#135 - Shrimp And Quiche With Stift Göttweig Grüner Veltliner

Or quiche, garlic baguette and arugula salad with a side of shrimp.

The quiche was that good, taking all the focus off the shrimp.

More bald advertising for good cookbooks with today's offering.

Quiche maraîchère from Around My French Table, a cookbook given as a gift that's quickly turning out to be something needed and goshdarn great.

Shrimp from The New Portuguese Table, a cookbook that's proving to us over the last few months that Portuguese food can be a wee bit timid for what we want and like.

Food: Shrimp and quiche with garlic baguette and arugula and basil salad

Shrimp soaked in peri-peri sauce and quickly cast-ironed, seasoned with salt and pepper and topped with lemon juice squeezed on at the table. Fine shrimp, tasty to a point shrimp but we missed what shrimp has meant to us recently, like black garlic shrimp or Spanish shrimp with a big garlic hit or carrot juice/chipotle shrimp like in the recent past. Tasted...too simple...and just shrimp, really.

We aren't quiche people. But this wasn't eggy quiche. Only one whole egg, one egg yolk and supplemented with gouda cheese. Red pepper, carrot, celery and leek quiche that tasted buttery but light. Great balance and utterly delicious, especially once we got into it.

Arugula and basil salad to finish and garlic baguette on the side.

I'll return to an old favorite - movie comparisons. The meal was like Taken. I barely knew anything about the movie when I pushed play. By the time it was over, all I could think was, "That was kinda awesome!" Very little plot, no character development, stupid "American revenge in a post 9/11 world" overtones, but just 90 minutes of brutal and highly entertaining action.

Just a good time, like the meal. And the wine had a place, if only in a supporting actor way.

Wine: 2006 Stift Göttweig Gottschelle Grüner Veltliner ($21 - WDC)

It's simplified since we last had it. Less alive and jumpy, more settled and bordering on one-dimensional. Still exotic fruits floating around and a good acidity still lingers. A pronounced orange peel note shot up on occasion. Even creamy white peach. I've read people found a plum juice note with this one. Maybe. Right now, it tastes like some of the cheaper Hungarian whites we've had. Interesting to a point and exotic enough to be intriguing for a few minutes but definitely settling into the more simple vein.

Pairing: 85 Never offered anything other than being an acid component to the meal

The orange peel notes and cream kicked up with the quiche and garlic baguette but never offered enough to bring a complimentary/original element to the meal.

Served more as an acid counterplay with the quiche/baguette while falling fall with the shrimp, which already had lemon juice.

We needed a wine more guts, maybe a touch of sugar, possibly something more bone-dry, maybe an oily quality, to get it into a realm of a solid pairing. As it was, it was kinda boring.

But that quiche. I heartily endorse such things.

A quick note: Paprika on Lawrence just east of Rockwell pumps out some great Indian food. After Hema's earlier this year, we were hesitant to jump back on the Indian wagon, but this is great stuff, fresh and cheap as all get out. Various naans, chutneys, samosas and a chicken tikka masala eaten with a sparkling Vouvray favorite, NV Domaine Vigneau-Chevreau Demi-Sec Sparkling Vouvray ($18 - Binny's). The refreshment brought on by the sparkling aspect of the wine served as the primary goodness with the food but that was okay with us. Good enough. Check out Paprika. Along with Semiramis, it's a new great BYO option in the neighborhood.

#68 - Seafood Sausage Lunch With Asprinio, Grüner & Musketeller

I've talked about the infinitely tasty Trader Joe's seafood sausage before.

They may become an endangered species soon so just go buy them. I'm begging.

And don't just microwave or boil them. Gussy them up. Make them delicious.

Just pick better wines than we did this time.

Food: Seafood sausage with sun-dried tomato-basil-shallot pesto with mâche and baguette

Grilled seafood sausage with a sun-dried tomato, basil, shallot, olive oil and white wine vinegar pesto. The seafood sausage is a frozen product that, if treated right, tastes entirely delicious. Do crap to it, people. It's a $4 package for four sausage links.

The entire meal was concocted in every way to accompany our first Asprinio. Seafood, even red pizza is considered good pairings with Aspirino. But there was problem...

Wine: 2005 Villa Carafa Asprinio di Aversa ($20 - Knightsbridge), 2006 Alois Gross Muskateller Steirische Klassik ($8 - WDC) & 2006 Stift Goettweig Grüner Veltliner Gottschelle ($15 - WDC)

The Asprinio was all done, finished, over. Dark yellow in the glass. Not unpleasant in that sense, but all sherry-like notes. We've had worse in the "dead-dead-dead" category. I knew before buying it that Asprinio should be drunk young but with their insane rarity and one available in the area, it seems worth trying. Asprinio is genetically identical to Greco yet the vines are latched onto huge poplar trees so they grow way up in the canopy, thereby getting the sea breezes that create their unique character. Wasn't technically good by itself but had a dead fruit, nuts and sherry quality that wasn't awful, really. Interesting to try but didn't in any sense reveal any true nature.

The Gross Musketateller was simple in the worst sense. Almost water in the glass with the faintest green hue. Notes from WS were "celery-like aromas following through on a palate that doesn't add up to much." Ding. Not good. Added up to nothing.

The Stift Goettweig is a bargain favorite of ours. Pretty, glimmering light yellow in the glass. By itself, more exotic fruit with a touch of creamsicle (wee bit less this time). Nice lively acidity, good balance and refreshing finish with some lees left over in the glass. Nice little wine that for the price gives a great representation of the grape while adding a little something unique with its great vitality. WDC is currently selling the Stift Geottweig Riesling for $8. I'm sure we'll be having it very soon.

But none of them were even close to good with the food.

Pairing: 75 No thanks

Great food with wine that was terrible with it. But let's be frank ("Who's Frank"). the Asprinio was dead, the Musketeller was awful by its very nature and the Grüner got lost in the sun-dried tomato-basil mix. No surprises, really. The meal was made on the assumption that the Asprinio would be somewhat more alive than it was. After that, we just grabbed the open bottle of Grüner in the refrigerator to get rid of it and tried the Muskateller before it become cooking wine (the result of buying bargain-shelf wine without knowing what we were getting into).

Not. Good. Food = pretty great. Wine = mixed bag. Pairing = ick.

#65 - Rabbit With Sauerkraut Pierogis & Two Alsatians

What the hell do you pair with rabbit in mustard sauce with sour cream, bacon, fennel, onions and sauerkraut pierogis...and a freakin' gremolata?

I mean...what the hell?

What do you jam into this?

Red was right out (though I think a funky Pinot Noir might have been at least intriguing). A dry white? Nope. Not a chance. It would get buried.

Our thought process started with bringing some sugar from the wine to deal with the sauerkraut and mustard. Seemed like the right place to start.

We weren't necessarily wrong.

Food: Rabbit in mustard sauce with lightly-smoked bacon, sour cream and herbs with sauerkraut pierogis and asparagus

Recipe from David Tanis, a chef at Chez Panisse in Berkeley (a good day for us two years ago - Chez Panisse for lunch and French Laundry for dinnner).

The rabbit came out a little tough but nonetheless delicious. Lightly sweet, a little gamey and more tasty as a baseline flavor for the rest of the ingredients. A fennel and onion accompaniment helped things along quite nicely and a fennel green, mint, lemon zest and walnut oil gremolata brought some great bite.

Came off a bit cassoulet-ish in a great way, even if the amount of meat offered by the rabbit fell a bit short.

The sauerkraut pierogis from West Side Market in Cleveland had a shockingly mellow sauerkraut punch that was more welcomed than I anticipated. With a bit of the gremolata or a little of the fennel-onion-sour cream-bacon sauce goop, they were something that I'll be craving a week from now out of the blue at some random hour on a Tuesday.

We didn't touch the asparagus. Enough fiber came on Tuesday with the tuna Niçoise.

Wine: 2002 Dirler-Cade Tokay Pinot Gris ($33 - Cellar Rat) & 2008 Cuvée Michel Léon Gewürztraminer ($10 - Trader Joe's)

Tough call. A well-crafted Riesling (2006 Prager Bodenstein?) might have befit the meal better. The meal played slightly above the wine. But we brought the sugar.

The Dirler did just that. We could tell it was on the downslope but it still brought sufficient vibrancy. Dryish with a backbone of sweetness showing some apricot notes and hints of lemon meringue. Some honey and white tea with a pleasing mouthfeel that coated just enough. A solid wine in the best sense. Danced on the tongue while still tasting a wee old.

The Trader Joe's Gewürztraminer, for its price, played in the same range. It was half as good at less than a third of the price. Sure, it was all gewürztraminer-y but it pulled back on that at the right points and had a pleasant citrus-spice candy quality to it. This comes from the same private label that supplies Trader Joe's with the excellent-for-its-price Muscadet and Pouilly-Fumé. By itself, it wasn't great.

With the food...

Pairing: 88 Much better than expected

As I said, tough call. I liked the Dirler 14% better. It was right and proper, well-crafted, lively and went well overall with everything. But the Gewürztraminer was better with the sauerkraut pierogis. That wee bit more sugar played more friendly with the sauerkraut. And actually, on the whole, it settled down the cloying notes that came when drank by itself after food was offered.

We tried the Stift Goettweig Grüner Veltliner (my idea) but it didn't last ten minutes with the food.

But the subtle dryness offered from the Dirler made for a bit of a struggle with the food compared to the basic sweetness of the Michel Léon that cut through a lot in a nice way.

I think I'd always pick the Dirler if given the choice. It had that 'it' factor while being borderline elegant. But before trying this gewürztraminer from Trader Joe's, I wouldn't have given it a chance.

Really, it's not bad at all, especially with food.

Check that. Only with food because who wants to drink Gewürztraminer by itself.

#30 - Chicken Piccata & '06 Stift Goettweig Grüner Veltliner

It was No Jury Duty Wednesday in the Ney house!

Food: Chicken Piccata with potatoes and radishes with arugula

Chicken piccata dredged in flour, fried lightly in oil and topped with a sautéed mixture of shallots, garlic, capers, tarragon (modified recipe) and lemon finished off with butter.

It's been awhile for chicken piccata, a previous Thursday night staple. One of our easy-ish, homey dishes (well...easy-ish for Mrs. Ney).

Pan-roasted potatoes and roasted radishes. The radishes didn't work. They were an experiment that was supposed to pair with typical grüner veltliner flavors. They didn't.

Good, solid meal.

Wine: 2006 Stift Goettweig Gottschelle Grüner Veltliner (high teens - WDC - Amy Rec.)

Stift Goettweig is an old Benedictine monastery on the east side of the Wachau region in Austria. They've been making wine for 1000 years. Gottschelle is the vineyard site.

Never tried or even heard of this winery before having it recommended to us by a nice person at Wine Discount Center.

Unique is a tired word for describing a wine and does nothing to actually do some describing. It fits here because I still don't know what the heck was going on with this one.

Very alive, well-integrated acidity, exotic background fruits, ones I couldn't for the life of me identify. Certainly white peach up front and beautiful at that. Drinking alone, I thought some kiwi juice showed up. Mrs. Ney found a vegetal note with the food.

I think we'll be following this grüner veltliner. It's just so perplexing. Some of the reviews said it has plenty of life and should age well. We'll see.

Pairing: Good Stuff

Stayed in that basic, general, proper range of a food and wine pairing, but specific pleasures popped up.

Those strange, exotic fruits showed up in a great way with the piccata and different ones peeked around the corner with the arugula. Just a gosh darn interesting wine with a "unique," bright acidity that let the fruits become complex. White peach was the consistent strand throughout with maybe a little white pepper showing up when hit with salt.

A better meal than if we went the traditional (and boring) way and drank something with pronounced lemon notes.