#276 - Rabbit Sausages, Chicken Thigh & Smokey Blue Fregola With '11 Ponzi Pinot Gris + 1

Ponzi-licious.

Ponzi acid, guys. Ponzi. Acid.

It's what they do oh-so well (among other things) and these two meals really showcased that.

Good weekend. Found Ring Day on Monday followed by tuna Niçoise with --> Ponzi Pinot Noir Rosé followed by this meal.

Plus, dog obedience class is over. We got our Wednesday nights back. You should see how much she kinda-sorta-not really remembers it all.

A trip to Oregon wine country for us soon. Drinking Ponzi seemed right and proper....and Ponzi-licious (I'll stop that now).

Food: Rabbit sausages, chicken thigh, blue cheese fregola and baby kale salad with meat juice

Christmas

Let's kickstart this here blog back up.

The 365 Days of Food and Wine experiment, while interesting, sapped my ability to accurately describe the delicious food Mrs. Ney made. It got to the point where my word canon reached the very end of its description limit. I'd re-read things I'd written and think, "Hot damn that's boring!" And that wasn't doing any justice to the time and effort Mrs. Ney had put in to researching, thinking about, and making dinners.

The break was needed, but it's time to step back in, because while we hope anyone searching for food and wine pairing advice - a vexing and frightening proposition for many - comes across this site and comes to understand that it's not that frightening, mostly we want and need the reference. We also like to see how our year and tastes flowed and changed.

Christmas seems a good place to start.

Food: Bittman Lamb Osso Buco with Sean Brock Grits and Rapini

Mark Bittman osso buco recipe, from NYT Cooking. Lamb osso buco from D'Artagnan, seared, then cooked for 90 minutes on the stovetop with garlic, anchovies, sage, marjoram, rosemary, white wine, salt and pepper until tender. Meat removed, sauce reduced, served on the side. Cracked pink peppercorns sprinkled on top of lamb. Sean Brock grits, from Heritage: A Cookbook (page 74 - "How to cook grits like a Southerner"). Simple rapini done up with salt and pepper that somehow didn't taste so simple.

Luscious lamb. Frenchy touches with northern Italian guts. Osso buco is never going to be the best meat I've ever had in my life, but when it hits, like here, it's a meat-melty wonder. Rather perfect grits, as Mr. Brock seems to offer with most anything he offers (see burgers, patty melts, steaks, grits, griddle cakes...he's one of our house food guiders to the delicious). Silky, but corny and buttery, with a surprising jump and lightness. A great balance and vacillation between all the flavors. When some of the anchovy pan sauce bled into the rapini, it was maybe the best rapini we've had in a good long time.

This was a dinner worthy of Christmas, after a shockingly easy Christmas Eve visit to the family.

Wine: 2015 Jolie-Laide Trousseau Gris Fanucchi-Wood Vineyard RRV

We loved the poop out the 2014 Jolie-Laide Trousseau Gris, first had at Chez Panisse two Septembers ago. So board and giving. The 2015 is more sturdy and focused in its flavors. It gets more directly and quickly to the point it's trying to make. Bitter orange peel galore, like Chinotto or Aperol in presence and aggressiveness. Wispy touches of herbs and minerals, particularly on the back-end, even something tea-like thrown in there on occasion. This one needs to warm up significantly in order for it to stretch its legs and become more elastic and playful. The 2014 was all ethereal, sunshine-y goodness, but sputtered with some food. The 2015 is more punchy, and that over the course of the next year might make it more suitable to the flavors we love.

Pairing: Once it reached the right temp...nothing wrong with that.

I opened a 2005 Gourt des Mautens Rasteau (Jérome Bressy) and decanted couple of hours before dinner, but it didn't budge from its hairy-backed, tannic self, and would have been just terrible with how delicate the lamb was. But the Jolie-Laide served us quite well. Not perfect, not by any means. Once it warmed up though, there was enough weaving in-and-out with the grits and lamb together to say, "Slap Daddy! That's just fine!"

Lunch: Homemade duck pâté with Rogue Flora Nelle Blue Cheese, fig marmalade, baguette and salad, served with 2011 Matthiasson Vermouth. Mrs. Ney whipped up A LOT of duck pâté, this one more country in style with its small chunks of duck meat. Turned into one of those pâtés one eats and thinks THIS is how all pâté should be. Every flavor bouncing and jiving with each other. Rogue Flora Nelle has that ideal touch of blue streaks while still retaining a clean brightness to it. House fav.

All served with a Matthiasson Vermouth that's been sitting in this house way too long, and it was great here. Smoky tangerine peel, blood orange and bark. Still going quite strong. A bite of cheese and fig marmalade on baguette with a sip of vermouth was as pairing-perfect as it gets.

Damn good (and lazy) Christmas Day! We didn't get to the "Feast of the One Fish" (brandade). It's in the works for New Year's Eve. With bubbles. We need bubbles. So we'll have them. Because bubbles are essential in life.

After the jump is a list of all the pairings we've had since this blog stopped, some of it in shorthand. It's for our reference:

#165 - Pork, Pancetta & Prunes With A Plush '09 Schild GMS

"Don't practice your alliteration on me!"

Yesterday's meal went through a heavy editing process on the fly, much soul-searching and an in-the-shower epiphany that "really tied the plate together."

I'm sure few people find fregola to be an important shower epiphany but last night, fregola brought the food love.

Throw in Rogue River Blue Cheese purchased two months ago yet still chugging along quite nicely, thank you very much, and Mrs. Ney found a winner where, for the four hours of prep before the meal, she didn't think she had one.

She's the Minnesota Twins of cooking. A way WILL be found.

Food: Pancetta-wrapped and prune-stuffed pork tenderloin with blue cheese fregola and bacon fat chard

Pork-tastic! Pork and pork with a side of pork.

Pork tenderloin ($4 - Aldi) wrapped in La Quercia pancetta ($3 - City Provisions, it was a "high-low" meal) and stuffed with prunes and rosemary, all slathered in mustard and roasted.

Medium-well pork tenderloin that was tender and juicy. Both of us really don't care about pork as a main dish. Pork chops can go to H-E-double hockey sticks. Cured pork products are, of course, another story but pork-pork is like a Butterfinger or Hershey bar or some college friends - you have to revisit one every two years to remind yourself why you don't revisit it more often.

That said, tasty pork with charred and deliciously caramelized pancetta with a subtle sweet prune and rosemary hit in the center. Each bite was a Good Bite.

Shower epiphany fregola ($2.50) done in chicken stock, fennel seed and orange zest. Topped with Rogue River Blue Cheese. Done in the risotto style, fregola first introduced itself to us in magical ways during a meal that shall not soon be forgotten. More "Crap, that's good!" here. Rich and rustic, tasting like gussied-up Sardinian peasant food.

Chard ($4) done in bacon fat and Aleppo pepper. Heaping mound, tasted like meat, we loved a few bites and promptly threw in the towel. Just too much.

$18 total for both plates.

We ate well last night, loving what came out of an uncertain meal direction while having no freakin' idea what wine to serve with it for most of the day (a smoky-sweet blackstrap sauce was in play at one time, polenta another).

Things turned out just fine.

Wine: 2009 Schild Estate GMS ($12 - WDC)

Started with a 2006 Nerello del Bastardo, an $8 Trader Joe's Super Tuscan blend that we were sick of looking at on the shelf. Corked. Smelled like cardboard that's been sitting behind the garage for months in the summer heat. Decanted for 2 1/2 hours to see if it would blow off because there was a resemblance of decent wine goodness hanging around, underneath. Nope. Corked. A cheap Italian wine corked? NOOOO!

Settled on a surprisingly cheap Schild Estate GMS blend (55% Grenache, 25% Mourvedre and 20% Shiraz). Schild Estate, of the surprisingly cheap Shirazes that have garnered boatloads of praise over the last few years, seems like it picked up in American market where Pirramimma left off in the quality $25 range. Can't find Pirramimma for the life of us anymore, Schild's everywhere. In our world, Pirramimma's a very personal friend and Schild shiraz isn't that. But it's always been good (enough) stuff in the $25 world. This GMS blend was HALF that.

Smoky herby berry on the nose. Berry fruit basket right away with a big underlying blackberry juice quality that I really loved. Medium-bodied, smooth, open, welcoming with a juicy acidity, turning a touch smoky and meaty halfway down, a hint of licorice on occasion, and finishing with a deft, long, dark fruit touch of sweetness.

Tasted like a nicely restrained Rhône Ranger. More of a naturally occurring sweetness than a sappy sweet finish many of the California blends allow. Like a favorite sweatshirt.

If we paid $25 for this, we would have been happy and may have even bought more. It's not.

It's $12. And entirely food-friendly.

Pairing: 88 A broad and open wine with a meal that we never thought was going to be that

Quality, aged (to put it mildly) blue cheese, rustic, browny, grainy, starchy goodness, caramelized pancetta char, bacon fat greenness, pruney sweetness with herby hints. That's a big basket to capture and the wine captured nearly all of it in admirable and Mom-like ways ("Come with me, sweetie. It's best).

Fielded like a rangy, handsy shortstop and showed a food-ingratiating maturity well beyond its years, lifting things nicely while never allowing its sweetness to dominate.

$30 for a pretty tasty feast.

Flap Meat, Arancini And Kale With 2004 Two Hands Beautiful Stranger

"What the hell is that?"

"Olives! Olives everywhere!"

"That's...sparkling wine acid!"

"Grapefruit. Geesh! Grape. Fruit."

"Like grilled grapefruit."

"Tons of it."

"My God. There's so much acid and it's freakin' awesome!"

"All acid and still balanced at tens years old!"

"Didn't get this the last time."

"Is that chinotto? Some sort of weirdly delicious bitter peel."

"It wouldn't be a white wine if I drank it blind but...maybe an orange wine?"

"Yeah...there's dark cherry at its very narrow core but..."

"Sassafras."

"Ash."

"And olives. So many black olives!"

"This might be my favorite wine ever. Probably not but it might be. It's up there."

"It's real close. So strangely delicious!"

#249 - Fregola 'Risotto,' Borlotti Beans & Pancetta With '05 Colonial Estate Exile

We had something close to pairing perfection two days ago.

Right after cracking the Colonial Estate Exile, taking a sip and tasting a chunk of Rogue Smoky Blue, I thought we were going to beat it.  At least approach it.

We didn't beat it but got close.

Tons of extreme like here.

Blood marinated in balsamic.  Who doesn't want that?

Drink it with a big mound of slightly goopy goodness and you got yoself sum lovin'.

Food:  Fregola 'risotto,' borlotti beans, La Quercia pancetta, fennel, shallots, pine nuts, pearl onions, carrots, chicken stock, basil and Rogue Creamery Smoky Blue Cheese

#211 - Rosemary Lamb & Potato-Kale Cake With A 2000 Amarone

Trying to till through sparse or vague reviews for a wine bought at a bargain and figuring out how to drink it can be a difficult plough.

We got this 2000 Amarone at a steep discount, down to $35 from $60, which was probably flag #1.

A mid-level producer from a very fine vintage in Amarone, recommendations on wines from top-end producers in Amarone typically want people to wait ten, sometimes twenty years before drinking them and most don't even release them until five years after the vintage.  Here's one that should be forging ahead quite nicely yet...nearly 50% off.

Then there was the Wine Spectator review:

90  Intense, with currants, herbs and a tinge of iodine. Full-bodied and smooth, with concentrated fruit and mineral flavors. Very fine tannins that firm up a bit on the finish. Bitter chocolate aftertaste. Needs time. Best after 2006. 950 cases made. –JS

Looking back after drinking it, some more flags.  The review was done upon release, in 2005, yet we have a "needs time" followed by a "best after 2006."  A short gap followed by an absence of a real drinking window and pretty generic descriptors used for an Amarone translates to a wine that is "fiiiinnnne" and good enough or typical but nothing exciting.

That's what we got as well, along with typically good lamb, a shockingly delicious potato-kale cake and an "Oregonzola" cheese from Rogue Creamery to pair with the Amarone that blew us away.

But shiraz or syrah was the play here.

Chimichurri-ed Hanger Steak and Arancini with 2004 Twisted Oak Tempranillo Calaveras County

Vacation soon, so it's "empty out that freezer!" time.

Menu:

* Recently purchased Whole Foods hanger steak (cumin, coffee, pepper rub)

* Not recently made pumpkin-Rogue Smokey Blue-rosemary arancini, leftover from a huge batch made in March for flap meat and arancini with 2004 Two Hands Beautiful Stranger (best wine of the year)

* Chimichurri from who knows when, slathered on the meat, with...

* Leftover freezer bacon and parsley added

Served with a wine given blind that, given a thousand years, I never would have guessed was California tempranillo. Well, not a thousand, that's a long time. And I'd be dead.

Delicious, juicy, medium-rare hanger with a great cumin-coffee hit, mixing and mingling beautifully with the chimichurri and bacon. Arancini that lost its pumpkinness but gained a "look at me!" rosemary number, which was surprising and so gosh-darn good. Star of the meal. Arugula salad to finish, cuz meat and fried food needs a lil somethin'-somethin' to move things along.

Meat and starch in a happier, better form. Good stuff.

A 2004 Twisted Oak Tempranillo Calaveras County ($15 - Lush), bought at Lush because it was $15 and California tempranillo and $15 and 2004. And $15. Little lost if it sucked. It got lost in the wine storage shuffle. I didn't even remember it was in the house. Mrs. Ney knew what it was, socked it up, and gave it to me blind. Round and ripe. Formerly full-bodied, now wandering into a happy "middle-aged man who still routinely whips my ass in tennis" medium number.  Fading but not faded in the least. Huge, alive, black fruit hit. Blackberry and blueberry. Purple Sweet Tart number, indicating to me that this HAD to be Australian shiraz. Just had to be. Guessed 2004 Pirramimma. Nope. Calaveras County tempranillo (with 12% cabernet added). We love Twisted Oak, mainly because they love Spanish grapes. May I suggest The Spaniard with Romanian skirt steak and scallion sauce? Or with lamb osso buco in anchovy-garlic sauce, charred green beans and fried haloumi? Those were GOOD meals.  

The Twisted Oak found its perfect self with the arancini, turning all complete and layered and deep. Less so with the hanger, as a touch of oak separated itself from the pack and went rogue, but still decent stuff.

Big surprise here. Mrs. Ney had few expectations for this meal. Turned out pretty great.

#215 - Borlotti Bean & Blue Cheese Fregola Risotto With 2003 Hobbs Gregor Shiraz

Grab Mr. Peabody and his boy Sherman, we're jumpin' into the WABAC machine.

Last October, we had a top-three meal of 2010 consisting of lamb, fregola risotto and carrot purée with this wine and ruminated about not even needing the lamb.  It did little with the wine while the superlative stuff on the plate was the blue cheese fregola and what it did with the Hobbs Gregor.

Last night, we omitted the lamb, replaced it with borlotti beans and were all the better for it, resulting in a meal that was all of the "Yes!" and none of the "meh."

It was a whittling down, a honing in on what absolutely shined with one of our favorite wines, taking that relatively narrow flavor explosion from a side dish and expanding it out into a meal not driven by a protein but introducing elements that mimic what's good about a protein, like depth and char and meaty qualities.

And that's what happened.  We not only didn't miss the meat, we didn't want the meat because everything we want in meat was there in meatless form.

It became a meal that proves the notion that big-boy, burly and deep shiraz doesn't always need meat to tame it.  There are a ton of different avenues to pursue that makes for stupid-good stuff.

"After all, Sherman.  Isn't it important in life to avoid a Hobbesian choice?"

"Oh, Mr. Peabody."

Food:  Borlotti bean & blue cheese fregola risotto with arugula salad

365 Days Of Food And Wine: Week #44

Here's a nice little reminder from D'Artagnan that air-chilled chicken is the only chicken. Whole Foods carries them as well. Worth the extra greenbacks.

In the novelty food products world, for which I'm a huge sucker, the new Pepsi 1893 line is an...effort, but not worth the greenbacks. And Milky Way brownies are an abomination.

Down week in the wine world but not in the food world.

Total food and wine cost for the week: $105 for food and $119 for wine = $224

Total food and wine cost for the month: $442 for food and $439 for wine = $881

Sunday: Naan Pizzas with 2013 Regis Minet Pouilly-Fumé Vieilles Vignes

Food Details: Naan bread topped with leftover asparagus pesto mixed with cream cheese, ham, onions, leftover smoked mozzarella, peppadew peppers, and a big handful of dressed arugula.

Did We Like It? They're a weeknight house dinner platform for leftover stuff. And it's always, in the least, a satisfying dinner. Tack on "very" to satisfied with this batch.

How Was The Wine? Went fancier for weeknight wine here, and gee-whiz, the acidity and flinty minerals were just lovely. More straight-forward than other vintages of Minet, with predominantly lemon citrus notes, followed by minerals, all wrapped inside a coat of bright acid. But golly that package had all the fanciness of a great piece of furniture. Like when you see something in a living room and say, "Damn, THAT's a great chair!"

And The Pairing? Fairly ho-hum, but fine food and fine wine made for a great end of my week, especially after spending five minutes explaining to a customer who could eat tomatoes but not tomato sauce that our sauce is ONLY blended tomatoes. She wasn't having it.

Cost: $12 for food, $21 for wine = $33    

Saturday: Kielbasa-Potato-Kale Hash with 2014 Charles Smith Velvet Devil Columbia Valley

Food Details: (recipe from The New Spanish Table). Loosely based on that recipe, turning it from cake to hash. This time, using kielbasa as meat. Historically, this recipe is used as a bit of a blank slate to mix together left in the house, with potato and kale as a base. Pecorino cheese to finish.

Did We Like It? The kielbasa took it out of the Spanish realm and into a more generic "hash" world, and it served quite well as a weeknight, "warm you up" plate of food, particularly when it was 38 degrees in mid-freakin'-May here in Chicago.

How Was The Wine? Mostly merlot, with a little cab, malbec and cab franc mixed in. A dancing little number on its own, with pretty, bright, round, dark red fruits with a bit of tobacco underneath and balanced, prevalent, happy acid. But...

And The Pairing? BRU-TAL. Really, quite terrible with this food. But good to find a bargain merlot that offers...something. And this offers much more than just "something," as Mr. Smith typically does.

Cost: $5 for food, $10 for wine = $15

Friday: Tuna Pick-n-Choose with 2015 Baskoli Txakolina 

Food Details: Leftover olive oil-poached tuna from Wednesday, with peppadew peppers, onions, avocado, dressed arugula and mini-ciabatta. Rip, top with everything, and eat.

Did We Like It? Sorta great! If there's a bite of food that represents the bridge between food we ate 5-7 years ago and now, this would be it. Spanish-influenced simplicity with a tapas-pintxos nod, where a bite has all the acid, fishy, bitter, onion-pepper pop, cream and starch you need.

How Was The Wine? It's $9 Trader Joe's txakolina. And nothing here is really in proper txakolina order here. The sea spritz and mineral is off. The fruit perk is nearly nonexistent. Its slight sparkle shows up at weird times, hiding what could be good underneath, but...

And The Pairing? It's $9, half of the cost of a good Txakolina. And with this food, it offered more than enough Basqueness for us to be very satisfied.

Cost: $8 for food, $9 for wine = $17    

Thursday: Green Chorizo Tortas with NV Evolution Sparkling White

Food Details: Melissa Clark green chorizo, made into tortas. Chorizo mixed with black beans, with chihuahua cheese as the meat-cheese base. Habanero vinegar. Marinated onions, sliced avocados and arugula on top. All that inside torta bread. Mexican Bugles for side. Made four big sandwiches.

Did We Like It? We could sell these out the apartment window and make a silly amount of money. Had that perfect meat-cheese melty-ness, freshened up by the avocado and arugula, and an overall composition of delicious.

How Was The Wine? Nine grapes done up Champagne-style. Muscat, gewürztraminer, pinot gris, white riesling, chardonnay, pinot blanc, sylvaner, muller-thurgau and semillon. You read that list, particularly since it leads with muscat and gewürztraminer, and you'd think this would be sweet-ish. At least highly fruity. It's not. It's quite dry, with some very pleasing bitterness and herb stem notes. More pinot blanc and muller-thurgau than anything else. Quite nice, and we'll be buying it again.

And The Pairing? Didn't really go with the sandwiches, but we weren't displeased. Good food and surprising wine that don't ultimately go together but don't horribly clash can be Just Fine.

Cost: $14 for food, $14 for wine = $28  

Wednesday: Scaccia with 2012 Paringa Sparkling Shiraz Barossa

Food Details: Saveur recipe, and will be had six times a year henceforth. It's lasagna bread, but has none of soupy boringness that, for me, comes with lasagna. Semolina dough, San Marzano tomatoes, sharp provolone and smoked mozzarella to approximate caciocavallo, basil and garlic. Arugula salad to finish.

Did We Like It? It's our new Sunday night dinner! Fairly simple, just takes (mostly inactive) time. It's tastes like my first experience with good Italian food as a child in the 80's. Better, of course, but quite evocative. Everything is in proportion and everything is offered at the right level. Not bready, not too cheesy, not too tomatoey. Just DE-licious.

How Was The Wine? Shiraz likes basil and we had to drink this sparkling shiraz. Licorice, black fruits and froth. Fine enough, nothing super-duper by any means.

And The Pairing? Same with the food. Fell into the category of "nice to have wine here." That's really all it offered.

Cost: $15 for food, $13 for wine = $28

Tuesday: Tuna Niçoise with 2014 Terrasse du Moulinas Blanc Elégance Languedoc-Roussillon

Food Details: Olive-oil poached tuna Niçoise on butter lettuce with gaeta olives, capers, onion, grape tomatoes, haricots verts, fingerling potatoes, and hard-boiled eggs for me.

Did We Like It? A less delicious version of home tuna Niçoise. The on-sale butter lettuce sat there, limp and tasteless, offering nothing. Made it feel like there was a hole in the meal.

How Was The Wine? Started with an older 2010 Domaine de la Pepìere Quatre Muscadet and it offered little in the way of anything resembling enjoyment. Moved on to this year's house white, a grenache blanc, vermentino, chardonnay and sauvignon blanc blend from the Languedoc that has the acid and sparkle we do enjoy. Thought it was fading when last drunk, but here it matched up rather beautifully in the way regional food and regional wine tend to do.

And the Pairing? This tasted purposeful together. Not spectacular, just Provence Purposeful. With that, we found tons of enjoyment.

Cost: $23 for food, $31 for wine = $54

Monday: Hanger Steak and Watercress-Shishito Pepper Salad with 2012 Broc Cellars Cabernet Franc Central Coast

Food Details: (recipe) Whole Foods hanger steak (medium-rare) with a salad of watercress, shishito peppers, celery and leaves, and Rogue Flora Nelle cheese. Potato pancakes for starch.

Did We Like It? Our third time having this deliciously meaty-bitter-creamy dinner and it's still is all kinds of lovely. A bite with everything - hanger, watercress, shishito and cheese - is stupid how great it is. Get good cheese. Rogue is essentially our only source for blue cheese-like cheeses now. The fresh edge it offers is perfect.

How Was The Wine? Last had with Persian beef and barberry sauce, it's full of shiny red fruits, violets and cinnamon on the nose, a bit less in the intensity of that on the palate for the first 2/3, then finishing with something like a rum raisin smack. Still chugging along quite nicely. One left.

And The Pairing? Not as good as the La Posta Malbec with this meal, but there was a grace here that was welcome. And it showed some guts with the bevy of bitterness on the plate.

Cost: $28 for food, $19 for wine = $47

365 Days Of Food And Wine: Week #36

I didn't love Carol, unlike the rest of the planet. Felt underdeveloped with respect to exactly why Carol and Therese are attracted to each other, outside of the physical, which is fine to build upon, but a bone or two thrown my way on the emotional angle would have helped.

Beautifully filmed, fantastic use of score, visually sumptuous, great performances. Blanchett and Mara are two of the best working today. It simply felt initially unformed, and the rest of the castle was built on that.

Total food and wine cost for the week: $96 for food and $130 for wine = $226

Total food and wine cost for the month: $431 for food and $519 for wine = $950

Sunday: Green Chorizo-Zucchini Goop with 2014 Alloy Wine Works Grenache Rosé Central Coast

Food Details: Based on a recipe from Mexican, by Jane Milton (page 186), with the addition of green chorizo, from Melissa Clark in NYT Cooking. Cook your chorizo. Remove from pan, and then brown two sliced onions. Add garlic and four [previously salted and rinsed] sliced-into-sticks zucchini, sautée some more. Add half-pint of halved cherry tomatoes and sliced pickled serranos; sauté briefly. Dump in chorizo, warm through. Turn off burner, add half a block of cubed cream cheese to melt in residual heat. Fresh oregano, dill and parmesan. Pugliese bread to top with zucchini goop.

Did We Like It? Bready, porky, touch spicy, vegetabley, happy as all-get out. This version brought the heat.

How Was The Wine? Fading. Still perky-sunny, but the distinctive, round, bouncy guava-strawberry fruit is fading into rather flat generic fruit.

And The Pairing? The acid still present in the wine saved it from being a pairing dud.

Cost: $9 for food, $14 for wine = $23

Saturday: Ottolenghi Chicken Salad with 2014 João Portugal Ramos "Lima" Loureiro Vinho Verde

Food Details: Mr. Ottolenghi's take on chicken caesar salad, which tastes vaguely like caesar salad, but with the signature Ottolenghi "crap! this man can cook!" spin. Yogurt, garlic, lemon juice, olive oil, salt and pepper in a bowl. Half for marinade on the chicken, other half for dressing. Easy-peasy. Chicken seared, then ovened. Salad of romaine (sub for radicchio - too tired to run to WF), arugula and tons of basil. Charred onions (added to the recipe). Chicken. Green Peppercorns. Pecorino (instead of parmesan). Dressing. Mix. Ciabattini slathered with butter-garlic-parsley. Eat.

Did We Like It? Toss it on the food rotation pile! The great thing about Mr. Ottolenghi's recipes is that his ingredients are ingredients we always have in the house. Calling this chicken caesar salad sells it short, but the outline is there. The green peppercorns in this application tastes like a perfect funky stand-in for anchovies. The copious amount of basil brought an ideal herbal pop. Yogurt-lemon creates a bright framework without overwhelming. It's a big plate of perfect. 

How Was The Wine? We've probably had two cases or more of this wine over the years. It's started to become merely "wine" lately, but here it excelled. Juicy, lightly floral, even a bit tropical. Lovely.

And The Pairing? It LOVES this food, something the Lima hasn't of late. Bright, refreshing, delicious, cleansing... We'd do this again tomorrow. It was that good.

Cost: $7 for food, $8 for wine = $15   

Friday: Merguez Kebabs and Kale Tabbouleh with 2014 Marqués de Cáceres Rosé Rioja

Food Details: Another Yotam Ottolenghi recipe that makes us say, "Jebus Cripes, that guy likes food the way we like food!" Merguez lamb sausages made with ground lamb, harissa, cumin, coriander, fennel, paprika, etc. Along with a stupid-delicious Melissa Clark (modified) kale tabbouleh recipe, subbing beets for tomatoes. Tahini (plus lemon juice, garlic and water) with pita.

Did We Like It? Yep. It will be put right into the food catalog and eaten, most likely, 6-8 more times this year. This is weeknight food and weekday food. Fancy food and everyday food. Frankly, if this becomes your everyday food, you're eating extraordinarily well. And isn't that the goal with food? Eat well. It makes you happier.

How Was The Wine? Probably a decade ago, we used to drink this rosé on occasion. Checking back in reminded us why we haven't in a decade. There's nothing necessarily wrong with it, just nothing necessarily gripping or compelling about it.

And The Pairing? Best with the merguez on its own, with no tahini or pita. Nondescript with everything else.

Cost: $15 for food, $8 for wine = $23    

Thursday: Red Lentil Dal and Rice with 2014 Amancay Torrontés La Rioja

Food Details: Nigella Lawson recipe from NYT. Red lentils, sweet potato, onions, ginger, garlic, chile, coriander, cumin, turmeric, cilantro, etc. Over rice.

Did We Like It? A fine dal with enough depth and guts to say, "Yes. This will work just fine, thank you very much."

How Was The Wine? A better drinking than our first one of this cheap Trader Joe's Argentinean torrontés offering. Peachy-floral, bouncy, nice.

And The Pairing? No complaints.

Cost: $5 for food, $7 for wine = $12  

Wednesday: Potato Focaccia with Petit Basque Cheese and Quince Paste with 2013 Raventos i Blanc L'Hereu Brut Reserva Conca del Riu Anoia

Food Details: Yotam Ottolenghi potato focaccia (at the bottom) with petit Basque cheese, quince paste, serrano ham and arugula salad.

Did We Like It? Weirdly wonderful focaccia that we'll be making again. Like the lightest potato pizza that never gets too potato-heavy. Easy to make, just a lot of rest-time involved. Topped with quince paste and petit Basque cheese, it went from a thrown-together dinner into something much better than that. The serrano ham was barely needed. A focaccia-quince-cheese bite repeated over and over again was enough for us. And paired with Come Dine With Me New Zealand was perfect.

How Was The Wine? We used to drink this (former) Cava a lot, but we stopped buying it after a couple of bottles didn't exactly thrill and we got into Champagne more heavily. This drinking will bring us back. 45 % macabeu-40 % xarel.lo-15 % parellada. Biodynamic. You can read about Raventos switching appellations here. Refreshing was the word of the night with this drinking, with the smallest touch of apple-lime and very happy minerality. The L'Hereu hasn't tasted like this for us before. It's lighter, shinier, more polished and direct in the best sense.

And The Pairing? Tasted like a Spanish picnic.

Cost: $20 for food, $20 for wine = $40      

Tuesday: Anne Burrell Chicken Milanese with 2013 Jackys Preys Cuvée de Fié Gris Touraine

Food Details: Home Food eaten dozens of times. Anne Burrell recipe: read it, make it, know it, love it. Breaded chicken breasts, pan-fried. Hazelnut-parsley-pecorino blend. Pickled onions. Arugula salad. A piece of fried breast, bit of nut blend, some pickled onions - eat.

Did We Like It? Al. Ways. And this was a very good version. We love it every time we have it. Felt like it had been too long since the last time.

How Was The Wine? Fié gris grape. Natural wine. Loire. Our third bottle and it's been natural-different every time. That's a good thing everyone, if you're inclined to get into such things. This time, a burnt-out candlewick note, mostly, with a wee touch of Asian fruit and white flowers. And a frothy impression that seemed like it was going to get into beer territory but never did. Wild is the word, and we loved it.

And The Pairing? Nothing wrong with that. Best when the wine was cooler.

Cost: $10 for food, $18 for wine = $28

Monday: Hanger Steak, Blue Cheese and Potato Pancakes with 2012 Arnot-Roberts Syrah North Coast and 2010 Abacela Tinta Amarela Umpqua

Food Details: Hanger steak marinated in Chinese black bean and brandy marinade, seared medium-rare. Trader Joe's potato pancakes for starch. Rogue Creamery Caveman Blue Cheese. Haricots verts seared in cast iron with soy and balsamic spritz.

Did We Like It? Delicious marinade, delicious beef. Rogue blue cheese in any form is so gosh-darn good. With a bite of beef with blue cheese and a lil bit of potato pancake...that's all we need in life. Very happy meal.

How Was The Wine? Two wines that were put in the fridge with Preserva disks over the last week or so. Gotta drink up 'em up and this meal seemed a good time to save on bit of wine dollars since they were already a sunk cost. The tinta amarela came off like before - a touch flat and lacking in depth. The Arnot-Roberts, though, turned into a cool climate syrah with personality, with cooling fruit frame backed by a touch of VERY black olive and a bit of thyme. Had a nice pep to its step.

And The Pairing? There wasn't any point during the meal where we thought about opening something fresh/fancier because the food warranted it. That's how well these fridge wines performed with the meal. The syrah was the overall winner on the night, but the tinta amarela loved the green beans. Good start to the weekend.

Cost: $30 for food, $55 for wine = $85

#303 - Borlotti Bean & Blue Cheese Fregola Risotto With '07 Sanguis Oracle Of Delphi

15.3% alcohol in a wine is quite a lot.

But when done well with particular attention paid to a refreshing acid lift on the finish, you've got wine that is rather friendly and inviting instead of tongue-killing and port-like.

That's what we got last night from this 2007 Sanguis offering comprising of 96% syrah and 4% viognier.

Put into a food world like borlotti bean and blue cheese fregola risotto with a little Cleveland bacon to match the meaty notes in the wine and you've got a winner.

Many wine types poo-poo such largesse in a wine. They say to keep your reds under 14% and your whites under 13%. Admirable goal, that. Under 15% is commonplace in our house, but keeping your reds under 14% excludes so much freakin' great wine.

The world is big. The wine world is big. Big wines made well can and do have a place. Just like large food flavors - bacon as an ingredient in virtually everything, BBQ, whole roasted pig's sticky-sweet goodness, spicy Thai, etc. - large wines on occasion can be the truth. So let's stop saying wines HAVE to be one certain way. It works the other way as well.

Yes, Parker's love of the big-boy bombs has had a detrimental effect on the emphasis of subtlety, grace and finesse in wine. But isn't the wine world pulling the same philosophical jujitsu when it comes to diversity by outright dismissing higher alcohol wines? Getting down and dirty with a plate of food chockablock with massive flavors necessitates a wine that can keep up. That's gonna mean a bit more alcohol that many may want. But made well and it's happy-slappy stuff.

Dismiss higher-alcohol wines whole-hog and you dismiss the food pairing joy that can come with such things.

So let's make that distinction. Higher alcohol in and of itself isn't a terrible thing. It's bad winemakers that patently refuse to do a good job of integrating it into a larger picture in the glass.

Thomas Keller Buttermilk Fried Chicken & Biscuits With Trader Joe's North Coast Sparkling

I really should take better pictures...

You can buy Thomas Keller's Ad Hoc At Home, or you can simply search for the recipes. But you really should buy it, because it's enormous (and fussy), and detailed (and fussy), and gets you into the head of the guy who makes damn good food (and fussy), and kinda awesome.

This is our third time taking a fatty-delicious dip into the TK buttermilk fried chicken waters (last two). A lesson to be learned with TK BFC is that you might have the urge to pop a spendy Champagne with such meticulously prepared and somewhat laborious fried chicken. You might. You say it warrants such things, you put in hard work and should be rewarded. Well, you resist that urge. We've done it and the buttermilk gobbles up much of the nuance. You end up separating bites from sips, taking a pause between, in order to find the Champagne goodness, instead of rolling up your sleeves and getting all down-and-dirty with the chicken and bubbles. Thinking about how much you spent on the wine should never enter the equation here. You want to become a remorseless eating machine with chicken like this.

Buttermilk fried chicken recipe here. Buttermilk biscuits here. A frisée salad with Rogue blue cheese, roasted tomatoes and croutons to mimic wedge salad (Ad Hoc recipe as well), because frankly, iceberg lettuce in wedge salad form is something I crave about once every two years, then I have three bites and I'm pretty much done. Frisée is a better choice here. It does a better mop-up job on your throat and tummy with the buttermilk bounty.

365 Days Of Food And Wine: Week #25

Top...Whatever Number...Pairings of 2015 (no order except the top few, so a bit of an order):

1. Ottolenghi Fish, Cocount-Peanut Salad and Rice with 2013 Darting Muskateller Kabinett Trocken

2. Tuna Niçoise with 2014 Jolie-Laide Trousseau Gris Fanucchi-Wood Road Vineyard Russian River Valley

3.  Roasted Chicken and Fennel Panzanella with 2014 Broc Cellars Picpoul Blanc Luna Matta Vineyard Paso Robles

4.  Fava Bean and Ricotta Salata Strozzapreti with 2014 Quinta de Porrais Branco Douro

5. Sausage, Zucchini, Tomato and Cream Cheese Surprise with 2014 Alloy Wine Works Grenache Rosé Central Coast

6. Lamb Chops, Charred Shallots, Yogurt, Tomato Vinaigrette and Pita with 2014 Charles & Charles Rosé Columbia Valley

7.  Yakitori-marinated hanger steak, yuca fries and Tuscan kale salad with 2006 Quinta do Vale Meão Douro

8. Lamb Salami, Feta spread, Arugula and Ciabattini Buns with 2014 João Portugal Ramos "Lima" Loureiro Vinho Verde

9. Big. Greek. Salad. With Lillet Sparkling Rosé

10. Bee-Pollened Pork Shoulder and Griddle Cakes with 2009 Jean Bourdy Côtes du Jura

11. Galician Tuna Empanadas With 2012 Forlorn Hope "Que Saudade" Sierra Foothills

12. Argentinian Skirt Steak and Shishito Pepper, Inland Cress and Frisée Salad with 2012 Luca Malbec Uco Valley

Was this our best food and wine year, Mrs. Ney? Probably, I say. I missed a few. There's still a couple of vague notions of "Wow, that's good!" meals rumbling around in my brain that I can't specifically remember. Odd there's no goat meal. Just wasn't an amazing goat-wine year.

Total food and wine cost for the week: $185 for food and $229 for wine = $414

Sunday: Smoked Chicken and Sprout Sandwiches with 2014 Alloy Wine Works Grenache Rosé Central Coast

Food Details: Whole Foods packaged smoked chicken slices, mashed avocado, kumatoes, pickled onions, Monterey jack cheese, mayo, and alfalfa-fenugreek sprouts, on Mariano's Italian-style batard bread. Olive oil potato chips.

Did We Like It? A nice batch, wet overall due to the pickled onions but the crusty bread helped a bit. Fine and good Sunday night sandwich-and-chips meal.

How Was The Wine? $8 grenache rosé in the can. We've been over this. House fav.

And The Pairing? But not here. A bit astringent and a tad boring here, probably due to the copious amount of mustard seeds and peppercorns floating around in the sandwiches from end-of-batch pickled onions.

Cost: $30 for food, $16 for wine = $46

Saturday: Argentinian Hanger Steak and Shishito Pepper-Living Cress-Arugula-Blue Cheese Salad with NV La Posta Tinto Red Blend Mendoza

Food Details: (David Beran recipe) A recreation of this meal from September, using hanger instead of skirt. Overnight hanger marinade of basil, thyme, shallot, peppercorn and olive oil. Salad of living cress, arugula, celery and leaves, mint, charred shishito peppers and Rogue Creamery Blue Cheese. Dressing of charred lemon and olive oil. Trader Joe's potato pancakes for starch.

Did We Like It? I don't know what it is about this meal. There's a lively ping-ponging of flavors, mostly lightly bitter and always popping. Just when you want it taken down a notch, here comes the blue cheese to offer creaminess and depth. Brilliant meat marinade. One of the best we've had. I cooked this one. Notes: use the cast-iron. Easy on the dressing.

How Was The Wine? Laura Catena manages five of her family's wineries in Argentina and owns two of her own (Luca and La Posta), all while working as an ER physician in San Francisco. So...yeah...geesh... We had her Luca Malbec with this meal last time, a classy, polished malbec that liked the food enough. Her 2013 La Posta Tinto, a malbec-bonarda-syrah table wine blend, was better as a pairing with this food prep. Smoky herbs and happy fruit, it tastes wildly similar to the unpretentious non-vintage red blends that we love so much, like the Marietta Cellars line. Blackberry bush notes with a touch of cherry that starts to trend sweet, but takes a quick turn to dry at just the right time. A real personality here. We loved it. And will buy more.

And The Pairing? As I said, we really liked the Luca, but it demanded our attention too much and went a bit pear-shaped with the salad. The La Posta Tinto wants one thing. It wants beef-centric food with other food toys to show off how versatile it is. One of the better table-style wines we've had of late. Big thumbs up.

Cost: $32 for food, $14 for wine = $46

Friday: Green Goddess Chicken Panzanella with 2014 Berger Grüner Veltliner Kremstal

Food Details: First, a few notes on lunch. Caviar and crème fraiche on potato chips with pear-celery-hazelnut salad quickly turned into pear-celery-hazelnut salad with potato chips because the caviar was too fishy. Nice salad, but the real winner was finding our new house Champagne - Bollinger Special Cuvée Brut. When trying to find a $50-ish Champagne that simultaneously will bring elegance without breaking the bank, we've gone from Gaston Chiquet to Ayala to Paul Bara to Pierre Peters to just trying just about every $50-ish Champagne out there. Liked them all to a certain degree, went through phases where we drank multiples of each, but Bollinger tasted like "This is what we want right now." Such elegance and grace with this drinking. Egly-Ouriet is 'for the special' so 2016 will probably be a good amount of Bollinger.

The panzanella...was an enormous amount of food! Whole Foods chicken marinated in Ms Clark's green goddess dressing, roasted. Heaping plate of fava, roasted ancient red pepper (seriously, "ancient" is its variety name), charred red onion, arugula, scallions, crushed marcona almonds, Pugliese bread croutoned-up, and more green goddess dressing tossed with all of it.

Did We Like It? Not the best version of panzanella but a damn good one. The fava beans took center stage here, taking everything into a realm of a fava garden-warmness (if that makes sense). Juicy chicken, different flavor combination with each bite, all that you'd want from Food.

How Was The Wine/Pairing? A bit off. Grüner is typically a workhorse with food, but this bottle, while technically fine, seemed a bit tired when drunk by itself and offered the same with the panzanella. Opened a bottle of cheap Trader Joe's La Granja Blanco Rioja and found a surprisingly nice matchy-match with the food, tasting like they were oddly made for each other. Much better than the Berger and not even close.

Cost: $58 for lunch and dinner, $70 for wine = $128  

Thursday: Persian Beef, Barberry Sauce and Buttered Almonds with 2004 La Rioja Alta Viña Ardanza Reserva

Food Details: (Recipe, with beef shank instead of chicken) Last had in April, this is essentially Iranian stew that doesn't resemble any stew we'd ever had before first eating it. Beef shank, tons of marrow, barberries, almonds, cardamom, turmeric, cinnamon, black pepper, rice, snap peas, mint.

Did We Like It? It's perfect stew, because every ingredient constantly bounces off each other in every bite, going deep but staying bright and lively. A wonderful back-and-forth between the dark, deep beef-marrow that played with the spices, then the barberry sauce tart-sour lifty perk. Buttered almonds that calmed all of that down with a huggy-bear nutty finish. It's brilliant stuff.

How Was The Wine? Stupid Spain. You're lovely. And you feel and taste like Home. Fruit remained in the background with this drinking, offering only a roundness and occasional cherry punch. This one was all about the sweet spice, vanilla, cedar, tobacco and Spanish air that makes good, old-style Rioja so great. We took one drink and we were back in Villabuena de Álava.

And The Pairing? This stew is right in our wheelhouse for the wine we like, but the barberries can be tricky. A graceful red with sneaky guts is needed. This one was just that. We loved it.

Cost: $15 for food,  $33 for wine = $48    

Wednesday: Chiarello Chicken Tacos and Jicama Slaw with Argus Cidery Tepache Pineapple Wine

Food Details: Michael Chiarello chicken taco recipe. Basic. Chicken thigh meat slowly simmered in onions, garlic, serranos, both paprikas, cumin, and oregano. Jicama slaw made with herbs, mayo and sour cream. Lime to spritz. Hot sauce to douse. As basic and minimalist as great tacos get.

Did We Like It? After having these, this quickly jumped right to the top of our "I want tacos that are easy and cheap, but delicious" list. We have mostly everything to make these tacos on hand at all times. The juice alone I'd drink. Loved it.

How Was The Wine? Pineapple wine made in Texas. We're fans, ever since having it at Minero in Charleston. Spicy grilled pineapple in a bottle. Frothy, almost beer-like but never all the way there. It demands you to pay attention to it in the best way.

And The Pairing? Here's a meal that settles things. No much futzing about with various fancy sangrias with tacos for us. Chill and drink this. It's everything you want-need from a taco-pairing beverage.

Cost: $16 for food, $16 for wine = $32

Tuesday: Ottolenghi Tuna and Blood Orange-Black Olive Salad with NV Philippe Glavier Rose Idylle Celeste Champagne

Food Details: (tuna recipe) Half-pound of Whole Foods tuna oiled, seasoned, seared, chilled, coated in mustard and ground pistachios and blood orange zest, chilled, sliced. Charred fennel and shallots, blood orange supremes, nicoise olives, raw mustard greens. pink peppercorns, fennel fronds and pistachio oil on top.

Did We Like It? We have a bit of a thing for blood oranges and black olives with rare tuna. Typically, Mrs. Ney studs it heavily with various shades of peppercorns, cardamom and ginger. This meal was a switch-up, looking to Mr. Ottolenghi for a different tuna prep. We liked it muchly, digging the mustard and pistachio goodness that got deep into the tuna. But it wasn't the superlative love we find from white-pink-black peppercorns, coriander, cumin, cardamom, ginger and fleur de sel. Nice change of pace, though. This meal had everything anybody would ever want from "Flavor."

How Was The Wine? Roasted carrots and curried-up watermelon rind. You read that right. That was the biggest, most clear impression we got from it. For $50, meh.

And The Pairing? Didn't love it, didn't hate it. Like stadium popcorn, "It's neutral!"

Cost: $22 for food, $50 for wine = $72  

Monday: Anne Burrell Chicken Milanese with 2014 Matthiasson Tendu White California 

Food Details: Recipe here. Make it, eat it, and you'll make it 200 more times throughout the course of your life. It's that good.

Did We Like It? Top-third of all the Anne Burrell Milaneses we've had. Not the best, but a very strong version. This meal just has that extra something that makes you say, "THAT's perfectly balanced food!"

How Was The Wine? We haven't loved the 2014 version of the Tendu White, feeling that the chardonnay toned down the spritely bounce that the 2013 offered. Mr. Matthiasson said the vermentino - which is the vast majority of the three-grape makeup here, along with French colombard - didn't have the requisite acidity to go 100% vermentino in 2014. But this drinking was adequate. While still not getting as much distinction as the 2013 had, nice acid-vague fruit back-and-forth to be happy enough.

And The Pairing? Fine. Frankly better than I expected.

Cost: $12 for food, $30 for wine = $42

#227 - Dry-Aged Filet And Potato Cakes With '05 Clos Apalta

Anniversary Dinner!  Number Seven.

Crap.  Now I have the Grizzly Adams theme song in my head.

With a sick dog, we didn't have the option to celebrate the occasion out on the town, but last night we got flavors that didn't taste like home flavors, so mission accomplished in many ways.

A carménère/cabernet blend is not home flavors (or 'out' flavors either).

A roasted vegetable chimichurri.  Not home flavors.

A zucchini/carrot veg medley.  Not home flavors.

The whole meal didn't taste like home and we liked it.

Don't need it again but we liked it.

Food:  21 day dry-aged beef filet, potato cakes and zucchini/carrot medley with chimichurri

365 Days Of Food And Wine: Week #26

Mrs. Ney is sick. So we kept it simple this week. And cheaper.

Sicario = Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation > Star Wars: The Force Awakens.

I say that because it's true. The second half of Star Wars is a freakin' mess. I wanted to loop the Benny Hill soundtrack over every move the First Order made. And I understand the use of nostalgia here, but laying it on a lil thick, don't ya think?

I'm not saying Sicario or MI are great films, but at least they took the time and care to give a coherent storyline and had an attention to detail.

*** Half-Year (26 week) Summary: $3542 for food, $4065 for wine = $7607 ***

Total food and wine cost for the week: $111 for food and $82 for wine = $193

Sunday: Charred Onions and Yogurt with 2014 Terrasse du Moulinas Blanc Elégance Languedoc-Roussillon

Food Details: Shallots/onions, charred, dressed with sumac-y vinaigrette with bits of perserved lemon. Big slather of labneh on the plate, shallots/onions on top. Arugula salad with pomegranate seeds on the side. Whole Foods Ancient Grains bread to serve as a base for all of that. Rip, top, eat, repeat.

Did We Like It? Have since the first time we had it, this time going meatless, something that's been happening with more frequency because this meal doesn't need meat in the least.

How Was The Wine? Another love since the first time we had it. Grenache blanc, vermentino, chardonnay, sauvignon blanc. One liter, $10, Whole Foods. This is the best it's shown. Barely any fruit, more of a whiff of an nearby orchard mixed with European country well water. Terrific, graceful cut and bite. Three-act play that tasted like a house wine at some great little restaurant on a European vacation.

And The Pairing? There's technical pairing perfection that can feel a little clinical in its analysis. But there's another level where the food and wine together taste like some part of your history, something down deep that hits you just right and reminds you of vague happy/peaceful moments. This had that, in all its puke-inducing, schmaltzy-ness.

Cost: $10 for food, $10 for wine = $20

Saturday: Sopa Seca with 2011 Trader Joe's Syrah Paso Robles

Food Details: (From Cook's Illustrated's Cover and Bake, page 49-50). Thin spaghetti, black beans, onion, garlic, cumin, tomatoes, chipotle, chicken broth, Monterey Jack cheese, cilantro and sour cream.

Did We Like It? More nostalgic food. It's been years since we had this. STILL GOOD!

How Was The Wine? A wine that's been in the fridge for a month (Preserva disk)! Surprisingly full, flavorful and complete. Thicker, but not unpleasantly. Nice black fruits, smooth finish; a wine completely salvaged from being dumped.

And The Pairing? Happy. It's sopa seca. You're not going to find pairing magic here. Hope for happy, be thankful when you find it. Like here.

Cost: $5 for food, $10 for wine = $15

Friday: Savory Potato Tart with 2011 Kuentz-Bas Alsace Blanc

Food Details: (NYT Cooking recipe) Thinly sliced potatoes mixed with leeks, crème fraiche, garlic, thyme, nutmeg, s & p. Placed in a pie crust, topped with more crust like a pie. Baked. Herb salad on the side.

Did We Like It? I say this every time we have it, which it often, because it's perfect food: easy French bistro food at its best. We need no more than this most nights.

How Was The Wine? Kermit Lynch import (60% sylvaner, 20% auxerrois, 20% muscat). This bottle's been sitting around for a bit, needing to be drunk. Herbs and dryness from the sylvaner, dried honey from the auxerrois, touch of peach buried down low from the muscat. Some gray hairs showing here in the form of walking into a slightly musty basement, but a fruity acid that was still present. Light-bodied, pleasant bounce.

And The Pairing? Nice. I used fennel vinegar on the salad and the wine became a fully-formed, food-friendly, lovely drinker.

Cost: $10 for food, $12 for wine = $22  

Thursday: Spanishy Sausage-Artichoke-Kale-Polenta with 2014 Rosa dell'Olmo Gavi Piedmont

Food Details: (Martha Stewart recipe) Very simple plate o' food consisting of sausage, kale, artichokes, onions, rosemary and crisped up polenta cakes, with the addition of paprika to Spanishify it.

Did We Like It? This aged well. I look back on it with food fondness, having that "Here's a bunch a stuff you like. Eat it." And cost $5.

How Was The Wine? Trader Joe's Gavi done well. Dry, crisp, lightly floral, peaches, medium-bodied. A dryness resembling the air of a freshly cut 2x4.

And The Pairing? Fine enough. No comments.

Cost: $5 for food, $8 for wine = $13

Wednesday: Hema's Kitchen with 2013 Crios Torrontés Mendoza and NV Trader Joe's Brut North Coast

Food Details: Carryout of chicken vindaloo, ghosh rogan josh, veggie samosa and three types of naan. Forgot to get raita. Idiot.

Did We Like It? Hema's, when I first had it about 7-8 years ago, was an Indian food revelation. Just loved the poop out of it. It's been less great in recent years, missing on going deep and fresh with about 40,000 different flavors jumping everywhere like it used to. Feels like they're made ahead and reheated. More of a taste memory now than true-blue food wonder.

How Was The Wine/Pairing? When we ate Hema's a lot in the past, Crios and some Trader Joe's sparkling (Albero) was the only play, because they fulfilled everything you'd need with this food. Bubbles for lift and the creation of gaps, flowers in the Crios for 'The Pretty.' Echoes of that here, but we gave up on the Crios rather quick and downed the bubbles.

Cost: $50 for food, $24 for wine = $74  

Tuesday: Smoked Trout and Salami Pasta Salad with 2014 Cuvée Azan Picpoul de Pinet Languedoc and 2014 Berger Grüner Veltliner Kremstal

Food Details: From The New Basics Cookbook; One If By Land Pasta (page 143). This pasta salad tastes EXACTLY like 2004, as this was a fairly frequent dinner right after we moved to Chicago (mainly because Mrs. Ney could find the cervelat sausage/salami in Chicago that the recipe called for). Fusilli pasta mixed with smoked trout, spicy salami, shishito peppers, onion, dill, parsley, salt, pepper, crème fraiche, olive oil and white wine vinegar.

Did We Like It? Old School pasta salad from an Old School cookbook that never gets old.

How Was The Wine/Pairing? Our last bottle of the picpoul, which is sad. It's a favorite. Nothing special here with both wines and their pairing goodness. The leftover grüner from earlier in the week won out, but both didn't offer much.

Cost: $13 for food, $8 for wine = $21

Monday: Lamb Sausages, Fried Cauliflower and Arugula Salad with NV Trader Joe's Brut Rosé Sonoma County

Food Details: Fried cauliflower (Solomonov recipe), Paulina lamb sausages, herbed labneh for dipping and dragging, and arugula salad with pomegranate seeds to finish.

Did We Like It? Interesting one-off with the cauliflower. Don't see us making it again, because this cauliflower is better. Texture here was fine, but it misses on going deeper than merely "here is fried cauliflower." Good lamb sausages, nice to have the yogurt here, as the cauliflower needed it. A fine and good dinner.

How Was The Wine? Sick Mrs. Ney so we kept it cheap. Solid $10 Trader Joe's sparkler, a pinot noir and pinot meunier blend, so Blanc de Noirs done in the Champagne method from Sonoma County. Less fruit, more dry frame with a bit of funk.

And The Pairing? Nice swirl of bright cherry on occasion, but very rare. This food needed a fuller fruit expression to the wine to offer more to the food and it didn't have it here. There's not enough second or tertiary flavors to these bubbles to take this pairing to a broader, fuller place without more fruit showing up to the party.

Cost: $18 for food, $10 for wine = $28