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by
méthode champenoise
, which requires a
secondary fermentation in the bottle that
results in champagne quality for a fraction
of the price.
Another option is the Riondo Prosecco,
which carries a hint of green apple and a
crisp finish.This bubbly wine would also pair
nicely with creamier menu items, or a lightly
fried seafood dish like
frito misto
.
Lighter dishes with flavors of fennel and
garlic pair beautifully with crisp whites,
including pinot grigio and orvieto, the star
of the white wines hailing from the Umbria
region of Italy. A dish of linguine with clams,
white wine and garlic or a plate of crabmeat
drizzled with brown butter and capers would
both pair beautifully with the Zaccagnini
Pinot Grigio or the RuffinoOrvietoClassico,
which carries notes of green apples and has a
slight mineral finish.
An easy-drinking wine like the Ca de Medici
Lambrusco, a fruity and fizzy wine from the
Emilia-Romagna region in Northern Italy,
also pairs well with heavier seafood dishes.
Rosés are another nice middle ground, and
Havener suggests pairing them with dishes
featuring a little spice. He recommends the
12 e Mezzo Rosato del Salento — a wine he
first sampled at Vinitaly — which features
light lime notes with hints of peach and a
slightly effervescent finish.
In Italy, there is a common saying: “What
grows together, goes together.” It’s an adage
that chefs and wine lovers alike adhere to; it re-
La Vigilia
by
Liz Williams
Excerpted from
My Rouses Everyday
,
November | December 2015
M
y Sicilian-born grandmother made the Feast
of the Seven Fishes on La Vigilia (Christmas
Eve) every year. She used fresh fish, shrimp, crabs
— anything that came from the Gulf of Mexico —
including American eel, which we caught in the
waters of Chef Menteur Pass. American eels looks
like snakes, but taste like fish.
She bartered for the rest of themeal. My great-
grandfather had been and my great-uncles
were butchers at the French Market, and they
would trade offal from the pigs and cows they
butchered for the bycatch of the fishermen at
the next stall. That’s howmy grandmother got
the squid, water snails and spiny lobsters she
served, none of which were sold in the typical
seafood market or at the French Market.
When it came to the actual seven fishes, my
grandmother was very broad in what she
considered fish. Frogs, turtles, even crawfish
weren’t officially classified as seafood back
then. (Alligators didn’t make the official cut
until 2010, when New Orleans Archbishop
Gregory M. Aymond decreed that, “yes, alli-
gator is considered to be in the fish family.”)
She was also very broad in what she counted
as “a” fish dish. An oyster counted as one fish,
two oysters as two fish. Like most Sicilians, she
changed the menu every year. And she didn’t
always stop with seven fish (seven is for the
sacraments, according to my grandmother).
Some holidays she did 10 to mark the decades
of the rosary; other years she cooked 12 for
the apostles. One year she served 15 because
that’s how much seafood she had on hand.
While I have yet to make my own Feast of the
Seven Fishes for my husband, sons, daughter-
in-law and granddaughter, Olivia (the most
adventurous eater in the family), families from
Sicily, Italy to Little Italy (down here, that’s
Independence, Louisiana), serve the Feast of
the Seven Fishes every Christmas Eve. Don’t
be intimidated by the number seven: If you
use my grandmother’s formula whereby one
shrimp equals two fish, you can knock out the
seven with one pot of gumbo!
fers to a region’s
terroir
, a term used to describe
the set of environmental factors and habitat,
from altitude, soil type and climate, that influ-
ence and shape the characteristics of a wine.
Dishes with Sicilian roots pair perfectly with
Sicilian wines, and the Mediterranean island
features varied terrains with topical diversity
that drive the production of a variety of
different wines and an industry over 3,000
years in the making. A dish of shrimp served
with eggplant caponata — Sicily’s most
beloved dish — would be a lovely match
with the Stemmari Nero D’Avola, a wine
carrying the name of the grape most widely
planted on the island.
When you move into the heavier, tomato-
based dishes, try migrating to bolder, rustic
wines like the 12 e Mezzo Primitivo del
Salento or the Demarie Langhe Nebbiolo, a
wine from the Piedmont region that carries
notes of spice, blackberries and plums.
Though the general rule of whites with
seafood and fish prevails, some of the heavier
courses — and some of the meatier fishes —
lend themselves wonderfully to lighter reds,
Havener says.
“Salmon, sardines, octopus — some of those
can go great with lighter red wines,” he says.
With fishes like tuna, also known as the red
meat of the sea, you can go even bolder.
Whatever wines find their way to your
holiday table, just make sure they keep
flowing. After all, no real Italian meal is
complete without plenty of wine.
OUR ITALIAN HERITAGE