August 20, 2009 - Alamosa Wine Cellar Showcased at our 3rd Wine Exploration Dinner

If you intended to go to July's wine Exploration Dinner you missed a good time, great food and some of the best wine the W.O.W. Wineries has to offer. It's going to be difficult to top July's experience but we'll give it our best effort. So...what's on our plate this month?

• Amuse Bouche: pan seared sea scallop with braised leeks golden chanterelle mushrooms
• Appetizer: beef carpaccio extra virgin oil, cracked pepper, lemon juice, capers
• Salad: Windy Hill organic greens, anjou pears, candied walnuts, Pure Luck goat cheese, raspberry vinaigrette
• Intermezzo: pear and grappa - sorbetto
• Main course: dijon crusted lamb chops, wilted spinach and wild mushroom napoleon
• Dessert: french apple tart

We will post the tasting notes for this dinner from Alamosa Wine Cellars soon. Watch this space!!!!!!!!

Meanwhile we serve Alamosa's Texacaia in The Turtle Enoteca - A blend of Sangiovese, Syrah and Tempranillo, Texacaia is our Super Texan! Pronounced: Tex-uh-ki-ya Look for the contributions from all three grapes: the cherry of Sangiovese, the blackberry and pepper from the Syrah and Tempranillo’s blueberry and leather. Great with a variety of foods…true to Sangiovese’s versatility, but try with Italian dishes with tomato and meat sauces or smoked pork with mushrooms.

Scissortail - Roussanne, Viognier, and Marsanne from Cherokee Creek Vineyards, High Valley Block, comprise this unique (for Texas) blend. A typical combination in the Rhone Valley, this wonderful wine reflects our limestone soils and sun drenched vineyards. It has a tribute to the Scissortail Flycatcher bird on the label…the latest in their Texas Icon series of wines.

El Guapo - Tempranillo Blueberries, juniper, chocolate and leather with rich fruit and supple tannins. This is ALamosa wine Cellar's most talked-about wine, written up in Wine Spectator, Gourmet, Saveur and others. Serve it with a grilled steak and portabellas, a rack of lamb, beef tenderloin or game. Follow up with flourless choclate cake or dark chocolate gelato and continue with the El Guapo for a perfect match.

So don't miss out make your reservation here. Fill in the date August 20, 2009 7:00 p.m. and indicate the number of guests. The cost is $65.00 per person. A round of tastings is included. Additional glasses of wine are $8.00 each. Oh.......and tell your friends!!

Meet Your Local Bird Banders - Public Presentation Saturday July 25 3:00 pm

Every summer interns from various parts of the world visit our Gelateria and restaurant from the MAPS Program. I knew they were studying our bird population but never had a chance to interact with them or understand what it is that they do here other than catch birds in nets and band them. This year three young women are in Brownwood from the Institute for Bird Populations and they are going to present an informational program on the MAPS Program and birds found at Camp Bowie. Camp Bowie is one of 500 banding stations through out the US. monitored by the Institute for Bird Populations.

"The Monitoring Avian Productivity and Survivorship (MAPS) Program was created by The Institute for Bird Populations in 1989. This program was designed to assess and monitor the vital rates and population dynamics of over 120 species of North American landbirds in order to provide critical conservation and management information on their populations through various publication. The MAPS Program utilizes constant-effort mist netting and banding at a continent-wide network of monitoring stations."

Read Stephanie's Blog Birdy Words and Whims for the gorgeous pictures and descriptions of our local birds or

Meet Your Local Bird Banders at:
The Turtle Restaurant
514 Center Ave
On Saturday July 25
Public Presentation 3:00PM

July 16, 2009 The Second Edition of Wine Exploration Dinners at The Turtle Restaurant: Red Caboose

Mark your calendar on July 16, 2009 then climb aboard for the second edition of our Wine Exploration Dinner with Red Caboose Winery and their vintner Evan McKibben. Red Caboose Winery is the newest winery in the Northern Growing Region of Texas and the very first winery in Bosque County. Red Caboose uses the latest energy-saving technology: geothermal cooling and chilling, PV arrays for generating clean electricity and rainwater collection are only a few features that make Red Caboose green.

Evan will be presenting his Cabernet 07, winner of a Grand Star and Gold medals in the 2009 Lone Star International Wine Competition and his Merlot 06, a silver winner at the 2009 Dallas Morning New Wine Competition. Plus, we will be making something desserty with his sweet Blanc du Bois. For reservations go to www.theturtlerestaurant.com and enter July 16, 2009 7:00 pm on the reservation form.

Menu

Panzanella

Pan Seared Chilean Sea Bass - parpadelle, farm vegetables, lemon, capers

Asian Greens - bamboo shoots, water chestnuts, daiko, pine nuts, sweet sesame vinaigrette

Steak Au Poivre - chateau potatoes, baby carrots

Red Caboose Cheesecake

The first four courses will be served with 2oz tastings of Tempranillo Syrah blend, Viognier, Blanc du Bosque and their gold medal Cabernet Sauvignon.

$65.00 per person additional glasses of wine $10.00 each

Chicken Purses and Hearses Too

On the 21st of June, we hosted Wine Enthusiast writer Lisa Rogak and State of Texas Wine Marketing Director, Bobbie Champion as they toured the Way Out Wineries in our neck of the woods. I suffer a little fear and trepidation when meeting the unknown. I was the kid who worried about flunking out of kindergarten before the first day. I wondered, "will we meet their expectations? Will we be good enough?" We are self conscious knowing we are new at this wine gig. Our wine storage room is unfinished with boxes on the floor and my grandchildrens' toys strewn about. So my staff and I waited anxiously, ready or not, for their arrival.

We laid out a spread from our Enoteca menu on the bar including all of our pizzas, Al Diavalo, Caramelized Onion and Goat Cheese, Quattro Fromaggi, Mellanzanna, Prosciutto and Rocket, Margarita and held our breath as they tasted each one, chose their wines and declared their favorites. As they explored our food, I tried to explore our guests. Lisa is effervescent, overflowing with ideas and bizarre interests like funerary museums. She is someone who loads her hearse with musical instruments - the accordion and double bass. Michelle, my head waitress, coveted Lisa's rubber chicken purse. This lead to the discovery that Lisa is a fan of the hilarious Wallace and Gromit cartoons, owning a Shaun the Sheep purse as well. We gave Bobbie and Lisa the Grand Tour of the property, I wished we had more time and lived next door.

Announcing The Turtle's Wine Exploration Dinners

On June 18th, 2009 at 7:00pm The Turtle Restaurant will have the first in it's series of Wine Exploration Dinners featuring W.O.W. (Way Out Wineries), a group of wineries located here in central Texas. We invite you to have dinner with Barking Rocks' vintner, Tiberia. He is going to release his 2005 cabernet sauvignon made with grapes from the high plains. With this wine in mind our Chef, Thomas Vezina, has created a special menu for the evening consisting of

• Amuse Bouche - Beef Tenderloin, mushroom deuxelle in cabernet sauce
• Terrine of Lamb
• Windy Hill Organics Greens, apples, walnuts, gorgonzola, raspberry vinaigrette
• Veal Osso Bucco
• Gateau Noix walnut tart from St Paul de Vence

The cost is $65.00 per person and includes two glasses of "to be released" Barking Rocks Cabernet. Reservations may be had by calling The Turtle Restaurant 325-646-8200 or on line at the website http://www.theturtlerestaurant.com/ choose the date June 18, 2009. Tiberia will be on hand to discuss his wines and take orders.

The Turtle Enoteca serves other Barking Rocks wines by the taste, glass and bottle including 2004 Cabernet Sauvignon Reserve - Quail Ridge high plains grapes - A plum nose and wonderful berry toasted oak flavors with a great tannin structure.

2004 Sangiovese - Newsom grapes Bright and rich with notes of raspberry and spice. 2007 Lone Star International Wine Competition medal.

Little Red Wine in Hood 90% Syrah, 10% Blanc du Bois. Friendly, light bodied wine with subtle hints of white pepper and cherry.

2005 Viognier - Comanche, TX grapes Complex and full bodied white wine with notes of oak, anise and tangerine.

We hope you will join us for dinner or in our wine bar.

Take A Road Trip Through The North Hill Country

The New York Times recently named the Texas Hill Country as the number-one place to visit.


"Traveling this summer may sound like a cruel joke: airlines are getting worse, gas prices are creeping toward $5 a gallon and the euro continues to go up, up, up. It's almost enough to make you stay home." The northern rim of the Hill County is even closer to home. Food writer Claudia Alarcon described her North Hill Country Road trip in the summer issue of Edible Austin as being "full of undiscovered food and adventure treasures."

We would like to invite you, dear readers, to explore Coleman, Santa Anna, Brownwood, Rising Star, Comanche, Dublin this summer. There is something for everyone from Lake Brownwood to a wine tasting tour of the wineries in the region. Instead of going to Italy this summer, go to Brownwood, home of the Turtle Gelateria maker of superb artisan gelato (Italian ice cream) and sorbettos. Everyone knows about Dr. Pepper Dublin but they also need to discover some of the world's best hard cheeses, hand made by the Veldhuizen family. Stay in a Tipi at Star of Texas Bed and Breakfast or cuddle in one of their darling cottages.

You don't have to go to Hollywood to visit the site of a movie. The independent flick, World Without Waves, was shot on the Colorado River half way between Brownwood and San Saba at the Regency Suspension Bridge, also the inspiration for a new CD titled "The Gospel According to Regency" by Joel Melton. Not sure of an exact release date yet, but be sure to sign up for the newsletter and you'll be one of the first to know. The original song "Leroy in Valle Hermoso", written by Joel, is being made into a movie short film. The Producer, Troy Campbell of Collection Agency Films, has enlisted the help of many of Austin's finest in film to accomplish a fleshed out and exciting version of the song that will be worthy of entering film festivals. The lead will be played by longtime Austin singer/songwriter extrodonare, Beaver Nelson. A small but pivitol roll of 'The Priest' will be played by Austin's own songwriter/singer/composer/performer/Italian cooking instructor...Michael Fracasso. You won't go hungry or become bored when you travel a little bit closer to home this summer

The Keifer Pear

As you walk around your neighborhood in October you may have noticed fence line or alley trees loaded with large heavy hard pears. You reach up and pick one as the tree limbs are breaking under their load. You take a bite. It’s gritty, sweet but not too. The texture resembles a potato more than a pear. It is a Keiffer Pear though some think it is far from pearish. “... I doubt the Keiffer is nearer being a pear than a mule is being a horse. I think the quince is the father of one and the jackass the other.” (from the Annual Report of the Ohio State Board of Agriculture 1895) Actually the parents were not mules nor horses but the oriental Sand Pear and the european Bartlett with the help of accidental midwife Peter Keiffer.

Mr. Keiffer was an Alsacian who had worked for twelve years in the garden of the King of France before immigrating to the United States. In 1853 he planted a small nursery in Roxborough near Philadelphia. Keiffer imported much of his stock from the Belgian nursery Van Houten including Chinese Sand Pear seed. He sold saplings of the Sand Pear as an ornamental. Keiffer also grew Bartlett Pears. One day he noticed a seedling with unusual foliage so he saved it.

The Sand Pear has large beautiful flowers, almost inedible “sandy” fruit but is hardy and fire blight resistant. This made it a perfect mate for the weak but buttery european Bartlett. The seedling which Keiffer saved produced pear tasty enough that he gave them away to friends. Thirteen years later Peter Keiffer entered his new pear in the Philadelphia Centennial Exhibition of 1876 where one of the judges, a nursery man by the name of William Parry, paid Keiffer for a few graftings. Mr. Parry recognized the commercial value of Keiffer’s pear. The reason the Ohioan Aggie quoted above disparaged the Keiffer was on account of how prolific it was - which he feared would lower pear prices, and the fact that it was fire blight resistant so it grew in Gulf states which might take away market share from northern growers of fancy older european pears like the Bartlett. He was more interested in protecting his market than introducing new fruits to the world.

Peter Keiffer died in 1890 but his pear lived on, though in this modern age the Keiffer is rarely seen in the grocery store. Many productive 90 year old pears stand next to farm house ruins.
American Heirloom Pears are extremely rare 19th and 20th century pears of American origin including the Keiffer. The Keiffer pear we found in our alley is on the Southwest Regis-Tree of endangered or rare fruits and nuts, and listed on Slow Food USA’s Ark of Taste as one of 28 rare varieties of pears. “The Ark of Taste seeks, first and foremost, to save an economic, social and cultural heritage - a universe of animal breeds, fruit and vegetables, cured meats, cheese, cereals, pastas, cakes and confectionery.” As Michael Pollan, author of Botany of Desire says, “Slow Food recognizes that the best place to preserve biological and cultural diversity is not in museums, or zoos but, as it were, on our plates: by finding new markets for precious-but-obscure foodstuffs.” This attention to food is not the gourmet-driven pursuit of a culinary elite, but a grass-roots movement to save that which is most precious to us all—the unassailable pleasure of food grown with respect for the earth, and for the people who grow and eat it.

Last fall, our egg and honey supplier, Nouvella Newman, brought me two bushels full of Keiffer Pears which grew on her ranch. The tree was planted when the ranch was first homesteaded - right after Parry's nursery went into the Keifer Pear mail order business. Nouvella had so many pears she didn’t know what to do with them and was feeding them to her livestock. She wondered what I could make with them suggesting that we could make jam. I could feel the sandy texture in my mouth and while the fruit was sweet it was bland. I kept thinking potato or jicama, then I recalled a recipe from Bernard Clayton’s 1978 classic cookbook, Bread’s Of France, which used pears. The recipe produces a marvelous slightly sweet bread that goes especially well with cheeses, or toasted and buttered with jam. The freshly ground black pepper adds just the right amount of zip, hardly noticeable but important.

Because fruit flys had started to attack the pears we turned them into puree, froze the puree in bread batch portions and put Pepper Pear French Toast on our brunch menu. I form the bread into two pound coronas so our french toast is presented in two beautiful wedges. It will be several more months before we run out of Keiffer Pear Puree and then we will anticipate fall.