Under the Bubbles

To choose a sparkling wine for my wedding, I agonized over which bottle of bubbly would best flatter the foods on the menu and impress my new in-laws. I chose a California sparkling wine that seemed to meet all my criteria for flavor and aroma, but the problem (if you can really call it a problem) was that in the midst of the party, with all the reveling in reunions, speeches and dancing, I never really noticed the nuances of the wine, and I suspect that few of the guests did either. On red-letter days, which might include job promotions and World Series victories, cold sparkling wine is more often a state of mind than a state of taste. It’s just fun.

Particularly at this time of the year, when bubbly wines flow more freely than at any other, it’s worthwhile to look for their occasionally hidden identities, which make these sparkling wines food-friendly. According to Karen MacNeil, chair of wine studies at the Culinary Institute of America at Greystone, the Champenois get awfully irritated when Americans drink their Champagnes primarily for the fizz. “Taste the wine under the bubbles,” the French insist, suggesting that the wine’s effervescence can be a distraction from the more elegant characteristics developed in a rigorously complicated winemaking process.

Take, for example, a blanc de blancs. Literally white wine from white grapes, blanc de blancs is made entirely from chardonnay, the white grape America knows best. However, unlike a still chardonnay, a blanc de blancs is a blend, or cuvee, of more than 30 base wines, sometimes more than 100. Each base wine is a separately fermented still wine with a unique history that reveals itself in distinct flavors, aromas and textures. By combining so many wines with so many characteristics, sparkling wine producers can develop far more complexity than you’ll find in most still white wines. That complexity is the key to the wine’s ability to match up to foods as robust as a tomato-based pasta or risotto.

Another reason a blanc de blancs is better suited to food pairing is that a still chardonnay’s creamy texture and oak-barrel flavors can throw a wet blanket over a dish’s nuances, but thankfully the chardonnay in a good sparkling wine is much higher in acid, as the grapes are picked before they fully ripen. The sharp acidity acts as a critical counterpoint to rich dairy foods such as cheese, eggs and butter. This is just one reason that a sparkling wine is a top choice for brunch.

A blanc de blancs is also a more reliable choice because good sparkling wine producers draw from many more base wines, including wines from previous vintages. Making a nonvintage sparkling wine, a producer can incorporate whatever reserve wines are required to maintain the “house style,” which is really a sense of timelessness that doesn’t depend on the vagaries of a particular year’s weather, as still wines do. That degree of consistency makes food and wine pairing more predictable. If you loved a glass of Schramsberg’s blanc de blancs with seared scallops last year, chances are good that you will love the combination again next year, assuming the scallop recipe remains as consistent as the wine.

In the broad range of sparkling wine styles, a blanc de blancs is near the lightest end, with delicate finesse. The standard black-tie accompaniments--including caviar, smoked salmon and oysters--make perfectly delicious combinations, but it’s not necessary to confine yourself to swanky foods. They work well because they’re salty, and there are many delicately flavored recipes with noticeable saltiness that will soften a sparkler’s characteristic acidity a bit and let the wine show through (can you hear the Champenois cheering now?). I especially like a blanc de blancs with sushi for the way the acidity tempers the little burn of wasabi, and the way the wine’s complexity prolongs the clean fish flavors. My final recommendation is almost anything fried, and here the payoff is mostly textural--that is, crispy with bubbly. The delicate textures dance together with equal energy like no other combination I know. I guess that the Champenois wouldn’t approve of me favoring the fizz in this case. Maybe it’s just the American in me.

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Onion, Anchovy and Olive Tart

Serves 4 to 6

5 onions, sliced

3 tablespoons olive oil

2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar

1 tablespoon brown sugar

12 ounces ready-prepared puff pastry

1/4 cup finely grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese

9 anchovy fillets, drained

1/4 cup black olives, halved

2 tablespoons oregano leaves

Place the onions and oil in a frying pan over medium heat. Cook, stirring for 10 minutes or until the onions are soft and golden. Add the balsamic and sugar and cook for 2 minutes, then set aside to cool.

Roll out the pastry on a lightly floured surface until 1/8 inch thick. Trim the pastry to a roughly rectangular shape and place on a baking tray lined with parchment paper. Top the pastry with the Parmigiano-Reggiano, leaving a 3/4-inch border. Top with the onions, anchovies, olives and oregano. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes in a 400-degree oven or until the tart is golden and puffed. Serve warm in slices.

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Stirred Tomato Risotto with Mussels

Serves 4

2 tablespoons olive oil

3 leeks, chopped

2 tablespoons lemon thyme leaves

3-1/2 to 4 cups fish or vegetable stock

1-1/2 cups tomato puree

2 cups arborio rice

3/4 cup white wine

1 tablespoon butter

2 pounds mussels, scrubbed

1/2 cup grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese

cracked black pepper and sea salt

Heat a heavy-based frying pan over medium heat. Add the oil, leeks and thyme and cook for 4 minutes or until the leeks are golden. Place the stock and tomato puree in a saucepan and bring to a slow simmer. Add the rice to the leek mixture and cook, stirring, for 2 minutes. Add the hot stock to the rice, 1 cup at a time, stirring until each cup of stock is absorbed and the rice is al dente. While the rice is cooking, place the wine and butter in a frying pan over high heat. Add the mussels, cover and cook for 2 minutes or until the mussels have opened. To serve, stir Parmigiano-Reggiano, pepper and salt through the risotto and spoon onto serving plates. Top with mussels and their pan juices.

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Crispy Spiced Thai Chicken

Serves 4

3 chicken breast fillets, quartered

2 egg whites, lightly beaten

3 tablespoons fine rice flour

2 red chiles, seeded and finely chopped

3 tablespoons chopped cilantro leaves

4 kaffir lime leaves, shredded

3 tablespoons sesame seeds

2 to 3 tablespoons peanut oil

3 tablespoons soy sauce

2 tablespoons lemon juice

1 tablespoon brown sugar

Watercress sprigs to serve

Combine the chicken, egg whites, rice flour, chiles, cilantro, lime leaves and sesame seeds in a bowl. Heat a frying pan over medium heat. Add the oil and cook the chicken for 3 minutes on each side or until golden and cooked through. Drain on absorbent paper.

To make the dipping sauce, place soy, lemon juice and sugar in a bowl and mix to combine. Serve the chicken on some watercress with dipping sauce on the side.

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Recipes adapted from “Off the Shelf: Cooking from the Pantry, by Donna Hay” (William Morrow, 2001).