Tuesday, February 15, 2011

Paired Up: Pinot Noir and Salmon

In our Paired Up posts, we review a wine and the food we wisely (or foolishly) paired it with. 

The Wine

2009 A to Z Wineworks Pinot Noir (Oregon)


We first tried Pinot Noir with salmon at Anthony's Pier 66 last summer, and it proved to be an awakening of sorts. The splendid balance between the fish and the wine gave us our first glimpse of what was possible when the proper wine was served with the proper dish.

In the Pacific Northwest, Oregon is still the place to go to for the best Pinot Noirs. This one comes to us from A to Z Wineworks in Dundee via our local Metropolitan Market. Due to their high quality and increasing visibility, many Oregon Pinots have been climbing in price, but this one can be had for around $20. It was stored in our living room for about a week, then we decanted it for about an hour before tasting.

The Food

For Valentine's Day, we paired up our cooking skills and made a northwest classic: salmon, asparagus and smashed potatoes. Katy tackled the salmon and potatoes while Hunter prepared the asparagus.


Katy on the salmon and potatoes: 

This is my personal go-to simple-yet-super-fancy, blow-them-away dish. My FAVORITE part is the low use of dishes, so the clean up is as quick and painless as the cooking. First off, preheat the oven to 450°. Then tear off a 9" wide sheet of aluminum foil for each fillet. Cut off 2 1/4"-ish pats of stick butter per fillet, and cut each of those pieces in half. Drizzle a very small amount of EVOO onto an Al sheet. Put the salmon fillet (meat side down) onto the oil spot, then flip back over and set aside. There should still be some oil on the Al sheet. Sprinkle onto it salt (course salt, garlic salt, etc.), pepper, cayenne, and a little bit of white sugar. Next, put 2 pats of the cut up butter down in the mess, then place the salmon, skin side down, onto that. Fold up the edges of the foil so that it creates something like a bowl, and pour a little bit of stock (chicken or veggie, your taste) onto the fillet, and squeeze a half of a small lemon onto the fish. Next, repeat the salt and pepper regime on the top of the fish, and sprinkle on some dill. Lastly, place 2-3 thin lemon slices on top, and then 2 more half pats of the butter. Fold down the tin foil so that none of the juices can escape, and place directly into the heated oven (repeat with all of your salmon fillets)! I let them stay in there like that for about 10-15 min.

Next up, the potatoes. For 2 of us, I just bought 4 smallish red potatoes. Clean them up, and then cut them up into 1/2" chunks. Put them in a small pot, cover with water, and bring to a boil. Once they are tender to a fork, drain the water and put into a mixing bowl. Add some butter, low-fat buttermilk (just milk will tend to make the potatoes a bit more on the thin and watery side...), salt, pepper, dill, fresh grated parmesan (as cheesy as you want to make it) and a couple of spoonfuls of ricotta. Smash it all together with a potato smasher first, then just grab a wooden spoon and mix and smash until you are happy with the consistency.
Back to the fish. Take the pouches out of the oven, and carefully unfold the foil, leaving the "bowl" with all the juices in. Use a fork to take off the slices of lemon, and then grate on some fresh parmesan and, leaving uncovered still, carefully return to the oven for a few more minutes, until the cheese is melted and maybe a little bubbling.

Pull it out of the oven and plate it up with the smashed potatoes and the asparagus. To garnish, I drizzle the lemon-butter juice over everything on the plate. Then, you get to throw away the foil. And you're done!!! Your fish will be moist and flavorful, to the point that people will most likely comment.

Hunter on the asparagus:

Even with my rudimentary cooking skills, making asparagus is really simple. First, snap the stalks - just bend them until they naturally snap, keep the spear end and discard the rest. Rinse off the spears and put them in a large pan. Drizzle some EVOO over the top of them and either toss them in the pan (if you are skilled) or roll them around with your hands (if you are me). Sprinkle on some garlic salt and fresh ground pepper, add some water to the bottom, and cook, covered, over medium heat until the spears are tender. Drain off the excess water and serve. Easy!

Hunter's Gatherings

The wine is nice and clear with a medium depth red-garnet color. The nose is tight even after an hour of decanting, but there are some cherries, red fruits and chalk. After some time, floral scents pop up to the surface. The flavor is a pleasant surprise - much more powerful than the nose indicated. The flavor lasts and comes on strong in the finish, with light cherries smacking the whole way through. There is a bit of a tannic bite to it in the midpalate. 87

This wine does great things with salmon. The fish tones down the tannins and brings the fruit even further forward, and the wine revitalizes the fish after the first bite squeezes out most of the juice. Asparagus and smashed potatoes are perfect companions to salmon, and they don't interfere with the wine's work. 

Katy's Take

The color was reddish-garnet, crystal-clear and even; I would go so far as to call it perhaps the most perfect Valentine's hue. Once poured into the glass, it was with great willpower that I did not immediately put it to my lips to taste.

Alas, I took the cue from my Valentine, and suffered through the [loooong] tasting foreplay of swirling and sniffing, and repeating. Although we had decanted for quite some time while we were cooking dinner, it still seemed extremely closed. For me, I began to notice that I could actually get more discernible scents once the swirling had subsided, if only for a few brief seconds. I was able to pick out an extremely pleasant, light floral bouquet that was feminine and delicate, with hints of mild red fruits, before the whiff would give way to charcoal and chalk, and then fade to nothing.

The first kiss sip was all I was anticipating it to be, and then a little more. My first note was "SMOOTH!" and that is really how I can best sum it up. The initial wave of attack was a bright burst of slightly tart red fruits that immediately crested to a smooth, round and balanced middle and finish. There were very subtle tastes of red currants and an uplifting build of a bold cherry that only seemed to connect the varied structures of the wine, and not to overwhelmingly flavor the taste. Overall, it finished with a pleasing chewy and oily tongue melt, that reminded me of the most decadent French food, laden with beautiful butter and other forbidden fats. I was smacking my lips between every sip. 92

To simply say that I felt it paired well with the salmon would be both obvious, and lack-luster. I felt that they were really a match made by the almighty Sin Gods themselves. The fats of the fish (and the butter/parm/dill dressing) brought forth an even more mouth watering hit of juice and mellowed spice, making me feel like all of the tastes and textures were literally melting in my mouth. The smashed potatoes and asparagus also added to the overall experience in a very consistent and equally pleasing, balancing manner. Overall, I would call it a huge success! 

The Conclusion

Some of the best advice we've found is that food and wine from the same region should be paired together. Pinot Noir may not originally be from the Pacific Northwest (hey, neither are we!), but it has found a perfect home in Oregon, where some of the best Pinots are made today. Salmon have been running the rivers around here for ages, and seem to have just been waiting to be paired with Pinot Noir. This is a fine pairing that we can definitely recommend.

1 comment:

  1. Thank you for the review and recipe. I'm not a Pinot drinker, so the recommendation and pairing are appreciated. Also enjoy having two different takes on the wine - looking forward to more!

    Cheers

    ReplyDelete