What are you eating?

[Brian]

If you drink all that, it won't really matter what you eat.

Haha - that's not exactly the plan. Thanks for the ideas, we do have access to a grocery with a lot of stuff - would think rabbit's in the mix albeit maybe not horse. 

[Sergeant Rock]

Sarge, it occurs to me that I should ask you this. A certain friend and I are planning on cooking together this Valentine's Day, and we want to plan our food around the wines we have. To wit: two bottles of sangiovese (but one's a Cali blend), plus an '09 California pinot noir and a malbec. There's something very fine and French but I forget what it is at the moment - could tell you when I get home from work. There was also a very smooth, clean sauv blanc from New Zealand, but I got impatient and drank it. 

Anyway, are you inspired to suggest a pairing?

Is this a romantic dinner for two (or a non-romantic, anti-Valentine's dinner for two)? Or are you cooking for a crowd? If two, I second Jens' suggestion of roast chicken with the pinot. (I drink it with fresh salmon too.)  Malbec pairs really well with chili. Sangiovese is the main varietal in Chianti and goes well with meat or tomato based pasta. Can't suggest anything for the French bottle until I know what it is.

More later...Mrs. Rock says the mussels are ready to eat. Yum!

Sarge

[SonicMan46]

Last night, and for the fourth time in two weeks, Mrs. Rock made penne all'arrabbiata (roughly translated as Pissed Off Pasta  )  We've become addicted to this simple but delicious, and fiery, dish. Since I need meat every day, Mrs. Rock also sautés a chicken breast that has been marinated in sambal oelek, honey, Pomegranate syrup (non-sweet, Turkish style) salt and pepper, and serves with a dollop of joghurt (helps cut the heat). Left click to enlarge pic.

Hi Sarge - that dish looks delicious & the wine an excellent match, I suspect!  Dave

Forgot to post a surprise from a week ago - we were @ a concert in Durham and found a new downtown Tapas Bar called Mateo - dinner menu link HERE - bunch of 'little snacks' for an early dinner; some of the highlights included:

CARPACCIO de PULPO -  octopus carpaccio, smoked potato, pickled red onion
ENSALADA de MARISCOS - chilled shrimp, mussels, scallops, clams, calamares, sherry vinaigretta
GAMBAS - NC shrimp, olive oil, garlic, chili, lemon, parsley
MOLLEJAS - crispy sweetbreads, butternut squash romesco, sultana grapes, capers, hazelnut vinaigretta
ALBÓNDIGAS - meatballs, smoked tomato, brinkley farm field pea stew

All was delicious - in fact, we ended up w/ 2 orders of the seafood salad & the meatballs - had a Rioja white wine - can't wait to return! 

[Sergeant Rock]

Hi Sarge - that dish looks delicious & the wine an excellent match, I suspect!  Dave   Forgot to post a surprise from a week ago - we were @ a concert in Durham and found a new downtown Tapas Bar called Mateo

I am envious. We lost the only Spanish restaurant in the area a few years ago. I miss the tapas...although Mrs. Rock can whip up a pretty decent batch. I think I posted a photo of one such dinner.

Sarge

[Sergeant Rock]

Tonight Mrs. Rock made dinner again (she's been cooking recently...probably guilty because she's off to a seminar tomorrow, leaving me to fend for myself for three days    ). Fresh mussels cooked in a white wine/tomato sauce (with carrots, celery root, leeks, bay leaves, garlic). The salad was dressed with olive oil and a white wine vinegar, locally produced from (Jens, take note) Weissburgunder (pinot blanc).






Sarge

[Karl Henning]

Mmmm, mussels!

[North Star]

Looks delicious, Sarge!

We had blue mussels some time ago, cooked in white wine, with Roscoff pink onions - those are some great onions, a lot mellower and sweeter than other onions. Suited the mussels brilliantly.

[Brian]

Can't suggest anything for the French bottle until I know what it is.

Bordeaux
Chateau de la Huste, Fronsac
2009

(A 90 from Wine Spectator)

[Mirror Image]

A certain friend and I are planning on cooking together this Valentine's Day

Is this friend a woman?

[jlaurson]

Is this friend a woman?

What an indiscreet question. Tsk. tsk.

[mc ukrneal]

Okay, if I may flip this on its head! Michelle found a recipe for a flank steak stuffed with blue cheese and bread crumbs. We're going to start with a caprese and serve the main with spinach. Now, I'm a total wine novice (don't worry, I have a few guidebooks on the way*) and this may be a pairing nightmare, but of the stuff listed, anything seem like a better option than the others?

To recap, that was:
'09 Carneros pinot noir
'09 Fronsac bordeaux
'11 Cali Sangiovese
Her Italian Sangiovese and malbec, the identities of which I'm unsure on.

*and a few glasses in me now, if that accounts for the writing here

Hmmm. Any one of them will go just fine with red meat (though I might be inclined to go with the Sangiovese because of the stuffed cheese, though I am not entirely clear whether it is just a taste or is packed full of it). The pinot (and perhaps a sangiovese depending on how full bodied it is, though in this case I would want something lighter/spicier/fruitier) would be the best options for the caprese.

In the end, the pairing is really not a big deal int eh scheme of things. I've had white wines with red meat and red wines with fish, and it's turned out just fine. And since you have a red wine going with a red meat, you're golden whatever you choose.

[jlaurson]

Hmmm. Any one of them will go just fine with red meat (though I might be inclined to go with the Sangiovese because of the stuffed cheese, though I am not entirely clear whether it is just a taste or is packed full of it). The pinot (and perhaps a sangiovese depending on how full bodied it is, though in this case I would want something lighter/spicier/fruitier) would be the best options for the caprese.

In the end, the pairing is really not a big deal int eh scheme of things. I've had white wines with red meat and red wines with fish, and it's turned out just fine. And since you have a red wine going with a red meat, you're golden whatever you choose.

Agree with the latter. No one should get caught in the absurdly reductionist notion that the presence of pigments in the skin of a grape dictates what meal the resultant wine does and does not go with. Say it with me: "I don't do color, I only do grape"

For the meal above, I would go either with Sangiovese all the way. Sounds the hardiest of them and well capable to withstand the glorified Philly Cheese Steak you are making.  Instead of spinach, perhaps chard?

Caprese I don't see with either Bordeaux or a Pinot Noir. The New Zealand white might have gone well with it; as it is: Sangiovese it is. Sangiovese isn't Sangiovese, granted, but if it is anywhere close to a Brunello, that should be fine.

.

Motherf&#(*&@#, I just deleted my whole text for Sarge's benefit about the great surprise food encounter I had in Nuremberg, thanks to a friend with the NSO who ferreted out this amazing restaurant that turned out to be in some dead-end back alley, at the end of which you expect a mugging, not a top notch, low profile foodie palace. Right across from the asylum seeker's shelter, too.


Aperitif (Rieslingsekt for me, Kellerbier for him) and then a bottle of excellent (given price and what it was meant to do) Franconian Rivaner that went just as well with the

Cod tongue with cucumber fettuccine one Tamarillo/Algy somethingorother...  as it did with my

Breast of duck with brussels sprouts and pulverized tomato...

as it did with his Schweinebraten or my Pulpo... or the Blood-orange / Yoghurt Parfait and Mango with Sticky Rice.

To top it off, we played three rounds of Foosball because, incongruously, there was a table standing right there on the dinner floor.

http://www.catering-nuernberg.net/ess.tisch.html
http://www.catering-nuernberg.net/tl_files/essbrand/bilder/Downloads/esskarte-der-woche.pdf
http://www.nordbayern.de/essen-trinken/gastro-guide/ess-tisch-bei-ess-brand-1.1083012

[Sergeant Rock]

Brian's post with his proposed Valentine's menu has disappeared? I can see it in Neal's reply though.

Brian, that's a wine pairing nightmare    Fresh tomatoes, two kinds of cheese, spinach...hard to match with a single red wine. I agree with Jens and Neal: the Sangiovese is probably the best bet for both the caprese and the steak. I think blue cheese would destroy the pinot. If you want to open two bottles, the Fronsac might go with the caprese (young, light Bordeaux does well with mozzarella). I'm not sure how it would stand up to the blue cheese (which normally pairs best with intense, sweet late-harvest whites...or a dry Scheurebe Auslese    ...but of course they don't do too well with steak  ).

Sarge

[Sergeant Rock]

Motherf&#(*&@#, I just deleted my whole text for Sarge's benefit about the great surprise food encounter I had in Nuremberg, thanks to a friend with the NSO who ferreted out this amazing restaurant that turned out to be in some dead-end back alley, at the end of which you expect a mugging....

With the bars over the ground floor windows, I suspect the owners think the same thing 

To top it off, we played three rounds of Foosball because, incongruously, there was a table standing right there on the dinner floor.

  There really is a Foosball table!



The seating arrangement reminds me of Bürklin-Wolf's Gutsausschank in Ruppertsberg. Looks like a fun place in which you'll get to know well complete strangers (your fellow diners) before the evening is over.

Remarkable menu.


Sarge

[Karl Henning]

Note to self: plan visit to Sarge's . . . .

[Brian]

Brian's post with his proposed Valentine's menu has disappeared? I can see it in Neal's reply though.

Indeed; I posted it but some unfortunate and troubling circumstances have intervened. Let's just say this: I'm not heading to the grocery just yet... 

I do very much appreciate the effort that's gone into the replies so far and the wine advice more generally.

[jlaurson]

Indeed; I posted it but some unfortunate and troubling circumstances have intervened. Let's just say this: I'm not heading to the grocery just yet... 

I do very much appreciate the effort that's gone into the replies so far and the wine advice more generally.

Ah, indeed! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xCFEk6Y8TmM

[Brian]

No kidding, Jens. Guess I need to stop by the shop and find myself a semisweet white wine; I'll need something to pair with leftover crab cakes and sadness.

Goodness, does this page tell a story.

[jlaurson]

No kidding, Jens. Guess I need to stop by the shop and find myself a semisweet white wine; I'll need something to pair with leftover crab cakes and sadness.

Goodness, does this page tell a story.

For commiseration and self-pity, I would recommend a nice, rich White Burgundy / Weissburgunder - with lots of body and, while not quite semi-dry, a healthy little residual sugar count of 5, 6g/l. Together with the mouth-filling umame of a wistful tear, it goes well with almost anything. And remember: ahead of everything except Bach, and on par only with sunshine, a glass of good wine and a deliberately prepared lovely meal is the great, and most reliable healer!

[Sergeant Rock]

No kidding, Jens. Guess I need to stop by the shop and find myself a semisweet white wine; I'll need something to pair with leftover crab cakes and sadness.

Goodness, does this page tell a story.

Bummer. So sorry, dude. I've experienced that kind of disappointment so many times. For example:

http://www.good-music-guide.com/community/index.php/topic,20089.msg605806.html#msg605806

I posted that a year ago....for you actually. I don't know if you read it. If not, reading it now might cheer you up a little--knowing you're not alone. And it's a reminder that bad things can lead to good things: if not for Marlene, I would never have met Mrs. Rock.

Sarge