Fish Course – Grilled Tuna and Corn Salad & Pinot Noir Rosé Wine

tuna 2Moving right along to the second course, the fish course.  We enjoyed Grilled Tuna & Corn Salad paired with Rive Sud Rosé wine.  We cook our fish more than most people, just our preference.   Corn is plentiful right now and it is oh so good here in Vermont.  This recipe is perfect for our hot weather and end of summer bounty.  I found this recipe on myrecipes.com.  I did not use the cooking spray on the corn or onion, just brushed them with plain olive oil.  I did not use extra virgin olive oil because that does not hold up to the heat as well as plain olive oil butter infused olive oildoes.   I do have a butter infused olive oil that I was considering using but did not want to change up the taste of the corn or onion this time, this is my first time trying this recipe and I do like to keep the recipe as written as much as possible on the first try.

The recipe is as follows:

Grilled Tuna and Corn Salad

Yield: 4 servings (serving size: 1 steak and 1/2 cup corn salad)

Ingredients

  •    3 small ears shucked corn
  •    1/2 small red onion, cut into 1/2-inch-thick slices
  •    Cooking spray
  •    4 (6-ounce) tuna steaks
  •    1 1/2 tablespoons olive oil, divided
  •    3/4 teaspoon kosher salt, divided
  •    3/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper, divided
  •    2 tablespoons chopped fresh basil
  •    1 1/2 tablespoons cider vinegar

Preparation

Prepare grill.

Coat corn and onion with cooking spray; place on grill rack coated with cooking spray. Cover and grill corn 20 minutes, turning 3 times. Grill onion 10 minutes or until tender, turning once.

Brush fish with 1 tablespoon oil; sprinkle with 1/2 teaspoon salt and 1/2 teaspoon pepper. Place fish on grill rack; grill 3 minutes on each side or until desired degree of doneness.

Cut kernels from ears of corn in a medium bowl. Add onion, remaining 1/2 tablespoon oil, remaining 1/4 teaspoon salt, remaining 1/4 teaspoon pepper, basil, and vinegar, stirring to combine. Serve fish with corn salad.

I have to say, this recipe is spot on!  Okay, the changes I made was to use 2 teaspoons of the maine sea saltbalsamic vinegar and 2 teaspoons of rice vinegar instead of 1/2 tablespoon oil.  I also used Maine Sea Salt instead of the Kosher salt because that is what we use here.   I purchase this stuff by the pound and keep it in a bamboo salt cellar.   Nonetheless, this recipe is delicious.  I was skeptical about the lack of flavor in this recipe but the grilled caramelized corn gave a sweetness that set off the vinegars and melded perfectly with the grilled onion.  This is an excellent summer meal because it is completely cooked on the grill, no need to heat up your kitchen.

The Rive Sud Pinot Noir Rosé Wine was ideal.  It set off the flavors of the fish and brought out the sweetness of the corn.  If you’re going to pair this dish with a Rosé Wine, I highly tunarecommend using a Pinot Noir Rosé Wine.  This type of Rosé Wine is very dry and crisp without a lot of fruit.

Second Course, the Fish Course was wonderful, tomorrow is the Main Course; Grilled Lemon Chicken.

Five Courses, Five Wines in Five Days

Sunset over Lake Champlain Burlington, Vermont.
Sunset over Lake Champlain Burlington, Vermont.

As Summer begins to wind down here in Vermont (so very sad), I thought it would be an opportune time to take advantage of the bounty I’ve been finding at our local Farmer’s Market.  The local produce has given me inspiration for a five course meal.  Unfortunately, we are not at a place in our lives to consume this much food at one setting.  We’ve been trying to cut down our consumption of food, smaller meals, smaller portions.  So…what to do?  I decided to do a five course meal in five days – with wine of course.  The menu has been planned knowing our weather will be very, very warm this week.

I will be writing on the progress of this plan each day – so stay tuned!  The menu planned is:

tricolored-peppers-goat-cheese-su-xMonday = Appetizer = Roasted Tricolored Peppers and Goat Cheese with Ciabatta Bread.

Wine will be an Albarino; Burgans Burgans-Albarino-2013Albarino Baixas Rioja White. Sauvignon Blanc would be the obvious choice but because the weather is very warm and this is an appetizer I’m going with the Albarino.

tuna and corn salad  Tuesday = Fish Course = Grilled Tuna and Corn Salad

Wine will be a rosé; Rive Sud. This rosé is made from the Pinot Noir grape giving it aromas and flavors of ripe cherry, raspberry, and rive sudwatermelon. I think this wine will bring out the nuances of the Tuna and the sweetness of the caramelized corn.

lemon chickenWednesday = Main Course = Lemon Chicken with Linguine and Fresh Green Beans

Wine will be a Chardonnay; Franciscan Napa Valley Chardonnay. I believe the apple, 2011-Franciscan-Estate-Napa-Valley-Chardonnaypear and nectarine flavors in this wine will pair well with the lemon in the chicken.

fennel saladThursday = Salad = Fennel-Radicchio Salad

Wine will be a Barberra; Scagliola Mati Barbera. The liveliness of this Italian red should play barberawell with the peppery tones of the salad.

roasted pearsFriday – Dessert = Roasted pears with blue cheese and walnuts.

Wine will be Warre’s Warrior Port – the obvious choice for warre'sthis dessert.

This is the plan, we’ll see what actually happens!

original_Bon_Appetit