How did we end up with grilled steak in a French inspired mushroom cognac sauce, patriotic potatoes and corn on the cob? Blame our creative wine pairing weekend friends.To be honest. we felt a bit overwhelmed when we received the July Wine Pairing Weekend assignment – a cross over food and wine pairing to cover both Independence Day – July 4th and Bastille Day – July 14th. Any French or American combo would qualify, The possibilities were endless.
We decided to start with what we like, experiment a little, and be flexible and forgiving enough to have a little fun. Advice we would give anyone pairing food and wine.
Notre Souper or Our Supper
We learned the importance of eating local and seasonal on our first trip to France. The food in Paris tasted so much better than anything we had experienced. We came home starving for it. It did not take long to crack the code. Use quality local and seasonal ingredients and even simple meals will taste extraordinary. By the second trip to Paris we noticed the food was different compared to home, but not better.
So like most meals, and in the spirit of the French philosophy on food, we began our meal planning at the local farmer’s market. We scored local grass fed steaks, shiitake mushrooms, and potatoes. Red, white and blue (okay kind of purple) potatoes. What could be better for our French/American cross over meal than capturing the mutual colors of our flags? Meal shopping done, we were leaving when we saw the first of the season, just picked that day, sweet corn. It does not get more American than corn on the cob. The meal did not need another starch and corn was unrelated to the wine pairing, but when opportunity knocked we grabbed it by its ear – literally.
The recipe we made up as we went along. We threw some French into the meal with a mushroom cognac sauce – recipe is below. Everything else was cooked on the grill with the simple seasonings of salt, pepper and good quality olive oil. Quality ingredients shine on their own without a lot of embellishment. We did not even have to butter the corn it was so sweet and fresh. Plus cooking on the grill saved us from heating up the kitchen during this hot summer.
- 2 Tbs. butter
- ½ cup chopped white onion
- 1 Tbs. fresh thyme
- 2 cups chopped shitake mushrooms
- ⅓ cup cognac
- ⅓ cup beef stock
- salt and pepper to taste
- Melt 1 Tbs. butter in saucepan.
- Cook onion and thyme on low heat until onion begins to caramelize.
- Add salt and pepper to taste.
- Add mushrooms and cook until they start to become tender.
- Add cognac and stock.
- Cook over low heat until half the liquid has evaporated.
- Turn off heat and add remaining 1 Tbs. butter. Butter will slowly melt and thicken the sauce.
Le Vin or The Wine
We chose an American wine using (mostly) Bordeaux varietals. Bell Wine Cellars has been at the top of our list for many years. Located in Napa Valley, their wines deliver the quality expected of Napa Cabs but offer surprises compared to the Napa neighbors and French counterparts. Their prices are easier to swallow. We believe buying that level of quality and ageability from Bordeaux, and some Napa producers, would make a bigger dent in the budget, While Bell’s wines age fantastically, they are also approachable and “easy to swallow” in their youth. It is easy to taste a new release and predict how wonderful it will be when it grows up. We always have some Bell wine in our cellar.
Now let’s see what our wine pairing weekend friends cooked up:
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Rockin Red Blog: “Celebrating America & France with July #WinePW”
Great minds….can't beat the red meat/cab pairing in my humble opinion.
Thanks Wendy. Sometimes tried and true is the way to go.
Always a great pairing. Fun way to combine both cuisines too. I'll have to look for Bell, not seen them before but always love to find great values for everyday drinking. Cheers!
We actually got tuned in to Bell when we lived in Little Rock Arkansas. They sell more in one store there than they do in any state outside of CA. Bell makes a sparkling just for the AR market. Great wines.
I like the mushroom cognac sauce on the steaks. I'll have to add that to my grilled steaks this winter.
It was easy and delicious. I think it would be a good sauce for lots of things – baked potato, scrambled eggs, etc. Or simmer it down and serve it as a side.
I love how you "manipulated" the theme. American wine with French varietals. Kudos to you! Your pictures look absolutely amazing!
Thanks. It was a fun pairing. We in the US are sometimes food lucky because we can easily sample from so many different food cultures and make our own creations.