Party appetizers to serve with Pinot Noir

Wine lover Lynne Thomas shares a great wine and appetizer pairing in a recent issue of her newsletter, Friday's at Five with Lynne. Sign up for her informative newsletter here: http://visitor.constantcontact.com/email.jsp?m=1101374176993&p=oi

Lynne pairs a Pinot Noir with "hints of strawberry, black cherry and little bit of spice" with her Holiday Brie Treats.

These easy to make treats are made from phyllo dough shells, Brie cheese, pesto sauce and sun-dried tomatoes. Lynne's recipe:

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Lynne's Holiday Brie Treats

1 frozen package of phyllo dough shells
1 wedge of Brie cheese
1 container of pesto sauce
1 jar of sun-dried tomatoes

Cook the phyllo dough shells. When slightly brown, remove caps and fill shells with a chunk of Brie cheese and put in oven for 10 minutes. Remove from oven and put a dollop of pesto sauce in each shell on top of melted Brie and top with a small chunk of sun-dried tomato.

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Also try a glass of Pinot Noir with salmon-based appetizers, vegetarian chili, grilled vegetables, vegetarian lasagna, potstickers and stuffed mushrooms.

Red wine and salad does sound like an unusual pairing, but it can work if your salad includes fatty mozzarella and savory smoked bacon, which pair well with the stronger flavor of a red wine.

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Lobster and Wine Pairing

In the New York Times article 'Luxury on Sale: The Lobster Glut,' Melissa Clark provides recipes and ideas for a delicious lobster feast.

I share Clark's traditional fear of experimenting with this expensive meat- I love my lobster simple and sweet - just plain meat dipped in butter sauce. Sparkling wine or California Chardonnay is a great pairing for Lobster and butter or cream sauces.

Clark also provides recipes for three other lobster dishes and an alternative to boiling live lobsters that utilizes your freezer.

How do you eat lobster?

Related Article:
Wine and Fish Pairing Primer
http://kathleenlisson.blogspot.com/2008/01/wine-and-fish-pairing-guide-how-to.html

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Be Your Own Sommelier? - Would you try self-serve wine at a wine bar?

The Sommelier's Journal describes the atmosphere at Clo, a wine bar in
New York City.

Would you enjoy visiting a wine bar where you could buy a type of debit card and choose and dispense the wines yourself? Would this self-serve approach inspire you to try new wines or would you rather interact with a waiter or sommelier to choose your wines?

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Cooking Video - Venison, Game recipes

The hunters over at TexasHuntWorks.com have improved their recipes page - adding cooking videos for several venison and game recipes.

I enjoy watching cooking videos because they are a great way to learn techniques and get a better idea of exactly how to prepare a recipe.

The video for orange glazed duck is here:
http://www.texashuntworks.com/index.php/Recipes/Bird-Waterfowl-Recipes/Orange-Glazed-Duck.html

Red Bordeaux wine is a good match for hearty dishes like roast duck.

Related Article:
18 Hunter-friendly recipes for Venison, Antelope, Grouse, Quail and Duck - and my suggested wine pairingshttp://kathleenlisson.blogspot.com/2008/03/venison-antelope-grouse-quail-and-duck.html

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Great Food and Wine Pairing - At the Sacramento Airport?

I just got back to Upstate New York after a week of visiting family in California and Nevada. After a week of Mexican food and seafood, Boudin bread and Ghirardelli chocolate, it wasn't that big a deal that I would be forced to eat airport food for lunch. Imagine my surprise when I walked past a Vino Volo!

This airport based wine bar classifies wines into one of four categories - bright, rich, light or brooding. More information about their system is here:
http://vinovolo.com/index.php?main_page=learn

I had a great pairing there - a penne pasta with white cheddar and smoked gouda cheeses. The dish was then finished with truffle oil and sprinkled with panko bread crumbs. It was a great pairing for the California Kings flight I ordered - a Cabernet Sauvignon, Petite Sirah and Zinfandel. My sentimental favorite was the Trinitas old vine Zinfandel - the grapes are grown in the same county I grew up in - Contra Costa.

Related Article:
Grana Padano and Parmigiana-Reggiano wine and cheese pairings
http://kathleenlisson.blogspot.com/2008/09/grana-padano-and-parmigiana-reggiano.html

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Award Winning Glacovinum and dessert pairing

Congratulations to my friends the Stamp family at Lakewood Vineyards for winning the 2008 Jefferson Cup award for their Glaciovinum 2007 Finger Lakes dessert wine!

I love this sweet dessert wine, the perfect pairing for vanilla ice cream and pound cake.

Related Article:
Dessert and Wine Pairing Guide
http://kathleenlisson.blogspot.com/2007/09/how-to-impress-friend-and-family-with.html

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Food and Wine Pairing Lesson from The Wine Hub - Opposites Attract!

The folks over at NJ based TheWineHub.com have posted an introductory lesson in food and wine pairing at http://www.thewinehub.com/wine-food/lesson

I agree with their principle that a food and wine pairing must be balanced. Balance does not mean matching like with like, though. Think of a pair of measuring scales - if the food is fried or fatty, balance that fat sensation with a palate-cleansing acidic wine (my favorite pairing for fried foods is a sparkling wine!)

There is another school of thought that cautions against being too match-matchy with wine and food pairings. If your food has a fruity sauce, then matching it with a fruit-forward wine will cancel out the drinkers' appreciation of the fruit taste in both the dish and the wine. 'Opposites do attract' in food and wine just as in romance, so consider complementing flavors instead of matching them exactly. Use your wine pairing as an added 'sauce,' or layer of flavor, for your dish.

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