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KOSTA BROWNE’S NEW DIGITAL SERIES WITH TOP CHEF CONTESTANTS GIVES HOMEBOUND FOODIES SOMETHING TO SALIVATE ABOUT
by Jonathan Cristaldi
The “best new thing in the world,” to borrow a phrase from MSNBC host Rachel Maddow, happens to fall within the realm of food and wine pairing: the Kosta Browne Kitchen Series, which the California winery’s passionate team launched earlier this summer as a creative response to lockdowns prompted by the COVID-19 pandemic.
The series rallies former contestants from season 16 of Bravo’s Top Chef, challenging them to craft a recipe inspired by a Kosta Browne wine that they then prepare in their home kitchen. The idea is to watch “great personalities cook and tell stories about food and wine,” says Kosta Browne Senior Estate Director Regina Sanz. “Think David Chang and Alton Brown on a Zoom date.” The first three episodes of season one, which debuted in June, featured celebrity chefs David Viana, Michelle Minori, and Edmund “Eddie” Konrad: Read on for a Q&A with each chef as they dish about the details of their recipes and the joy of cooking with wine. [/vc_column_text][vc_separator color=”black”][vc_row_inner][vc_column_inner width=”2/3″][vc_column_text]
Episode One: Chef David Viana
Jonathan Cristaldi: Which qualities in wine make it a great ingredient to cook with?
David Viana: Good food and good wine lead to great conversations. And that’s exciting for me as a chef. . . . I love the acidity, stone fruit, and crisp notes [of white wine]. I love to cook with wine that I like to drink. It doesn’t have to be expensive, but you have to enjoy drinking it.
Your sauce gribiche is a spin on Alice Waters’ recipe. Tell us about that.
I mimicked the sauce for a long time and eventually began playing around to make it my own. I make it with mayonnaise instead of olive oil, and I make it very smooth. It’s a rustic sauce; Alice’s approach at Chez Panisse was to make it chunky and full of salty bits and vinegar, and I made it very fine-textured. I chose this dish after tasting Kosta Browne’s Russian River Pinot Noir. I wanted to pair it with [something] that would highlight what I love about the wine. There’s a wonderful salty and herbaceous quality in the sauce, and the rich, fatty element really brings out the sweetness in the Pinot, creating this buttery mouthfeel with a kind of bright lift.
What projects are you working on right now?
I’m involved with Camp EDMO [see more information in Michelle Minori’s interview]. I’m also opening up a Portuguese restaurant! COVID got me cooking at home three meals a day and I began working on recipes my grandmother would make, [which made me] fall in love with my Portuguese roots. The restaurant will be in Asbury Park, New Jersey, and is named Lita after my mother. It will be Portuguese- and Spanish/Iberian–inspired, and we’re hoping to open in September 2020. [/vc_column_text][/vc_column_inner][vc_column_inner width=”1/3″][vc_column_text]
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Kosta Browne 2018 Russian River Valley Pinot Noir ($115) Shimmering and translucent ruby-purple hue. Vibrant, perfumed aromas of black cherry, cola, and cedar spices. Ripe red cherry and raspberry find succulent brown spices and dark chocolate on the palate. Juicy and refreshing, with excellent tension, grip, and a long mineral finish. [/vc_column_text][/vc_column_inner][/vc_row_inner][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_separator color=”black”][vc_row_inner][vc_column_inner width=”1/3″][vc_column_text]
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Kosta Browne 2018 Sonoma Coast Pinot Noir ($115) Gorgeous translucent ruby hue. Aromas of candied rose petals, Bing cherries, and black tea leaves. Impeccably fresh with terrific grip and layers of black cherry, flamed orange peel, clove, brown spices, cardamom, and rose water.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column_inner][vc_column_inner width=”2/3″][vc_column_text]
EpisodeTwo: Chef Michelle Minori
Jonathan Cristaldi: What are your thoughts on the relationship between wine and food?
Michelle Minori: Sometimes I’ll be cooking and think: This needs some acidity or a punch of flavor. Adding a splash of wine can add so much dimension to a dish. There is the obvious use of lots of big red wine when braising meats, but there are also so many opportunities to add a splash of white to the pan to create something new, balanced, and nuanced. I almost always use a wine reduction in my pasta dishes. There’s so much science and precision involved in winemaking as well as cooking. But there is also intuition—a connection to the earth . . . that the ingredients came from. There is a story behind every single bottle of wine in the same way that every dish has a story or a connection to an ingredient or a technique.
For your episode, was the recipe inspired by the wine, or was the wine pairing inspired by the recipe?
It’s always my goal to cook seasonally and regionally, celebrating the land around me. I knew that I wanted to make an agnolotti because that was a pasta we served at the James Beard House the night I was first introduced to Kosta Browne. Corn always feels so special to this season with its coy sweetness that works well in savory applications. So, I aimed to create something impressive yet approachable, and I love the acidity that comes through in Kosta Browne’s Sonoma Coast Pinot Noir. I knew that the body of the wine could stand up to the richness of a stuffed pasta mounted with lots of olive oil and fresh seafood, and the acidity would balance that out and refresh your palate, making you want to come back for more.
What projects are you working on right now?
In an effort to help promote equity in the world, I’ve recently created [an online] Chef Series with Camp EDMO. It’s an award-winning nonprofit camp for kids with honor system pricing. That just means you pay what you can. They’re making high-quality educational enrichment programs accessible to everyone regardless of income, socioeconomic status, or background. You can watch a video and read more about it at campedmo.org/chef. [/vc_column_text][/vc_column_inner][/vc_row_inner][vc_separator color=”black”][vc_row_inner][vc_column_inner width=”2/3″][vc_column_text]
Episode Three: Chef Edmund “Eddie” Konrad
Jonathan Cristaldi: How do you like to incorporate wine into your cooking?
Eddie Konrad: I’m trained in classic French and Italian techniques, and wine is used a lot in sauce work and marinades, pates, and charcuterie. Since sauce making was a big part of my education, I’ve always loved the fact that wine is one ingredient—grape juice. It has sweetness, bitterness, and acidity, and I use it as a seasoning. I might reduce the wine or even finish fish dishes with raw wine.
That was your approach with the lobster, right?
Exactly. I finished the lobster and brushed it raw with the One Sixteen Chardonnay because it’s so complex and has every flavor profile in it—sweet, sour, umami, and a little smoke, which helps with body. When I glazed the lobster when it’s warm, it gives it this woody sweetness . . . and pulls out all these elements in the wine. I poached the lobster in a blend of Chardonnay and tarragon stock.
What projects are you working on right now?
I’m supporting Project Black and Blue from BA Craftmade Aprons in Minnesota. You can nominate someone and they will work to see how they can assist [them]. For instance, I had a friend drop a pot of stock and suffer third-degree burns, and they helped him with buying food and grocery delivery during his recovery. I was planning to open a restaurant in Philadelphia, but the pandemic has put that on hold for now. [/vc_column_text][/vc_column_inner][vc_column_inner width=”1/3″][vc_column_text]
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Kosta Browne 2018 One Sixteen Russian River Valley Chardonnay ($85) Minerally and bright with lemon zest and immeasurable freshness. Salted Meyer lemon and candied ginger aromas find pithy grapefruit on the palate; long and mineral-driven in a reductive style. [/vc_column_text][/vc_column_inner][/vc_row_inner][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]
Season two of the Kosta Browne Kitchen Series will launch on August 27. Check out behind-the-scenes interviews with each chef on Instagram @kostabrownewinery. As of this writing, contestants Justin Sutherland, Brandon Rosen, Brian Young, and Caitlin Steininger from Top Chef season 16 are confirmed. For more information, visit kbkitchenseries.com.
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