New recipe, April 26, 2011

8 more days til Carl gets back!

Tonight I made Korean Beef Stir-Fry, another offering from EatingWell.com. I know it is hard to see the beef (that is one of the beauties of the recipe!), but it is there, caressed by spinach, bean sprout, and a healthy dose of garlic, ginger, jalapeño, mirin and soy sauce. This is a lovely, spicey, energizing dish! I would do this again.

The wine was the 2009 Garnacha de Fuego. I picked it with the idea that this dish would pick up on the spicey and fruity character of the dish. That is largely true, but the subtle sweetness of the mirin (and maybe the spinach) did tend to make the wine taste a little more acidic than I expected. Ah well. EatingWell suggested a fruity Riesling, often a great match with spicey food, but I just couldn't resist trying something else. Ah well!

February 26, 2011 new recipes

Tonight's recipes are from Mario Batali's Molto Italiano. For a kid who hated fish and still dislikes very strong fish flavors, I find myself fascinated by seafood. This evening, we made Barbecued Octopus with Grilled Escarole and Mint, and Broccoli Sauteed in Wine and Garlic. We drank a 2006 Regilli Frascati with this (it was also in the broccoli), which was really past its prime. So we switched to a 2009 Fontana Candida Frascati, which was much nicer, with aromas of peaches and a little grapefruit.

The octopus came out much more tender than I feared it would, and the flavors were nice, but it didn't quite pop, to use an overused term. Makes me wonder if it is the dish or the execution--I may have to try this again some time. I did learn how to clean an octopus from the folks at the Sydney Fish Market, since my frozen octopi came fully equipped with eyes, beak, and innards. It was still a fun dish to make.