Wine Reviews 2011

Montgo Monastrell Shiraz, 2007, Yecla, Spain -85
Interesting Spanish red from relatively unknown region. The main grape here is Mouvedre (Monastrell in Spain) with 20% Syrah (strange they use the Australian term Shiraz). Medium bodied, rustic - blueberry/plum flavours with nice acidity and tannins to balance

Zucca Trattoria

We were out at a movie at Yonge and Eglington in Toronto (Made in Dagenham - terrific film) and went looking for a place to eat after the movie. Just south of Eglington on Yonge we happened across Zucca, a really good Italian trattoria serving simply prepared Italian cuisine with great attention to detail.
My appetizer was potato and green vegetable gnocchi with leek and Quebec blue cheese cream - utterly delicious! Kerry had a simple green salad, with a perfect (not overwhelming) dressing.
For my main I chose a simple grilled whole trout. It was perfect, moist and succulent with just a little lemon and salt. It came with grilled vegetables (potato, fennel and carrot). To be honest they were adequate but a little dry (particularly the potato slices). Kerry had a house-made pasta with bacalao (salt cod) cooked with tomatoes and white wine. It was unusual and tasty but didn't blow us away. The service with terrific - the server knew the food (and wine) and even poured us a couple of glasses of wine to compare with the wine we'd ordered.
We had a bottle of Salice Salentino 2007 (Cantele) - a nice rustic-style wine from Southern Italy. Plummy and spicy with plenty of acidity, it went well with the pasta (and ok with the fish). Interesting wine - not great but good with tomato-based sauces. Southern Italian reds look like they are going to be big in 2011 (you heard it hear first!)
We finished off with a couple of well-chosen cheeses and I had a glass of desert wine (not sure what it was - tasted a lot like a Beaumes de Venise but obviously it was Italian)
Nice meal - attentive service - I would definitely go back if I was in the neighbourhood.

Squash and Escarole Risotto/baked romaine with onion-anchovy sauce

Tonight's dinner - a really tasty risotto with butternut squash and escarole (curly endive). Peel and cut a cup of butter nut squash into half inch cubes (and another cup  of thinly sliced strips) and cook the cubes with some thinly sliced onion in a cup of water. When the squash is tender, drain and reserve the squash/onion mixture. Coarsely cut a head of escarole. Cook the rice (Carnaroli) in a little oil, add a little wine (half cup) until absorbed. Add the squash and onion mixture and 3 cups of the escarole. Add a cup of good chicken stock and stir constantly while the rice absorbs the stock. Keep adding stock in half cup amounts until it is absorbed and then add more - it will require 3-4 cups of liquid to get the rice to the right consistency (tender and creamy). Lightly saute the remaining sliced squash and the remaining escarole. Once the risotto is done, spoon it into a bowl, mix in some grated parmiagiano-reggiano cheese and top with the sauteed squash/escarole mixture.


For the salad - combine a quarter cup of oil, one and a half cups of thinly sliced onions and 6  anchovies with a cup of water and simmer gently until the onion is soft (15-20 minutes). Bake a quartered head of romiane (keeping the root end attached) with a little olive oil and salt. I also baked some Belgium endive leaves as well just to see how it would work. After 10 minutes tranfer the romaine to a cutting board; remove the root ends and, using a fork twirl each piece of romaine into a circular round on a plate. Add a lttle parsley and white wine vinegar to the onion mixture and top the romaine mounds with the mixture.
The onions are unbelievably sweet but nicely balanced with the saltiness of the anchovies and the acidity of the vinegar.