Simple meat and pasta dishes call for the right wine match
Pasta dishes need not be complicated or lengthy to prepare. In fact, the fewer the ingredients, the more defined the flavours in the dish, thus calling for a distinctive and matching wine partner.
Adding sausage to pasta adds weight and interesting flavour. All the dish requires, besides this protein, is one sautéed vegetable, quality olive oil, grated Parmigiano-Reggiano, sea salt and freshly ground black pepper.
Primal Cuts at 550 Lansdowne St. W. prepares on the premises a whole variety of delicious, fresh sausages sourced mostly in Ontario through sustainable farmers, without GMOs, hormones or antibiotics. Their sausages are also gluten-free.
Here are a few sausage varieties with ingredients and their best pasta and wine matches:
Maple and Bacon Brittle Sausage: contains pork, maple brittle (call first to make sure it is in stock.) With some sweetness in this sausage, choose or prepare a pasta celebrating sweet potato or yams, such as Sweet Potato Gnocchi with Maple Bacon Brittle Sausage, Sage and Brown Butter. Pair this dish with an off-dry Riesling or off-dry Gewurztraminer. The sweetness in the wine is best to match the same level of sweetness in the pasta dish.
Chicken Sausage: Ground chicken, Crimini mushrooms, rosemary and garlic (call first to make sure it is in stock). How about Mac and Brie with Roasted Garlic and Chicken Rosemary Sausage? This dish would sing when served with a chilled glass of Ontario Pinot Noir. The wine has earthy tones that match the earthiness in the mushrooms. The rosemary has pleasant bitterness that pairs nicely with the wine’s finish.
Hot Italian Sausage: Pork, salt, pepper, sugar, smoked paprika, cayenne, chili flakes, fennel seeds, coriander seeds and red wine vinegar. Orecciette with Hot Italian Sausage and Sweet Peas in Olive Oil and Parmigianno-Reggiano needs a wine with some sweetness to offset the heat and spice. A new world Merlot with dark berry fruit and soft tannins does not negatively counter the heat and spice in the sausage.
Square Nail Sausage: Pork, caramelized onions, thyme, parsley salt and pepper. This is another sausage that tastes fabulous in a sweet potato or butternut squash-style pasta dish. Again, choose an off-dry Riesling or off-dry Gewurztraminer.
The Log Driver (Poutine Style): Pork, cheese curd, kettle chips, beef gravy, caramelized onion, salt and pepper. This fun and tasty sausage should be tossed with macaroni, garlic, bacon and butter and paired with a big, fat barrel fermented and aged Chardonnay.
Other fun combinations include:
• Rigatoni with Chicken Sausage with Spinach and Lemon
• Pasta with Chicken Sausage, Artichoke Hearts and Sun-Dried Tomatoes
• Rigatoni with Hot Italian Sausage and Fennel
• Baked Ziti with Pork Sausage Ragu
• Pasta e Fagiolli with Beans and Maple Bacon Sausage.