Across State Lines

Sundays are my days to cook. This Sunday was no different. Kelly informed me that we had dinner plans with our friends Scott and Dana. Since they have a son who is nearly 2, we thought it would be more convenient for them if we had dinner at their house. We packed up the dogs (Otis and Hank), grabbed the food I prepared and set off for Mississippi.

I prepared a fresh crab salad with fresh ginger, garlic, red wine vinegar, fresh lychees and olive oil. I served that with crispy focaccia crostini to spread the salad on. I also prepared a salad of sweet snap pea pods, walnuts, goat's milk feta, shallots, strawberries and spinach with a light vinaigrette.

Both of these dishes paired wonderfully with a 2005 Robert Sinskey Vin Gris of Pinot Noir. This light pale rose has bright hints of strawberry which played well off the spinach salad. The white flower notes and light acidity complemented the crab salad very well.

Scott prepared beef carpaccio with parmesan and olive oil, an herbed cheese spread with crackers, and mini spiced burgers. All of these dishes worked incredibly well with the 2002 Coturri "Red Series" Sangiovese. This particularly wine is full bodied with an almost Amarone-like quality. Its fruit and tannin worked a perfect contrast to the beef.

My stomach is grumbling all over again.

For dessert I prepared fresh mango slices drizzled with a blue cheese sabayon. The mango was super ripe and sweet. Therefore, I felt it needed some salty richness to balance it out. I didn't add too much blue cheese to the sayabon, just enough to give it the kick it needed. It worked together perfectly, if I do say so myself, and wasn't difficult to make at all. This dish paired nicely with the season finale of The Sopranos. The sweet salty richness livened up the BORING episode. Sorry Kelly.