Finding balance, trying Semillon.

Apologies for the poor quality of the photograph. I only had my cellphone camera to work with, and it's best described as crap-tacular. Had you been there, you could have hovered over the plate and inhaled the most delicious, harmonious smells your nose ever breathed in!

I'm patting myself on the back for this one. Despite the decided lack of harmony in my life right now, I managed to make a meal with flavours that were extremely well balanced. I credit it to an afternoon with Dad. Home right now is all awkward moments and long, tiring talks and fretful rest at night; in contrast, my parent's house was an oasis of peace this afternoon. Their backyard has a wonderful garden, and the lush green sights and smells helped to quiet my inner beehive.

I brought with me a treasure of beets--barely out of the ground--from the farmer's market. The noble beet! I can't believe I've neglected this wonderful vegetable for so long! All my life, the only beets I've tried have been of the pickled variety. They deserve more attention; there are few vegetables as pretty, with such a sweet, earthy flavour.

I built the menu around today's wine, which was an Australian Semillon. This grape piqued my interest the other day when I read about it in Karen MacNeil's Wine Bible. Described as honey-like and lightly fruity, I was determined to make it the next grape to check off my list.

This particular Semillon--Peter Lehmann--was cheap and cheerful at $14.95 (LCBO), with pretty artwork on the label (I was an art major, I notice these things). I think the vintage was 2008. Dry as a bone, this wine was extremely zippy, with notes of lime, lemon-thyme and of course, honey. It was lovely and refreshing, served cold but not too frosty, and did a good job of cutting through the fat of our chicken wings. It squeaked over the palate between bites, like a window-washer swiping his squeegee over a dirty window. I imagine you could get a very similar effect by biting a slice of lemon in between mouthfuls. However, having said all that, I wish that the honey and herb notes were a little more pronounced. The citrus flavours and acidity wrestled their way to the top and overpowering the more delicate secondary flavours.

Je-bus Kee-rist. Listen to me. What a wine snob! I guess bullshitting like the rest of those wine experts out there is part of learning to talk about wine. I think this is where my degree comes in handy. In studio critique, we had to master the skill of looking at a piece of artwork, visually dissect it and form thoughts and opinions on what we thought the artwork was trying to accomplish. It's pretty much the same process with wine. You have to use your senses, pull apart the elements, describe them and then decide if as a whole they work together. It's art in a glass. I loved critique in art school and was pretty good at it; so learning to talk about wine should be a cinch.

Okay, getting back on track. The beets, the wings and the honey-garlic salad were brilliant with this wine. I used lots and lots of olive oil in this meal, and the Semillon just sliced right through it. There was definitely an Italian-Mediterranean influence; I'll detail below each dish and highly recommend you repeat the experience.

Italian-Style Chicken Wings

Dad cooked these babies up on the Barbie; in the last 5-8 minutes he lathered on a mixture I'd whipped up which went something like this:

4 T. olive oil
4 cloves minced garlic
3-4 pinches of Italian seasoning
1/2 or more Parmesan cheese (I used the shaky stuff, not the fresh grated)
1/2 c Balsamic vinegar (I'll cut down on this a bit next time).
salt
pepper
Had I remembered to bring it, I would have added fresh chopped parsley from my garden.

It makes a gloppy brown runny paste; don't worry about looks, it's totally delicious.

Sauteed beets with feta

6 beets, washed topped and tailed, cut into wedges
olive oil
sea salt
rosemary
feta cheese

Basically, take your wedges and coat them nicely with olive oil (not too much), grind some sea-salt over top and throw in a couple of pinches of rosemary. Saute those purple lovelies over a med-high heat until soft (it took me 20 min-1/2 hour). I threw in lots more rosemary while they were cooking. When the wedges are cooked to your satisfaction, ladle into a serving bowl, crumbling feta over the beets in layers as you go. Top off with crumbled feta. Gorge self on the most delicious vegetable dish imaginable. Have no guilt in doing so.

The salad had a honey-garlic dressing Karen showed me how to make. No exact measures here, just olive oil, vinegar, a few tablespoons of honey, a buttload of minced garlic and some ground sea salt. Shake in a closed container until it emulsifies. Toss into your salad and voila! Vampires be gone!

We cut up a French stick to go with it as well, 'cause French bread makes the world go round.

Have fun! Don't forget the Semillon!

B.