Riesling and Thai Food

There was a delicious dinner and a wonderful wine this evening.  The wine was a 2009 Weingut St.Urbans-Hof Bockstein Kabinett from the Mosel region.  Great nose of crisp apple, white peach and lychee with some underlying lime zest.  There was no hint of kerosene in this wine.  The taste was those same fruits with such wonderful acidity that it was hard to notice the sweet underpinnings of the wine.  Incredibly balanced and refreshing with every sip and a finish that seemed to go on forever.

The dinner was Thai inspired cod.  I had intended to do fresh halibut, but the $30 a pound price tag made me look long and hard at some very fresh Alaskan cod at $11 a pound sitting in the same case.  We opted for the cod. 

Some shallots were sauteed in some vegetable oil in an enamel skillet.  Just as they were cooked through we added some Thai red curry paste.  Once that became fragrant we added chicken stock and coconut milk.  That was allowed to gently simmer and reduce by half.  At that point we added the fish, lowered the heat, covered the pan and let the fish gently poach in the liquid.  When the fish was done we placed it atop a large serving of steamed rice and added some lime juice, lime zest, cilantro and sliced spring onions to the sauce left in the pan.  The sauce was ladled over the fish in good quantity.
  
This was a wonderful combination with the wine.  The acid in the wine cut through the richness of the coconut milk and fish and the sweetness in the wine totally balanced out the heat from the curry paste.  It's hard to imagine changing much about this recipe.  The only unusual thing was that we each grabbed a hunk of bread to soak up the remaining broth on the plate.

8% alcohol,  $19, and most importantly two more in the cellar.