When folks think of Brazilian food, most probably picture slabs of beef, chicken and sausage over sizzling coals – the ‘churrasco’ that has become famous via the many Brazilian-themed steakhouses that have spread around the world, including places like Cleveland, New Orleans and Krakow, Poland.

But the truth is that Brazilian food is not only about churrasco. Its cuisine is incredibly diverse, and it varies (like in the US) from region to region. In the south, you find ‘churrasco’ but also many other dishes inherited and adapted from the European immigrants that came to the region and made it their new home. In the southeast, the melting pot is so mixed that foods that originated from countries like Syria, Lebanon, Portugal,  Italy and Japan have become so incorporated to the local food culture that people in the region identify them as their own.

In the north and northeast, African, Dutch, Portuguese and Native Brazilian form a unique blend characteristic of this warm, mostly sun-drenched area. Unfortunately, few Brazilian restaurants (at least in my area) include dishes like moqueca, baião de dois and Ceará-style fish stew on their menus – probably because the vast majority of immigrants from Brazil hail from the south and southeast of the country.

Then there is feijoada, Brazil’s most traditional dish, which is made with black beans and salted (or smoked) pork parts that may include feet, tail and nose.  As legend has it, farm owners would serve roast pork during parties and then give the less desirable parts to their slaves, who would in turn cook them in a stew with black beans. Today, feijoada is the country’s signature dish, traditionally served on Saturdays with rice, collard greens and orange on the side. It is a time when families eat at leisure without having to worry about running back to work.

One of my personal traditional favorites is Ceara-style stewed fish (peixada cearense), a delicious combination of seafood and veggies that is served with white rice and pirão, a gravy-like sauce made with yucca flour.

Whenever I prepare this dish, I have fond memories of sitting in my grandmother’s living room and waiting – with anticipation – for dinner.

Peixada Cearense

Recipe source: Minha Cozinha, http://cozinhaprimeirospassos.blogspot.com/2009/10/peixada-cearense.html, translated from the Portuguese by Ernest Barteldes

Ingredients (serves 4)

2 lb. Grouper fillets (or any other firm fish), 1 tbsp. Lime juice, 2 sliced onions, 1 green bell pepper, seeded and sliced, three ripe tomatoes, quartered, 4 tbsp. cilantro, chopped, 1 scotch bonnet pepper, seeded and chopped, 1 can coconut milk, three eggs, three large potatoes, two carrots, three thick slices cabbage, 2-3 tbsp. olive oil, salt and black pepper to taste.

Preparation:

Boil the eggs, the carrots and potatoes in salted water until vegetables are done. Peel the carrots and potatoes, quarter them and reserve. Peel the eggs, cut in half and reserve. Wash the fish carefully and season with salt, pepper and lime and reserve. In a large pot, sauté the onions, peppers, cilantro  and tomatoes in olive oil until tender Place the fish fillets over the sautéed vegetables and add the coconut milk. Simmer gently (do not stir) until fish is done (about 10 minutes), and add the potatoes, carrots, eggs and cabbage and simmer for another 5-7 minutes. Taste and add more salt if necessary. Serve over white rice.

How to make pirão:  Take about two cups from the cooked fish broth and bring to a boil in a small saucepan. Stir and slowly add about 1 cup of yucca flour (farina also works) and stir until the broth gets to an oatmeal-like consistency. Serve hot with fish.

While for most people I know Saturdays are a time to kick back and smell the roses, that is not exactly true about me, since that is the time when I’m either catching up on my writing, food shopping, rehearsing with one of my music groups (I play bass in a bossa/jazz band and also in church in Manhattan) or just spending quality time with Renata.  During the summer it’s the almost endless stream of concerts in the parks around town and also trying to find the time to fit in a few getaways.

Because of that, I hardly ever do any real cooking on Saturdays. Instead, I concentrate on making some easy but nevertheless tasty snacks that I learned how to make over the years. One of the favorites in our weekend rotation is zapiekanka, which is something like Poland’s response to pizza.

I first discovered Zapiekanka during a visit to a now-defunct Polish restaurant in New York’s East Village, It is a popular, easy to make snack made with mushrooms, shredded cheese and a liberal amount of ketchup over a halved baguette. During my recent visit to country itself, I had the opportunity to enjoy it as ‘nature intended,’ or walking down the street like we do with a slice of pizza stateside.

Zapiekanka is a staple in Poland: it is an inexpensive snack that was created during communism, when cheese, bread and mushrooms were easy to find.  Today, it is available with different toppings and even with different ingredients. I recall once having a zapiekanka that had a bunch of veggies in lieu of cheese when we were in Renata’s native town of Chelm . However, the traditional recipe is still the most popular – fans say that the best zapiekanka can be had in Krakow’s former Jewish neighborhood of Kazimierz at this store that used to operate as a kosher butcher shop. I was able to locate the place (it was just blocks away from our hotel) and I must admit they were right.

Zapiekanka is quite easy to prepare, and it is a delicious alternative to sandwiches or pizza that can be enjoyed any time of day.

Ingredients (for 2)

8 oz. mushrooms, finely chopped

1 halved baguette (use both sides)

1 cup mozzarella cheese

Ketchup to taste

Chopped scallions (optional)

1 tsp. butter

Melt the butter and sauté the chopped mushrooms until the liquid evaporates.  Spread over halved baguette and top with scallions (optional) and cheese. Place in oven at 350 degrees and bake until cheese melts and bread is toasted. Remove from oven and serve

 

 

by Ernest Barteldes

Italian cooking is popular all over the world, and that popularity reflects in my kitchen as well. Though I rarely go out to Italian restaurants, I do have a number of recipes that have become staples in my home due to their simplicity. Many dishes can be prepared in less than 30 minutes without sacrificing any flavors.

Of course not every dish is that easy to make – anyone who has gone through the process of making eggplant parmesan, risotto or rolattini knows that many Italian dishes are extremely labor-intensive and can take hours to make – but anyone who has seen the PBS show Lidia’s Italy can attest on how easily some of these classics can be prepared. I recall watching her making pasta matricciana once and was impressed on how quickly she put it together – I memorized the recipe without ever having to take any notes. She simply boiled some sliced onions in a little water, added diced tomatoes, fresh basil and some olive oil at the end of the process, serving it over linguini and pairing with a red wine (I think it was a sangiovese, but I cannot be sure).

I often cook Italian dishes at home, going from simple lasagna (I cheat though, since I used ready-to-bake noodles) to mushroom risotto or the above-mentioned rolattini (made with ricotta and spinach). It’s always a pleasure to prepare, and of course the enjoyment that comes with it is worth it every time.

One Italian favorite that is in constant rotation at home is penne puttanesca, a spicy concoction that can be made in about 15 minutes.  According to legend, the dish was created in Napoli by the ‘ladies of the night,’ who prepared it between customers. “Puttanesca” translates as “in the style of the whore.” The name originates from the Italian word puttana which means whore.  Whether this is true or not I have no idea, but that it is sinfully delicious, that it is.

The recipe below is a variation from the original – here we include a little tuna to make it more flavorful.

Penne Puttanesca with tuna (adapted from Gourmet magazine)

• 1/2 C. extra virgin olive oil
• 6 anchovy filets, chopped
• 2 tsp. finely chopped garlic
• 4 C. peeled, chopped, and seeded fresh roma tomatoes
• 1 bay leaf
• (to taste) salt
• 8 oz. dried Italian penne rigate pasta
• 2 Tbsp. chopped fresh basil leaves
• 2 Tbsp. capers
• 8-10 kalamata olives, pitted and chopped
• 1 can tuna in olive oil, drained

 

Heat all but 1 Tbsp. of olive oil in a large skillet over low heat. Add anchovies and cook, stirring until the anchovies dissolve.

Add garlic and cook for about 15 seconds. Raise the heat to medium-high and add tomatoes, bay leaf, and salt. When the sauce comes to a boil, turn the heat down and simmer until the tomatoes have reduced and separated from the oil. This may take 20-40 minutes then remove sauce from heat, remove Bay leaf and set sauce aside.

Bring 4 quarts of water to a boil in a large pot; add 1 tsp. of salt, and add the penne. Stir for at least one minute and let it return to a boil.

When the pasta is halfway done (4-5 minutes), return the sauce skillet to a medium heat, adding the basil, capers, and olives. Cook pasta until al dente; drain (reserve 1 cup cooking liquid), and return to pot. Add the tuna to sauce and mix it with the pasta.  If the mixed pasta and sauce seem a bit too dry, add the reserved cooking water.

 

 

 

Breakfast is usually a quick endeavor at home on weekdays.  I wake up, take a shower, eat my cereal, brew the coffee, prepare Renata’s sandwich and pack her lunch as she steals away a few more minutes of sleep.

Sundays, however, are a different affair. I wake up at around 8, prepare the laundry and take it downstairs. While the clothes are washing, I set to prepare a more elaborate dish, which could go from Santa Fe burritos, simple pancakes with a side of fruit and sausages, a frittata, a quiche or whatever else I feel inspired to make as I plan my shopping list the day before.

It is my way of starting the Sunday with something we can both enjoy slowly while watching  a movie or what has become sort of a tradition for us on Sunday – CBS’ Sunday Morning news show, followed by Face The Nation, one of the many political shows that run on American TV on Sundays.

This regular routine is almost never broken, even if we come back home late. Once we attended a party promoted by a Brazilian friend and only made it back around 3 AM – but five hours later I was up and running, even if I am not what you would call a morning person. Thing is, I think Sundays are too special to waste in bed. And there is also the factor that I have to be out the door by 11:15 to go to the Church of Our Lady of Pompeii, where I regularly perform Brazilian Catholic music.

Sure, I know some people would prefer to sleep until noon and drag themselves to the nearest brunch or simply buy a sandwich at a nearby deli (I sometimes do that on Saturdays), but that is just not how we roll.  The sole exception comes when we decide to get tamales from a nearby Mexican grocery store – but I will still cut up some fruit and make some freshly brewed coffee.

Mushroom and egg bake

(Adapted from Grandma’s Kitchen)

2 scallions, chopped

4 ounces mushrooms, sliced

1 tbsp. vegetable oil

1 cup cottage cheese

1 cup sour cream

4 large eggs

2 tbsp. flour

½ tsp. salt

½ tsp. black pepper

Hot pepper sauce, to taste

 

Preheat oven to 350 F. Lightly grease large baking dish. Heat vegetable oil in medium skillet and add scallions and mushrooms, stirring until tender. Process cottage cheese until smooth. Add sour cream, eggs, flour, black pepper and hot pepper sauce until combined. Stir in scallions and mushrooms. Pour egg mixture into prepared baking dish. Bake until knife inserted in center of dish comes out clean (about 40 min). Let stand for about 5 minutes and serve with a side of fresh fruit.

 

Many Latin American and Caribbean countries have their take on rice and beans cooked together. In Jamaica, they’re made with red kidney beans and are called “rice and peas,” while in Puerto Rico they are made with pigeon peas  and are the island’s signature dish, “arroz con gandules.” In Cuba they use black beans (“frijoles negros”) and I am sure that other nations have their own take.

Northeastern Brazilians call the mix “baião de dois,” and the dish is basically made with blackeye peas and sometimes coconut milk. Different cooks add their own twist to it, like adding fresh cheese, dried beef or even butter, depending on what it’s being served with. It is mostly a side dish there, but I always loved having it as a main course with a side of vegetables or farofa, a local concoction made with yucca flour (more on that later)

When I met Renata, I introduced her to “baião” as a side, but she never really warmed up to it as a main course because she thought there was not much to it. I used creativity and started adding a few things here and there to enhance it until I found the perfect balance.  The first thing that worked was taking the Cubans’ lead and using black beans, which have a stronger, earthy flavor.  Next step was to find the perfect ingredient to make this a full-fledged main dish.  The answer came – of all places – from Poland via turkey kielbasa.

The smoked sausage from Renata’s native land proved to have just the right personality to become part of such a tropical Latin dish. Since it does not have the spices found in chorizo or Italian sausage, it does not overpower the other ingredients. After that came the idea of adding diced tomatoes for a richer, more robust look and taste.  It is very simple to make, quick to cook and totally delicious.

“Polka de Três”

Ingredients:

1 tbsp. olive oil

1 cup white rice

¾ lb. turkey polska kielbasa, sliced

1 14 oz. can black beans

1 14 oz. can diced tomatoes

2 cloves garlic, chopped

1 ½ to 2 cups vegetable stock

Chopped cilantro, sea salt and black pepper to taste

A dash of hot pepper sauce (optional)

½ cup of coconut milk (optional)

Heat the oil and add the kielbasa. Stir-fry until browned. Add the garlic and stir until fragrant. Add the tomatoes and let it reduce for about 3 min. Stir in the rice, cilantro, salt and black pepper, optional red pepper sauce and vegetable stock. Cover and let simmer in low heat, stirring occasionally as not to allow the rice to stick to bottom of the pan.  Cook until rice is tender (you might need to add a little more stock) and remove from heat. Let it stand, covered, until liquid is absorbed.  If desired, stir in coconut milk, let the rice absorb it and serve.

Farofa is basically yucca flour (easily found in Brazilian markets, but it can be substituted with farina) that is mixed with drippings from chicken, beef or other fat-rich dishes.  Since this is not the case here, you can melt about 1 tbsp. butter and scramble one egg into it. After the egg is done, add the flour (I’d say ½ cup) and stir. Season with salt and pepper.

 

 

 

I have written before that I enjoy cooking elaborate meals on Sundays – a tradition of sorts that began when Renata and I started dating in the winter of 2005. When I come back from playing at church, we happily go to the kitchen and set to dice, mince and sauté to the sound of good music and a nice glass of wine.

 

Weekdays, however, are a different story. I make us a packed lunch on a daily basis, but I try to keep it simple, since I have little available time to dedicate to making these dishes (and no, I don’t want to wake up extra early to do so, either).

 

Taking the lead from New York Times columnist Mark Bittman’s Quick and Easy Recipes, I look for ingredients that will make cooking fast and simple. Bottled sauces and canned cream soups? Check. Frozen vegetables and fish fillets? Check. I want everything handy when I set to prepare these meals, and I do not want to spend any more time than I have to with the task.

 

When I go food shopping every week, I always include products that I can stock in the freezer for weekday use (no, I don’t buy TV dinners – I do have some pride), and I also plan what to cook way ahead of time.  Over the years, I have created some original dishes based on recipes I’d seen before or by simply using common sense when combining ingredients I find in stores.

The one thing I don’t neglect, though, is flavor. Everything I make needs to taste good, even when I am cooking on the run. For these moments I have my trusty spice cabinet, where you can find tens of seasonings, going from Cajun to Indian and everything in between.

 

Here is something I prepared recently:

Pasta with broccoli and turkey kielbasa (serves 2-3, preparation time 10-15 minutes)

 

1 tbsp. olive oil

½ package cut pasta (I normally use penne rigate)

1 smoked turkey kielbasa, sliced (any smoked sausage works here)

1 14 oz. pack frozen broccoli florets, thawed

1-2 tsp. chopped garlic

1-2 tsp. dry basil

Sea salt and black pepper to taste

 

1. Cook the pasta in salted water according to package instructions until al dente. Drain, reserving about 1 ½ cup cooking water
2. In large skillet heat the oil and cook the kielbasa until browned. Add garlic and stir-fry until fragrant. Add broccoli and continue stirring until heated through. Add salt, pepper and basil.
3. Toss broccoli-kielbasa mixture with pasta and reserved cooking water. Serve topped with drizzle of raw olive oil and grated parmesan cheese (optional)

 

 

 

Ingredients

Many Roman Catholics around the world still abstain from meats on Friday even though the church itself has largely abolished the practice, cutting the observance to Lenten Fridays instead.  Though raised Catholic, I had never heard of such rules until I met Renata. She told me that most Poles still strictly adhere to the practice, and told me that there were no meat products served at her university cafeteria in Poland on that day of the week.

I personally have no problem with not eating meats (like I have written before, I have not consumed either beef or pork – save on rare occasions – for the longest time), especially because I love preparing vegetarian dishes.

But it turns out that there is a good reason for giving up meat products at least once a week. According to a recent FAO report, “livestock are responsible for 18 percent of greenhouse gas emissions, a bigger share than that of transport.” So basically if people followed Catholics’ lead and abstained from eating meat at least once a week, this could considerably reduce emissions and help reduce the effects of climate change.

This never came to my mind until I picked up The Meat Free Monday Cookbook (Kyle Books), a 240-page guide to a great variety of recipes edited by Annie Rigg. The book has a foreword co-signed by Paul, Stella and Mary McCartney, who have long been advocates for vegetarianism.

The book does not try to convince readers to fully convert into a full meat-free diet. Instead, if offers a week-by-week guide divided into summer, spring, winter and fall recipes for breakfast, lunch and dinner.  Not every recipe is easy to make – just last week I tested the vegetarian paella and it proved almost as hard to make as the seafood version (lots of vegetables to cut up and cook separately before bringing everything together). However, there are quite easy ones as huevos rancheros (Mexican-style eggs) and potato gnocci with pesto – all of which I have already prepared at home over the years.

Meat Free Mondays is a good guide for meatless alternatives, and many of the recipes could be a step into going veggie even more days of the week – for your own health and for the sake of our planet.

Below find a recipe from the book… many more can be found at www.meatfreemondays.com

Recipe: Thai Vegetable Curry

(source: Meat Free Mondays website)

Serves 4

For the curry paste:

2 shallots, roughly chopped
2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
1 tbsp. freshly grated ginger
1 stick lemongrass, finely chopped
2 green chilies, deseeded and chopped
Zest of 1 lime
Small bunch fresh coriander

1 tbsp. sunflower oil

1 small eggplant, cut into chunks
1 red pepper, deseeded and cut into dice
8 chestnut mushrooms, halved (or quartered if large)
400ml can coconut milk
6 okra, cut on the diagonal into 3 pieces (zucchini can substitute)
8 baby corn, cut on the diagonal into 3 pieces
150g canned bamboo shoots, drained
Handful of sugar snaps, cut in half on the diagonal
2 handfuls of beansprouts
Soy sauce
Palm or soft light brown sugar to taste

To serve:
Fresh coriander leaves
Jasmine rice
Lime wedges

Preparation:

Prepare the curry paste first. Place the shallots, garlic and ginger in a food-processor. Add the lemongrass, chilies, lime zest and coriander stalks (reserving the leaves) and whizz the mixture until finely chopped. You can also make this paste using a pestle and mortar if you prefer.

Heat the sunflower oil in a large sauté pan. Add the curry paste and cook over a medium heat for 1 minute until the mixture smells fragrant. Add the eggplant, red pepper and mushrooms and cook for 1 minute stirring frequently until starting to become tender. Add the coconut milk to the pan with 150ml of water and bring to the boil. Add the okra, baby corn and bamboo shoots and continue to cook for a further 5 minutes or so until the veggies are tender. Finally add the sugar snaps and beansprouts to the pan and cook for another 30 seconds.

Taste and add a dash of soy sauce or teaspoon of sugar if needed. Serve the curry in bowls, garnished with coriander leaves and with jasmine rice and lime wedges to squeeze over.

by Ernest Barteldes

 

When I was about five or six years old, my parents took me on an extended tour of Western Europe, but sadly I remember very little of it. All I can recall is feeding pigeons in Venice, climbing up the Sagrada Familia church in Barcelona and being on a ship named Augustus (which is, at the time of this writing, about to be scrapped in India), where I played with an Italian kid who claimed everything belonged to him (“é mio,” he would scream).

Most people that I know have the misconception that I was introduced to polish food when Renata and I started dating back in February 2005. But the truth is that I have known its cuisine for quite a while via my ESL students who would bring their pierogis (ravioli-like dumplings), gołampki (stuffed cabbage), and bigos (cabbage and sausage stew) to class parties. In addition to that, I have been a semi-regular customer at The Polish Place (19 Corson Avenue, 718-442-8909, no website), a café and deli located just a few blocks from our Staten Island apartment, where they prepare food to order while also stocking their shelves with favorite packaged products from their homeland.

Every time I walk by the store I always buy Delicje, the wonderful fruit-filled cookies made by Wedel, a large chocolate manufacturer from Warsaw that is now part of the Kraft Foods Corporation.

Though I had enjoyed the food before, I had never actually attempted to cook any of it until then. Polish cuisine had always been quite different from the fare I was used to – while I love cooking with a great variety of spices and flavor mixes (Brazilian, Latin American, Indian), and to me Polish food was challenging for lacking exactly that. Most of the foods I know are seasoned with salt and pepper, onions, dill and little else.  But that would not stop me from trying, and a few years back I bought Russian, German & Polish Food and Cooking (by Lesley Chamberlain, H&H Books), a large tome that detailed many recipes from the region.

As I went through the book, I also did some research on other dishes and today some of them have become staples in our household. Our trip to Poland was also very eye-opening. There I experienced zapiekanka (Poland’s version of pizza) and also smoked carp wrapped in bacon served with potatoes and fresh dill pickles in addition to the more traditional foods I mentioned above.

Today, I can make zapiekanka, beetroot salad, cucumber salad with dill and sour cream, salmon & eggs and other dishes from memory. Renata particularly likes bitki, which are basically chicken (or fowl) and mushroom meatballs that are coated with flour and fried. They go great both as a simple appetizer but also as a main course with a side or mashed potatoes and a green salad.

I haven’t yet made any of the more laborious dishes from the book, but someday I will get there. In the meantime, I can always walk down the street.

Chicken Bitki

Ingredients:

8 oz. white or baby bella or white mushrooms, finely chopped

1 lb. ground chicken (turkey also works)

2 eggs, separated

¾ cup bread crumbs

½ cup white flour

1 tbsp. melted butter

2 tbsp. oil

½ tsp. nutmeg

Salt and pepper to taste

 

Sautee the mushrooms well in butter, allow to cool and mix into ground chicken in a large bowl. Fold egg yolks, bread crumbs, nutmeg and salt and pepper and mix well. Beat egg whites until they are consistent and fold into chicken mix. Form sausage-shaped meatballs (about 3 inches long by an inch in diameter) with your hands and roll into flour. Heat oil into nonstick pan and fry bitki until golden brown, turning frequently. Serve hot.

 

Comfort food to many means meat and potatoes or something that makes you feel warm and fuzzy (goulash is another example). However, to me that feeling comes from eating Brazilian food. But when I mention the country, I don’t mean the meat-rich dishes made famous here via the many churrascarias that have spread around the US (I even ran into one in Cleveland  a couple of years back), but the lesser-known ones from the northeastern part of the country.

Similarly to the rest of the Americas, Brazilian cuisine is highly influenced by the different immigrants who made the country their home throughout its history, such as Italians, Lebanese, Poles, Portuguese and Japanese. Many dishes brought from those countries have been reinvented and adapted and are now identified as genuinely Brazilian, even if visitors recognize their origins when tasting them during their visits to the country.

When Renata and I were in Rio in 2009, they served jam-filled pancakes that she immediately identified as Polish naleśniki, but I am quite sure if we’d asked the cook he or she wouldn’t know that.  Germans brought their sausages and pork Kassel, the Italians their pasta and the Portuguese their love of seafood – which all came into the melting pot and became something new.

No continent, however, has influenced Brazil’s culinary as the West Africans brought to the country as slaves in the mid-16^th Century.  Many of these enslaved Africans worked in their masters’ kitchens and gradually changed their Portuguese dishes using materials found in the land. Africans also introduced palm oil, (an unfiltered version also found in many Jamaican dishes) coconut milk and rice while learning to use indigenous plants like cassava and cacao.

Today, Brazil is the country with the largest amount of Afro-descendants in the world, and their presence in the country’s foods can mostly be felt in the city of Salvador, in the state of Bahia (which some visitors compare to New Orleans).  The state’s signature dish is moqueca (pronounced mo-KE-ka), a moderately spicy tasteful stew that brings together many flavors alongside the indispensable dende (pronounced den-DEH – the African word for palm oil). In Ceara we have the baiao de dois, which is basically rice and beans cooked together. It is not that different from the Jamaican rice and peas or the Dominicans’ arroz con frijoles, but it retains its own personality by using local ingredients easily found in the region.

Fish moqueca:

2 lb. fish fillets (tilapia or other firm fish)

2 large tomatoes, chopped and seeded (canned diced tomatoes are OK)

2-3 tablespoons palm oil

1 can coconut milk

2 cloves garlic, chopped

1 large onion, sliced

1 green bell pepper, sliced and seeded

2 malagueta peppers, chopped (red pepper flakes can substitute. Fresh Jamaican peppers also work)

Salt and black pepper to taste

2-3 tablespoons fresh cilantro, chopped

 

Directions:

 

Over medium heat, Melt the palm oil in a large saucepan and add the garlic and onions and sauté until tender. Add the bell and malagueta peppers and sauté for about one minute. Add the coconut milk and the tomatoes and let it simmer for about five minutes. Add the fish and continue simmering until cooked through.  Serve immediately over white rice.  This dish can be paired with un-oaked chardonnay, sauvignon blanc or pinot grigio.