#119 - Chicken Thighs And Skordalia With Two American Albariños

Two American albariños with Greek-style chicken and Turkish-inspired salad (on Polish plates with Austrian wine glasses all served on a $5 coffee table from Iowa. I can keep going...).

We accidentally went global because the soft flavors from the night before warranted it.

We wanted Flavors and we got it.

Food: Chicken thighs with skordalia and tomato salad

Chicken thighs simply roasted in the cast iron skillet and put over a big, mushy pile of skordalia.

A change-up from the previous preparation, this time using up the bread in the kitchen in place of potatoes. Almonds, bread, garlic, lemon, extra virgin olive oil and lemon juice blended into a purée that on first taste, I thought it was a modified hummus. Great garlic punch here with a smoothness and non-dairy creaminess that coated every inch of my mouth.

Chicken thighs that served more as an vehicle for the skordalia. Together, the skordalia dominated but that's exactly what we wanted.

The entire meal came down to the beautiful garlic hit and smoothness of the purée and the contrasting acid bath from the tomato salad.

I heart this tomato salad with every fiber of my being. Tastes like mowing the lawn on a 90 degree day and then drinking a tall glass of ice-cold water. Insanely fresh, this time done without the pomegranate seeds usually incorporated to pair up with red wine (usually Mas de Maha). Cherry tomatoes, oregano, parsley, mint, red onion, thyme, lemon juice, peppers, paprika, garlic, salt and pepper. Mixed and left to sit for a bit to marry. Wakes up every possible taste bud in your mouth and we need to have it more often.

It felt like getting back on the horse in many ways. After having some largely uninspired food in Portugal and slogging through post-vacation ennui, it was an entirely welcome food night.

And the wine helped.

Wine: 2008 Bonny Doon Ca' Del Solo Albariño ($18 - Randolph Wine Cellars) & 2008 Abacela Albariño ($18 - Binny's)

Ca' Del Solo from Monterey County in California. Abacela from the Umpqua Valley in southern Oregon.

Bonny Doon's an interesting story. Their vines were destroyed by Pierce's disease in 1994 and they took that as an opportunity to get out of the big production world and into small production, terroir-driven wines. Now, they grow a ton of Rhône varieties along with a flurry of boutiquey-style grapes.

This one is 75% albariño, 21% loureiro and 4% treixadura, all grapes primarily grown both in Galicia in Spain and Vinho Verde in Portugal. It's also biodynamically-grown.

Minerals dominate with a precursor to a banana creaminess. Refined and understated citrus notes with some grapefruit, touch of melon, flowers and maybe even grass that made it wander into a sauvignon blanc realm for a time. Crisp but not over-the-top with a nice underlying acid in balance with everything else. Jumped around, vacillating between the different fruit notes yet still retaining its base of cream/slight butter/hint of oil base. Got better as it came up in temperature.

Not bursting with personality but in a good way. Light. Would be a good afternoon drinker on its own. The price makes it difficult for that, though.

The 2008 Abacela seems to be falling apart but drank well enough to enjoy moments. Clunky limeade, some nice melon tones and flat club soda notes with a wacky acidic edge that blew right past quenching and settled into tart and unwieldy for sips. Hasn't seemingly aged well in a very short time but some elements present in the initial bottle that we loved of this one showed up to the party with a bowl of fresh citrus showing best very cold in the glass. When very young, the Abacela exhibits a quirky citrus-pear-apple-creamy nut-crispy goodness that demands we follow it and we do (and will).

Pairing: 87 Mixed, largely welcome bag with the food

As the Bonny Doon came up in temperature, it enhanced all the separate flavors in the skordalia and chicken quite nicely. Tasted more of everything. The Abacela also had its base hits with its lime-lemon notes blending right into the Greeky purée just fine at times.

The tomato salad was predictably a land mine, though. Served best with the Bonny Doon more as a basic food-wine accompaniment but it had the guts to hang with the acid in the tomatoes and keep the basic elements of itself, though it was kind of spectacular with a big oregano bite. The Acabela hollowed out, finishing with something that resembled inhaling a cleanser vapor.

The 2008 Abacela seems to be hanging on for dear life but still occasionally told some funny stories. The 2008 Ca' Del Solo reminded me of the Do Ferreiro in some ways. Nice, light, refined, tasty but not exactly what we want from albariño. All that said, though, we liked what happened last night.

It had Flavors with enough complexity and nuance in the wine to enjoy everything that was happening.

Birthday Week

While half the customers in the place resemble a Match.com commercial, Tanta, a Peruvian vittles, wine and cocktails restaurant downtown, has the pleasant aspect of not feeling like anything in Chicago. The rooftop bar feels like Spain and the restaurant feels eerily Californian in scope, minimalism, pop and chatter. Get anything ceviche-related, don't get the beef cheeks. Get the cocktails, don't look at other customers  - they're looking around enough for both of you. Eat the plantain chips, make sure your servers and bussers don't take away things that aren't finished. We went to Mr. Gastón Arcía's restaurant in Madrid and liked it muchly. Very similar punch here. We'd go again, which is saying something in our restaurant visits of late. Best thing: the rooftop opens at 3pm, has a full drink menu and enough lil noshes to make it a meal. That's probably our next play, should we return.

This week's food:

#104 - Grilled Chicken Thigh & Skordalia With A Ribera Cava

An excursion to Wine Discount Center that was supposed to be a "we're not buying a ton of wine!" trip turned into the exact opposite.

We went to get the wine chronicled today but we couldn't turn down the 2006 Királyudvar reduced to $7 (!). Finding the big brother of Domaine des Pallières "Les Racines" didn't hurt either along with one of Jean-Phillipe Fichet's wines just sitting there, begging to be bought.

It was like reviewing and expanding on wines we very recently drunk and loved. Good trip. Not cheap...but good trip.

Food: Marinated and grilled boneless chicken thighs, skordalia, mâche salad with pomegranate seeds and baguette

Boneless chicken thighs marinated in lemon juice, extra virgin olive oil, oregano, dry white wine, garlic, onion and black pepper, then grilled.

Eerily good. It was just chicken thighs but a great and plentiful char mixed with a generous garlic/onion juiciness made it a "why is this so good?" protein night.

The skordalia was just as good. Lighter than we thought it would be when thinking about what is essentially a potato purée. 1/2 lb. of potatoes, boiled and peeled and blended with almonds, breadcrumbs, garlic, lemon, extra virgin olive oil and lemon juice. Great Greek-style Goodness.

A mâche and parsley salad undressed with pomegranate seeds to clean and lighten things up.

I would have thought this might have ended up feeling like a heavier meal but it wasn't even close. We wiped everything up - all the plentifully prepared chicken and skordalia - and still felt clean and good after the meal. Some of it might have had to do the lemon juice in both main components along with the pomegranate seeds bringing some acid to give everything some lift.

And some of it have to do with bringing some bubbles to the table.

Wine: NV Peñalba López Finca Torremilanos Cava Brut Nature ($14 - WDC)

Grape: Blend of Viura and white Tempranillo

Region: Ribera Del Duero

I've never heard of a Ribera Cava, you? And we couldn't turn down our curiosity for $14.

Straw-colored in the glass, huge green apple peel on the nose that followed through on the palate but mixed beautifully with a pleasing yeasty character that didn't stand up and pronounce its presence like some sparklers. A very distinctive note of peach pit or unsalted sunflower seeds played in the background in a great way and something that made us kind of love it. Very dry and crisp with a short finish, which was our only complaint, making us feel like it was 3/4 of the way from being something that could have contended with a good Champagne. It's $14. Not as good as the Raventós i Blanc "L'Hereu Reserva" Brut Cava for $18 but it's a crowd pleaser on the cheap from a region not known for sparklers at all.

And infinitely better than some of the off-region Italian sparklers we've tried recently. Just much better composed.

Pairing: 92 An example of the wine playing an integral role in balancing the meal

We had a Muscadet in the fridge ready to go. A Muscadet isn't something thought of as a wine that makes a meal heavier in the least, but that could have been the case with this meal if we drank that instead.

It needed the bubbles.

With a potato purée and copious amounts of chicken pieces, the Ribera Cava took everything on the plate and made sure it accented all the brighter notes in the preparation and minimize any heaviness present in the food.

I just don't think a still wine, even a Muscadet, could have done that.

Probably best with the chicken, providing a nice balance with the garlic-onion-lemon juice marinade, making it taste light and savory. It lifted the skordalia, taking a potato purée and making it taste like a light brandade without the fish. Oddly, it was freakin' delicious with the pomegranate seeds, causing the wine to taste like a Blanc de Noirs in many ways and opening up an unexpected and great flavor component towards the end of the meal.

Mostly though, about halfway through the meal, it was when we paused during the meal and took a break for a minute of two and realize the wonderful taste that was marinating in our mouth and throat. It was light but substantial, chockablock with flavors going everywhere but still, and oddly, beautifully balanced.

And the entire meal probably cost $25.

A quick note on another meal. We had a "clean out the fridge" stew-type concoction of leftover chicken, linguiça, tomatoes, garlic, onions, figs, pistachios, paprika, olives and some other refrigerator components served with dipping bread that turned out delicious and tasted like a fancy sloppy Joe. Eaten with a 2005 Alonso del Yerro Ribera Del Duero ($25 (?) - WDC). Showed tons of blackberry, dark cherry and grilled meat notes with a stewed fruit element from the age of the wine. Had to drink it because it was at the closing of its drinking window. Some nice moments, perfectly fine with the food and seemed to get a bit better with some time open, turning into something very representative of what's good about Ribera with some nice wild dark berry fruit but not anything special.

#149 - Bittman Chicken, Skordalia & Pea Shoot Salad With An 8 Year-Old Muscadet

I've had a tough time figuring out if the 2002 Muscadet drank last night is, in fact, Michel Brégeon's Reserve. The company I bought it from assured me it was, saying it was the only one Kermit Lynch imported when they bought it.

Doesn't say it on the bottle (exact picture to the right) but it was worth a shot given both the regular bottling and the reserve each spent seven years (!) on its lees before being put in the bottle.

And Kermit Lynch said it was the best Muscadet he's ever had.

And it was an eight-year-old Muscadet for $25.

And while we've only had about ten different labels of Muscadet, we just love the snot out of it.

And this one, of those ten, is the best one I've ever had.

Food: Chicken under a brick, skordalia with pita for dipping and a pea shoot salad

A Mark Bittman instruction of cooking chicken taken from Italy and one of the quicker chicken preparations for the quality out there. Alter the herbs and rubs as you like. Mrs. Ney did and does.

Used this recipe with the touch of brightness and lift coming from the use of one lemon to tie into the wine. Juicy chicken, tasty skin, fine stuff. Used six boneless thighs instead of a whole chicken.

Skordalia (see recipe above) turned into a favorite in this house about a year ago and become one of those entrée accompaniments that slide so beautifully into the Muscadet/Albariño/Greek white/better bubbly vein. Fits like a glove. This one without breadcrumbs (gluten and dairy free!), subbing boiled and peeled potatoes and using roasted garlic instead of raw. Tasted like Eastern European hummus in a great way.

Pea shoot salad to finish with sliced cucumber, gaeta olives, scallions, mint, parsley and dressed with lemon zest, white balsamic vinegar, and extra virgin olive oil.

Enjoyed everything immensely but worried about some of the elements overpowering the wine.

In the end, no problems at all.

Wine: 2002 Michel Brégeon Muscadet Sèvre-et-Maine Sur Lie Reserve ($25 - SFWTC)

Probably the most balanced crisp white I've ever had. Light but substantial. Complex yet quick to transition. Stony as all get out but developed in the most pure way. If I were rich, THIS would be my ideal spring-summer drinker and I would never get sick of it. Just so pretty, graceful, welcoming and stupid good.

Typical Muscadet melon and citrus notes with bright fresh acid intermingled with a white grapefruit note, all of it light, graceful and sparkly. Wet stones in the middle with a subtle yeasty note and finished with the lightest spring rainwater coda that refreshed, cleansed the palate and left me wanting more...quickly.

Eight years old and it tasted like it was made yesterday. Beautifully put together and, as I said, the best Muscadet I've ever had in my rather limited Muscadet life. I'll up it. It's the best light, crisp white I've ever had with only a couple of Heredias, a Hüet and maybe a Champagne or two beating it in the all-around white category.

Pairing: 90 One of those pairings where "absolutely no problems" made it that much better

Worried about the pairing a bit but the shockingly youthful acid in the wine quelled those fears; the wine and the food remained their delicious selves. Enhancement? A bit here and there. The wine accented the olive oil in the skordalia nicely, like when you have good hummus made with good olive oil and the purity of the olive oil jumps out at you. Nice bridge with the lemon in the chicken and the wine that changed course and brought out the white grapefruit mingling around in the wet stone core of the wine.

Overall, it was only subtle touches here and there in the pairing. Cracked a 2007 Domaine Saint Martin Muscadet ($15 - Binny's) to finish the meal and drink with the salad and some of the green elements in that wine played with the salad in more direct, pleasing ways than with what we got from the Brégeon but the Brégeon's grace and subtlety was a one-of-a-kind in our world.

I want two cases of the Brégeon. It's one of those wines that will become a benchmark for me.

A quick note: Mahi mahi tacos with jalapeño sour cream, Mexican slaw and guacamole served with purple corn sangria (recipe here) a few days ago. I've written about this a few times before (go to the January entry for a full description). Probably a top five meal. A couple of notes. We've found that following the sangria recipe to the letter and using a quality sauvignon blanc is essential (Kim Crawford is ideal in our world). More money but entirely worth the bones. Don't get "look at me!" creative. Recipes are out there for a reason.

365 Days Of Food And Wine: Week #28

Going cheap and cleaning out the freezer this week, as a D'Artagnan shipment is on the way.

Some numbers:

26 days until pitchers and catchers report.

73 days until Opening Day

These are the most important numbers in the world right now.

Total food and wine cost for the week: $166 for food and $128 for wine = $294

Total food and wine cost for the month: $547 for food and $514 for wine = $1061

Sunday: Calzone-y Things with 2013 Palmina Sparkling Barbera Santa Barbara

Food Details: Kale, ricotta, sausage and other things, baked in freezer dough shaped into a log-like, calzone-y style shape. Marinara on the side to dip, top and dunk.

Did We Like It? Tasted like Italian Sunday Supper. Comforting, tasty, and entirely welcome.

How Was The Wine? Same. Comforting mixture of blue/black fruits, touch of licorice, some background spice. Not a lot of any of that. This was more along the lines of a friendly, slightly bubbly, red wine drink and we very much liked every second of it.

And The Pairing? Happy. Nothing wrong here. Italian-American homemade food, unpretentious wine that simply wants to be liked...we don't need much more than that on a Sunday.

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

Saturday: Pan Bagnat with 2014 La Granja Blanco Rioja

Food Details: (recipe) Ciabatta loaf filled with kumatoes, red peppers, marinated artichokes, capers, Greek olives, onions, basil and As do Mar jarred tuna. Drizzled with red wine vinegar, olive oil, salt and pepper. Entire loaf smushed flat. Whole Foods olive oil chips.

Did We Like It? Oh, my, oui! This one much more filled with southern Frenchy pan bagnat goodness than the last incarnation. Mrs. Ney had a French sandwich, Spanish wine and German film combo for dinner and loved it! I paired mine with yet another unfunny viewing on an SNL episode.

How Was The Wine? Tastes like vacation on the cheap. White Spanish wine, a verdejo and viura blend, with crispness, dryness and creaminess; lightly floral, lightly citrusy...$5 wine done well. Guzzle-able.

And The Pairing? Enough acid here to stand up to the briny notes, then break open the wine's Spanish air deliciousness. It's $5, so nothing in the way of fancy, but it has a real place in this house.

Cost: $16 for food, $5 for wine = $21

Friday: Freezer Shepherd's Pie with 2015 Viñas Chileans Reserva Rosé Valle Central

Food Details: Barberry beef, harissa goat and jerk goat combined in typical shepherd's pie prep; celery root and skordalia with feta topping.

Did We Like It? Big D'Artagnan order coming, so it's clean-out-the-freezer shepherd's pie. This could have been weird. It wasn't. Wasn't in the least. Very good, proper shepherd's pie flavors that had a happy balance. The feta really brightened things up. Big winner.

How Was The Wine? $4. Cab-syrah. Rosé. Chile. It's $4-ness is quickly making this wine our house rosé when we don't want to get spendy.

And The Pairing? Just fine. No complaints.

Cost: $2 for food, $4 for wine = $6  

Thursday: Chicken Salad, Arugula and Crostini with 2014 VinTJ's Vermentino Sonoma County

Food Details: Old School chicken salad with dill and tarragon, toasted up homemade baguette, arugula salad. Bread + chicken salad + arugula on top = happiness.

Did We Like It? Nothing fancy here, just a simple chicken salad dinner that brought all of the ingredients to a party that led to a weirdly satisfying dinner.

How Was The Wine? Some lime notes with a wee touch of minerality and herbs. Simple vermentino, nothing special in the least, but for $8, a decent little wine when you want/need a modicum of citrusy snap to perk up and weave into the food.

And The Pairing? The wine helped make it weirdly satisfying, mostly because of the wine fails lately. There was enough here in the way of cleanse/refresh to offer some solid pairing goodness, even if this wine isn't...the best.

Cost: $6 for food, $8 for wine = $14

Wednesday: Baby Shower and Cacio e Pepe

Note: Mrs. Ney attended a baby shower. I made cacio e pepe. No wine, though Mrs. Ney says the baby shower could have used it.

Tuesday: Greek Chicken, Skordalia and Pickled Vegetables with 2014 Burgans Albariño Rías Baixas and 2014 Kozlovic Malvazija Croatia

Food Details: Greeked-up chicken thighs (lemon juice, extra virgin olive oil, oregano, dry white wine, garlic, onion and black pepper), potato skordalia and Solomonov pickled vegetables over arugula, with pita to rip, top, dip and eat.

Did We Like It? A very fine version of a house staple. The pickled veggies tasted like 'a thing.' And a thing we'll be having again. Great subtle tang to them. And the food vastly outdid the wine.

How Was The Wine? Both of us found nothing good to say about either of them. Cheaper albariño and Croatian malvasia here. Both tasted like a Cliff Notes version of their respective grapes. Nothing to see here. Move along.

And The Pairing? Well...it wasn't hate-able.

Cost: $13 for food, $34 for wine = $47

Monday: Bistro Campagne with 2004 Ducru Beaucaillou Saint-Julien

Food Details: Brandade croquettes to start, two orders of hanger steak frites as entrée.

Did We Like It? This is becoming our default restaurant for anytime we "want to go out." Pleasant croquettes that we'd order again. But this place is about the hanger steak and fries with sides of aioli for fry-dippin'. It's a big plate of utterly satisfying food.

How Was The Wine? And one of the reasons we like Bistro Campagne so much, along with a great steak frites, is a low corkage fee of $15. We can bring a more spendy wine, drink wines sitting around in the house that Mrs. Ney doesn't really want to cater-cook to-for, and enjoy with food like this steak frites that works with them. As it was with this one. I got this 2004 Ducru for a patently ridiculous $45 from Binny's years ago (it's about $120 right now around the interwebs). Decanted at the restaurant and it moved along quite nicely after 30 minutes in. Very medium-bodied, tons of fancy cigar on the nose, pleasant red-black currant fruit blend on the tongue, touch of cedar, somewhat short-ish finish, but very pleasant overall. Could have used a couple more years, maybe, as it was a bit shy/reticent at times.

And The Pairing? A very solid use for this wine. The meal had that languid, pokey feel and the wine helped in that endeavor, as we discussed the rental apartment we just went to see and listened to the gentleman next to us explain to the waitress that he likes big portions and is allergic to everything.

Cost: $115 for food, $45 for wine = $160    

#131 - Harissa-Marinated Skirt Steak & Yuca Fries With '07 Santa Ema Merlot

Alrighty.

Last night's wine didn't really taste like wine.

Very little tannin, very little depth, didn't change much and was a bit of a one-trick pony.

It was more like a wine-type beverage.

And we were TOTALLY okay with that.

Food: Harissa-marinated skirt steak, chimichurri, yuca fries with whiskey piri-piri mayo for dipping and an arugula-pomegranate seed salad

Planned for Tuesday, it happened Wednesday because of what happened in the note below (ordered pizza).

Medium to medium-rare skirt steak marinated for two days in harissa paste (hot chilies, garlic, salt, etc.). Good meat. Solid meat. The two-day marinade may have took some of the verve away from its skirt steakiness but it was tasty and welcome nonetheless.

Yuca fries (house favorite) makes any meal, this time with a whiskey-piri piri mayo that left a perfect hint of whiskey and heat that didn't overwhelm.

An arugula and pomegranate seed salad with a chimichurri drizzle to top it off.

Tasted South American good with a little more finesse; one of those meals that falls into the world of 'just good food.'

So meat marinade from the Maghreb and yuca and chimichurri from the Southern Hemisphere. Wine?

Quinta do Vale Meão Meandro was in the discussion. Zinfandel? Wine Spectator's inexplicable and continued love affair with Schild Shiraz was revealed again this week (the 2008 is #7 on the 2010 top 100 list) and we still have the '04 and '05 hanging around.

But...South American flavors and South American wine worked in the past (particularly here and here) and we had a cheapie with a bit of a buzz around it.

Wine: 2007 Santa Ema Maipo Valley Reserve ($11 - WDC)

If blueberry Whoppers existed, that's exactly what this wine tasted like.

All malted milk and milk chocolate with a swirl of blueberry juice, a touch of vanilla that became much more pronounced as the bottle opened up, a touch of cherry, a bit of pepper, some sage and more blueberry Whoppers.

Mostly, the milk chocolate note showed right away and quickly dissipated, transforming into what milk chocolate offers in the way of texture, turning into all malted milk with a ton of vanilla extract in the flavor profile with black pepper and a very secondary cherry note popping up now and then along with sage kicking up towards the end of the meal.

Sure, it was one note, very simple and bordering on weird. But we had absolutely no complaints.

Reminded me of the Flor de Crasto and its Mounds bar domination, the Bogle Merlot that's basically sage milk and the Montes Alpha that was all BBQ sauce - cheap wines that are great one-offs that shouldn't be thought about or critiqued too much. Just drink it and enjoy the wine-type beverage-ness.

Pairing: 88 Like a CSI: episode. Enjoyed it for exactly what it was

Nothing fancy. Nothing trying to be more than it was or could be. Nothing clashed.

Parker gave the wine a 90 and the estate put that on the bottle neck. To that, we say, "you go, girl." It's ten freakin' bucks and Parker throws that in your lap? Use it and abuse it.

For $10, I'd buy more for meals similar to this - food where we're sorta indifferent about the wine pairing (mostly anything would have been fine enough) and food where we just want a little meat and whole lotta yuca with mayo.

A quick note: Monday's Greek feast deserved a big write-up but frankly, it would have been long and frankly (who's Frank?) after the third bottle, the details began to get blurry w/r/t the intimate pairing details. Had a former co-worker over and the wine did flow.

Food: Yellow split pea dip with pita bread, spicy marinated cerignola and Castelvetrano olives and spiced pumpkin seeds to start. Chicken and skordalia with artichokes and fava beans for the entrée. Ouzo-lemon tiramisu for dessert.

Wine: 2006 Raventos I Blanc "L'Hereu Reserva" Brut Cava ($18 - Binny's), 2009 Skouras Moschofilero ($14 - WDC), 2009 Flor de Crasto Branco ($15 - Binny's), 2008 Valtea Albariño Rias Baixas ($17 - Binny's) and homemade Limoncello

All of us couldn't have loved the food more, particularly the yellow split pea dip, which we gorged ourselves on, leaving us full before the great chicken and skordalia, which drew the short stick on being able to fully enjoy it. Tiramisu = yes, please. I don't love tiramisu but this is some good tiramisu.

The wines played their role. Raventos Brut Cava is a favorite, this one a touch less vibrant than previous drinkings but still pretty. The Skouras showed more bitter lemon peel this time around and less depth. Good enough but forgettable. The Flor de Crasto Branco was ALL Portugal with a kaleidoscope of melon, green fruits and wet stones. Mrs. Ney freakin' Loved it. The Valtea Albariño was my favorite with a finer minerality and subtle citrus edge.

Fun food night with good company.

365 Days Of Food And Wine: Week #4

Ever buy tickets to a show a couple of months in advance and think at the time, "That will be fun. Dinner and show downtown during the summer. It'll be a nice night out." 

Then the show begins to approach, and slowly you begin to think, "Why are we going to see this person. He's fine and all, but...did we really just PAY money to see this person?" 

That'll happen this week. We'll see. 

Update: Completely fun show. A professional, veteran comic that knows how to entertain. 

Total food and wine cost for the week: $89 for food and $110 for wine = $199

Total food and wine cost for the month: $361 for food and $555 for wine = $916


Sunday: Big Greek Salad with 2014 Sigalas Assyrtiko Santorini

Food Details: Greeky salad of kumatoes, kalamata olives, onions, green pepper, corn, salami, feta, dill and oregano, over arugula, dressed with white wine vinegar (red for Mrs. Ney - a mistake, she said, with the wine), olive oil, salt and pepper. Buttered mini-ciabatta buns on the side. "A Big Salad….it's a salad, only bigger, with lots of stuff in it ..."

Did We Like It? Both of us worked hard this Sunday. A Big Greek Salad helps in forgetting the bad parts of most of that hard work, leaving, "Yeah. That sucked. But look what in front of me on the plate! It's a Big Greek Salad! I need nothing more right now."

How Was The Wine? We loved the 2014 with fried haloumi, skordalia, pita, and tomato-fennel salad in May. Pretty minerals and acid with wonderful length and gaps. Less so this time.

And The Pairing? It had the acid we wanted overall with the food, but became a little clipped and moody with the red wine vinegar for Mrs. Ney and the green pepper for me. Not everything we wanted in terms of pairing paradise, but still the kind of meal where you pause halfway through, lean back like Costanza's girlfriend after the risotto, and relish in the goodness.

Cost: $9 for food, $22 for wine = $31


Saturday: Dirty Rice with 2013 Michel Léon Vin D'Alsace Gewürztraminer 

Source: Recipe here, from Susan Spicer via Food & Wine, recipe halved.

Food Details: Andouille chicken sausages, wild rice, mirepoix, chicken stock, herbs, ground pork, chicken livers, chopped scallions on top, habanero hot sauce added. It's a big, honkin' bowl of rice chockablock with meaty, herby, Cajun flavors.

Did We Like It? Always do. It's strangely deep and dirty, while being simultaneously clean. Probably have it four times a year. Rotation food that pops up when the crave hits.

How Was The Wine? It's $10 gewürztraminer, sold at Trader Joe's, that's better than any we've had in this price range, and even a bit above. We don't particularly like gewürztraminer, mostly because they can be more hit-and-miss than other grapes we like (i.e. - we don't take a chance on a random gewürztraminer in a store just for funnsies. We gotta know if it's going to be good).  But it picks up spice, herbs and heat well. Get one with a nice sweetness and acidity play and it can elevate itself to something quite nice with the right food. Michel Leon is our default gewürztraminer because it always delivers. Its shimmering and bouncy acid lifts the lychee and grapefruit notes to something that tastes elevated and sprite-like. As it did here with heat, herbs and Cajun accents here.

And The Pairing? The wine was a great refresher, countering everything in the bowl quite well, particularly with the excess hot sauce I dumped on top. WHEW! That was HOT for the few first bites!

Cost: $9 for food, $10 for wine = $19
      

Friday: Chicken Parmesan and Garlic Bread with 2012 Trader Joe's Barbera Mendocino County

Food Details: Chicken breasts, breaded, fried. Mozzarella from Monday and tomato sauce dumped on top, then baked off. Basil on top. Pugliese bread, sliced, slathered with a butter, olive oil, parsley and garlic spread, broiled off.

Did We Like It? It's a "use stuff up and eat like it's 1986!" dinner. The fancy restaurant near my hometown growing up was Rastrelli's, an Italian-American place where everyone went for their graduation-reception-"just got my braces off!" dinner. This meal tastes like I just got my braces off (and this is still on the menu at Rastrelli's, by the way). Homey, goopy and delicious.

How Was The Wine? It's our house red for weekday Italian meals, because it's juicy, bright and friendly, with an underlying spicy edge. We always wonder if we should have something different and inevitably wander back to this one, because it delivers.

And The Pairing? Lively and lovely. Simple Italian-American meal with a wine that kept things on the bright side.

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


Thursday: Fava Bean and Ricotta Salata Strozzapreti with 2014 Quinta de Porrais Branco Douro 

Source: Recipe here, via Lidia's Italy, using strozzapreti instead of cavatelli.

Food Details: Onions sweated with garlic and red pepper flakes. Fava beans added to the pan with some pasta water and reduced down to a sauce. Strozzapreti, cooked, drained. Fava-onion-garlic sauce added to the added to the pasta in the pasta cooking vessel and swirled, plated. Dressed with ricotta salata, pecorino, dill, tarragon and parsley.

Did We Like It? Best batch yet! Less of a saucy-sauce this time, which allowed the dill and tarragon to come through, taking this batch to a different place, and we loved it. This is great with fresh fava, it does make a difference, but bagged fava didn't leave us wanting here at all. It's a simple dish where the triangulation of the fava, ricotta salata and onions is simple Italian cooking on full display.

How Was The Wine? We were stunned to hear Francisco Olazabal of Quinta do Vale Meão made a white Douro wine at Quinta de Porrais, about an hour northwest of Vale Meão in the Douro Superior. How did we not know this? High elevation, cooler climate; 55% códega do larinho and 45% rabigato. It's at Perman Wine for $14 (and somehow about $4 at Jumbo - a strange, but pleasant supermarket chain all over Portugal - like if K-Mart and Jewel had a baby). This might be the best expression of a Douro white we've had. Cool climate gaseousness and acid. Plenty of space offered to enjoy its subtle hints of flowers and spiced pears at your leisure, with only of hint of honeydew, something that typically takes Douro whites to a rather basic, boring place. This isn't a fancy white. It's just all the Douro white parts in all the right places. And it LOVED this food.

And The Pairing? The dill, tarragon and parsley medley made for a firmer, greeny background in this plate of food and the wine picked up on it and ran, rounding and extending itself out beautifully. While the finish reminded you of what you just tasted, just in case you forgot. This is a fairly versatile meal. We've had it with frappato, Sancerre, even a Douro red from Duorum. This was the best yet. Just the tops. We bought four bottles when we heard this existed. After having this meal, we bought four more two hours later. They'll be gone by winter.

Cost: $16 for food, $14 for wine = $30          


Wednesday: Cornish Game Hens, Amaranth Greens and Pretzel Rolls with 2013 Broc Cellars Mourvèdre Martian Vineyard SBC

Food Details: Cornish game hens (domestic - Harvesttime - $3.69/bird), spatchcocked (fun word to say, along with dessert - a schichttorte), stuffed with a fig jam/kalamata tapenade under the skin (David Leibovitz), roasted Dorie Greenspan-style (from Around My French Table, a book that's been good to us, page 225). Amaranth greens, leaves removed, tender stems sauteed with a shallot, garlic; leaves wilted in that pan; drizzled with balsamic. Lemon spritz on bird and greens. LaBriola pretzel dinner rolls, butter and lavender jam.

Did We Like It? We liked the "lil chickens!" Could be a good vehicle for other "lil chickens!" preparations down the road on the cheap. And the tapenade was delicious. But these amaranth greens are just the tops. We've had amaranth greens once or twice before and liked them. Bump that up to LOVE with this meal. These are rarely stocked in Mrs. Ney's supermarket sweep. You see them, you buy them. All sorts of greeny-planty-earthy goodness here. Grown-up greens. Pretzel rolls with butter and lavender jam that brought more "Holy crap! That's delicious!" shouts. Overall, we liked it. My goodness, we liked it.

How Was The Wine? More Broc being Broc. Smelled like smoky brisket right away. Turned into a light mourvèdre that highlighted its floral-bright fruit character with low alcohol, light spice and sunny disposition. There's something that Broc Cellars does with their reds. About 2/3 of the way down, a place where many reds concentrate, get a little showy, strut around, try to show how masculine they can be, Broc allows space at this point. There's a pause to allow food to frolic. That's why we love them. Same with this mourvèdre. Because...

And The Pairing? So freakin' perfect with the amaranth greens, taking this wine to a maximum expression. Long, broad, juicy, rich, balanced; everything on full display. A bit short with the game hen and tapenade, which was surprising. Figured we had a match there. But with these greens, it made the entire meal into something memorable. One of those times where you say, "Why do people care so little about their food and wine pairing when this exists in the world?"

Cost: $15 for food, $24 for wine = $39               


Tuesday: Peanut Chicken Satay, Pot Stickers and Carrot Salad with Watermelon Sangria

Food Details: Chicken satay using peanut sauce from the freezer (golly! Was this from TWO years ago?). Surprisingly great freezer sauce, vacillating nicely between peanuty and coconuty; concentrated, yet light. Chicken, sauced and skewered, grilled off. Trader Joe's vegetable pot stickers. Here's a product good enough to avoid making pot stickers if you don't have the oomph to make pot stickers, pan seared, then steamed, and delicious. Multi-colored carrots for carrot salad. Ponzu for drizzling and dipping. Extra peanut sauce for dipping.

Did We Like It? We did. "This is really pleasant," was the phrase of the night. Pan-Asian flavors that satisfied the Asian-flavor jones, quite nicely, thank you very much.

How was the booze? Watermelon purée from the freezer, lychee juice steeped in lemongrass leaves, mint, manzano pepper, ginger beer, liter bottle of 2014 Innovac!ón Malbec-Syrah Rosé Mendoza ($8 - Whole Foods). Sangria? More of a delicious spritzer. We got all of the flavors included at first sip, then it become so broad and friendly about a 1/3 of the way down. Thought about adding gin, then abandoned adding gin, because gin is satan's spawn the day after for us.

And the pairing? Pleasant and friendly, friendly and pleasant, we liked this. Great minimum goodness across the board. Floor was raised with every bite and every sip. At $5 a plate and about $10 total for the booze, we say big winner in terms of dollars-to-satisfaction ratio.

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


Monday: True-Blue Pick-n-Choose with Laurent Savoye "Magma des Granites" Vin Mousseaux Rouge

Food details: Heirloom tomato, salt, peppered and oiled. Celery and fennel seed mostarda (fun word to say in combination with dessert - a blueberry/peach crostata). Sliced roast beef. Salami. Marinated mozzarella balls (barely eaten). Arugula-parsley-basil salad. Baguette. Pick-n-choose on crack.

Did We Like It? Yeah. Definitely certain combos. Way too much food, a result of trying to turn the all elements of caprese that we had on hand into a dinner. Big winner here was a baguette, mostarda, salad and heirloom tomato bite. So gosh darn fresh and vertical in flavor. Mostarda-roast beef-bread = happy. In the end, a fine and good pick-n-choose with a garden-like quality. But this wine, man... This wine...

How Was The Wine? Outrageously good. A mousse-y gamay from Beaujolais, this was jumpy, jaunty, juicy, light and delicious. Round and upfront blueberry-blackberry fruit. Big herby background. Tasted like eating black fruits right from your picking basket, seeds, dirt, vines, leaves and all. Straightforward bubbly red that's so friendly and done oh-so well. It's $20, from Vin Chicago, and can't be recommended more highly.

And The Pairing? A baguette, mostarda, salad and heirloom tomato bite with a sip made the wine become an HD 4K version of itself. On a 90" TV. Rather ridiculous stuff. Nice with the roast beef. Less so with salami. Less-less so with the cheese and greens. But this wine, man... This wine... We'll be buying much more.

Cost: $18 for food, $20 for wine = $38

#267 - Greek Chicken Thighs, Skordalia & Spicy Carrot Purée With '10 Sigalas Asirtiko-Athiri

Shorter post today, mainly because this pairing didn't get out of the gate in any happy sense.

Greek chicken dinner.  Eat Greek.  It's what's Good.

But the wine could have been cheap, low acid, throwaway Savennières if given blind.  Interesting expression, just not something that kept our interest in the least.

Food:  Greek chicken thighs over skordaliá and spicy carrot purée with pita for dipping

Chicken thighs marinated in lemon juice, extra virgin olive oil, oregano, dry white wine, garlic, onion and black pepper, then grilled.  Served over skordaliá made with skin-on potatoes, almonds, breadcrumbs, garlic, lemon, extra virgin olive oil and lemon juice.  More rustic and simply outstanding stuff with the chicken juice bleeding all over it.

Moroccan-spiced carrot purée.  Caraway, ginger, roasted garlic, and harissa blended into puréed carrots.  It's a favorite always and forever.  Pita for dipping.

Great meal.  Too bad the wine couldn't keep up.

Quick Hits

Quick Hits in a true quick-hit manner.

1. Enough Said occupies a rare place in film, particularly of late. It shows all the natural sloppiness, resulting terribleness, and enduring hope that comes with...existing. And living with the history of being yourself for so long, a unique thing in an age where constantly reinventing yourself and TEDTalking your way to happiness seems to be the path to...something. Enough Said is genuine without ever shining a light on its attempt to portray that. I've always thought, in the discussion of older women not being able to land juicy roles in Hollywood, that looking to Juliette Binoche and Kristen Scott Thomas (who's done amazing work in a slew of smaller films) should be the template. Both have aged so damn gracefully as actors by taking roles that never shy away from being juicily complex and flawed as characters. James Gandolfini is very good here, and gets much of the press as this was his last film, but this is a star turn for Julia Louis-Dreyfus. She lets so much in and, as a result, gives so much.

A Trip To D.C. And A Week's Worth Of Meals

A second mini-vacation to D.C. last week left us feeling like it might have been the easiest traveling experience we've ever had.

People say you should always travel to a new place, see new things. That's bunk. Some of the most superlative joys we've had traveling have been returning to a place we loved and expanding on the familiarity of it all. It makes the place feel like a tiny chunk of Home.

Some D.C. Notes: It's getting expensive. Things are inching up. ... Komi, the main reason we returned, continues to sit among the four places on our Mt. Rushmore of food (Extebarri, Ubuntu, El Trujal del Abuelo ???). Such friendly staff and spectacular food. Swapped out goat for lamb just for funsies this time. Very good lamb. Goat's better. ... DC is hot. God, it gets hot there. ... Red Hen does it right. Great wine program with oodles of natural wine and very good food to match. It's what Chicago wants, but blows it in the execution and price. ... The woman I sat next to on the flight there was pregnant. Do you know how I know? She told everyone around us 48 times. ... A return to 2 Amy's made for a great lunch, without the ass-sweatingly hot walk we made last time. The pizza quality is leaps and bounds better, with a near-perfect chewiness and lift. Sad not to see the Hipster Cuvée on the wine menu. That was delicious barbera. And the salty albariño is gone as well. Sad. But the Vesuvio (sparkling aspirinio and freshly squeezed grapefruit juice) is "super-super-super." Sammy, the child next to us was rather annoying. Do you know how I know his name? His mom said it 48 times. "Sammy. Sammy. Come here, Sammy." ...

On the one non-hot day of our stay, we weren't waiting in the hour (probably two-hour, because it was non-hot) line at Rose's Luxury. So more pizza, this time at Pizzeria Paradiso (from the Obelisk people), which made for a quality, cheap pizza dinner with cheap Lambrusco. Happy stuff. ... We haven't experienced much Uber surge pricing in Chicago. In DC, if there's a darkish cloud in the sky, it seems that 5X is rational and proper. ... On the new "sharing economy" or whatever the heck my 42-going-on-82-year-old brain won't ever call it, we had an entirely pleasant first AirBnB experience. Not too shabby. ... Amsterdam Falafel is our new favorite chain. What more does anyone need? Falafel, 12,000 topping options, and a crapload of fries with various sauces for dipping. It's perfect! ... If you're going to DC, why would anyone fly into Dulles? I'm asking. National (I won't call it Reagan) is right there and it's linked to the Metro. Everything is 20 minutes away! ... The town is getting so trendy that everyone is moving there, making for patently absurd traffic. ... The 9/11 Pentagon Memorial is quite a sight. Rather unforgettable, really. ... There's flights every hour or so from DCA ---> ORD during the day. Do you know how you get bumped up an hour if you arrive early to the airport? You ask. And it was free. ... Uber, I like you. But can you create a button that lets me opt out of hearing the driver's life story? ... Our TV in the condo we stayed at only had a few TV channels, so we knew every detail of the quadruple homicide investigation as it unfolded. Terrible. But the reporter on the scene changing his fedora to a new one every report was a bit much. And funny. ... Champagne on the roof with chips and guacamole left for us by the AirBnB owner (I hope)? Nice. ... Cava and dessert at Jaleo after a quick stop at the Arcteryx store (because I like nice things sometimes)? Also nice. ... Realizing that you can wake up on the coast, go to the airport, fly home, and be on your couch by noon is a little weird in the grand scheme of things...and VERY NICE.


Some Food Notes: Coming home to chicken panzanella and 2013 Berger Grüner Veltliner ($14 - Vin Chicago) is the Way. To. Go. ... And this Spanish salad of watercress and arugula with quince paste, manchego and almonds, served with cheap LaGranja Cava Brut ($8 - Trader Joe's) makes for an easy, Old School Spanish lunch that's quite friendly. ... But the two big winners of the week were Sean Brock burgers for Memorial Day and a Greek white wine. ... From Mr. Brock's Heritage, page 131, these are burgers with nostalgia woven through every freakin' bite. Tastes like Tasty-Freeze or Dairy Sweet burgers from my childhood. Double stack burgers with onions in between and cheese everywhere, zippy burger sauce and potato buns to round their perfection. Huge winners here. A bottle of 2010 Owen Roe Ex Umbris ($30 - Binny's), while solid and a favorite for backyard BBQ-y type stuff, didn't match the level of joy the burgers brought. Almost too savory (can't believe I just said that). Marietta Old Vine was the play. And half the price. ...

But big food-wine winner with the next dinner. Fried haloumi, skordalia, pita, and tomato-fennel salad with 2014 Sigalas Assyrtiko Santorini ($22 - Binny's). House staple when it comes to the food. This meal has everything. Fried cheese, char, creamy potato goodness, cleanse and refresh from the salad. It's always good. And this 2014 from Sigalas is ALL minerals and acid in the best possible way. We loved the snot out of it. Great meal. ... You can't go wrong with Asian beef and some sort of fresh salad doused with chile peppers, lime juice and fish sauce. Ever. So Asian hanger steak (marinade) with carrot and red onion with spicy fish-sauce sauce (from this month's Lucky Peach, page 68) and rice. Halve the carrot and red onion in the recipe if for two people, but keep the same amount of herbs. Because herbs are good. And if you make crappy rice (which I did), just mix some extra herbs in and you're good to go. This was a hearty Asian beef meal that still was oddly clean and light. And all of it without rice vinegar or ginger, which was strange. To drink, rosé-watermelon-gin-triple sec-lemongrass-serrano-mint sangria. Just dump stuff in a container and see what happens. This was delicious.

365 Days Of Food And Wine: Week #24

No family holidays for us this season.

So Christmas, for us, this year, was food, wine, and the second season of 'Fargo.'

It's not The Wild Bunch, but how many people are killed in 'Fargo?' Gotta go with about 60-70 at least. Geesh!

Before watching that, I consumed Making A Murderer on Netflix, an 10-part documentary that's infinitely intriguing while you're in it, but loses much of its impact in the last third when the filmmakers decide against employing a wider social lens.

I was busy.

Total food and wine cost for the week: $161 for food and $183 for wine = $344

Total food and wine cost for the month: $471 for food and $452 for wine = $923

Sunday: Guinea Hen "chicken and rice" with 2015 Viñas Chilenas Reserva Rosé Valle Central

Food Details: Guinea hen bits and juice from Christmas dinner, onions, walnuts and amaranth greens, over wild and brown rice.

Did We Like It? A very nice dinner compiled with things from the freezer. Tasted healthy without tasting "Oh...this is healthy food."

How Was The Wine? This is $4, fresh, fruity, round, bouncy and delicious. Cabernet-syrah blend done up rosé style.

And The Pairing? No complaints. The wine remained its juicy, bright self while never interfering with the delicate nature of the food. Nothing great, nothing not. $6 meal, wine included!

Cost: $2 for food, $4 for wine = $6 

Saturday: Pick-n-Choose with 2014 Charles Smith VINO Pinot Grigio Columbia Valley

Food Details: Mariano's rotisserie chicken, kumatoes, avocados, arugula-parsley salad, mayo, and mini-ciabatta buns, with pickled red onions for me.

Did We Like It? Siempre. It's pick-n-choose your bite, which really isn't pick-n-choose, technically. We top each ripped ciabatta with the same collection of flavors, each of which like each other so very well together, it becomes a heaping mound of happiness. They're friends, hence this oft-eaten meal.

How Was The Wine? Sparkle and polish, acid and citrus blossom notes. There MIGHT be some fade going on here, as there was a wee touch of a jumble in flavor delineation happening with this drinking. We'll see.

And The Pairing? Assembled bite: ciabatta carb, mayo, glazed chicken, kumato dark-tomato flavor, creamy avocado, herby-peppery salad. Pickled onion pop for me. Add the wine's citrus and acid cut and cleanse. You'll be happy. We were.

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

Friday: Christmas Crab Rangoon Empanada Lunch and Guinea Hen Dinner

Lunch: Homemade faux-crab Rangoon empanadas with mâche salad and pomegranate seeds for Christmas lunch, served with NV Gaston Chiquet Brut Tradition Champagne. The crab empanadas are probably a one-off, but what a nice one-off they were. Fish sauce-based dipping sauce for the empanadas. So, happy Asian flavors in a Latin wrapper.

But the fish sauce killed the Gaston Chiquet, our first Champagne love that we haven't had in a couple of years. Good food lunch with bubbles that fell flat. Something with a bit of sugar like riesling was the play here.

Dinner: Delia Smith guinea hen with 30 cloves of garlic, with the addition of cumin, caraway and tarragon; Ottolenghi harissa pommes Dauphine (feta instead of goat cheese), and Ottolenghi roasted carrots with coriander seeds and garlic, with the addition of lemon thyme, served with 2013 Matthiasson Refosco Napa.

THIS is a Christmas dinner. Perfectly seasoned and spiced guinea hen meat with more pan garlic-juice poured over top. Succulent, is the word. Little pillows of fried potato balls studded with harissa. Best roasted carrots on the planet. "Post-Ottolenghi world," my butt, Saveur. A great Christmas dinner that ranked right up there with all the other great Christmas dinners we've had when not seeing family. I think there's a connection between those two. Wonderful linkage between each element on the plate with the crossover of seasoning.

Paired with watching 'Fargo' more than the Matthiasson Refosco. A one-hour decant still didn't crack open this low alcohol, but very tannic and ripe refosco. This one was a good example of a wine that tasted very well-made, but offered little in the way of openness, ingratiation or friendliness with the food. Too tight, too tannic, too oddly full to give much here. A surprise given my perception of the nature of refosco. Tasted more like a tight-fisted cabernet without the alcohol. At times, it felt like it was trying, but nothing to see in terms of pairing here.

Cost: $52 for food, $85 for wine = $137      

Thursday: Jacques Pepin Brandade and Mustardized Asparagus with 2009 Michel Brégeon Muscadet 

Food Details: (recipe) Fussy-but-easy = lots of fiddly but uncomplicated steps that you MUST follow: Pepin brandade, using Whole Foods salt cod, half celery root and half potatoes, almond milk instead of dairy, white balsamic vinegar instead of lemon juice, pecorino instead of parmesan. Mustard-y marinade on asparagus (grilled), chopped marcona almonds, and grilled baguette.

Did We Like It? Best brandade yet. Mrs. Ney usually uses Goya pollack, but Whole Foods had true-blue salt cod this time. Great balance between the fish, creaminess, nuttiness and celery rooty-ness. Silky texture, great depth. Weirdly delicious asparagus. We like asparagus. This mound of spears, with the marcona and mustard, made them more than just a green side dish. A Christmas Eve dinner that should be a new tradition. Our own 'Feast of the One Fish.'

How Was The Wine? The 2002 Brégeon was a bit of a revelation, that time with chicken and skordalia. It was eight-year-old Muscadet that tasted like it was made yesterday. A bottle of 2005 was funky swamp water, something so rank that we've been a little gun shy about diving back in to the Brégeon. This 2009 was a touch muted and probably needed a decant/more time in the bottle. Pleasing lemon-lime zest, lovely minerals, moderately punchy acid. But in all, a bit quiet. We opened a bottle of 2013 Jackys Preys Cuvée de Fié Gris Touraine to compare and got a wild, bucking, natural wine that showed its naturalness, both the good and the not so. An explosion of grass, flowers, smoked lime and iron at times, other times it turned rather beer-like. Really enjoyed its gregariousness at first, but with the food, we turned back to the Muscadet, as it played in a much more friendly manner with the food. The fié gris wouldn't shut up!

And The Pairing? The Muscadet never got out of the realm of "pleasant" with the food, liking the brandade well enough, even if a bit withdrawn. The middle of the meal was like a huge action scene in a movie with the fié gris, bringing all the explosions and crashes, but leaving us a little exhausted with the effort. We went back to the Muscadet and found pleasing nuggets of good-enough-ness.

Cost: $20 for food, $45 for wine =  $65       

Wednesday: Solomonov Kofta, Pickled Persimmons and Zucchini Baba Ganoush with 2011 Pascal Janvier "Cuvée du Rosier" Coteaux du Loir Rouge

Food Details: Goat kofta and pickled persimmons from Saveur (in the piece, would somebody please tell me what the hell "post-Ottolenghi world" means?). Zucchini baba ganoush (from New Middle Eastern Food), subbing in zucchini for eggplant. Pita. Arugula salad on the side.

Did We Like It? First, goat kofta and pickled persimmons together in one bite is certainly something everyone should try, because it's stupid-delicious, and will be had be us again. And again. Golly, that's good stuff. Zucchini baba ganoush as a veg in dip-and-dunk form. Salad freshness. Meat-veg-carb-green. But in an utterly different and exquisite form.

How Was The Wine? I expected a floral frame, and got aromatics in the form of spice. Light-bodied with guts, crushed berries, a dancing flurry of lightly toasty spice. Delicately tart finish. 100% pineau d’aunis from the coolest part of the Loire. Low alcohol, bright acid, lovely wine. Buying again. This one fits into a unique wine place that also caters to the food we like.

And The Pairing? It threw a couple of moody fits with the food, but overall quite happy with the pairing here. Somewhat muted with the baba ganoush, but very much liked the goat and persimmon.

Cost: $15 for food, $16 for wine = $31

Tuesday: Bucatini, Anchovy, Caper and Chile with 2012 Regis Minet Pouilly-Fumé Vieilles Vignes

Food Details: When you're a little groggy after a work Christmas party, you want to go out to eat. We wanted to. Then we looked around the interwebs at menus, saw one list that had bucatini with anchovy and chile, and both of us thought, "THAT'S what we want!" Then we started doing the math. $18/bowl of that pasta dish at the restaurant. Bottle of wine. Probably an appetizer or two. Maybe some starter bubbles. Tax. Tip. That could easily be $150. All the ingredients for "What we want" are in the house. And we have wine. Better wine. So...

Bucatini, evoo, anchovies, capers, garlic, manzano pepper, pepper flakes; separately-charred tomatoes, parsley, mint, toasted bread crumbs dumped on top.

Did We Like It? Jeebus, yes! Tasted exactly like what great pasta can be. A perfect blend of carbs, flavor and satisfaction.

How Was The Wine? Flinty, grassy, smoky, citrusy; everything that Regis Minet is and three years old to boot. Crazy producer that makes what became our house Pouilly-Fumé years ago.

And The Pairing? The wine fell right in line with the weight and balance of the pasta, offering an even more stream-lined, broad feeling to the meal. Couldn't ask for more happiness.

Cost: $7 for food, $18 for wine = $25    

Monday: Work Christmas Party

Food Details: Potluck. Brought chicken liver pâté, toasties, ginger-scallion sauce and Korean hot sauce for the supplied Sun-Wah whole pig, and farro-olive salad.

Wine: Alloy Wine Works Grenache in the can, from Field Recordings.

Result: A good time had by all.

Cost: $50