Before I delve into my idea for today’s post about whether or not all this home cooking makes for more creative pairings, I want to state plainly that I am not a gourmet cook. Sure I can put a meal together any day of the week but I am by no means a gourmet or experience chef. I always tell people I am a wino not a foodie and I mean that sincerely. In my previous life, meaning pre-Covid, I went out a lot for lunch to restaurants for work but since Covid I have never again been to a restaurant, going on four months.

I also made it a rule to never order in except for Chicken from a place accross the street once a week for my son. When I lived in Italy, people never ordered food in and since I’ve been back, I have kept to that concept until I had a child.

These days, everyone including me is cooking more and I am getting more creative. I think my pairings are too but again I pick pretty simply dishes to make. The above picture is bottarga on pasta. I paired it with a wine I was sent as a sample which was a sparkling wine Pinot Noir. It worked but wasn’t perfect. I made bottarga because someone I was speaking with on twitter during a #winestudio session on #LuganaDoc wondered how Lugana would pair with Bottarga. While not traditional since Bottarga is mainly from Sicily and Sardinia, it would have been perfect. My Pinot Noir from Moldova was a beautiful wine but my pairing didn’t heighten the experience.

I am wondering, hence Monday Musings, what new pairings or pairing styles people have found. I am doing a three night series with Silvia Baldini for Les Dames d’Escoffier on Zoom with some pairings for three weeks starting on July 30th. Dame Silvia is the real deal, a chef and an Italian so it should be fun. In the meantime, I will find my own way with my pairings. I wonder what your pairings are and how they have evolved post Covid.