Blog

We all love food and wine. We all look forward to having a delicious meal shared with our family and loved ones. Especially, during the holiday season and celebratory events like Thanksgiving where we might pair a three-year-old Pinot Noir from Burgundy with the Turkey, or New Year’s Eve could be celebrated with a bottle of bubbly sparkling wine from Italy like a Prosecco or Champagne from France and then Chinese New Year festivities are shared with a fabulous bottle of Riesling from Canada, off-dry, chilled, and not too sweet. Now let’s come to the most important of the trilogy, we all need some love and romance in our lives.

Now to be honest, sometimes the perfect first-time dinner where you wanted to impress was more memorable for what went hilariously but horribly wrong than the actual dinner and evening. To prevent this from happening, there is nothing more romantic than taking the time to plan the “dream meal” for that special person in your life.

Course 1

We could start off with fresh oysters, concave oysters (Crassostrea gigas) to be precise are elongated, salty and perfect. This type of oyster dominates the Italian market and we do want to be authentic. Like day will follow night, a very dry Pinot Grigio would be an excellent match for this dish.

Course 2

Moving on to the sound of romantic music, the next dish could be crab toast with lemon aioli. The crab must be fresh and as you enjoy the natural sweetness of the crab on crunchy texture of the toast, you sip a glass of Prosecco DOCG, mind you, the best wine it must be unquestionably, as she is the love of your life.

Course 3

Follow the crab with a delightful squid and fennel pasta with lemon and herbs. The fresh citric acidity of the lemon and the combination with herbs tantalizes the mouth and a refreshing white wine from Gavi in North West Italy made from the Cortese grape is uniquely suited to perfection.

Course 4

With this already impressive menu with a touch of elegance, next comes in the form of pasta with Uni and caviar. The naturally soft texture that Uni has as it dissolves in your mouth paired with the saltiness of the caviar must be equalled with nothing less than an impressive sparkling wine like Franciacorta.

Course 5

If still hungry, the seafood risotto (Risotto ai Fruitti di Mare) offers an explosion of flavor and diversity of seafood like mussels, squid, clams and sea scallops. A simple touch of a Soave wine would have that classic finish. Acidic, but not overwhelmingly so, and the perfect match for the varieties of seafood in the dish.

Course 6 – Dessert

Ending the meal on a sweet note with an Italian classic, Zabaglione dessert. This is made with marsala wine so enjoy it as it is encased in this dessert that signifies Italian culinary mastery.

Life is to be lived and none do it better than the Italians through food, wine, and love combined in an Italian Dinner.