MATCH POINT Cooks love Sauvignon Blanc Joyce Goldstein
For starters, Sauvignon Blanc has become a go-to grape variety.
Fortunately for everyone in the food-and-wine world, the opening course for an American dinner, whether at home or in a restaurant, has evolved into one of the more exciting aspects of the menu.
Instead of rustic, family-style platters, many starters are now carefully composed on individual plates, and some salads may be served warm. For example, what used to be a bowl of room-temperature beans topped with cooked shrimp and dressed with a simple vinaigrette has become an artfully presented warm bean ragout with sautéed, prosciutto-wrapped shrimp and rosemary vinaigrette. And today’s appetizers and first courses are increasingly wine-friendly.
Which brings me to my wine of choice for this month’s reverse-pairing exercise. Sauvignon Blanc doesn’t get the press and esteem of Chardonnay, Cabernet Sauvignon, or Pinot Noir, nor is it as trendy as Grüner Veltliner or Syrah, but those of us who cook for a living love it. This versatile wine has enough acidity to cut through dense cooked beans, grains, or Asian hoisin sauces without losing its fruit. Its palate-cleansing acidity pairs well with Mediterranean, Asian, and Latin American foods, and because it usually has low alcohol, it can take some heat. Sauvignon Blanc is a dependable workhorse for seafood starters and a savior for wine-challenging salads of lettuces and bitter greens, radishes, citrus segments, fennel—even artichokes and asparagus.
The list of dishes that I love with Sauvignon Blanc could go on for pages: a chilled platter of raw oysters or frutti di mare ; fish carpaccio or crudo with shaved radishes and citrus; tuna tartare seasoned with chilies, Asian pear, and ginger; risotto with peas, asparagus, and gremolata; crab cakes with avocado and grapefruit on watercress; sautéed filet of sole on a bed of cooked fennel, scented with orange zest or lemon and capers; an aioli platter with cooked fish, leeks, green beans, artichokes, and potatoes. So you can imagine how difficult it was for me to select just one dish for this column. After making three appetizer salads, I finally decided to go with scallops, orange, and fennel on greens with a peppery citrus dressing.
To experiment with contrasting styles of Sauvignon Blanc, I opened two from the Loire Valley and two from California. The 2007 Clos Roche Blanche Touraine had notes of citrus and mineral, quince, and a bit of caramel from aging on the lees, while the 2006 Patient Cottat Sancerre offered flavors of fennel, green melon, and candied citrus and a slightly peppery finish—a key to pairing with my salad dressing. The 2007 St. Supéry Sauvignon Blanc Napa Valley displayed notes of Meyer lemon, lime, mango, and guava and aromas of cut grass and wet stone; the 2007 Voss Sauvignon Blanc Rutherford tasted of green melon, figs, grass, herbs, and wet stone, with fruity acidity and a long finish.
I have to say that in my back-and-forth tasting, the three wines all seemed comfortably balanced with three versions of my seafood-citrus-fennel salad. Perhaps the Clos Roche Blanche was flattened a bit, but not enough to make or break the pairing.
Scallop, Orange, and Fennel Salad with Peppery Citrus Dressing
With salads, it’s all about texture and contrast; here, we play cool greens and fruits against warm shellfish. Serves 4.
Black Pepper Citrus Dressing:
½ cup extra virgin olive oil
Grated zest of one orange
¼ cup fresh orange juice
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
2 teaspoons freshly ground black pepper
Salt
Whisk together the olive oil and citrus juices in a small bowl. Whisk in the pepper and salt to taste. Set aside.
Salad:
3 navel oranges
2 bulbs fennel
1 head butter lettuce or two handfuls of mesclun
2 heads Belgian endive
1 pound day-boat sea scallops (3-4 per person)
About ¾ cup black pepper citrus dressing
Carefully cut the peels and all the white pith from the oranges. Cut crosswise into ¼-inch-thick slices, and remove the seeds with a toothpick; or, over a small bowl, cut between the membranes with a sharp knife to separate the oranges into segments, and let them fall into the bowl. Squeeze the membranes over the segments to collect any extra juice you can add to the dressing.
Cut each fennel bulb in half, and cut away the tough bottom part of the core. Discard any tough or discolored outer leaves. Slice the fennel very thin on a mandolin or with a sharp knife. Toss with ¼ cup of the dressing.
Remove the foot muscle attached to the sides of each scallop. Sauté the scallops in olive oil over high heat, turning once, until pale gold, about 2 minutes per side. Do not overcook, or they will toughen. Or you may poach them by bringing 1 cup dry white wine, or part wine and part water, to a simmer in a shallow saucepan. Slip in the scallops; simmer gently until just barely cooked, about 2 minutes; and drain.
To serve: Tear the leaves of the butter lettuce into bite-size pieces. Separate the leaves from the endive (cut in half if too long). Place the greens in a large salad bowl, toss with ¼ cup of the dressing, and distribute on 4 salad plates. Top with the fennel, then distribute the orange segments and warm scallops on top and drizzle with the remaining ¼ cup of the dressing.
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