Wine With . . . Prosciutto-Wrapped Arctic Char

When it came time to compare notes once all fourteen wines had been tasted, it turned out that each of the six of us had independently selected a blended white from the Rhône Valley as our favorite wine with the dish.  But following this somewhat surprising consensus of opinion, there were some disagreements among us, proving that finding the perfect wine to go with this delicious dish was (as we’d anticipated) not entirely a slam dunk.  For example, five of the six of us loved the sparkling rosé with it, while the sixth person was convinced that the wine was overwhelmed by the fish.  Five tasters thought a Merlot complemented the gutsier aspects of the dish (the forthright prosciutto, the spicy herb mixture) while one hold-out felt strongly that it overpowered the delicacy of the Arctic Char.  But aside from these two hotly contested wines, there was fairly easy accord on most of the others — those that were too light in both body and flavor (an Albariño from Spain, for example) were a little disappointing with the dish, while exceedingly fleshy and or oaky selections rode roughshod over it.  At the end of the experiment we agreed that in some ways this actually proved to be a versatile dish. Either white or red, not to mention still or sparkling, can partner well with it, so long as the wine has ripe fruit flavor.

In our friend Jeanne’s interpretation of the original recipe, she used Arctic Char, though skinless fillets of halibut, salmon, or any relatively mild flavored fish would also work well.  She cut the fish filets in six serving-size pieces, seasoned them with salt and pepper, and set them aside.  In a blender, she pureed together parsley, fresh basil, pine nuts and olive oil until the mixture was the consistency of a thin paste, which she spread over thin slices of prosciutto.  She placed each piece of Char in the center of a slice of prosciutto then wrapped the fish up in it.  In two large, oven-proof skillets, she sautéed the wrapped fish in a mixture of butter and olive oil for about a minute on each side.  Then she slid the pans into a hot oven and roasted them, uncovered, for about 10 minutes, or until the fish was just cooked through.

If you have any food and wine pairings that you think are outstanding, or if you’ve encountered any glaring mismatches, we’d love to hear from you. Drop us a line at [email protected].