Softshell Crab BLT, Crispy Pork Belly, Brioche, Calabrian Chili Aioli Paired with 2007 Etude Carneros Estate Grown Pinot Noir

Welcome back to another pairing from Decanting Napa Valley The Cookbook. This pairing of softshell crab BLT, crispy pork belly, brioche calabrian chili Aioli with a 2007 Etude Carneros Estate Grown Pinot Noir is particularly special because I prepared it in honor of Chef Sue’s birthday.  It is also a bit special because we have been anxiously waiting several months for the arrival of softshell crabs.  Meanwhile, the bottle of Etude Pinot Noir has posed in the wine rack taunting me with that familiar Pinot snicker.

With softshell crabs finally arriving, and a event appropriate for this wonderful pairing I was very excited to prepare this creatively conceived dish.  This is one of those magical recipes where I find myself loving every single ingredient.  But before we press on with the full description, I have to mention a few substitutions.  I was unable to find pork belly, so I substituted oven roasted thick cut bacon.  Mache (a type of lettuce) was also prescribed but not available near home, so I substituted red leaf lettuce adding some nice texture and color.  Finally, I was unable to find the calabrian chilies and used dried pepper flakes as a substitute. All the substitutions worked fine, but I really would have liked to have the pork belly – yum!

For the full recipe you will need to purchase the cook book at Decanting Wine Country.  Sorry, but I will tell you a bit about the dish.  Fundamentally it is a reconstructed BLT sandwich with the wonderful addition of a lightly fried softshell crab.  At the base, we start with a brioche lathered with a generous portion of the pepper aioli.  We then stack on the pan seared and oven rendered pork belly (or bacon in my case).  Next comes the thinly sliced grape tomatoes and lettuce and rather than top our BLT with another piece of bread, we finish it off with a lightly breaded and fried softshell crab.

The flavors in this dish are subtle and complimentary.  Even the pepper aioli adds only a small splash of heat and does not overwhelm the will balanced warm flavors from the pork and the crab.  The three featured flavors derive from the pepper aioli, pork, and crab.  Before seeing this recipe, I had never thought of the crab and pork combination.  However, once presented with the possibility, it made good sense.  Neither have bold or dominant flavor profiles, and we all know that pork belly matches well with just about anything – even crabs!  In this case, it worked beautifully and the dish was extremely well balanced. 

Our tasting crew consisting of birthday girl Chef Sue, Gunslinger Teji, Golf Buddy Steve, and Formerly of Austin Dawn, all commented that in each bight, you not only were treated to a wonderfully balanced set of flavors, but that you could taste each individual component without any one flavor bullying another.  From a textural standpoint, this dish has everything you can imagine from the crisp crunch of the brioche and softshell crab, to the fresh lettuce and tomatoes, and finally to the multi textural bacon (the pork belly would have even been better from a textural perspective).

So far, so good.  However, the crowd was skeptical of pairing a red wine with the delicate flavors of the softshell crab.  Fortunately, the Etude Pinot Noir was a light to medium bodied Pinot Noir that made everyone around the table smile in approval.

Here are the tasting notes from Etude Winery:

“Our goal is to produce a distinctly styled Pinot Noir of the highest quality, a wine that can satisfy any 'Burgundian' urge and yet be proud of its California roots. The 2007 Estate bottling offers inviting cool climate aromatics of raspberry, pomegranate and sandalwood with a touch of turned earth. Classically structured, the palate bursts with flavors of sweet frambois strawberries, red cherries and mocha. The lush fruit combined with the baking spice notes from aging in French oak creates a defined Pinot Noir with elegance and length.”

Also from the Etude Winery website are some notes from 2009 when Robert Parker gave this wine 90 points and said “Etude’s outstanding trio of Pinot Noirs begins with the dark ruby/plum-hued 2007 Pinot Noir Estate, which offers plenty of sweet cherry, pomegranate, wood spice, and forest floor characteristics in its round, gracious, expansive personality. Enjoy it over the next 5-6 years.”

In my opinion, the bright red fruit of this wine was clearly the star with a good supporting structure and earth notes to form a nice balance and full mouth feel.  The fruit forward nature of this medium bodied Pinot Noir perfectly complimented the sweet, rich flavors of the pork and crab.  Had the wine featured darker fruits, I don’t believe it would have worked nearly as well.

At $40 per bottle, this is a wine worth trying.  It would be a pleasure to drink on it’s own, but this wine is a brilliant choice for a broad range of paring options.

As you can tell, I am not rushing my way through Decanting Napa Valley The Cookbook.  I believe this is about the 6th pairing from the cookbook.  I’m sure we’ll return to the cookbook soon.  But for now, I will sit back and enjoy another glass of wine.

In vino veritas, buen provecho.

Craig

Open Faced Steak Sandwich Topped with Sautéed Celery Root and Leeks Paired with 2006 Benziger Family Winery Sonoma County Merlot

For quite some time now, I have wanted to construct a pairing that featured pureed celery root.  Unfortunately, the celery root has not been available for several weeks (at least while I was visiting the grocery).  Well, I found celery root yesterday, and came close to making the celery root puree.  I say almost because as I looked at the stock in the fridge I found a leftover steak from the weekend grill-fest and decided to do something with it – and include the celery root.  The result was an open faced steak sandwich with a mound of sautéed celery root and leeks, oh, and a little cheese to hold the mound of flavor in place.

This wonderful little sandwich is rich in umami and layered with the aromatic celery flavors from the celery root and just a touch of piquance from the cayenne.  Warming the leftover steak in the beef broth was a key part of the process which “rehydrated” the steak and made things nice and juicy.

These flavors were joyously complimented with dark and vibrant flavors of blueberry and pepper supported by soft tannins in the 2006 Benziger Family Winery Sonoma County Merlot.  This Merlot is silky smooth and perfectly echoed the flavors in the sandwich.

I have to admit that like the dish, the pairing was not planned in advance.  Similar to the steak, the 2006 Benziger Family Winery Sonoma County Merlot was a leftover – we tapped into this bottle the night before to enjoy just a taste of our recent shipment from Benziger Family Winery.  We joined the Benziger Family Winery wine club during our January trip to California, and were ecstatic to find this Merlot living up to the wonderful experience we had while visiting the winery in Sonoma County.  We thoroughly enjoyed every wine we tasted, and I highly recommend you give them a visit at www.benziger.com.

Recipe

Ingredients

• 1 leftover steak sliced in to 1/4 to 1/2 inch strips
• 1 loaf of par baked bread (or make your own from scratch)
• 1/2 medium sized celery root coarsely grated
• 1 leek chopped
• 2 cups beef broth
• 1 cup grated cheese (your choice of cheese, but I recommend something mild)
• 1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
• olive oil
• salt and pepper to taste

Preparation

1. Finish baking the par baked bread, in my case it was 15 minutes in a 375 degree preheated oven.
2. Coat the bottom of a small pan with olive oil and place on medium high heat.
3. Add leeks and cayenne pepper.  Sauté for about one minute.
4. Add the grated celery root and sauté until tender.  Season with salt and pepper then remove from heat and set aside.
5. If you time this right, your bread should be done now.  Remove from oven and allow to cool for a few minutes.
6. In a medium sauce pan, bring two cups of beef broth to a simmer.  Just before you are ready to assemble the sandwich, add the steak strips to the broth and warm through.  The idea is simply to warm the meat, not cook it.
7. Cut the bread into 1 inch or so slices.  In my case, the steak made three sandwiches which miraculously meant three slices.
8. Assemble the sandwich by laying slices of steak across the bread, adding a stack of the celery root and leek sauté and lightly coating with grated cheese.
9. Place the sandwiches on sheet pan and place under the broiler until the cheese melts. 1-2 minutes.
10. Remove from broiler and plate with a small saucer of the beef broth (for dunking bread).
11. This is somewhat of a “vertical” sandwich, so bring along a fork and knife.

My apologies for the lack of photography with this post.  It was a last minute thought and last minute happy coincidence.  However, if you give this pairing a go the next time you have a leftover steak in the fridge, I’m confident it will make up for the lack of pretty pictures.

In vino veritas, buen provecho.

Craig