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Medjool dates - use a sharp pairing knife to make a short cut along the pit to remove it and provide a pocket for your stuffing.

Dry cured Spanish chorizo - small dice

pine nuts - toasted and roughly chopped

fresh thyme - stems removed and finely chopped

sherry vinegar

olive oil

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in a bowl combine the chorizo, pine nuts, thyme and mix

add sherry vinegar and olive oil to taste - the mixture should be lightly dressed

with a small spoon stuff your dates and line them on a sheet pan

bake at 350 until hot

top with olive oil and sea salt - serve

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a quick note about sourcing product - everything for these recently posted recipes can be sourced from the following three phenomenal Seattle shops

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The Spanish Table - great for olive oil, piquillos, pimenton, etc.

Pike Place Fish Market - ridiculously fresh seafood and excellent salt cod if you don’t want to make your own

Frank’s Produce - The best fresh produce in the market, hand’s down.

Support these local businesses!

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Paella!

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12 oz shrimp – shell and heads on
18 oz clams, mussels, or whatever is fresh
6 oz squid – cleaned
6 oz loose chorizo
finely chopped onion
chopped garlic
tomato sauce
fresh peas
roasted red bell pepper
serranos – sliced thin
large pinch saffron
parsley
lemon
kosher salt
2 ½ cups rice
8 cups chicken stock

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peel and devain shrimp – reserve shells
heat chicken stock in pot and add the shells – simmer for 15 minutes – turn off heat and add saffron – let sit for 15 minutes – strain and reserve
in a large saute pan cook chorizo in olive oil until cooked through – remove chorizo and leave oil behind
add onion and garlic to pan and cook until transparent
add rice and toast for a couple minutes
add stock in 1 cup increments and stir until all liquid is absorbed for the first 4 cups of stock
add the remaining stock, then the seafood, tomato sauce and serranos – stir and cover
cook until shellfish open and shrimp and squid are opaque – careful not to overcook – remove seafood as it is done!
you can add it back when the cooking process is complete.
season with fresh lemon juice, salt and pepper and serve!

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This dish is really easy to prepare, and pairs well with the Buil & Gine Rueda that is discussed in a post below. Enjoy!

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Apple, Garroxta & Walnut Crostini

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tart apples - julienne

preserved lemon vinaigrette

parsley - whole leaves
walnuts – toasted and roughly chopped
any medium hard cheese from Spain
baguette

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slice and grill/toast the baguette

in a large bowl toss apples, parsley, walnuts and vinaigrette

top baguette with sliced cheese and then with apple salad

finish with olive oil and sea salt

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Bacalao-Stuffed Piquillo Peppers

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Serves 6

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12 piquillo peppers – the Spanish table in Seattle’s Pike Place market has these
¾ # fresh atlantic cod
kosher salt
bay leaf
peppercorns
cayenne
thyme
garlic – whole cloves crushed w/ skin on
3 cups whole milk
½ # potatoes
olive oil
pimenton

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salt the cod generously and place in a perforated pan covered in the fridge for 2 days
combine milk, bay, cayenne, thyme, garlic and peppercorns – bring to a low simmer
rinse cod and poach in milk mixture until cooked through
remove cod – let cool – remove any bones and/or skin
cook potatoes in milk mixture until tender and remove
strain milk mixture
add potaotes and cod to a mixer or large bowl
using a paddle or masher mix the potatoes and cod, adding the milk and olive oil as need to reach a smooth
consistancy
check seasoning and cool
stuff peppers with cod mixture and roast until hot and slightly crispy on the edges
serve with pimenton and finishing olive oil

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2007 Buil & Gine Nosis Rueda

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varieties: 100% Verdejo

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region: Rueda, Spain. Rueda lies along the Duero river to the northwest of Madrid. This area also
produces some fantastic Sauvignon Blanc.

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vinification: 100% stainless steel

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notes: coming from the “Fuente la Miel” vineyard, 35 year old vines create a wine with intense melon,
grapefruit pith, lemon oil, and wet rock. Ripe and fresh with lively acidity.
pairing: shellfish and fin fish or just a porch and comfy chair on a summer afternoon.

1998 R. Lopez de Heredia Vina Tondonia Gran Reserva Rose

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varieties: 30% Tempranillo, 60% Garnacho and 10% Viura

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region: Rioja Alta, Rioja, Spain. Rioja  There are three main sub-regions of Rioja  — Rioja Baja, Rioja Alavesa, and the Alta.  The Alta is considered by most to be the highest quality area and this house has been around since 1877.  They make their own barrels and are very traditional in style.  All of the fruit for this wine is grown in the Vina Tondonia vineyard that is owned completely by R. Lopez de Heredia.

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aging:  4 years in house coopered barrels

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pairing: We all think of rose for summer drinking and while that is a great time for this wine, it is really food driven that can be drunk all year with charcuterie, seafood and spicy fare.  It bridges the gap between red and white and opens up a whole other world for pairing options.

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2000 La Rioja Alta Viña Ardanza Reserva Especial, Rioja, Spain

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tasting note
The nose is dominated by red and black fruits: sour cherry, black cherry and red currant. Very complex nose of leather, iron, vanilla, cinnamon, clove, sweet tobacco and dried red flowers. This wine has nice structure, with bright acidity and velvety tannins supporting the fruit. It is full bodied and finishes with great length.
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harvest
2000 was a very good vintage for Rioja. Warm temperatures and dry weather allowed for great ripening and discouraged vine diseases and pests. September was particularly dry, which ensured that the grapes would be able to develop complexity on the vine. The harvest began during the first week of October, and the grapes came into the winery with excellent sugar levels, great color development, and ripe tannins.
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varieties
80% Tempranillo from the 30-year old Viña Ardanza estate in Rioja Alta
20% Garnacha from Ausejo and Tudelilla, in Rioja Baja.
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aging
Alcoholic fermentation: 14 days in stainless steel at a maximum temperature of 28 C.
Malolactic fermentation: 21 days
Racking : wine was transferred to American oak casks in March, 2001.
Oak regime: 36 months in 4 year old American oak casks, which were an average of 4 years old.
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Alcohol: 13.2 % abv
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HILDAGO MANZANILLA LA GITANA, SANLUCAR DE BARRAMEDA, ANDALUCIA, SPAIN

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This is a very special style of sherry called manzanilla, which can only be produced in the town of Sanlucar de Barrameda in southwestern Spain. The unique yeast that grows on the wine during production, called flor, is especially strong here, and lends the wines a delicacy that is not found elsewhere. The Palomino grape used for most fine sherry production is grown on a specific water-absorbent chalk called albariza.

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Sherry can be divided into two main styles: fino and oloroso. The distinction between the two styles has everything to do with the presence (or absence) of flor; Finos grow flor, olorosos don’t. Flor forms a thick, cream-cheese like layer on top of the wine in the barrel, and this protects finos from oxygen. Because olorosos do not have this protective layer and are exposed to oxygen, they become far more nutty in flavor, richer in texture and darker in color. Olorosos are given an extra whallop of alcohol, which kills off the flor ( flor typically does not survive in solutions above 16% alcohol) and adds viscosity and richness.

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Manzanilla is, technically speaking, a fino, though it is more delicate, fresher, and more vibrant than most finos. The fact that flor is stonger in Sanlucar de Barrameda than in other nearby towns, such as El Puerto de Santa Maria and Jerez de la Frontera, has to do with the moderating effects of the Atlantic Ocean, which Sanlucar de Barrameda is slightly more prone to.

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There are other styles of sherry that fall somewhere in between the freshness of fino and the rich caramel nuttiness of oloroso, such as amontillado (a fino that has been aged until the flor dies off, giving it a slightly more nutty flavor and an amber hue) and palo cortado (sherry that starts out as fino, but by a fluke of nature, loses it’s flor and turns into an oloroso). Palo cortado is the rarest style, as it’s creation is completely dependant on the vagary of nature, and it is a rare blend of the finesse and elegance of fino and the power and richness of oloroso.

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Sherry production is complex and involves a system of fractional blending called a solera, which, in it’s most simple form is a series of casks used to age the wine. At the end of the series, mature wine is drawn off the last cask. Wine is moved through the series to replace the drawn wine, with new wine being added to the cask at the beginning of the series. The point of this in fino production is to keep the flor alive; as wine ages, it loses the nutrients that the flor needs to sustain itself. It is used in oloroso production as well. The solera offers vintage diversification; wine from a good vintage ameliorates the qualities of a lesser vintage. Due to the fact that not all of the wine in a particular cask is drawn off, the oldest of soleras contain wine that is hundreds of years old.

(diagram taken from http://www.wineaustralia.com)

This is part of a series of posts offered in explanation of the pairings we put together for the Marx Foods ecookbook. The series is intended to give insight into how wine nerds like us think about pairing food and wine. You can find the recipe on pg 19 of the cookbook.

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Ok, so how often do you get to pair wine with kangaroo?! To be honest, most of the pairings we deal with in our lives as sommeliers are, relatively speaking, fairly straightforward. Though most chefs aren’t thinking about whether or not their latest creation will work with wine, a good sommelier should be able to come up with a serviceable pairing for pretty much anything that’s thrown at them. That said, even when working in restaurants that feature the most innovative cuisines, you don’t often get dealt the kangaroo card!

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This pairing isn’t really all that difficult so much as it is uncommon. The easy choice would be to throw a high-quality Aussie Shiraz at ‘er and call it good, but we thought that’d be a little clichéd. The first thing I address when considering a dish is the main component. Kangaroo meat, particularly when grilled, gives a smokey-sweet, beefy flavor. It is fairly sinewy, slightly gamey, and protein-dense. That protein richness calls out for a wine that is relatively high in tannin, which helps break down the protein. This is a little gross, but I’ll mention it anyway: tannin, when combined with saliva, actually begins the digestive process in your mouth! Ahem, moving forward:
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The marinade on this dish is an additional concern, though it shouldn’t change our minds about a tannin-rich wine. The garlic and oregano will impart flavor, though by the time the meat comes off the grill, that flavor will not be dominant. The juniper berries will add a hint of piney herbaceous-ness, though, again, this is a secondary element. And, of course, there is that slaw to consider; for the most part, we want to be certain that the wine has enough acidity to not be run off the table by the vinegar.
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Syrah makes sense because it has plenty of tannin (good for the protein), often shows notes of game and smoked meat (compliments the smoky gaminess of the kangaroo), and can have decent acidity (won’t get killed by the vinegary slaw). French syrah would work as well, though we went domestic here because the fruit tends to be richer in Cali and WA, which we thought would be appropriate to the slightly sweet meatiness that kangaroo shows. We chose Loire Valley Cabernet Franc for it’s tannin structure, it’s vibrant acidity, and for it’s trade-mark tobacco-leaf character, which compliments the pine note from the juniper berries.

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Porcini Mushrooms ala Plancha with Aged Champagne. Hell yes. pg 4

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Aged Champagne is a pleasure all too rarely endulged. Most of us have had occasion to slurp down some young bubbles — and lord knows that can be entirely fulfilling, but well-made Champagne with a little age on it can turn into a magical beverage. The texture can be enthralling, and the wines take on delicious savory notes that play beautifully against the background of still-vibrant citrus and tree fruit.

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The most prominent savory note in aged champagne tends to be mushrooms, which is what led us directly to this pairing. Champagne offers excellent acidity, which is necessary to cut through the richness of the preparation (butter!). And then there’s that dose of sweet that does wonders for the fleur de sel sprinkled on top of the porcinis:

Most Champagne is topped up with a dosage of still wine and sugar before being corked. The amount of sugar in the dosage constitutes it’s stylistic designation. The majority of Champagne is made in the Brut style, which by law can contain no more than 15 grams per liter of sugar in the dosage. A good producer will keep the dosage below 10 g/l; he harvests ripe fruit, and so doesn’t need much additional sugar to cover up the sharp bitterness that unripe fruit will develop with time.

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I’d recommend a Vintage champagne with 10 or more years of age. The following vintages would rock with this pairing: 1999, 1996, 1995, 1990, 1989, 1988.

If you can find it, Vintage Champagne that has been recently disgorged (”RD”) would be extra fabulous. Wines with this designation have been aged on their lees for longer than typical. Vintage champagnes are required by law to be aged on their lees for at least three years (most are aged for longer), and recently disgorged wines are aged sur lie for even longer. The lees impart additional complexity to the wine and also offer it “food” to keep growing. Sur lie aging promotes long-life and great flavor development.

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Here’s a short list of Champagne producers that we dig:

Pierre Peters

Pierre Gimmonet

Vilmart

Jose Michel

Pol Roger