So much talk of late in wine circles has been about pouring red wine with fish (most notably pinot noir with grilled salmon) that it’s time for a reminder: The Great Sommelier in the Sky still recommends white wine with most fish dishes.
Red wines, especially wood-aged red wines, contain considerable amounts of tannin. Tannin has a good deal of pucker power. Therefore it pairs well with sweet meats such as beef and lamb. It overpowers delicate fish, however. The fish fights back by giving the wine a harsh, metallic taste. On the other hand, white-fleshed fish responds well to the fruit and clean acidity of white wines. Add butter and/or cream to the fish and chardonnay shines.
Rules are made to create exceptions. It is true that rich, meaty fish such as salmon and tuna do match well with soft, low-tannin reds, especially if the fish is grilled or broiled.
In “The Vintner’s Table Cookbook” ($29.95 at Simi Winery and some wine shops), Mary Evely, chef of the Simi Winery in California’s Sonoma Country, suggests serving salty and smoked fish with sauvignon blanc or champagne; sweet fish such as scallops, shrimp and crab with sauvignon blanc; lobster, mussels and cooked oysters as well as monkfish and swordfish with chardonnay. She recommends keeping tuna and mackerel away from chardonnay and lobster and sturgeon away from sauvignon blanc.
For case studies, the two fish recipes that follow present very different challenges.
The first is fairly straightforward. Sea bass is firm and fairly lean. Savoy cabbage has a more mellow flavor than green cabbage, and since the leaves have been blanched, they will not impart a strong flavor. Steaming reinforces the purity of pristine fish. Therefore, the primary concern is the sauce, and as Evely points out in her book, chardonnay is “a pretty good bet” with cream sauce. Not too rich and woody a chardonnay, though. A chardonnay with a pleasantly strong fruit flavor and medium acidity should offset the salt and fat in the sauce and the garnish.
The second recipe poses a problem. It is essentially pieces of a meaty, fairly fatty fish posed atop a bed of spinach with a vinaigrette dressing. The wine lover winces at matching one of his treasures with a dish that contains iron-rich spinach, high-acid tomato, fishy Worcestershire, bittersweet balsamic and bitter capers. But mustard is the dominant flavor in the dressing, and mustard is wine-friendly and so is the salmon. There is not a large quantity of dressing on the plate. The capers are very small. To save the situation, pour sauvignon blanc, a high-acid wine with an herbal aroma and a touch of citrus in the taste.
MARY EVELY’S SEA BASS STEAMED IN CABBAGE LEAVES
Four to six servings
1 cup dry white wine, chardonnay preferred
2 cups strong fish stock or bottled clam juice
2 cups whipping cream
2 tomatoes peeled, seeded and chopped
Salt and white pepper to taste
5 to 7 savoy cabbage leaves
1 1/2 pounds fresh sea bass fillets
4 to 6 teaspoons fresh salmon caviar
Parsley leaves for garnish
1. For the sauce, cook the wine in a non-corrosive saucepan until reduced to 1/4 cup. Add the fish stock. Cook until reduced to 1 1/4 cups. Stir in the cream and tomatoes. Cook over high heat for 5 minutes. Puree in a food processor or blender. Season to taste with salt and pepper and keep warm.
2. For the sea bass packages, blanch the cabbage leaves in a large saucepan of salted boiling water. Remove to a bowl of ice water to stop the cooking. Pat the leaves dry and trim down the thick center vein to uniform thickness with the leafy portion. Place outer side down on a work surface.
3. Cut the fish into 4 to 6 pieces and season with salt and pepper. Place one piece of fish in the center of each cabbage leaf and fold into packages to enclose the fish.
4. Line a steamer or colander with the remaining cabbage leaf and place the fish packages on top. Steam for 15 minutes, or until the fish springs back to the touch. Pat the packages dry gently.
5. Ladle the warm sauce onto each warmed plate. Place a cabbage package in the center and garnish with the caviar and parsley leaves. Serve with a chardonnay such as Simi.
–From “The Vintner’s Table Cookbook”
GRILLED SALMON SALAD
Four servings
1/2 pound green beans, trimmed
Salt
2 teaspoons Dijon mustard
3 drops Worcestershire sauce
1/2 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
1/2 tablespoon lemon juice
4 tablespoons olive oil, extra virgin preferred
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
1 shallot, finely diced
2 tablespoons capers, drained and chopped
1 large plum tomato, peeled, seeded and diced
Pepper
1 piece (12 ounces) salmon fillet
1 1/2 tablespoons butter
1 bunch fresh spinach, washed and dried, large stems removed
1. Heat an oven to 375 degrees. Plunge the green beans into boiling, salted water and cook until just tender, 3 to 4 minutes. Drain and cool under cold, running water. Pat dry and reserve.
2. Prepare the dressing by combining the mustard, Worcestershire, vinegar and lemon juice in a small bowl. Pouring slowly, whisk in the oils. Stir in the shallot, capers, diced tomato and season with salt and pepper. Set aside.
3. In a lightly oiled, heat-proof saute pan, preferably a ridged grill pan, over medium-high heat, brown salmon, skin side up, for 2 minutes. Transfer to oven and roast, skin side down, 5 to 7 minutes, or until salmon is firm but not dry. Remove skin and cut into four portions.
4. Meanwhile, melt 1 tablespoon butter in a separate saute pan. Add the spinach and wilt over medium-high heat until soft. Season with salt and pepper and make a bed in the center of four serving plates. Add the remaining butter and the green beans to the saute pan and toss until beans are warm. Place beans on each plate coming out from the spinach like the spokes of a wheel.
5. Place a piece of cooked salmon in the center of each plate and spoon dressing over the salmon. Serve with a sauvignon blanc.
