Italian Seafood Cooking Class at Cafe Maxx

Whoever would have guessed that in the land of cheap sausages and mashed potatoes there could be such a change which would actually bring the French from Paris every weekend to invade Britain en masse to eat great food and drink great wine.

Robin Leach

We have a busy week here at the store with two Burgundy tastings back to back and then our big Blow out this Friday with over 30 wines from Chile and Argentina on the table here at the Wine Watch.

I feel a bit strange talking about a cooking class on Tuesday evening but next Thursday is the Wine Watch & New Times Pairing Event at the Broward Convention center so we switched the cooking class to Tuesday night next week.

Join Oliver and company for their 21th season of cooking classes. Chef Oliver's innovative and inspirational style of cooking and teaching enables participants to leave with greatly enhanced cooking skills and a better understanding of modern culinary principles. Plus, you'll learn the "how to's" of simplifying home entertaining. For those who have not attended a class, we set the room for 5:00 PM every 2nd or 3rd Thursday of the month and hold an open forum culinary demonstration. Oliver is joined by chef Danielle Herring and expert wine sommelier Andrew Lampasone (of the Wine Watch) providing valuable information on food & wine pairings and other interesting winery particulars. Each class is then followed by a sit-down dinner and wine tasting, sampling the foods we've just prepared (it's really more like "Eater-Tainment). Cost for this event is $65 + tax + gratuity for reservations call 954-782-0606.

Italian Seafood Cooking Class at Cafe Maxx
Tuesday, September 11, 2012
5:00 PM

Menu

Yellowfin tuna carpaccio with garlic-lemon aioli, herb & caper confetti arugula and crostini

Lobster ravioli with double basil & garlic “scampi” butter sauce

Tuscan jumbo lump crab cake, peppadew-tomato salsa & olive remoulade

Italian seafood risotto with shrimp, scallops, calamari, mussels and clams

Pine nut crusted grouper, sundried tomato polenta
garlic broccolini and creamy tomato basil sauce

Wines To Taste:

The idea behind our wine choices for this event is not to show you a wine that pairs with each course but rather to show you four different wines that have characteristics that may work with some of the foods but maybe not others.  This way you get to see potentially good as well as potentially bad food and wine pairings. 

2008 Clendenen Family Tocai Friulano Santa Maria Valley
List Price: $15.00               Sale $13.20          Case $153

This aromatic white varietal is from the Friuli-Venezia Giulia region of Italy and is know today simply as Fruilano. This aromatic white has aromas of peaches and apricot with hibiscus flower and tangerine citrus notes.

2011 Veramonte Ritual Sauvignon Blanc
List Price: $15.00               Sale $13.20          Case $153

Only the finest estate-grown fruit from vineyard blocks known to produce intense fruit flavors and higher acidity are chosen for this wine. The resulting wine is medium bodied, featuring a rounder, more textural mouth feel with balanced acidity. Intense flavors of ripe tropical fruit mingle with hints of citrus in structured complexity from 5 months of French Oak aging. The experience ends with a long, smooth finish.

2007 Buena Vista Pinot Noir Carneros
List Price: $21.50               Sale Price: $11.25             Case $135

A hint of smoke and all-spice to the black raspberry and cherry fruit on the nose along with a strong earthy character. Still has nice light red raspberry like fruit on the tongue with silky smooth tannins, a lighter style Pinot Noir with nice freshness and a good bit of spice on the finish with just a bit of that earthy quality from the nose showing on the finish. Finish 35 Very Good

2004 Clendenen Family Vineyards Petite Verdot Bien Nacido
List Price: $29.00               Sale $25.52          Sale $296

Long considered a mere blending grape in Bordeaux, Petit Verdot is far and away the most successful Bordeaux varietal for Santa Maria Valley. Jim uses a slow, complete extraction fermentation in small, open-topped cuves, malolactic fer- mentation, and three years of aging in 50% new Taransaud; fined but bottled unfiltered. Lovely Bordeaux characteristics, pronounced floral notes and medium, dusty tannins; impressive while young but with the structure to age 5-10 years.