Every year I get to travel and visit a large number of countries, either as a « flying winemaker » or to promote my wines. I never miss the chance to discover the diversity of the local cuisine. Once I have understood what people eat I can envisage matching my wines with the food.
Naturally we suggest wine pairings with French dishes, but here I invite you to discover food and wine pairings proposed by chefs from around the world: the first country to be featured is Canada.
The chef at “Maple Leaf Tavern” in Toronto, is a native of the Scarborough district, Toronto. For over twenty years, he has officiated in the best of Toronto’s restaurants, and has never missed the chance to perfect his mastery, whether in the company of his peers in Toronto or during his trips abroad. Jesse also teaches at the Georges Brown cooking school, Toronto and contributes to several publications: DineTo, Serious Eats and Good Food Revolution.
Restaurant: Maple Leaf Tavern – A modern tavern proposing North American specialities.
955 Gerrard St East – Toronto, Ontario – Canada – M4M 1Z4
www.mapleleaftavern.ca
The dish: Shoulder of wild boar glazed with red wine, salt-baked parsnips, Hollandaise sauce with black pepper & blueberry and olive condiment.
Wine pairing: With this robust dish, Jesse Vallins recommends Arcane le Diable, the richness of this wine with its smokiness and blackcurrant notes match well with the wild boar shoulder. Mourvèdre always makes an excellent match with game and rich sauce dishes.
Serves 4
Ingredients
1 boned shoulder of wild boar, approximately 1 kg
15 g salt
2 g finely ground black pepper
2 sprigs of fresh thyme (leaves only)
1 large clove of garlic
3 tablespoons olive oil
500 ml full bodied red wine
500 ml chicken stock
50 ml red wine vinegar
The day before, season the meat with salt and pepper, and then rub it with olive oil, garlic and thyme– cover and leave overnight in the fridge.
Take the shoulder of wild boar out of the fridge and leave to stand for 20 minutes at room temperature before starting to cook it.
Roast the shoulder in the oven at 135 C° for 3 hours.
Whilst it is cooking, pour the red wine, chicken stock and vinegar into a heavy-bottomed pan and, stirring constantly, bring the mixture to the boil. Then lower the heat and leave it to simmer until it obtains a syrupy consistency.
Take the meat out of the oven, cut it into 8 equal portions, then put these under the grill for one minute, or ideally on a charcoal barbeque.
Coat the wild boar pieces with the red wine sauce and serve with the parsnips, Hollandaise sauce with pepper, and the blueberry and olive condiment.
Ingredients :
200 ml clarified melted butter
3 egg yolks
50 ml white wine vinegar
1 pinch of salt
3 g of course ground black pepper
Put the vinegar, egg yolks and salt in a metal bowl over a bain-marie, and whisk vigorously until it’s thick enough to form a foamy ribbon.
Lift the bowl off the bain-marie and whisk in the clarified butter, incorporating the pepper whilst still whisking the mixture. Then, keep it warm until you want to serve it.
Ingredients :
1 kg fresh blueberries
150 g granulated sugar
Lemon juice
200 g chopped stoned black olives
Method:
Put the blueberries, sugar and lemon juice into a heavy-bottomed pan and bring to the boil.
Then lower the heat and leave it all to simmer, for about 45 minutes, until the volume has reduced by two thirds.
Take the pan off the heat and leave to cool down for one hour.
Mix in the chopped olives, cover and keep in the fridge until needed.
You can use this condiment to accompany cured meats, cheese and cold meats.
Serves 4
Ingredients:
8 medium parsnips
1.5 liters table salt
2 sprigs of rosemary
300 ml water
Method:
In a large bowl mix together the salt, rosemary and water until you obtain a damp sand-like consistency. Flatten out a ¼ of this mixture into an oven dish and lay the parsnips on top. Completely cover the parsnips in the oven dish with the rest of the mixture.
Bake in the oven for one hour at 210 C°, remove the dish from the oven and leave to cool. Crack the salt crust open and remove the parsnips (careful because they will be very hot), peel and cut into quarters.
Serve immediately.
Chef: Anthony Roses
He is a long-standing supporter of the locavore movement: he studied at the prestigious Culinary Institute of California, and started his career at Lark Creek Inn in the Bay of San Francisco, an award-winning restaurant that features local produce. He continued his training with renowned chefs, notably Jean-Georges Vongerichten at Mercer in New York. He returned to Canada in 2005 and after several years at Drake Hotel, he established Rose & Sons.
Restaurant: Rose & Sons, Toronto
The dish: Special fried rice with pork
Wine pairing: To accompany this dish, Anthony Rose suggests our Côtes du Rhône 2015, the richness and the opulence of fruit echo the flavours of the dish.
What makes this dish so special is the way that the rice is prepared. This requires a certain skillfulness, but your patience will be rewarded. It’s a perfect combination of textures with a crispy crust on the outside and soft, moist rice inside.
One portion
95 g white rice
250 g Char Siu marinated pork belly pieces (buy them from your local Asian caterer))
1 finely chopped shallot
½ head of broccoli cut into florets
1 thin omelet cut into cubes
A pinch of chili powder
A pinch of pickled ginger
1 tablespoon peanuts in their skins
Method:
Cook the rice, if possible use a rice cooker (otherwise cook as Creole boiled rice).
Remove the rice from the rice cooker and spread it out on a baking tray to make a uniform layer, put the tray in the fridge and leave until the rice is completely chilled.
When the rice is cold remove it from the fridge and place it in front of a fan to dry it out, during this stage it is important to stir the rice regularly so all surfaces dry out thoroughly. However, be careful not to over dry the rice, otherwise it will become too hard during cooking.
Put a frying pan on a high heat, and heat up two tablespoons of Colza (rapeseed) oil.
Sear the cubes of pork belly in the frying pan on high heat, season, and continue cooking until the meat is caramelized well. When the meat has obtained a good colour, push the pork belly cubes to one side of the frying pan and add two tablespoons of Colza oil.
Crumble the rice into the frying pan to form a thin layer and spread out the cubes of pork evenly under the rice. Continue cooking so that the rice caramelizes on one surface and a you obtain a lovely balance between the crunchiness of the crust and the soft rice. Once this is achieved turn over the rice and cook the other side in the same way. Add more Colza oil if needed.
Then, add the chopped shallot, the broccoli florets (which have been blanched), the pickled ginger and the chili. Cook until the broccoli is heated through then serve in a large warm bowl.
Sprinkle the peanuts, chopped shallots and cubes of omelet over the top.
Take your time to enjoy this unique dish.
