When Life Gives You Lemons...

A few years ago Kerry and I decided to take advantage of our subtropical climate and plant a few citrus trees.  Our tiny yard doesn't allow for much so we planted an orange tree in the front yard, a key lime tree in a pot on the front steps and a meyer lemon in the back.  Well the orange tree has been struggling since day one, too much wind, fighting with the grass for nutrients, sadly we may have to take it up soon.  The key lime has given us enough to make some great Sunday night cocktails but it is the Meyer lemon tree that has really thrived this season.  We have about 30 big, beautiful and incredibly juicy lemons that are, of course, all ready to be picked.

Meyers are different than regular lemons.  They were identified in 1908 by Frank Meyer and are thought to be a cross regular lemon and a Chinese mandarin.  They are more round, have a beautiful smooth but thin, deep yellowy colored skin with a slightly orange tint. Meyers have a wonderful tangy aroma and are sweeter and less acidic than the standard lemon give you twice as much juice.

So in wondering what to do with all of these lemons, I found this great post from the LA Times on 100 Things to do with Meyer Lemons. And while many of the recipes are tempting, the one I may do first is the Meyer Lemon and Cardamon Ice Cream...anyone have an ice cream maker I can borrow?

This Week at Swirl Wine Bar & Market

Happenings Meet Winemaker Matt Wenk, Two Hands Winery While our Friday Free For All tastings of 4 free wines still draw the biggest crowds, our Wednesday Nite Flites give me a good excuse to open up some really special, higher end wines.  Last week it was producer Orin Swift's new wine "Abstract", there was also that beautiful 1997 Manzoni Barolo a few weeks back and this week we are really excited to have winemaker Matt Wenk from Two Hands Wines in Australia pouring a few of his gorgeous new releases including his picture series Cabernet and Shiraz both of which retail for around $30 The press on this winery alone makes this tasting worth checking out.  Wine Spectator's Top 100 for 2010 picked the Two Hands Bella's Garden as their #2 wine and awarded it 94 points.   Two Hands gets consistent 90+ reviews from Robert Parker's Wine Advocate, Stephen Tanzer's International Wine Cellar, James Halliday's Wine Companion, Wine Spectator and the UK Decanter magazine for the entire lineup of wines and we want to see if they live up to all of the hype!  We haven't picked the third wine yet for the tasting as we're waiting to see the others that are to arrive this week.  Winemaker Matt Wenk will be signing bottles (think great, early holiday gifts...) and talking about the wines.  You can check out a video here with Matt on Winemaking at Two Hands Winery.  We don't take reservations for the flites, it is a first come, first serve basis, so just pull up a seat at the bar and pick up your boarding pass! The flite is $12, cheese plates ($12) and charcuterie plates ($10) will be available as well. *Up next week:  Antonio Molesini with some "super" wines from his native Tuscany! Halloween Festivities in the Neighborhood Faubourg St. John is hopping this weekend with Halloween events!-Friday Free For All Wine Tasting, 6-8pm.  Wear a costume, we'll enter you into a drawing to win a $25 Swirl gift certificate!  Drawing will be at 7:30, must be present to win! Plus closing night of Mitchell Long's show and taste 4 great wines for free!-Voodoo Music Experience in City Park, Friday, Saturday and Sunday -Spooky Saturday at Swirl:  Wear a costume and buy one get one free at the bar on your first drink! -Voodoo on the Bayou:  Faubourg St. John Neighborhood Association's annual Halloween bash at the Pitot House on the Bayou.  The event will feature live music by “Los Po-Boy-Citos” (winners of the 2011 Big Easy Award for Best Latin Band), open bar, food from some of New Orleans most beloved restaurants including Café Degas, Santa Fe, Nonna Mia and Angelo Brocato’s. Buy your tickets at Swirl, $40 each! Wednesday Nite Flites, October 26, 6-8pm We are really excited to have winemaker Matt Wenk from Two Hands Wines in Australia pouring a few of his gorgeous new releases including his picture series Cabernet and Shiraz both of which retail for around $30.  We haven't picked the third wine yet for the tasting as we're waiting to see if a few others arrive this week as planned.  Winemaker Matt Wenk will be signing bottles (think great, early holiday gifts...) and talking about the wines.  We don't take reservations for the flites, it is a first come, first serve basis, so just pull up a seat at the bar and pick up your boarding pass! The flite is $12, cheese plates ($12) and charcuterie plates ($10) will be available as well. Friday Free for All, October 28, 6-8pm Wear a costume, we'll enter you into a drawing to win a $25 Swirl gift certificate!  Drawing will be at 7:30, must be present to win! Plus closing night of Mitchell Long's show and taste 4 great wines for free! Spooky Saturday at Swirl October 29, All Day! Wear a costume and buy one get one free at the bar on your first drink! Antonio's Italy We had so much fun on our tour of Tuscany, we're working on another....May 26-June 2, 2012.  I'll be releasing our itinerary in early November! Our trips are an intimate, one of a kind experience where we take 8 people on a wine and food "vacation" in Tuscany with Italian Wine Specialist Antonio Molesini.  Previous trip participants get first pick on those 8 spots, so I'll keep you posted on pricing and availability! Swirl and Savor Our wine and food blog...here are a few from the past 2 weeks, but there are lots more at swirlandsavor. New Posts Savory Pumpkin Ravioli "I managed to get out of town for a few days this weekend and took a quick trip to visit my family in Pennsylvania.  The cool fall weather and changing leaves have been a refreshing change from the still way to hot temperatures in New Orleans!  I always like to cook something special when I'm here and the abundance of autumn veggies and gourds inspiried me to make homemade Pumpkin Ravioli."  Click here for the recipe, Pumpkin Ravioli Antipasti for Nic's Birthday  "Our friend Nicole celebrated a birthday yesterday and we were lucky enough to be invited to dinner.  Other friends in from Atlanta were doing the cooking, so I offered to bring some appetizers and of course, the wine. We've been eating so much Indian food lately, I was happy to dive back into Italy and do some real traditional bites.  All of these are simple and take little preparation but pack a lot of flavor.  The key, as in all good cooking but especially Italian, is fresh, good quality ingredients."  Click here for my post on Antipasti Finding Diamonds in the Rough "While I do love tasting wine with our wholesalers, importers and winery reps, it is not as romantic as everyone thinks when they come in and see us gathered around the bar or the back table with open wine bottles and half filled glasses, envisioning my day spent doing nothing but sipping wine and lazily sharing stories with others fortunate enough to be in this industry.  It's work;  I stop what I'm doing, dirty lots of glasses that we then have to clean, make small talk with people I'd sometimes rather not and occasionally taste bad or mediocre wine often with silly, kitschy labels that oh so obviously don't belong in our store..."  Click here for my post on Diamonds in the Rough Perfect Picnic Picks in Faubourg St. John "While it's not quite as cool as we'd like it to be yet, we have gotten a little break from the sweltering heat of the summer.  With that ever so slight breath of fall weather comes the perfect time to have a picnic.  And we just happen to live and work in a neighborhood that has great little spots to pull out the blanket, pop open your favorite bottle, add a little cheese and salami and you are set!"  Click here to read my post Perfect Picnic Picks Older PostsThe Savory and Exotic Cuisine of Southern India   "A friend of mine remarked the other day that I must be too busy to cook lately since I've not been posting any recipes.  Ah not true I said, we've just been delving into my other favorite cuisine in the last few weeks, Indian.  I fell in love with Indian cooking when my niece Rika joined our family about 10 years ago. As much as I love Mediterranean style food, the exotic spices of India offer something refreshingly different." You can view the full post here, Southern India.  Vegetable Sambar "We absolutely love this dish and eat it at least twice a week right now.  Delicously healthy and exotically spiced, I could probably eat it every day and not get tired of it...Sambar is type of Indian stew made with vegetables, dahl (legumes) and sambar spice powder.  Making this recipe will require a trip to the International Market in Metairie or any store that specializes in Indian spices and products." Click here for the recipe, Vegetable Sambar The Intriguing, Complex and Delicious Wines of Antonio Caggiano "My first introduction to the wines of Caggiano was in the fabulous "Ristorante Il Ritrovo" in the little hilltop town of Montepertuso overlooking Positano and the Bay of Salerno.  The restaurant was recommended by Chiara, the owner of our villa, as well as the Slow Food Guide to places to eat in Italy.  Chiara's brother Francesco oversees the wine program at the restaurant and during our recent visit, chose the wines for our dinner. All of his selections were fantastic, but the wine that really stood our for me was the 2010 Caggiano Bechar Fiano di Avellino. All I could think of was how I was going to get this wine in the store so that I could enjoy it on a regular basis and of course share it with our customers!" Click here for the full post, Caggiano. Pasta with Fresh Lemon, Cream and Chanterelles I saw a recipe in Lidia Bastianich's cookbook and have just been waiting for the right opportunity to make it.  Hers uses lemon juice and zest with rich heavy cream with a fresh tagliatelle pasta.  But when I was shopping at the Hollygrove Market yesterday I got one of the few remaining bags freshly foraged chanterelles and decided they would be perfect addition to her recipe..." Click here for Chanterelles Hope to See You Soon! Beth, Kerry, Michelle, Matt, Michael and Sangi Swirl Wine Bar & Market 3143 Ponce de Leon Street New Orleans, LA 70119 504.304.0635

Savory Pumpkin Ravioli in Sage and Butter

I managed to get out of town for a few days this weekend and took a quick trip to visit my family in Pennsylvania.  The cool fall weather and changing leaves have been a refreshing change from the still way to hot temperatures in New Orleans!  I always like to cook something special when I'm here and the abundance of autumn veggies and gourds inspired me to make homemade Pumpkin Ravioli.  My sous chef Rika and I spent the afternoon on Sunday making fresh pasta and while they weren't too sure about pumpkin and sage together, the meal was a hit even with the most picky eaters.

My standard fresh pasta recipe is Lidia Bastianich's from her book Lidia's Italian Table. It is simple, delicate and comes out perfect every time I've made it. I use my Kitchen Aid Mixer or the initial blending and then add the pasta roller attachments  when it is time to roll it out. When possible, I like to use farm fresh eggs (the fresher the better) that we buy at the Crescent City Farmer's Market. Click here for my step by step instructions for making fresh pasta, Pasta all'Uovo, Basic Egg Pasta.

Once you have gotten to the point in the dough recipe where you "Roll the dough into a smooth ball. Place the dough in a small bowl and cover with plastic wrap. Let the dough rest for at least 1 hour at room temperature, or up to 1 day in the refrigerator, before rolling and shaping the pasta. If the dough has been refrigerated, let it stand at room temperature for at least 1 hour before rolling and shaping.", you can now make the filling while the dough is resting.

Makes 6 generous servings

For the filling:
    16 oz. ricotta cheese (about 2 cups)
    16 oz. pumpkin puree
    1 egg
    1 teaspoon Kosher salt
    Freshly grated nutmeg

For the sauce (to dress about 1/3 of the ravioli):
    1 stick unsalted butter
    20 sage leaves (plus additional for garnish, if desired)
    Handful Almond Slivers
   1/4 cup pine nuts
    Kosher salt
    Parmesan shavings

 While the pasta dough rests, combine the ricotta, pumpkin, egg, Kosher salt, and some freshly ground nutmeg in a mixing bowl. Set aside. Line a baking sheet with parchment or a silicon mat and lightly flour.

 Once the dough has rested, use a pasta machine to roll the pasta out into thin, wide sheets. I did not have my ravioli mold with me, so we used a juice glass for round ravioli.  I like to lightly mark the pasta sheets with the glass before I spoon on the filling.  Place spoons of the filling in the circles on the dough, and using a small brush, lightly dampen the edges with water to help seal.  Top with another sheet of pasta dough.  Using the glass, press down through both sheets to cut, pinch the edges with your fingers, dust with flour and place on the baking sheet.  At this point you can cover with plastic wrap and store in the refrigerator for up to a day before you do the final steps.

The pine nuts and almonds are a garnish and need to be roasted/toasted until they darken slightly, be careful not to burn them.  Once you've done this, grind about 2/3 of the mixture, leaving the other third whole, combine the two and set aside until you're ready to garnish.

To prepare the ravioli, bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Boil for about 5 minutes, in batches, pushing the ravioli back down into the boiling water with a wooden spoon as it floats to the top.  Drain the ravioli and set aside.

Meanwhile, brown the butter in a large skillet.  Add the sage and cook for a few extra minutes. Transfer the ravioli to the pan and toss gently in the sauce.  Serve immediately topped with the nut mixture and some shaved Parmesan cheese.

Perfect Picnic Picks in Faubourg St. John

While it's not quite as cool as we'd like it to be yet, we have gotten a little break from the sweltering heat of the summer.  With that ever so slight breath of fall weather comes the perfect time to have a picnic.  And we just happen to live and work in a neighborhood that has great little spots to pull out the blanket, pop open your favorite bottle, add a little cheese and salami and you are set!

Fortier Park

My favorite spots include the tables in Fortier Park (across the street from the shop).  The tables double as chess boards so you can play a leisurely game while you sip on some wine.

Banks of Bayou St. John

Bayou Saint John has many wide green spaces to throw down a blanket but I particularly like the spot by the Cabrini walking bridge under the big oak tree.



City Park offers so many secluded, hidden nooks or more populated spaces for great people watching.  I personally love the area under the old, sprawling oak tree with the huge wind chimes near the big lake.  The sounds coming from those giant chimes automatically put you in a serene, relaxed state while having lots to occupy the rest of your senses as you can watch the boats on the lake and walkers on the path or feed the ducks some of your bread.


And of course we have everything you need at the shop for you outing.  Perfect sparkling picnic wines like the Avissi Prosecco ($14.99) or Ca de Medici Lambrusco ($12.99) go great with cheese and are a festive, inexpensive way to start your feast.  Refreshing palate cleansing whites like the 2010 Frisk Prickly Dry Riesling ($9.99) the 2010 Domaine Pichot Vouvray ($17.50) or the 2010 Taburno Falanghina ($17.99) are a joy with cheese and antipasti and just plain fun to drink.  Lighter style reds like the 2010 Terre Nere Etna Rosso ($18.50), the 2010 Pierre Chermette Beaujolais ($15.99) or the 2009 Tilia Bonarda ($9.99) have enough fruit and weight to accompany both your meats and cheeses.

Now onto the what you can fill that picnic basket with...a nice rotating selection of artisan cheese from St. James Cheese are freshly restocked weekly. Our best sellers include the triple cream wonder Brillat Savarin, the nutty almost butterscotchy Prima Donna Aged Gouda, the crumbly, tangy goats milk Miticana, the semi-soft, buttery Appalachian and of course the ever popular sheeps milk Manchego.  We usually hand select 12-15 cheeses per week to fill the cooler and sample on our cheese plates at the bar.

Cured meats like Columbus Cacciatore Salami, Palacios Chorizo, Creminelli Sopresatta or maybe you'd like to try the new to-die-for house made duck pastrami from St. James or their house made country style pate?  And since pate is not complete with cornichon, we have those and a selection of olives, pesto, crackers and fresh Boulangerie breads Thursday-Saturday.  And we are crossing our fingers that very soon Cheryl Scripter will have her new location of Bittersweet Confections up and running so we can restock our chocolates.

So what are you waiting for?   Come over pick up your picnic accouterments, grab a blanket and enjoy this weather while we can!  Need a few cups or napkins?  Want to pair a specific wine and cheese? Just ask, we'll do whatever we can to help you have the perfect picnic!

Antipasti for Nic's Birthday

Our friend Nicole celebrated a birthday yesterday and we were lucky enough to be invited to dinner.  Other friends in from Atlanta were doing the cooking, so I offered to bring some appetizers and of course, the wine.

We've been eating so much Indian food lately, I was happy to dive back into Italy and do some real traditional bites.  All of these are simple and take little preparation but pack a lot of flavor.  The key, as in all good cooking but especially Italian, is fresh, good quality ingredients.

Fichi con Formaggio e Speck

The first was Fichi con Formaggio e Speck (figs with cheese and speck).  Speck is a smoked, cured meat from the Alto Adige region of Italy that looks similar to prosciutto as it is from the same cut of meat, the hind leg of the pig.  To make speck, a boned pork leg is cured in salt, and spices like laurel and juniper, then intermittently slow-smoked, using pine or juniper wood for several months. I get it from St. James Cheese, but I'm sure Whole Foods probably carries it as well.  If you can't find it, you can substitute Prosciutto, but be sure it is freshly sliced.

Take fresh figs and slice in half length wise.  Add a small spoonful of a fresh goats cheese, I used one of the Cypress Grove Chevre from the shop, a sprinkle of chopped, fresh rosemary, a dollop of honey and short piece of speck (about a third of a slice) scrunched up and sat atop the cheese. A wonderful bite of salty, sweet, creamy deliciousness, I served these with the Avissi Prosecco for a nice little starter...

Grilled lemon leaves with mozzarella, Da Adolfo Positano

Next up was our first attempt at recreating one of our favorite appetizers from our trip to the Amalfi Coast.  Due to the abundance of lemon trees and the fact that Campania is THE home of the Mozzarella di Bufala DOP (Denominazione di Origine Protetta, or Protected Designation of Origin), Foglie di Limone alla Griglia con Mozzarella (Grilled Lemon Leaves with Mozzarella) is on the menu of almost every restaurant in the region, but really never seen elsewhere in Italy or anywhere for that matter.


As simple as this is, the key is fresh lemon leaves and good quality mozzarella.  When grilled for a quick 30 seconds, give or take a few, the lemon leaves impart the most delicious citrus flavor to the mozzarella.  But the older the leaves, the less flavor you are going to get.  We have a Meyer Lemon tree in the backyard so I picked a handful of the biggest leaves I could find just an hour or so before we would use them.

Hand tossed mozzarella and fresh lemon leaves

 I got some really nice hand tossed mozzarella from Whole Foods that was not as good as the buffalo version, but the fact than it was handmade gave it a really nice flavor.  The cheap, stringy, everyday mozzarella you buy in the grocery will just not give you the same outcome.  Again, the food you make is only as good as your ingredients...


All you do is cut about 1/4" thick slices of mozzarella, place it on a lemon leaves, and then put over indirect heat on a grill using a grill pan to place the leaves in.  It literally takes about 30 seconds for the cheese to start melting.  But be careful, our fire was too hot and our first attempt, while still tasted delicious, did not get to spend enough time on the fire.  Guess I'll just need to practice this one more...

San Marzano tomatoes on the vine @ Villa Le Sirene, Positano

We also needed the grill for our Bruschetta al Pomidoro (Tomato Bruschetta), another staple on the Amalfi coast since Campania is also the DOP of San Marzano tomatoes.  You know, those delicious, deeply flavored plum tomatoes that we are only fortunate enough to get in cans.  But a quick lesson on bruschetta; it is pronounced bru-SKE-ta and bruschetta refers to the bread, not the topping.  The best bread for bruschetta is a stale, dense loaf like a sour dough or country style bread. The bread is cut into slices, grilled, and brushed with good quality olive oil then rubbed with fresh garlic cloves.  There are many recipes you can make to top your bruschetta, but the pomidoro is a classic.

To make the topping:
-4 medium sized ripe tomatoes cut into 1/4" dice
-2 cloves of garlic minced
-10 fresh basil leaves torn into small pieces
-1/2 to 1 teaspoon coarse salt
-few turns of the pepper grinder
-a pinch or two of peperoncino
-2 tablespoons of good quality extra virgin olive oil

For the bruschetta:
-12 slices of dense, stale bread, no more than 1" thick, and about 3-4" long
-olive oil 
-1 clove of garlic cut in half

Mix the topping ingredients, stir to combine and set aside.  Using indirect heat on a grill (again ours was a bit too hot...) quickly toast the bread slices until the edges get slightly dark.  Remove from heat, brush on some olive oil and rub with the clove of garlic.  Add the topping and consume immediately!

I served the lemon leaves and bruschetta side by side and poured the perfect wine, the Caggiano Devon Greco di Tufo.  An unbelievable wine that brought our all the best flavors of the dishes!

Now the Atlanta cooks were at the grill and in the kitchen, making a fabulous beef tenderloin, gorgeous salad of avocado, fresh tomatoes and mozzarella, rosemary roasted potatoes and grilled asparagus.  We brought the 1997 Manzoni San Stefano Barolo to have with the meat, and they were about as perfect together as a pairing could be! 

We ate like Italians, slowly, taking time to savor each delicious bite of food, sip of gorgeous wine and enjoy each other's company.  A truly delightful evening, thank you Nic for inviting us to celebrate your birthday!

Finding Diamonds in the Rough

While I do love tasting wine with our wholesalers, importers and winery reps, it is not as romantic as everyone thinks when they come in and see us gathered around the bar or the back table with open wine bottles and half filled glasses, envisioning my day spent doing nothing but sipping wine and lazily sharing stories with others fortunate enough to be in this industry...

It's work;  I stop what I'm doing, dirty lots of glasses that we then have to clean, make small talk with people I'd sometimes rather not and occasionally taste bad or mediocre wine often with silly, kitschy labels that oh so obviously don't belong in our store.  And then there is the very unromantic but necessary spitting of every sip of wine I drink (well almost every...) because to do this job well, you have to keep your palate clean and your brain clear so you don't make some stupid decision to buy too much of a not so great wine.

Tasting Dumangin Rose required cheese...

But there are many wholesalers that come in who are a joy to taste with; who know what I like at the price points I want and who are excited about the wine in their portfolios.  Of course it's the European stuff that makes me happy with wines from Italy being at the top of the list.  Obscure varieties always pique my curiosity and wacky winemakers who use a non traditional approach to their craft, ah this is when my job is fun! But unfortunately those are not the norm...

So what am I looking for in those sometimes 40 plus wines that I taste in a day?  The first thing I taste for is balance; Is there too much fruit or not enough?  Is the wine soft and elegant or just flabby with not enough structure?  Is the acid present but not overpowering?  Is the oak in check or overwhelming the fruit?  Is the alcohol level noticeable on my nose and palate or well integrated?  After I quickly assess all of those things in few sips that I then spit out into the bucket, I want to know the price.  What is the quality to price ratio in my terms?  Is it in the grocery stores or limited to fine wine shops and restaurants?  If it fits into all of my criteria, then I need to see if I have a spot on the shelves for it now or should I pick it up later? And most importantly, is it a wine I could drink on any given day, because if it is not good enough for me, I'm not going to sell it to you. Period.

Out of all the wines I taste in a week, which usually ranges between 50-100, probably only about 5-10 will actually make it on to our shelves one day.  I use the same process when buying a $5 wine as I do a $50 bottle and feel good about everything that comes into the store, from the cheap and tasty rack to the indulge section and all the bottles in between.

So all of this is leading to finding a diamond in the rough yesterday when tasting with Linda from Republic and Holly from Hess Selections.  While the Hess wines are not something I carry, not so much from a quality standpoint but due to their obvious presence in grocery stores, they also represent some other products from South America and South Africa that I tasted.  The standout was the Glen Carlou Chardonnay from Paarl, South Africa.  At a whopping retail price of $14.99, this wine is a steal for those who like oak, but find many Californian Chards too over the top.  A very balanced wine, with nice acidity, the perfect amount of French oak, beautiful fruit yet elegant on the palate, this wine will be in soon, (not enough room on the shelves this week) and is something I could and will drink any day of the week.  Lovely!

Robert Parker's Wine Advocate Review, 89 points:  2010 Glen Carlou Chardonnay - Entirely fermented in barrel with 30% new oak, the 2010 Chardonnay has an attractive nose of beeswax, honeysuckle and apple-blossom that carries the oak well. The palate is medium-bodied with fine waxy texture, good acidity with a light, elegant, caramel-tinged finish. This is good value South African Chardonnay. Drink now-2018+

Established in 1985, Glen Carlou is one of Paarl’s most familiar names and has been part of Hess Family Estates since 2003.Winemaker Arco Laarman oversees a portfolio that ranges from the entry-level “Tortoise Hill” range to Prestige single-vineyard releases. There is certainly consistency here and even their top-level wines are reasonably priced.