Amarone and Miscellaneous Food

15-Mar-2006

Just to tie up a few loose ends, I wanted to mention the other food I prepared for the Amarone Wine Tasting. I was really happy with the fact that everything went really well with the wines. I had thought it would be more of a challenge and that was actually why I made so many different things – I was just hoping that one or two would work well. Instead, everything worked well!

I’ve already mentioned the Cottechino and Lentils a couple of times but I was really pleased with how the wine really cut the richness of this dish. I basically used the same recipe I recently posted but I did include carrots and celery in the mix and they really add a nice element.

Although I originally wasn’t intending to really make this a dinner, I started realizing how much meat I had on the first draft of the menu and decided I should round it out a bit. I added the Red Wine Risotto that R made for our last dinner club meeting. You just can’t go wrong with risotto and the red wine flavor was especially good.

I also added some simply prepared Haricots Verte. I blanched them for 3 minutes, cooled them and then did a quick sauté in olive oil and butter and added a few toasted, slivered almonds. The nutty tones also complemented these earthy wines.

Finally, as a "dessert" of sorts, I had a couple of cheeses and sweet soprasotta. The cheeses were Pierre Robert, a super smooth and dreamy triple creme and Bonde de Satine, a (nearly) raw goat’s milk cheese that has been aged just long enough to pass the import laws. It also had an earthy, nutty flavor that complemented the wine. (Thanks to the guys at DeLaurenti’s for both those suggestions!)

I was really pleased at how it all turned out! I already have some more ideas in mind for another little wine tasting party…