Wednesday, May 8, 2013

The "Big Dog" Meets Captain Keith!!!

Cheers Everyone!!

In this weeks "Big Dog's Blog" I wanted to write about a very special personal "fish tale" I was excited to experience last week!

Last Friday while on his national promotional tour, I had the fun opportunity to meet and talk to one of the stars of televisions hit show Deadliest Catch, Captain Keith Colburn of the crab fishing boat Wizard!

While I've been a fan of Deadliest Catch for years, as many of you know, my passion and love of the coast and for great seafood has been a consistent part of my entire life.

So of course I was thrilled to not only get the chance to meet Captain Keith and talk about Deadliest Catch and crab fishing, but also we touched on cooking, seafood and wine! Yes, I'm told Captain Keith is a big wine guy! So, we had a few minutes to talk about Black Dog Cellars, seafood and wine pairings and crab cooking!

However, after meeting Captain Keith and having a wonderful conversation, I was thrilled to leave with a few pounds of incredible Colossal Alaskan King Crab that was actually caught by Captain Keith and the Wizard crew! Captain Keith and the Wizard are famous on Deadliest Catch for consistently "stuffing the boat" with their legal limit of crab each season.

So with Captain Keith's crap preparations and cooking advise in hand, along with my awesome
Alaskan King Crab, I went to planning and prepping up for my evenings crab and wine feast.

However, I simply can't cook without a glass of wine so to start the evening off right, I opened up a bottle of my Black Dog Cellars 2010 Sonoma Coast Chardonnay to enjoy while dinner preparations where on the way!

Now as for dinner, first in my seafood boil pot I heavily seasoned the water with Old Bay Seasoning and began to bring it to a boil.  Now while waiting for the water to come to a boil, I put fresh corn on the cob
(in husks) on the grill over medium high heat. Course, before placing my corn on the grill I peeled the husks back, removed the silks, placed the husks back over the corn and soaked them in a bowl of water for about 20 minutes. Soaking them not only helps prevent the husks from catching on fire, but also helps steam the corn while cooking on the grill. Once on the grill, I cook the corn for 20 minutes, rotating each ear a quarter turn every 5 minutes. Once off the grill, I peeled the husks back, spread a little garlic infused butter on the steaming corn then sprinkle grated Parmesan cheese and cilantro over it! Ohhh... need I say more!!??

With my water heating up and the corn on the grill, I began creating my salad to accompany my menu.
So I simply mixed up some arugula and spring mix greens with a little crumbed Gorgonzola cheese, chopped walnuts AND to top it off, half of a grilled pear. As for the pear, its so simple to do and grilling fruit assists in softening the fruit and bringing out and caramelizing the natural sugars in the fruit, It's so tasty!!
Just drizzle a little oil on the pear and place it directly on the grill over medium heat. Don't go away from the grill, it won't take long! Just grill to you see those lovely grill marks on the pear and it's nice, soft and juicy.

The snap and freshness of the greens along with the creaminess of the cheese and the sweetness of the pear and the crunch of the walnuts makes this a fantastic Summer salad that pairs with so many dishes... including fresh Alaskan King Crab!

So with salad and corn complete and my water now boiling, as per Captain Keith's instructions, I dropped the crab into the boiling pot for 3 minutes. That's it! Three minutes later, they were perfect. Out they came from their boiling bath, perfectly cooked and onto my plate. Accompanying my corn and salad was a bowl of melted butter for crab dipping! YUM!

To pair with my crab feast, I selected and opened a wonderful Araujo Sauvignon Blanc. Araujo has always made one of my very favorite Sauv Blancs! It possesses depth, tropical fruits and beautiful aromas.

Well needless to say the crab was outstanding, simply some of the best I have EVER had, and the entire dinner was a wonderful wine and culinary experience right here in my own home! Great ingredients make for great dinners!

It was a great experience to meet Captain Keith and I have to say a big thank you to Captain Keith and the crew of the Wizard for such fantastic crab and for visiting Nashville!

Also, I want to take this opportunity to say thanks to all of you who have been so nice to send emails and comments about my new blog. I really enjoy writing it and look forward to many more posts coming soon! Thanks again everyone and Cheers!!

"The Big Dog"