03/08/07 Food & Wine

Welcome to Vine to Wine this is your host Linda Moran. Today is Food and Wine pairing day and I am going to address grocery store fast foods and the wines that I enjoy with them. Some days our lives are just too busy or we are dining alone or we just don't feel like cooking or even worse we are having guests and we have run out of time. I do appreciate the convenience of food prepared and ready to go. It is one of my favorite ideas for shortcut entertaining. Grocery stores and their deli's are becoming more and more sophisticated in the selections of prepared foods. I walked through an average store the other day and realized I could entertain with a four course dinner and really not have to do much beyond setting the table. I selected pre-made sushi rolls with Champagne to start. There were three soups to choose from a vegetable lentil, fish chowder or a butternut squash. I picked butternut squash and paired it with Gewürztraminer. Then I got a salad in a bag. The kind with the cranberries and almonds and balsamic vinegar dressing all inside. This was the base for the entrée, which I topped with a poached salmon fillet from the deli. A slice of crunchy ciabatta bread from the bakery was a perfect accompaniment. The Gewurz could have worked right on through but I selected a Syrah. Dessert was a vanilla mousse in a cookie cup from the bakery and helped finish off the Champagne. Who says you have to cook or for that matter even know how to cook to have guests for dinner? Just go to the store! Remember to send your wine questions to Linda at vine to wine dot not and thank you for joining me on today's Vine to Wine.