Welcome to Lost Creek Winery's blog! We are very excited to join the world of blogging. To start things off, I am going to begin a series of wine and food pairings. I love to cook, and I think this will be a great way to feature our lovely wines.
So why not get the ball rolling with chardonnay, a wine that is notoriously difficult to pair with food? Sounds like a challenge! Our chardonnay is tank fermented and aged in stainless steel, so it doesn't have that distinct "oak-y" flavor that chardonnays are known for. This makes pairing it a little easier.... Lost Creek's chardonnay is surprisingly light and fruity.
My research leads me down a few paths. Seafood is frequently mentioned as a good choice for pairing. As are buttery and/or creamy sauces. I was pretty much set on making a shrimp scampi-type of dish, when another suggestion caught my eye: Caribbean food. Now, I have made many a cream sauce in my time, but I can't for the life of me remember cooking a Caribbean dish even once. So here is a great excuse to broaden my international cuisine horizons. Plus, I just so happened to have bookmarked the (hopefully) perfect dish in my recent issue of Everyday Food.
Jerk Pineapple Pork Chops
Everyday Food Magazine, March 2011
Serves 4
Ingredients:
- 2/3 of a whole (4 pound) pineapple
- 1 bunch scallions, sliced crosswise into 1-inch pieces
- 1/2 small habanero or 1 large jalapeno, stemmed and seeded
- 2 teaspoons dried thyme
- 4 garlic cloves, smashed and peeled
- 1 1/2 teaspoons ground allspice
- 4 bone-in pork chops
- coarse salt and ground pepper
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
Directions:
- Cut four 1/2-inch-thick rounds from pineapple; set aside. Cut remaining pineapple into large chunks, discarding core.
- In a food processor, combine pineapple chunks, scallions, chile, thyme, garlic, and allspice and pulse until coarsely chopped. Reserve 3/4 cup pineapple marinade and refrigerate.
- Generously season pork with salt and pepper and place in a 9"x13" glass baking dish along with pineapple rounds. top pork and pineapple with remaining pineapple marinade and turn pork and pineapple to coat. Cover and refrigerate 1 hour (or up to 4 hours).
- In a large skillet, heat 1 tablespoon oil over medium-high. Working in two batches, brush pineapple mixture off pork and cook chops until browned and cooked through, about 10 minutes, flipping once.
- Add 1 tablespoon oil to skillet. Brush pineapple marinade off pineapple rounds and cook until golden brown in spots, 5 to 7 minutes, flipping once.
- Top pork chops and pineapple with the reserved marinade, and serve.
I added some black beans and rice as a side. The results were surprisingly delicious! The marinade and topping were complex without being overwhelmingly spicy. The chardonnay really complemented its garlic flavor. The pineapple was a perfect pairing with the chardonnay, emphasizing the wine's fruity undertones. And the allspice was such an interesting addition. It warmed the whole dish without overpowering it, giving it a certain je ne sais quoi; perfectly subtle for a chardonnay pairing. This dinner let me escape a dreary, rainy March evening, and transported me to a warm, breezy beach in Jamaica. One can dream.....
For further information on pairing chardonnay with food, check out these links:
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