Fork and Gobble It: Wineberserkers Part 2 “The Pre-Fest”

It is Wednesday, the 19th of October and I have eight guests plus my wife and myself coming for dinner tonight. The menu was designed to allow me time to be with my guests and much of the big jobs are done. Veal shanks are braised to falling off the bone tender. A delicious and hearty soup of Escarole and Canellini beans, spiked with spicy dried Chorizo is made and ready to serve. A velvety and rich mousse of chicken liver bears the pungent fragrance and flavor of Burgundy Truffles and will be spread on toasted bread and crackers. I have small but significant details to attend to. They are the items that would not hold their freshness if prepared in advance. Tender cheese crackers derived from a recipe by Canal House Cooks will go with the champagne we'll drink during the cocktail hour. I bake chocolate shortbread to decorate vanilla ice cream and fresh strawberries for dessert. The saffron risotto that will serve as the bed for the Osso Bucco, must be made practically at the last minute. Of course greens will be washed and a dressing prepared for salad. To complicate things just slightly, my friend Mike Pobega was doing a pizza course and I would give him the run of the kitchen for that time. I needed to have my stuff done and ready to go.

The Chocolate Shortbread
Canal House Tender Cheese Crackers
Guests began to arrive at 5pm. Because it was a mid-week affair, I had planned to have dinner on the table around 7pm. As people came in and bottles were opened the tempo began to pick up. Many, many bottles of wine were beginning to accumulate on the side table. Lots of Barolos, but oddly enough this crew is also a Bordeaux loving crowd. There was also the odd bottle of Fado Blanco, a Portuguese white wine from the Alentejo region that we've loved all summer. We had the oven revved up to 550F so Mike could start rocking out the pizzas. This was a Berserker party in full swing.




The 2003 Domenico Clerico Pajana was pretty much as I anticipated. It is a testament to the winemaking skill of the estate. The fruit was a little subdued, but still very lively. The tannins were still assertive and the wine still retained a pleasantly surprising amount of acidity. Unfortunately many of the Bordeauxs that were brought that evening were spoiled by cork taint including two Ducru-Beaucaillous, the 1986 and the 1998 and an '86 Pichon Longueville Comtesse de Lalande. Luckily I had a 2004 Pichon sleeping in the cellar. I brought it up and opened it. Although still young, it was drinking very well.

The pizzas tasted as good as they looked. The soup was met with raves and the veal shanks were meltingly tender. All the guests were satiated and very content.

With food and wine surpassing expectations, these ten friends ate, drank, and enjoyed each others company in the full knowledge that this was just the beginning of a week full of this kind of fun.