Pair It Up! Recipes from Ricardo

One of the most popular television chefs in Quebec, Ricardo Larrivée, has been successful with his Ricardo magazine in Quebec, but it’s only recently that he’s launched an English version, and it’s fantastic! The magazine opens with a recipe index along with images to make it easy to navigate right to ‘em, if that’s what you’re picking it up for. But there’s so much more!
One of my favourite sections is Things We Love, a short and tidy page of recommendations; in the current issue it’s everything from parsnip chips to a Peruvian cookbook to striped, summery bowls from Williams-Sonoma. The rest is typical food magazine fare: single-ingredient profiles with an array of recipes, wine and cocktails, gadgets and so on.

The writing is colourful and both the photography and whole package are superb. I wholeheartedly recommend you pick yourself up a copy.

For this post, I’ve chosen three recipes from the magazine that are good fits for summer, along with, of course, a Canadian wine pairing for each.

Seared Salmon with Mashed Potatoes and Leeks

Simple and lively, with that hit of arugula and corn. I personally enjoy a chilled, light red with salmon - the fruitiness of the fish and the wine generally dovetail well. Let’s go with Meyer Family Vineyards’ 2013 Okanagan Valley Pinot Noir, which is nice and bright with cherries, plums, and a hint of herbaceousness which’ll complement that arugula nicely.

Pretzel-Crusted Fish

First off: what a fun idea! All right, two things to keep in mind: you’re using a white fish like halibut or cod, which will have some citrus-y notes that your wine can go along with, and then the salty pretzel aspect that you’ll want a bit of juiciness to lap up. A little something like SpierHead 2014 Pinot Gris has waves of orchard fruit and juicy acidity that should do the trick with ease!

Chicken, Watermelon, Feta and Cucumber Salad

The title of this salad makes its profile pretty self-explanatory. It’s fresh and lively – but there is that salty Feta to look out for. A wine that’s dynamic with all types of flavours is in order, and when this is the case, I always like to go pink. Rosehall Run’s 2014 Just One Rose Rosé is a combo of Gamay and Pinot Noir that’ll envelop it all wonderfully.