Tuesday, December 13, 2011

You be the Sommelier

I thought it would be fun to do one more of these before the year ends. The other night, after picking up my kids and bringing them home to begin their week with me, I made a simple and quick dinner that we could eat together before bed time. Hamburgers, mashed potatoes, a few vegetables.

I like to use ground turkey when I make hamburgers, but ground turkey that has plenty of dark meat in it, meat that stays juicy and rich. The daughters' burgers were topped with cheddar, mine with Jasper Hills Bayley Hazen blue cheese, my favorite blue cheese. Mashed potatoes were made with russets, butter, cream, and salt - that's it. Orange bell peppers and Persian cucumbers marinated in a bit of Sherry vinegar finished everyone's plate. This is one of those dinners that makes everyone happy - kids and grownups alike.

What would you open with this meal? Leave your thoughts in the comments, and I'll leave a comment in a few days telling what I drank (and my younger daughter took a tiny sip of) with our dinner.

15 comments:

Anonymous said...

My wine of choice for hamburgers of all kinds is something from Vosne-Romanee -- with enough acidity to cut through the fat, and yet enough weight to stand up to a hamburger's gamey-ness. I've had great success with Sylvain Cathiard's "Les Suchots" recently, and although you might say it's silly to drink Cathiard's wines with a hamburger, I've always believed that good wine and good company matter most...

wineshlub said...

If you're ever going to drink Zinfandel, now is the time. Dashe L'Enfant Terrible perhaps?

pharlap said...

screams to me for off-dry riesling with the acidity of the lightly pickled cucumbers and the richness of the burger. especially b/c notwithstanding the high dark meat content, it's a turkey burger!

Cliff said...

I'd be inclined to go with an Austrian white, or maybe Rinaldi's Grignolino, for something a little further off the beaten path.

Anonymous said...

manzanilla!

Anonymous said...

I'm liking something with tar and burnt oak: 2001 Bodegas Hermanos Peciña Rioja Señorío de P. Peciña Reserva

Joeshico said...

With beef I may have opened a Zin or even a Petit Sirah, but since your burger was made with Turkey, I would choose a dry or semi-dry Riesling. My choice would be a Riesling from the New York Finger Lakes region.

Anonymous said...

This is Riesling, dry with a little sweet touch in it. Or even a sweeter one provided it has lots of 'earth/terroir' in it. Do't know the cheese but most of the time that type kills red, orange stuff (gravner, radikon, ageno etc.) would work well as would a white Bresan. For the most cost effective get 2010 Masieri from Maule.

Anonymous said...

Broc Cellars Carbonic Carignan from organic, head trained, dry farmed, 120 year old vines in Alexander Valley.

Nicola said...

I agree with the comments for a riesling. Nice acidity to complement the burger, cheese, and mashed potatoes. For a second choice, perhaps a white chinon or other chenin blanc from the Loire - for similar reasons...honey notes combined with the acidity.

bwcmd said...

A nice big juicy Beaune.

ATO

Jason A said...

Everything about this meal says Beaujolais to me. I willing to even through out the current nouveau's (there, I said it) - Ducroux, PUR & JP Brun

Brian C said...

oh my god, the suspension is killing me

Brian C said...

quite a bumpy ride...
er. Suspense that was meant to be

Brooklynguy said...

Sorry for the delay - sick kids, work travel intervened. So I drank 2010 Peter Lauer Senior Riesling - many of you suggested Riesling, and it seems like a safe choice. Thanks for the other suggestions, very interesting stuff.