Eat Your Vegetables!
Pairing Wine with Plant-Based Cuisine
By Carole Kotkin & Fred Tasker

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Remember being admonished to eat your vegetables? Who among us didn't shudder at the prospect, especially when those vegetables were likely canned, frozen or cooked beyond recognition. Once pushed to the side of the plate, vegetables are now front and center. And thanks to innovative cooking methods and quality organic produce, they taste better than ever. At this time of year, roadside stands and home gardens overflow with summer's crop of vine-ripened tomatoes, prodigal zucchini, tender green beans, voluptuous bell peppers and luxuriant eggplants.Who can resist? Anyone who has tasted the bold flavors of sun-ripened tomatoes or has had the pleasure of savoring corn plucked from the stalk and cooked over a bed of hot coals has been captivated by the pleasures offered by earth's simple foods.

Tomatoes, corn, salads and vegetable-based soups are standard summer fare, but what about more substantial dishes that combine vegetables with pasta, beans or grains in hearty, healthy entrées?

This new type of vegetable-based cuisine eschews the bean sprouts, tofu and other tasteless ingredients typical of the health food diets that proliferated in the 1970s. Today's dishes are so complex and interesting that they don't leave the diner feeling less than sated. The added bonus is that such foods are generally higher in vitamins, minerals and fiber, and lower in fats than the traditional meat-based main course.

And as main-course vegetable dishes become more popular, cooks everywhere are faced with what was once considered the challenge of pairing fine wines with the likes of artichokes, asparagus, arugula and more. Winemakers, too, are shifting gears. Once accustomed to showing off big-shouldered reds with beef, lamb and game, they are now crafting softer reds and fruitier whites to better harmonize with dishes such as a summer bouillabaisse or vegetable pavé.

One need not patronize bland vegan establishments in order to eat healthy when dining out. Mainstream chefs at some of this country's temples of haute cuisine are responding to the meteoric rise of vegetables with a range of sublime dishes. Top restaurants such as Fleur de Lys in San Francisco, Charlie Trotter's in Chicago and Norman's in Miami regularly offer diners all-vegetable tasting menus, while New York's Bouley will prepare a vegetable dégustation on request. The days of broccoli and cauliflower medley are gone. Chefs are cooking with a full range of specialty produce – from petite Japanese eggplant to tropical root vegetables such as boniato and yuca.

Home cooks may draw inspiration from each season's bounty, or from countless cookbooks dedicated to the subject of vegetables, but how does one begin to understand how best to pair wine with vegetables?

Obviously, the old saw about red wine with red meat, white wine with white meat is no help here. Still, some familiar principles apply.

Some wine and vegetable matches are inherent in the flavors of the vegetables themselves – the forest-floor quality of mushrooms or truffles with the signature earthiness of Pinot Noir; the high acidity of tomatoes with the crisp acids of Sauvignon Blanc or Chianti; the sweetness of corn or sugar snap peas with the off-dry fruit of a Chenin Blanc.

Other pairings are determined by how the vegetables were cooked. Grilling eggplant, zucchini, summer squash and portobello mushrooms over a charcoal or gas grill creates a savory bitterness that is nicely complemented by red wines such as Merlot, Syrah or Zinfandel.

Perhaps most important, one should consider the sauce in which vegetables are cooked or served. Sauces, broths and herbs can provide the distinctive flavors that make all the old food-wine match rules apply: for dishes infused with cilantro, basil or dill, choose an herbaceous Sauvignon Blanc; pair buttery, creamy flavors with an opulent Chardonnay; spicy Mexican or Asian flavors marry well with sweetly fruity whites or reds; for boldly flavored, hearty dishes, rich reds make the perfect foil.

An interesting aspect of the vegetable-based foods trend is that it is likely to bring alternative wines to the fore. Among reds, we will see fewer big, tannic offerings and more lighter, fruitier wines such as Beaujolais, Barbera, Valpolicella, Dolcetto, Pinot Noir and even Pinotage. Among whites, the full-bodied, intensely floral Gewürztraminer, Marsanne and Viognier marry well with most vegetables and fruit.

Chef Charlie Trotter has a flair for constructing a vegetable menu that builds from delicate flavors and textures to heartier ones, matched with a traditional progression of wines. The chef/owner of Charlie Trotter's is a veritable pioneer of vegetable-based cuisine, and although he serves traditional meat- and seafood-based entrées, he considers vegetable cookery the most interesting part of his vocation. He composes palate-melting vegetable Napoleons and terrines, complex vegetable flans and beguiling rice and grain dishes. In many of his vegetable-based recipes, however, he'll call for a dollop of caviar, a well-placed quail's egg or a few cups of veal stock. "I do not think of vegetable cuisine in terms of health food, alternative food or spa food," he asserts. "Vegetables provide an incredible depth and complexity in both flavor and texture...that cannot be matched by beef or salmon.

"You have to provide a certain amount of substance, however, which takes some ingenuity," Trotter says. "Vegetable cuisine will not support a Margaux or a deep, rich, full, aged wine, so the question is, what do you serve with a cilantro pizza?"

He has an answer, of course. In fact, Trotter and his restaurant's sommelier, Joseph Spellman, winner of 1997's prestigious Grand Prix Sopexa International Sommelier competition, have created food-wine matches of incredible precision. In their 1997 cookbook, Charlie Trotter's Vegetables (Ten Speed Press, $50), they suggest such instructive pairings as these: with the sweetness of a baby carrot terrine, a high-acid Premier Cru Chablis; with an earthy, six-onion risotto, an earthy Bandol rosé; with tart collard greens tortellini, a lean Chassagne-Montrachet; with an earthy, truffle-studded, twice-baked potato, a truffle-like Marsanne; with toasty rutabaga gnocchi, a perfumed Alsatian Pinot Gris; with savory elephant garlic soup, an oaky Oregon Pinot Gris; with the light sweetness of chilled clear cucumber/watermelon soup, a racy, apple-scented German Kabinett Riesling; with a rich dessert of cardamom-carrot griddle cakes, an orange-scented dessert Muscat.

John Ash is yet another noteworthy chef who is fond of cooking with vegetables. And in his role as culinary director at Fetzer Vineyards, he is attuned to saving a place at the dinner table for just the right bottle of wine.

The author of From the Earth to the Table (Penguin Books, $29.95), Ash prefers using the term "plant-based cooking" to "vegetarian" because he says the latter conjures up images of Birkenstocks and tie-dyed T-shirts.

Ash believes good cooks should start paying more attention to vegetable-wine flavor matches. "We need to focus on techniques to bring out flavors in plants," he says. "The use of roasting and grilling, for example, makes vegetables – and even certain fruit – much more compatible with wine, especially wines with oak aging. When you make that leap to toasty, caramelized flavors, vegetables even go well with full-bodied reds."

With Fetzer's five-acre organic garden as his palette, Ash has become a staunch proponent of cooking with organic produce, which he believes offers the purest form of flavors. "I don't know if you could prove it scientifically, but I think it's true," he says.

The Fetzer garden was planted in 1985 for food-wine experiments at the winery's Valley Oaks complex in Mendocino County, California. Ash says Fetzer's grape growers were so impressed with the flavors of the organic tomatoes, eggplant and squash that they decided to experiment with organic grape growing – a step that proved to be the birth of Bonterra, Fetzer's organic line of fine wines.

Inventive food-wine flavor pairings are essential to the innovative style of cooking that has come to be known as New World Cuisine, and Chef Norman Van Aken depends on a mélange of bold and sometimes daring tropical and traditional ingredients to deliver his message. A member of South Florida's notorious Mango Gang and the co-proprietor of Norman's in Coral Gables, Florida, his effusive interpretations need careful pairing, but when the proper wine match is made, the combination is ethereal.

Van Aken was recently asked to create a vegetable dish to match a fruity, earthy Domaine Carneros Pinot Noir. His solution: an exotic vegetable lasagna embellished with a rich and fragrant mushroom sauce.

The author of several cookbooks, the most recent of which is Norman's New World Cuisine (Random House, $50), Van Aken enjoys putting vegetable dishes on center stage, but admits that pairing wine with them is a challenge. "If you allow the vegetables to remain 'naked,' it can be hard to find a wine match that will be a real marriage and not just something like two strangers riding on the same bus."

His secret is in the sauce. "Dishes with South Florida-style fruit sauces – mango, tamarind, orange – make the pairing much easier because lots of wines work with fruit," he says. "The fruit element adds a bit more resonance and acidity to the dish, so I can match it with Riesling or Gewürztraminer."

Swanson Winemaker Marco Cappelli matches his sangiovese-based Rosato with the sweetness of fruit salads, the tanginess of vegetable stir-frys and even the smokiness of grilled vegetables. "You can almost use it as a light red," he says.

Not to be confused with sugary blush wines, the classic rosé is the perfect candidate for a range of vegetable-based dishes. The juicy fruitiness, crisp acids and full-but-not-tannic flavors of bone-dry rosés bridge the gap between contrasting food flavors such as sweet and smoky or tart and tangy. Like Swanson's Rosato, Simi's Rosé of Cabernet or the syrah-based rosés of France's Languedoc-Roussillon also rise to the challenge.


Planning a Vegetable-based Meal

When cooking with fruits and vegetables, first determine what is in season in your particular region. Much of the produce found in grocery stores is imported, so make your selections carefully.

Whenever possible, seek out farmers' markets and roadside stands, for it is at these places that you will likely find local, fresh-from-the-farm produce. Ethnic grocery stores, especially Asian and Latin markets, can also be good sources of exotic produce for the adventurous cook.

After determining what's in season, the next step is to structure your meal. The tradition of the meat course as the focal point remains important in a vegetable-based dinner. The entrée should not necessarily be meat-like, but it should command attention by its form and appearance. The more complicated dishes succeed best by providing visual complexity and diversity of flavors and textures. A terrine of layered vegetables and fillings, a polenta dish with a colorful sauce, or a dramatic vegetable soufflé make ideal entrées. Flavorful vegetable gratins also have great appeal with their golden crusts and layers of texture and color.

For plant-based meals that build to a crescendo, your wine choices may be based on the traditional order used when the main entrée features meat. Serve a Champagne, sparkling wine or lightly sweet white as an apéritif with the hors d'oeuvres.

As each course gains complexity, so, too, should the wine – going from whites to reds, lighter to heavier, drier to sweeter. The centerpiece wine should be served with the chief vegetable-based entrée. Save the muscular Bordeaux for your meat-eating friends and showcase instead an accessible Pinot Noir, a soft Merlot or a generous Shiraz. Should the main dish call for white wine, charming prospects include a crisp Bordeaux or a lush Burgundy.

Or you may throw caution to the wind and serve a family-style, vegetable-based meal wherein all of the dishes are brought to the table at once, and all of the wines are opened and each guest pours, tastes and experiments at his or her discretion.

Either camp has its followers.

No matter the manner in which it is served, a meal with wine engages all the senses, whether it be based on vegetables or not. And although we tend to consider the taste of the food to be primary, our enjoyment is made up of many parts: the aroma of the cooking food that fills a room, the colors and textures of each dish – bright, subtle; soft, silky; or chewy and dense. Even sounds heighten the appetite: the sizzling of a sauté or the pop of a wine cork. All of these elements work together to enhance the pleasures of the table.

Article first published in The Wine News
 

Food Editor Carole Kotkin is a Miami-based cooking instructor and consultant who co-authored Mmmmiami - Tempting Tropical Tastes for Home Cooks Everywhere. It provides clear, simple directions for 150 dishes, from the simple (good old Key Lime Pie) to the sublime (Coconut Mahi-Mahi with Passion Fruit Sauce). The wide array of flavors is especially wonderful and startling to those used to monocultural cooking; Miami cuisine is the product of many generations of interbreeding and hybrid vigor. Click on the link below for more details or to order.

Mmmmiami : Tempting Tropical Tastes for Cooks Everywhere

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