Posts Tagged: underwood wine

From Farmers Market to Amazing Summer Supper

The Montavilla ‘Hood:  
From Farmers Market to Amazing Summer Supper
Featuring Chef Ben Bettinger

Underwood Rosé Bubbles

As Portland expands and more local businesses emerge, we think it’s as important as ever to support the local community.

Recently, we reached out to chef extraordinaire and Montavilla resident Ben Bettinger to show us what he loves about his neighborhood. Ben is part owner of “Your Neighborhood Restaurant Group”, which includes  Laurelhurst Market, La Luna Cafe, Ate-oh-Ate, Reverends BBQ, and Bigs Chicken. He is officially the Executive Chef at Laurelhurst Market as well.

Having recently moved to the East side of Mt. Tabor, Ben often hits up the Montavilla Farmers Market (Sunday 10-2) for all the local produce he needs to create a beautiful dinner for his wife Autumn and son Reed… as well as friends that might stop by. We tasked him with creating a fresh and delicious summer meal that would pair well with our Underwood Rose Bubbles… and oh boy, what a feast he whipped up!

But first, off to the market…

Underwood Rosé Bubbles
From Farmers Market to Amazing Summer Supper

Montavilla Market is one of the smaller local weekend markets but offers many options. For stone fruit alone, Fulton Farms has beautiful peaches and nectarines as does Baird Farms. They also offer lots of activities for the kids, including face painting, which Reed took full advantage of.

From Farmers Market to Amazing Summer Supper

Many other vendors, such as Denison Farms & Crooked Furrow Farm offer beautiful peppers, tomatoes, eggplant, onion, herbs, and many other fresh produce options.

From Farmers Market to Amazing Summer Supper

From Farmers Market to Amazing Summer Supper

Okay,  shopping is done, so let’s get to creating some beautiful dishes.  I personally lucked out, and since Ben and his wife had friends in town, my wife and I were invited over for a truly outstanding Sunday Dinner with the Bettingers. I will let Ben tell you in his own words what was on the menu and how you can make it for yourselves next weekend!

From Farmers Market to Amazing Summer Supper

White Nectarine, Roasted Onion, and Tomato Relish
(Makes 3 cups)

2 White Nectarine, cut small dice
1/2 Sweet Onion, roasted in a cast iron pan with 1 T olive oil until nice and charred on the cut side
1  Jalapeno, cut in half lengthwise and then into half-moons, remove seeds if you are sensitive to spice
1 small Tomato, Cut into a small dice
1 T Chopped Parsley
1 tsp Chopped Tarragon
6 basil leave, chiffonade
3 T Rice wine vinegar
1/4 C olive oil
salt and pepper
Combine all, adjust with honey if the nectarines are not as sweet as you may like.

This relish will be used on the grilled albacore tuna…

Underwood Rosé Bubbles

Spice Grilled Oregon Albacore Tuna

I chose Albacore tuna because it pairs so well with Rosé and I seasoned the albacore tuna with a spice mix that I refer to as my all-purpose spice mix.

AP Spice mix:
equal parts of the following – I grind all these together in a coffee grinder
Cumin Seed
Yellow Mustard Seed
Corriander
Black Pepper
Fennel Seed

Generously coat the fish with olive oil and liberally sprinkle with the Spice mix.

Tuna does best on a hot grill.  I love these albacore loins because they are so easy to grill whole and slice for a quick backyard BBQ. Top them generously with the Nectarine, Onion and Tomato Relish.

From Farmers Market to Amazing Summer Supper

Heirloom Tomatoes and Grilled Summer Vegetables, Basil and Aged Balsamic

This is a quick and easy dish that can be put together with any summer vegetables that you may get at the farmers market.  Tomato season is here so that was a no brainer. For this dish, I sliced the tomatoes into 1/2 inch slices, keeping them raw.   I also chose to use Eggplant, Summer Squash, and Onion. These vegetables were coated with olive oil, seasoned with salt and pepper,  grilled,  arranged over the sliced tomatoes and then drizzled with olive oil, aged balsamic and torn basil leaves.

In this dish, I tried to take the major flavors of a ratatouille and deconstruct it to better enjoy large chunks of the vegetables,  as well as mixing fresh with grilled.

Underwood Rosé Bubbles

(Author’s Note: My wife and I had just harvested a whole garden box full of fingerling potatoes,  so we added them to the local bounty.)

Rizzeamer Farms Garden Potatoes with Sautéed Summer Chanterelles, Garlic, and Oregano

I cooked the potatoes in salted water until just tender(easily pierced with a fork), cut the down the middle, then sautéed them in a cast iron pan with olive, salt, and pepper. Add chanterelles to the pan and a touch more olive oil and gently stir them together, re-season,  add chopped garlic, oregano and parsley and a hearty squeeze of lemon.

From Farmers Market to Amazing Summer Supper

Ben created the menu to pair perfectly with  Underwood Rose Bubbles, the best choice for a late-summer dinner.

Underwood Rosé Bubbles

Underwood Rosé Bubbles

Grilled Sweet Corn, Seed & Chile Flake Butter, Cilantro Salt

Grilling Corn can be done in many ways.   I chose to grill them whole in the husk, then peel back that husk once they fully cooked, this gives the flavor of being grilled without drying out the corn too much. 
You can’t have corn without butter so I placed a stick of soft butter in a small mason jar and seasoned it with 1 T sesame seeds, 1 T poppy seeds and a pinch of red pepper flakes. I reserved a few tablespoons of butter and poured it over the soft butter and seeds right before eating.

From Farmers Market to Amazing Summer Supper

Underwood Rosé Bubbles

From Farmers Market to Amazing Summer Supper

Bon Appétit!

Underwood Rosé Bubbles

Photography and Text by David L. Reamer.  (@dlreamer)

Mad kitchen skillz by Ben Bettinger. @benbettinger

Your Neighborhood Restaurant Group:
@laurelhurstmarket
@bigschicken
@lalunacafe
@reverendsbbq
@ateohatepdx

Montavilla Farmers Market: @montavillamarket

Link Up with Freeland Spirits

Underwood Strawberry Cooler Freeland GinEarlier this summer we were on the search for the perfect spirit to complement our Underwood Strawberry Cooler. We thought the bright and floral notes of a gin might be the best pairing. After tasting a few, we landed on Freeland Spirits’ Gin.

Freeland Spirits not only has amazing tasting gin, but they are an incredible women-owned craft distillery located in NW Portland. One of the few distilleries owned and operated by women. They have been open just over a year but their beautiful tasting room, original packaging, and warm personalities have already made a positive impact in the distillery community in Portland. 

Freeland Spirits

Freeland Spirits Gin Underwood Strawberry Cooler Cocktail

We worked with their team to create a cocktail that was just released on their menu and will be featured at the Distillery Row Beach Bash this Sunday (8/18). Grab some Strawberry Cooler and Freeland Spirits Gin to create this cocktail at home or stop by Freeland Spirits on NW Vaughn in Portland to find it on their menu.

Link Up 

Underwood Strawberry Cooler
2oz Freeland Spirits Gin
1oz Lime
1oz Simple Syrup
2oz Coconut Milk 

In a shaker tin add Freeland Gin, lime, coconut milk, and simple syrup shake and strain into a glass of their choice and ice and top with Underwood Strawberry Cooler!
Cheers! 

Underwood Strawberry Cooler

Garden Bounty Pt. 1 A Trio of Gazpachos

Union Wine Co Gazpachos
Now that summer is in full swing, gardeners all over the country are seeing their hard work and dedication beginning to finally bear fruit…and vegetables and herbs. And once the bounty begins, it can really produce a lot of produce very quickly…if ya know what i mean. Even if you aren’t a gardener, your local farmers markets are also beginning to explode with beautiful, colorful fruit and veggies.

So, we decided to run a series of posts about fun, easy recipes that will help put all that great freshly grown produce to good use. For us, Gazpacho is one of the simplest but most pure ways to really celebrate the freshness of the season. There is absolutely no cooking required. Just a little prepping and then a whole lot of blending.

Most people are familiar with the classic Andalusian tomato gazpacho, but there are several other recipes that are just as delicious. With any gazpacho, there is a lot of room for interpretation, so we welcome you to follow our recipes, but we urge you to try your own tweaks or additions. Also, there is a wide variation on the texture of gazpacho. We personally like a chunky gazpacho, as you will see in the following photos, but if you prefer a smoother texture, it’s as simple as just blending longer.

So without further ado, we present a trio of gazpachos*: Tomato, Cucumber and Watermelon.

Tomato Gazpacho

Union Wine Co Gazpachos

*Note: All three recipes make roughly 1 quart of gazpacho each, which will feed 2 to 4 people.

Recipe:

4-5 medium heirloom tomatoes
1/2 large sweet onion
2 cloves of garlic
1/2 large cucumber
3 roasted red piquillo peppers
1 Tbs sherry vinegar
1/4 C olive oil
a small piece of baguette (optional)
salt & pepper to taste

Technique:

Peel half the cucumber and remove the seeds. Chop all vegetables into manageable-sized pieces and place in a baking dish. Pour the olive oil and sherry vinegar over the veggies. Season with salt and pepper, mix well and let sit for 10 minutes. If you have a large blender, such as a ‘Vitamix’, you can put everything in together. If you are working with a smaller blender, blend in batches, trying to get equal amounts of all ingredients in each batch. Blend to desired consistency and refrigerate. When ready to serve, garnish with a drizzle of olive oil and some fresh herbs, such as cilantro or basil.  Enjoy with a can of Underwood Pinot Noir.

Union Wine Co Gazpachos

Cucumber Gazpacho

Union Wine Co Gazpachos

Recipe:

2 large cucumbers
1/2 large yellow bell pepper
1/2 large sweet onion
2 cloves of garlic
2/3 C plain whole milk yogurt
1 small bunch of mint
juice of 1/2 a lime
salt & pepper to taste

Technique:

Peel half of each cucumber. (This will allow for a little texture with the skin, but not too much.) Cut the cucumbers down the middle and remove all seeds. Chop all veggies into manageable-sized pieces. As stated above, if you have a large blender, such as a ‘Vitamix’, you can put everything in together. If you are working with a smaller blender, blend in batches, trying to get equal amounts of all ingredients in each batch. It is okay to add the lime juice and yogurt at the same time as the veggies. Season with salt and pepper and blend to your desired texture. Keep refrigerated. When ready to serve, garnish with some finely diced cucumber and a mint sprig. Enjoy with an ice cold can of Underwood Pinot Gris.

Union Wine Co Gazpachos

Watermelon Gazpacho

Union Wine Co Gazpachos

Recipe:

1/2 large seedless watermelon (roughly 3 Cups)
1/2 large cucumber
1/2 large red heirloom tomato
1/2 red bell pepper
juice of 1/2 a lime
2 tsp olive oil
1 tsp red wine vinegar

Technique:

Peel watermelon and chop into cubes. Peel and seed cucumber. Chop up the tomato and pepper. As stated above, if you have a large blender, such as a ‘Vitamix’, you can put everything in together. If you are working with a smaller blender, blend in batches, trying to get equal amounts of all ingredients in each batch. Blend to desired texture and then refrigerate. When ready to serve, garnish with a few pieces of watermelon and some chopped fresh mint and enjoy with an ice cold
Underwood Rosé.

Union Wine Co Gazpachos

So, as you can see, there are many different styles of gazpacho to enjoy. All can be made several days in advance. And again, feel free to tweak the ingredients, texture and garnishes to fit your personal taste.

Bon Appétit!

Photography, Recipe and Text by David L. Reamer. (@dlreamer)

Tillamook Frozen Custard & Underwood Strawberry Cooler Syrup

A Perfect Pairing:
Tillamook Frozen Custard & Underwood Strawberry Cooler Syrup 

Underwood Strawberry Cooler Sauce

Strawberry season goes by way too quickly, but we aren’t quite ready to say goodbye just yet!

We have recently discovered (and fallen in love with) some of our local Tillamook Creamery’s Special Batch ice cream, gelato and custards. We thought it would be interesting to pair strawberries with their Sea Salt & Honeycomb Toffee Custard, and it worked amazingly. To sweeten the deal we created a simple, yet very complex tasting, Strawberry Cooler Syrup, which really highlights the salty crunchy bits of toffee in the creamy custard.

The syrup is simple to make and will stay good for weeks in the refrigerator.

Underwood Strawberry Cooler Syrup

Underwood Strawberry Cooler
3 ripe strawberries
3 sprigs of mint
1/4 teaspoon of black peppercorns
2 Tablespoons of sugar (optional)

Underwood Strawberry Cooler Sauce

STEP ONE:
Pour a can of the Cooler into a wide, heavy bottomed pot and bring to a boil. If adding the sugar, do so at this time. Stir until the sugar is dissolved so it doesn’t stick to the bottom of the pot.

STEP TWO:
Immediately reduce to a simmer and continue to cook, uncovered, for 15 minutes.

Underwood Strawberry Cooler Sauce

STEP THREE:
After 15 minutes, place the strawberries (stems removed), mint and peppercorns into the pot and continue to simmer for another 15 minutes or until almost all of the liquid has evaporated.

STEP FOUR:
Strain liquid immediately into a bowl and refrigerate until ready to use. Once cooled, scoop out some custard (or your favorite Tillamook ice cream flavor), add a few strawberries and a healthy drizzle of the syrup.

Underwood Strawberry Cooler Sauce

Bon Appétit!

Photography, Recipe and Text by David L. Reamer. (@dlreamer)

Frosé at Home

We were very excited to be the wine sponsor for this year’s Waterfront Blues Fest in Portland. Besides providing our wines for the event we wanted to do something extra special that would elevate the 4-day experience. Since Blues Fest days are usually nice and hot, we created a Frosé drink using slushy machines and it turned out to be a tasty—and popular—cold wine option. So popular in fact that a few people asked for the recipe!

Underwood rosé frosé

Since we all can’t have a commercial grade slushy machine in our homes we came up with a smaller scale version that you can enjoy at home. All you need is a little time and a blender.

Pour 1 full bottle of Underwood Rosé into a baking dish. Place in the freezer for 4-6 hours (or overnight). While waiting for the wine to freeze, make a simple syrup by boiling ½ cup sugar and ½ cup water, stirring, until sugar has dissolved. Do this early enough so it has time to cool.

Underwood rosé frosé

Once the rosé has been in the freezer for a number of hours, it should be slushy but not completely frozen. Take it out, pour it into a blender with a handful of ice and 4 oz of simple syrup. Blend until completely combined and place the blender in the freezer for another 1-2 hours.

Underwood Frosé

Pour into your favorite Mazama Wares glass and enjoy on a nice day.
Frosé will stay good in the freezer for a couple of days.

Underwood rosé frosé