We were in the city for the weekend (eating a variety of Asian takeout, plus a good brunch at my favorite Williamsburg Italian place) so tonight’s dinner was a study in the intersection between fast and delicious, using available staples. Eggs can often mean the difference between good and great, so since we had some I made pasta (no flavors, just basic) and pulled a jar of our strained yellow cherry tomato purée from the pantry. The pasta got sauced with our gorgeous, sweet, velvety tomatoes plus a glug of cream to accentuate both their texture and sweetness and a garnish of garlic chives from the lawn. On the side, our new house special of Bolting Brassica Medley™ with garlic and cider vinegar. The greens were super rich and satisfying, and the sauce essentially disappeared into the pasta. I chose the yellow purée because it was almost the same color as the pasta, and with a little cream it became the sauce that wasn’t; the effect was more like a self-lubricating fettucine with astonishingly deep, sweet flavor.
Another reason I chose the yellow tomatoes was the wine: while in Brooklyn I grabbed the 2005 Bret Brothers Pouilly Fuissé “Le Clos Reyssié” which the first of Mary’s offerings we’ve opened; it bodes very, very well for all the other wine I’ve bought from her. While your average California chardonnay is much like a grilled pineapple upside-down cake in the face as thrown by a fruit-hatted clown in Carmen Miranda drag, this wine (which is an excellent candidate for decanting- the last glass was by far the best) is more like a therapeutic soak in a mineral spring with a “Manon des Sources” era Emmanuele Béart who accidentally spills her daiquiri on you while rubbing your back. And it was note perfect with the pasta.
that was some ass-kicking wine description if i ever heard one…
actually, the pasta too.
all the compliments are getting wearisome i’m sure – even to me…
if you ever start sucking, i’ll be the first to let you know. if only for balance…
i’d have killed to eaten that pasta. sounds truly great.
Now that…
“While your average California chardonnay is much like a grilled pineapple upside-down cake in the face as thrown by a fruit-hatted clown in Carmen Miranda drag, this wine (which is an excellent candidate for decanting- the last glass was by far the best) is more like a therapeutic soak in a mineral spring with a “Manon des Sources” era Emmanuele Béart who accidentally spills her daiquiri on you while rubbing your back. And it was note perfect with the pasta.”
Is a wine review I can get behind and understand!!
I’m always amused by your wine reviews and this one is over the top!
Claudia: I don’t doubt that you will. And pasta is so easy.
Jo: I would get behind anything having to do with Emmanuele Béart.
Zoomie: I calls ’em like I tastes ’em.
dude, you’re funny! And that pasta looks DAMN nice. i really like the idea of making a sauce out of the yellow tomatoes – so simple, but I wouldn’t have thought of it.
My mustard greens have taken a decidedly bitter turn in this late season, yet they look so lush and frilly that I keep them in the bed and still try to eat them. But they’re bitter and nasty. But they’re so pretty. Even bacon and orange zest can’t save them. I really should just yank them. Sigh.
That was one hell of a yarn-spinning with the wine, there.
Amy: By the time I got to canning them, most of our cherry tomatoes were of the yellow-orange variety.
Heather: You should let them go to seed and make your own mustard. I used the flowers here for decoration.