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Food & Wine Pairing -- Welcome to Summer!

Grilled Tuna with Diced Vegetables and Gazpacho

Fresh tuna, with its rich, red meat, is perhaps the most wine-friendly of all fish. This sleek, swift, ocean swimmer is blessed with more muscle than many of its gilled neighbors; that’s what enables it to swim at speeds of up to nearly 60 miles per hour. And that is why tuna has almost no fat – less than 1 percent by weight. Here, the tuna is served in a pool of gazpacho and garnished with diced raw vegetables.

From a wine-lover’s point of view, just about any varietal will pair harmoniously with the firm flesh of this far-ranging fish. Richly crafted white wines such as Gewürztraminer and Rosé are our first choices. But a seared, rare tuna steak can also be happily washed down with a full-bodied Pinot Noir.

GAZPACHO:

5 tomatoes, quartered
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
1/4 cup minced fresh flat-leafed parsley
Pinch of ground white pepper
1/4 teaspoon sea salt
1/3 cup extra-virgin olive oil
1/2 cup coarsely chopped red onion

VEGETABLE GARNISH:

1 cucumber, peeled and seeded
1 red bell pepper, halved, seeded, and deribbed
1 avocado, peeled, halved, and pitted
1 tablespoon lemon juice
Sea salt and freshly ground white pepper to taste
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
4 tuna steaks (6 to 7 ounces each)
Extra-virgin olive oil for coating
4 sprigs flat-leaf parsley for garnish

To make the gazpacho: In a food processor, combine the tomatoes, herbs, and seasonings. Pulse very briefly, 2 or 3 times, to make a chunky puree. Add the olive oil and red onion. Quickly pulse twice to just incorporate all the ingredients; the mixture should be a course puree. Pour into a bowl and set aside in a cool place.

To make the garnish: Cut the cucumber, bell pepper, and avocado into ¼-inch dice. Put in a small bowl, add the lemon juice, and mix well. Season with salt and pepper. Cover and refrigerate.

Prepare an outdoor grill. (If no grill is available, use an oiled grill pan over medium-high heat.) Salt and pepper the tuna steaks and rub them with olive oil. Let sit at room temperature for 10 to 15 minutes. Place the steaks on the grill and cook until slightly firm to the touch, 2 to 3 minutes per side for rare to medium rare. Transfer the steaks to a warmed platter.

To serve, ladle 1/3 to 1/2 cup gazpacho onto each plate. Place 1 tablespoon of the garnish in the center of the gazpacho. Place a tuna steak over the vegetables. Top the steak with 1 tablespoon of the vegetable garnish. Garnish with a parsley sprig.

Serves 4 as a main course

Food & Wine Pairing to Welcome Spring!

"Dean & DeLuca, The Food and Wine Cookbook" by Jeff Morgan Try these tasty recipes from Jeff's book: Dean & DeLuca, The Food and Wine Cookbook (Chronicle, 2002). It's no surprise they match perfectly with Zmor Gewürztraminer or Pinot Noir.

Sautéed Scallops in Spiced Carrot Juice

In Morocco, carrot juice is popular as a refreshing summertime beverage. Cooks with juicers at home can make their own, or you can easily find fresh or bottled carrot juice at most natural foods stores and specialty shops like Dean & DeLuca.

A touch of cayenne adds spice to this gently sweet dish. Serve it with a sensual, "off-dry" Riesling or Gewürztraminer, a chilled fruity rosé, or a zippy sparkling wine.

8 ounces fava beans or other large shelling beans, shelled
2 cups carrot juice
½ cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, cut into pieces, plus 4 tablespoons
¼ cup diced carrots
¼ cup diced zucchini
Pinch of cayenne pepper, or to taste
Pinch of ground cinnamon
Several gratings of nutmeg
Sea salt to taste
12 large sea scallops (about 1 ½ pounds)
8 ounces dried orecchiette or shell-shaped pasta
4 sprigs flat-leaf parsley for garnish

Blanch the fava beans in boiling water for about two minutes. Drain and pinch off the skins with your fingers. Set aside in a small bowl.

In a large saucepan, combine the carrot juice, ½ cup butter and carrots. Bring to a boil, reduce heat to a simmer and stir until the butter is melted. Add the zucchini, cayenne, cinnamon, nutmeg, and fava beans. Simmer until vegetables are tender, 3 to 5 minutes. Add salt. Cover and keep warm over very low heat.

In a large sauté pan or skillet, melt the 4 tablespoons butter over medium-high heat. Pat the scallops dry with a paper towel and add them to the pan one at a time. Sauté until browned on both sides and slightly firm to the touch. Transfer to an ovenproof platter and keep warm in a low oven.

In a large pot of salted boiling water, cook the pasta until al dente, about 10 minutes. Drain well and divide among warmed shallow bowls. Ladle a generous amount of the carrot sauce over each pasta portion and place 3 scallops on top of each serving. Garnish with parsley and serve at once.

Serves 4 as a main course.

Essential Green Salad with Mustard Vinaigrette

Sometimes, there is nothing quite so satisfying - or so essential - as a simple green salad. It whets the appetite and clears the palate, leaving us refreshed and poised to proceed onward to the next course, no matter how rich or filling it promises to be.

Some dining traditions place a green salad toward the end of a meal. But we find, too often, that a light textured, delicate salad may suffer in this position, overshadowed by the assertive tastes and textures preceding it.

Whatever the greens, make sure they are dried thoroughly after washing, for water droplets inhibit an even coating of the vinaigrette. These droplets dilute flavor as well.

The mustard vinaigrette presented here is easy to prepare on a daily basis. Make sure you use enough mustard, which acts as an emulsifier, holding the ingredients together. A Dijon mustard is recommended. Dried thyme is essential, as it lends a distinctive, clean, mineral essence. (Fresh thyme, being less potent. does not work as well here.)

Your choice of vinegar will influence the taste of your salad dressing. Most moderately priced balsamic vinegars carry a hint of sweetness. Ultra-priced aged balsamics are usually quite heady, sweet, and powerful, and are intended for use as a condiment rather than in a vinaigrette. Red wine and sherry vinegars offer their own unique character, while lemon or lime juice can also provide the acidic edge that gives balance to the oil base. For variety, keep several different vinegars on hand.

First-pressed virgin or extra virgin olive oil remains the culinary standard for salad oil. Its fresh, tangy, fruity qualities provide a natural basis for enhancing and conserving the essence of tender, leafy edibles. But other oils also have their place in the salad spectrum. Walnut, hazelnut, and sesame oils, among others, add their own special, nutty character. Canola and safflower oils are fairly neutral, but work well blended with strong flavored oils that might seem overpowering to certain palates.

And while it’s true that vinegar and wine don't mix, one hundred million French and Italian men and women seem blissfully unconcerned, happily imbibing throughout the salad course. We tend to side with them, enjoying whatever wine happens to be on the table with our salad. White wines, with higher acidity than that of red wines, are less affected by the sharpness of a vinaigrette, but if a bottle of red wine is open, so be it. Just keep in mind that the salad course is probably not the optimum moment to feature your most expensive "cult" wines, red or white.

Salad greens are best tossed in a large wooden or ceramic bowl before serving. (An individual plate doesn't offer enough surface area for an energetic toss.) There are any number of optional additions to the green salad below, such as olives, tomatoes, and avocado. All should be tossed simultaneously with the lettuce.

Vinaigrette:
3 tablespoons virgin olive oil
1 tablespoon balsamic or other vinegar
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
½ teaspoon dried thyme
1 small to medium clove garlic, minced (optional)
Salt and freshly ground pepper to taste

Leaves from 1 head Bibb or other lettuce, or 6 to 8 ounces mixed salad greens

Optional Ingredients:
2 tomatoes, quartered
10 to 15 olives of choice
½ to 1 avocado, peeled, pitted, and diced

To make the vinaigrette:

In a large salad bowl, combine the olive oil, vinegar, mustard, thyme, and garlic, if using. Add salt and pepper. Whisk until evenly blended.

Add the greens and any of the optional ingredients to the bowl. Toss thoroughly until all the ingredients are evenly coated.

Serves 4 to 6 as a first course.

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