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Rosé Champagne Pairings

he pink version of Champagne—in addition to looking festive—can pair with a wide range of foods, from hors d’oeuvres and cheeses to shellfish, poultry, and pastas with cream-based sauces. More often than not, rosé Champagnes are just as dry and minerally as their white counterparts and are made from the same three grape varieties: Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and Pinot Meunier. The real difference is the color, which is achieved by one of two methods. In the first method, a producer may choose to blend a little red wine with the base white. Champagne is the only appellation in France that allows the blending of red and white wine together. This process takes place before the second fermentation in the bottle, which gives Champagne its sparkle. Method two is called saignée, the French term for bleeding, since the color is derived—or bled—from the grape skins rather than from blending.

Rosé Champagne is great with dinner, not just hors d'oeuvres. Rosé sparkling wines, such as rosé Champagne, cava and sparkling wine from California, have the depth of flavor and richness to go with a wide range of main courses.

Beet Risotto

Beets give this creamy risotto stunning color and delicate sweetness. Grace Parisi suggests wearing rubber gloves and shredding the beets directly into a stainless steel bowl to avoid staining hands and countertops.

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Chicken with Slow-Roasted Tomatoes and Cheesy Grits

As an accompaniment to her exceptionally crisp-skinned chicken, Marcia Kiesel roasts tomatoes until they're tender and sweet. She cleverly uses some of the tomatoes to enrich the savory jus.

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Chicken Sofrito

For her sublime version of everyday chicken and rice, Marcia Kiesel coats chicken legs in chili powder and cooks rice with sofrito—a Spanish mixture of chopped onion, garlic and bell pepper. She bakes everything together in a skillet so that the delectable chicken juices flavor the rice, then broils the dish at the last minute to turn the chicken skin enticingly brown.

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Pork Braised in Champagne Vinegar

Champagne vinegar, made from Chardonnay and Pinot Noir grapes, gets its rich, mellow flavor from being aged in oak barrels, like wine. David Page uses J. LeBlanc Champagne vinegar (available from lobels.com) to braise this luscious bone-in pork shoulder that's also flavored with cumin, coriander and mustard seed.

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Creamy Risotto with Edamame

Jeff Smith loves cooking with his children and often lets them pick the ingredients. "Kids come up with cool flavor combinations that an adult would never think of," he says. "I learn a lot that way." This risotto was created when Smith's daughter, Isabelle, tossed some Laughing Cow cheese into a pot of risotto. "t adds a lot of richness without making the dish taste too sharp," Smith says.

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Puff-Pastry Tomato Tarts

Andreas Viestad's tarts have a flaky crust topped with tomatoes that become wonderfully sweet as they bake. Viestad likes to halve the tomatoes, but slicing them (as in this recipe) concentrates the flavor even more. The recipe was inspired by a dish at one of Viestad's favorite Cape Town restaurants, Savoy Cabbage.

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Panko-Coated Chicken Schnitzel

Thomas Keller of the French Laundry in Yountville, California uses panko bread crumbs to give chicken a crunchy crust. "Pounding chicken breasts to a uniform thickness cuts down on cooking time," he says.

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Source: https://www.foodandwine.com