Wine, Food

It's truly a talent to pair wine and food. I say this because I totally lack any sort of skill in this area. I assume white for fish and chicken, and reds for dark meat. But that's not always true, and I've read or sampled pairings that seem incongruous at first (like a red and cheese, for example) that end up working beautifully. One of these days I'll read enough or develop a better palate to put together some amazing, unexpected pairings. In the meantime, I'll stick with what's tried and true.

This weekend, we opened a Torrontes from Uruguay. This was another bottle I picked up from my recent wine class. Pisano Rio de Los Pajaros is 100% Torrontes and is similar in color to a Chardonnay, more straw than pale gold of a SB or Pinot Grigio. It's not quite as thick as a Riesling but has a little texture and body to it. It's off-dry with notes of peach and apricot.

We brought this wine to our friends' home to serve with a Greek feta cheese, asparagus and shrimp risotto. Great pairing!! And great risotto! I found the recipe online at Cooking Light, but instead of Arborio rice, I used a short-grain brown rice, which gives the dish an al dente texture, rather than the traditional creaminess of the starchy Arborio. We sipped the wine with some pre-dinner Spanish cheeses, and it also complemented those.

Nice weekend, good food and wine, and great friends!