Suhru Blog

Cooking with Suhru: Lemon Garlic Shrimp & Pinot Grigio

One of the many wonderful things about the North Fork is our abundance of seafood! The East Ends proximity to the bays and ocean make it home to some wonderful fisherman and when you have freshly caught seafood there isn't a lot you need to dress it up!

All that being said, one of our favorite summer go-tos is Lemon Garlic Grilled Shrimp served on Grilled Sourdough. This dish is all about the shrimp and focuses on the rich, bright flavors! Quick and easy, the whole meal can be made on the grill in just minutes—which makes it the perfect summer meal for those days when you want every excuse to spend another minute outside.

Whether you are having friends over for dinner or just looking for a simple and quick meal to prepare at home, this dish is sure to please and is a great excuse to fire up the grill. Pair it with a bottle of Suhru Pinot Grigio and dinner is served!

I prefer to cook this dish in a cast iron skillet on the grill, but it can also be prepared on your stove top.The below recipe is adapted from the Lemon Garlic Butter Shrimp recipe from Cafe Delights with a few small tweaks. We hope you enjoy!

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Lemon Garlic Shrimp on Grilled Sourdough

Ingredients:

• 4 TBSP butter, divided
• 6 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 pounds shrimp, peeled and deveined
• Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
• 2 lemons
• Sourdough baguette, sliced
• Fresh chopped parsley, to garnish
• 1 bottle Suhru Pinot Grigio

Serves 2

Directions:

1. While your BBQ is pre-heating, chop your garlic, slice one lemon in half, cut butter into two 2 TBSP pieces, and cut sourdough baguette into 1 1/2 inch thick slices.
2. Melt 2 tablespoon butter in a cast iron skillet over medium-high heat on the BBQ. While the butter is melting, place sourdough slices directly on the grill to toast.
3. Once the butter has melted, add the garlic and cook until fragrant (about 1 minute). 
4. Add shrimp and squeeze the juice of half a lemon over shrimp and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Cook 2 minutes on one side, stirring occasionally.
5. Flip sourdough slices so grill marks appear on both sides.
6. Flip the shrimp in the pan and cook 2 minutes on the other side until JUST beginning to turn pink.
7. Add in the remaining butter and lemon juice. Cook, while stirring, until the butter melts and the shrimp have cooked through (do not over cook them).
8. Remove from the heat. Taste test, and add more lemon juice, salt or pepper, if needed.
9. Chop parsley and slice second lemon into wedges.
10. Place grilled sourdough slices on plates and top with shrimp. Sprinkle with freshly chopped parsley and serve with a lemon wedge and a glass of Pinot Grigio. Cheers!

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Cooking With Suhru: Seared Sea Scallops & Pinot Grigio

One of our favorite things about summer is the plethora of delicious food and drink options available to refresh you after a long day in the sun! Sometimes simple is best and with seafood that is often the case, you can't go wrong with a perfectly seared sea scallop!

The summer months on the North Fork scream for seafood and seared scallops with a bottle of crisp, dry Pinot Grigio are one of our all time family favorites!

As a wonderfully wise chef once told me—the key to a perfectly seared scallop is an extremely hot pan! Drop those babies in for a few minutes on each side letting them get a nice crisp on the exterior without over cooking in the center and enjoy with a side of Sang Lee Farms bok choy for a quick & easy but most importantly tasty summer meal!

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Seared Sea Scallop Recipe

Ingredients:

• 1 tbsp avocado oil (or other high smoke point oil)
• 1/2 lb sea scallops (patted dry)
• salt (to taste)
• pepper (to taste)
• 2 tbsp butter

Cooking Instructions:

1. Preheat a cast iron skillet with oil in the pan over medium high heat.
2. While the oil is heating up, pat the scallops dry with a paper towel, being sure to remove any excess moisture. Once the scallops are dry, season them by sprinkling a small amount of salt and pepper on either side of the scallops.
3. When the pan is hot (test by sprinkling a small amount of water into the pan, if the water crackles when it hits the oil the pan is hot enough) place your scallops into the pan, giving them ample space so they do not touch. 
4. Cook scallops for 2 minutes on medium-high heat.
5. Using tongs, flip each scallop over and add butter to the pan. Let the scallops cook for 1 more minute in the butter before removing them from the heat. A nice golden brown crust should be present on each side.
6. Serve & enjoy! 

Recommended pairing: grilled Sourdough toast, sesame oil sauteed Sang Lee bok choy, and a chilled bottle of Suhru Pinot Grigio!

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Cooking with Suhru: Baked Brie with Rhubarb Jam & Merlot

With Spring upon us and the first of the seasonal produce beginning to hit the farm stands it seemed only right to showcase rhubarb in this week's recipe! So I have combined two of my favorite recipes into one this week and paired it with a glass of Merlot, the perfect dish to wow at a dinner party or savor on your own for a deliciously, decadent night in!

Rhubarb is a fruit that most people don't cook with other than in pies. And while it does make a particularly delicious addition to a fruit pie, my favorite way of preparing it has always been homemade rhubarb jam.

Every Spring I patiently await the opening of Wickhams Fruit Farm farmstand which signals the arrival of rhubarb season! You can regularly (at least once a week) find me walking across the street from the Tasting House with bags bursting with rhubarb in hand. I make rhubarb jam by the gallon in the Spring, can it and squirrel it away for the rest of the year spreading it on toast, pouring over my oatmeal, enjoying with ice cream, or just eating it by the spoonful! The tangy tartness of rhubarb paired with the sweetness of raspberries or strawberries makes for the perfect balance of tart and sweet. Pour it on top of a rich, ooey gooey, decadent baked brie and you can't lose!

 

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Baked Brie with Rhubarb Jam

Ingredients:

• 10 stalks fresh rhubarb, chopped
• 1 pint raspberries (or strawberries)
• 1/2 lemon, juiced
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup water
• 1 TBSP cornstarch, dissolved in water
• brie wheel
• puff pastry sheet
• 1/4 cup walnuts, chopped
• 1 TBSP butter, melted
• 1 bottle of T'Jara Merlot

Directions:

1. Wash the rhubarb stalks and raspberries and let air dry. While the fruit is drying, cut off the top and bottom few inches of your rhubarb stalks and discard the ends. Lay the middle section of the stalk lengthwise across your cutting board and cut widthwise into small pieces.
2. Combine chopped rhubarb, raspberries, lemon juice, sugar, and water into a saucepan and cook on medium heat for 30 minutes or until the rhubarb has broken down and all is well combined. 
3. While the fruit is cooking, make a cornstarch slurry combining the cornstarch in 2 TBSP water.
4. When the rhubarb mixture is finished cooking, pour the cornstarch slurry into your rhubarb mixture and stir on high heat until the fruit mixture begins to thicken.
5. Remove from heat and let cool. Once room temperature, pour fruit jam into a jar and refrigerate until ready to use.
6. When you are ready to make your baked brie, remove puff pastry from the fridge and let warm up on the counter for at least an hour. While the pastry is warming, chop walnuts and set aside.
7. Preheat the oven to 425 degrees Fahrenheit and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
8. Roll out your puff pastry into a sheet on your cutting board and place the wheel of brie in the center. Using a sharp knife, score the top of the brie creating a lattice of cuts half way through the cheese. Sprinkle chopped walnuts on top of the scored brie, putting a few nuts aside.
9. Fold the puff pastry over the top of the brie one corner at a time, brushing melted butter on the corners of the puff pastry to ensure the sheets stick together.
10. Once all four corners of the puff pastry have been wrapped around the brie, flip the brie over and place it on your parchment paper lined baking sheet. Brush the exterior with the remaining melted butter and sprinkle the top with remaining chopped walnuts.
11. Bake at 425 degrees Fahrenheit for 25 minutes or until the pastry is golden brown.
12. Remove from the oven and let cool for 5-10 minutes. Serve topped with raspberry rhubarb jam and crackers. Pair a bottle of T'Jara Merlot (or another of your favorite Suhru Wines), relax, and enjoy!

Stop by the Tasting House to pick up a T'Jara Merlot or a bottle of your favorite wine, then run across the street to Wickhams Fruit Farm for some fresh rhubarb and get cooking!

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Cooking with Suhru: Grilled Peconic Gold Oysters with Herb Butter & Sauvignon Blanc

We are thrilled to have our friends Kelsey & Matt from Peconic Gold Oysters in Cutchogue as guest bloggers for this week's Cooking with Suhru! Kelsey and Matt were kind enough to share one of their favorite ways to prepare oysters and we couldn't be more obsessed. Checkout their Grilled Peconic Gold Oysters with Herb Butter recipe below!

While I love raw oysters (and consume them regularly both at home and out at local restaurants) sometimes you are looking for something a little different, some way to dress them up other than slurping a classic briny, delicious oyster topped with the homemade mignonette that is a staple in my house, enter grilled oysters!

A few years ago on a family vacation to Cape Cod my aunt introduced me to grilled oysters, a concept I had never considered before, and boy was I glad she did! I'll be honest, I was skeptical at first, not understanding why you would take a perfectly delicious raw oyster and cover it with butter, but once I tasted it I realized by cooking it with an herb butter you weren't "covering up" its briny deliciousness but opening up a new range of flavors that I hadn't previously imagined. A grilled oyster is rich and savory, decadent and delicious, and I was sold from the first bite!

Grilled oysters are a perfect way to dress-up a casual night at home in the backyard and a great way to wow and impress company when you whip out your shucking knife, grill pan and get to work! No matter the occasion, oysters make any meal better in my opinion. Pair it with a glass of crisp, dry white wine and you can't go wrong!

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Grilled Peconic Gold Oysters with Herb Butter

As the temperatures start to rise on the North Fork and the days get longer and brighter, we always crave grilled Peconic Gold Oysters on the half shell with herb butter as a quick segway to dinner after a long day on the farm. It is so easy to make this recipe and SO satisfying!  The best part is that you can experiment with this recipe and use any ingredients you have on hand or leftover from earlier in the week.  We love recipes where we can use what we have in the fridge instead of running to the store after a long day.

This is a quick and easy recipe that will only take a few minutes to cook and prepare, however there are a few tools that you will need. Be sure you have an Oyster Shucking Knife (available at the Peconic Gold Oyster Stand) and an Oyster Cast Iron Pan. If you don't yet have an Oyster Pan, you can use a baking sheet with crumpled tin foil to make "nests" for oysters on the half shell.

Ingredients:

• 12 Peconic Gold Oysters, freshly shucked
• 1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened
• 4 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 shallot, minced
• handful of parsley (or cilantro), stems removed & chopped
• zest of 1 lemon (or lime)
• juice of 1 lemon (or lime)
• 1 bottle of Suhru Sauvignon Blanc

Directions:

1. Preheat your grill or oven to 400°
2. While your grill or oven is heating up, shuck 12 Peconic Gold Oysters—visit the Peconic Gold Oyster Blog to learn how to shuck by a pro
3. Once shucked, place the oysters on the half shell with the open side up in your oyster pan or tin foil nests.
4. Combine the garlic, shallot, herbs, and lemon (or lime) zest and juice in a bowl along with the melted butter and mix until well combined. 
5. Spoon one tablespoon (or so) of the herb butter mixture on each oyster
6. Place pan on your grill or in the oven and bake at 400° for 10 - 15 minutes or until the herb butter mixture is bubbly.
7. Remove from the oven and let stand for a few moments until warm.
8. Pair a bottle of Suhru Sauvignon Blanc (or another of your favorite Suhru Wines), relax, and enjoy!

Stop by the Peconic Gold Oyster Stand at 21125 County Road 48 in Cutchogue to pick up oysters in the shell, shucking knives, and more! The Peconic Gold self-serve stand is open daily and is always stocked with our freshest and finest oysters. For more information, call us at 631.495.7061 or visit peconicgoldoysters.com 

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Cooking with Suhru: Whole Roasted Branzino & Sauvignon Blanc

Sometimes you stumble upon something special in the least likely places. A few weeks ago while walking the isles of Costco I stumbled across two beautiful, whole Bronzino. Now Costco is not usually my go-to for fish—living on the East End there are so many excellent fish shops (think Brauns Seafood and Southold Fish Market)—but sometimes a girls gotta do what a girls gotta do. 

After scouring the inter-webs searching for the perfect preparation I happened to stumble across Girl in the Kitchen's Greek Whole Roasted Bronzino recipe, and the rest is history!

This recipe has quickly become a staple in our house and is perpetually in the rotation. This simple recipe with its clean, crisp flavors pairs beautifully with a bottle of Sauvignon Blanc. The fruitiness and soft minerality of the wine play beautifully with the delicate almost sweet flavors of the fish and the richness of the feta on the spinach salad nicely offsets the subtle richness and depth of the wine!

With vaccines on the horizon and the possibility of dinner parties inching closer to reality every day, I am looking forward to the days ahead when I can have friends over to enjoy this meal, but until then, I'll be having luxurious meals for 2 at home and feasting on these delicious fish!

Pro Tip: If you have extra fish at the end of the meal, shred it into small bits and make into crab cake style patties, a great way to up-cycle to turn one meal into two! 

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Cooking With Suhru: Easy Spanakopita Rolls

Spanakopita is a traditional Greek recipe made by filling a flaky, butter pastry with a deliciously cheesy spinach & feta mixture! Ethnic foods can be intimidating to make at home but this easy recipe will leave you feeling like a pro and only takes only minutes to prepare!

A very good friend of mine (who happens to be Greek) introduced me to this recipe a few years back and it has become a go to of mine for dinner parties (remember those?!) and what I like to call "picnic dinners". For those of you who aren't familiar, a picnic dinner is a dinner comprised of a number of snacks and apps that you could take to the beach or the park but if its cold outside, currently a pandemic, or if you're just feeling lazy (me most of the time) can be enjoyed from the comfort of your living room!

Regardless of the setting, this delicious and oh-so-easy receipe is sure to please! Try these delicious bites paired with a bottle of Suhru Shiraz, both excellent pairings to compliment the richness of the dish!

I hope you like this recipe as much as I do! Have and request or dishes you have been craving? Comment below and I will add them to my must-cook list and report back in the weeks to come!

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Easy Spanakopita Rolls

Ingredients:

• 1 package of Phyllo Dough (defrosted according to package)
• 1 package of Frozen Spinach (defrosted) 
• large onion (chopped) 
• 2 cloves of garlic (minced)
• 1.5 cups of Feta Cheese
• dried or fresh Dill 
• salt and pepper (to taste)
• 1/2 lemon 
• 1/2 stick of melted butter (cooled)
• sesame seeds (optional) 
• plain Greek yoghurt for dipping 

Directions:

1. Prepare the filling by first lightly browning the onion, add the garlic and sauté for a few more minutes until fragrant.
2. While th vegetables are cooking, preheat the oven to 350 degrees. 
3. Once onion and garlic have softened, add the spinach and stir until well combined.
4. In a large bowl, combine the onion and spinach mixture with the feta cheese, juice of half a lemon, dill, salt, and pepper and mix and set aside.
5. On a clean work surface, lay out one sheet of fully defrosted phyllo dough. Cover the unused sheets with a damp towel until ready to use.
6. Brush your phyllo dough sheet with melted butter and cover with another sheet of dough.
7. Turning your dough so the long edge is closest to you, portion a small line of filling on the left-side shorter edge of your dough. Brush dough to the right of your spinach mixture with a light coat of butter.
8. Slowly, roll up the dough, tucking as you go to ensure a tight roll. Place the roll with the exposed edge down and cut the roll into two or three pieces, depending on preference.
9. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and place the rolls on the baking sheet, at least 2 inches apart, seam side down. Repeat until all filling miture has been used. 
10. Brush your rolls with the remaining melted butter and top with sesame seeds.
11. Bake the rolls for 20 - 25 minutes or until golden brown. Serve with greek yogurt or sour cream dipping sauce.

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Cooking with Suhru: Vegetable Curry & Dry Riesling

When it comes to wine pairing, Riesling is a variety that tends to stump a lot of people, but don't let the little (to sometimes large) hints of sweetness in this wine trip you up because when paired correctly Riesling can make a dish sing!

There are a lot of great directions to go in when pairing Dry Riesling with a dish, but my go-to and one of my all time favorites is Indian dishes, specifically curries. Give me a spicy rich curry and a glass of Dry Riesling and I'm in heaven!

This varietal, particularly when made in the dry style, has such a depth of flavor and rich complexity that it makes a great wine to enjoy with a wide variety of dishes from Asian cuisines, curries, sushi, seared tuna, pâté, blue cheese, dry-rub BBQ, chicken, pasta, and more!

But coming back to curry! The light sweetness, bright acidity, and inherent fruitiness of the grape offer a refreshing relief to a spicier dish, complimenting the stronger, spicier flavors of a curry 

However the fruitiness and inherent sweetness that often takes people by surprise is the same quality that makes it such an excellent wine to enjoy with food. The light hint of sweetness and the wines bright acidity offer a refreshing relief when paired with a spicier dish like curry as well as a richness and depth when paired with a fattier dish like a compliment to the heat of the curry.

What is your go-to Dry Riesling pairing?

Pro Tip: this is not a spicy curry so I doubled the recommended curry paste and added a healthy sprinkle of curry powder to give it a little heat (my general take on online recipes, play and experiment as you go and make them your own)!

Checkout the Chickpea & Cauliflower Curry recipe on WholeFully! 

Cooking with Suhru: Vegan Chili & Ember

With this very cold and snowy winter we have been having, we all could use a good chili recipe! I stumbled across this Beluga Lentil Recipe a few years ago and have never looked back, its quick and easy to make, super filling and a great hearty meal in the winter months. Top it with a few of your favorite toppings—I like green onion and avocado, but shredded cheese, chopped onion, or sour cream are all excellent choices as well—and you have a delicious meal perfect for these colder days!

When you are looking for a little warmth from the inside, a piping hot bowl of chili or soup is a go-to, but pair that with a bottle of Ember (our classic Bordeaux blend made of Merlot, Cabernet Franc, Cabernet Sauvignon, Malbec, and Petit Verdot) and cozy up by the fire for a little winter stay-cation! The inherent smokiness and light oakiness of this Bordeaux blend makes it a perfect compliment to the rich, savory, tomato-based flavors in the chili (and is just one of my personal go-to cold weather wines). 

Pro Tip: if you want a heartier meal, add Impossible meat or Ground Beef to add an extra layer of deliciousness. And one of my favorite recent discoveries—add a tablespoon of Worcestershire sauce for some added depth of flavor!

Checkout the Beluga Lentil Chili recipe on The Garden Grazer!

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Our Favorite Holiday Cookie Recipes

The only thing better than milk and cookies, is wine and cookies (if I do say so myself)! As is true for most people, I love the holidays! Cutting down a Christmas tree, lighting the menorah, driving through the neighborhoods and seeing the North Fork all lit up with lights, there is something truly magical about it all!

While I do love all of the festivities and decor, one of my favorite things to do during the holiday season is bake! As the members of the Suhru Wine Club can attest, we take holiday baking VERY seriously here at Suhru Wines so I wanted to take this opportunity to share a few of our favorite family cookie recipes! Checkout the complete recipes here!

And whether its while cooking up a storm in the kitchen or relaxing with family and friends ticking in to the delicious confections wine is never far from hand. Two great wine pairing options for holiday baking are Sparkling Brut, always a classic choice, and Ember, our Bordeaux blend which is an incredibly versatile red wine. So cheers to the holidays and time well spent with friends, family, good food and great wine!

We'd love to know what you and your families bake this time of year, so please comment below with your favorites as well. Wishing you and yours a very happy holidays and a happy, healthy New Year!

Cooking with Suhru: Mulled Rosé

When most people think of rosé they think summer, but this delicious style of wine cannot be confined to just one season! It's getting colder and colder every day and I don't know about you but I'm not ready to give up that summer feeling just yet which is why I've put together this yummy Mulled Fall Rosé recipe so we can keep the rosé summer loving going all year long (or at least for another few months)!

While we have come to think of Rosé and Summer as almost interchangeable, it's a great wine for Fall as we ease our way back into the bolder, fuller reds. Rosé is a perfect transition season wine because it's light and fruity like a white wine. but has a little more body and for a lack of a better word umph, like a red. Mix that with a couple warm baking spices and you have a Fall cocktail fit for a Queen (or King)!

Why not pick up a few bottles of Suhru Rosé and get cooking?!

Mulled Rosé Recipe