December 2022 Food Pairing
December 2022 Food Pairing
We always have so much fun hosting our club release events. It's an opportunity for us to catch up with our longtime club members and some of our more recent additions to the Wine Club as well! This past December Club Release was especially fun with everyone already getting into the holiday spirit. As always, Kimari and Tricia amazed us with their culinary skills, creating perfect pairings for our new releases, the 2020 Estate Grenache and 2020 Petit Verdot. We were asked by several guests for the recipes so we happily share them with you below.
2020 Estate Grenache paired with Warm Goat Cheese and Pomegranate Salad
This dish is an excellent one for holiday parties, with the creamy goat cheese and bright pops of color from the pomegranate seeds. We were delighted with how this paired with the 2020 Estate Grenache. We chose a mild goat cheese for this dish, not wanting too much tanginess to distract from the other flavors. The 2020 Estate Grenache is a light to medium bodied red with notes of ripe cherry, strawberry and raspberry, with bright hints of white pepper and a subtle earthiness of hay. The tannins in this wine are moderate and it has a gentle oak finish.
Warm Goat Cheese and Pomegranate Salad
serves 8
1 Chevre goat cheese log cut into 8 equal discs
1 egg
1 cup panko bread crumbs
olive oil
1 package spring salad mix
1/2 cup pomegranate seeds
bottled raspberry vinaigrette of your choice
Whisk egg to make an egg wash. Dip each goat cheese disc into the egg then into the panko to be covered.
Fry up each disc in olive oil. Turn and brown on both sides.
Meanwhile, dress the spring mix with the raspberry vinaigrette and add pomegranate seeds.
Finally Plate the each salad and top with 1 warm goat cheese disc.
Add a few more pomegranate seeds and a drizzle of the dressing.
2020 Petit Verdot paired with Steak Bites with Plum Sauce
These bites paired so well with our 2020 Petit Verdot. The flavors of the plum sauce married beautifully with the plum and berry aromas present in the Petit Verdot, and the steak allows this dish to hold up to Petit Verdot's higher tannins. We served these with the steak thinly sliced and folded onto skewers, making this a great finger food for passed appetizers.
Plum Sauce Marinade
Serves 8
1/2 cup plum sauce
2 T fresh lemon juice
2 T soy sauce
2 T ketchup
2 T minced shallots
1 T minced garlic
1 T ground ginger
2 tsp smoked paprika
2 tsp cracked black pepper
1/4 tsp red pepper flakes
1 T Brown Sugar
Combine all ingredients in a small saucepan. Heat to medium constantly stirring so it does not burn, 3-4 mins. Let cool completely before pouring over choice cut of beef strips. Tri-tip, top round, chuck, or flanks steak. Marinate overnight up to 24 hours.