Indian Summer

I picked up a pinot noir at Bag & String Wine Merchants last week. What it contained was everything I loved about summer. It almost made me regret the Fall. My luck that summer came back to visit for the weekend. The '09 Fleur was the sunshine I was looking for.

Without any wait, I dove into a glass and found all the subtlety and grace - a chord of notes each clamoring to get to me. Little strawberries and cranberry notes with light velvety spices had me hooked.

I usually think of a food pairing at the first or second taste and for this, it was a fresh pasta dish and strawberry salad with a bleu cheese to go with it. Fresh pasta, while a bit time consuming, is to me more the star of the dish rather than a vehicle for the rest of the flavors. I like to let pasta be what it was meant to be. A carbohydrate with some life - to which needs very little to really be enjoyed. In this case, a some olive oil, garlic, fresh tomatoes, basil and a little asiago.

Pasta is inherently inexpensive. Somehow a few cheap and plentiful ingredients get together and resolve to become much more than their sum. 

 Almost inconceivable how all of that could be $1.18 per serving. Must be the ten bucks of satisfaction that I get out of it that keeps good Italian restaurants in business. Try a small batch yourself:

3 eggs
1 Tablespoon oil – any
1 Teaspoon salt
2 1/4 cups flour - semolina
Kneed into a stiff dough adding more flour if needed to obtain a good consistency.
Wrap the dough ball in plastic wrap and refrigerate until use.

The Salad. 

Baby Mesclun Greens

Sliced Strawberries

Toasted Pecans (or Walnuts)

Crumbled Gorgonzola

Fresh Ground Pepper

The Vinaigrette.

1 tsp sugar

1tsp dijon

1/2 tsp salt

3 ounces white balsamic

1 ounce water

4 ounces fine olive oil

With a Fall like this, I won't be missing the Summer much.