We are all guilty of tasting a little bit too much wine sometimes: amateurs or professionals. Sometimes it is just hard to remain sober. Not to mention the second day hangover.
Beautiful Pic Saint Loup wine
This post is related to this one as I am about to tell you what happened to the lamb chops I left to marinate for almost 4 days. I followed Florin‘s advice and left the lamb chops fully immersed in chopped onions so that most of the blood went into the onions leaving the lamb chops tender and ready for cooking. Florin also recommended me to make a sauce Provencal next to this lamb chops and it was indeed a very good idea. Here is what I did.
I started by preparing all the ingredients. When the lamb chops are on the frying pan the whole process takes about 15-18 minutes at most. For the Provencal sauce I cut the onions in small pieces, the parsley and prepared a little bit of thyme to go in as well.
tomatoes, parsley and thyme
I also cut black olives and capers in small pieces.
capers and black olives
The bad part is that you really have to clean the lamb chops from pretty much all the fat they have and trust me: they have fat in all hidden places. But once that is gone, things are going into the right direction very quickly. The lamb chops were cooked for about 5 minutes on a high fire, then lowered the fire and left it covered for another 5 minutes. I prefer my lamb chops cooked medium rare so if you don’t like any blood in yours you should leave it more.
4 days marinated lamb chops
I added on the same pan the other ingredients: tomatoes, capers, black olives, parsley, thyme, salt and freshly crushed pepper. Unfortunately I did not have fresh basil to add but that didn’t spoil the final result.
all in
I left it covered for another 5-6 minutes so that the small onions remain firm but get to blend in all the other flavors.
I prepared some fresh spinach, as a side dish, in a little bit of butter, added salt and freshly crushed pepper, left it for 2-3 minutes to soften, then added a little bit of sour cream and left it another 3-4 minutes so the water can evaporate. Cooking spinach like this will retain most of its vitamins.
fresh spinach in melted butter and sour cream
The whole cooking process took me about 35 minutes including cutting the ingredients and cleaning the fatty from the lamb chops. The final result was a really tasty dish with medium rare tender and juicy lamb chops, sauce Provencal and fresh spinach.
red meets green
The dish was paired with a wine I recently received as a gift.
Chateau de Cazeneuve – Le sang du calvaire 2005
Price: 35 EUR
Blend of 95% Mourvedre and 5% Syrah aged for 24 months in French oak. I am a big fan of this producer and this region from the Languedoc. With the new classification system, Pic Saint Loup becomes a Grand Cru du Languedoc.
The wine has a dark red garnet color. The nose shows strong aromas of black olive and mint, accompanied by cocoa, mocha, black pepper and a discreet mix of sweet red and small black fruits. In the mouth the wine surprises on the initial attack by how balanced it is, with firm tannins, a nice mid palate feel with a mix of discreet ripe red fruits, strong aromas of black pepper, cocoa and dark chocolate. The wine has a medium plus aftertaste leaving a bitter sweet finish with sweet fruit and black olive. A very approachable Mourvedre already and an Excellent wine.
I have to confess liking this wine more on its own than paired with food and this is a rare event. Usually the opposite happens. When served on its own the wine shows tremendous balance and surprises by how light it feels in the mouth. Please do not mistake the word light by thin in this case. I mean light as in how drinkable the wine is. Paired with food, the wine gains in depths and in body becoming heavier on the palate and showing more fruit then spices. I blame it on the heavy spiced Provencal sauce.
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Camigliano 2004
I paid a visit on SAT morning to Piata Matache – some type of vegetables and meat farmers market in Bucharest – where I usually find good lamb, beef and goat meat and was able to find what I was looking for: a nice tender pack of fresh lamb chops. I kindly asked Florin how does he usually prepare the lamb chops and after receiving proper instructions, a little bit depressing for me initially, I ventured to try it anyway.
I found out that usually Romanian lamb chops need to spend more time marinated, about 3-4 days before they get really tender as opposed to New Zealand or Scottish lamb chops that are very tender and can be prepared almost immediately. In spite of that, SAT I grilled a few of them anyway and the rest I put to marinate and will wait for 2-3 days before cooking them. The grilled lamb chops were pretty tender already, so now I am really curious how the marinated ones will be.
I was in the mood for an Italian wine so I chose a 2004 Brunello di Montalcino that was purchased from a wine shop in Italy.
2004 Camigliano Brunello di Montalcino
Price: 32 EUR
The wine has a red garnet color. Upon opening the wine shows ripe red fruits, yeast and earth. After about 2 hours in the decanter the wine opens up more and reveals leather, earth, a mix of sweet ripe red fruits: strawberries and cherries developing towards very discreet small dark berries. In the mouth the wine is medium body with firm tannins, with a salty component that can be felt on the initial attack, developing flavors of sweet red fruits, dry mushrooms, earth and coffee bean. The salty component is very interesting and intriguing. The finish is pretty dry and leaves bittersweet dark chocolate on the medium aftertaste. A Very good- wine.
I was expecting more from a Brunello, especially from the acclaimed 2004 vintage. Paired with the grilled lamb chops it was all right. This is not a wine I would purchase again and I firmly believe that, for the same money, you can find better examples of 2004 Brunello di Montalcino.
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