11/2/06 Food & Wine

Welcome to Vine to Wine this is your host Linda Moran and today is food and wine pairing day. I don't know about you, but I really enjoy cooking with mushrooms. They seem to be a natural with wine making it easier to select a wine to go with dinner. One item that to me seems to take so well to wine is the mushroom. Although, the fancy ones all have wonderful flavors and textures even an everyday mushroom that you find in the grocery store can become a fabulous soup or sauce. Now mushrooms aren't picky they shine with white wine or red wine. I make a soup in which I begin by caramelizing yellow onions and then I add some mushrooms to the pan and let it cook down and just when all of the liquid has evaporated, I add some white wine. I do this a few times until I have used about a ½ to ¾ of a cup of wine. Then I add some chicken stock, fresh grated ginger and cilantro. It is fabulous with Gewürztraminer or Beaujolais. If you have a nice beef tenderloin or a thick veal chop, nothing is better than a mushroom sauce to top it off. Think about stuffing large portabello mushrooms with vegetables, bread crumbs and cheese, and baking them. They will be a perfect main course for a vegetarian feast and they go well with either red or white wine. To me mushrooms aren't a fungus they're a sponge, a sponge for great wine! Remember to send your wine questions to Linda at vine to wine dot net and thank you for joining me on today's Vine to Wine.