Italian night

Back in May 2021 I was invited to on online event - The Cecchi Challenge. It was all about Italian wines, initially learning about the history and make up of the wines followed by a blind tasting, I had a superb box of four mini wines. 

The details of The Cecchi Challenge are here in this blog post from the time, amazing we won and subsequently received some superb wines, thank you Cecchi Winery, Brad, Hannah and Ben. 

Last night our friends joined us to enjoy some of the wines and I cooked an Italian meal, I love baking and cooking especially trying new things or for specific events. 

Our white wine was Litorale Vermentino 2020,  Maremma Toscana. The Val Delle Rose is an estate in the centre of Morellino di Scansano and was purchased by Cecchi in 1996. This pale yellow wine had glistening highlights dancing in the glass.

It was quite a light wine which had a lovely fruity aroma and tropical flavours with a mineral edge. Our starter to match this wine was pecorino cheese with broad beans in a mint and lemon dressing served on a bed of rocket with slices of Italian dry-cured ham.

We decided to open two of the red wines, saving the other two for another food night probably for just Hubby and I. Chianti Governo All'uso Toscana and Villa Cerna Chianti Classico were both lovely wines that paired really well with our main meal. 

I baked, for the first time, two broccoli, bacon and red onion tarts: one topped with gorgonzola cheese the other with cheddar. They were both delicious and will be baked again.

Tomatoes are a food I have to avoid which makes Italian cooking a challenge but I have found using blended cooked peppers works well if giving a sweeter result. That said I did  cook meatballs in a rich tomato sauce, saving a few without sauce for me. I also made a bolognaise with peppers and served both with pasta.

It was a help yourself meal with the tarts, meatballs, bolognaise and pasta in the centre of the table, I love this informal style of entertaining.Hubby is very good at baking bread and made a delicious focaccia with rosemary and garlic. 

The two wines were similar but did have a difference. They were both a light red in colour being both made from Sangiovese grapes. Chianti Governo All'uso Toscano had flavours of dark cherries and red fruits with a hint of a sweet spice, whereas although  Villa Cerna Chianti Classico gave flavours of chessies and dark fruits it also offered floral notes to its finish. 

Our dessert was white chocolate and raspberry tiramisu with a glass of my homemade aloe gin, a lovely end to our super Italian meal. 

This week we have also enjoyed an old favourite, Wirra Wirra Church Block. We discovered this wine quite a few years ago in 2013 when we went to a tasting of Matthew Jukes 100 Australian Wines. It's a super Cabernet Sauvignon, Shiraz, Merlot wine with a great deep colour, plenty of fruit and spice on the nose. It follows through in the mouth with dark fruits and an soft tannic oak finish. We both really enjoyed this Australian wine, maybe we'll not leave it so long before doing so again.

My white this week was another old favourite that is not often on the shelf, a must to be bought when it is. Aldi's Pierre Jaurant Marsanne is a Pays d'Oc wine that is full of white stone fruits with a slight sweetness and floral hint in its finish. I enjoy a crisp clean wi e and this for me hits the mark just fine, I'll be on the look out! 

We've a meal out this week at friends which is always a treat but other than that there is nothing planned menu wise, no special days. I wonder what wines, beers or spirits we'll enjoy this week, I'll reveal all in my next post.