As the autumn sets in, I begin to think of my favorite wine accompaniment: food. Something about the cool weather makes me want to cook large quantities of tomato sauce, or soup, or any number of rustic foods. Below are two fall-themed dishes that feature yummy wine, one for a shoestring budget and one for the more flush among us.
Budget meal: Pork escalope in red wine and cherry sauce. For some reason quite beyond me, pork is incredibly cheap; for a mere $6, you can get enough pork to feed five hungry co-eds. Take the pork home, rinse it in cold water and place in a plastic bag. Add approximately a third of a bottle of red wine?anything lying around will do. Add about a half a tablespoon of good balsamic vinegar. Finally, add three good spoonfuls of American Spoon Foods sour cherry preserves. Any red fruit preserve will do, really (raspberry is better than strawberry).
Now you have a choice: you may either leave the meat overnight to marinate or you may accelerate-marinate by kneading the meat through the plastic bag. Heat a pan (I prefer non-stick) medium hot and if necessary add a small amount of butter (don't use olive oil?it doesn't work with the fruit flavor of the pork). Sauté the pork about four minutes on each side. It's a bit difficult to tell when the meat is finished, because the marinade colors the pork purplish. A good barometer is the pork's texture: it should be resistant but slightly elastic. We served the pork with roasted potatoes and steamed string beans.
With the meal we drank Affentaler Sp?tburgunder Rotwein from Baden. This is a German red wine that is most easily compared to a pinot noir even though the color is more cranberry juice than pinot. The name of this wine may be familiar to those of you who dine at Richard's as they serve it there. The only place to buy it for your own is The Black Sheep and is very well worth it at $13.98 a bottle.
Break-the-bank meal: Champagne risotto with scallops or shrimp. This recipe can be quite economical if you are only making enough for two people, but it requires a second bottle of champagne if you cook for four. Use your favorite basic risotto recipe (I used the one on my box of rice, but any will do), substituting two cups of a very dry champagne or any sparkling white wine (I used a really cheap bottle of prosecco) at room temperature for two cups of whatever broth you're using (I suggest using low-fat chicken stock).
Enlist your dinner guests to help with stirring (you really do need to stir risotto all the time and make sure your pot is nice and thick). While you're cooking, feel free to finish the bottle of champagne, especially if you have another one for the meal. While your dinner partner is stirring away, sauté either your scallops or shrimp (I buy whatever is cheaper at the time), or if you don't eat fish, you could use good mushrooms or asparagus in a little bit of olive oil. When the risotto is almost finished, add your scallops or substitute and stir well.
Finish the cooking process by adding about one cup of freshly grated parmesan cheese. It complimented the bottle of Gruet brut very well. Gruet is a sparkling white made in the "Méthode Champenoise" in New Mexico of all places. It competes with many of the old world bubblies I've had and is pleasantly dry and light in taste. It is available at the Black Sheep for $14.98.