More Covid culinary moments: salsa and rosé!

My favourite culinary endeavour right now is making salsa, in particular mango salsa.  

Just the name feels festive and so does the taste with the combination of sweet and contrasting flavours from the spring onion, red pepper, lemon juice and cilantro together with the mango.   Chopping all the ingredients up into small pieces and mixing with the lemon or lime juice makes this a really easy summer garnish.

There are many recipes on the internet but this is the combination I have been making with success and I really like it.   In consideration of friends who may not like cilantro, I serve that separately so people can add it to their taste.   We enjoy this salsa with prosciutto, cheeses, smoked salmon, roasted vegetables and the list goes on.   I have tried making the salsa with nectarines as that fruit has less natural sugar than mangoes but it didn’t really measure up from my perspective.

Rosé seems to be the perfect wine match and we have recently tried two that are new to us:    Zambartas Wineries 2018 Rosé from Lefkada, a Greek grape and Cabernet Franc, and Vouni Panayia Winery 2019 Rosé from local grapes, Mavro and Xinisteri.  

The Zambartas Rosé won a gold medal in the 2019 International Rosé Championship and is a darker rosé colour from the Cabernet Franc grape, similar in colour to the rosés from South West France.  13% ALC by volume.

The Vouni Panayia Rosé from the local grapes of Mavro (black) and Xinisteri is paler, more similar to the rosés from the South of France.  13.5 % ALC by volume.

Both wines offer red fruit flavours including pomegranate and are refreshing, good as a summer aperitif as well as with seafood or Asian style food.  We enjoy them both but in balance my favourite is the paler rosé from local grapes.

It’s time to enjoy the last few weeks of summer, with socially distanced outdoor eating and fresh and refreshing flavours.

Covid Culinary Moments: meat loaf with a difference and wine!

Lamb and feta cheese seems an unusual combination when I first hear of this a few years ago from Swiss/Austrian friends who serve us delicious lamb and feta burgers.

In a Covid culinary moment, I decide to see if I can replicate this combination and search for a recipe for a meatloaf with lamb and feta.   To my amazement, I discover a January 1997 recipe for Lamb Meat Loaf with Feta Cheese on the Southern Living website, a magazine I haven’t seen for many years in Vancouver but I see is still very active and interesting.

I made this meatloaf twice, the second time with great success. The first time, it does a belly flop when I turn it out of the pan.

Here’s how I modify the recipe to my taste: replace the green bell pepper with red pepper, added more fresh herbs, particularly rosemary, add chopped black olives and make a fresh tomato sauce, ‘Classic Tomato Sauce’ from the Epicurious site, rather than a bought sauce as suggested.   Additionally, to avoid the belly-flop routine, I make the full recipe, which is for 8 servings and put all the ingredients including the toasted pine nuts but not the feta cheese and olives, in the food processor for two spins to fully integrate all the ingredients before I layer the pan with the mixture and the feta cheese and olives.     A big bonus with this recipe is that it freezes really well, so I slice the meatloaf and individually pack slices for the freezer.

The big decision, of course, is what wine to serve with it.

My thoughts turn to a Nebbiolo wine from Greece that we enjoy in Nicosia, Cyprus earlier in the year. This delicious Nebbiolo from the organic vineyards of Ktima Karipidis in Thessalia, Greece with its full body tannins, high acidity and distinctive scent of fruit and liquorice would be a good match with the lamb and feta meatloaf with its tomato sauce. In my mind’s eye, I see myself enjoying this Greek Nebbiolo with my newly discovered meatloaf!.  Fantastic!

I have not been to the Thessaly area of Greece but I read that the area is bordered by Greek Macedonia and the Aegean Sea and has a thriving viticulture industry.   The wine waiter at Beba Restaurant, Nicosia, recommends this wine to us. It was a good recommendation, which we thoroughly enjoy.     The Nebbiolo grape is usually associated with high quality wines from the Piedmont area of Italy.

Closer to home here on the West Coast, we enjoy the meatloaf with our house Pinot Noir, which is from the Meyer Family Vineyard in Okanagan Falls, B.C:   also a good choice with the lamb and feta.

Taking time to discover new recipes and imagining wine pairings is enjoyable and creative in these unusual times and brings a smile to my face.

Perhaps the Heartman says it best with his inspiring ♥️ heart creations.

References:

Southern Living magazine: www.southernliving.com

(Search their recipes: Lamb Meat Loaf with Feta Cheese).

Classic Tomato Sauce   www.epicurious.com

Beba Restaurant, Nicosia, Cyprus.   bebarestaurant@gmail.com

Ktima Karipidis   www.karipidi.gr

Meyer Family Vineyards       www.mfvwines.com