Recipe Pairings
Good wine deserves good food.Here are some of Michael's favorite recipes that will really complement the flavor of the wine they are matched with.
Andouille sausage is available at most grocery stores. The recipe for both the onion confit and roast tomatoes can be done a day or two ahead and can be used in any number of dishes from pasta to eggs to salads.
Serve With: Bodegas Eidosela , Cantina Terlano, Terlaner , Fatto a Mano Cortese
The spiciness of the shrimps together with the basil and the citrus is an interesting and delicious mixture. For those of you who like a lot of heat, add more chili powder, and don’t forget to fry the basil—it’s the crowning touch! If you can’t find blood oranges, just substitute extra citrus fruit of your choice and it will turn out just fine.
Make sure to use a high-quality tuna. It makes a big difference. If you can’t find Italian, try looking for a high-quality Spanish brand. Feel free to add or eliminate vegetables or ingredients, as you like. Be Italian and be inspirational!
Clafouti is a country French baked pudding, versatile enough to serve for breakfast, brunch, tea, or dinner, and suited to a wide variety of fruits. Cherries, plums, and other stone fruits work well, and I've also made savory clafoutis with fresh corn and mushrooms. I think it's charming to cook and serve this from a cast-iron pan especially mini pans that make individual servings, but you can use decorative porcelain pie pans, individual gratin dishes, or any skillet providing it is not nonstick. Clafouti tastes and looks best served directly from the oven, while it’s puffy and light. It can also be served at room temperature, but it will settle in the pan as it cools.
Wild mushrooms are generally available at most supermarkets. If you can’t find the wild ones, substitute with shiitake, or any other mushroom or combination of mushrooms.
Serve With: Ceàgo Del Lago Syrah , Fairview pinotage , Paringa Shiraz
Could there be anything better than having your family rave about your cooking? Try this recipe and sit back and enjoy the rave reviews! Please visit www.napastyle.com for my Roasted Potato Salad recipe. Additionally you may substitute any smoky barbeque sauce for the Tuscan BBQ Sauce, (although quite honestly mine is probably better).
Serve With: Pietratorcia, Ischia Bianco
Everybody loves clams casino, but few restaurants make them anymore. This is my new and improved version, with salty Prosciutto Bits flavoring the bread crumb stuffing. I love the looks on people’s faces when a tray of these clams goes around, because everybody remembers them. Please don’t use those awful packaged bread crumbs. It’s so easy to make your own. A chefs tip; you can steam the clams and prepare the stuffing hours ahead. On another occasion, toss the seasoned bread crumbs with Spaghettini Aglio ed Olio to make a terrific pasta dish.
Serve With: Chateau du Rouët Cuvee Reserve , Terlan Muller Thurgan
At Tra Vigne, we developed techniques that allowed us to serve dishes efficiently without compromising quality. This salmon dish is a good example. The individual elements, salmon, vinaigrette, and pea and potato salad, can all be made ahead, leaving only the assembly for serving time. A lightly flavored olive oil, such as a Spanish or French one, is better here than a Tuscan or other strongly flavored olive oil. Find out your preferred balance for vinaigrettes. I like to use a ratio of about ten parts oil to one part vinegar for a dinner when the wine is a star, and four parts oil to one part vinegar for “all-purpose” vinaigrettes, such as this one. If you like a more pronounced acidity, do not be afraid to decrease the ratio to equal amounts oil and vinegar.
I love substituting barley for the classic Arborio rice in this recipe. If you can’t find any of the recommended mushrooms, just use the best mushroom you can find at your local grocery store or specialty store. Feeling lazy, just take the bottle to your favorite Italian restaurant and order a risotto, pasta or pizza with mushrooms. The Salsa di Parmigiano recipe can be found at www.napastyle.com
Serve With: Stift Goettweig Grüner Veltliner
If you are not a big fan of ceviche, take all the same ingredients and create a lovely warm salad as an appetizer or main course. Just skip the marinating of the scallops and sauté them in some butter or extra-virgin olive oil. Then combine all the remaining ingredients in the assembly section and add to the salad greens. Take the marinade and reduce the fruit juices by half for vinaigrette to dress the salad.
Serve With: Vino Con Brio Pinotage
This is an easy, quick and tasty way to barbecue chicken.
Serve With: William Cole Casablanca Sauvignon Blanc , Winzerkeller Andau
You can’t beat the combination of sour cream with lime and cilantro to serve with these delicious fish tacos.
Serve With: La Fonti Chianti Classico , Le Casalte Sangiovese
The classic Bistecca alla Fiorentina is a large porterhouse steak that usually weighs around 1 kilo (2.2 pounds). In Tuscan restaurants the steak is offered by the etto, or in 100-gram (4 oz) increments. This great steak includes both the strip loin and the fillet. I also use a rib-eye steak with this method. Always use the best meat, gray salt, coarse ground black pepper and balsamic vinegar that you can find. The marriage of all these ingredients will reveal a noble meal of authentic Italian flavor. For my Tuscan BBQ on Weekend Today, I paired the bistecca with two unique condimenti, or finishes, to the steak: grilled lemon halves or a drizzle of balsamic vinegar. An option to using expensive and rare balsamic is to use a Tuscan-flavored steak sauce. I make one with roasted garlic, raisins for sweetness and, to give it a nice bite, black pepper.
Serve With: Château du Cavalier Cuvée Prestige
Supposedly named for Diana, the Roman goddess of the hunt, Diane-style was originally a way of cooking venison. Through the years, though, the preparation has come to mean sautéing steak in butter and then flambéing and basting it in a rich Cognac sauce. If you prefer filet mignon, feel free to substitute! The Bistecca Crostini recipe can be found at www.napastyle.com.
To cook the meat in the shortest amount of time and thus extract the most flavors, the meat must be at room temperature. Afterward, the meat must rest before carving. If this procedure is followed, the carving knife glides right through the steak. For the Crostini use: 1 loaf crusty bread, sliced into 1/2-inch slices. Drizzle with olive oil, sprinkle on salt and freshly ground black pepper, bake in oven on cookie sheet 8-9 minutes.
This recipe is from Italy’s Piedmont region, which you can tell from the currants. They borrowed the idea from the French, who often pair rabbit with prunes. If you’re lucky enough to have access to wild fennel, use a handful of fennel fronds and seeds instead of store bought fennel seed. If rabbit is unavailable or a little off-putting, just substitute chicken.
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