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Recipes that Pair Well with Wine

by Tim Free


Pizzocheri (from Italy’s Lombardy region, sub-region Valtellina)

Buckwheat pasta with cabbage, cheese and potatoes
This is a great cold-weather (Alpine) dish, appropriate for “after ski”

Ingredients: Pasta(Serves 6-8)
Buckwheat flour (“grana saracena”) 1 2/3 cups Milk 3-4 Tbs
All-purpose flour scant 1 cup Water 3-4 Tbs
Salt pinch Egg, lightly beaten 1 med

If you can find dried fettucine made from Buckwheat flour, it can be substituted for the above. Use about 1 lb dried, cooked al dente in boiling salted water, and the drained.

Ingredients: Layered baked casserole
Potatoes, boiling type (waxy) 1/2 lb Sage (finely chopped) 4 Tbs
Savoy cabbage 1/4 Bitto, Montasio, or Fontina cheese* 1 1/3 Cup
Butter 6½TbsParmegiana Cheese, freshly-grated 1 Cup
Garlic, minced 1 clove Sage leaves, whole 8-10

*Coarsely grated or very thinly sliced

Method (Pasta)
Sift two flours and salt together onto large cutting board. Add 3 Tbs milk and 3 Tbs water to flour; mix well. Add egg and knead together, adding a little more milk and water (if needed) to make dough come together. Allow dough to rest at least 15 minutes, covered. Put a large pot of salted water on high heat (to cook pasta). [This next part works better if you have 2 people.] Roll out pasta into 1/4" thick sheet; cut sheet into 6"X6" squares. Cover any squares that you're not working on immediately. Roll sheets through pasta machine on widest thickness, then reduce thickness gradually until about 1/16” thick or less. Cut it when it gets too lengthy. Sheets to be cut into fettucine should not be more than about 12" long. Fit the fettucine cutter onto the pasta machine and process the thinned sheet into fettucine strips, separate and toss with a little All-purpose flour on a cookie sheet or a second cutting board to keep it from sticking. Reserve and process next 6"X6" square as above. Continue until all of pasta dough has been made into fettucine strips.

Method (Casserole)
Preheat oven to 350°F. Preheat another pot of salted water and peel potatoes. Slice potatoes about 1/4 - 1/3" thick. Wash cabbage and cut into chunks. Cook potatoes and cabbage together until just al dente. Remove and drain.
Cook pasta in first pot of boiling water; melt the butter with the garlic and chopped sage. The pasta will cook quickly, so taste soon and drain it in a colander when just al dente. Layer a large baking dish/casserole with potatoes, cabbage, pasta, coarsely grated Bitto/Montasio/Fontina, most of the Parmegiana, and the herb butter, topped with the whole sage leaves. Place in preheated oven for about 15 minutes (or under a broiler for a few minutes). Sprinkle with the remaining Parmegiana and serve hot with a delicious Nebbiolo wine from Valtellina (Sassella, Inferno, Valgella, Grumello, etc).





Roast Loin of Pork with Prunes, Apples, and Cassis
(Porc aux Pruneaux)
Ingredients (serves 4-6)
Loin of pork abt 2 1/2 lb
Olive oil 1 Tbs
Pepper, freshly ground abt 1 tsp (to taste)
Salt 2 tsp
Green apple, peeled, cored, & sliced 1
Fresh-dried prunes about 8
Butter 2 Tbs
Creme de Cassis (or "Cassis") 6 Tbs
Fresh lemon juice 1-2 Tbs
Rub pork with olive oil and pepper, marinate, refrigerated overnight. Place prunes in cassis, marinate either refrigerated or at room temperature overnight. Rub roast with salt and brown on all sides in skillet. Add more olive oil if needed. Place pork in roasting pan and roast at 350 F for about one hour, until internal temperature is about 150 -155 F. Remove pork roast and let stand for 15-30 minutes. DO NOT wash roasting pan! Meanwhile, saute the apple slices in 2 Tbs butter until softened and slightly browned. Add prunes, cassis. Deglaze roasting pan with a little cassis over high heat. Add this "fond" (deglazing liquid) to the apples and prunes. Reduce over fairly high heat until sauce is nappé consistency (coats the backof a spoon). Season sauce and adjust acidity with lemon juice. Slice the rested pork roast and serve with the prune-apple-cassis sauce.


Mushroom Caps with Ham and Sweet Potato Cubes
(in Orange and Balsamic Vinaigrette)


Ingredients: (Makes 30 hors d'ouvre)
White Mushrooms, about 1 ½ inch diameter*........30
Ham slice, pre-cooked, about 1/4 - 1/3" thick...........1
Sweet potato, medium size.......................................1

Vinaigrette
Zest of 1/2 orange, chopped fine
Juice of 1/2 orange
Balsamic vinegar.............................2-4 Tbs
Olive (or other) oil...........................abt 1/4 cup (as needed)
Salt & pepper...................................to taste
(optional) Red wine vinegar..............as needed, abt 2-3 Tbs


* If you can't find mushrooms this small, you can buy larger ones and sautéé them, which shrinks
them, but makes them harder to handle for their consumers

Pre-heat an oven to 400'F. Prick the potato with a fork and bake it until just barely tender, about 1 hour. Remove from the oven and cool. If preparing ahead, refrigerate the sweet potato.
Make the vinaigrette by combining the orange zest and juice with 2 Tbs balsamic vinegar, and whisk to distribute well. Begin adding oil in a tiny stream while whisking; as emulsion begins to form, you can add the oil more rapidly. Continue adding oil until the mixture thickens. Taste and add more oil, balsamic vinegar, and/or salt and pepper if needed. If you want the vinaigrette to be more tart, you can add some red wine vinegar, which is more acidic than balsamic vinegar. Refrigerate if not using immediately.

Remove the stems from the mushrooms with a sharp-pointed paring knife. If the inside of the mushroom caps are not cleanly devoid of stem, you can easily and quickly remove all remnants of the stem with a small melon-baller. Reserve the stems for another use, such as mushroom-puree soup. The caps can be refrigerated for up to a few days OR used immediately. When ready to serve, place caps on a platter. Peel the sweet potato and slice it into 1/4 inch thick slabs. Cut the slabs into 1/4 inch dice. Remove the ham from its packaging and similarly cut it into 1/4 inch cubes. In a bowl, combine the sweet potato and ham cubes, stirring gently to distribute. Add a small amount of vinaigrette, stir, and add more if you think it is too dry. Spoon the ham and sweet potato cubes into the mushroom caps. Serve immediately.


Phyllo cups with crumbled goat cheese and duck breast "za'atar"


Makes about 40-50 bite-size hors d'ouvre

Phyllo cups
Special tools/equipment: mini-muffin tins (~1 ¾" diameter cavities); pastry brush
pastry cutters* (round, 3 ½ - 4" diameter) (* or same-diameter round cup, etc and sharp-pointed knife)

Ingredients:
Phyllo dough sheets .....about 1/2 lb (1/2 of a standard 1-lb package, sold frozen in supermarkets)
Open package while phyllo is frozen, remove 1 of the two packages inside, and return the
second package to the freezer for another use. Allow first package to thaw, unopened, in
refrigerator overnight. Note: do not open 1/2 # phyllo package until you are ready to use it.

Butter, melted................about 1/4 lb (1 stick)
Goat cheese, fresh............about 1/2 lb
Duck breast 'halves'*........1
Za'atar spice blend*..........about 2 Tbs

* often available packaged this way from supermarkets like Hannaford's
** available from Penzey's Spices (www.penzeys.com) and other spice sellers

You can make the Phyllo cups ahead as much as 2 days without having them become stale.
Phyllo cup method:
Pre-heat the oven to 375°F. Set up a large cutting board on which to work. Make sure that the muffin tins are handy and that the butter is melted. Open the thawed package of phyllo sheets, carefully unrolling them. Remove one sheet and place on cutting board; cover the remaining sheets with a slightly dampened clean dish towel. Using the pastry brush, lightly but completely coat the upper surface of the first sheet with butter. Remove a second sheet and place over the first, pressing lightly to seal, and then coat the second sheet with butter. Make sure you keep the unused sheets covered with the damp towel. Remove a third sheet and place on top of the first two, again pressing lightly to seal. Coat the top of the third sheet with butter. Carefully lift the assembled stack of sheets to a cookie or other baking sheet, and place it, uncovered, in the refrigerator for 5 minutes or so. Remove the first stack from the refrigerator and lift the stack onto the cutting board. Grease the cavities of the muffin tin(s) with melted butter. Using the pastry cutter, cut disks (as many as you can fit, but probably about 8 per stack) and drape each disk over a muffin tin cavity. Press lightly into the cavity, it is not important to get it down perfectly, just to create a reasonable-size cup. Repeat until all the disks are used up. If each cavity of the muffin tin is not filled, remove the second sheet and repeat the procedure. You can continue assembling all the sheets, and then cut the disks, filling as many muffin tins as you have and can fit into your oven at one time. Place in the pre-heated oven for 5 minutes. Remove and carefully place the cups on a cooling rack (they are VERY delicate when baked). Allow to cool, then place carefully in a plastic or other container that has a lid. Eat one to get a sense of its saltiness, flavor, and texture.
Allow to cool another half-hour or so, then cover with lid.


Duck breasts "za'atar"
Remove duck breast half from packaging and place on cutting board. Carefully remove the skin, and discard OR reserve for another use. Season with salt and pepper and top with 1 Tbs Za'atar. Place seasoned-side down on hot grill or heated greased sauté' pan. Coat the upper half with the remaining 1 Tbs of the Za'atar blend. Cook about 3 minutes, then flip and begin cooking second, side, reducing heat slightly. After the second side has cooked for about 3 minutes, reduce heat further and cover the pan or close grill cover. Cook another 3-5 minutes, until the duck breast has lost its raw-look center but is still pink inside. The cooking time is very dependent on the thickness of the duck breast half. Remove from the grill or pan and allow to cool. Can be refrigerated until you are ready to assemble the phyllo cups.

Assembling cups
Place the goat cheese in a bowl and crumble it coarsely. Place cups on a platter. Carefully spoon about 1 tsp of crumbled goat cheese into the cavity of each cup. Place the duck breast on a cutting board, and slice (across the grain) very thinly into ovals. If you want, you can cut each slice in half to cover more cups. Place a slice of duck breast over the goat cheese. Serve immediately.