Report on Pot-Luck Wine Dinner

Our pot-luck wine dinner Saturday night was a smashing success. Everyone brought great food and wonderful wines and we had a fantastic time!

Here's a brief report on what we gorged ourselves on. Everyone's agreed to share their recipes with me and I will post over the next couple of weeks.

Appetizers
I opened a bottle of Segura Viudas Heredad Reserva Cava, a great Spanish sparkler, to go along with the yummy nibbles everyone fixed. It's a great easy-to-drink wine that stands up to food nicely. (And the pewter accents on the bottle makes it look even more elegant. It's a great gift idea. It's only $18, but LOOKS much more expensive.) I made a recipe I got in a cooking class with Ann Greer at Central Market this week. Green Chile Phyllo Puffs. The toastiness of the phyllo was perfect with the sparkling wine and the spice of the chiles was a nice contrast. (I'll share the recipe with you in the next couple of days.) Others brought Parmesan puffs, rosemary marinated mushrooms and Gorgonzola and pear on baguette slices. Each brought something different out in the wine. Earthiness. Sweetness. Citrus. Delicious all the way around.

First Course
We were treated to not soup or salad, but both! A winter salad with spinach, red onion and a tangy vinaigrette with curry as its secret ingredient. And an onion soup, but not the traditional one you're thinking of. This one has chicken stock as its base and is perfectly delicate enough to let the clean flavor of the onions shine through. Both paired beautifully with Masi Masianco, a white blend of Pinot Grigio and Verduzzo from Italy. Brought out the herbal spiciness of the salad and the natural sweetness of the onions--now THAT's a versatile wine!

Second Course
The chefs on this course said they were bringing pasta. What they didn't say was that they were making the most decadent wonderful macaroni and cheese any of had ever put in our mouths! Creamy with Gruyere and Cheddar, it was topped with a perfectly crisp panko bread crumb crust. The wine pairing was ingenious-Georges DuBoeuf Beaujolias Nouveau, a fruity red. It had enough acidity to cut through the fat of the cheese, but was soft enough not to overpower. I'm usually not a fan of Beaujolais, but this year's vintage is not as cloyingly sweet as ones I've tasted before. It's a great buy at around ten bucks. (I cheated too and went back and had a taste of my Masianco with this course. Also a great pairing.)

Third Course
I was in charge of this one and made Braised Short Ribs. It's a great slow-cooked dish that pairs perfectly with a nice spicy red, especially if you use the wine you're serving as a part of the braising liquid. The recipe is here. I served them over either mashed potatoes or polenta, diner's choice. With it, we uncorked a bottle of Crios de Susana Balbo Syrah/Bonarda from Argentina. It's got good brambly blackberry fruit and a spicy heft that stands up to the fattiness of the beef.
Fourth Course
We went with cheese on this. I got great advice the other night from a cheese specialist at Central Market. Rather than opening a bigger red wine like I always do, she suggested we just keep drinking our main course wine. It was a good call. So we kept drinking the Argentinian red with a selection of cheeses. A soft white-crusted French cow's milk cheese called Brillat-Savarin. Murcia al vino, a firmer goat's cheese from Spain with a wine-washed rind. My cheese find of the year-Walserstolz, a nutty Austrian cheese. (It's only made this time of the year so scour your Central Market and Whole Foods to see if you can find it.) English Stilton to please the blue cheese fans. And a wild card. Tangy Humboldt Fog, an American artisinal goat cheese with a thin line of vegetable ash running through it. All were great with the wine. With a couple of crackers, baguette slices and Marcona almonds, it was a great after-beef kind of snack.

Fifth Course
And then all the stops were pulled out. Not one but TWO desserts. A chocolate cranberry cake with brandy-infused whipping cream. And then a handmade tart with pastry cookies, lime curd and fresh berries. (I've never seen raspberries so huge!) And another creative and wonderful wine pairing too. Il Moscato from Mionetto in Italy. A sweet sparkling dessert wine topped with a crown cap. So we opened it like a bottle of beer and enjoyed it's citrusy honeyed tones. Stood up to the chocolate (Just like the Syrah did. I cheated again and drank from my leftovers.) and also complemented the fruit dessert perfectly. The lime curd was a savvy unexpected choice...and it actually brought out some herbaceousness in an otherwise very sweet wine.

Here are a couple of hints I learned over the course of the evening.

First, please be responsible. There is a lot of drinking at an occasion like this so be prepared for long conversations over coffee after dinner. Or cab rides. Or even overnight guests. Don't make a festive occasion turn tragic from unintended consequences.

Second, take time to think and talk about what your tasting. Everyone's palate is different and you can learn a lot from discussing with your dinner partners about what they think works and what doesn't. And if you're not taking time to really enjoy things, it's really all been a wasted effort asn't it?

Finally, experiment. Leave a sip or two in your glass with each course and then go back and see what other wines work with what foods. You'll sometimes be surprised and it will encourage to try new and unexpected pairings. Whether it's red with mac and cheese or white with beef.

So, hope this inspires you and your friends to have your own pot-luck wine dinner. And no need to get fancy. Wine's good with burgers, simple salads, and seafood. So have everyone pick their favorites and then program from lightest to heavier dishes (and wines). It's a lot of fun!

Bon appetit... and cheers!