Two friends and I got together over the weekend and tried to
pair some cheap wines with some Asian food that we cooked!
Dishes:
o
Thai Red Curry w/ Chicken
o
General Tso’s Chicken
o
Indian Karahi Curry Chicken with Green Bell
Peppers
Wines:
o
2011 Crane
Lake Gewürztraminer
o
2011 Redwood Creek Pinot Noir
Cooking the Dishes:
A) Thai Red Curry w/
Chicken
o
Heat up lemon grass, fry onions and garlic
o
Fry some red curry paste in coconut oil
o
Add in coconut milk, fish sauce and blend
o
Add in chicken and cook till tender
B) General Tso’s
Chicken
o
Bread chicken with cornstarch and white wine
vinegar
o
Coat chicken in General Tso’s sauce (make or
buy) and bake at 375 degrees Fahrenheit for 15-20 minutes
o
When chicken is almost done, take out and fry
with broccoli and green onions; add red pepper flakes
o
Serve with white rice (cooked on stove)
C) Indian Karahi
Curry Chicken with Green Bell Peppers
o
Fry onions till dark, dark brown
o
Add garlic, then ginger, then tomato puree and
fry down so that the water evaporates
o
Add various spices including turmeric, red
pepper, coriander, cumin, karahi flavoring, and some Indian herbs for which I
do not know the American translations
o
Add chicken, 2 tablespoons or so of water, and
stir the chicken around in the sauce that was previously made
o
When the chicken turns fully white, add bell
peppers and cook till completion
D) Rice
o
One white, Basmati rice cooked with no flavoring
o
One white, Basmati rice cooked with vegetable
bouillon flavoring
Wines and such:
o
2011 Crane
Lake Gewürztraminer
o
Varietal:
Gewürztraminer
o
Region: California
o
Country:
United States
o
Year:
2011
o
Price: $4.99
Winery Review:
Floral, spicy aromatics and slightly sweet lychee-nut taste,
are an excellent match for fresh fruit and cheeses and a good complement to
many simple fish and chicken dishes.
Gewürztraminer
Description:
Gewurztraminer is a pink-skinned
grape variety that produces some of the most distinctively aromatic wines in
the world, an intense style that also polarizes people. Ardent fans of
Gewurztraminer adore its highly perfumed scents and slightly spicy flavors,
while its detractors lament its lack of acid and obvious fruit tones. Few, however, would
deny Gewurztraminer’s presence on the olfactory radar.
My Review:
Mmm. Absolutely and positively one of the best things I have
smelled, wine or not. I got huge wafts of melon and citrus at first as I tried
to put my tongue on what I was smelling. GOT IT! It smelled like canned
lychee-nuts, very pungent and delicious. If you have not tried lychee, you are
missing out. Go to your local grocery store and if they don’t have it, check
out an Asian or another ethnic grocery store. The body was light and delicious
with just a bit carbonation. Huge flavors of lychee with melon complementing
it. Overall, a light wine, great aroma, smooth finish and overall crowd
pleaser. Everyone enjoyed it, it is a fruity wine, not too complex. You should
try this fruity wine as a way to explore the Gewürztraminer market.
This wine was recommended as a pairing with spicy food so I
paired it with my spicy Indian chicken. It was a great refresher! The wine
brought out some of the bell pepper and green undertones in the Indian dish.
This wine would go well with simple, yet possibly spicy poultry and fish
dishes. Great summer wine!
o
2011 Redwood
Creek Pinot Noir
o
Varietal:
Pinot Noir
o
Region: California
o
Country:
United States
o
Year:
2011
o
Price: $5.99
Winery Review:
We make our Redwood Creek Pinot Noir in
a classic New World style, with up-front fruit and soft tannins. This
medium-bodied wine has rich notes of dark cherry, brown spice and clove, making
it a versatile partner to salmon, duck or filet mignon.
Pinot Noir
Description:
Pinot Noir is the red wine grape of Burgundy, now adopted (and feverishly studied) in wine regions all over the world. The variety's elusive charm has carried it to all manner of vineyards, from western Germany and northern Italy to Chile, South Africa, Australia, and perhaps most notably California and New Zealand. It is the patriarch of the ‘Pinot’ family of grape varieties – so called because their bunches are similar in shape to pine cone (pinot in French).
Pinot Noir is the red wine grape of Burgundy, now adopted (and feverishly studied) in wine regions all over the world. The variety's elusive charm has carried it to all manner of vineyards, from western Germany and northern Italy to Chile, South Africa, Australia, and perhaps most notably California and New Zealand. It is the patriarch of the ‘Pinot’ family of grape varieties – so called because their bunches are similar in shape to pine cone (pinot in French).
Pinot Noir may be the toughest grape to
grow, but the effort is often well worth the constant care and investment. It
is a fickle grape that demands optimum growing conditions, opting for warm days
consistently supported by cool evenings. As for style, Pinot Noir is typically
a lighter-medium bodied, fruit-forward red wine.
My Review:
An okay nose, I got hints of plum-like tartness, dark
cherries and black raspberries. There was also a slight Christmas spice
component on the nose. The body was very light and smooth but a total let down
for me. Although the nose wasn’t explosive, it left for more to be desired in
the weak body. It tasted watered down, not real explosive flavors, a dark
plum/cherry if anything. Definitely not a Pinot Noir I’d recommend or try
again. It barely had any tannin structure either and was overall flat.
This wine didn’t go well with anything. It tasted alright
complementing the slight sweetness of the General Tso’s but that was it.
Overall, a definite pass.
Overall, I had a blast cooking. I am an avid chef and enjoy
cooking Asian food so this dinner was a pleasure to create with the help of my
friend Tim. The dish that was the most labor intensive was the Indian curry
chicken dish but hey, if you don’t work a little, how good will the food taste?
Finally, regarding the wines, I plan to drink the Gewürztraminer again on a hot
summer’s day but will not go about trying Redwood Creek’s 2011 Pinot Noir.
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