On Our Shelves

Illinois Sparkling Co – Hard Work & Good Bubbly in the River Valley

Thursday, March 1st, 2012

Every once and a while there comes along that thing that makes you want to tell the whole world. Something that makes you proud to be apart of what they are doing – to experience someone’s skill and artistry, then to have the ability to tell the world. For us, it started with a spotting in Tasting Table and we knew had to go calling. We were looking to get a few nice wines together for our upcoming secret supper, a budding art event we coined ‘Drink Up Art‘, and to fill out our shelves some with great sparkling – and in walked bottles of what we could only describe as thought provoking.

Just as anyone else who has tried midwestern wines, we were politely skeptical. “Oh,” we thought, “a sparking wine from Illinois – hard to believe”, but we wanted to give it a fair shake. The golden-amber goodness flowed forth from the dark green bottles into our tasting glasses; bubbles smacked the surface of the liquid and the hiss brought a hush to us all. We took a whiff and it smelled… spot on – like that of great bubbly from the far reaches of the world in which we come to love. To our lips it was love at first kiss. The Brut is tame and dry and ‘style-perfect’, it’s lovely in a way that you’d want to open one with a new father or engaged couple, but it’s clean and tasty in a way that sets it for a pour with a nice dinner or a way to say “I love you.”

Their deal: its grown, bottled, matured, crafted, perfected all in Illinois. Illinois Sparking Co is as invigorating of a company as their bubbly. Their Midwest sensibility goes against everything that chamgaine is thought to play into; they are down to earth, hip, benevolent – not snoody, hardy, brainy, and that special something we hold dear to be ‘midwestern’. They latched onto wine making for sometime before becoming engrossed with sparkling. Some digging provided the knowledge that their dirt in the Peru, Illinois area held ideal soil conditions for making not just great local, but spectacular ’worldly’, bubbly on par or exceeding ‘the Greats.’ Between the pro-acidity soil, cool climate of Illinois, and the selected grape varietals this wine is cultivated to be the best.

Their passion for perfection doesn’t stop there. For Illinois Sparkling Co also utilizes the ‘Traditional Method.’ They know that they could just carbonate the still wine and be on their way. But this method, a time destroying way of turing the still to sparkling, goes a long way to making it the perfect bottle of bubbly to take home. To over-simplify, it’s bottle conditioned and carbed naturally by letting the yeast stuff the bottle with their own CO2. It may be a long arduous process from vine to cellar, but it’s worth it. Artistry, time, and patience always seem to pay off when it comes to making great food – especially bubbly. Illinois Sparkling does not stop there, they do their part to keep things ‘green’ – going as far as creating their own packaging to rid themselves of styrofoam and over-cardboarding.

It is here then that we find ourselves with a handful of bottles of this fantastic sparkling wine on our shelves. We are both humbled and honored to be able to feature something made in our great state, as well as the fact that it’s so gosh darn good. Pick up a bottle from our grocery and taste what hard work, passion, and midwest-nobility tastes like.

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McClure’s – Grandma’s Secret

Wednesday, February 22nd, 2012

A lot of people just say that Grandmother knows best. When it comes to the McClure’s grandma, Lala – she really did know best. It started with her and her pickle recipe that (jokingly) brought Mike to marry into the family. Jennifer, the pickle-recipe-torchbearer has her way with canning as well – winning top prize at a 70′s state fair as a child. It was in 2006 though that Mother McClure pulled out the famous recipe and from then on their small kitchen cranked out some tasty pickles. McClure’s Pickles are hard to ignore.

We love us some pickles. But where we think the McClure’s name really shines – is in their bloody mary mix. We mix or own bloody mary’s at the store, and we use a nice helping of our own pickle brine. We think that is why we are so drawn to their blend. It’s got all those normal ingredients that you’d expect, but it’s the heavy helping of their wonderful pickle brine. It’s slaty of course, but a touch sweet and enough sour vinegar punch to want to make you go back for more. Sure we make our own pickles and have other bloody mary mix, but we thought their bloody mix, pickles, and chips are so dang gone tasty we couldn’t help but put them up in addition to our own tasty cuts.

Stop in and pick up a jar of their pickles and slap them on a sandwich (the pickle chips are incredible), buy a jar of ours and hold a pickle tasting. Go for the McClure’s Bloody Mary mix – it will do well on your shelf, it deserve a spot on ours.

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Citrus Marmalade & Apricot Chutney – Jazz Up Your Spread

Monday, February 6th, 2012

From our upstairs kitchen, comes more canning goodness – we just put out our Apricot Chutney and Citrus Marmalade jars out and they are ready to take home.

Inside the chutney: dried apricots, cider vinegar, brown sugar, sweet onions, sweet red and green bell peppers, jalapeño, golden raisins, currants, garlic, house blended curry powder. It’s a mix of sweet, savory, and a hint of spice – mellowed out but not drab – super flavorful chutney. Stick the chutney on a cheese and charcuterie plates, layer it with cream cheese (just like red pepper jelly), spread some on a sandwich, mix with rice/couscous/pasta and fresh veggies for a sweet and spicy kick, add in to curry dishes, mix in to a glaze for pork roasts or chicken, pizza topping… we could go on for ages.

The citrus marmalade is Seville oranges, oranges, lemons, sugar and water. We peeled the citrus fruits, cut the peel, removing and disposing of the pith, as well as cut and used the ‘meat’ segments. The inner membranes and seeds are retained to help naturally thicken the preserves, in addition to the sugar. You can use as you would any other marmalade, but we also like to mix it in with cream cheese/yogurt/ice cream, mix in to frosting for cakes/cupcakes, use as a layer in cakes/cookie bars/thumbprint cookies, create a tea – by just adding hot water, glaze for meat (duck!), mixed in to maple syrup, mixed into hot sauce for wings…again, could go on and on!

We love our new jarred goodies and we’re sure you will do. Pick up some today!

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From Our Chalkboard – Al Dente Pasta Recipes

Wednesday, February 1st, 2012

We’ve gone through and pulled out some of the recipes that have been posted to our chalkboard and coordinating recipe sheets. Need an idea on how to use a product? Ask us! These are meant as a resource for ideas, not hard and fast lines to dinner.

This set comes from our friends over at Al Dente Pasta – some of the best pasta made state-side, we’re lucky enough to have them as our local pasta emporium. Thanks Al Dente!

So Simple Pasta with Roasted Chicken

2 Tbsp. Olive Oil
1 Tbsp. flour
16 oz. sliced mushrooms
2 red peppers, diced
2 shallots, chopped
1 cup chicken broth
1/2 cup white wine
1 Tbsp. lemon juice
2 cups shredded chicken meat
1 tsp. salt
2 Tbsp. butter (optional)
1/2 cup shredded Parmesan cheese
chopped parsley
1 bag (12 oz.) Al Dente™ pasta

In a large skillet whisk together olive oil and flour over medium- high heat for 1 minute. Add mushrooms, shallots and red pepper, sautéing until vegetables begin to soften. Add broth, wine, lemon juice and salt. Cook over medium heat for about 5 minutes. Add chicken and cook until heated through. Stir in butter. Toss with cooked pasta. Sprinkle with Parmesan and parsley.

Baked Pasta with Chicken, Mushrooms & Gruyere

1 bag Al Dente™ pasta
2 lbs. chicken, in 1 inch cubes
1/4 cup olive oil
1 onion, diced
1 lb. mushrooms, sliced
1/3 lb. gruyere or swiss cheese, grated
1 cup chicken broth

Toss vegetables with all but 2 Tbsp. of the olive oil. Cook pasta in boiling salted water until tender, but firm. Place pasta in baking dish greased with olive oil. Top with chicken, then mushrooms, then cheese. Pour chicken broth over all. Bake at 350 for 30 minutes.

Creamy Pasta with Veggies & Smoked Turkey

1 bag Al Dente™ pasta
2 Tbsp. olive oil
1 onion, dried
2 red peppers, diced
1lb. mushrooms, sliced
1lb. smoked turkey or ham, diced
1 cup evaporated milk
1/2 cup grated Parmesan

In large skillet over medium heat, sauté veggies until soft. Add smoked turkey, evaporated milk & cook until heated through and slightly thickened. In the meantime, cook pasta in boiling water for 5 minutes, until tender, but firm. Drain. Add pasta to skillet, tossing with sauce, adding parmesan, salt & pepper.

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Skillet Street Food – Spoonful of Bacon

Monday, January 30th, 2012

The way we envision high-end street food – what with tattooed young, recent culinary graduates handing over food from far-flung corners of the world, dressed up and as fresh as a spring morning – it sort of started with Skillet Street Food. Rolling though the streets of Seattle in a rehabbed Airstream, Chef Josh Henderson forked over some amazing food from the small square window. It changed things. Sure, food trucks from New York City to LA have been making mind meltingly good food for years – but Skillet brought a new light to it all again. It gained momentum in a new and exciting ways, cities that had previously outlawed them were clamoring to legalize them (looking at you Chicago), others were having a hard time dealing with all the of food cart applications, fancy street food seemed like it was staying around for a while.

Skillet Street Food has grown, a lot. It’s opened a brick and mortar store, they still travel around the city in their shinny Airstream, cater events, and even package some of their famous ‘spreads.’

This is where we come in. We got ourselves a sample of their Bacon Spread. If you know us, we are no stranger to supple taste of bacon. Skillet’s Bacon Spread is like the sweet smoky meat concentrated into a container with a hints of spice but powerful baconyness. It’s perfect to use in pan sauces, a nice spoonful to pull your drippings together, salivation city. Make drool worthy mash potatoes by mixing in some into your next batch; bacon goes with almost everything – give the Bacon Spread a go. But Skillet Street Food didn’t stop there. They melded this bacontopia-in-a-jar with Fennel & Black Pepper – creating something worth the moniker ’aromatic and flavorful’. This mix makes an ideal addition to stuffing or turkey. Try adding a small bit to chili, added to croutons prior to baking, let your imagination go hog wild.

It is from here that we couldn’t help ourselves when skillet came knocking on our tummies with the Chipotle Pumpkin Sauce. A sauce we started using on everything in our abodes: from dipping our fries to taco meat to a slathering on top of pork loins.

We tend to think of these spreads and sauces as the swiss army knifes of our home kitchens. Try it in something, your bound to love the added complexity to your dish – we know we have.

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Ethereal Confections Chocolate Bars – Beautifully Delicious

Friday, January 27th, 2012

On a side street tucked into a shop off the square of a small town, closer to the Wisconsin boarder than to Chicago, a confectionary churns out magically tasty and stunningly beautiful chocolates. It’s here – in Woodstock, IL – that two women compose a symphony of sugar, nuts, fruits, and of course chocolate to create these wonders. They masterfully construct decadent truffles, impeccable meltaways, chunky chocolate bark, and more – but what caught our collective eye was their chocolate bars. In the wide world of chocolate bars, there are those few that we find so stunning in flavor and design, than those from Ethereal - their local to boot!

Most other bars would have the flavors peppered in trace amounts though the bar, forcing your tongue to do all of the heavy lifting trying to pull out the flavors. Ethereal’s Pistachio Cranberry bar has massive cuts of those tasty green nuts as well as hunks of dried cranberry, a feast for the eyes as well as the belly. All of the their chocolate bars have hunks of tasty treats trapped in smooth and rich dark chocolate – just ripe for the munching.

Grab a bar of these amazing chocolate confections and taste what locally made artisan “choco-love” tastes like.

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Askinosie’s Sipping Chocolate – Taste Rich Obsession

Wednesday, January 25th, 2012

When you pick up something off our shelf there is always a back story. Behind each item that is placed on our chrome wire racks has a deep passion and love. This is no more true than when picking up a package from Askinosie. In the store, it may seem just like a jar of super fine sipping chocolate. But as the label tries to portray, there is more behind just “simple chocolate on a shelf.”

Askinosie’s Orgins

Over a decade ago, a man was searching for his passion. He fell into the same grooves of his father, becoming a defense lawyer himself, but found himself wanting something else. Edging his way toward a cupcake bakery, and feeling his through a tragedy it became clear the cupcake biz wasn’t right for him. He dug deeper, turning a corner to creating artisan chocolate. Shawn found his place and peace buried deep in the rich and mellow profile of the world’s rarest chocolate. The progression from desserts to chocolate lends it self to think that Shawn loves to plunge himself into his work, to get a bit OCD on getting things, making everything ‘just right’ – it’d be a correct assumption. Crushing and making his own chocolate was only the begninning.

Flying into the jungles, meeting, teaching and learning from each and every one of his chocolate bean farmers; noting their work as well as turning the right fermentation procedures into practices, taking soil samples, moisture content of the beans, and are all pivotal aspects to Askinosie’s success. Delving deeper and deeper into chocolate, from the pressing techniques and packaging, shipping, down to the ground the cacao beans are grown in – when you taste Askinosie’s sipping chocolate you are not just getting chocolate, but heritage – years of developing sustainable agriculture and working from farm to store-front on ‘getting it right.’

Sip Your Chocolate

We’ve carried Askinosie for some time, from their bars to the baking chocolates and now the sipping chocolates, and we think this is the most concentrated version of their passion. A nice stir of warm whole milk and a decent helping of this will transfer you to San Jose, to a small bar buried in the starlight – a perfect sweet treat to put anyone to sleep. It’s rich and mellow, even and powerful. Pour up a glass at the end of a long day and it will melt away the worries and stressors. Take in a whiff and it will be hard not to unwind – draw in the potion of hard work and perfection.

Get a jar of Askinosie and start sipping, we’re sure you’ll be able to taste all of the greatness bottled into it’s inauspicious jar.

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Mirabelle Plum Preserves – Like Fresh Picked Summer

Wednesday, January 18th, 2012

If you hear strange rumbles while in the back country – fear not. It is merely the sound of one of nature’s tastiest treats getting harvested, the Mirabelle plum. The rumble comes from the process usually used to harvest, that or a simple shake to the tree. Small and oblique in shape, but large in flavor – for those lucky enough to taste a fresh version know of it’s allure. That is why we’ve done a favor to those who seek this delicious treat, canned it.

We at SPG did not pull our plums from across the country, our Mirabelles are locally sourced from the farm. We got our preservationist made quick work of these delicious spheroids, bottling them fresh at their most succulent, saving the flavor. Roll out our Mirabelle Plum Preserves on toast, drop a dollop on cinnamon rolls, or add sweetness to a chili. Grab a jar and spread out the peak season.

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Smoke Daddy’s Bloody Smokin’ Mary – Take ‘er Home

Tuesday, January 17th, 2012

In a small inconspicuous red apartment-looking building on Division street there is a smoke house. A meat emporium of great magnitude, a plume of beefyness wafts in the area, spicy and smokey. Closer to the building the scent is noxious and hard to pull away from, inside: a symposium of barbeque - Welcome to Smoke Daddy. Sit down and order a drink, but not just any.

We know it’s [not] hard to believe, but we love ourselves some meat, and what could go better then a bloody mary with a plate piled high with tasty BBQ. Of course we pour some pretty heady bloody mary’s of our own in our cafe. But what about at home? The times you usually want to have a bloody mary are the times you don’t want to spend making it by hand unless you pre-made a batch. We’ve all been there. We can hardly find a better solution to this than Smoke Daddy’s Smokin’ Mary mix.

It’s a bit of smokiness – which they know all about, just the right amount of spicy kick, and nice even tomato. It’s a perfect way to bookend a long weekend, or to kick off a day out. But don’t just think of this bloody mary mix as only a ‘breakfast’ drink – it goes perfectly well with a pulled pork sandwhich for lunch, or a rack of ribs for dinner. Dress it up or down, Smoke Daddy’s Smokin’ Mary is always ready to impress.

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Al Dente Pasta, Land & Sea – Two Worlds Unite

Saturday, January 14th, 2012

There are few pastas as beautiful as Land and Sea from Al Dente. Thin stripes of black and white bustle in a bag just waiting to be eaten. But this bag of local pasta has more to it than beauty – it also tastes phenomenal. We think it tastes great with just some olive oil and a quick cooking, or in a pasta salad with bright tomatoes and thick cuts of some kind of cured meat.

The idea for this organic pasta stems from an inspirational sea side visit by owner Monique. Between caws of seagulls and water splashing ashore, a light bulb went off. She bridge the two flavors, combining squid ink (sea) for the dark black noodles and eggs (land) for the light yellow. Tastes that bring out what is love about the coasts, fresh salty flavor and earthiness. Pick up a bag for an anniversary dinner, or turn an “everyday” dinner into a special evening.

Get a taste for this famous (and local) pasta it’s sure to do some inspiring of it’s own.

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