Sometimes you just want your wine and food to comfort and take care of you like a warm blanket. You want a meal you can just cozy up with on the couch, completely bypassing the table.
I was looking for that little extra TLC around the middle of November of last year (2016) . . . and many times since then, if I’m being honest. I wanted a good wine and a big bowl of pasta.
THE PAIRING
On this particular evening, I pulled a Fattoria del Cerro Vino Nobile di Montepulciano 2011 off the shelf. Since I knew I wanted pasta with some kind of tomato sauce, I figured a Sangiovese based wine would be a good bet as Sangio pairs particularly well with tomatoes.
Vino Nobile di Montepulciano is a classic Tuscan wine, although it’s perhaps less well known than its neighbors Chianti and the revered Brunello di Montalcino. The grapes are grown on the hillsides of Montepulciano, which is southeast of Siena in Tuscany. Wines have been made in the area since Etruscan times–the estate this particular wine came from was established in 1922.
The wine was on darker, spicier end of the Sangio spectrum, with dark brooding cherries and plums. It had notes of tobacco, licorice, and exotic spices. There were some savory umami notes, it was a touch sanguine, and had light herbal notes. This wine was already five years old, but the fruit still tasted pretty young and fresh. It was drinking beautifully and showing a good degree of complexity.
I didn’t want to give things too much thought on this particular evening, but since this Vino Nobile was on the richer side I decided to take my pasta sauce in a similar direction. If the wine had been lighter and brighter I might have kept the sauce very fresh and simple with lighter herbs like basil. In this case, I opted to bulk things up with some meatiness, deeper spices, and heartier herbs like thyme and oregano.
For the most part, I kept this sauce simple using things I had on hand. I happened to have tomatoes I’d diced and stewed lightly myself over the summer stored in the freezer. Another day, I’d be just as likely to grab a can of diced tomatoes or some boxed pureed tomatoes, or mix them both together. If you have a jarred tomato sauce you like, use that and gussy it up with some extra spices and herbs.
Boccalone makes some delicious salumi products. Lucky for me, they're usually at my local farmers market. If you're in the Bay Area, you can also find them in the Ferry Building.Some delicious ‘ndjua salami was beckoning to be included. ‘Ndjua is soft, creamy salami and it blended right into the sauce like silk. You could certainly use another style and get a chunkier texture–I’m sure you’ll be just as happy. The spices in the sausage mirrored those in the wine beautifully. I’d always heard that cinnamon works wonders in tomato sauce–it seemed very fitting to add a pinch here. I also added a little fennel pollen to make my sauce just a little fancy, even if I was wearing sweat pants. (Fennel pollen is intensely flavored, but rather pricey. Swap in fennel seeds for a similar effect. Give them a light toasting beforehand if you feel up to it.)
I’d purchased fresh spinach pasta at the farmer’s market. Since it only requires a few minutes, I cooked the pasta right in the sauce and saved myself a pot. It all just needed a generous sprinkling of cheese and it was good to go. From cooking to bowl to couch, it all couldn’t have taken more than half an hour.
There is no need to stick to this recipe faithfully. Use up what’s in your fridge and pantry that suits your mood and your wine–because of course you should have a little chef’s juice to sip as you’re cooking
