In Vino Veritas

This is the weekend of the Wine & Chocolate Wine Trails tasting festival in NJ:

http://www.newjerseywines.com/chocolate.html

NJ has the somewhat unfortunate reputation of being known for it's fruit wine - not just the noble grape, but blueberry, raspberry, etc. For a long time, I thought that was all that was produced and made a point of avoiding NJ wine at almost all costs. Recently, I found that this was not always the case. On the whole, Jersey wines are lighter than Washington State and California, however, NJ soil is particularly good for Cab Franc, Chardonnay and Merlot (IMHO). I've been to several of the vineyards on the trail before, however, today I was able to visit a couple of new ones with a wine group that I belong to. We visited Bellview Winery, http://www.bellviewwinery.com/mainSite/public/main/home . Bellview does have the requisite fruit wines, but their chardonnay and their cabernet sauvignon were quite nice. The other vineyard we visited was Amalthea Cellars. I almost don't want to talk about it, it was sooooo good - wines that rivaled some of the wonderful California and Washington vineyards that get written up all the time. We had a cellar and a cask tasting with the owner who was so passionate about his wines, which made the trip for me. Their cabs, both sauvignon and franc, merlot and their blends all far exceeded my expectations (not that Robert Parker has to fear for his job or anything). Even though I'd like to keep it my own little secret:
http://amaltheacellars.com/

Pork Chops and Malbec - lovely together...

It's been a full week and not always in a good way. My sister has been having dizzy spells for the last month or so - she got the results of the tests and not good. I'm not ready to share just yet - we need some more information. Between her, my mom's ongoing illness, kid and job stress, it's been nesting time for me. Tonight I needed comfort food. So I made pork chops with apple stuffing



The stuffing is chopped braeburn apples (or any apples on the tart side), onions, celery, sage, thyme, a clove of garlic and day old french bread cubed (about a 1/4 loaf). Saute the onions and celery until translucent, add the herbs and garlic. Saute for another two to three minutes; add stock if the mixture is becoming dry, then add the bread cubes. When everything is cooked and slightly softened, remove from heat. Stuff chops, then salt and pepper the chops. Sear in a cast iron frying pan on each side until well browned (about five minutes). Splash pan with Calvados, then finish in a 400 degree oven.

I served them with roasted cauliflower (tossed with olive oil, chopped garlic cloves, salt and pepper and roasted at 375 - shave some pecorino over it after it comes out of the oven) and saffron rice and peas. I had an open bottle of Malbec - I was afraid it would be a little too heavy, but it worked really well. Enjoy...it is truly comfort food.