The food and wine pairing classes I’ve taken at Northwest Wine Academy have had an ongoing influence on me. In Varietals II where red wine is explored at great length, we were tasked with serving a dish to pair with Malbec. I’m now obsessed with pairing food with Malbec. All the time. Seriously. (more…)
Raising a Glass During a Class Presentation
Tonight was the last night of summer quarter at the Northwest Wine Academy. As with all of our food and wine pairing classes, students are required to present a food and wine pairing assignment to the class. The challenge this time was to prepare a menu featuring one wine paired with multiple dishes.
Unlike previous classes where we each prepared and conducted our presentations solo, this one required working in teams. I was lucky to have Bean and Teri as my partners. Bean and I have a lot of “practice” working together on food and wine pairings. After Teri joined us for a virtual tasting, we could tell she shared some of our sensibilities, and brought some new food for thought to the table (pun totally intended!).
Teri Prepping Apricot Graham Snacker
Tabbouleh Salad
This quarter I’m enrolled in the Advanced Food and Wine Pairing class at Northwest Wine Academy. The topic of last week’s class was earthiness. Among the 12 food items served to us this evening by our instructor, Chef Lenny Rede, was tabbouleh salad.
Tabbouleh initially makes me think of lemon. Lemon makes me think of Pinot Grigio. So, I usually drink Pinot Grigio with tabbouleh. In fact we enjoyed the 2008 Elk Cove Vineyards Pinot Grigio with our tabbouleh at dinner the other night. While that is definitely a white wine option, there are possibilities beyond white wine with this salad.
