Ostensibly - wine notes 3/24/10

JBL loves wine, as I have mentioned in the past, and I am an obscenely lucky beneficiary of his Habit. It all started with a stint in St. Louis and a phenomenal restaurant in their version of Little Italy, but I will let him tell you about that some other time.

JBL's life ambitions have taken him, among other places, on the roller coaster highs and lows of the tech business. During these times we squandered many a fantastic vintage, over pizza for instance, for the simple reason that we could. Also because we had the world at our feet. And we had the rest of our lives ahead of us.

But then there were the not-so-good times (hello, 1999). We sacrificed many things, but wine was never on the list. These were times when JBL perfected the purchase of the Case of Wines Under $10. One shining star of this more frugal time is the Montes Malbec. This Chilean take on a Bordeaux varietal is intense and plummy and spicy and wonderful. See how technical I can be? I am aware that I do winespeak a disservice, but I know a flexible player when I taste one.

So the Malbec. We enjoyed a bottle over the past two evenings with two verrry different meals, and enjoyed it immeasurably with both. First up, an Asian tour de force, a black cod dish with two sauces. The flavors exploded off the plate and brought out the wine's ability to match spice, and to counter heat. Amazing. We literally took a sip after a bite of fish, and looked at each other with a 'wow' look.

But tonight the leftover paired equally well with a pizza that I have been craving for weeks. Margherita. Perhaps it was the stint of unseasonably warm weather we've enjoyed of late. Maybe it was a desire for something light and, well, un-meat-related. Whatever the cause, I have been fantasizing about this dish, and after J went to bed tonight we quenched my thirst. Last summer we tried various permutations, and I finally hit it out of the park with this latest recipe. And the Malbec? It stepped back and offered restrained fruity notes in support of the more subtle flavors, acting more like a soft Chianti than a powerhouse super-Tuscan.

So go buy the Montes. You will not be disappointed. And if you want the margherita recipe, here it is:

Pizza Dough (sorry if I posted this already - this is a Giada De Laurentiis recipe)
3/4 C warm water (105-115 degrees F)
1 envelope active dry yeast
2+ C AP flour
1 tsp sugar
3/4 tsp salt (I use fine sea salt)
3 TBSP olive oil

Warm the water in the microwave (I run mine on high for 30 seconds to get to the required temperature), and whisk in the yeast. Let stand for 5 minutes. Meanwhile, lightly oil a large bowl. In a food processor, pulse 2 C flour, sugar and salt to combine. After the yeast slurry has bloomed, add it and the 3 TBSP olive oil to the flour mixture, and process til a sticky dough forms. Turn out onto a lightly floured surface and knead gently til dough is smooth, adding flour by tablespoonfuls if too sticky, about 1 minute. Transfer dough to prepared bowl, turning to coat with oil. Cover with plastic wrap and store in a warm, draft-free area to rise til doubled in size, about an hour. Preheat oven to 500 degrees F.

Line two baking sheets with parchment paper, and prep the pizza topping:

2-ish vine-ripened tomatoes, coarsely chopped
1 12 oz. package of fresh mozzarella, cut into 1 inch chunks - you won't use it all
Handful of fresh basil, roughly torn
1 medium lemon (you'll also need a zester or the fine side of a box grater)
Olive oil
Fine sea salt

After the dough has risen, punch it down and divide in half*. Flour a work surface and roll out the first dough half into a rectangle roughly the size of the baking sheet, transfer it to the parchment. Top the pizza sparsely first with the cheese (little chunks about 2 inches apart), then fill in first with chopped tomato and then basil. Drizzle with oil, sprinkle with salt and zest about a third of the lemon peel lightly over the pie. You will think, how will this cover the dough? But it will. Trust me.

Put the pizza on the verrrry bottom rack of the oven, and begin rolling out and topping the second pie. After about 15 minutes, your first margherita pizza will be crunchy and perfect! Put the second one in while you eat the first (great for a first course while entertaining - we save the second pizza for leftovers).

*I have used this same dough recipe to make the usual Don Pepino and Kraft shredded Italian cheeses for the girls. The high oven temp cooks the cheese long before the crust gets, well, crusty and crisp, but the girls don't seem to mind. For this type of pizza, I might recommend a lower temp (450) to give the dough a time to crisp up.