Wine Name: Delaforce Alvarinho
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Wine: Delaforce
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Type: Alvarinho
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Country: Portugal
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Region:
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Rating: Very Good
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Price: $16
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Recommendation: Recommended
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For a long time I have had a nagging
thought in the back of my mind that combining a very popular food in Texas (and
some surrounding states) with one of my favorite South East Asian dishes would
create an interesting result. To date I have not done anything about it but now, with
the driving force of my blog, I decided it was time to give it a try and forgive
my exuberance but I truly believe it was a great result! Add to that a great wine discovery and I am
really pleased with the outcome this week.
Let me start with the food, then
move onto the wine because the wine was chosen with the food in mind. The food
that I am talking about is the American freshwater crawfish, also called the Yabbie
in Australia. The crawfish is a very popular dish, particularly in southern
states such as Texas and Louisiana, but I find the taste a little bland. One of
my favorite dishes from my home is Chili Mud Crab which emanates from Singapore
and can be used with any kind of crab including blue crab or blue swimmer crab.
The Chili crab recipe is a very spicy dish that includes lots of fresh Chilies
which I have always thought would add something special to the crawfish. For
many people in America the word Chili invokes an image of a dish made famous throughout
Texas and synonymous with Rodeo time of year. Many other countries would classify this as Chili
Con Carne, the point I would like to illustrate here is that Chili crab is
nothing like the delicious Chili enjoyed in Texas and other southern states. For this week’s recipe we combined the
Singapore crab recipe with freshwater Crawfish to create Chili Crawfish, I am
really pleased with the results and so was my family.
For the wine, I consulted my
contact at Specs in Houston and he put me onto a Portuguese white that went
really well with the crawfish. The wine is called Alvarinho and is made by
Delaforce from the Douro Valley in northern Portugal. I have been to Portugal but unfortunately I
have only been to Lisbon and some surrounding coastal areas. From my limited exposure to Portugal, I was
really impressed and would love to see more. I tasted several great foods, one
of which I would like to add to the blog at a future date. I also sampled many great
wines unfortunately; I have no idea what they were, so as far as Portuguese
wines are concerned I am largely starting from scratch.
The Douro Valley looks like a
spectacularly beautiful place, and like some previous blogs is more famous for
other wines than the one we are bringing you but this white table wine demonstrates
significant diversity for the region. The region is popularized by Ports;
however the Delaforce Alvarinho is a great addition to their excellent history of
largely fortified wine production. I have included several links at the end of
the blog specifically about the region due to the natural beauty of the area.
The Alvarinho wine itself, is a medium
to full bodied, yet subtle, white with significant overtures of fruit, the most
dominant being lemon but with hints of passion fruit. It was recommended due to
the existence of some acidity, which was perfect with the spices in the Chili
crawfish. To compare this to the better known wine types, it is fuller bodied
than a Sauvignon Blanc but not as bold as a big Chardonnay. It is an impressive
wine and it went very well with the Chili Crawfish.
Chili Crawfish Recipe
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1 tablespoon cornstarch
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7 tablespoons peanut oil
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2 to 3 shallots, minced
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Ginger – Grated, about 2 tablespoons
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6 medium garlic cloves, minced
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4 Thai chilies, minced
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2 pounds of Freshwater crawfish (could
substitute just about any shellfish)
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2 cups chicken broth (Low/No Sodium)
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1/4 cup tomato paste
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1/2 cup sweet chili sauce (hot)
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1 large egg, beaten
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1/2 cup thinly sliced green onions (Spring
Onions) (Scallion)
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1 cup Cilantro leaves (Chinese parsley) (Coriander
leaves)
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Steamed Jasmine Rice
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If crawfish are live purge before cooking.
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I initially cooked the crawfish for around one
minute in boiling water before adding to the following.
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Combine cornstarch with 2 tablespoons water in a
small bowl and set aside.
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Heat oil over medium heat in a large wok or fry pan,
stir in shallots, ginger, garlic, and chilies. Cook until fragrant, stirring
frequently. Approximately one minute.
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Add crawfish and broth. Increase heat to medium high
and bring to a boil. Cover loosely and gently boil, if necessary decreasing
heat until crawfish has turned red and is nearly cooked through, approximately 6
minutes.
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Remove cover and stir in tomato paste and chili
sauce. Simmer for around one minute and season to taste with salt, sugar if desired,
or chili sauce. Stir in cornstarch and bring to boil to thicken
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Remove from heat and stir in egg. Stir in green
onions.
Rating: Very Good
The wine is available from Specs in Houston.
Winery Web Site: http://www.delaforce.com/
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