UPDATES.
Because January will be a month of reduced wine intake and increased morning runs in the dark and freezing weather (always invigorating!), the next wine livestreams will be in February. We have LOTS of Bordeaux wines and some jewels also from Italy to sample and talk about. Also—we’ll have a few on the road livestreams.
OVERVIEW.
The holiday Italian lunch described below took place on a quiet and freezing December day in the warmth of a fourth floor apartment overlooking Bordeaux city rooftops.
1. CHEF.
This Christmas Day dish was prepared by Italian friend (and sometimes employer) Gaia Coretti, from Trieste, who now lives in Bordeaux city, where she runs her own PR business. Gaia’s father taught her to cook seafood, and her mother to cook pasta. Our lunch combined both.
2. DISHES.
Antipasti –
This plate of appetizers included salted polenta (made of maize and buckwheat), ‘faux’ foie gras (made from potatoes, truffles, champagne and olive oil), artichoke hearts and mozzarella trecciata, which includes mozzarella cheese, Piemontese shaved white truffles, capers, olive oil and three types of pepper, or poivre 3 baies.
Main Course –
This fish plate included little squids (calamaretti), great scallops (coquilles St. Jacques) and small prawns (crevettes)—all fried with black garlic and served with distinctly thick and spiral busiate pasta from Sicily.
And finally, cheeses with bread and polenta …
3. WINES.
A 2015 sparkling Ferrari Perlé from Trentino, Italy.
An Enrico Serafino sparkling rosé from the piemonte region of Italy.
SCENE & INSIDER ANGLES.
Virtually all food goes with sparkling wine, so remember that if you have a wine/food pairing quandry.
Cooking the three types of shellfish and pasta so that the consistency has the same luscious creaminess comes from experience—so if you don’t get this type of dish right the first time, understand it takes ample practice.
Again, thanks for tuning in!
