Oven-Roasted Trout with Citrus Salsa Crudo + 2017 Lunaria "Civitas" Pecorino #ItalianFWT

This month Lynn of Savor the Harvest has the Italian Food Wine Travel bloggers exploring Pecorino. You can read her invitation here. All of the groups' posts will go live between Friday, May 3rd and Saturday, May 4th. Also, if you are reading this early enough, you can join us for a live Twitter chat on Saturday, May 4th at 8am Pacific time. Follow the hashtag #ItalianFWT and use it to join in...or just search for it, afterwards, to view the posts. Cin cin.

The Pecorino Posts

• Camilla from Culinary Adventures with Camilla will dazzle us with Oven-Roasted Trout with Citrus Salsa Crudo + 2017 Lunaria “Civitas” Pecorino
• Gwendolyn, the Wine Predator, is Pairing Pecorino d’Abuzzo from Ferzo: Lemon Caper Shrimp.
• Linda at My Full Wine Glass shares Sheepish about New Kinds of Wine? Try Pecorino!
• Cindy at Grape Experiences does a Twirl. Sip. Savor:2016 Tenuta Cocci Grifoni Offida Pecorino Colle Vecchio and Creamy GarlicShrimp with Linguini.
• Lauren at The Swirling Dervish has Dinner Tonight: Spring Pizza and Tenuta Santori Pecorino.
• Susannah from Avvinare shares Pecorino from the Lady from Le Marche – Angela Velenosi- Velenosi Vini.
• Jeff at FoodWineClick! goes Onthe Hunt for the Pecorino Grape.
• David from Cooking Chat pairs Roasted Asparagus Pasta with Pecorino.
• Jen of Vino Travels writes Grape of the Sheep with Umani Ronchi Pecorino.
• Steven at Steven's Wine and Food Blog posted a Brodetto di Pesce Wine Pairing.
• Kevin of SnarkyWine declares Pecorino - Welcome to the Fold.
• Katarina of Grapevine Adventures explores Le Marche & Abruzzo - Two Regions...Two Expressions of Pecorino.
• At Savor the Harvest, Lynn is Discovering the Pecorino Grape.

In My Glass

So, if you follow my blog at all, you know how much I adore cheese. And pecorino is one of my favorites. I love that salty, barnyardy, sheep's milk cheese grated over pasta. But I had no idea that Pecorino was a wine varietal. Did you? I love learning new things.

Native to the central Italian region of Marche, it's said that the sugar-heavy grape was dubbed Pecorino because of its appeal to the woolly animals. I didn't have time to track down the veracity of that claim, but it's a nice story.

When, Lynn revealed the theme for the month, I immediately started digging and came up with two different bottles. I found a 2017 Lunaria "Civitas" Pecorino and a 2016 DeAngelis Pecorino. I opted to highlight the former because it's a Demeter-certified wine and we've been exploring biodynamic wines in several of our wine groups. For those events, I shared, respectively: Dinner in Testosterone Land: Braised Short Ribs + 2016 Nuova Cappelletta Barbera del Monferrato and Learning about Biodynamic Wines + M.Chapoutier Wines with Some Cross-Cultural Pairings. April's #WinePW theme was biodynamic wines of the world and I shared Seabass Agli Agrumi + Wine from America's First Demeter-Certified Biodynamic Winery.

I'll be honest, I appreciate learning about biodynamic practices and I truly respect wineries that are following those practices - whether they get the certifications or not - but the designation is not a guarantee of a "good" wine, in my mind.

A 100% Pecorino wine, this poured straw yellow with an intense nose. I got hints of straw with crisp green apple and piquant lime. On the palate it was intense and surprisingly full-bodied for a white wine. At a retail price of $15, it's a great find and will definitely be on our Summer table often!

On My Plate

When a friend gives you fish, you shouldn't ask where the head is. I know, I know, but my inner Filipino just popped out. When Brian brought me trout, I made Oven-Roasted Trout with Citrus Salsa Crudo and poured the Pecorino. It was all super tasty and, even better, super easy!

Oven-Roasted Trout with Citrus Salsa Crudo

serves 6

Ingredients

Fish

• 3 whole trout
• freshly ground salt
• freshly ground pepper
• organic mint leaves
• organic lime leaves
• organic lime wedges or slices
• Makrut lime leaf-infused olive oil, or use plain olive oil with a squeeze of lime juice in it
• Also needed: parchment paper-lined baking sheet

Citrus Salsa Crudo

• 1/2 C organic kumquats, quartered
• 1/2 C organic blood orange, diced with peel on
• 1/4 C organic fresh mint leaves
• 2 cloves garlic, peeled
• juice from 1 lime
• Makrut lime leaf-infused olive oil, or use plain olive oil with a squeeze of lime juice in it

Procedure

Lay your fish on a parchment paper and preheat the oven to 425 degrees F. Sprinkle the inside cavity of the fish with salt and pepper. Place the lime slices, lime leaves, and mint leaves along the inside. You can secure the fish with a toothpick or twine. I just folded it closed and placed it on the parchment paper-lined baking sheet.

Place some lime slices on the top. Then sprinkle the outside of the fish with salt and pepper. Drizzle with olive oil and place in the oven. Roast for 20 to 25 minutes - until the flesh is opaque and the skin is browned and crisped. In the meantime, make your salsa crudo.

Citrus Salsa Crudo

Place all of the ingredients in the bowl of a food processor. Pulse until well-chopped and combined. Add in more lime juice and olive oil if it's too dry. 

Once the fish is done, serve it immediately with the salsa on the side. I also served this dinner with roasted potatoes and blanched asparagus with a blood orange vinaigrette.