In our Paired Up posts, we review a wine and the food we wisely (or foolishly) paired it with.
The Wine
2008 SuLei Cellars Beet Red
We picked this bottle up at the winery during 2011 Spring Release Weekend in Walla Walla. It was our second visit to SuLei Cellars, having been lured in the year before by an adorable little puppy. The wines were our reward for following our hearts, and the following year's releases were so good that we bought a bottle of each. The Beet Red is a blend of 50% Cabernet Sauvignon, 30% Malbec, and 20% Cabernet Franc. We expected some full flavors for this meal, and wanted a wine that would complement the earthiness of mushrooms. This wine stuck out as one that had that dirty goodness, its name is Beet Red after all, so we popped it open and decanted it for a couple hours before tasting. It was a bit tight on opening, so the airing out was a definite plus.
The Food
Hunter stayed out of the kitchen once again. In Katy's words:
Getting back in the saddle for the new year, and being freshly topped off with New Year's resolutions, I have finally gotten myself back in front of the keyboard. One of the major changes that we are making this year (like everyone else, ever, in the world) is working to be happy and healthy, most notably in finding the elusive balance of food and wine. Eating less meat and working to stay under 500 calories per meal is really what we are striving for in our new pairings... so, I shall now begin with what I've learned so far!
We kicked this new idea off with a bang: Mushroom Lasagna (yes, seriously, 396 calories/serving!). I picked up this recipe from Cooking Light, which is my new magazine obsession. It was a little time-consuming, but ultimately easy as... lasagna (?). The key was in the mushroom mix, you really must go with crimini and as many other strong flavored shrooms as you can find at the store. The other key was all in the timing and prep work, which is always where you'll be a shining star chef, or a broken and sad novice. As we typically do with magazine recipes, we had to make a few substitutions to get things to our personal liking, but otherwise I followed the recipe pretty much exactly.
To start with, the list is a bit more extensive then previous entrées: 1 ounce dried porcini mushrooms (you will need to soak these in 1 cup of boiling water for about 30 minutes at the beginning... save the water!), 4 shallots, 8 ounces of crimini, 4 ounces of other mushrooms - we used oyster and Cantrell, 1.5 Tbsp of chopped fresh thyme, TONS of garlic (minced), 1/2 cup white wine (I used an already opened chardonnay), 1/3 cup 1/3 less fat cream cheese, 3 cups of reduced fat milk, chopped chives, 1/4 cup flour, 1/2 cup parm-reggiano (grated), and 9 whole wheat lasagna noodles.
Heat the oven to 350, start the porcinis soaking in the boiling water (covered), and boil up your noodles. Then get a large skillet going with a little bit of butter melting on it, add olive oil and swirl together. Now add in the shallots and sauté, then add the mushrooms, salting and seasoning as you see fit. Sauté about 6 minutes. Add in the thyme, and half the garlic you want, sauté about a minute. Stir in the wine and cook until liquid evaporates, scraping up the flavor chunks as you go. Now remove from heat, stir in the cream cheese, and add porcini mushrooms.
In a new, largish saucepan, heat over medium high and add a little olive oil, then the remainder of your garlic stash (I really found, after the fact, that it may not be possible to add too many garlic cloves...), sauté. Add to this the porcini water you saved, 2 3/4 cup of the milk, salt and pepper and bring to a boil. In a small bowl, combine the remaining 1/4 cup of milk and the flour with a whisk (makes like a creamy paste) and add that to the saucepan. Simmer and stir constantly for 2 minutes... it should get thick and creamy.
Now you're ready to layer up the lasagna, starting with some of the cream mixture on the bottom of a baking dish, then add 3 noodles, then add some mushroom mix, then 3 more noodles... and repeat until you run out of things to stack. Try to end with the last of the milk-sauce, and sprinkle the top with the parm-reg and chives. Bake for about 45 minutes. This recipe serves 6, so cut it up into 6 pieces and plate 'em. We had this with a very simple green salad, garnished with baby corn, balsamic and beets. Simple - sort of!
We kicked this new idea off with a bang: Mushroom Lasagna (yes, seriously, 396 calories/serving!). I picked up this recipe from Cooking Light, which is my new magazine obsession. It was a little time-consuming, but ultimately easy as... lasagna (?). The key was in the mushroom mix, you really must go with crimini and as many other strong flavored shrooms as you can find at the store. The other key was all in the timing and prep work, which is always where you'll be a shining star chef, or a broken and sad novice. As we typically do with magazine recipes, we had to make a few substitutions to get things to our personal liking, but otherwise I followed the recipe pretty much exactly.
To start with, the list is a bit more extensive then previous entrées: 1 ounce dried porcini mushrooms (you will need to soak these in 1 cup of boiling water for about 30 minutes at the beginning... save the water!), 4 shallots, 8 ounces of crimini, 4 ounces of other mushrooms - we used oyster and Cantrell, 1.5 Tbsp of chopped fresh thyme, TONS of garlic (minced), 1/2 cup white wine (I used an already opened chardonnay), 1/3 cup 1/3 less fat cream cheese, 3 cups of reduced fat milk, chopped chives, 1/4 cup flour, 1/2 cup parm-reggiano (grated), and 9 whole wheat lasagna noodles.
Heat the oven to 350, start the porcinis soaking in the boiling water (covered), and boil up your noodles. Then get a large skillet going with a little bit of butter melting on it, add olive oil and swirl together. Now add in the shallots and sauté, then add the mushrooms, salting and seasoning as you see fit. Sauté about 6 minutes. Add in the thyme, and half the garlic you want, sauté about a minute. Stir in the wine and cook until liquid evaporates, scraping up the flavor chunks as you go. Now remove from heat, stir in the cream cheese, and add porcini mushrooms.
In a new, largish saucepan, heat over medium high and add a little olive oil, then the remainder of your garlic stash (I really found, after the fact, that it may not be possible to add too many garlic cloves...), sauté. Add to this the porcini water you saved, 2 3/4 cup of the milk, salt and pepper and bring to a boil. In a small bowl, combine the remaining 1/4 cup of milk and the flour with a whisk (makes like a creamy paste) and add that to the saucepan. Simmer and stir constantly for 2 minutes... it should get thick and creamy.
Now you're ready to layer up the lasagna, starting with some of the cream mixture on the bottom of a baking dish, then add 3 noodles, then add some mushroom mix, then 3 more noodles... and repeat until you run out of things to stack. Try to end with the last of the milk-sauce, and sprinkle the top with the parm-reg and chives. Bake for about 45 minutes. This recipe serves 6, so cut it up into 6 pieces and plate 'em. We had this with a very simple green salad, garnished with baby corn, balsamic and beets. Simple - sort of!
True to its name, the wine is beet red in color, and surprisingly light for a Cab/Cab/Malbec blend. The aroma is still young; a strong cedar nose with dark fruit, some vanilla sweetness and a hint of tobacco. The flavors are more developed than my nose told me, with the fruit meshing well with the woody taste. An attack that is a little on the sweet side is nicely rounded out by the tannins. The long, pleasant finish results in a satisfied, "hmm," and I go back for more. 88
The beets and vinegar in the salad were splendid with the wine, neutralizing the sweet attack. I'm not sure I've ever thought about wine with salad before, but this was a nice surprise. The mushroom lasagna brought the wine back down from its juicy high notes and gave it some structure. The wine's contribution to the main course was to give a bit more pep to this stroganoff-y dish, nicely pairing zest with comfort.
Katy's Take
The beets and vinegar in the salad were splendid with the wine, neutralizing the sweet attack. I'm not sure I've ever thought about wine with salad before, but this was a nice surprise. The mushroom lasagna brought the wine back down from its juicy high notes and gave it some structure. The wine's contribution to the main course was to give a bit more pep to this stroganoff-y dish, nicely pairing zest with comfort.
Katy's Take
It looks like a fresh glass of pure beet juice, so obviously appropriately named! The nose was moderate, not really giving up many secrets to it's age. It smelled strongly of hearty, earthy tones; a wide mix running from fennel to pepper to a sort of woody tart cherry. There was an undeniable underlying whiff of pencil shavings which hearkened to the Cab Franc in the mix. On the tongue it was surprisingly bright and bursting in a sort of velvety-tart build. Slightly drying, but also juicy with a very "veggie-esque" finish that hangs out on your palate for a little while, turning slightly sour at the last. 88
The acid of the balsamic worked wonders on this wine! It balanced out and smoothed down all of the tiny little rough edges of the wine. It paired quite well with the veggie-earthiness of the mushrooms as well, both elements (food and wine) working together to liven each other up. It was like 2 wallflowers at a dance that find each other, and they may not start dancing together, but they hang out anyway and make fun of all the other "shiny people" and end up having a great time anyway... you know? Overall this wine was a little dull on it's own, but it was actually a great addition to the meal, and in fact became extra enjoyable after the forks had nothing left to stab.
The acid of the balsamic worked wonders on this wine! It balanced out and smoothed down all of the tiny little rough edges of the wine. It paired quite well with the veggie-earthiness of the mushrooms as well, both elements (food and wine) working together to liven each other up. It was like 2 wallflowers at a dance that find each other, and they may not start dancing together, but they hang out anyway and make fun of all the other "shiny people" and end up having a great time anyway... you know? Overall this wine was a little dull on it's own, but it was actually a great addition to the meal, and in fact became extra enjoyable after the forks had nothing left to stab.
The Conclusion
It has been some time since we sat down and seriously tested our pairing skills. Lucky for us, SuLei produced a Beet Red beacon signaling to us that this was the wine to drink with our earthy mushroom lasagna. With food and wine that complement each other like these did, it left us newly inspired for the new year and ready to try out some more culinary combos!
No comments:
Post a Comment