Wednesday, September 17, 2008

11(ish) Course Tapas Dinner


My wife belongs to a wine club. They meet once a month and go the the Vu and out to dinner and drink vodka tonics and make merry and take cabs home and whatnot. Most are professionals and moms and don't get out as much as they used to; so they make it count. And once in a blue moon their activities even involve wine. This month's installment also involves me slaving away in the kitchen but hey, that's usually a pretty good time.

So what's on tap is this, an 11-or-so course small plates menu with paired wines. I've picked most of the courses for ability to make ahead or quickly. I'm thinking there'll be about ten gals. Here's what I have as of now, with paired wines in italics. Some things may be added or subbed out based on what we get Thursday from the CSA.

antipasti
Roederer A/V Estate Brut

Mumm Napa Cuvee
sliced fresh vegetables with three dipping sauces
goat cheese-stuffed piquante peppers
olives and parmigiano-reggiano

Chateau Souverain Sauvignon Blanc
goat cheese truffles with herbes de provence
gazpacho

three bruschetti
Da Vinci Chianti
caprese
lardo
salt and olive oil

the rest
Riesling
deep fried pork belly with pickles and horseradish mustard

Byron Pinot Noir
Firesteed Pinot Noir
lamb koftas with tzatziki sauce

Shotfire Ridge Barossa
grilled marinated skirt steak with mizuna and parmigiano
served with summer potatoes au gratin

Warre's tawny port
chocolate ganache (truffles)

communal passed wines as needed:
Martin Codax Albarino
Alta Vista Torrontes
Gabbiano Chianti
Francis Coppolla Rosso Shiraz

Sources are as follows:
World Harvest: olives, hummus, all cheese, piquante peppers, tzatziki, balsamic
Hy-Vee: watercress, radicchio
Root Cellar/local farmers: all vegetables and fruits
Hoss': prosciutto
Cream: Weiler Dairy
Pork belly: Crocker Farms
Skirt steak: Mizzou Meats
Lamb: Suzie's Grassfed Meats
Chocolate: Patric Chocolate
Lard: homemade, from Newman Farms pig
Wines: Floyd at Patricia's

The food courses were selected on a pretty much whatever-sounded-good-and-quick basis, without any real eye to wine pairing. That part's been the toughest element, putting the right wine with the right dish. At the same time, if you're drinking good wine and eating good food with good people, you can't go wrong no matter what the pairing.

Still, comments and suggestions please! Especially regarding a good cab and a pairing for the pork belly. I probably also need to sack up and throw together some shrimp and grits just to get some seafood on there.

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hi Scott. For the pork belly (never tried it fried!) I'd suggest a tempranillo or a sangiovese--something higher on acid to cut through the grease/slickness of the fried food. I haven't had much luck with tempranillo's in Columbia yet, but they're one of my favorites.
Chris

Anonymous said...

Nice. Ever thought of doing a beer-dinner? I know someone who might come and bring good beer....

Scott said...

I'll look into tempranillo as an option. I'd almost wonder about a flavorful sparkling option as a way to cut through the richness of the dish. We'll see.

And I'd have to outsource my pairing on a beer menu...but I bet there'd be plenty of folks willing to help with that.

Anonymous said...

Another thought for the pork belly might be a sparkling shiraz or a mourverde/grenache blend.

The aussies make great wines and even though he's a bit of a curmudgeon, Paul at Top Ten could steer you to one or more of each...

If there's enough time to order online, Wine Library is my fave site... http://winelibrary.com/search.asp?search=sparkling+shiraz

srow77 said...

I find curmudgeons pretty entertaining and Paul's no exception. Plus, he's got the best selection in town if you ask me.

I do think I've settled on moving the pork to the middle of the menu and serving it with a Riesling.

Never had a sparkling shiraz before...I'll need to ask Paul about that and check out the link. Dinner's tonight, but for the future...

Anonymous said...

dinner sounds amazing.

thanks for the single malt scotch suggestion.