Cameron Hughes Wine Dinner

    Just had my third wine dinner at Tastings Wine Bar and Bistro featuring Cameron Hughes.  This has been one of my most successful pairings yet! I am really excited about how it turned out.  When we first put these dinners together I taste the wines and then I think about what they taste like in terms of food.  I usually think of what the remind me of and what food memories they evoke.  Then I write a menu based around these elements.  To see it come together as splendidly as it did last night is really fun.

    My first course was a goose terring with cherries and pistachois.  My biggest concern was the terrine being too dry but it turned out perfectly moist.  This went with a tarragon aioli.  One of my line cooks has been doing a lot of research into hydrocolloids and really wanted to try making a "caviar" out of the wine the terrine was being paired with; a Grenache, syrah, mouvedre blend.  It came out awesome and was a great alternative to an aspic.

    The second course was braised pork shoulder with fried tomatillos and mustard fruits.  The mustard fruits are a fun condiment I learned while working at Union Bar and Grille in the South End which I beleive my chef there learned at Sorellina.  I really love doing this dish with a take on American South fried green tomatoes but the tomatillos have an acidic snap that compliments the fattiness of the pork.  This dish was paired with Cam Hughes 100% Zinfandel.  A delicious wine and a perfect pair.

    Third we did a roast lamb saddle with cauliflower puree, herb spaetzle, maitake mushroom duxelle and lavander jus.  I love the way lavander brightens up lamb.  It works quite well with the gaminess of the meat and also with the strong tannins in the cabernet it was being served with. 

    For dessert we did a whipped marscapone vol au vent with brandied caramel and spiced almonds.  This is a very simple dish.  The fun part was serving it with a chardonnay which had some nutty, apple, and caramel elements to it.  This dessert was spot on to me for the wine.  Even though many dont think of chardonnay as something to pair with dessert it was the only option in my mind.

   Oh and we did a granita out of a reisling chenin blanc blend that was a hit.  really playful and fun!

First Post

With a new season comes a new menu.  Chef Matthew Maue’s last stand was a good one and now its time for a new page in the book of Tastings Wine Bar and Bistro.  We debuted our new summer menu on Tuesday and so far so good.  I have a personal connection or belief behind all of the items on this menu which makes it a special one.

                Our New England Clam Chowder is one of the dishes I enjoy the most just because of how whimsical it is.  When it comes to the table what you receive is totally un-expected but as the soup is poured tableside it really comes together.  I first created this “deconstructed” clam chowder when I was a sous chef at Sel de la Terre in the Natick collection.  We had a chefs table dinner once a month on Thursday nights and so I composed a cape cod themed dinner.  This was my second course and it wowed all of our guests so I’ve had a special place in my heart for this dish ever since.

                The goose sausage en croute is another fun dish.  I guess this dish is really Chef Maue’s last stand here at tastings to be quite honest.  Sandra O’Keere from Brambly farm in Norfolk raised some geese for Matt to use in his upcoming James Beard Sustainability dinner with Wil Gilson and Matthew Jennings.  He only needed a few and we took the rest to make into sausage.  Its really inspiring to have geese raised specifically for your restaurant and for your guests.  This is a very unique dish and I take it as a final goodbye to the former chef.

As I said, so far so good and I’m really excited for what is yet to come.