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21

May

Uruguay’s National Grape

Jacob Gaffney  in Red Wines, Merlot, Tannat , , , , ,

Wine book author and well-known potty mouth, Eric Arnold, (who now serves as Deputy Editor of Forbes.com) once described the wine grape Tannat to InterWined with one single word: “Ick.”
True, the grape is a sturdy one. Grown through SouthWest France, Argentina and widely across Uruguay, Tannat can only make “well-structured” wines, which is all too […]

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18

Apr

Homemade Buffalo Wings with Lemon Parsely Dip

Sean Sellers  in Sparkling Wines, Pinot Noir Chardonnay, Blow the Bank, Meat & Poultry , , , , , ,

InterWined Food
Each Friday, InterWined.com pairs one great wine with one great meal and publishes the results along with the recipe in a little feature it likes to call ‘Blow the Bank’.

This week, ‘Blow the Bank’ continues InterWined’s All American, a month-long celebration of some of American cuisine’s greatest dishes from classic comfort foods to the unsung greats of American soulfood, with InterWined’s Own Homemade Buffalo Wings with Lemon Parsley Dip.

Homemade Buffalo WingsLemon & ParsleyLemon, Parsley & Pepper Dipping SauceBreaded and Floured for Fans of Each

You could write a book about Buffalo Wings…and, indeed, someone has. Two someones, if fact — Aaron Reynolds and Paulette Bogan. They are a children’s author and an illustrator, respectively, and the book is called — surprise, surprise — Buffalo Wings. It’s the story of a rooster and quest and a recipe by woman named Bellissimo and made famous by a guy named Frank at a place called the Anchor Bar in Buffalo, New York.

And, if a story about what must surely be a cannibal rooster hungry for some chicken wings doused in a sauce created by a woman named beautiful in a bar in Buffalo doesn’t mark out a recipe as an American classic, nothing will. Let’s be honest, shall we?

Now, controversial tales of cannibalising roosters aside, the story of Buffalo Wings still finds itself in the midst of a minor controversy. To bread or not to bread…

Breaded wings are able to absorb more of the sauce into the breading and maintain the fiery kick of the peppers; they are a little more civilised and only slightly messy to eat, the breading coming free on the tips of one’s fingers and easily picked away. Un-breaded wings somewhat prevent the sauce from fully absorbing into the meat of the wing; sauce drips from wings and stains the fingers and lips a bright orange. Given our rooster friend’s rather shocking predilections, this is surely his preferred method of feasting, feathers ruffled and orange stains everywhere.

Now, whatever your choice in all things chicken wings, InterWined is here to help. (I was going to write “swings both ways”, but was worried what kind of spam comments those words might generate. But, since I just wrote that I wasn’t going to write it, I’ll guess I’ll find out soon enough.)

Regardless of how you take your wings and which way InterWined swings, the Brown Brothers Non-Vintage Pinot Noir Chardonnay & Pinot Meunier (13%), £9-10 from Waitrose, is a treat. It’s not a sophisticated as a sparkling white wine could be; it’s not a dazzler to save for a special occasion — even if it did recently win the 2007 Yarden Trophy at International Wine and Spirits Competition in London. It’s a non-vintage, after all. It’s a sparkler to enjoy any day at any time for any occasion that I discovered in 2004, while looking for a bottle of wine to take to BYOB Vietnamese in Newtown, Sydney Australia. There’s a light, green-apple tinge perfectly in keeping with its pale yellow-green colour. It’s light and unfussy without being forgettable, fruity for a dry wine, and marked with a creamy sweetness to it. The creamy fruit flavour makes for an excellent balance to the spicy, hot zing of the Buffalo Wing sauce and the citrus and herb flavour of the lemon parsley dip. A winning wine for a winning recipe: 9.5.

InterWined’s Own Recipe in Full

Homemade Buffalo Wings with Lemon Parsley Dip

Click on the post to view and download the recipe

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17

Sep

The California Across the Border

Jacob Gaffney  in Red Wines, Petite Sirah , , ,

Finding good Mexican food in London can prove a challenge, but it pales in comparison to finding Mexican wine. And while Mexican wine might read like a misnomer, in recent years, its wines have won considerable renown and acclaim — particularly its wines from the California across the border, Mexico’s Baja California.
One such wine […]

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14

Sep

Pancetta & Banana Pizza

Sean Sellers  in White Wines, Blow the Bank, Meat & Poultry, Vinho Verde , , , ,

InterWined Food
Every Friday, InterWined.com pairs one great wine that exceeds its normal £10 ($20) threshold with one great meal, prepared following the instructions of some the Internet’s best food blogs.

This week’s ‘Blow the Bank’ takes a slight departure from the norm and comes courtesy of a meal rather than a recipe.

Pancetta & Banana PizzaVinho Verde

As any chef will attest, cooking from a recipe and cooking from memory are not the same. It’s the difference between visiting a new place with a travel guide and street map and arriving in a town you visited once with the name of a café you vaguely remember and five quid for cab. You hope the fiver is enough to get you to the restaurant and that both it and the city are as good as your memory tell you they are.

Well, this week’s ‘Blow the Bank’ is the culinary equivalent of that cab ride down memory lane. On 4 August, InterWined wrote with relish of the discovery of Banana and Bacon Pizza. Since then, several readers have asked about this somewhat unorthodox combination in comments and e-mails and encouraged InterWined to grab a few bob and head down to memory café.

From memory, the Banana and Bacon Pizza was sauceless, sweet, and salty; and, as its name suggested, was topped with slices of banana and bacon.

The wine on the occasion, a Hungarian Pinto Grigio, was ordered more for curiosity’s sake than flavours, but paired incredibly well. It was mildly citric and subdued and cut the through the fat and saltiness (always tough to pair with wine) of the smoky bacon.

This week, InterWined chose a different wine with a different signature than that of the Pinot Grigio: a 2006 Quinta de Simaens Vinho Verde, for £4.17 from Waitrose.

Vinho Verde, or Green Wine, is a Portuguese table wine; but that’s not written as an insult. Rather, it’s indication of the wine’s purpose. The Vinho Verde isn’t made for cellaring; it’s made for today and enjoying with a meal tonight.

The 2006 Quinta de Simaens is ripe and tropical in colour and bouquet with slight acidity that mellows after the first sip. An excellent companion for the hot, soft banana and woody pancetta. Like most white table wines, the bottle says serve as an aperitif or with white fish; InterWined says be more adventurous and serve with Pancetta & Banana Pizza sprinkled with black pepper and ripped basil leaves.

For those unable to source the Quinta de Simaens, InterWined highly recommends the 2007 Gazela Vinho Verde, retailing for $4.99 from Astor Wines.com. The 2007 is lighter than the Quinta de Simaens with a slight sparkle and gentle acidity.

InterWined’s Recipe in Full

Pancetta & Banana Pizza

Click on the post to view and download the recipe

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7

Sep

Scallops Wrapped with Serrano Ham with Paprika Vinaigrette

Sean Sellers  in White Wines, Sauvignon Blanc, Blow the Bank, Fish & Seafood , , ,

InterWined Food
Every Friday, InterWined.com pairs one great wine that exceeds its normal £10 ($20) threshold with one great meal, prepared following the instructions of some the Internet’s best food blogs.

This week’s ‘Blow the Bank’ comes courtesy of Son, the Single Guy Chef, and his delectable Scallops Wrapped with Serrano Ham and New Baby Potatoes with Paprika Vinaigrette.

Scallops Wrapped with Serrano Ham with Paprika VinaigretteRaw Scallops Wrapped in Serrano HamChilean Sauvignon Blanc

At the beginning of August, InterWined questioned the overproduction of Sauvignon Blanc, noting that both New Zealand’s Oyster Bay and California’s Berigner seemed disappointingly samey. Given the profound affect that geography (soil, sun, climate) has on wine grapes, wines from New Zealand should not naturally taste like wines from California. It asked readers to venture beyond the global brands and seek out less predictable examples of one of the world’s most popular grapes.

Thus, when InterWined chose to prepare one of the Single Guy Chef’s favourite recipes, it decided to follow its own advice and chose 2005 Santa Rita Floresta Sauvignon Blanc from Leyda in Chile (£9.99 at Waitrose/$25 online at Primo Vino.net).

While Chile might be the world’s 5th largest wine exporter with big brands like Concha y Toro and Cousino-Macul to wave its flag, it is not yet one of the top producers. For the 2003, it ranked bottom of the top 11 wine-producing nations, just behind Portugal, Germany, and — surprisingly — 6th place China. (Santa Rita ranks somewhere in the middle in terms of production and export; its 120 label its most ubiquitous.)

Fortunately, InterWined’s fears were largely unfounded. Straw in colour, the 2005 Floresta has a gentle nose of fruit and blades of grass making it seem fairly typical of French Sauvignon Blanc and less citric than New Zealand ones often taste. InterWined might almost be forgiven for saying that it tasted of gooseberry — a long-time signature of classic Sauvignon Blanc that seems to be slowly being replaced by a more acidic, lemony flavour; and a fruit with which only celebrity wine tasters seem adequately familiar. InterWined certainly isn’t. However, what made this Sauvignon Blanc special was its bizarre after-taste: juicy, green grape skins the likes of which you play with on your tongue when peeling grapes in your mouth. A perfect partner to the fleshy deliciousness of the scallop.

The Single Guy Chef’s Recipe in Full

Scallops Wrapped with Serrano Ham and New Baby Potatoes with Paprika Vinaigrette

Click on the post to view and download the recipe

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