December 12, 2011 Lamb, rice and sugar snap pea sautèe

Dinner - December 12, 2011 Lamb, rice and sugar snap pea sautèe

Today I went on a quest for the best under $10.00 bottle of Pinot Noir in Albuquerque.

I bought a bottle of Pennywise Pinot at Costco for $7.89 and bought 5 bottles of Chalone Monterrey County Pinot at Whole Food for $9.99 per bottle (less a 10% discount).  I also bought a bottle of Pazo Serantellos Albarino 2010 at Whole Foods for $12.99 that a knowledgeable service assistant recommended, (“dry and crisp”) and a bottle California Leese-Fitch Sauvingnon Blanc 2010 at Costco for $7.99 that was rated 90 points.

So at dinner I wanted to try one of the newly acquired Pinots and so we decided to make a dish that used up some of the leftover grilled lamb.  Since I worked until after 7:00 p.m. Suzette decided to do a simple sautèe in one skillet, so Suzette sautéed in one large skillet 1 cup lamb, ¼ cup brown onion, two cloves of garlic pressed, about ¾ cup of our PPI basmati and wild rice and golden raisin combo, ¼ cup of chopped almonds, about 1 cup cubed white mushrooms, and about ½ cup of threaded sugar snap peas.   We decided to open the bottle of Pennywise Pinot and we each took one half of the pile of sautéed food in the skillet.  It was delicious.  The PPI lamb had been grilled to rare so did not get dry out and imparted some of its remaining juices to the sautèe as it cooked.   We did not add salt to let the natural flavors of the ingredients blend.  The dish’s texture was varied and interesting; the softness of the onion, mushrooms, lamb and rice contrasted with the crunch of the sugar snap peas and almonds.  I though the dish’s distinctly Middle Eastern flavor would be enhanced with a sauce of some kind, so I went to the fridge to see if I could find some harrisa, but only found a Swat Pakoda chutney.  The spicy tamarind chutney blended really well with the lamb and rice dish and added a fruity, spicy flavor to it.  The light pinot also complemented the subtle combination of flavors in the dish. 

The Pennywise Pinot was really good; a clean tasting French style Pinot; a legitimate contender for best Pinot under $10.00, unlike the previous candidate.

After our light dinner we still had some pinot left so Suzette went to get an opened bag of French dark chocolate truffles and I went to the fridge to get some Saint Andre cheese and French bread, so we could try the wine with those items.  The wine was great with both, but especially with the creamy Saint Andre on warm toasted slices of French bread.  The chocolate overwhelmed the pinot a bit in my opinion, but that really is not the point with chocolate anyway, is it?

Then we ate a little fruit cake to see how the rum had soaked in.   A lovely meal by the fire as a cold rain fell outside and we watched a Christmas Hallmark movie called “The Perfect Recipe”; a romantic comedy about a lovely woman struggling to get her writing career as a food critic going at a New York magazine and a young, handsome chef trying open his first restaurant on a shoestring who cooks gorgeous fresh Greek food.  A perfect movie for a perfectly simple, yet elegant Greek style dinner.

Bon Appètit