Valentines Day French Dinner

My Fiance and I on our 89th Monthaversary (7 years 5 months)

On the 13th of every month my Fiance (Brandy) and I have celebrated our monthaversary and the one in February is special because it's the day before valentines day. Since I've been exploring the wine world I decided to class it up this year and make a french meal with an appetizer, a meal, and a dessert. Every little bit of this meal is either from France or french made so Lets get into it.

Dish 1 (Appitizer): Brie en Croute with a Beaumes de Venise

The Brie I used in the Brie en Croute was called "Brie de Nagis" straight from France itself and i used a strawberry jelly inside of the pastry dough. This is a very nice meal that's real easy and really amazing. I chose to pair it with the Beaumes de Venise because the other two dishes were better paired without it in my opinion. I chose this wine because I became very interested Chateauneuf du Pape about a week back and was told this was a cheaper alternative that tasted much the same. The following pictures shows everything involved.

The Preperation of dish 1 with pastry sheet, cheese and jelly (left and middle) and the finished product with wine (right)

I wish I had gotten a good picture of the dish when we cut into it but the brie was smooth and warm on the inside. The jelly added a great sweet hind to the thick brie. Best of all was what happened when we combined it with the wine. The Beaumes de Venise bottle was a 2008 from the Rhone Vally of France. It had a beautiful deep red color. on its own it smelled stronly of fruit with a slight hint of yeasty alcohol. Dark fruits and berries came though on the taste and what could have been a dark cherry taste as well. It was a plethora of flavors that prickled and tingled the mouth with a touch of dryness. When combined with the smooth and sweet Brie en Croute I nearly lost my mind. That pricklyness when away and the wine was smoothed out with the Brie. The jelly did a lot to bring out more of the fruity and berry flavors of the wine. I got more strawberries, raspberries and a certain creaminess from the wine. Such an amazing start to the meal.

Dish 2 (Main Course): Boeuf Beourguignon with a Pinot Noir

If you have a slow cooker you need to try this recipe. The only thing I may have done differently is tht I reduced the wine down into a thick sauce with flour before adding it to the slow cooker. The reason I paired it with Pinot Noir is because, yep you guessed it, the wine reduction was made of the same wine. Why wouldn't they go together? I also had whole small potatoes instead of diced bigs one. it was slow cooked so well that I could have cut it if I just looked at it a certain way. Here is the next meal.

The Whole mixture in my little slow cooker (left) the finished dish (middle) The wine reduction sauce and Brandy (right)

The Wine I chose to pair it with was "Le Charmel" Pinot Noir from the South of France. This 2013 bottle of wine has a nice light red color with a bit of lightness. It has a very pungent smell with a lot of complexities. Citrus rind was dominating the smells after the wine opened up a bit. Tasting it felt like a prickly water reminiscent of tonic. It tasted of mainly dried dark fruits like apricots but had many great aspects to it. The dish smelled much the same, a mix of things, but blended together into perfection. Because the steak in it was so tender the wine was able to saturate it and mix with the juices. The mixture didnt do much to hid any of the prickly sensations from the wine but it did bring out a more citrus lemon flavor. The wine lost its lasting effect on the mouth when combined with the meal and the dryness was gone. These sensations were replaced with a smooth fruitiness that was muddled when the wine was alone. A great continuation of the meal.

Dish 3 (Dessert): Chocolate Mousse and Strawberries with a Chenin Blanc

Now, I had just had a great Riesling at the tasting and when we asked the attedant at kroger she directed us to a nice french bottle of wine. I can't read french at all, the only other language I know is java script, so it wasn't until we tasted it that we discovered it wasn't right and was a Chenin Blanc. The mousse was good and the Chenin Blanc was good but it was not our favorite wine nor the one we wanted. At any rate I was on  budget so we went with what we got.

The chocolate mousse and wine (left) Brandy and I celebrating (right)

We took a break from eating and just had the wine first. It is a 2012 Rue de Perle from Vouvray in France. The wine had a nice light golden color, but smelled of anchovies (oily and salty). It had a bit of a lactic smell like you were smelling yogurt. The taste was fruity and berry but the rind was coming through a lot which added a lot of numbing dryness. There was still a caramel sweetness left on the tongue that I later identified as soy sauce. The mouse did a lot to cut the bitterness of the rind in the taste. It paired better with the chocolate strawberries then the rich mousse though. The taste was more refreshing but the wine saturated the mousse and while it tasted better it seemed to muddle the flavors in the mousse. Not the best ending but we did put the wine aside and finish with just the chocolate mousse.

All in all the meal was fantastic and memorable. Before this class I never would have though to try several wines with several dishes or know what types of wines to get with them. My favorite over all was the Brie en Croute with the Beaumes de Venise. Neadless to say I have saved tat bottle for only special occasions. I will try a better pairing for the dessert next time but it was still really good. I liked french wine and food but next time I'm going to go with something that has robust flavors instead of complex ones.