Dinner With Chef Sidoe

A couple of months ago I was at a friend's wedding, and I sat next to Sidoe, who I know through mutual friends. Now, she is a chef, so this got me wondering if our powers combined we could do a wine dinner for our friends. (She'd be doing the cooking.) This is the result of our effort:

We started off with champagne, the Charles Heidsieck Blanc des Millenaires 1995 -- Rated 95 by the Wine Spectator. AMAZING. And I don't even like champagne (and yes, I've tried the best). The bubbles just popped on your tongue. The finish was dry and crisp, and didn't leave a funky aftertaste. I wish I would have had a man and some strawberries to share it with. We had planned to serve it with some palate-cleansing mint lime sorbet, but the ice cream maker was not cooperating. (Of course Sidoe was making it herself!) The picture (albeit blurry) is of me holding this fabulous champagne.

The first course was a delicious mild cheese, served with a dab of fig jam. I can't recall the name of the cheese (I think it was a type of gouda), but it was delicious. It was firmer than a cheddar, a little salty, and very tasty. Definitely cow's milk. Paired with the fig jam, the salty creaminess of the cheese really stood out, and the jam was not oversweet. We paired that with the Antinori Cervaro Chardonnay, one of my favorites. It has a hint of vanilla, goes great with food. It's bold enough to stand up to a Cakebread Chardonnay, but without the overpowering fruit and oak.

The second course was homemade pesto (some of the best pesto I've had, and that's saying a lot) topped crostini (slices of baguette which have been toasted with a brush of olive oil), with sundried tomatoes and Chevre goat cheese. We paired this with an Antinori Tenute Marchese Chianti Classico Riserva. This is a very classic chianti (hence the name, LOL... actually Classico means it comes from the Classico region of Chianti, the best part). Full bodied, with red berry fruit flavors, not too much tannin, and a dry finish.

The third course was my favorite, Saga blue cheese (from Denmark) stuffed dates, baked and wrapped in uncured applewood smoked bacon. This was heaven in a bite. The salty/sweet combination was perfect! We also paired this with one of my favorite wines, Masi Amarone. We decanted the wine about an hour ahead of time, so it was perfect to drink right away. Amarone comes from the Veneto region of Italy (where my dad is from). The unique thing about this wine is they dry the Valpolicella grapes on mats (so basically they are raisins) before they press them. This gives a heightened sweetness and alcohol content to the wine. Yet, it's big and bold all at the same time. Goes great with steak. Or these little divine bacon date things. Mmm....

And last, but not least, the main course. Thin sliced medium rare NY steak. The BOMB. Sidoe made this delicious demiglace sauce with some of the wine. The steak was paired with sauteed vegetables and a mushroom rice pilaf. I have always loved NY steak. When I was a kid at my dad's restaurant, I always ordered it, since I was born in NYC and I thought I should support my peeps. It must have been really funny to watch an 8 year old girl polish off a whole NY once a week. We paired this bad boy with a Val di Suga Brunello. Brunello is one of the best wines that Italy produces (aside from the recent Super Tuscans). Rich, bold, clean, with only a hint of dark fruit, sometimes blackberry or blueberry. With the steak it was just AWESOME. Of course by this time, our palates were pretty shot, since we were on bottle #5, so we didn't fully appreciate it. But still.

I hate to admit it, but we finished off the night with a couple of bottles of Charles Shaw. (Ah, even I cringe as I write!) The thing is, none of us were driving, so we figured, why not? And we couldn't really taste it anyway. Thanks to all my girls for making this one of the best girl's nights ever!