Something simple on returning from a week in Spain: Spanish mackerel, flesh side rubbed with a paste of paprika/garlic/olive oil, roasted with a few grape tomatoes and finished with a saffron vinaigrette. Our broiler isn’t working so the skin was less crispy than I’d like, but it was still a pleasure.
4 Likes
I’ve never done this but I bet it’s great. Thinking some good goat cheese would be nice also.
1 Like
Red Snapper molee with fresh tomato and coconut. Have plans to modify this dish for mussels because despite loving it with the snapper, it feels like it’s begging for mussels. Red lentil dal with arugula on the side back there, too. A bottle of 2022 Vigneau-Chevreau - Vouvray “Cuvee Silex” paired well-enough. 
5 Likes
Some sort of Rick Stein salsiccia and potato braise. I added some fennels, too. An amazing dish in all its simplicity - big hit at dinner. Try it on a damp night:
Dutch oven. Fry some salsiccia (remove skin) in olive oil.
Add sliced onions.
Add sliced fennel.
Add potatoes.
Add thinly sliced garlic.
Juice from one full lemon.
Salt, pepper, bay leaves and fresh parsley.
Add a little bit of chicken stock at bottom (I added too much, half a cup is enough).
Stick in oven for 30-35min at 400 degrees.
Garnish with some fresh parsley.
Serve.
Opened a Suzor Pinot Noir for this and it was a good combo. But I can see this dish doing really well with a nice white wine.
3 Likes
That’s one full plate there.
Where?
Food Lion, local grocery store. They sell them already butchered in around half pound steaks, some of them have crazy marbling. Thankfully is seems that no one around here has any idea what to do with them!
Yesterday we found a huge and lovely piece of halibut, a third of which you see here in this picture. Braised in a homemade mushroom stock, with a thyme, salt, and white pepper dusting. A 2021 Quinta Varzea da Pedra - Arinto “Obidos” was a great pairing, and an eye-opener of a wine.
6 Likes
Always like the combo of cannellini beans and shellfish
2 Likes
My wife and I agree. Beans, in general, I find to be pretty versatile; I’m trying to work more of them into our diet, in place of rice and pasta.
1 Like
Add some sauted escarole to that too
1 Like
Hmmmm, I like that idea — thanks!
What wine would you pair with this?
I did the same and won’t look back, save for upping my intake of wild black and red rices, that have somewhat better nutritional profiles.
1 Like
We had a Champagne and a Chenin, but nearly any white would do. I also considered a Musar white, a Chablis, and a Viura, to give you more of an idea as to where my brain went with it.
1 Like
Curry-rubbed swordfish, with preserved lemon. Leftover dal not pictured, on side dish duty. A 2022 Tablas Creek - Counoise paired poorly, but at least the food was a good! Hat tip to Chef Ripert for the recipe.
2 Likes
Vaguely Korean stir fried shrimp and veggies with cauliflower rice. The photo isn’t great, but I was so pleased with how this paired with a 2021 Sabelli-Frisch Essera White Zinfandel. (Yep. White Zin.) The more gochujang sauce I added, the better the wine performed! Thank you @Adam_Frisch .
5 Likes
I remember Klapp once saying something like “you can do whatever kind of fancy shit you like to them but they’re still just beans.” Said in a way that only Klapp could. While I agree they’re always going to be a rather humble food, I enjoy them at eat them a lot. They are healthy. To get a more complete protein out of them, be sure to combine with something like rice. I’ve been pairing various beans up with black rice (not to be confused with wild rice) lately.
Also tasty and easy to make soups with them.