100 Perfect Pairings and Cold Peach Shooters
Ever wonder what appetizer to pair with your favorite bottle of Sauvignon Blanc or Pinot Noir? Tired of giving up in frustration and settling for the same old run-of-the-mill cheese plate or bowl of olives?
Then pick up a copy of food writer and recipe developer Jill Silver
man Hough’s new book, “100 Perfect Pairings: Small Plates to Enjoy With Wine You Love” (Wiley, 2010, $16.95). This lovely hardcover tome, handily packaged in a small format so it’s easy to tote along to the wine shop or grocery store, is organized by the 12 most common wine varietals.
You’ll find everything from Chardonnay to Zinfandel paired with 100 sophisticated, yet easy-to-make appetizers—small plates such as Lobster Claw Slaw (paired with Viognier), Green Apple Caesar Salad (Pinot Grigio), or Peppercorn-Crusted Tuna (Syrah).
Hough begins each chapter with a broad-brush description of the varietal followed by the recipes for that section. The recipes often include more detailed food- and wine-pairing tips, such as “If you want a wine to work with a recipe, it always helps to put the wine in the recipe.” The book also includes 40 luscious color plate shots for inspiration.
Hough’s Cold Peach and Mango Soup Shooters pair perfectly with the fruity, floral, often spicy notes in a good Gewürztraminer. The cool, sweet gulps are sublime for simple summer sipping at a cocktail party, on the patio, or by the pool. They also make a creative alternative to sorbet as an amuse-bouche between courses.
Hough also suggests serving the soup as a first course for a summer-time dinner party. If that’s your plan, double the recipe to make six one-cup servings.
Cold Peach and Mango Soup Shooters
Wine Varietal: Gewürztraminer
Makes 12 Shooters (1⁄4 cup each)
Ingredients:
2 limes
1 ripe freestone (the flesh doesn’t cling to the pit) yellow peach, pitted and cut into chunks
1 ripe mango, peeled, pitted, and cut into chunks
3⁄4 cup buttermilk
1⁄2 cup orange juice
1⁄2 teaspoon coarse kosher salt, or more to taste
Pinch cayenne pepper
12 fresh cilantro leaves
Directions:
1. Zest the limes. Set the zest aside. Juice the limes to yield 3 tablespoons of juice. In a blender or food processor, combine the lime juice, peach, mango, buttermilk, orange juice, salt, and cayenne and process until very smooth, scraping down the jar or bowl as necessary (you may have to do this in batches).
2. Transfer the soup to a container and chill for at least 2 hours. (You can prepare the soup up to 3 days in advance, storing it covered in the refrigerator.)
3. Taste, ideally with your wine, and add more lime juice and/or salt if you like. Serve the soup chilled, each serving garnished with a cilantro leaf and some of the lime zest.
Cook’s Hint: For best results, make the shooters in the summer when fresh peaches are in season. In a pinch, you can use frozen fruit, but make sure it’s unsweetened.
Food and Wine Tip: If your fruit is particularly sweet, you might notice that the soup makes your wine seem a little sour. To fix this, just add more lime juice, a teaspoon or two at a time, until the soup and the wine nicely complement each other.
Photo Credit: Lucy Schaeffer
Jill Silverman Hough on August 30, 2010 at 03:58 PM
Thanks for blogging about my book, Braiden!
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