Bob Blumer

We’re Celebrating 91 Point Pinot Noir Score from Wine Enthusiast w/New Blumer Recipe!

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Gastronaut Bob Blumer’s Cream of Nostalgia Soup with Bacon & Grilled Cheese

Our recent 91 Point score from Wine Enthusiast for our 2017 Sta. Rita Hills Pinot Noir truly warms our hearts during these chilly days. So it feels appropriate to celebrate the news with a heart-warming recipe from gastronaut and author Bob Blumer – the third installment of our blog series, as we raise a toast to his new cookbook, Flavorbomb!

Pinot gets 91 Points from Wine Enthusiast

Read installment one. Read installment two.

Pinot Noir is a classic holiday meal pairing as it’s so versatile the many holiday dishes that can land on one table. We also have a lot of nostalgic memories of sipping our Pinot Noir with family and friends during the holidays. This is why we thought a classic recipe like Blumer’s Cream of Nostalgia Soup with Bacon & Grilled Cheese was the perfect pairing to celebrate with.

CLICK HERE to order our 2017 Sta. Rita Hills Pinot Noir or gift our Flavorbomb Your Holidays Collection!
Gastronaut Bob Blumer’s Cream of Nostalgia Soup with Bacon & Grilled Cheese

Cream of Nostalgia Soup with Bacon & Grilled Cheese

Gastronaut Bob Blumer
Few things in life that can compete with the nostalgia of cream of tomato soup and a grilled cheese sandwich. But if anything can, it’s this deeply satisfying, modern-day version. Add a grilled cheese sandwich with a complex, aromatic cheese and an extra crispy crust, and you will be flooded with memories of your youth—as channeled through the sophisticated tastes of your adult life. Cream of nostalgia soup with bacon
~ Pair with Lloyd Cellars 2017 Sta. Rita Hills Pinot Noir
Print Recipe Pin Recipe
Prep Time 1 hour 15 minutes
Course Appetizer
Cuisine American
Servings 6 People

Ingredients
  

  • 1 Head garlic
  • 12 Strips best-available bacon about ½ pound
  • 2 tablespoons Butter
  • 1 Small yellow onion diced
  • ½ Fennel bulb cored and chopped, or 3 celery stalks
  • 1 Carrot chopped
  • 3 tablespoons Flour
  • 1 – 28 ounce Can tomatoes whole or chopped
  • 5 cups Best-available chicken stock
  • 1 Bouquet garnis with 6 sprigs fresh thyme or 2 teaspoons dried thyme and 2 bay leaves, broken.
  • 2 teaspoons Harissa
  • Salt and pepper
  • ¼ – ½ cup Heavy cream optional

Instructions
 

  • Preheat toaster oven or oven to 400°F.
  • Slice the pointy top off garlic to expose each of the cloves. Set on a piece of aluminum foil. Drizzle with olive oil and wrap in the foil. Roast until cloves are lightly browned and tender, about 50 minutes. Reserve.
  • In a large pot, cook bacon until crispy. Remove bacon and all but roughly 1 tablespoon bacon fat. Reserve bacon.
  • To the pot, over medium-high heat, add butter, onion, fennel and carrot. Cook for about 8 minutes, stirring occasionally, or until vegetables start to brown. Add flour and stir constantly for 1 minute, allowing the flour to brown slightly (this thickens the soup in the same way that a roux is used to thicken gumbo). Add tomatoes along with all the juices, stock, 10 strips of bacon, and bouquet garnis.
    Simmer for 30 minutes.
    Let soup cool, remove bouquet garnis and squeeze out remaining juices back into the pot. Squeeze roasted garlic cloves directly into the pot and add harissa.
    Purée soup in a blender until smooth. Season to taste with salt and pepper. The soup is plenty rich and creamy as is, but if you really want to go for the gusto, finish with cream or drizzle a bit over top before serving.
    Serve in warmed soup bowls. Crumble remaining bacon over top.
    For the grilled cheese sandwich (per sandwich)
    2 slices sourdough loaf
    2 slices cave-aged Gruyere cheese, or any Gruyere, or emmental
    2 tablespoons mayonnaise
    Make a cheese sandwich, then spread the outside of each side with mayonnaise. Grill in a panini makeror a frying pan until well-browned and crispy.
Keyword Bacon, Bob Blumer, Grilled Cheese, Lloyd Cellars, Pinot Noir, Soup

Flavorbomb Your Holidays with Our Exclusive Gift Collection with Celeb Chef Bob Blumer!

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Flavorbomb Your Holidays Collection
Our Flavorbomb Holiday Collection includes four wines with Blumer's new cookbook.
Our Flavorbomb Holiday Collection includes four wines with Blumer’s new cookbook. Read on…

From our family to yours, we hope you remain safe and healthy. Certainly, the holidays will be like nothing any of us have experienced before. During shelter-in-place, we’ve found ourselves cooking as a family more than ever. This is why we share a holiday gift collection that includes each of our four wines and the new cookbook, Flavorbomb by Gastronaut and Author Bob Blumer.

Blumer is also an eight-time Guinness World Record holder, creator and host of the television series Surreal Gourmet and Glutton for Punishment, and a producer and host of World’s Weirdest Restaurants. If you’re like us and not dining out like you used to, then this is the cookbook for you. It’s loaded with insider tips and recipes to achieve the widely addictive flavors served up by your favorite chefs and restaurants!

CLICK HERE to Order Your Flavorbomb Holiday Collection!

  • 1 bottle – 2018 Prescription Chardonnay, Clarksburg
  • 1 bottle – 2018 Prescription Cabernet Sauvignon, Alexander Valley (Inaugural release!)
  • 1 bottle – 2019 Lloyd Cellars Chardonnay, Carneros
  • 1 bottle – 2017 Lloyd Cellars Pinot Noir, Sta. Rita Hills
  • 1 book – FlavorBomb by Bob Blumer

Exclusive Gift Package: $170 with shipping included!

(WINE CLUB MEMBER DISCOUNTS APPLY / CANNOT BE COMBINED WITH OTHER OFFERS)
Holiday shipping deadlines. NOTE: Due to Covid, UPS has no guarantees this year, so order early!
Shipping SelectionChristmas DeadlineNew Year’s Eve Deadline
GroundDecember 16December 21
2-Day AirDecember 20December 23
Next Day AirDecember 21December 28

Or Visit Our Online Store to Stock Up on Your Favorite Wines for the Holidays!

Gastronauts, Pescetarians & Barbie Agree, Lloyd Chard is the Bomb!

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Grilled Lobster Tails with Citrus-Infused Butter

Don’t let Barbie tempt you, this blog feature is about Bob Blumer’s lobster recipe, not shrimp!

If you haven’t heard the rumor swirling around the Napa Valley, winemaker Rob Lloyd is a pescetarian. This may have been why Rob selected our next recipe ‘Grilled Lobster Tails with Citrus-Infused Butter’ by Gastronaut and ‘Flavorbomb‘ cookbook author Bob Blumer in Part II of our five-part Holiday Series. Read Part I…

Blumer has long been known for his surreal recipes that look like, say, a flower pot, yet turns out to be a to-die-for salad. Humor has also been a signature of Blumer’s culinary artistry. On one occasion, a couple of years back, Blumer served up his famous ‘Shrimp on the Barbie’ recipe at a Napa Valley dinner to appease Rob’s pescetarianism ways. The guests were quite amused and then sated by the pure deliciousness of the dish!

For our Holiday Series, we’re taking the crustacean-theme up a couple of notches with Blumer’s grilled lobster recipe. As Blumer says, “Nothing says decadence like grilled lobster tails basted with a cilantro-chili-citrus butter.”

Of course, we’re pairing the dish with the equally decadent Lloyd Cellars 2019 Carneros Chardonnay! Order your Chardonnay now…

Gastronaut Bob Blumer's Lobster Tails

Grilled Lobster Tails with Citrus-Infused Butter

Gastronaut Bob Blumer
Paired with Lloyd Cellars 2019 Carneros Chardonnay
Print Recipe Pin Recipe
Prep Time 20 minutes
Course Main Course
Cuisine American
Servings 4 People

Equipment

  • Grill

Ingredients
  

  • 4 lobster tails
  • 2 tablespoons olive oil
  • salt and freshly ground black pepper To taste
  • 3 ounces best-available butter about 1/3 of a cup
  • 1 clove garlic minced
  • ¼ cup cilantro minced
  • 1 red jalapeno chili stemmed, seeded and minced
  • zest of 1 lime + 1 tablespoon juice
  • zest of 1 lemon + 1 tablespoon juice
  • zest of 1 orange

Instructions
 

  • Using a heavy sharp knife, cut the lobster tails in half. Place your knife on the end where the flesh is exposed and cut down through to the tail. Alternatively, you can butterfly the tail by cutting through the top shell and the flesh, but not through the bottom shell.
  • Brush all of the exposed flesh with oil and season with salt and pepper. Reserve.
  • In a small pan, over medium heat, melt butter. When it starts to bubble, add garlic, cilantro, jalapeno, citrus zest and juice. Stir for 1 minute, then remove from heat and reserve.
  • Preheat grill to medium/medium-high direct heat, or heat a heavy skillet to medium-high.
  • If you have halved the tails, place cut side down on grill or pan and cook for 4 minutes. Flip, and baste generously with butter. Cook for 2 more minutes, or until tails are cooked throughout.
  • If you have butterflied the tails, place cut side down on grill or pan and cook for 4 minutes. Flip, and baste generously with butter. Cook for 4 more minutes, or until tails are cooked throughout.
  • Serve immediately with remaining butter.

Notes

Fresh and frozen lobster tails can be sourced year-round at Kolikof.com
Keyword Chardonnay, Lloyd Cellars

Lloyd Cellars Pairs with Gastronaut Bob Blumer to Celebrate His New Cookbook, Flavorbomb!

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Sta. Rita Hills Salmon Burger

Flavorbomb

A rogue guide to making everything taste better

If you live for wildly addictive, life-affirming taste sensations that knock you off your feet, yet can’t figure out how to make them at home, you have just found your kindred cookbook spirit. Welcome to Flavorbomb, by Bob Blumer, and published by Penguin Random House Canada.

Blumer, a gastronaut, artist, and eight-time Guinness World Record holder, is the creator and host of the television series Surreal Gourmet and Glutton for Punishment, and a producer and host of World’s Weirdest Restaurants. His shows air on various networks in more than twenty countries worldwide.

Brunch the Salmon Burger
Rob Lloyd, Lamar Engel of Wine Militia, and Greg Moore of Lloyd Cellars and wife Jennifer Moore dive into Blumer’s Swingin’ Salmon Burger at Hollywood Hills brunch!

Rob and Bonnie Lloyd have been fans of Blumer’s mind-bending creativity and ‘flavor bomb’ dishes for many years. Luckily, Blumer is a fan of Lloyd Cellars’ wines. For the 2020 holidays, the trio has decided to team up to pair a couple of Blumer’s Flavorbomb recipes, along with a selection of other past cookbook recipes that love Lloyd Cellars wine!

The Lloyd’s met Blumer through their years as wine co-hosts for MUSEXPO: The United Nations of Music & Media in Los Angeles. Each year, Blumer hosts a private brunch at his home in the Hollywood Hills for the conference’s winery partners. It was at one of these brunches that Blumer ‘tested’ the following Swingin’ Salmon Burger recipe on the Lloyd’s and friends, so we thought it appropriate to start the Flavorbomb narrative with this delicious pescatarian burger.

In the coming weeks, we’ll be sharing some amazing holiday gifting ideas, including one with Blumer’s new book, as well as five recipes in a series of stories as part of the launch of our new News & Recipes blog. We now share Blumer’s Swingin’ Salmon Burger recipe, which pairs beautifully with both our Carneros Chardonnay and Sta. Rita Hills Pinot Noir!

UPDATE: Purchase our Flavorbomb Gift Collection Including Blumer’s Book and Our Four Wines!
Sta. Rita Hills Salmon Burger

Swingin’ Salmon Burger

Gastronaut Bob Blumer
This juicy salmon burger goes both ways. It swims upstream and down—and it pairs equally as well with our big luscious Sta. Rita Hills Pinot Noir or our complex Carneros Chardonnay.
Pair with Lloyd Cellars 2019 Carneros Chardonnay or/and 2017 Sta. Rita Hills Pinot Noir
Print Recipe Pin Recipe
Prep Time 1 hour
Course Main Course
Cuisine American
Servings 4

Equipment

  • food processor

Ingredients
  

  • 1 lb Fresh salmon fillet Avoid previously frozen salmon if possible
  • 1 Poblano chili or jalapeño chili
  • 1/4 tsp Salt
  • 1/4 tsp Freshly ground black pepper
  • 1 Egg
  • 3 Green onions, finelysliced
  • 2 Cloves of garlic, minced
  • 1/2 Red bell pepper, trimmed and diced
  • 2 tbsp Sourcream or mayonnaise
  • 1 tbsp Dijonmustard
  • 1/4 cup Parsley, roughly stemmed
  • 1/4 cup Breadcrumbs or Panko
  • 4 Airy burger buns (ideally brioche)
  • 4 tbsp Homemade aioli or store-bought mayonnaise
  • 1 Zest of lemon + 1 tablespoon lemon juice
  • 2 tbsp Dill, chopped finely
  • 1 Ripe avocado
  • 3 tbsp Olive oil, divided

Instructions
 

  • Using a sharp knife,remove skin from salmon. Remove any pin bones from the salmon, then roughly cutsalmon into ½-inch cubes. Reserve.
  • Blacken poblano over a gas burner or BBQ. Put it in a bagfor 5 minutes, then peel off and the discard skin along with the seeds andstem. Reserve.
  • To a food processor, addegg, green onion, garlic, poblano, bell pepper, sour cream, Dijon, cilantro,breadcrumbs, lemon zest + juice, salt ad pepper. Pulse four or five times. Addsalmon and pulse another 4 or 5 times or until coarsely chopped and blendedwith the other ingredients—but well before the point that it turns to mush. Ifyou don't have a food processor, chop salmon into tiny pieces, then blend withall the aforementioned ingredients in a bowl. Form salmon mixture into 4patties. Reserve.
  • In a small bowl, blend aioli or mayo with dill. Reserve.
  • In a medium bowl, use afork to mash avocado. Add a pinch of salt and lemon juice. Blend and reserve.
  • Ifbuns are too thick or too dense, pull a little bread from the center of the tophalf, or slice a bit off from one or both of the cut sides. While patties are cooking, brush buns with oil andtoast, cut side down, in a pan or on a grill until cut side is lightly browned.
  • To a sauté pan overmedium-high heat, add 1 tablespoon oil. When pan is smoking hot, add patties andcook, loosely covered, for about 4 minutes per side, or until the outsides arecrusty and the centers are just cooked (i.e. opague).

Notes

To serve Schmear bottom bun with aioli, and top bun with avocado
Advance work Aioli can be made up to a day in advance. Patties can be made up to a day in advance. Plan-overs Patties freeze well and will last in airtight wrapping for up to 6 months.
Keyword Bob Blumer, burger, Chardonnay, Lloyd Cellars, Pinot Noir, salomon