It is imperative that you allow the skirt steak to rest after it comes off the grill. If you cut into the steak right away, the juices will just run out on you. Wait at least 4 or 5 minutes and then, for skirt steak fajitas cut the steak in thin slices across the grain of the meat. Which way is the grain? On some steaks it is not easy to see, but you will have no problem seeing the direction of the meat grain on the skirt steak. 


After I turned the skirt steak over, I placed it on a higher grill grate to reduce the heat and slow down the grill time to insure tenderness. That also gave room to put the fajita trimmings on the grill. I sliced long-ways a green, a yellow and a red bell pepper, a poblano chili and a red onion. All this went into a container with olive oil, salt, pepper, ancho chili powder and lime juice and sat for about an hour before I dump the mixture into a grill skillet. The grill skillet has small holes across it to allow the heat and flame through. The peppers and onion got crispy and slightly charred - just how you want it. I put it all together. The Skirt Steak Fajitas, the Avocado Salad and the Cactus Pear Margarita - Cinco de Mayo!

 There are more great grilling dates to come, so check in occasionally at Bobby Flay Everyday! But whatever you do - fire up and Grill It! Paul