Skip to main content

Pink Bubbles, Paté, and Pecorino #ItalianFWT


April through June is always a crazy time of the year for us. Well, it's probably a crazy time of the year for everyone, I suppose. But between Jake's birthday at the end of April, my birthday a week later, Mothers' Day a week after that, our older son's birthday two weeks after that, plus all the end-of-the-school-year mayhem, I just about toss my cookies and want to stop blogging till I can catch my breath just as summer starts. 

But, there's so much to celebrate that I almost always have some wine pairing going on...so I tell myself that I just need to buckle down and get the posts published. Fine.


This month for our Italian Food, Wine, & Travel group, Gwendolyn, of Wine Predator, asked us to share something about Italian sparkling wines beyond Prosecco. You can read her invitation: here. And, if you're reading this early enough, please join us for the twitter chat about Italian Sparkling wine on Saturday May 6th from 8-9am PST and check out our blogs!

Posts to Spark Your Interest...

On My Plate...
So, I didn't manage to actually cook anything for this pairing, the first course of my birthday feast. But I did enjoy some Mangalitsa paté, pecorino, and castelvetrano olives with my Italian bubbles. Here's why I chose what I did...


Mangalitsa paté came from Wayne's Fine Swine, a local pig purveyor from whom I bought a nano share of a Mangalitsa pig which is a little known Hungarian breed. They have strikingly long hair and fatty, marbled meat with an unbeatable flavor. I've heard it referred to as "the Kobe beef of pork." Okay. Most pigs in the last half-century have been bred to have virtually no fat, but it's the fat that lends the flavor. This paté was creamy and rustic with large chunks of hazelnuts and pistachios. Che squisito!

To go along with the rich paté, I wanted a piquant cheese. So, I opted for an aged Pecorino from Sardinia. If you know nothing else about Pecorino, know that as they age, they become more dense, more firm, with increasingly assertive flavors that develop over time. I actually love when they get a little bit crystalline and toothy. The Sardinian cheese I chose was also a little bit gamey.

Castelvetrano olives hail from Valle del Belice, a region of Southwestern Sicily. You may also find them sold as Nocellara de Belice. They are round and green. But what I love most is their crisp, tender bite with a mild, buttery flavor.


In My Glass...
I'll be honest: whenever we celebrate, we are usually lifting a glass of Italian bubbles; they are so much more affordable than their French counterparts. So, when I realized that Gwendolyn wanted us to think beyond Prosecco, I was stumped for a bit.


Then, I realized, it was my birthday feast, I wanted something pink! I had pink flowers in a vase; pink petals on my salad; I was going to pour pink bubbles in my glass. Eccolà! Spumante Rosé!


I found a ridiculously affordable bottle of Cecilia Beretta Vino Spumante Rosé at Trader Joe's and went for it. I'm a fairly new fan of anything Rosé - say in the last three years or so - but pink wines, especially pink sparkling wines have a nice depth of flavor and a fair amount of acidity. To make them pink, winemakers either blend red into the white or leave the skins on the red grapes for a brief time so that the color bleeds. This tends to give them more body and more flavor. I'm a fan!

I will share one thing I did cook that evening - fiddlehead ferns. You can see that recipe here.


One last thing I love about pink bubbles: their versatility. I could see opening this with everything from grilled lobster to Thai takeout. And with our crazy schedule till the end of the school year, I might be getting takeout more frequently than usual. This bottle will definitely be on my to-buy list. Cin cin!

Comments

  1. I love pate and look forward to making it soon! In the meantime, I will have to see how I can get some of THIS divine pate! What a great start to a birthday celebration! And I'll be checking out this rose from Trader Joe's too! Thanks for the tips and participating with us this month!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Totally intrigued by the Hungarian pork and that paté! Hope you enjoyed your birthday weekend. Cheers!

    ReplyDelete
  3. looks like a great birthday spread, hope you had a great day!

    ReplyDelete
  4. I love pecorino! I hope you had a great birthday and Mother's Dady!

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Meyer Lemon Custard-Filled Matcha Turtles #BreadBakers

#BreadBakers is a group of bread loving bakers who get together once a month to bake bread with a common ingredient or theme. You can see all our of lovely bread by following our  Pinterest board  right here. Links are also updated after each event on the  Bread Bakers home page .  We take turns hosting each month and choosing the theme/ingredient. This month Stacy of Food Lust People Love  is hosting and she wrote: "Your bread can be large, as in one big animal, or small - animal-shaped rolls. Use your imagination! Points for flavor and shape!" If you are a food blogger and would like to join us, just send an email with your blog URL to Stacy at foodlustpeoplelove@gmail.com. Here's the animal-shaped bread basket from the #BreadBakers... Beef and Sweet Onion Dim Sum Pandas from Karen's Kitchen Stories Bird Bread Rolls from Ambrosia Easter Bunny Buns from Cook with Renu Ham and Cheese Elephant Rolls from Food Lust People Love Hedgehog Bread from Making Mir

Connecticut Lobster Rolls, Canned Lobster Bisque, and a 2019 Henry Fessy 'Maître Bonhome' Viré-Clessé #Winophiles

This month the French Winophiles group is looking at affordable wines from Burgundy.  Host Cindy of Grape Experiences wrote: "Burgundy, or Bourgogne, is known for its wines of Chardonnay and Pinot Noir... as well as Aligote, Gamay, Sauvignon, César, Pinot Beurot, Sacy, Melon in lesser quantities. Many of the well-known wines are quite expensive, but there are plenty of values to be found." Read her invitation here. And there won't be a Twitter chat for this event, so you will have to dive into the articles themselves to read about our pairings and findings. Here's the line-up... Wendy Klik from A Day in the Life on the Farm enjoys Domaine Chevillon Chezeaux Bourgogne Hautes Cotes de Nuits, 2018 Paired with a Maple Pecan Chicken . Camilla Mann from Culinary Adventures with Camilla shares her love of Connecticut Lobster Rolls, Canned Lobster Bisque, and a 2019 Henry Fessy 'Maître Bonhome' Viré-Clessé. Jeff Burrows of FoodWineClick! explains why we should Look t

Quick Pickled Red Onions and Radishes

If you've been reading my blog for even a short amount of time, you probably know how much I love to pickle things. I was just telling a friend you can pickle - with vinegar - or you can ferment - with salt - for similar delicious effect. The latter has digestive benefits and I love to do that, but when I need that pop of sour flavor quickly, I whip up quick pickles that are ready in as little as a day or two. I've Pickled Blueberries , Pickled Asparagus , Pickled Cranberries , Pickled Pumpkin , and even Pickled Chard Stems ! This I did last night for an upcoming recipe challenge that requires I include radishes. Ummmm...of course I'm pickling them! Ingredients  makes 1 quart jar radishes, trimmed and sliced organic red onions, peeled and thinly sliced (I used a mandolin slicer) 3/4 C vinegar (I used white distilled vinegar) 3/4 C water 3 T organic granulated sugar 1 T salt (I used some grey sea salt) 6 to 8 grinds of black pepper Proce