Wine Food Pairing-Pork and Cork, OH MY!

Wine food pairing, pulled out the old cookbook …. Actually, I just GOOGLED the recipes and came up with a succulent, tender pork tenderloin … OH MY! It was melt in your mouth delicious.

Every now and then it is fun to try something new and we decided to open up the pork loin and spread a yummy stuffing on it and roll it back up with “turkey” bacon tied to the roll. I was in charge of the stuffing and I sautéed Vidalia onion, fresh mushrooms, EVOO and garlic until it was “sweated” down and then stirred in a wonderful basil pesto that I had made earlier. My husband was in charge of the surgical skills with the knife … when the sharp knives come out of the block, I am not allowed … LOL!

With the stuffing in place, BigAl used my cooking string and wrapped it up as nice as any gift on Christmas morning! Yes, he had bacon in place under the string … and … of course he put a few pats of real butter on top. After all, he is Austrian and they do things like that!

We popped this “bad boy” in the oven at 450F for 5 minutes then turned the broiler on to crisp up the bacon for another 5 …… then turned the oven down to 375F until the inner temp came up to 160F … about 45 minutes. I served this with Garlic smashed potatoes and fresh steamed asparagus and OH MY ….. IT was the BEST! When we sliced this after it rested a bit we had a cool “pinwheel” effect.

Now what to pair with this delight? We decided on a refreshing, chilled white merlot from California. I chose the Beringer with its pretty purple-red color. It is a nice blend of fresh berry and zesty orange peel flavors, with a hint of nutmeg spice that gives it a little interest.

A terrific meal for the wine babe and BigAl … wine food pairing did it again. CHEERS!