8.00pm · Dinner is served + wine pairing suggestion
by Pim under Dinner @ 8 with 5 Comments
Friday, November 12, 2010
8pm is show time!
You should have the soup made, the garnish at the ready. Serve those right away.
When everyone at table finishes the soup, serve the roast. Discard the foil wrap, cut and remove the twines, place the roast on a serving plate. You can slice and serve right at the table for more effect. For this generally lean roast, the thinner your slices, the more tender they will seem when you eat. Don’t worry if the stuffing slips out of the meat, just scoop it up and serve right along with the pork. Pass the endives side dish around the table so everyone can help themselves.
For dessert, serve the apple cake with a generous spoonful of the crème fraîche on each slice. The sweet cake will definitely benefit from a little tartness from the cream.
Wine Pairing
To pair wine with this meal, I went to my friend and Manresa’s wine director Jeff Bareilles for advice. This is what we came up with. If you want to drink only one bottle (or one kind) of wine with this meal, our suggestion is a Riesling Kabinett, one with just a touch, only a touch, of sweetness. Jeff thinks that of all the current vintages, the 2007 is drinking very well and will pair very well with this particular meal. This wine will do you well from the first course to dessert.
If you’re willing to buy, or try, more than one bottle of wine with this dinner, we still recommend getting a bottle of Kabinett for the soup. For the pork roast and the endive side dish, a light-body red wine will go very well. If you’re a fan of Pinot Noir, a bottle of Russian Valley Pinot Noir will be a great match. Pick a producer whose style is a little restraint, not too ripe and not too hot on the alcohol. (Let me give a shout-out here to my friends Akiko and Ken Freeman of Freeman Winery. One of their lovely Russian Valley Pinot Noirs will be a lovely match with this main course and side dish.)
If you want to go a slightly interesting, perhaps a bit funky route for the second wine, try Jacques Puffeney’s Poulsard or Marcel Lapierre’s Morgon.
If you have red wine with the main course, save a bit of the Kabinett from the starter course to serve with the apple cake for dessert. I know it won’t follow that old adage of only serving dessert wine that’s sweeter than the dessert. I don’t believe in it. Trust me, the Kabinett will do just fine with the apple cake, especially helped along with a slight tang from thecrème fraîche.
