Daou winery shrimp saute celebrates summer’s bounty
I recently drove up the Pacific coast to the worldclass Paso Robles winery region. The first night I visited the Sensorio light exhibit, where tens of thousands of stemmed spheres lit up the night creating an incredible landscape. It really is a can’t-miss experience. I also had the opportunity to visit several wineries and enjoy lunch paired with their wines. Niner and Daou were my favorites.
Daou winery is up on a hill overlooking the Paso Robles mountains and is quite spectacular. We enjoyed many of their wines along with a luscious lunch of their chef ’s specialties. One of the dishes that we discussed was a seafood saute with tomatoes and their rose wine. I wanted to re-create it when I returned home.
This shrimp dish pays homage to the best of summer’s produce. Quickly sauteed shrimp are mixed with tomatoes, corn, fresh basil and my favorite summer wine, rose. This is one of those dishes that takes just a few minutes to put together and yields huge flavor with little effort required.
Look for large shrimp that have been deveined and tails removed. Make sure to dry the shrimp carefully before sauteing so that they can brown properly. Colorful cherry tomatoes and freshly shucked corn add big flavor. Black olives add a salty finish while fresh basil adds that taste of summer.
Rose wine adds just the right amount of acid to complement the flavors. The butter is needed at the end of cooking to round out all the flavors. Serve this in shallow white bowls on its own or spooned over pasta or polenta. If you are serving this by itself, make sure to accompany it with some crusty bread. What to drink? A dry rose, of course. If you can, try the Daou rose.