Wine Recipes
Enjoy some of our favourite recipes, created with local ingredients to showcase local flavours. Each recipe is created to match our wines. As they say things that grow together, go together.
Wine Pairings
Food and wine pairing is always a tricky thing. As much as you try to remember the “rules” about how to pair wine with food there is always something new to learn. In our recipes we provide a few tips and tricks to pair wine with food.
Recipe 1
Strawberry Gaspacho
Ingredients
1 1/2 flats local stawberries
6 cucumbers
6 st david peppers, yellow
1 1/2 cup maple syrup
3 cups white wine vinegar
1 tbsp local hot sauce
method
place syrup, vinegar and hot sauce into a pot and reduce by 1/3
place cucumbers and yellow peppers into a food processor and blitz until desired consistency
hull strawberries and blitz in a food processor until happy with the consistency
add the liquid, strawberry mix and rest of the ingredients
season with salt and pepper
Recipe 2
Scallion and Asparagus Tart with Farmers Market Blue Cheese
Ingredients
1 savory tart par baked (made or bought at market)
2tbsp sautéed leeks
1 whole egg
5oz 35% cream
2pc cherry tomatoes
3 pieces blanched asparagus
2 oz farmers blue cheese
salt and pepper to taste
1lb hand-picked local greens
1oz hard cider vinaigrette
Method
Arrange the blanched and cooked vegetables into the tar shell as you see fit
season with salt and pepper
mix egg and cream to make a custard
pour custard over the vegetables in the tart shell and bake at 350 degrees. The egg should be set and the tart slightly brown
place the farmers cheese on top once the Quiche is set and gratinate under the broiler for 2-3 mins
Recipe 3
local Cider Vinaigrette
1 btl local hard cider
2tbsp honey
3oz local apple cider
zest lime
2 tbsp lemon
1 oz local white wine vinegar
9 oz vegetable oil
place all ingredients but the vegetable oil into food processor.
with the food processor on high..slowly add the vegetable oil in a steady stream until vinaigrette is emulsified
Recipe 4
Potato and Cheddar Ravioli with Spring Pea, walnut and Mushroom Butter
Tools
food Processor, pasta machine, basic tools of the kitchen, ravioli mold
Ingredients
Pasta (simple)
500g All Purpose Flour
5 farm fresh eggs
Filling
2 white or yukon Gold potatoes
3 oz old Cheddar
1tbs butter
salt and pepper to taste
Garnish
1 cup spring peas
3tbsp unsalted butter
1 cup mushrooms ( or other local vegetable)
1/2 cup asparagus
2 cloves garlic
1/8 cup Toasted Walnuts
2 tsp lemon juice
Method
Place flour and a touch of salt into food processor and turn on.
While the food processor is spinning slowly add the eggs one at a time.
Continue until the dough resembles corn meal.
take out of the food processor onto a clean surface and knead the dough together.
wrap and set aside for a few hours or the night.
Clean, peel and place the potatoes into a pot of salted water and cook until soft
Strain the potatoes and mash with a fork.
Season and add the cheese once the potato has cooled a bit
Mix with wooden spoon until together
To make Ravioli
Cut the dough into quarters
Roll out with a rolling pin until thin enough to fit into pasta machine.
Roll the pasta out until thin enough to cook quickly..(usually 6 on a pasta maker)
Lay over the ravioli mould and fill with the potato filling
Brush around the filling with water and lay another pasta sheet over top
Roll with rolling pin to seal
Cook in boiling water until tender
Clean the peas out of the shell into a bowl
Blanch and shock the beans in cold water to keep their green color
Cut the asparagus into ½ inch pieces and blanch the same way.
Drain and set both aside
Thinly slice garlic and but aside
Chop the mushroom as desired set aside
In a pan/pot big enough to hold all three ingredients add a touch of oil
Once hot, sauté the mushrooms till almost done, add garlic and ¼ butter
Add the green vegetables and sauté quickly
Add lemon and nuts
Stir in the remainder of the butter
Spoon over cooked ravioli
Recipe 5
Chardonnay and Local Honey Glaze
1 cup Local white honey
1 cup Pillitteri Chardonnay
1 tsp white peppercorns
1 tsp dried chilis
crush the white peppercorns
add all ingredients into a pot and reduce by half
***this recipe is perfect anytime to spoon over fresh local fruits
Try these simple tips to pair your food and wine.
Red wine typically has more flavour intensity and bolder heavier aromatics than white wine. Thus red wine is often paired with heavier meals. Foods like beef and lamb are perfect with red wines because they have complex and intense flavours which the red wine will not drown out. Red wine also tends to have more astringency which interacts with the fats in red meats to enhance their flavours.
Red wine also pairs well with other complex flavours, things like pizza and pasta with herbal, meaty or spicy characters won’t overpower a red wine and can balance the intensity of flavours.
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Dry white wine, like a Chardonnay (oaked or unoaked) or Pinot Grigio pair well with a number of different meats. Wines like these are probably the most versatile on the market because of their acidity, intensity of flavours and fruit forward aromatics. Dry white’s pair well with chicken, pork, and seafood. They are typically the go to wine for anything from light afternoon snacks on the dock to full ham and turkey dinners (think Thanksgiving dinner here), which is what has led to their widespread popularity.
These dry whites make a good choice when the meal isn’t going to have overly intense and complex flavours or when there is a lot of vegetables being served as the herbaceousness in the food will compliment the fruitiness of the wine. Anything with citrus notes like lemon roasted chicken breast is the ideal companion for a dry white wine.
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Medium dry white wines are very popular as stand alone sippers because of their fruity and floral notes. Wines such as Riesling and Gewurztraminer as well as blended white wines often have a touch of sweetness in them to balance the crisp acidity naturally found in the grapes. Although many people enjoy them on their own, they are great wines for pairing with lunches, light afternoon snacks and dinners with white meat, vegetables or seafood. Seafood and fish is the most common pairing because the acidity in the wine cuts into the fats and oils present in fish, balancing the texture and flavours.
Another common pairing for medium dry whites is Asian cuisine, particularly spicy dishes. The residual sugars left in the wine will interact with the hot spices complementing and muting them, slightly increasing the flavour while reducing the burn the spice creates.
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Most people think that sweet wines are only for dessert and although they are excellent as a dessert that isn’t the only time you can enjoy them.
Often thought of as complicated or difficult to pair, Sweet wine pairing is actually very straightforward, the most important thing to remember is flavour intensity and flavour contrast. Sweet wines have very intense flavours so they will pair well with intensely flavoured foods. Savoury foods like blue cheese or foie gras are historically what people recommend, but spicy grilled chicken or jalapeno burgers are easy pairings.
Remember, when pairing sweet wine like an Icewine that it works well with contrasting flavours. Try to avoid pairing overly sweet foods with sweet wines, and if you are serving an Icewine with a dessert, the Icewine should be the sweetest item in the pairing.
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All our recipes are provided by Chef Collin Goodine of GoodDine Catering. GoodDine catering is Pillitteri’s caterer of choice. Collin strives to produce local and seasonal foods sourcing his ingredients from local farms and markets. Together with Collin we share the philosophy that local matters.
