Wine Food Pairing - Orzo Who?

Wine food pairing does orzo .... who the heck is orzo? I had never cooked with this Italian "rice" before and really didn't know what a tasty pasta this was. Made of a hard semolina wheat, it is quite versatile.

I am always looking to broaden our eating experiences and decided to GOOGLE it up a bit and came up with a recipe that, I of course, tweaked a little to give it a Mexican flair to our wine and food!

I browned the pasta, uncooked, in EVOO and butter and then tossed in a handful of fresh garlic for extra flavor. The browning gives it a nice "nutty" flavor. Next I added a grated zucchini, yellow squash, sweet onion and carrot, letting them soften for a couple of minutes. To plump the orzo up I used a can of low sodium chicken broth and a can of diced tomato and green chile's ... the latter added a bit of heat to the dish. I cooked this for 10 minutes until the orzo was soft.

Now, I was hankering for a Mexican twist so I added fresh from the garden cilantro, lime zest ... be careful not to zest the pith ... and the juice of that same lime ... WOW ... just what the doctor ordered! I garnished this with a few "curls" of Parmesan cheese.

Totally YUMMO!

I paired this with a new wine that I found at the store ... a Carmenere from Frontera. Intense red in color with violet hues it looked delicious swirling in the wine glass. It had aromas of pepper, black plums, toast and vanilla and combined beautifully with our veggie orzo meal.

So now you know the answer to Orzo, who? Wine food pairing ... it is all about the food and wine. CHEERS!

Wine Food Pairing - Editorial Comment!

The wine food pairing editorial comment ...
THE BOTTLE OF WINE

For all of us who are married, were married, wish

you were married, or wish you weren't married, this

is something to smile about the next time you see a

bottle of wine …


Sally was driving home from one of her business

trips in Northern Arizona when she saw an elderly

Navajo woman walking on the side of the road.


As the trip was a long and quiet one, she stopped

the car and asked the Navajo woman if she would like

a ride. With a silent nod of thanks, the woman got into

the car.


Resuming the journey, Sally tried in vain to make

a bit of small talk with the Navajo woman. The old

woman just sat silently, looking intently at

everything she saw, studying every little detail

until she noticed a brown bag on the seat next to

Sally.


'What in bag?' asked the old woman ...

Sally looked down at the brown bag and said, 'It's

a bottle of wine … I got it for my husband.'


The Navajo woman was silent for another moment or

two. Then speaking with the quiet wisdom of an elder,

she said:


'Good trade.....'

Wine food pairing ... it's all about the fun.  CHEERS!

Tasty Bloggers - COOL Site for Food Info!

Check out this cool new site I found ... this is will tweak all your foodie desires ... LOL!

Wine food Pairing 2 thumbs up. CHEERS!

Wine Food Pairing Goes Raw - A Tasty Carpaccio!

Wine food pairing goes raw for a tasty appetizer ... what better way to serve some very special beef tenderloin than preparing carpaccio?

BigAl picked up a PSMO at the Restaurant Depot. This is a bulk package of beef tenderloin. He proceeded to remove the silver skin and to cut it up into manageable pieces .... along with several wonderful fillets, he used some of the small chunks for the carpaccio.

To whip this up, he first put the meat in the freezer to "almost" freeze which makes it easier to slice this delicious meat very thin. Then placing it between 2 cling wrap sheets he proceeded to "whack" the meat into very thin pieces. You can use a mallet, but BigAl just used a fry pan and it worked great! Now remove the top layer of cling and flip your serving plate over the meat, centering it and then turn the whole thing over while removing the second piece of cling. Voila ... your thinly sliced meat should be ready for dressing!

I guess you can dress this in many ways, but we chose a rather traditional method .... S & P, EVOO, Basalmic vinegar, capers and shaving's of parmesan cheese ... served with warm crusty bread it was AWESOME!

Carpaccio was invented by Giuseppe Cipriani in 1950 at Harry's Bar in Venice, Italy. It was named for the Renaissance painter Vittore Carpaccio who was noted for his use of red in his paintings. This raw meat dish is a wonderful treat, indeed.

We paired this with a Louis Jadot Beaujolais .... tasting of juicy strawberries and clean, "dusty" earthy notes, it was crisp and mouth-watering, served in Roemer wine glasses from Austria. These short "toasting" glasses have a history all their own dating back to the Roman times.

All in all a perfect appetizer for a lazy Saturday afternoon. Wine food pairing ... it is all about the food and wine. CHEERS!

Wine Food Pairing - It's Party Time for Wacko's!

Wine food pairing means something different for everyone .... for myself ... I enjoy a glass of wine, sitting in my lanai watching the dolphins play in the bay ... for this Wacko just north of us in Cape Coral ... well...


George was arrested for being inappropriate with blow up dolls in a public place ... OMG .... this really gives new meaning to going down to the Publix for milk ... lol!

I just don't know what this world is coming to, but one thing is for sure .... George and his "girlfriends" will not be invited to our next wine food pairing event. CHEERS!