Saturday Night - Honey Ginger Shrimp Pasta

I hadn’t done my gorgonzola dip in long time, so that was my starter for the evening. I usually pair this dish with a Robert Mondavi Fume Blanc, but I had picked up a bottle of 2006 Henri Bourgeois “Les Baronnes” from Sancerre (Loire) France. I tried this bottle in February during Wine Club as a counter point to the Kim Crawford Sauvignon Blanc.

http://zippysauce.blogspot.com/2008/02/wine-club-sauvignon-blanc.html

I really liked it then and thought Mick, Amy and my wife would like it too.

I’m finding French white wines don’t ‘blow me away’ or cause me to go ‘Oh my God! This wine is like heaven in a glass’ but instead tend to quietly grow on me as I drink them. The Henri Bourgeois is a perfect example of that. It was gently crisp and refreshing against the gorgonzola dip with a nice minerality to it. I was wasn’t knock out of my shoes by it, but kept going to back to it and enjoying each sip. The four of us killed the bottle very quickly and once it was gone I found myself looking longingly at my empty glass wishing for more.

"Steamy"

With a new recipe, I tend to be some what methodical in my approach. First do the recipe to its exact directions. If the recipe is good, I will break it down and try to make it mine by changing or modifying the ingredients. Case in point, the Honey Ginger Shrimp recipe I did last week –

http://zippysauce.blogspot.com/2008/03/saturday-night-my-turn.html

The recipe was good but after we had it, Mick thought it would be good as a pasta sauce by adding some coconut milk to it. I decided he was right and so that was our main course for the evening.

I picked some fresh Angel hair pasta. I did the recipe the same as I did the last time but added a ¼ cup of coconut milk to the recipe as the pasta sauce base. I want the sauce to be a dry sauce and not drown the flavor of the vegetables and shrimp. I cooked the pasta separate from the sauce but after straining it from the salt water, I added it to the skillet with the sauce and vegetables. The pasta absorbed the last bits of liquid from the pan so I got my dry sauce I was looking for.

"Tiny bubbles!"

The Pinot Gris was a good pairing last time but not perfect so I thought I’d take a shot at another pairing. I went with the Santa Margherita Prosecco Di Valdobbiadene I had at Wine Club this past Thursday.

http://zippysauce.blogspot.com/2008/04/april-wine-club-meeting.html

"You can see the flakes of crushed red pepper... spicy"

The flavour to the pasta was incredible. I couldn’t believe how much of the flavor the sauce the pasta had taken on. It was still extremely spicy, I thought the coconut milk would have help tone down the crushed red peppers but I didn’t seem to help that much.

Mental note - cut the teaspoon of crushed red pepper down to half a teaspoon for next time.

The Prosecco was a bit of a disappointment with the dish. I wasn’t bad but something in the dish was giving it issues and making it seem very sweet. I suspect the ginger or the spice the dish might be the culprits. I think the Cava or the Champagne that we had at Wine Club might fair better.

Trying new pairings is part of the fun of wine matching – not everyone is going to be a winner.

Cheers!

Mark