Wine dinner with the family!

Wine and food pairing dinner at the Sorensons

Tuesday March 11, 2014

Cheers!

Appetizers: Brie, strawberry, basil & honey baguettes

                     Caesar salad with Cardini's Caesar dressing

   Paired with  Francis Coppola Chardonnay

Main Course: Spaghetti with homemade meatballs

                        Garlic bread

   Paired with Kendall Jackson Merlot

Dessert: Key Lime Coconut Angel Food Cake

  Paired with Lunes Moscato & Mango 

I began dinner preparations at 4pm the day of. Grandma and Grandpa were invited, so it had to be good. "I'll be over at 6 for wine and drunken brawl" affirmed Grandpa. 

I wanted to make something simple, yet sophisticated. So, I opted for a nice spaghetti dinner, with homemade meatballs, a fancy appetizer and dessert.

I found these brie baguette bites from Cookin' Canuck, and never having experienced Brie, decided to give them a try. They were a total hit, and went really nicely with the Chardonnay I picked out. Try them sometime- they're a great little appetizer for get-togethers! 

I decided to make my own meatballs for the spaghetti, just to class it up a bit. I seasoned the balls in a mixture of salt, pepper, Italian season, and onion powder with improv bread crumbs (read: toast.) 

I read that a nice oakey-buttery Chardonnay would pair well with salads, so I went with a standard Caesar mix. Parmesan cheese, garlic croutons, and fresh romaine and spinach leaves. Oddly enough, I even got compliments on the salad.

After reading the backs of about 5 or 6 bottles of various Chardonnays at the grocery store, I chose the Francis Coppola Chardonnay from CA. It was sweet, dry, had a chewy and tart taste. It really complemented the brie in my baguettes, but left a slightly bitter taste in the mouth when mixed with the Caesar dressing. 

My Dad's favorite Kendall Jackson Merlot from Napa Valley was paired with my spaghetti course. This big red is very woody and extremely tannic. I really didn't care for it much, but Dad obviously did. There was must, yeast, and earthy tones on the nose- dare I say the Oak Monster made an appearance? I thought it complimented the meatballs in the tomato sauce nicely, despite its strong flavor. 

For dessert, I decided to pop open a gifted bottle of Lunes Moscato and Mango. I had the hardest time deciding what would pair with this wine, because it's not your typical moscato. The alcohol content was only 6%, so I figured the mango flavor would be pretty noticeable.

Because of this, I settled on making a Key Lime Coconut Angel Food cake, using a recipe from Tablespoon. I thought the similar tropical flavors might complement the mango. While all were skeptical about this sweet wine, it actually turned out to be a good pick! It was light, fresh, bubbly, and went GREAT with the strong lime frosting on the cake. Though the wine did taste heavily of mango, that was no setback. 

My first wine and food pairing- success! Grandpa said he'd even "write a commendation for me for any eligible man." 

Cheers!