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Italian Bread Salad with Shrimp

Recipes, Salads, White wine pairings No Responses »
Feb 022010
shrimp salad

Italian Bread Shrimp Salad

This is not your classic Italian Bread salad, where the juices of ripe tomato saturate the bread with flavor. This bread salad doesn’t even have any tomatoes in it! Instead this bread salad was modified to pair with Chardonnay, so the tomatoes were omitted and the bread was lightly toasted.

  • 4 cups crusty Italian bread cut into 1″ cubes
  • 1 TBS regular olive oil
  • 1 clove garlic crushed
bread cubes

Bread cubes

Heat the oil in a frying pan over medium high heat. Add the whole crushed garlic clove and cook it until golden brown to flavor the oil. Remove the garlic clove. Add the bread cubes to the frying pan. Toss them in the oil to coat. Cook them 3-5 minutes, just enough to lightly brown one or two sides of the bread cubes. You want to have some of the cube still soft enough to absorb the dressing. We are NOT making croutons! Place the bread cubes in a large salad bowl. Continue reading »

Posted by admin at 5:19 am Tagged with: ,

Pork Medallions with Cherry Sauce

Meats, Recipes, Red Wine Pairings No Responses »
Feb 022010

Slightly sweet, this tart cherry sauce is a colorful and flavorful accompaniment to pork.

pork medallions

Pork medallions with cherry sauce

  • 1 (1 1/2 pound) pork tenderloin
  • 2 tsp lemon pepper seasoning
  • 3 TBS butter
  • 2 TBS cornstarch
  • 1 1/2 c. unsweetened cranberry juice
  • 2 TBS Dijon mustard
  • 1 c. dried tart cherries
Slice the tenderloin into 1″ slices. Sprinkle the pork with lemon pepper seasoning. Melt the butter in a heavy frying pan. Brown the pork in the melted butter over medium heat. Remove the pork from the frying pan and keep warm. Keep browning all of the pork slices.
In a medium bowl, whisk together the cornstarch, mustard and cranberry juice.  Pour the juice mixture into the frying pan. Using a wooden spoon, stir the crispy brown tidbits from the pan into the juice mixture until it begins to bubble and thicken about two minutes. Add the tart cherries and the pork slices to the pan and cook for five minutes until heated through.
Ladle the cherry sauce over the pork to serve. Serves 4.

Pinot and pork

Pinot, pork and portabello

Wine Pairing

Pinot noir is the classic pairing when it comes to pork and cherry sauce. We paired ours with Patz & Hall 2007 Pinot Noir.
Posted by admin at 12:28 am Tagged with: , ,

Portabello Pieces for Pinot

Appetizers, Recipes, Red Wine Pairings 2 Responses »
Feb 012010

These marinated and grilled portabello mushroom pieces are so delicious, that Ed tries to keep them for his self.  He calls them “Seattle Slugs” just to discourage others from indulging, but it doesn’t do any good. These earthy mushroom morsels are too good to pass up!

portabello

"Seattle Slugs"

  • 2 large portabello mushrooms, in 1/2″ slices
  • 1/3 c. olive oil
  • 3 TBS balsamic vinegar
  • 3 TBS minced red onion
  • 1 garlic clove, minced
  • 2 tsp Italian seasoning

Place the mushroom slices in a shallow pan. Whisk the rest of the ingredients in a small bowl. Pour the marinade over the mushrooms. Marinade for 1-4 hours, stirring to coat.

Place the mushrooms on a broiler pan and grill 6″ from the element about 5 minutes until the mushrooms begins to brown. Flip the mushrooms and continue grilling the other side another 3-5 minutes.

Serve warm as a side dish or appetizer.

Wine Pairings

This dish was made for Pinot noir, echoing the earthy mushroom notes of the Pinot noir.

Posted by admin at 11:54 pm Tagged with: ,

Spicy Pulled Pork Sandwiches

Meats, Recipes, Rosé wine pairings, Sandwiches No Responses »
Jan 252010

I have a serious soft spot for spicy pork dishes. I like pulled pork but most pulled pork sandwiches are a bit too sweet for me. This version of pulled pork has a lighter sauce that seasons and keeps the pork moist but it isn’t goopy and sweet like most recipes.  This version is a good alternative  for people who are monitoring their glucose and carbohydrates. I wouldn’t call this a low-carb dish but it is definitely a lower carb alternative to the classic. The sweetness comes from the apple cider instead of the traditional brown sugar and ketchup. The ketchup in this recipe is minimal. The jalapeno is optional but highly recommended for the color and slight kick that it provides.

pulled pork

Spicy Pulled Pork Sandwich

  • 5-6lb pork shoulder
  • 2 yellow onions, cut into 1/8ths
  • 1 1/2 c. apple cider

Pour 1 cup of the cider into the bottom of a dutch oven. Layer the onion wedges on the bottom of the pot. Rub the spices into the pork shoulder and place it on top of the onions.  Pour the 1/2 c. of apple cider over the pork. Cover the dutch oven and cook for 5 hours at 300º. Ladle the onion and juice over the pork about every 20-30 minutes the last two hours. Strain and remove the cooking liquids. Put the pork and onions to the side. Wipe out the dutch oven in preparation of making the sauce.

  • 1 c. apple cider
  • 1 c. apple cider vinegar
  • 1/2 c. sweet and hot stone ground mustard
  • 1/4 c. ketchup
  • 1 TBS paprika
  • 2 tsp cayenne
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 1 TBS lemon juice
  • 1 fresh jalapeno pepper finely minced (optional) Continue reading »
Posted by admin at 11:05 pm Tagged with: , , , ,
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