CELLAR & GALLEY
A CHARTER CHEF AND A MASTER SOMMELIER SERVE UP THE PERFECT PAIRINGS
May means the Memorial Day holiday weekend, and to celebrate, Chef Orzechowski is starting with a fireworks-colorful blast of baked fried rice cakes with tuna and scallops, zucchini foam, wasabi, lemon purée, sprouts, pistachios and shredded seaweed.
Domaine Laroche’s 2015 “Saint Martin” Chablis, from Burgundy, France, is equally a crowd-pleaser. This crisp wine is a blend of grapes from the vineyard’s best plots in the Chablis appellation. The nuances bring richness and complexity to the final cuvée of 100 percent chardonnay. Unoaked, this wine is fruity and has a fragrant nose with hints of ripe white fruit and flowers. The aromas of lively lemon zest and apple will pair beautifully with the chef ’s fresh sprouts and pungent wasabi, without overpowering the seafood.
The next course of ginger shrimp and garden salad with avocadolime vinaigrette, red bell pepper mousse, Parmesan foam, tomatoes, radishes and orange fillets will pair nicely with the 2017 Fleur de Mer rosé from Provence, France. This mouthwatering rosé is an ideal match for the intensity of ginger in the shrimp salad, and for the fresh, bright flavors that reflect the wine’s light and fruit-forward aromas.
For the main course, the soy-braised sea bass fillet with pearl barley, edamame-orange purée, watercress, balsamic-glazed beetroot, cucumber nage, tobico wasabi, carrots with dill, and enoki mushrooms can handle a lighter red wine. Pinord’s 2013 “Clos de Torribas” tempranillo crianza from Penedès, Spain, has just enough weight to match the flavorful fish. The wine’s earthy notes will pair with the beetroot and fresh dill. The wine has been bottle-aged for more than a year to achieve more rounded tannins and a brilliant, dark red color with touches of ochre. The oak flavor stands out, coupled with intense spice and enough structure for the dish.
For dessert, the white chocolate and poppy-seed parfait with clementine mousse, mango-balsamic reduction, chocolate soil, fresh berries, grapes, macadamia nuts, candied orange, and mint vanilla applesauce is light and fruity. With a combination of citrus and nuts, a wine such as the Cavatina Premium Sweet Moscato is a match made for this dish. Fresh and elegant, this sparkling wine from northern Italy is made from 100 percent muscat grapes. It has notes of white flowers and peaches on the nose with a hint of almond on the finish. The delicate bubbles are fantastic with this dessert’s texture. Lovely aromas of candied orange and pineapple complement the candied orange in the parfait.