Saturday Night – Mick’s busy in the kitchen – Part 1

Mick and Amy had us over for dinner this past Saturday for our usual Saturday night get together. Mick had a new recipe on tap as well as an old favourite.

For the first course, Mick dove into his cooking Bible, the Weber Cookbook, and found a recipe for Grilled Crab Cakes with a Mango Salsa.

"Crab and Mango?"

Mick picked a 2005 “Les Vénérables” Chablis to pair with the crab cakes.

The nose on the Chablis was a pleasing mix of lilac and orange zest. Tasting the wine you were rewarded with grapefruit, wet stone and a hint of soapiness. The balance on the wine was decent though a touch acidic. It was a good pairing with the food but could be awkward at times if you had a lot of mango and not much red onion or crab cake in your previous mouthful.

"No questioning that this is a French wine!"

Here is the group rating for the wine – Mick - 88, Mark - 86, Kathy – 86, Amy - 88, Overall – 87.

Here is the LCBO Information on the wine –

La Chablisienne Vieilles Vignes Chablis

Vintages 942243
750 mL bottle
Price: $ 24.95
Wine, White Wine,
12.6% Alcohol/Vol.
Sugar Content : XD
Made in: Burgundy, France
By: La Chablisienne C/O Bcb Export
Release Date: Dec 5, 2009

Description - Vieilles Vignes, or Old Vines, yield less fruit, but these precious grapes are endowed with a greater concentration of flavours. This intense, consistently excellent Chardonnay presents aromas of sweet apple, chalk and citrus. This is classic Chablis: dry and steely, with a long, crisp finish. It would pair equally well with oysters on the half shell, or pasta with olive oil and crumbled goat cheese.

The crab cakes were quite good but a touch dry at times. The mango salsa with the red onion and cilantro was very good as well. The combination of mango and crab wasn’t perfect though and we discussed options for both. The mango salsa would be an awesome pairing with grilled Salmon and the ladies and I thought that Mick’s Chipotle mayo with the crab cakes would be killer. Mick agreed to try these suggestions in the future and I’m already looking forward to it.

Click here for Part 2