Good Wine Cheap
Real men do eat quiche. This month's recipe entails bacon, eggs, cheese, onions and green peppers. What else could make up a more manly snack during the half time of your favorite football game? And, if you want to break away briefly from the Molson's, we have a couple of wines that should complement the dish very nicely.
The wines this time are from our recent trip past Cayuga Lake in New York's Finger Lakes. Both wines are 100% from the Cayuga grape developed at the Geneva experimental station. The first is from Hosmer Winery. Their 2001 Cayuga White is an elegant semi-dry wine. It is light and fruity with a subtle floral nose. This wine is unusual in its complexity. There are hints of apricot and pineapple across the mouth; and, there is the right balance of acidity to cut across the 2.6% residual sugar and dry the finish. This is wonderful wine for only $8 a bottle.
The second wine is the 2001 Cayuga White from Lake Shore Winery. This is a very different wine from the first. It is lightly oaked, quite fruity but with a distinctively herbal and spice taste and nose. While this wine has less residual sugar than the first, the fruitiness makes it seem as sweet as if not more so than the first. The wine is a particularly good match with a zesty Asian stir fry. It is reasonably priced at $7 a bottle at the winery.
Bacon and Green Chili Quiche (from June 1996 Bon Appetit)
Ingredients: 1 refrigerated pie crust (room temperature); 8 strips bacon; a 4 ounce can of diced green chilies, drained; 4 green onions, chopped; 1 cup shredded Monterey Jack cheese (about 4 ounces); 1 cup shredded sharp cheddar cheese; 1 ¼ cups half and half; 4 eggs; ½ tsp. salt
Preheat oven to 425 F. Unfold crust. Using wet finger tips, press together any tears. Press crust into 9 inch deep dish pie plate. Press foil over crust to hold shape. Bake 5 minutes. Remove from oven; remove foil. Reduce temperature to 400F.
Cook bacon in heavy skillet over a medium high heat until crisp and brown. Transfer to paper towel and drain. Crumble bacon. Sprinkle bacon, chilies and green onion over crust. Combine the cheeses and sprinkle over crust. Beat half and half, eggs and salt in a bowl to blend; and add this mixture into crust.
Bake quiche until knife inserted in center comes out clean, about 45 minutes. Let quiche stand 5 minutes. Cut quiche into wedges and serve. Serves 6 as a main course or 12 as an appetizer.
I hope that you will contact me with your comments and your favorite wines. I will be happy to share them with the broader Mensa group.
John is a member of Mensa of Northeastern New York. He lives with his wife Sharon in the Hudson Valley of New York.