sometimes in the fall

Forgive me for not having a special topic this week, but rather just two accounts of really enjoying some wine with dinner. 

When the weather turns cooler, people often reach for red wine. One reason is possibly because white wines are served cold, and red wines typically at a warmer temperature. For us, however, we tend to drink all wines around 55 degrees (with some important exceptions, on both the white and the red side) so this is less of a concern.  We love to drink white wine in autumn. The nuttiness, herbaceousness and orchard fruit character of many white wines lends itself to the fall harvest of hearty greens and thicker-skinned squashes. If you're interested in a seasonally considerate wine selection, we have some new fall packs of our favorite wines to drink right now. They come in 3, 6 or 12 bottles. 

muscadet & vongole 

I was making spaghetti alle vongole. I would typically prefer an Italian white wine for this, Mediterranean or from further inland, just something dry but not overly acidic, textural, and briny. We didn't have any in my house that seemed to fit just at that time. We did have a cold bottle of NoLem from Complemen'Terre. It was very delicious. The wine is from Muscadet, near the Atlantic coast of France. White wines from here are classic pairings for oysters, although I'd never had a Muscadet with clams. Wasn't too much of a leap that it would work, but the sauce I make is fairly rich with butter, olive oil and garlic. This particular Muscadet from Manu Landron is made in such a way as to build and preserve the body of the wine. Maybe that's part of why it held up to the unctuous garlic and herbs so nicely. This is a special Muscadet. Many other wines from the region have their fermentations stopped to preserve a direct tartness, a crispness. While this wine doesn't lack acidity, it does have rounder edges and a fuller stride than most others. 

spaghetti alle vongole 

(It's untraditional that I take the clams out of the shells, but I think this allows me to make more of a stock from the shells without overcooking the clams). 

makes 2 entree portions 

about 1/4 lb spaghetti 

couple tablespoons butter 

couple tablespoons olive oil, plus a little more for drizzling 

2 handfuls fresh parsley, chopped 

4 cloves garlic, chopped 

2 lbs littleneck clams 

1/4 c grated parmesan cheese 

juice and zest of 1 lemon

1/2 c white wine 

get a big pot of salted water boiling for your pasta before starting the clams. personally, i hate waiting for water to boil. 

heat a medium-high-sided pot or pan. add butter and olive oil. when that's warm, add garlic, cook on medium-low for 10 minutes. add the white wine. when wine comes to a boil, adjust heat to simmer, add clams, then cover. check after 2 minutes - if clams have opened, remove from pot. if not, return the cover back on and give a few more minutes until most or all clams have opened. take the clam meats from the shells, and set aside. return shells to pan. keep shells and sauce at a simmer while you cook the pasta, at least another five minutes. dress your clam meats with olive oil, salt and pepper. 

cook the spaghetti for 6 minutes. (you will finish cooking it in the sauce). remove the shells from the sauce pot and discard. add the noodles to the sauce pot, and the juice of the lemon, and continue to cook until pasta is al dente, about another 3-4 minutes. if the sauce is low on liquid, add a little more butter and some water. you want there to be a bit of liquid in the pan, not so the noodles are swimming in it, but just keep in mind that the noodles will continue to absorb the sauce even when served on a plate. 

to finish, season the pasta with salt, pepper, olive oil, parsely, lemon zest, a little parm and clams. toss well and serve immediately, topping with some more cheese. 

aligoté & swiss Chard 

I was very excited to taste the new aligoté from Vini Viti Vincy. It is a fresh quaffer from Kikro, aka Nicolas Vaulthier, a celebrated natural winemaker. Kikro is in Northern Burgundy where most of the best aligoté is made. It is a high acid white wine variety. 

For dinner we'd found some porgy, which my partner was going to grill whole. I was worried that the porgy might have a bit of a fishy taste (I know it's fish but still) as the only other time I'd had it, it was not so fresh-tasting. It turned out that the fish was clean and delicious, but in any case, my concern led me to prepare a kind of a spicy and acidic salsa from some swiss chard, incorporating the acidic white wine. 

chard condiment / swiss salsa 

1 tablespoon butter 

big bunch washed swiss chard 

teaspoon of red chili flakes

1/4 c white wine 

splash olive oil 

De-bone your swiss chard leaves, and separate the leaves from the stems. Chop both leaves and steams up fairly finely - into about 1/4" pieces. The stems take longer than the leaves to cook. Heat a medium/ small frying pan, then melt the butter. Toss in stems, and season with salt, pepper and chili flakes. give them a little sweat, cooking and stirring for around 1 minute, then add the wine. Bring wine to simmer and gently boil the stems for about 10 minutes. Add the greens and cook for just 2 minutes before serving with grilled fish, sausage or steak.