#203 - Tuna Niçoise With A 2010 Les Pallières Rosé

Tuna Niçoise as a meal presents something akin to alchemy.

Given 15 different elements in their mostly unadulterated forms on a plate, the joy comes in combining two or three or four or more of the elements to see what new flavor presents itself.

The result is a cavalcade of distinct flavors created entirely by you, in the order you like, wonderfully beholden to the micro-craving you have in the second before taking a bite and culminating in one of the most clean, refreshing and wanted feelings of satisfaction right after putting the napkin down for the final time.

It's been upgraded from a top-fiver to one of the top-three meals in my world.

With rosé, it might be perfect because as a pairing, it's a function that you can manipulate and correct as you eat, finding the best collections to keep the wine right where you want it if you starts to gradually run off the rails.  Too much onion in that bite with tomatoes, green beans and a bit of tuna?  Use less in the next bite and suddenly the food-wine combo becomes something so much more.

And with rosé, you get a wine straddling both wine worlds: refreshing and crisp like a white with the guts and depth of a red.  A good one is a chameleon adaptable to multiple environments.  Tuna Niçoise offers a bevy of different food environments and the Les Pallières is certainly a good one.

#202 - Turkish Beany Surprise, Explorateur & Asparagus Salad With An '07 Cab Franc

We nearly went to Cleveland yesterday for the annual Lola mini-vacation.

After some cocktails and a bit of wine Monday, it sounded like the best idea ever.  Then, fifteen minutes later, not so much.

So a 'vacation' downtown for the day, something we haven't done in years, substituted and probably exceeded a trip to the Cleve, especially given the ten hours in the car that would have been required.

Xoco for lunch (delicious), Sable Bar + Kitchen for cocktails right after (really delicious) and an early dinner at Purple Pig (Crap! That was good!) made for a pretty great getaway during one of the most gorgeous strings of weather days in Chicago in years.

On Purple Pig, a vintage 2005 Juvé y Camps Reserva de la Familia Cava made for a largely good pairing with the food but alone, so wonderfully funky, it made our minds dance with visions of what we could whip up at home that would slide right into the spritely yet deep funk this one offers.  Great stuff here.  Entirely reasonable $52 at the restaurant and $15-17 on the webbywebs.

Monday's meal that led to the downtown vacation also had some revelations.  One, Turkish Beany Surprise made two days before for an impromptu Meatless Monday turned out to be an awesome idea.  Mrs. Ney was leery of such things, or at least bored by the idea of it.  Two, (whisper) I think I like cabernet franc.  Like...a lot.  Three, eat your cheese two months past the expiration date every time.  It's what Jesus wants.

#201 - Vegetarian Mexican Stew With '06 Seghesio Old Vine Zinfandel

For a lazy day that left us indifferent to pretty much anything related to food or wine, a nice little meal evolved out of it:

Food that was quick and easy, meatless and cheap with a wine that had gotten to the point of burning our retinas with its ubiquitous yet blah-inducing nature every time we looked at the shelf for a wine to drink for dinner.

Zinfandel really isn't our bag.  Has a place but it's always been a very specific place and that's been briskety-type meals, the last time in December eating a briskety asado negro, mashed plantains, jalapeño cheddar biscuits and sautéed spinach with an '07 Seghesio zinfandel estate bottling.

Over the last three years, in the Zinfandel world, our love has been given mostly to the Saldo line of the Orin Swift brand, having the 2008 with beef brisket and cornbread and very much liking what it brought to the table.

And the first time I had the Seghesio basic Sonoma bottling about three years ago, it was, for me, the answer to the question, "What's a cheap bottle of wine that will give me an idea what 'balance' in wine means?"  Fantastic stuff when very young.

The Old Vine Sonoma last night, after it got out of its initial Robitussin phase, turned into something more welcome but never jettisoned itself out of the world of 'typical.'

#200 - Revisiting The Very First Pairing

It's fun with numbers!

Today, for the 200th post, we revisit the very first pairing we ever did for this blog, Wine Can Chicken with 1999 Prager Riesling Smaragd Steinriegl, which started out the blog with a bang and served us much better than post #2, Church Cookbook Lasagna with 2008 Castle Rock Pinot Noir.  My bowels are probably still scraping out the nastiness of that concoction.

We soon rebounded from that calamity though with pairing post #5, Wine Can Chicken and saffron risotto with 1996 Heredia Gravonia that saddled right up to the food in great Spanish ways.

Thomas Keller Chicken quickly usurped Wine Can Chicken as the chicken standard with pairing post #83, our first foray into seriously considering chardonnay as a drinkable grape and something we might actually want.  But WCC found itself left in the dust, so much so that Mrs. Ney struggled today to find her WCC mojo in the kitchen, something that once upon a time came to her quite naturally.

Since this is #200, let's look back at other number milestones in 25-post increments that starts out with a boatload of more chicken (and risotto):

#199 - Monday Grub To Wash The Workweek Away

Tough workweek for both of us with Mrs. Ney's a bit tougher than mine.

But there's something about a great Monday - which is our Friday - lunch that goes a long way in wiping out all the residual psychological trauma that comes with the end of a rough week of work.

It allows for a clean break, clap-clap, in a way most welcome and needed on certain weeks and this was certainly one.

We just wanted sparkling wine and to use up the Champagne cheese in the fridge that was three weeks past its expiration.  What we got was a level of deliciousness and joy that hasn't been seen in weeks for Monday lunch.

So simple, so unadulterated, yet oh so freaky good.

Food:  Lincet Chaource Champagne cheese, baguette, mâche salad and a peach

Whole Foods Chaource cheese from Champagne, three weeks past expiration, as I so recently said.  Semi-semi-soft, cow's milk cheese using a similar recipe to that of brie.  Probably much more creamy and soft when young, but the length of time in the fridge made for a firmer texture and concentration of flavors, most likely.

#198 - Daniel Boulud Fennel Balls And Peppadew Purée With '09 Schild GMS

The 2009 Schild Estate GMS came to the rescue in February after a bottle of cheap Italian wine turned out to be corked.

Same thing happened last night when a 2006 Domaine de Ferrand Châteauneuf-du-Pape turned out to be dreadfully dull, showing all liquid figs and blood with not nearly enough acid we were craving at the time and was needed with the food.

Back in February, we drank the Schild Estate GMS with pork, pancetta and prunes.  Delicious food that we enjoyed but the pairing and the surprising cheapness for such big delivery in the wine was the talk of the night.

Last night was different.  We ate food so good it made me want to swear...loudly.  The Schild this time simply reminded us how versatile it is with food and how we really should be buying a case or two very soon.  It's that food-friendly and that good.

But not as good as Daniel Boulud modified fennel balls.

These are just silly great.

Food:  Daniel Boulud fennel balls with a peppadew pepper purée, candied pancetta and pomegranate seeds with an arugula salad

Basically arancini, Boulud Frenches them up and adds Spanish touches, like something that would be served on the border of Tarragona and Rousillon.

#197 - Chicken Piccata, Roasted Potatoes & Arugula With '09 Coenobium Lazio Bianco

Tasted like feet.

On a recent trip to Wine Discount Center, Mrs. Ney asked for a funky white wine recommendation and that's what she got - this wine that's the definition of a funky white with an interesting story behind it.

Organically grown by sisters of the Cistercian order, the juice of the grapes see prolonged contact with the skins and isn't fined or filtered, resulting in an old school wine from an old school Benedictine group of sisters housed about 60 km north of Rome in Lazio.

The $27 price tag and how it showed last night wouldn't make us run out to get more and, not being Catholic, I can't fudge the rules and claim it as part of my tithe, but in the deliciously oxidized white wine world, it had its moments.

Food:  Chicken piccata, roasted potatoes and arugula

A longtime weeknight meal heavily in the rotation that became supplanted by Sandwich Day a few years ago, it was nice to return to the simplicity and tasty lemon-caper-chicken juice goodness that is chicken piccata.  Homey stuff.

Chicken stock reduced a touch longer than normal, offering a touch more of a salty angle but never distracted while bringing a more concentration to the sauce, making for a more chicken essence.  The standard chicken piccata recipe:  chicken breasts dredged in flour and fried up, reduction of chicken stock, unsalted butter, olive oil, capers, lemon peels and parsley cooked and reduced in the chicken breast pan with the leftover fried bits.

#196 - Harissa Hanger, Spicy Carrot Purée & Sherry Onions With '08 Mas Carlot

Good things are good.

Last night's dinner was good, great actually.

Bridesmaids is not so much good, well, sorta almost good, marginally almost funny, not the worst way to spend a 97 degree day.

Cave of Forgotten Dreams is quite good and should probably be seen in 3-D, just make sure to go in with knowledge of Werner Herzog's penchant for meandering through the material in a way that can only be seen through his eyes.  Do that and you'll love it.  And the postscript absolutely has a place.

I cannot recommend Those Guys Have All the Fun: Inside the World of ESPN, an 800 page manufactured drama of the most inconsequential inconsequentialness.  If you're interested in the behind-the-scenes fights over how the ESPYs made it to air, then this is for you.  For me, it's like listening to other people's stories about their children.  Keep it.  The Pale King, DFW's unfinished novel, was bought for summer reading but instead I chose to finish this pile of poo.  And it's 800 pages!  Did I mention that?

But back to the good.

Ever eaten high quality soil?  We have, last night, on the plate and in the glass and it was delicious.

#195 - Moroccan-Inflected Tuna & Beets With NV Larmandier-Bernier Rosé de Saignée

The bloom is a bit off the rosé de saignée (I make jokes) with one of our favorite wines in the last year and a top-five pairing ever.

When we first had the non-vintage Larmandier-Bernier Rosé de Saignée on Christmas Eve with duck, farro and Brussels sprouts, it was pairing perfection.

Last night wasn't pairing perfection in the least, but it was gosh darn good stuff with some surprises.

We first had a version of this "Best Tuna Ever" back in January with Ponzi Willamette and Ken Wright Shea.  Oddly, the Larmandier-Bernier this time, instead of exploding with a huge blood orange core - which was a fruit we incorporated into the tuna prep last time and served with Ponzi but not this time - it came off more rose petaly, leafy and more quiet, tasting more like a Ponzi Willamette instead of a Champagne.

Get that?  I didn't.

It does feel, though, like we got into the nitty-gritty of how this tuna recipe performs more broadly with pinot noir and pinot noir-based wine while also informing me about how the familiarity of flavors can influence how a meal feels at the time and how it's going to resonate.

#194 - Lavender Lamb And Pistachio Fregola With A 2000 Heredia Bosconia

It's interesting to know a winery well enough to be able to taste it and have a ballpark idea of how old it is, how the vintage was and how long a particular bottle has to go.

I don't have the wine tasting ability to be able to do such things yet with just any wine.

But it seems that this is how said ability starts: with an fairly intimate understanding of one winery, experience with tons of vintages over a course of years and the knowledge of how the winery's style and wine has shown at various stages in good, bad and mediocre years.

I'm terrible at blind tastings when it comes to nailing down the vitals. Mrs. Ney's tongue is infinitely better than mine at such things.  But I would probably know if a Quinta do Vale Meão was a 2003 or 2007 (great years) contrasted with any of the years in between.  I'd feel fairly competent in the early aughts of Clos Fourtet.  I think I could nail a Ponzi in a lineup of young Oregon pinots.

But last night, not knowing the finer vintage details before drinking, I don't think I've ever come across a wine that was so obvious in my head to be a Heredia Bosconia about 10-15 years old and from a vintage that wasn't the best.

Having said all that - and good for you, Christo, here's your popsicle - we still don't know why people get off on such things so thoroughly.  Especially when good red wine is infinitely better with the right food.

Food:  Lavender lamb, piquillo marmalade, pistachio fregola and asparagus

Mario Batali's lavender/rosemary lamb recipe from Food & Wine, made during the filming of that shockingly dull Spain - On The Road Again PBS series.  You know, the one where Gwyneth Paltrow wouldn't eat pork...in Spain...for a TV show about eating food in Spain.  But the world now knows she speaks Spanish quite well and that's the most important thing, really.  We felt terrible for Mr. Batali.  He knows and loves Spanish food but had nothing to work with.  I digress.