(Photo by Carlos Sarmiento)
The perfect mid-week meal is here with maximum flavor and the best part is that it can be done faster than you would think, featuring an Asian-inspired noodle dish paired with lovely, silky and nicely balanced Californian Merlot wine.
*Special thanks to the Rodezno family for their kitchen and for suggesting this fantastic recipe!
Let‘s get cooking!
Menu: Stir-fried udon noodles with ground beef and spinach.
Wine pairing: 2018 St. Supery - Rutherford Estate Vineyard Merlot (Napa Valley, California)
Serves 4
Ingredients:
13 ounces of udon noodles
10½ ounces of fresh spinach
9 ounces of ground beef
¾ ounces of freshly grated ginger
⅓ cup of soy sauce
vegetable oil
salt &
fresh scallions, thinly chopped for garnish
Lightly toasted sesame seeds for garnish
Directions:
Heat some oil (approximately 2 tablespoons) in a large frying pan over medium-high heat. Add spinach and sauté for approx. 4 min. Remove from heat and set aside, then wipe out pan.
Heat more oil (another 2 tablespoons) in pan over medium-high and add beef, breaking up as you brown it, approx. 5 min. Grate ginger into the meat and season with salt and pepper. Add spinach and mix well to combine. Keep heat on low.
Bring a pot of water to boil and add udon noodles. Stir gently and let cook approx. 2 min., then drain.
Add udon noodles and soy sauce to the pan with beef and spinach and cook, tossing constantly (and gently), until noodles are coated in a thick sauce. Serve immediately topped with sliced scallions and sesame seeds.
Serve it up!
This dish looks lovely served on a large platter with several wedges of lime on the sides. Or just serve a generous portion in deep bowls with a lime wedge.
Bon appetit! Enjoy!
(Photo by Carlos Sarmiento)
(Photo by Carlos Sarmiento)
(Photo by Carlos Sarmiento)
About the wine…
The 2018 growing season started with a relatively mild winter and spring. There was decent rain in early and mid-January, almost none in February, and a fair amount in March and April which filled our lakes and kicked off the growing season. July was warm and August saw markedly cooler temperatures absent of heat spikes, followed by ideal weather in September and October.
There was a little rain in early October, but warm weather and dry breezes followed, allowing the grapes to hang on the vines longer and further develop their flavors.
Harvest continued through November because of the ideal weather enabling the fruit to stay on the vine with no pressure from Mother Nature. The quality of the fruit was terrific, and the resulting wines show tremendous promise.The fruit was hand-harvested in the cool morning hours and brought to the winery in half-ton bins.
Clusters were sorted using a double sorting system: first, the clusters were sorted by hand then the individual berries were sorted to ensure that only the ideal grapes were chosen. These grapes were delivered to a fermenter for a period of resting on skins.
Warm fermentation temperatures were encouraged along with gentle cap maceration to achieve the desired color and structure before an extended maceration time on skins prior to final pressing.
The wine was transferred directly to barrel where it aged for 19 months. Sixty-five percent of the berries used in this blend were fermented then aged in French Oak barrels for added layers of complexity.
2018 St. Supery - Rutherford Estate Vineyard Merlot (Napa Valley, California)
Tasting notes:
A burgundy shade of red commence this wine. Aromas of black plum and black cherry combine with graphite, milk chocolate, and black pepper with a subtle thread of vanilla from the toasted oak.
This is a generous merlot with nice freshness on the palate show casing juicy blackberry and toasted oak.
There is a cocoa powder texture with smooth tannins and a long finish.
Grapes:
100% Merlot
Food pairing:
Grilled meats, cream-based sauces, caramelized and roasted vegetables, even a rich piece of chocolate cake.
For more information, visit:
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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)
(Phot by Nong V)
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