Monthly Archives: April 2013

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Recipe: Leftover Ham Casserole

534062_10151607459672953_1949038580_nI totally forgot to tell you about a simple way I found to use up some of that leftover ham I had from Easter – I turned it into a Leftover Ham Casserole!

I chopped up three redskin potatoes into cubes and simmered them in some water until they were almost cooked, but not falling apart yet.  I tossed them in a pie plate with some frozen corn kernels, and some cubes of leftover ham.

I then made a simple cheese sauce using 1T butter, 1T flour, some James River Cellars Reserve Chardonnay (since that’s what I had in the fridge… I was using the white wine that we served for our Easter dinner, so use whatever wine you like best) and let the sauce cook and bubble for a bit to cook out the flour taste.  I decided to add a handful of asiago cheese and a touch of shredded cheddar to make the cheese sauce.  Once incorporated and smooth, I poured this over the base of the casserole and topped it with more shredded cheddar.

The photo on the right shows how the cheese melted and made dinner look yummy when it came out of the oven.  I baked the casserole at 350 degrees for about 30 minutes until it was cooked through.  This was a huge hit with everyone in our house!

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I got to help work a VWA event!

Yesterday, my friend Lynne and I were  privileged to attend a VWA (Virginia Wineries Association) Governor’s Cup Seminar at Chateau Morrisette in Floyd, VA.  This seminar is, from what I understand, organized as a way for wine industry people around the state to experience and learn about the wines that won high honors in the Governor’s Cup competition.  There are a number of these seminars that are organized by the VWA… what a fabulous experience for someone who loves wine as much as I do!

ChateauMorrisette VWA event

Chateau Morrisette was the host for this specific event on April 23, 2013.  Sally, the vivacious woman who runs their events and festivals, couldn’t have been more hospitable or gracious.  Since we had a few unforeseeable snafus, we could have all been on edge and anxious about the event, but having someone so capable and generous with the resources of her facility made things flow effortlessly.

Jay Youmans of The Capital Wine School  was the host and did an amazing job of explaining the background of the competition, the particulars of these events, and even stepping in to discuss his own findings on each wine if there was no one there to represent a specific winery or vineyard.  I had the pleasure of listening to him discuss the 2012 Governor’s Cup wines a few months ago and learning about this new case of stellar wines was again a treat.  He is the consummate professional but has a great sense of humor… if you ever have a chance to take a class from him at his wine school in Bethesda, I would highly recommend the experience.

The challenge for Lynne and me came when we found out that the Executive Director of the VWA wasn’t going to be able to make it to the event… she had a flat tire and couldn’t possibly make the four hour drive in time for the Seminar’s 1PM start. Once we knew that she was okay and got all the informational emails about setting up the event, we set off for Chateau Morrisette.  Thankfully, we were already in the area (with two cases of the Governor’s Cup wines), having taken the opportunity to drive out and visit another winery on our way, so we were able to head over to the winery early to start setting up.

These seminars are pretty amazing.  Each place setting has twelve wine glasses set, one for a taste of each of the twelve wines in the Governor’s Case.  Since the other glitch resulted in our needing to use the winery’s glasses, Lynne set about placing Chateau Morrisette’s glasses on each individual’s placemats (1-6, then 7-12) while I opened the wines that we brought with us.  The concerted effort of Sally (pulled into service to find the 348 needed glasses for the 24 registered attendees + her 5 staff members), Lynne (getting mats, glasses, water bottles, spit buckets, and napkins for each place setting), Jay (setting up all his AV equipment and quality-testing/smelling each wine to make sure nothing was corked or undrinkable), and myself (opening bottles and then pouring the individual tastes of wine with Jay’s help), we were able to help host a relaxed, enjoyable, and informative afternoon for all who attended.

I had a wonderful time at this VWA Governor’s Cup Seminar and am so glad I was able to attend.  If you ever have the opportunity to attend one of these events, please take the time to do so.  It is educational and fun – well worth the time to learn more about the amazing wines that part of each year’s Governor’s Cup Case of wines.  For more information on the Virginia Governor’s Cup Wine Competition, check out: Governor’s Cup 2013

Here are the wines we tasted, in order of offering:

2008 Trump Winery – Sparkling Rose

2009 Pollak Vineyards – Cabernet Franc Reserve

2009 Lovingston Winery – Josies Knoll Estate Reserve

2010 King Family Vineyards – Meritage

2010 RdV Vineyards – Rendezvous

2010 Philip Carter Winery – Cleve

2010 Rappahannock Cellars – Meritage

2010 Sunset Hills Vineyard – Mosaic

2010 Potomac Point – Richland Reserve Heritage

2010 Cooper Vineyards – Petit Verdot Reserve

2010 RdV Vineyards – Lost Mountain

2009 Barboursville Vineyard – Octagon 12th edition (Governor’s Cup Winner)

If you have a chance to visit one of these fine wineries or taste any of these tremendous wines, I would heartily suggest you do so… they’re outstanding!

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Recipe: Divine Ham

How to use a dessert wine for something other than dessert… that was my latest challenge.  Since Easter was right around the corner when I began pondering this idea, using James River Cellars’ Divino (made with 100% ice-pressed Chardonnel) dessert wine with my Easter Ham seemed to fit the bill.

I began with a full bottle of Divino and a saute’ pan.  I poured the entire bottle into the saute’ pan and simmered it until it had reduced by half, stirring frequently.  Once the Divino was thickened, I added a small pat of butter and a single turn of my salt mill and stirred it all together.  I then allowed it to cool and poured it into a container to save until Easter Sunday.

DivineHam

Since I had purchased a fully cooked, spiral sliced ham at my local grocery store, I pulled it out of its wrappings and set the oven to a low temperature, about 250 degrees.  Using the Divino glaze I had made, I basted the ham occasionally throughout the cooking time.  You can see by the photo on the lower left that the ham already had some spices mixed in with the liquid in which it had been packaged, so that simply added another layer of flavor to this meat.

I did pop the temperature up to 350 degrees to cook the remaining items of our dinner, so after warming for an hour at the lower temperature, this ham was then “toasted” a bit at the higher temperature before pulling it out for serving.

In the end, it looked exactly as it does in the lower right photo when I took it out of the oven for serving… falling off the bone, sweetened and spiced just perfectly.  The edges were crispy and tinged with a citrus-y sweet tang from the Divino.

We loved it and will probably end up using this for the coming years, since no one in my house wants to “mess with perfection”.  I hope you’ll consider trying dessert wines in different and unconventional ways as you find new wines you enjoy.  There are NO Wine Police, so no one says you have to simply drink your wine… right?

Enjoy!