Wine Dinner #1

Greetings all my fellow winos, tonight I am going to recap my wine dinner from earlier this week. I decided to a tasting of three different wines, 2 white and 1 red. I thought I would make a simple pairing with 3 courses that were light, refreshing and scrumptious.

First Course: Caprese Salad with Spinach

 

Recipe:

1 Tomato
3-4 Slices of Mozzarella Cheese
4-5 Spinach leaves
A few sprigs of FRESH basil
& Balsamic Vinegar reduced down

Directions: Slice tomatos and cheese, intermingle every other, place on a bed of spinach then add desired amounts of basil and balsamic vinegar.

This salad was paired with a wine I tasted earlier and is in my tasting blog "Pascual Toso Sauvignon Blanc 2011." I thought this wine would pair extremely well with the acidity of the tomato but bring out subtle herbal notes and thought the basil would add a freshness to the palate as well. It was a good pairing considering I'm not an expert and it was a great summer starter.

Main Course: My Version of Beef Stroganoff

Recipe:

1.5 lbs of leaner Hamburger meat (cooked and seasoned)

1 Can of Mild Rotel (drained)

1 Jar of Light Alfredo Sauce

1 Bag of Egg Dumpling Noodles (boiled to aldante)

1 Jar of Sliced Mushrooms (drained)

1 Shallot (diced)

3/4 Valdalia Onion (diced)

1 dollop of Sour Cream (on top at the end)

Directions: Cook and season meat to desired taste (then drain fat), sweat the onions and shallots in pan and then add to meat as well as drained Rotel and Mushrooms. Leave on low heat for a few moments and then add Alredo Sauce until nice creamy texture. Boil noodles until the perfect doneness and then add into the same pan with meat sauce. VIOLA. Spoon out and add a dollop of Sour cream and if you are feeling extra zesty you can always add some jalapenos to the meat mixture.

Growing up my dad used to make this for us about every other week, it was such a hardy meal and it would always have great left overs. It was a meal that in college always reminded me of home and can be made a variety of different ways which I love (cause as a poor college student I couldn't always afford Shallots or Rotel etc). I paired this meal with a lovely Pinot Noir. Acacia 2011 Pinot Noir has a great smokey flavor that is mild but unctious and I thought with the meat and noodle dish that I created it would add a level of fullness and burst of flavor with each taste/bite. I thought the pairing was nice, but maybe a different red, something perhaps not as heavy would have gone better with such a hardy dish.

Dessert: Baked Banana's & Cream

 

 

Recipe:

1 Banana

Lite Whipped Cream (to go on after it's baked off)

1/2 Tbsp Cinnamon

1 Tbsp Brown Sugar

Directions: Slice Banana and sprinkle the cinnamon and brown sugar mixture over them and bake on 350 for 5-10 minutes until done! Then dollop whip cream on top!

I decided to pair this dessert with a moscato because I thought the sweetness of the wine would pair well with a dessert that isn't overally sweet and make a good balance. The wine has such a mild flavor with a very sweet finish that a simple dessert seemed to be just the right pairing. Overall the bananas made a good palate for this wine, any other overly sweet dessert would have been just too much to compare to the wines sweet profile.

Conclusion:

An overall evaluation of my cooking and pairing techniques is in my opinion basic and simple. I love to cook but I do it to the simple and straightforward approach and well I haven't learned all the proper techniques yet nor do I have the tools for that either. For the dinner in general I felt that I made good smart decision upon the wine choice. I thought each one complimented the food, although the red was a little too heavy for this particular meal it was a great try. If it means anything my roommate loved the whole thing and was happy to have my cook and provide three good wines for her to try and evaluate.