What to drink with curry?

A week ago a good friend of mine invited me over for dinner. 

His specialty: a delicious Mauritian Curry. 

One of the characteristics of Mauritian Curry is that it is both sweet and spicy. 

Small raisins soften the spicy taste of peppers and exquisite chutneys help you cool off your mouth when you've just bitten a piece of green chili. It's an adventure: you never know on what you are going to end up. 

Although this is quite charming and delicious, it doesn't make it easy to find a good wine pairing. 

So when my friend told me I was in charge of finding a wine that would be well suited for his dish, my first reaction was: "ouch". Tough one. 

Usually when I cook a curry, I go for the only easy wine-food pairing I know for this dish:Gewürztraminer. 

Look it up on the internet if you want, if you type "what to drink with curry", you basically have this : 

• Beer 
• Riesling or Chenin
• Gewürztraminer

And it does work I must admit. 

1. The bitterness of beer blend well with the spiciness of the curry, and cools off the hottest chili. 

2. Riesling ior Chenin are also a good choice as their freshness tames the chili yet enhances the flavors of the curry with the overall acidity of the wine. 

3. Finally Gewürztraminer is both sweet and complex, rich and dense. It's not always easy to pair Gewürztraminer with food as each glass of this wine explodes with aromas of rose, lychee and spices (cumin mostly). Yet curry seems to work perfectly with it. The sweetness of the wine blends magically with the raisins of the curry. The cumin and pepper aromas mingle with the spices of the Mauritian dish. And the overall opulence of the wine disciplines this adventurous dish. 

Yet this time, I felt like doing something new. 

Living dangerously. 

Finding a wine I would usually not drink with a curry dish. 

So I went for a strong, spicy red wine from the south of France. 

A wine which would contrast rather than complement our food. 

A wine whose alcohol level would tame a sweet dish. 

Whose notes of toasted bread and spices would magnify the curry's sweet and sour aromas. 

A rich and supple texture with elegant tannins which would be in harmony with the opulence of the curry dish. 

Vin de P

And it worked out very nicely. 

I'm far from being a pro at making wine and food association but sometimes a little bit of imagination can help you find a new interesting combination. 

You shouldn't always focus on finding similar aromas in your wine and in your food. 

Sometimes contrast is the key. 

It can reveal a whole new dimension to your wine and to your food. 

Don't only concentrate on aromas, you should also take into account the texture and intensity of the wine and of the food to elaborate great associations that would not seem adequate at first sight. 

Domaine de L'Aigle, Pinot Noir, Gerard Bertrand, 2006

Languedoc-Rousillon

 Nose: Berries (black and red), pepper, clove, toasted notes

Mouth: supple and rich, well balanced however with surprisingly soft tannins for a Languedoc wine. 

Wine note: Chinon Cabernet Franc

I am in the Loire Valley for the week-end and decided to try a few new Chinon wines.

Most people don't really like Chinon. They think it is inevitably harsh and green.
And truthfully most of the time they are right. Chinon can have a very powerful aroma of Green Pepper and full bodied tannins that make it difficult to appreciate for the beginner wine drinker.

The trick is to serve it between 15° and 17°C and to open it up at least 1 hour before tasting it.
Most of all if it is a "hill" wine (and not a river wine), be sure to wait a few years before drinking it. It will soften the tannins.
And surely save a lot of pain to your gums. 


Yet sometimes Chinon wines will surprise you with their complexity and their fruitiness.

"Les Picasses", Château de Coulaine, Chinon, 2004 (100% Cabernet Franc ) came as one of these surprises.
A great wine to appreciate with lamb chops (like I did), red meat, mushrooms or roasted duck.

Here are my tasting notes:

Color: a bright ruby red wine which gives a hint of what we will be expecting...

Nose: intense black berries (Blackcurrent, blackberry) followed immediately by earthly notes like moist soil, mushroom and a herbaceous touch. After a while and if the wine warms a little you may also find some licorice and cigar box. 

Mouth: as expected the tannins are firm, rich but an interesting acidity counterbalances them well. 

Piece of cake - my moist orange/cranberry feast

Dear Readers I must admit that sometimes I try to be careful about what I eat. 
Like most young women, I'm a little self conscious about calories in food and I usually skip dessert when I am at a restaurant (all the more so as I certainly DON'T skip the wine !)
Only if I'm really starving or invited at a friends'house do I have a bite of dessert but I obviously feel so guilty the following morning that I immediately hit the gym for a week.
Sometimes it sucks to be a woman. 
Sometimes I wish I could gulp down waffles without putting on a pound. 


And then there's the perfect cake. 
The cake I always indulge in, because : 
1) I made it and I know it is not THAT ridiculously fattening
2) It is insanely moist and good and delicious so I just couldn't care less about the calories anyway. 


This is my secret weapon against crappy weeks and low spirits. It's a cake that will stay moist and soft for a week (although to tell you the truth I never actually got to verify this because it's always finished after a day).
And it is so easy you just can't get it wrong. It's almost magic. 
This cake should seriously be taught in school. 


Go ahead, bake it and tell me what you think, I'm interested ! 

The ultimate Moist Orange Cranberry cake

Ingredients

190 g all-purpose flour
3 g baking soda
2 g baking powder
120 g vanilla sugar
55 ml orange juice
1-1/3 eggs
160 ml buttermilk
120 ml vegetable oil
175 g fresh cranberries
8 g grated orange zest


1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease and flour a tube pan.
Sift together the flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt; and set aside.

2. In a large bowl, mix together 1 cup the vanilla sugar, the orange juice, the eggs, the buttermilk, and the vegetable oil using an electric mixer. Add the dry ingredients and mix just until moistened. If you judge the mixture is too moist, add a little bit of flour.

3. Fold in the cranberries and orange zest. Pour the batter into the prepared pan and spread evenly.

4. Bake for 45 minutes to 1 hour (depending on your oven) until a knife inserted into the crown of the cake comes out clean.



Notes:

Regarding the egg, I know it sucks to have 1 egg and 1/3 but it really makes a perfect mixture whereas only 1 egg makes it too hard and 2 eggs to moist.

If you don't have buttermilk you can always make some yourself : place one tablespoon of lemon juice or vinegar in a one cup measure. Fill to one cup mark with regular milk and let sit for five minutes.

As for your wine pairing,

cranberry wine could of course do the trick.
You may also go for champagne or white dry wine like Riesling. The lime and acidity will perfectly counterbalance the tartness of the cranberry.
 

2 steps to getting invited for dinner

Do you know if you are a good guest ?

I'm not talking about whether you're fun and entertaining or whether you can handle yourself at a dinner table.

I'm not speaking about the fact that you bring a little present for your host to show your appreciation.

I'm not even talking about your ecstatic praise of the cooks' home-made bolognaise even tough you don't eat meat.
All this is very good, and ensures that your friends will continue inviting you over.
But to be a REALLY good guest revolves around something else.

A good guest helps to magnify his hosts food. He participates to the overall success of the dinner, but without showing it.

The key to achieving this is to do more without the other guests noticing. Don't worry though, your host most certainly will.

And he will do the exact same thing when you're the one inviting him.

So here is my secret recipe to being a perfect guest:

One of the most accessible things that will make it easy for you to score big time with your host is to bring some wine. I know it doesn't really come as a surprise. All the more so as this is a blog on wine. Yet beware, it's not that simple. For my secret knack is not to bring any wine : it is to bring a special one.

1. First, try and bring something that actually matches the food you are going to have.

In order to do this, yes, you will have to harass your friend until he accepts to tell you what he is going to cook for you. Or you could just go to a mind-reader. Your choice. I'd I go for the first one though. I don't like to live dangerously.

If you manage to find a good pairing your friend's food will be embellished by the aromas of your wine. And he'll get more credit for what he cooked.

2. Second, if you can, you may want to surprise your friend, with a wine he does not know.

Try experimenting, finding something that matches the food yet cannot be found on the middle shelf of your local supermarket. It will give your party a theme to talk about and leave time to your friend to prepare the rest of his dishes if he needs to.

With these 2 simple steps you'll be sure to boost your host's party. It is not very difficult and nobody will even notice you helped. Your friend will be grateful for your modesty and he'll invite you to most of his dinner parties.

Free food for the rest of your life, that's what I'm talking about!

Here is an example of the wine I brought to my last dinner party. My little technique worked out beautifully.

Take a look at my tasting notes:

Menetou-Salon, 2008, La tour Saint Martin

Albane et Bertrand Minchin

100% Sauvignon blanc

Nose: Fresh exotic fruits, honey, raisins but also some herbal aromas and white flowers like honeysuckle.

Mouth: A rich and full mouth, with a little woodiness and acidity.

Pairing: Cold chicken salad and asparagus, Balsamic vinegar.

Here is a bit of honeysuckle so you know what it looks like

The Loire's sweethearts

Most people don't really enjoy dessert wines.

They think they are too sweet, too heavy, too powerful. And a part from foie gras nobody really knows what to pair them with.

So they usually end up being stacked in a cellar, waiting for New Years Eve or at least for you to let go of your diet for one evening.

Yet I think this is a grave mistake.

Dessert wines in spite of their ridiculous name, should not only be kept for dessert. They can magnify a whole meal if you accept to let go of your cultural prejudices.

Dessert wines contain a high level of sugar and alcohol. This characteristic comes from the fact that they are made from mouldy grapes.

I know this does not sound very appetizing.

Yet in fact this mould is not just any mould: it is a noble mould, called Botrytis Cinerea, also dubbed "noble rot".

Wine makers can really be poets.

This idiosyncrasy is only possible when the weather is sufficiently moist during the autumn.

Therefore only a few regions in the world have the adequate climate to produce dessert wines.

In France, Sauternes, in the Bordeaux region is the most famous of them all. Just check out the price of a bottle of Château d'Yquem.

But there is also great noble rot wines in Alsace (some Gewürztraminer for example) or, as my main title suggests it, in the Loire Valley.

Chenin, (the Loire's main white grape) is the variety that produces these great dessert wines. There are 3 dessert wines in the Loire Valley:

- Coteaux-du-Layon

- Bonnezeaux

- Quart de Chaume

As they are much less known then their counterparts from Sauternes, these amazing wines also have the great advantage of being much cheaper.

But this is not their only asset! Also their general acidity (typical of Chenin) gives them the ability to age easily and provides them with an overall impression of aerial lightness which is a plus when you want to pair them with non dessert foods.

So you see these wines are magical with the appropriate pairing.

For instance, try to taste a Coteaux-du-Layon with a veal medallion and mushroom sauce.

Or dare and pair a Bonnezeaux with an Orange glazed duck.

Prunes or raisins go well with these wines too. Try it out, you'll be surprised.

Anything with a little honey, dried fruits or foie gras will do the trick.

It's not very complicated and I assure you having one of those at your table will make a huge difference.

Here is a Coteaux-du-Layon I tasted last week and paired with chicken stuffed with dried prunes. It was absolutely delicious.

Coteaux-du-Layon, Saint Lambert du Lattay, 2005

Michel Robineau

Selection grains nobles

Nose: very subtle, fresh peonies, apricot

Mouth: an explosion. Dried apricot, honey, a very well balanced acidity and a round attack. Very long lasting taste.

This wine is just a drop of gold diluted in your veins. It's powerful yet soft, fragrant yet delicate, sweet yet elegant. Overall you really feel there's something different about this wine, something noble and pure.

How to nail a dinner party - Appetizer

You've got a dinner planned at your place tonight.
And no clue whatsoever what you're going to pull out of your sleeve this time.


Well ladies and gentlemen here is a simple "dazzle your friends" recipe that can easily be made in advance.
I know it seem surreal. Don't worry it's not. It's not even magic.
It all burns down to a siphon soda. And a little bit of organization.
Here see for yourselves:


Tangy Salmon carpaccio with its whipped wasabi cream



Ingredients for 4

15 cl of single cream (crème fraîche liquide)
1 tsp of wasabi
1 lemon
350 g of very fresh salmon
dill
10 cl of orange juice
1 gelatin paper (2g)
Salt and pepper

1. Mix the cream and Wasabi. Add some salt and pepper. Filter the mixture and pour it in your soda siphon.
Turn your siphon upside down and screw the gas cartridge in. Shake it well and set in your fridge upside down for 2 hours.

2. For the carpaccio: cut small squares of salmon. Add salt and pepper, grated ginger and the juice of one lemon. Add fresh dill, mix well and put in your fridge until for at least one hour.

3. Heat the orange juice and add the gelatin (after having left it 1 minute in cold water to soften it). Mix well. Add the juice in 4 little glasses and put them in your fridge for at least 2 hours.

4. When the orange juice has thickened, add the salmon carpaccio over it. Spray wasabi cream on top. Add a few dill sprigs.

With this lovely little dish I would recommend either
- Rosé champagne (Billecart Salmon is awesome, check it out: Billecart Salmon

- Gewurztraminer (Domaine Trimbach is usually a good choice).

What to do with Kumquats? My chicken run # 2

I have Kumquats in my fridge.

A lot. I went on a little kumquat frenzy at my local market last week end.

But the trouble with kumquats is that you can never really figure out what to do with them.

Sure, they are tiny and adorable, but that won't help me to feed my hungry belly tonight.

So, I went through an extensive search in my cookbooks and magazines and finally fell on a charming little recipe that I only subtly transformed.

I used chicken instead of duck. I know. Daring.

This way, not only did I finally get rid of my cute little kumquats but I also managed to post another recipe for my chicken-run. (see my first chicken run recipe)

I'm pretty happy with myself right know ;-)

So here we go, a delicious recipe directly inspired from one of my lovely cookbooks.

Asian style Chicken with Kumquats

Ingredients for 2

2 cups of kumquats, seeded and chopped into slices

1 Tbs of brown sugar (or honey works too)

300g of chicken breasts, cut into 2 inches strips

Cooking sauce

2 Tbs of Hoisin sauce

1 Tbs of oyster sauce (or regular spring roll sauce)

1 Tbs of cornstarch

2 Tbs of Chinese 5 spice

Chili oil (or sesame oil)

1 Tbs of gresh ginger grated (or more if you like)

Half a cup of chicken broth

1 Tbs of rice wine vinegar

The way to go:

1. Combine the chicken, kumquats, sugar (or honey) and 5 spices in a jar and let sit for 20 minutes.

2. Combine the sauce elements.

3. In a wok, add chili oil an grated ginger when the pan is hot. Stir frequently on medium heat for 1 minute.

4. Add the chicken cook for a few minutes until golden brown.

5. Add the sauce, kumquats and stir until it thickens.

7. Add vinegar and scrape the pan to get all the juice of the meat. Add the chicken broth. Turn down the heat, cover pan and cook until the kumquats are soft.

You can serve this as I did with white rice. I usually add a few drops of rice vinegar to give a little twist.

Honestly this dish was easy and quick to put together. The kumquats give it a little bitter taste that is nicely counterbalanced by the sugar and Hoisin sauce but also the spicy ginger.

It's a dish I could really for a dinner party.

In that case, the best wine pairing would probably be either:

- a young Sauternes wine (hense the bottle of Cyprès de Climens, the second wine of the famous Château Climens in the background...) = nose of fruit and flowers (orange, nectarine, mango, apricot) and a little vanilla. Very round mouth, great balance and fresh fruits like oranges.

- or an Alsace region Gewurztraminer = nose of rose, exotic fruits like litchi and orange zests ; Powerful mouth, fruity with ginger and sometimes a little orangy tanginess.

Sunday afternoon tea

A little bit of sweetness in my world of Chicken and wine.
It can't hurt, and with the dreadful weather we've been having in Paris today, I just felt like hanging around home with a couple of friends.
Hanging around with food of course.

So here's a little improvisation that comes from the Kumquats I found at my local market this morning. I don't usually cook them, there are lovely just like that.

Wine tasting in Boston - Chile & Argentina

The weather gets pretty cold in Boston.

So a bunch of HBS guys decided it would be a good idea to get warmer buy trying out a few wines from South America during a small wine tasting session.

Now to tell you the truth, I'm not a big drinker of South American wines.

Not that I don't enjoy them - usually their powerful berry flavors are rather ravishing - but it's just not easy to find good quality yet affordable prices for these wines in France.

I don't know if this is French wine retailers' sly way to promote French wines by only offering the worst new world wines they can get their hands on. I know for a fact that there are great South American wines. Some are probably among the best wines on earth (like the beautiful Bodega Noemia de Patagonia) but a fact remains that cannot be ignored : each time I've tried a South American wine in France, it's been

- Either completely bland

- Or a woody vanilla syrup