(Photo by Carlos Sarmiento)
Every opportunity to open a bottle of wine is an occasion. Enjoying an amazing Cabernet Sauvignon makes it memorable. Sharing the food and wine pairing experience with loved ones is just magical.
I had long promised my beloved aunt from Georgia a special dinner and wine pairing next time she visited. Alas, she did and true to my word, I made something new and delectable.
Knowing she was a big fan of fruity (and spicy) sauces and nuts, I decided to try something new and since she's from the Peach State, well, spicy peach sauce for grilled pork chops was just the thing, accompanied by a wild rice pilaf with roasted almonds.
What sealed the meal was a superb (and rare) Cabernet Sauvignon from my friends at St. Supery Estate Vineyards and Winery from Napa Valley, California.
(Photo courtesy of St. Supery Estate Vineyards & Winery)
Let‘s get cooking!
Menu: Grilled pork chops, spicy peach glaze sauce, wild rice pilaf with roasted cardamom almonds.
Wine pairing: 2017 St. Supery - Dollarhide Elevation Cabernet Sauvignon
(Napa Valley, California)
Serves 4
Ingredients
Pork chops:
4 boneless pork chops (approximately 1/2 pound each)
Sea salt
Cracked pepper
Ground sage
Extra Virgin olive oil
Peach glaze:
1/2 cup dry white wine
1/4 cup peach jam
1 scotch bonnet pepper, seeded and deveined and cut into small squares
1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes
1 small shallot, finely minced
1 Tablespoon of extra Virgin olive oil
1 Tablespoon butter
Rice:
1 cup of wild rice rice
1 1/2 cup of vegetable stock
1 tablespoon of salted butter
1/4 cup of fresh Italian parsley, finely chopped
Almonds (for rice):
1/2 cup of slivered almonds
1/4 teaspoon of ground cardamom
Fresh cracked pepper
Peaches (optional grilled garnishes):
4 large fresh peaches, peeled, cored and quartered.
Directions
Almonds:
In a medium mixing bowl, toss almonds with cardamom and add cracked pepper to taste. Mix and then transfer almonds to frying pan or skillet.
Set stove top to low heat and roast almonds for approximately 5-8 minutes. Remove from heat and set aside.
Rice:
In a medium pot, bring vegetable stock to a boil. Add butter and stir.
Add rice, stir well. Cover pot with lid, reduce heat to to low and simmer for 15 minutes.
Remove pot from heat and fluff rice with fork and mix in chopped parsley and roasted almonds.
Peach glaze:
In a small sauce pan heat olive oil on medium heat. Add shallots and cook for 3 minutes, stirring.
Reduce heat to low an
Pork chops:
Preheat grill to 400 degrees F.
Season pork chops on both side with sea salt, cracked pepper and ground sage. Lightly rub olive oil on both sides.
Reduce grill heat to medium-low. Grill pork chops for approximately 10-15 minutes on each side. Cool until internal temperature reached at least 155 degrees F. Remove from grill and let rest for about 3 minutes.
Grilled peaches:
Lightly oil grill grates where you will grill the peaches.
Once the grill is hot, grill the peaches for approximately 3 minutes on each side. Remove from grill and place on dish, setting aside until serving time.
Serve it up!
Family style: Arrange pork chops on a flat long platter and drizzle peach glaze on top of the chops, place grilled peach pieces on the side and on top of chops. On a semi-deep platter, place the rice pilaf and garnish with extra roasted almonds and fresh parsley.
Individual style: Scoop a generous portion of rice on the center of plate. Place one pork chops piece next tot the rice and drizzle peach glaze on top and on the side of the dish. Garnish the side of the plate with some grilled peach pieces.
Bon appetit! Enjoy!
(Photo by Carlos Sarmiento)
(Photo by Carlos Sarmiento)
(Photo by Carlos Sarmiento)
(Photo by Carlos Sarmiento)
About the wine…
An extreme winter in 2017 left California lakes full, which was welcome after several dry years. This groundwater primed the vineyards for what turned out to be another excellent harvest.
Early spring saw lovely days with May quickly warming up. The summer experienced several heat spells and caused the vineyards to accelerate their ripening, while conditions remained dry.
Cabernet Sauvignon harvest kicked off on September 20, 2017. Yields are as expected, and the quality of the fruit is exceptional.
The fruit was hand-harvested in the cool morning hours and brought to the winery in half-ton bins.
At the winery, the clusters were sorted using a double sorting system. First, the clusters were sorted by hand. The fruit then ran through a small de-stemmer that removed stems from the grapes before the individual berries being sorted to ensure that the ideal grapes were chosen.
These berries were delivered to a fermenter where there was a period of resting on skins. Warm fermentation temperatures were encouraged along with gentle cap maceration to achieve the desired color and structure for the wine before an extended maceration time on skins prior to final pressing.
The wine was transferred directly to barrel for 20 months of maturation.
2017 St. Supery - Dollarhide Elevation Cabernet Sauvignon (Napa Valley, California)
(Photo by Carlos Sarmiento)
(Photo by Carlos Sarmiento)
Tasting notes: This cabernet sauvignon presents with deep dark shades of reds and purples.
Aromas of blackberry, plum, and boysenberry leap from the glass and are joined by notes of dark chocolate.
Flavors of black currant and juicy plum follow with toasted oak and a hint of espresso. This wine has brooding flavors, tremendous length, fine texture, and incredible structure.
Grapes:
100% Cabernet Sauvignon
Food pairing: Excellent with grilled and roasted meats, mild cheeses, tomato-cream based pastas.
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Special thanks to my friends at St. Supery Estate Vineyards & Winery for this memorable wine pairing collaboration.
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Decorative wine drip collar by: https://dripstosips.com
(Special discount promo code: CFW15)
(Photo by Johannes Plenio)
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