Dinner - Homemade Seafood

Friday dinner during the Lenten season is always a challenge since as a practicing Catholic, I'm supposed to abstain from eating meat. Except this past Friday, I thought, "Why not have a seafood dinner with a couple of sides and better yet, find some white wines that pair well?" After all, Jesus did make wine from water. So I decided to have my boyfriend over for a shrimp scampi dinner. The sides included macaroni & cheese with a Colby Jack and Mild Cheddar homemade cheese sauce and oven roasted summer and zucchini squash.

Josh and I wishing we had a selfie stick to take this picture.

The first step was making the macaroni & cheese. Growing up, this was and is still hands down my favorite comfort food. I also thought it would go well with the shrimp since restaurants serve shrimp with pasta all the time. I also thought since chefs make lobster mac & cheese, shrimp mac & cheese should be no different. For the cheese sauce, I just mixed in some butter, milk, salt, pepper, a pinch of flour and about 1/2 cup of Colby Jack and Mild Cheddar cheese. 

The finished macaroni & cheese.

While I had been waiting for the macaroni elbows to boil, I had started to chop up my zucchini and summer squash. It's pretty important to have a well balanced meal, so I had to include these veggies with our dish. I sprinkled them with a little bit of salt, pepper, and olive oil and put them in the oven for about ten minutes. 

Oven baked mixed squash vegetables.

Earlier in the day, I had gone to buy some shrimp from the local Kroger and of course found a great, simple marinade recipe on none other than Pinterest! The marinade consisted of honey, lime juice, salt and pepper, and of course seasoned shrimp with Old Bay. I couldn't pass up the Old Bay (I'm a Maryland Girl). So I had mixed all of these ingredients in a plastic bag and let the shrimp set in the fridge for about 4 hours. Here's the recipe in case you'd like to try it out! http://damndelicious.net/2014/02/22/sweet-lemon-shrimp/ 

Just pulling the marinated shrimp out of the fridge! Ready for the pan.

To actually cook the shrimp, I just tossed them into a pan and stirred them around, cooking them until they were nice and pink.

Me in cooking action.

It looks even yummier than on Pinterest!

The shrimp was the last component to complete the dinner - food wise that is!

A quick snap of my dinner plate. 

Now for the wines that I had chosen. I chose all white wines which were recommended to go well with either white fish, shrimp, or shellfish. I did not focus on any particular region. What follows are my tasting notes for each. 

Name: Barefoot Pinot Grigio 

Variety: Pinot Grigio

Region: California

Country: United States

Year: Non-Vintage

Price: $6.99

Alone: There was a very pleasant aroma of apples and tartness. The tartness reminded me of grapefruit. Also slightly hidden in the bouquet is what smelled like flowers. I thought the start had a very smooth taste through the mid-palate. The finish left a slight bitterness. 

With Mac & Cheese: With the pasta, I got a surprise by how much the acidity punched through. I felt that the grapefruit flavor that I tasted before was even more apparent. I also seemed to get a hint of more citrus.  

With Veggies: I really felt that this vegetable selection didn't do much to bring out anything extra in the wine. Overall, I got the same aromas and the same taste as when I tried the wine alone. I think this may be because these vegetables have a high water content so it really did well to the cleanse the palate. 

With Shrimp: I was surprised by tasting this wine with the shrimp because I felt the acidity was even more pronounced than with the mac & cheese. Instead of just feeling the increased acidity at the start, the acidity lasted until the finish. I was also able to pick up more of a honeydew melon flavor at the end which was nice. 

Name: Sbragia Dry Creek Valley Sauvignon Blanc

Variety: Sauvignon Blanc

Region: Sonoma County, California

Country: United States

Year: 2012

Price: $13.95

Alone: For this wine, the bouquet was full of apples and grapefruit. I also was getting a smell that I thought was like wet rock. It was very smooth with a crisp and slightly bitter finish.

With Mac & Cheese: Tasting this with the Mac & Cheese, I thought again that the acid seemed so much higher than when it was tasted alone. I felt that there was more of a grassy taste and the finish seemed to last much longer than in the finish. 

With Veggies: The taste of this wine didn't seem to change much in comparison when it was tasted by itself. The things that I did seem to pick up on were some additional aromas. This time, I seemed to pick up more of a tropical fruit like a papaya. 

With Shrimp: After tasting this with the shrimp, I thought that much of the acidity was taken away in comparison with tasting this alone.  I was able to taste more of a lemon, orange flavor which I really enjoyed. With the shrimp, the finish seemed to last just the perfect amount. I think this was the best pairing of the night. 

Name: Flip Flop Pinot Grigio

Variety: Pinot Grigio

Region: California

Country: United States

Year: Non-Vintage

Price: $6.95

Alone: This wine had a very inviting bouquet. I picked up an orange and citrus aroma right away with a hint of some pears. I also was able to smell what I thought was celery lurking in the background. The start was very crisp and refreshing! There was a little bit of bitterness on the finish.

With Mac & Cheese: For the macaroni, the bitterness that I had previously picked up on the finish, came through very strong at the start. I also felt the pear was much more obvious. 

With Veggies: Tasting this wine with the vegetables gave the wine a more dry taste that I had not picked up on while trying this alone. I still felt the finish was crisp, and the celery flavor became a little more pronounced for me.  

With Shrimp: Finally, with tasting the wine with the shrimp, I thought the acid jumped out right at the start and the refreshing characteristic that the wine had by itself was completely lost. I thought the bitterness could not be avoided at any point in the palate and easily made this the worst pairing which was slightly disappointing to me.