How nice is it to get home to a meal sat on the table when you walk in from working all day!?!? Not that I ask for it very often, but if the Mrs is off, and I’ve been working all day it’s definitely appreciated! Now don’t get me wrong; even though I’m English I’m not Victorian-English! I don’t give my wife a jolly-good-thrashing if dinner isn’t sat on the table, after I’ve been working my fingers to the bone at the coalmine! I’ll normally return the favor on a weekly basis as well!
With that being said, this last Sunday, Mrs Chislett chose a recipe for Flank Steak Spirals with Porcini and Red Wine Sauce.
Would you believe I’d never actually tasted collard greens before I came to the U.S.!?!?
“How did you survive?” you ask! Well, it was tough, but I managed to struggle through!
Due to the fact that I’m still trying to do the low-carb-thing, I’ve been avoiding carbs altogether, at least for the time-being. They will get me in the end though!
This recipe for Collard Greens with Tomatoes and Garlic was a nice spin on what I see as an otherwise fairly bland and generic sidedish. Inexpensive too!
I have to admit, I haven’t always had the greatest love for Dolcetto. There aren’t too many grapes that I can say that about, but I’ve never had the greatest affinity for it for some reason.
It’s a little-known fact that the name Dolcetto translates to “little sweet one”. I have no idea why though. The grape certainly isn’t sweet; far from it in fact. The North-Western region of Piedmont, Italy, is the main growing region for the Dolcetto grape, and it’s to be found very little-else anywhere else in world.
Borgogno is located in the town of Barolo (a place and also the name of a wine), and is known as one of the premier producers in the Langhe region of Piedmont. The winery had a nearly 250 year run, before Giorgio Boschis and his brother, Cesare, great-nephews of Giacomo Borgogno, sold the winery to local entrepreneur Oscar Farinetti in January of 2008. The sale was estimated at around $30 million.
Denise said the meal was too “English” for her liking. If you’ve ever been across the pond, and eaten in one of the many pubs, you’ll have a rough idea of what she’s talking about. I thought it was great though, but then again I’m a Brit.
On a side-note, don’t you just hate it when a recipe calls for an ingredient such as parsley; so you unwittingly go and pick it up from the store, only to then find out it’s only to be used for the garnish!?!?! What a waste.
The Borgogno Dolcetto d’Alba 2007 showed damp earth, with black olives, truffle and ripe plum on the nose. Very rustic in style on the palate, and certainly showed more fruit after a bit of vigorous swirling in the glass. A mix of savory and earthy qualities, eventually revealing blackberry, plum, a hint of ripe raspberry, old wood, with a certain leathery and nutty-almond quality toward the finish. The best Dolcetto d’Alba that has ever graced my lips! I could drink this all night!
The pairing worked well, nothing crazy-special, but a decent-sold match. The savory qualities of the wine certainly well with the dish, but maybe somehow incorporating more red fruit into the sauce somehow would have made it even better.
I picked up the Borgogno for around $18 retail. I can’t remember exactly to the $ though. It was kind of a big purchase, and I tried to not look too closely at the receipt.
I’ll rate this as a:
Good Match
~ My Food & Wine Pairing Guide ~
Bad Match
The interaction of wine and food when tasted together has a negative impact on the senses. This is common when the food item is high in acidity, salt, bitterness, or spiciness.
Refreshment
Many times wine serves simply as a satisfying refreshment to accompany a certain food choice. The refreshment match may be appropriate when the food severely inhibits a good or synergistic wine choice.
Neutral
These pairing situations are average and pleasant, but are missing an element of individuality and thus cannot provide a superior gastronomic experience.
Good Match
In this situation, you have found a wine that matches the food item’s basic components (sweet, sour, bitter, salty) and overall body.
Perfect Match
This essentially means the combined effect of the wine and the food paired together is superior to the sum of the individual parts.
