Thu 25 Jan 2007
I picked up an excellent Riesling from my local wine shop. It paired well with the monkfish I cooked. This time I rushed out the door so I forgot my camera at home. Luckily I got a picture of the wine bottle the day before but missing a chance of showing the starting product was a bit of a letdown. I literally felt like I was thrown into an episode of Iron Chef where the secret ingredient is some slimy creature. “And the secret ingredient is Lockness Monster. Have fun!!!”. When I opted for the recipe a couple of people turned around and said they wondered who was going to take that recipe.
Thank god the head was cut off. Those suckers are ugly. However after skinning and filleting the fish (it has a slimy rubbery skin) the fillets looked like any other white fish you might eat. The cooking procedure was simple. Wrap fillets in bacon, put in oven and check back in fifteen minutes. Bacon wrapped seafood is awesome because it requires little to no seasoning and the fatty bacon allows for mistakes as it keeps the seafood moist. The hardest part of the dish was the prep work and keeping the side garnishes of broccoli and wild mushrooms warm. There was also a butter emulsion sauce made from butter, sherry vinegar and shallots. Lorraine-Alsace is not known for their low fat foods being so close to Germany 
We also had an awesome cheese salad, and a pork and kraut dish among others (sorry no quiche).
This coming Sunday is Burgundy. I am itching to pick up a nice pinot noir which counts among my favorite types of Red Wine (that and chianti). Hopefully I will remember to bring my camera this time around.
Thanks for all those who had suggestions on wine last week. Please feel free to point me in a good direction for Burgundy too. Also if anyone will be in the Boston area around February 10th and 11th there is a huge wine expo going down at the Seaport World Trade Center. With over 440 wineries one can’t go wrong.
January 25th, 2007 at 2:51 pm
It depends on the meal, but there are a bunch of nice burgundys – first, red or white? In white, I like Montagny. Less expensive than some of the really expensive wines (Cassagne Montrachet et al), but very nice (esp. in premier cru).
For reds, anything in côtes de Beaune or Nuits Saint Georges is sure to be good – some of my favourites are Auxey Duresse, Monthelie, Meursault (all very close together) – Pommard is very expensive, but great with heavy red meat. I don’t know Nuits Saint Georges as well – but I’ve had some nice bottles of Fixin and Chambolle-Musigny.
Dave.
January 25th, 2007 at 3:25 pm
hehe it happens that I live in Strasbourg Alsace
January 26th, 2007 at 4:38 am
Err .. did you mean “Loch Ness Monster” ?
January 26th, 2007 at 8:53 am
As I was born in Burgundy, I can tell you it’s an excellent choice: this is the place where you can find some of the best wines in the world. Problem is, you have to know it well as it is also the place for second-grade producers who rely on the name and reputation to sell crap at high prices.
Generally, I don’t buy Burgundy without tasting it before. But of course, there are values that work better than others. For white wine, I consider Chablis (a place northeast of Burgundy, quite far from Dijon) the best choice. In Mâcon and Chardonnay, you’ll also find some treasures. For red wine, I agree with Dave, Côte de Nuits villages and more generally wines around Nuits-Saint-Georges and Beaune are generally safe choices. In Chassagne-Montrachet, Pommard and the like, there are of course outstanding marvels, but also some bottles that aren’t worth their price.