Washington Wine Pairing Party – Early Plans
Early planning has begun for our next wine pairing party with a focus on Washington wines and flavors. We are earmarking the month of May with no set date as of yet.
My first steps in considering a menu is: what are Washington flavors people would expect, and maybe not expect? Apples and seafood are obvious choices. Blackberries will be my dessert star. To round it out, I’ll also incorporate wild mushrooms, asparagus, swiss chard, potatoes, and various local ingredients as I can get them.
There will be six courses to pair with a sparkling white, two other whites, two reds and a port.
First course: A chilled soup plays around in my head to marry with the sparkling. I’m investigating approaches to an apple soup (testing sweet to savory variations). I even thought about an apple foam to fancy it up. Serve it in a tall shot glass to make it easy to set up and grab as guests arrive.
Next two courses will be seafood to pair with whites (considering Sauvignon Blanc and Riesling). Seafood is trickier for me for these events as freshness and timing are crucial. Circling around crab stuffed mushrooms, though crab will not in season- frozen will have to do. I’m going to thoroughly test this out because I love crab and don’t want to do it wrong. Then the traditional garlic lemon clams, a favorite from my childhood street festivals where the local restaurants had booths.
Vegetarian options care for a bevvy of food issues (allergies, lifestyle, diet, etc). I will probably make some standard stuffed mushrooms sans crab. For the clam alternative, I plan on making GF croutons to soak up the broth. So maybe have some in reserve for a garlic lemon bruschetta?
Fourth Course: And now we start pairing for the red wine. Chicken thighs are a great protein base as they work with a variety of flavors, plus they are succulent when cooked properly (braise it baby!). Wild mushrooms are a NW foodie thing, and should provide base notes to pair with a lighter red. Funny that I am using so many mushrooms when I’m not a big fan myself. This makes me work harder to get the flavors just right.
Cheesy risotto and blanched asparagus are on the casting list to accompany. The vegetarian version will just be sautéed mushrooms over the risotto and asparagus.
Fifth Course: To ensure our guests feel satiated, a beef dish braised in a local port is a general idea. Considering to serve it with a port reduction, sautéed swiss chard and smashed potato. Oh, and I’m going to try homemade crispy fried shallots. Been watching videos on how to make these (more variations than I would have thought).
Vegetarian version will probably be a separate port reduction sauce using mushroom stock (there it is again) served with the chard and an extra helping of smashed potatoes.
So making something in a port and then serving a port later is interesting. Should I do that? Is that a gauche? Or is it clever? I’m not sure. When you cook with wine or alcohols, you alter the flavors. So I see it as an interesting taste experiment.
Sixth Course: And now for dessert! During the late summer, my daughter and I make a delicious blackberry icecream (technically frozen custard) with dark chocolate shards. We melt Ghirardelli dark chocolate chips, spread thin to set and then break up into bits to mix in. To taste chocolate, it has to melt on your tongue. So big chunky chips won’t do. Shavings, mini chips, thin coating or thin slivers bits are best in frozen desserts. I am obsessed with figuring out how to transform this into a not frozen dessert.
My concept is a NW forest floor. A blackberry custard based, chocolate dirt, chocolate pine needles, cinnamon meringue mushrooms, truffle pebbles and a nut flavored air cake bits for moss. We’ll see if I can manage a proper thick custard with the blackberries.
Starting Lists: Wrangling supplies is an important step as well. Eyeing basic plating ideas, I’ve started notes on the supplies: tall shot glasses for soup, slanted clear bowls for clams and dessert, our standard 7″ black plastic plates for the meat dishes. Stuffed mushrooms served on trays (which I have). I don’t think I’ll need any special equipment, but we’ll see as I refine things further.
Wine Considerations: The push and pull of these dishes is the wine. I haven’t directly tasted anything yet with the food I’m penciling in. As this is a Washington wine pairing party theme, in the coming weeks, we’ll trying out a couple Washington sparkling white wines. Ste Michelle Winery does a economical Brut and Treveri Cellars is well-known for their sparkling whites. There are likely others, but we focus on what is readily available at retailers.
White wines I have less exposure to, though its starting to expand due to these efforts). In some preliminary research, I’ve read that Washington whites are considered the better wines of the state. That the value versus the flavor is not as good as say a California white. However, I’m sure we can find some that our guests will enjoy. It may take a bit of tasting to get some good discoveries.
But for the reds, we have an abundance of options to whittle down to two selections. All the more reason to make sure one is a true gem. Last year, at Epulo Bistro in downtown Edmonds, I had a delicious red blend from Darby Winery. It was so good that I made a note of it. We are going to go to their tasting room shortly with hopes to select one of their reds for the event.
I believe my mother (the co-hostess) would like to use a Whidbey Island Port for the final course. Although the winery is permanently closed, you can still find their port in retail shops (such as Total Wine). We did have some ports a couple of events ago, and guests preferred the Ruby over Tawny, the opposite to my preference. I have a bottle of it tucked away – so we can pop it open and ensure it’s pairing with my dessert concept. If not, there are of other ports in Washington.
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