What's Cooking?

[ness]

So, last weekend we did a little jaunt out to the Flint Hills in Kansas. Just like everywhere else, there are wineries popping up in Kansas. We saw some signs for Prairie Fire Winery so we pulled off the highway and trekked down the long, rough road to the place. Expectations were pretty low, and the place didn't look like a serious winery when we pulled up. More like a couple houses and an outbuilding or two. We debated about turning back, but there were a bunch of cars and folks milling around so that built up our courage and we went on in for a tasting.

We ended up paired with the vintner's wife, who was an engaging lady that was happy to share everything there was to know about the wines and the winery. Her husband was from France and they had moved to Kansas some time back and decided to start a winery. She really knew her stuff. I always like it when I meet a small business owner who is really doing everything they can to produce a great product, and I really got that feeling from talking to her.  They're obviously in it for the long haul because they were planting several thousand new vines the day we were there. Along the way I mentioned I had taken French in high school, so she challenged me to pronounce her last name: DesRuisseaux. I nailed it

We started off with a couple white wines. They were well made, but not really my cup-o-tea, so we moved on to the reds. We asked for dry reds and she steered us to three of those. First one was a Chambourcin, which is a pretty common grape variety in the midwest. The first words out of my mouth were, 'Wow! You guys did great job with that.' Similar to a Merlot I guess, it was rich, a little fruity and had spent a good amount of time in oak. The second was a Frotenac. Similar to a Pinot Noir, with lighter with more fruitiness and no oak. That's the one we brought home. Third was a Noiret which she warned us was a leetle different. And it was

Anyhoo, nice  to find this little gem out in the rocky Flint Hills. Just thought I'd share here.

A little taste of the Flint Hills:

 

[ness]

Huevos Rancheros, baby:

 

Those tortillas were made according to the recipe on the bag. Water, masa, salt. They were like eating cardboard. I need to find a recipe with a little fat in it. Anybody ever do this? I've seen a couple recipes, but the vast majority are just like the one I did. 

[Chief Grey Bear]

I used that same Masa when I made my tamales. I thought it tasted authentic. But I'm not an authentic Mexican, so take that for what it's worth. 

I thought I put some lard in mine. Did you?

[ness]

No lard. It needed fat. 

[BilletHead]

  Our neighbor made flour tortillas. She added some fat, goose fat. Wonder where she got that? . She said they turned out very good.

BilletHead

[Chief Grey Bear]

Uh oh!

sorry if they're twisted

 

[rps]

http://www.rickbayless.com/recipe/corn-tortillas/

[joeD]

Two years from now, you will still have that bag of masa Ness.

 

 

[rps]

Hey guys. I was out of town over the weekend, but came back Sunday afternoon.

To celebrate I made a batch of tabbouleh and seared some shrimp with Mediterranean spices.

 

[ness]

7 hours ago, joeD said:

Two years from now, you will still have that bag of masa Ness.

 

 

Ha!

So, I bought that tortilla press on Amazon and that's when I bought that bag off masa and tried this the first time. Just looked -- it was February 2014