Claire and I are back at it again! This time, I’m pairing wine to…wait for it…

NEIGHBORHOODS. Neighborhoods in this fair city of Los Angeles, of course. In each episode of this series, I’ll be visiting a friend that lives in a different nabe and they’ll show me around to all their favorite spots. Then we’ll get down with some sort of vino that I think perfectly fits with them and that neck of the woods. First up? West Hollywood, playa.

Wine: NV Sommariva Prosecco. My dear spritz friend. It’s under $15 bucks and darn good. When I make an Aperol Spritz, it’s always with this wine.

Check out all our previous videos here or on our Vimeo channel. Wanna know what our next video is? Pairing wine to Venice Beach with Joy the Baker! Stay tuned.

On The Lamb touched down again yesterday to officially ring in the new year with a good luck brunch. We served 4 courses of yummy stuff and I started everyone off with a cocktail- what I’m going to call the Winter Citrus Dreamsicle Fizz. Where my love of push-up pops and prosecco collide.

I needed sherbet to make this drink happen and I had never attempted to make one before. So, why not give it a shot? I followed NY Times recipe tester Jill Santopietro’s video and recipe for Tangerine Sherbet. I adapted it a bit. See the recipe below with my substitutions.

1/2 teaspoon gelatin
2 1/4 pounds tangerines ( I used pomelos, oranges and sweet lemons)
1/2 cup sugar (I used just a little over a 1/4 cup)
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup heavy cream, chilled. (I used 1/2 heavy cream and 1/2 coconut milk)

Check the video for how to bring it all together and how to make it without an ice cream maker! Also- I recommend leaving in some of the orange zest (Jill’s recipe calls for straining it out). It makes the drink, well, prettier and gives added citrus flavor and aromas as the sherbet melts in the glass.

To compose the drink, it’s pretty darn simple. Scoop sherbet with melon baller or small ice cream scoop, drop in champagne flute. Top with prosecco (I used one of my favorites- Sommariva) and float a few drops of orange blossom water right on the crest of the bubbles.

Inspiration always strikes in the most unexpected places. Like the back of my closet. Or a cluttered shelf in my kitchen cabinet.

I stumbled upon a scarf. This scarf has been with me for many years, a purchase from a Brooklyn thrift store when I first moved to New York. It’s traveled in suitcases, boxes and bags across the country and back. And there it remains hanging silently on a wooden peg in my Los Angeles closet. Meanwhile in my kitchen- another forgotten gem. This vintage Italian mini ice bucket.

Oh darling, how could I ever forget ye? Such a beauty. I mean who doesn’t need their own personal mini ice carrier. At all times. I picked this up at at vintage shop in Echo Park and have definitely not used it enough. Those two items then lead me to this…

Throw in that bottle of prosecco in my fridge and some fresh juicy raspberries…and we’ve arrived at an Italian Kir Royale. A Cassis Spritz, perhaps?

Muddle some berries with the cassis, add some ice and a healthy dose of prosecco and we’ve created quite a nice aperitivo for ourselves. You can now find me daily on the front porch with the scarf around my neck, a glass of this in one hand and my little ice bucket in the other.

It’s that time again. Time for some wine and some fashion- Fall fashion. Who’s ready for some sipping with their scarves and sweaters on? {collective hand raise} Here we go!

She’s the life of the party. She’s definitely Italian. She’ll flirt with anything that walks. She always has 2 things in her hands: a cigarette and a flute filled with this prosecco.

She’s smart. She always has perfect shiny hair and doesn’t need a touch of makeup. She shops at the farmer’s market. She can bake a really great strawberry rhubarb pie from scratch.

She’s a bit of a gypsy. She loves old black and white films. Her favorite city is Paris. She always wears red lipstick. Always.

And, of course, the beauty shot (of the Lioco)…

A screw cap never looked so good.

PS- The Lioco Indica is the perfect Fall rosé. It’s fantastic on its own, but a great base for a super fancy sangria. Check out The Kitchy Kitchen’s Rhubarb Pink Peppercorn Sangria recipe that Claire whipped up after an inspired conversation the two of us had while sipping this wine.

Where to buy the vino: You can get the rosé right now at DomaineLA and because Jill got such a great a deal on it she is practically giving this stuff away the price is so good ($11!!). And while you’re there you can pick up the Enfer D’Arvier. For the prosecco- head to Rosso Wine Shop!

Us On The Lamb ladies were hired to put together a Puglian wine tasting yesterday. Puglia! The clients had just returned from an amazing trip to the Southern part of the region and wanted to celebrate and remember the adventure. Since I just traveled there a few shorts weeks before them, it was  right up my alley (or should I say, vicolo.)

I chose 4 wines from Puglia to taste and Rachel threw down some delicious food pairings for the most spectacular aperitivo hour ever. In history. My friend Ginger just happens to be the importer for Castel di Salve which is the winery these fine folks actually visited and fell in love with while in Puglia. How perfect! I presented 3 of their wines along with a Malvasia from Vinosia.

The pairings! Let’s get to it:

• Prosecco toast with grape & rosemary focaccia. Also house pickled walnuts and zucchini with lupini beans, olives, rosemary and orange peel to nibble on.
• Wine 1: 2007 Vinosia Malvasia with peach and burrata caprese topped with chiffonade of basil and Puglian olive oil.

Wine 2: 2009 Castel di Salve Santi Medici rosato (100% negroamaro) with zucchini fritters topped with arugula ricotta cream, heirloom tomato, fried scallion and key lime zest (tomato and key lime foraged from the client’s backyard!)

Wine 3: 2009 Castel di Salve Armécolo (80% negroamaro, 20% malvasia nera) with homemade black olive, onion & roasted cherry tomato flatbreads complete with fried anchovy.

Wine 4: 2007 Castel di Salve Cento su Cento (100% primitivo) with handmade orecchiette in slow braised lamb ragu finished with 12 yr aged pecorino. I must say- this pairing knocked our collective socks off. And I also must say- I made the orecchiette (with Rachel’s guidance) and am giving myself a rather large pat on the back. The lamb ragu though….damn. I could bathe in that stuff.

Sorry for the lack of more food porn pictures, but I was a busy bee working and the natural light quickly dwindled….but I think it’s safe to say everyone had a great time and, most importantly, full and happy bellies.

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Where to buy: the Vinosia malvasia and Sommariva prosecco can be found at Rosso Wine Shop. The Castel di Salve Armécolo (my fav) can be purchased at Domaine LA, as well as Venokado (they have the full Castel di Salve line-up.)

Every month, Foodbuzz.com chooses 24 bloggers from their Featured Publisher network (see that ad in the right column of the screen?) to cook/prepare drinks/organize an event and write a blog post about it in 24 hours on the 24th day of the month. I decided to submit a proposal and I was one of the lucky 24 chosen. What was that proposal, you ask? Brunch. Not only brunch- possibly the best category of meal- but, brunch 2 ways; a traditional version and its modern twist counterpart. Along with two of my dearest friends and business partners, Joy and Rachel, we set out to make 3 courses with 2 versions of each course both paired with drinks. So…3 square(d) brunch.

After a week of rain, every. single. day. in Los Angeles (writing that sentence is even difficult), I woke up to hear birds chirping and to see- wait, what was that?- oh right… sunshine. Hallelujah. I don’t know about you, but a gorgeous day on a weekend screams eggs, toast, crispy pork products and a slight afternoon buzz. With a gaggle of friends and nothing but time, I think you’ve got yourself one perfect brunch. And by one perfect brunch, I mean this one.

For the classics, we decided to tackle potato latke with smoked salmon, french eggs en cocotte and doughnuts. The fun task was deciding how to reinvent these dishes and what “brunch” beverages would best complement all of them side by side.

First course: the latke. To oppose the classic potato latke with smoked salmon, chive and creme fraiche we prepared, Joy cooked up a mean zucchini pancake topped with Rachel’s darjeeling tea poached cod and a cumin creme fraiche. Many people said this was their favorite dish of the day. To pair with this course, I thought some bubbles would be the best way to get the meal going. The one drink almost synonymous with brunch is the mimosa. So, for the classic pairing, I chose an organic Spanish cava mixed with fresh squeezed heirloom orange (and a smidge of blood orange) juice. To go along with the delicious zucchini pancakes, I crafted what I call the limonosa; fresh meyer lemon juice, elderflower soda and one of my favorite proseccos. Really bright, floral and great with the zucchini and fish.

2nd course: eggs! Rachel chose eggs en cocotte for the classic side of the plate. She infused cream with shallots and thyme and added that to individual ramekins with a single egg. The spin on that, was an egg and creamy polenta combo served in a crispy prosciutto cup. Yum. And thus, the time had come for the ultimate brunch beverage: the Bloody Mary. Our standard (but dangerously good) version of the Bloody involved beef broth, celery seed, Cholula and a ton of horseradish among other fine ingredients. The modern twist was born from celery soda inspiration. Rachel had tried Dr. Brown’s Cel-ray soda once upon a time and declared it delicious. So to that, we simply added tomato and lemon juice to create our Bubbly Mary. The vodka used in both Marys was a delightful organic bottling from Minnesota’s Phillips Distilling. Fantastic label!

3rd course: the sweet stuff!  Joy put her outstanding baking skills to use and whipped up some mighty fine doughnuts. Doughnut holes, really, and when something is in bite-size form doesn’t that make it 10 times more face stuff-able and scrumptious? Yes, I agree. She made a traditional cinnamon sugar and a spiced sweet potato covered in powdered sugar. To pair with those delectable bites and to end the meal- coffee. Rachel “cooked” up some cold brew the night before steeping coffee grinds, cacao nibs and cardamom in water. It was filtered, blended with a touch of almond milk and put over ice. To accompany the sweet potato doughnuts, Joy made a hot chocolate of sorts infused with cinnamon and red chilies. Add a few pulls of espresso and some cream and you have yourself one hell of a drink. Most everyone at the table asked for seconds.

All in all, a seriously delightful day. I hope it inspires you to craft up your very own brunch extravaganza. For all of the drink recipes, see below. Cheers!

*A giant thank you to Molly and Tyler for letting us take over their lovely home (and de-luxe kitchen!)  And to all of our friends who came out to share a beautiful day of delicious food & drink with us: Katie, Abel, Soledad, Cris, Adam and Asher…and last but not least, our brunch mascot Willy.

Recipes

Each recipe makes roughly 6 servings

Mimosa

Pretty straightforward…

• Juice 8 medium-large oranges. I threw a blood orange into the mix. Get crazy and mix in half ruby red grapefruit, pomelo or tangerine.
• In each glass add 2 parts juice to 1 part sparkling wine. I used Barcino cava ($14 at Silverlake Wine)
• Garnish with citrus- mini kishus or Cutie clementines are fun.

Limonosa

• Juice 4 meyer lemons (meyer lemons are less tart than standard lemons)
• To each glass add 1 part lemon juice, 1 part Sweet Blossom elderflower soda and 2 parts sparkling wine. I used Sommariva prosecco ($14.75 at Silverlake Wine). Prosecco is a good one to use here because it naturally has really nice floral aromatics and a light lemony taste.
• Finish with a meyer lemon twist dropped into the glass

Bloody Mary by Rachel

• Base: 3 cups beef broth, 1 full container (3 cups) Pomi brand strained tomatoes
• 3 Tbsp worcestershire, 2 Tbsp horseradish, 1 1/2 tsp celery seed, 3 tsp each of salt and black pepper, Cholula or Tapatio (or your fav.) hot sauce to taste.
• 1 oz. vodka per glass
• Finish with a squeeze  of lemon and garnish with celery (and pickled okra- Rachel is a big fan)

Bubbly Mary by Rachel

• Base: 2/3 container of Pomi strained tomatoes, 2 cups water
• Dr. Brown’s Cel-Ray celery soda (add to taste to each glass)
• 1 oz vodka per glass
• a squeeze of lemon juice in each glass over ice

Cold-Brewed Cacao Nib Coffee by Rachel

In a pitcher or jar add:

• 1 1/2 cups coffee grinds
• 5 cups water
• 1/2 cup cacao nibs
• 5 lightly crushed cardamom pods
• 2 Tbsp vanilla sugar (or any sugar you like)

Let it sit covered for at least 12 hours up to 24. Filter it twice by placing a coffee filter in a funnel over a clean jar and pouring the mixture through. Pour the strained liquid through the same filter and grinds a second time to fully extract flavor and remove any unwanted extra bits left in the coffee.

Add almond milk to taste and serve over ice

Mexican Chocolate Coffee by Joy

(made 8 espresso sized cups, with everyone getting seconds)