I'll be doing a dinner for wine geek friends next week. I have a number of more standard ideas for wine matches but I thought it might be interesting to hear what people here would recommend for the following dishes (particularly any unusual pairings):
Tobacco Smoked Scallop and Chicken Liver Paté Wonton
PX truffle glaze, porcini foam, tarragon purée
Scallop is pan seared, PX Sherry and truffle oil, porcini foam is extract of the mushrooms plus herbs and stock etc, tarragon/spinach/butter purée.
Apple soup
curried white chocolate foam
Or probly a root veg salad with strawberry vinegar. Soup would be winey apple flavour, some acidity, creamy foam of vanilla white choc with Garam Masala or similar spicing.
Fried John Dory
braised red cabbage, mustard sauce
Not battered but floured and shallow fried. Mustard sauce is butter based.
Chinese-Style Braised Pork Belly
apple purée, pickled fennel, caramel-soy sauce
Pork belly is the traditional soy sauce/ginger/stock/rice wine/hoisin/spring onion style braise. Fennel braised in vinegar. Wine braised apple purée.
Slow Cooked Rib Eye
date miso, melted leeks, Stilton-horseradish sauce
Leeks cooked in butter, cider and stock.
Cheese
whipped Brie & croutons, poached apple encased St Agur & mustard
Self explanatory.
Chocolate peanut semifreddo
peanut tuile, dark caramel ice cream, chocolate paint
Think upscale snickers with accompaniments I spose. Intense choc, salty peanut, creamy icecream. Paint is dark choc-Bergamot. Would anyone dare to match a wine with this, or just a coffee?
Cheers.