Thursday, March 31, 2011

Paired Up: Malbec and Chicken Fajitas

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

The Wine

2007 Hightower Cellars Malbec Red Wine Estate Grown (Red Mountain)


Malbec got its start as a component in Bordeaux blends, but found its way to being a stand-out stand-alone varietal via South America. It has since begun to rise as a solid grape for Washington. As with our Pinot Noir and salmon pairing, we tried to mesh together some semblance of climactic familiarity between the wine and dishes on this one. The (very!) spicy fajitas we assembled come with southwest flavor suited to a dry, hot climate. This wine comes from the estate fruit of Hightower Cellars, grown in one of Washington's warmest AVAs - Red Mountain, whose southwest exposure makes for long days of hot sun.

We bought the wine at Fred Meyer the day we made the dinner and decanted it for only about 15-20 minutes while veggies were cut. It definitely got better as it aired out, so a longer decant would help it smooth the edges.

The Food

Fajitas are a relatively easy and fool-proof meal to make, so many people have their own versions of how it's done. That is certainly the case for us, so we paired up our cooking skills to make a truly collaborative dinner. Katy had an idea that she wanted to try for the chicken, so she took that on while Hunter brought the heat with the veggies. Being a meal borne of teamwork, and Katy ever being a fan of creating a shorthand word, this dish has been given the name "Aqueminitas".

Friday, March 25, 2011

Paired Up: Merlot/Cabernet Franc Blend and Steak in Chocolate Sauce

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

The Wine

2009 Buty Winery Merlot & Cabernet Franc (Columbia Valley)


We wanted to do a Merlot for this tasting, but we didn't think the one bottle in our cellar was quite ready and we didn't find any varietal Merlots that tickled our fancy. We tried a bottle of the 2008 vintage of this blend with an excellent dinner at Monsoon in Capitol Hill a couple nights prior to this meal, where it worked Buty-fully with a wide variety of dishes. The strength of the wine was great with steak, and we felt that the chocolate notes would mesh well with the chocolate sauce in this meal. Alas, the 2008 was not to be found, so we picked up a bottle of the 2009 at McCarthy & Schiering in Queen Anne while out on a walk. We packed it back down the hill and it sat in our living room for a few days before we got a chance to cook this dinner. It decanted for about 20 minutes before tasting, and really should have aired out more as it got better as the night wore on.

The Food

This one was all Katy - the only thing Hunter helped with was the eating. In the chef's words:

Moving on up! After mastering the leg of lamb, I'm feeling like getting a little edgy- onto the Beef Tenderloin! We knew that we wanted to taste a Merlot, and since, in our opinions, Merlot just comes off as a generic-panic at the cellar-"I didn't know what to buy, so I got this because I've heard of it" wine, we wanted to try something a little unconventional for the dish.

Wednesday, March 16, 2011

Paired Up: Primitivo and Leg of Lamb

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

The Wine

2007 Michael Florentino Cellars Primitivo (Columbia Valley)


Still Buzzing (oh the puns!) from our latest successful food and wine pairing, we went for something ambitious: leg of lamb. Since this was Katy's first time cooking it, we weren't quite sure what to pick out to pair with it. In stepped this Primitivo from Michael Florentino Cellars. Primitivo is the Italian name for Zinfandel, which is typically a very flexible food wine that can go with most anything. We picked up this bottle during St. Nicholas Day Open House. It rested in our wine fridge for the past few months, then we decanted it for about an hour before dinner.

The Food

This one was all Katy - the only thing Hunter helped with was the eating. In the chef's words:

Lamb has always seemed a little "way-out" for my culinary forays. It seems a little too "grown-up" and, to be honest, a little too... potentially disastrous. Well, I am here to tell you not to believe the hype! I stumbled across a seemingly bullet proof recipe early one Saturday morning, and decided to go all in and make it. It was a breeze. I bought the smallest leg of lamb that we could find (cooking for 2 and drinking loads of wine to boot presents a lot of "scale" issues, so I try to combat the battle of the bulge with small proportions, when applicable...)
 
We decided to try and make a traditional, New Zealand-esque Sunday Roast and subsequent feast. We paired the Lego Lamb with some baked brussels sprouts and a different sort of baked potatoes.

Monday, March 7, 2011

Paired Up: Red Blend and Pizza

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

The Wine

2007 Beresan Winery The Buzz (Walla Walla Valley)


Since we were having a pizza with a little bit of everything, we wanted a wine with a little bit of everything. This one fit the bill: it's a blend of 40% Syrah, 20% Cabernet Sauvignon, 20% Cabernet Franc, 10% Merlot and 10% Malbec.We first tried this blend at Beresan Winery just south of Walla Walla during Spring Release last year, and we picked up a bottle at that time. That bottle is long gone; this one came from Fred Meyer. It rested at room temperature in our dining room wine rack for a couple months until it got pulled for this meal. We opened and decanted it about 30 minutes before tasting. It didn't seem to need even that long, though. We could smell this one beckoning us from across the room right away. It's truly a pop and pour wine.

The Food

After a long day of hiking around Seattle, Hunter took the reigns on making this meal happen. In the chef's words:

This was a tough one. First, I consulted Katy to decide whether we wanted a cheesy pizza or a toppings-driven pie. Toppings was the consensus, so I went online to Zeek's Pizza to bring up the "Super Awesome," a custom pizza with pepperoni, spinach, pineapple, mushrooms, roma tomatoes and roasted garlic. Unfortunately, Zeek's website had been updated since we last ordered and I could not simply recall a saved order, meaning I had to check all those boxes individually... what trials!

Thursday, March 3, 2011

Paired Up: Syrah and Chicken Cordon Bleu

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

The Wine

2007 Walter Dacon C'est Syrah Beaux (Columbia Valley)


When we cook, we usually set the menu and then try to pick out a wine to complement it. This time, we flipped it around, picking out this Syrah from Walter Dacon Wines in Shelton, WA. We happened upon Walter Dacon on our way home from the coast last summer, and spent a lovely afternoon on their patio sipping on a couple of their Syrahs after tasting through their lineup of mostly Rhône-intensive wines.

The wines that we purchased at the winery that day, along with a bottle we picked up at a wine shop on the coast, inspired us to get a little serious about it and order a wine fridge. After a few days, we got the wine fridge in and running, so this bottle has been resting there for a little over half a year. In a nice change from our norm, we got a proper 2-hour decant in before tasting this one. 

The Food

Hoping to follow in the footsteps of our successful-though-somewhat-unexpected pairing of pork and Cabernet Franc, we bypassed the surefire dishes of lamb or beef and made Chicken Cordon Bleu with green beans on the side. Katy handled the main course while Hunter prepared the beans.