Curry Cod with Whitecliff Riesling

I am so lucky to be friends with a wonderful Chef.  Chef Debbie has been visiting the area since mid February from Tampa Florida. She's enrolled in boot camp courses at the Culinary Institute of America.  She often needs a test kitchen and subjects to try her creations and we are the lucky ones!

This weekend she created an Eggplant stuffed with ricotta and grains along with Pistachio Curried Cod, Forbidden Rice and Sauteed Spinach.  I never heard of Forbidden Rice before, but what a beautiful deep red color it was.

What wine to serve with these dishes and a Riesling was the thought for the fish pairing.  Hoping I had one on ice, I found a 2008 Whitecliff Riesling in the fridge. This Riesling I think is at its peak.  It can be described in one word - Apricot.  Apricot all the way through.  On the nose and on the taste.  Not much acidity and very smooth. This was not a dry Riesling as there was a hint of residual sugar.  If I had a guess I would say 1% - so it would be in semi-dry category, which was luck for us, as the only other choice in the fridge were a Chardonnay and Sauvignon Blanc.

This wine paired very well with the Pistachio Curried Cod as it cut the spice of the curry with the semi sweet apricot. I am going to try my best at a future date to duplicate this dish. Most likely won't come out as good as Debbie's but we'll give it a try.

Don't think we didn't have a wine to pair with the Eggplant.  Yes, we had a Tolosa Winery 2002 Pinot Noir.  This wine was very good!  We had purchased it a while back on a trip to San Louis Obispo.  With a fantastic Chef we had fantastic wine.

I cleared off the dining room table and we sat and had a wonderful dinner with Debbie.  Thank you Debbie!