Friday Food Romance

So you're planing a sexy dinner with your honey.  

Candles? Check

Playlist? Check

]Sexy lingerie? Check

 Hooker heels? Check

You have desert covered, let's focus on food and wine.

  

Have you ever eaten a meal where the wine and food were so good that you could not forget about it? Then, did you later have that same wine with a different dish or the same dish with a different wine only to be disappointed?

Count yourself fortunate to have experienced the perfect marriage of wine and food. When the wine balances with the food in flavor, texture and taste, both food and wine enhance each other.

These are a few hints to help make food and wine pairing simple. But remember that if you like a certain wine with a particular food that is all that matters.

1. Use the same wine in the recipe as you will be serving with the meal.

2. Mask salty dishes with slightly sweet wines.

3. Serve cool, sweet, low alcohol wines with hot, spicy foods. Higher alcohol accentuates heat.

4. Balance acidic foods with sweet wines or round, dry, low acid wines.

5. Combine sweet wines with desserts. Make sure the wine is always sweeter than the dessert.

Combos for Beef

Beef roast, steak, hamburgers

Classic Red

Merlot

Classic Blush

Cab/Merlot

Cabernet Sauvignon

Wild mushroom sauce

Merlot

Cab/Merlot

Cabernet Sauvignon

Red wine sauces, stew, short ribs, beef stroganoff

Cabernet Sauvignon

Merlot

Cab/Merlot

Stir fry, chili

Pinot Noir

Classic Red

Brisket, meatloaf

Merlot

Classic Red

Beef Wellington

Classic Blush

Cab/Merlot

Beef Bourguignon

Merlot

Cabernet Sauvignon

Cab/Merlot

Tasty Tuesday - New Years Eve Dinner for Two

 

So, you’ve decided to skip the crowds and spend New Year’s Eve at home with your honey. These suggestions should go well with most types of champagne (in general, when serving champagne, it’s best to stick with lightly spiced Cantonese cuisine, particularly seafood dishes). If you’re serving wine, a German Riesling would be a good choice.

Start with some Spring Rolls as an appetizer. Feel free to nibble on them with some wine while preparing the main dish together.

Main Dish – Shrimp in Lobster Sauce

Ingredients:

• Fresh shrimp, deveined and butterflied, 10 - 15 per person
• 4 to 8 spring onion (green onions, scallions), chopped
• 2 large garlic cloves, chopped or minced
• 2 cups of chicken stock (2 cups water with chicken bouillon powder, or chicken broth)
• 4 tablespoons of sweet white wine, such as sweet Glen Ellen White Zinfandel
• 2 tablespoons soy sauce
• 2 teaspoons sugar
• 2 1/2 tablespoons of Cornstarch and 1/2 cup of water
• 4 egg whites, beaten with 1/4 cup of water
• 2 tablespoons vegetable oil for stir-frying
• 1 to 2 cups pork fried rice (1 cup for 2 people, 2 cups for 3 or more)
•  

Preparation:

Rinse the shrimp in warm water and pat dry. Rinse the spring onions, drain and chop. Chop or mince the garlic cloves.
Combine the chicken stock, white wine, soy sauce, and sugar and set aside. In a small bowl, dissolve the cornstarch into 1/2 cup water. Whisk the egg whites into 1/4 cup water and set aside.
  Heat 2 tablespoons of oil in a wok, large pot, or frying pan or skillet on medium high to high heat.
Stir fry the garlic and spring onions for about 30 seconds to a minute, taking care not to burn the garlic.
Add the shrimp and stir fry for 2 minutes.
Add the chicken broth mixture, bring to a boil and boil about 1 minute.
Re-stir the cornstarch and water mixture and stir it into broth. Immediately afterward, slowly pour in the egg whites, breaking them up by gently stirring them with a fork (the author recommends stirring them twice across and then twice across again in a tic tack toe pattern). Be careful not to over stir the egg whites.
 

The dish is ready when the sauce begins to boil and thicken. Serve over the pork fried rice and steamed Snow Peas.

Be sure to have some Fortune Cookies for after the meal.