Christina Xenos’ attempt at Suzanne Goin’s Slow-Roasted Wild Salmon Cucumber Yogurt.

By Christina Xenos

I’ve never met a salmon I didn’t like… to eat that is. Whether it’s grilled, smoked, broiled—or in Suzanne Goin‘s recipe this week: Slow-Roasted Wild Salmon with Cucumber Yogurt—its bound to be the star of any picnic plate.

What interested me most about her method was how she slow roasts the salmon with the water in the oven, almost to the point of poaching it. This might not be a new concept for some, but it was for me. I’ve poached salmon on the stove-top; it comes out moist, but can be soggy at times and oily, if I’m using olive oil for the poach. Her method of placing a shallow pan of water on the bottom rack of your oven, and then baking the salmon in a pan above the water-filled pan is easy and it doesn’t even involve you purchasing a proper fish poacher. It’s truly a fun and effortless way to cook fabulous piece of fish.

The cucumber yogurt is a cool, healthy and tasty complement to the salmon, which is rich and robust with its spice combination of shallots, dill, tarragon and parsley. It’s quick to whip up, and reminiscent of Greek tzatziki, though the cayenne pepper and toasted cumin definitely give it a kick. Even though Goin directs you to use whole milk organic yogurt, I opted for 0% fat Greek yogurt (watching my waistline) and was happy with the results. I also didn’t have the preserved lemon, and though I think it would have been a fabulous addition, fresh lemon juice and lemon zest will due as substitutions. Also, if you don’t have watercress to use on the bed of rice, try arugula (pictured) or olive oil-massaged kale.

The verdict is that this recipe is a winner all around—perfect for kicking off the 2012 Hollywood Bowl season. It’s full of flavor, and easy to pack up in your picnic basket to enjoy at the Bowl.

Christina Xenos is the Web Manager for Southern California Media Group and Web Editor for WhereLA.com. She’s also an award-winning pie baker and Hollywood Bowl aficionado.

Choose a wine with cellar potential. Photo credit: istockphoto.com / Andrew Johnson

By Robert Whitley

For me, the gift that keeps on giving is wine with cellar potential, wine that improves with age, despite the controversy sparked by a famous wine critic who says aged wines aren’t necessarily all they’re cracked up to be.

To be sure, many wines made today are as good as they will ever be. Those red wines are geared toward wine consumers who crave luscious primary fruit, sweet tannins and soft acidity. The Napa Valley certainly has its “cocktail cabs,” cabernet sauvignon that is sweet and soft, with virtually no bite or backbone. I sometimes enjoy those wines myself. But hang onto them too long, and you’ve made an expensive mistake.

A smaller market segment treasures a red wine that gloriously evolves into an ethereal state, maturing a number of years in a decent wine cellar. One prominent writer opines that aged wines are an “acquired” taste. Of course: Most wines are consumed within 72 hours of purchase, and few every-day wine drinkers have an honest-to-goodness wine cellar.

Another writer prefers a wine with gobs of fresh fruit to one that smells and tastes of leather, an aroma you might find in an older red wine. Too much leather doesn’t work for me, either. There is a place between the fresh, young, fruity red wine and dried-out, leathery red past its prime.

Who determines that prime? You. Me. When a wine has reached its peak is purely a matter of subjective personal preference.

Here’s what I look for.

Color doesn’t tell you much about a younger red wine but can provide valuable clues to the integrity of an older wine. As they age, red wines get lighter, and whites get darker. An older red in good condition is clear at the rim and a red-brick color toward the core.

If you poke your nose into the glass and all you smell is leather, old wood and barnyard, the wine is well past its peak . A great wine at its peak exhibits those secondary aromas as subtle complexities, with fruit still the dominant note.

I appreciate quality achieved at a young age, but when I dive into my cellar for a special wine to serve with dinner, I almost never select a Bordeaux, Burgundy, Barolo or California cabernet that doesn’t have at least 10 years of age.

That’s how long it takes to soften tannins and round out the acidity of truly outstanding red wines from the best vintages. Astringency and bite have been tamed. Tannins that can mask the fruit have receded. More subtle secondary aromas find their voice. The wine is simply more complex, delivering greater sophistication and elegance, not all youthful fruit, tannin and acid.

But you must take the 10-year taste test yourself to decide whether aged wines are a taste worth acquiring.

A White-Wine Glass, Not a Flute, is Best for Bubblies. Photo credit: istockphoto.com / Marco Testa

By Robert Whitley

If you’ve ever dined at a mom-and-pop Italian restaurant, you may have sipped wine from a jelly jar. It’s not always about the wine. Sometimes it’s the experience—in this case, a rustic, Old World experience.

For sheer elegance, on the other hand, it’s hard to beat sipping Champagne from a delicate crystal flute.

The experience can be everything when it comes to wine, elevating what’s in the glass if the experience is positive, or destroying the wine if the experience strikes an off note. Here are three simple things anyone can do that can take the wine-tasting experience to another level:

1) “Season” the wine glasses. I learned this on an early trip to Italy. Stemware, no matter how carefully stored, can pick up off putting aromas from kitchen or pantry. You cannot detect these smells without poking your nose into each glass, which might annoy those at the dinner table.

To solve this problem without resorting to the time-consuming practice of polishing the crystal before company arrives, simply pour a splash of the wine into one glass and give it a vigorous swirl. Then pour the splash of wine from the first glass into the second and repeat, then the third glass, and so on, until each glass has been rinsed with the wine you will serve.

“Seasoning” the glasses is easy and effective; it also adds dramatic flair to the dinner service.

2) When serving fine Champagne or above-average domestic sparkling wine, avoid Champagne flutes, no matter how elegant you think they are. Better bubblies have subtle aromas and textures that are utterly lost when served in a flute-shaped glass.

The more common practice in the Champagne region is to serve the better bubblies in a white-wine glass, which allows for swirling, which will accentuate and bring up the flavors and aromas that would be missed in a traditional flute.

You might be surprised at how full and rich the bouquet is in a glass of Champagne liberated from the straitjacket of the flute.

3) Take care to serve your wine at the proper temperature. White wines need not be ice-cold, and red wines need not be “room temperature,” particularly if the room is 70 degrees or above.

White wines such as chardonnay or Rhone blends are more expressive when served cool rather than cold. Warm red wine can be flat, tannic, alcoholic, bitter or all of the above. A few minutes in an ice bucket will make a world of difference, particularly with lighter reds.

Of course, if all you can muster from the pantry is a jelly jar and a bit of wine from a box, that’s OK, too. It’s just a different experience.

Daryl, Colby and Lisa Groom of Colby Red

By Robert Whitley

How about the next time you choose a wine from the retail shelf, you reach for the one wine that’s not only good for your heart, but for everyone’s heart? That would be Colby Red, a delicious yet inexpensive California red wine crafted by famed winemaker Daryl Groom, with help from his 15-year-old son, Colby.

Colby was the wine’s inspiration. lndeed, the project was his idea, after he survived a second open-heart surgery prior to his 13th birthday. The idea, Daryl says, “was that other kids wouldn’t have to go through a similar ordeal.” Profits are donated toward heart health, with more than $100,000 distributed so far, most to the American Heart Association.

The second vintage is now in the market; at 40,000 cases, Colby’s 2010 production is nearly double that of the first vintage. Both vintages have gone far beyond what either Groom envisioned at the outset.

“We made [about 50 cases] of wine,” says Daryl. “We hoped to sell it at auction. But word got around what Colby and I were up to, and the idea just took off.” Enter national drugstore chain Walgreens, which offered to distribute the wine , and Treasury Wine Estates, producer of Chateau St. Jean and Beringer, which lent its facilities in Sonoma County for the suddenly more ambitious launch.

“This is a great wine,” Groom says—and when Daryl Groom talks about great wine, everyone should listen. The native Australian has been making wine for more than 30 years; for five years, he was chief winemaker for Penfolds Grange, Australia’s most important wine. Groom came to the U.S. in 1990 to spearhead the turnaround of Sonoma County’s Geyser Peak Winery; his team made Geyser Peak one of the most award-winning U.S. wineries.

He now makes wine on his own label, Groom, from grapes grown in Australia’s Barossa Valley and Adelaide Hills. Colby Red blends five varietals from Sonoma, Napa and Mendocino counties. “It’s the second-best selling wine at Walgreens, and now we’re selling it through other outlets,” he says. “It’s poured by the glass at Capitol Grill [in Washington, D.C.].”

The Colby Red story is best told by those who lived it; at ColbyRed.com, you can view a poignant seven-minute video and a clip from the “Today” show. The site offers sales of Colby Red; a meter tracks the flow of funds donated to charities that promote heart health.

“I’ve had a great time traveling around the country handing out checks,” Groom says. “What a feeling to be able to give away money, and to something so worthwhile.”