Tweet Your Recipe
Tweet Your Recipe
Imagine squeezing a recipe with local ingredients into a single 140 character tweet. Recently, Rick Bakas challenged his readers to tweet food pairing submissions in a competition featuring a different Washington State wine every day. Sponsored by @2DaysinSeattle, the wine assignment for Wednesday was Andrew Will Sorella 2004, a bordeaux style blend with a few years of age. The winner would receive a bottle of the wine; how much fun is that!

The prize winning meal – it was very nice!
I knew I would need to keep it simple, but Rick also made it clear that Washington State ingredients should be incorporated into the recipe.
- I love lamb chops with a wine like the Sorella
- My son goes to Whitman College in Walla Walla, home of the famous onion
- Melted blue cheese seals the deal
I did a little research on local producers in Washington. I knew just what local ingredients I would use in Minnesota, but the contest wasn’t organized by @2DaysinMinneapolis! Here’s the recipe in 140 characters:
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Jeff Burrows (@foodwineclick) |
@RickBakas Bone Dry Ridge lambchops, grilled-top w/carmelized #WallaWalla sweet onions & Willapa Hills LittleBoyBlue cheese #2daysinseattle
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I won!
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Rick Bakas (@RickBakas) |
@foodwineclick congratulations on winning the ’04 Sorella yesterday, Jeff. Follow @2DaysInSeattle to collect your winnings.
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After winning, I promised to actually make the meal and to show off the results, so here goes. Since I don’t live in Washington, I used Minnesota local ingredients, in keeping with the local theme.
Main Dish Ingredients
- Farm raised lamb chops from Sunshine Harvest Farms , my favorite local family farm
- Marinade of: rosemary, a bit of the Sorella, and a bit of local Sunflower oil. Just enough to coat the lamb chops
- Onions – we don’t get local onions, or Walla Walla onions, or even Vidalia onions in the winter. Even from the co-op, the best I could do was onions from Mexico. I tried!
- Northern Lights Blue Cheese – I dare you to find this cheese anywhere outside the immediate Minneapolis – St. Paul area!
On the side
- Baked potato
- Green beans with chopped almonds
Andrew Will Sorella 2004
The grapes were sourced from Champoux Vineyard, a highly regarded vineyard in the Horse Heaven Hills AVA in Washington State. 37% Block 1 Cabernet Sauvignon, 21% Merlot, 18% Cab Franc, % Petite Verdot. The vines in block 1 are over 30 years old.
Overall: very nice, and Julie likes it! This is a big deal, as Julie doesn’t go for very tannic reds. I think the extra bottle age has softened the tannins to the point where Julie can really enjoy the wine.
Eye: Deepest darkest warm red but not brown. Only translucent at the very edge. Looks to be unfiltered.
Nose: Dark fruits and pine forest in a very gentle way, very nice. Not young, but still fresh and nice, like walking in a pine forest.
Mouth: Dark fruit, tannic but the tannins are so nice and smooth. This wine shows why one would age a wine. It still has years left to go but it was very nice with lamb chops (me) or steak (Julie).

Andrew Will Sorella 2004 – a lovely Bordeaux style blend from Washington State

You need bread to soak up extra juices from the lamb chops

Carmelized Onions – difficult to find local onions in Minnesota in the winter!

Northern Lights Blue – I dare you to find this outside Minneapolis – St. Paul

Sunshine Harvest Farms lamb chops – farm raised local lamb

Creamy blue cheese melts into the onions
Thanks to Rick Bakas, Two Days in Seattle, and Andrew Will winery for a fun competition and a lovely bottle of wine.
Note: The Andrew Will Sorella was provided as the contest prize.
I would love to get my hands on that Northern Lights cheese… It looks right up my street!
Thanks, I’ll bet you would enjoy it. So nice to have local artisan products you can’t get just anywhere. I’m sure you have some cheeses we would enjoy as well.
Congrats Jeff! Looks like you enjoyed your winnings:)
Yes, we drank our earnings…
Well done! (Or Medium Rare in our case). Nice win
Ha! Nice wordplay.
Congrats! Not a bad bounty!
Reblogged this on MBSIB: The Man With The Golden Tongs.
Thanks for sharing!