A Paso Pairing: Grilled Tuna with Halter Ranch Syrah for #winePW 4

Sure, I like my classical regional food and wine pairings. You'll certainly find plenty of Italian dishes in our house paired with a wine selected from the same region the cuisine hails from.  But I also like the challenge of starting with a wine, and then trying to create a dish that is in someway inspired by the wine region. That's the way I decided to roll for Wine Pairing Weekend #4.

I've come to enjoy quite a few wines from California's Paso Robles region. Through blogger friends like Matt of the Hoot n' Annie Blog, I've gotten some sense of the regions vitality from afar. But what would a Paso Pairing entail? I didn't know, but I thought that would be fun to figure out for this #winePW event.

I asked Matt what Paso food would entail. He mentioned fresh seafood with seasonal produce from local farms, perhaps with a Mexican flair. That gave me enough to get my wheels turning about a Paso pairing I might create.

I'd enjoyed the Halter Ranch Syrah from Paso before, and thought that might be a good wine to work with for this event. I served it with steak previously and thought it would be interesting to see if it could work with a tuna steak. I had an eggplant to use from our fall farmshare, so that seemed in the spirit of the local produce. I decided to grill the eggplant and toss it with a mixture of peppers, including some hot ones to give the dish some Mexican spice accents.

The result? Not sure if this is properly considered Paso Robles cuisine, but it was definitely rooted in what I learned about the food in the area. And it definitely worked with the wine! Read on for the Grilled Tuna, Eggplant and Peppers recipe and wine pairing details.

For the grilled peppers and eggplant
1 cup chopped grilled eggplant (instructions below)
1/2 red bell pepper, chopped and coated with cooking oil spray
1/2 green bell pepper, chopped and coated with cooking oil spray
1 serrano pepper
1 jalapeno pepper
1 tbsp olive oil
1/2 clove garlic minced

For the tuna
1 high quality tuna steak, 10 to 12 ozs
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp garlic powder
1/4 tsp salt

The tuna cooks very fast so you want to prepare the eggplant and pepper mixture first. Start by slicing a medium eggplant 1/2 inch thick. Spread the eggplant slices on a plate in a single layer. Salt the eggplant sliced generously, and let the eggplant sit and aborb the salt for at least 30 minutes. I've found this salting process to be a key factor in getting me to add eggplant to the list of veggies I enjoy.

Preheat a grill to medium high. After the salting the eggplant for enough time, spread the eggplant on the grill or a grill pan or other such device to keep the eggplant from slipping through the grill grates. Coat with cooking oil spray. Place the grill pan on the grill to cook the eggplant. Turn the slices over after 5 minutes, and grill for another 5 minutes or so until the eggplant is cooked to a nice tenderness and has begun to caramelize. Remove the eggplant from the grill and set aside to cool.

You can start grilling the bell peppers and hot peppers (serrano and jalapeno) at the same time as the eggplant. Place the chopped bell peppers in a grill pan onto the grill, or something else to keep them from slipping through. At the same time, place the whole hot peppers on the grill. After 5 minutes turn the hot peppers over and stir up the bell peppers. Check the peppers after another 5 minutes. The bell peppers are done when they are softened and browned; the hot peppers should be nicely singed all over. Remove or cook for a few more minutes. When done, place the bell peppers in a mixing bowl and close the hot peppers in a brown paper bag to cool. Keep the grill heated for the tuna.

When the eggplant has cooled, chop it into bite sized pieces and add to the bowl with the bell peppers.

Next, remove the hot peppers from the bag. Place on a cutting board, and slice off and remove the pepper skin with a sharp knife. Slice open the peppers, and remove most of the seeds. The seeds provide heat to the peppers, so use more seeds if you want the dish hotter. Chop the hot peppers into small pieces and add to the mixing bowl.

Add the tablespoon olive oil and garlic to the pepper/eggplant mixture, and stir to combine. Set aside as you prepare the tuna.

Combine the cumin, garlic powder and salt in a bowl. Gently rub the spice mixture onto the tuna, and set aside for a few minutes.

Grill the tuna for about 90 seconds on one side, then turn for another 90 seconds on the others side. This gives you a rare tuna steak, with the outside seared in the middle just warmed a bit. When done to your liking, remove the tuna to a platter.

Slice the tuna crosswise into the slices. Serve by fanning 4 to 6 slices of tuna out on a plate around a generous dollop of the pepper and eggplant mixture.

Wine Pairing: Sure, a Pinot Noir can work nicely with salmon, but a big bold Syrah for seafood? Well, the meaty tuna is very substantial, and turned out to pair well with the 2011 Halter Ranch Syrah. This wine has a big fragrance of violets and forest floor. I got blackberry jam and white pepper taste. I had my initial taste before I started grilling the tuna. By the time we settled down to eat about 10 minutes later, the Syrah had really opened nicely and was showing a lot of finesse on the long finish. This helped it make a nice harmonious pairing with the tuna--plenty of substance for this meaty fish with the spice element to work with the food. I could definitely imagine eating this flavorful pairing al fresco on a warm evening in Paso Robles!

Be sure to check out these great pairings from my fellow #winePW 4 bloggers!

Culinary Adventures with Camilla posted "Chuletas de Cordero + Tempranillo"
Vino Travels -- An Italian Wine Blog shared "Piedmont Pleasures"
Grape Experiences is pairing "Avantis Estate Malagousia 2013 and Greek Shrimp"
Curious Cuisiniere shared "Cheddar Cranberry Grilled Cheese with Door Peninsula Winery’s Peninsula Red"
foodwineclick is sharing "Minnesota Wine at the Midwestern Table"
Pull That Cork posted "winePW 4: Sicily"
Confessions of a Culinary Diva blogged about "New Mexico: Burgers, Bubbles and Beer"
Rockin Red Blog shared about "A Rustic Meal in Valpolicella"

Join the #winePW conversation: Follow the #winePW conversation on Twitter throughout the weekend and beyond. If you're reading this early enough, you can join us for a live Twitter chat on our theme "Regional Food & Wine Pairings" on Saturday, September 13, from 11 a.m. to noon Eastern Time. Questions for the chat are posted here on the #winePW site. You can also visit our group Pinterest board to pin some great pairing ideas for later! Stay tuned for the October Wine Pairing Weekend, which will focus on "Fall Fruits and Wine Pairings" on Saturday, October 11.

20 Favorite #Grilling Recipes for Labor Day Weekend

Ready to fire up that grill for Labor Day Weekend, but looking for some inspiration about what to make? You've come to the right place! I've round up some of my favorite grilling recipes and gathered some additional ideas from my fellow Sunday Supper bloggers. We've got grilled chicken, pork, beef and fish for your main courses, a tasty appetizer, and yes, a martini recipe that entails grilling! I lead off with my recipes, followed by the ideas I've gathered from others.

Simply Scrumptious Grilled Chicken with Garlic Basil Butter: Bone-in chicken breasts can be a good value. Many online recipes for them can get a bit complicated; my recipe streamlines the process with tasty results!

Grilled Swordfish and Eggplant with Fusilli and Tomatoes I'm a fairly new convert to the virtues of eggplant. Grilling is the key for me. This Sicilian inspired combination was very good, shared for a Sunday Supper event earlier this summer.

Grilled Salmon with Mango Salsa We love our salmon here! Often I grill it with just a simple soy marinade, but made it a bit fancier with a yummy mango salsa for the July Wine Pairing Weekend event (served it with a White Burgundy).

Grilled Swordfish with Pineapple Salsa Gotta love salsa! The pineapple in this one gets grilled along with the fish, great flavors.

Heaven Sent Grilled Pork Chops:  The succulent bone-in pork chops with a simple garlic cumin rub get their name from our nine year old's reaction to how tasty they are! Consider this one if you're looking for something that packs a lot of flavor with minimal work.

Cilantro and Lime Marinaded with Chipotle Cream This is one of my all-time favorite recipes, especially served with these Sweet Potatoes with Cumin Sage Butter. This was another Wine Pairing Weekend pairing, served with a Bonny Doon Syrah.

Grilled Steak with Garlic Cumin Rub Regular readers of Cooking Chat may have figured out by now I use this rub a lot! Hey, when you've got something that packs a lot of flavor but also gets a thumbs up from a nine year old, you're going to make it a lot. This is another easy option for a low maintenance weekend grilling plan.

Grilled Steak Tacos with Awesome Avocado Chimichurri Sauce: Entertaining this weekend? This is a great way to get your guests some steak without breaking the the bank! A few pieces of beef along with the tasty sauce makes a a great taco. "Awesome" was the operative word for the sauce when we served it to family at a recent gathering.

Recipes from Sunday Supper friends: Sure, the favorites I just shared from my own summer grilling gives you a good range of options to choose from. But why not ask some other food bloggers for some of their favorites, and make the list bigger? That's what I did, and here are some more great grilling ideas from members of the Sunday Supper community.

Herbed Cream Cheese Grilled Bell Pepper Boats A tasty looking appetizer seems like a good place to start the list of ideas from my fellow bloggers! Carla from Chocolate Moosey has grilled up some peppers and filled with cream cheese and fresh herbs for a must-try summer appetizer.

Seared Trout on the Grill with a Tropical Viogner Sarah from Curious Cuisiniere came up with this one for our July Wine Pairing Weekend event. This post demonstrates that cooking whole fish on the grill can be pretty easy, and is especially nice served with a good wine!

Marinated Grilled Octopus If the grilled whole trout got your creative juices flowing, maybe you are ready to try the grilled octopus from Culinary Adventures with Camilla! Gotta love that this dish was inspired by her kid's requesting this when visiting the local fish market...and now he has some interesting leftovers to scare his friends at school!

Italian Dressing Grilled Shrimp Sticking with the seafood theme for a bit longer (easy to do, writing this from Cape Cod!), here's a great looking grilled shrimp from Julie, a.k.a. The Texan New Yorker.

Grilled Red Snapper with Cilantro and Onion Stuffing Another tasty idea for grilled whole fish! This one from Stacy at Food Lust People Love has a stuffing that certainly has me wanting to give this a try.

photo courtesy of Stacy Livingston Rushton, Food Lust People Love

Piri Piri Grilled Chicken Ready to kick things up a notch? Stacy has you covered with this recipe from Food Lust People Love! Plenty of hot pepper and garlic flavor here, inspired by a trip to Portugal.  Or maybe you'd like the similar flavors to go with some grilled fish.

Tandoori Chicken Drumsticks I love Indian flavors, especially on chicken, so definitely like the sound of this grilled chicken recipe from The Texan New Yorker.

Finger Lickin' Chicken Drumsticks Another chicken drumstick option for you, this one via Tara from Noshing with the Nolands. Yum!

Grilled Chicken with White BBQ Sauce Here's a creative BBQ sauce for chicken from Bobbi's Kozy Kitchen. I don't think I've had white BBQ sauce but I'd like to try this!

BBQ Cauliflower Curry Grilled veggies can be wonderful, and Tara from Noshing with the Nolands has put her stir fry BBQ wok to creative use with this dish!

Grilled Baby Romaine Lettuce with Parmesan Vinaigrette Wow! I wouldn't have thought of grilling lettuce, but this recipe from Bobbi's Kozy Kitchen looks awesome.

Grilled Lemon Cherry Drop Martini All this grilling is going to make you thirsty! So why not add some lemons to the grill and try this creative martini recipe from Renee at Magnolia Days. So fire up the grill, pour a glass, and enjoy your weekend!

Got a favorite grilling recipe of your own to share? Please let us know about it!

photo courtesy of Renee Dobbs, Magnolia Days

Heaven Sent Grilled Pork Chops

"Is this pork chop from heaven, Dad, or did you make them?"

High praise from our 9 year old for these grilled bone-in pork chops! So I had to get this recipe posted so that you might get a chance to try them while it is still grilling season. This is a very simple recipe, so what made it so tasty?

The flavorful spice blend helps for sure. Grilling the bone-in version of pork chops helps keep the meat juicy and flavorful. And there was just enough fat around the edges to give it a hint of bacon taste, and we know that has to be a good thing!

This is easy enough to make as a midweek supper as you start getting into the back to school routines. You can easily modify the amount of the rub ingredients for more pork chops if you like.

Ingredients
3 bone-in pork chops, thick cut (an inch or more thick)
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp salt

Instructions
Pre-heat a grill to medium high. Combine the cumin, garlic powder and salt in a small bowl. Sprinkle the rub on both sides of each pork chop, and rub it into the meat. Let the pork with the rub sit at room temperature for 10 to 15 minutes to let the flavors absorb into the meat.

Spray the grill with cooking oil. Place the pork chops on the grill on direct heat. Cover and grill for 6 minutes, then turn the pork chops of to the other side. Grill 5 or 6 minutes more until done to your liking, taking care not to overcook it. Let the chops rest for a few minutes, then serve. We enjoyed ours with a green salad.

Wine Pairing: Pork chops with some spice might typically have me thinking about a Spanish wine. But I sampled a great lineup of Italian wines at Pairings before making this dish, so grabbed the 2010 Azienda Agraria La Perticaia Montefalco Rosso from Umbria for our pairing. It's 70% Sangiovese along with 15% Sagrantino and 15% Colorino. A nice blend of fruit and spice, with enough heft to work with the chops. Yum!

Grilled Steak Tacos with Awesome Avocado Chimichurri Sauce

Sure, awesome gets overused. But this ever-so-tasty avocado chimichurri sauce definitely needed an adjective in front of it, and "awesome" was the one used by several of our guests when I made the sauce for grilled steak tacos recently. Plus, avocados are awesome in their own right, so the name seems fitting.

These steak tacos make great party food. You can offer a group of 8 to 10 guests some tasty steak without breaking the bank--serving the steak in tacos with a side of refried beans stretches the meat nicely, and the sauce gives it a fancy touch. Another reason it's great for a party is that you can get much of the work done ahead of time, with just a few prep tasks to do when your guests are with you. This could be scaled up pretty easily, too. Plus, who doesn't love a taco bar, where you can decide for yourself how much of each tasty item you want to put in your taco?

Ingredients (serves 8 to 10)

1.75 lbs sirloin steak (2 good size steaks)
1 1/2 sweet onions, sliced thin
2 different colored bell peppers, coarsely chopped
tbsp olive oil

For the marinade and base for avocado sauce
6 cloves garlic, minced
1 scallion, minced
1 cup extra virgin olive oil
1 tbsp Champagne vinegar (or white wine vinegar would do
1 ½ tsp cumin
pinch red pepper flakes
1 tsp salt

Finish the sauce with:
¼ cup chopped parsley
½ tsp minced jalapeno
2 avocados, diced close to serving time
1 tbsp lime juice

Fix up those tacos:
2 packs soft taco shells (take them out of fridge when you start making the marinade)
sour cream
lettuce or other salad greens
refried beans

Combine the marinade ingredients in a bowl (the garlic through cumin and salt). Place the steaks in a large sealable plastic bag, then pour in 1/3 cup of the marinade mixture into the bag, setting aside the rest of the marinade. Seal the bag, and gently toss the steak around with the marinade to get it well-coated. Refrigerate for at least 2 hours. About 4 hours is optimal.

Finish the avocado sauce by taking the remaining marinade that you set aside, then stirring the parsley, jalapeno, and lime juice into the reserved marinade. You can have all this ready to go well before your dinner, then stir in the diced avocados closer to serving time.

You can get the onions and peppers sauteed in advance, and re-heat when ready to serve, or make while your guests are there. I'd suggest at least get the chopping done in advance! To prepare them, heat 1 tablespoon olive oil in a large skillet on medium heat, then add the onions. Saute, stirring occasional, for at least 10 minutes until the onions are soft. Add the peppers, saute for another 10 minutes. This pepper and onion mixture can be kept on low heat to stay warm until serving time. A little extra cooking just makes them tastier!

Now, you've got the preliminaries taken care of, it's time to grill that steak! Take the steak out of the fridge 15 minutes before grilling time and pre-heat the grill to medium high. Shake the excess marinade off the steaks, then place them on the grill. For medium rare, which I recommend for this cut, grill 5 to 6 minutes on one side, then flip over to grill another 5 minutes on the other side. Remove the the steak to a serving platter. Slice the steak thin after it has rested a few minutes, and have it ready to go on the taco bar.

You can set up the rest of the items on the taco bar as the steak grills. Line up the soft taco shells, steak, avocado sauce, onions/peppers, sour cream, lettuce and beans and let folks build their own tasty creations. I like to go through the line first and point out the items people can choose from so they don't miss anything. Enjoy your taco party!

Simply Scrumptious Grilled Chicken Breasts with Garlic Basil Butter

Do you love complicated recipes at the end of a workday? Nope, I didn't think so. I had picked up some bone-in chicken breasts on a recent sale, and thought that would be a nice simple thing to throw on the grill for a midweek supper. I hopped online to try to quickly get an idea of cooking times, but the online recipes for grilled bone-in chicken breasts seemed to make it a complicated process.

Why complicate a simple meal? Well, there is the matter of getting the chicken cooked through, but not too much. And if you want to play the grilling superstar, you probably want those breasts looking golden brown and crispy on the outside.

Fear not. It doesn't need to be that hard. Bone-in chicken breasts are forgiving, a few minutes past optimal timing is OK. I perused, several recipes, found this one to be a good launching off point, and got the process and timing simplified for you.

A barbecue sauce might be your first instinct grilling chicken, but my simple Garlic Basil Butter takes about 5 minutes to whip up, and helps that chicken stay nice and moist as you grill it. Plus it adds enough flavor to make this chicken nice and savory. Scrumptious, you might say! I had a bottle of BBQ sauce on the table, thinking the chicken might need a bit more flavor, but that went unopened. Along with some tasty corn and side of pasta, this grilled chicken had plenty of flavor for a scrumptious yet simple weeknight meal.

For the butter
3 tbsp butter (I used non-dairy, see note)
2 cloves garlic, minced
6 to 8 basil leaves, sliced into thin julienned strips
pinch of salt
squeeze of lemon juice (optional)
***
2 bone-in, skin-on chicken breasts

Make the butter: Leave the butter out of fridge for 30 minutes, or microwave for 10 seconds to get it soft enough to work with. Add the garlic and basil, stir in vigorously to get it well incorporated into the butter. Stir in a generous pinch of salt. If you have lemon on hand, you might try squeezing in a teaspoon or two of juice. I didn't have any to add, but I bet it would further enhance the flavor.

Prep the chicken: Rinse and pat dry the chicken breasts. Gently pull back the skin just enough so you can slip your fingers in between the skin and the breast meat. Grab a dollop of the butter, and work it under the skin. Gently rub it onto the breast meat. Try to get about halfway down the breast with your fingers. This is enough to spread the flavor without making the skin too loose. Grab another dollop of the butter and rub that over the outside of the skin, forming a thin coating of butter all over the breast. Repeat the process with the butter on the other chicken breast.

Grill the chicken: Here's the part a lot of other recipes seem to make complicated. Let's try to keep it simple. I'll explain what I did using my gas grill, you can do a similar process with charcoal by just filling half of it with the coals.

Pre-heat the grill to about 400. Turn off the back burner(s) so that you have an area available for indirect heat cooking. Place the chicken on direct heat for 5 minutes, then turn the chicken over to grill on direct heat for another 5 minutes. Using your tongs, carefully move the chicken and place it breast meat side down on the back of the grill. Cook on indirect heat with the grill covered for 15 to 20 minutes. Check the chicken for doneness (chicken should reach an internal temperature of 165 degrees), taking care not to overcook.

Our chicken was a nice golden brown at the end of the indirect cooking time. But if you want a bit more coloring for crisper skins or presentation purposes, place the chicken meat side down on the direct heat for another minute or two.

Sides and Wine: Some good local corn on the cob went nicely with this dish. We also had some pasta with pesto on hand from this other recent Cooking Chat project. If I was focused mostly on the grilled chicken, I might have opted for a rose or Chardonnay. To go with the lively flavors of the pesto and corn, as well as the grilled chicken, I served it with a Viogner and was pleased with that pairing.

Note: I typically use Earth Balance Natural Butter Spread when cooking, as our son is allergic to dairy among other things. It's softer to start with, making it easier to cook with. Along with being lower in saturated fat, it tastes great, too!

Linguine with Classic Pesto and Fresh Tomatoes Paired with Sauvignon Blanc for #winePW 3

Sometimes, you just gotta go with a classic.

Sure, there's lots of great stuff rolling in from local farms and gardens in August. But there are three things coming in now that get me especially excited. There's that sweet corn, so tasty with just a bit of butter and salt. And our almost 9 year old says it's good sans salt and butter. I'll take his word. Then we have tomatoes, so good this time of year. In fact, this is the only time of year I'll buy fresh tomatoes. Off season, I shun the plastic tasting stuff, and get good canned tomatoes for my sauces.

Basil is the third plant in my August triumvirate, because my family and I are wild about my homemade pesto. Sure, I get creative with pestos, such as the kale pesto that has gotten very popular around here. But there's nothing quite like a great basil pesto, made even better topped with August tomatoes and a side of corn on the cob. A classic combination.

When choosing a "Wine for Summer's Bounty" for Wine Pairing Weekend 3, I decided to stay with the classic theme. Sure, I've enjoyed Picpoul with pesto, and recently had success pairing pesto with a Viogner. But pesto and Sauvignon Blanc is one of those classic pairings, where the food and wine seem to be meant for each other. A classic pair. Like Romeo and Juliet, except it finishes much better! I'll talk more about our classic pairing after divulging our "secret" family pesto recipe.

Cooking Chat's Pesto Ingredients
2 cups fresh basil leaves, rinsed and tightly packed
4 cloves garlic
3/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
3/4 cup Pecorino or Parmesan cheese
2 tbsp pine nuts

Serve with
12 ozs linguine
1 summer fresh tomato, diced
corn on the cob
Sauvignon Blanc

The Secret: Seriously, this is "wicked" simple, as folks say around here. I'm not sure why people who try my pesto are so enthused about it relative to other pestos. These are the classic basil pesto ingredients; there aren't really any secret ingredients! Maybe because I make sure to pluck out only the good leaves from the basil plant and don't add anything that's withered a bit? Or I make sure those 4 garlic cloves are pretty good size, or add a bonus clove if they are small? I typically go for the Pecorino, which adds a bit more saltiness to contrast the garlic's bite. I find the freshest basil, and make the pesto shortly after getting the basil home.

The Method: Have a food processor at the ready. Rinse the basil and pluck the good leaves from the plant, add to a measuring cup. I use up all the basil I've gotten. If I wind up with more than two cups basil, I scale the recipe accordingly and have more pesto on hand. If you have extra basil and a school age child on hand, enlist them in the process of calculating the recipe proportions, keep those math skills sharp over the summer! Put the basil into the food processor, and give it a quick whir to begin chopping the basil and make room for the other ingredients.

Next, add the garlic, and hit that food processor button again to get the cloves chopped up with the basil.

Add the remaining in ingredients, and then puree to get everything well combined. Open the food processor, scrape the sides to get bits of garlic and basil that haven't been incorporated, then give the processor a final whir. Presto, you have tasty pesto! If you're going to be eating within the next hour or so, just leave the pesto out. If you're making in advance, refrigerate, but take out an hour before serving to bring the pesto to room temperature.

After you've got some pesto, cook linguine or other pasta of your choice. Drain, toss with a bit of olive oil. Next, stir in several tablespoons of pesto. See how it looks after you've stirred that in, then stir in more to taste. I like to get the pasta fairly well coated, but reserve extra pesto for people to serve themselves according to taste. i.e. if you put the entire batch of pesto into 12 ounces of pasta many folks might be a bit overwhelmed!

Plate the linguine with pesto, serve topped with diced tomatoes, a side of corn, and the wine.

The Pairing: There are so many styles of Sauv Blanc to choose from. I like mine to be crisp and refreshing without too much of the citrusy element--no puckering, please! We went with the 2012 Taft Street Russian River Valley Sauvignon Blanc. At a bit under $20, it's a good value and we were very happy with the selection.

I get grassiness and grapefruit on the nose of the wine. I take a sip, and get peach, cherry blossoms, and mineral undertones. I eat a couple bites of the linguine, getting the garlic bite and saltiness in the pesto along with the freshness of the basil and acidity from the tomatoes. A lot happening on the palate. More wine. The crispness of the Sauvignon Blanc refreshes, cleansing the palate to be ready for another burst of flavor from the pesto. The makings of a classic pairing!


Wine Pairing Weekend # 3 Bloggers: Be sure to check out what my fellow bloggers have come up with for the August Wine Pairing Weekend!

Pull That Cork shared "Wine for Summer’s Bounty. Will Garnacha Do the Trick?"
Meal Diva paired "Summer Vegetable Red Sauce with Amarone"
Culinary Adventures with Camilla posted "Pan-Seared Padròns with DeRose Vineyards' Négrette"
Vino Travels -- An Italian Wine Blog shared "Tomato, toe-mah-toe: Summer's bounty with Sicilian wine Donnafugata"
Grape Experiences paired "Cecchi Chianti Classico 2010 and Vegetable Lasagna"
Curious Cuisiniere shared "Chipotle Garden Salsa with Wild Hare Petite Sirah"
ENOFYLZ Wine Blog posted "Grilled Paiche with a White Greek Blend"
Take a Bite Out of Boca shared "Quinoa-Crusted Eggplant and Heirloom Tomato Stacks paired with Monrosso Chianti"
foodwineclick shared "Summers' Bounty or Attack of the Killer Turnips?"
Confessions of a Culinary Diva blogged about "Lobster Paella and Albarino"
Tasting Pour shared "Summertime and the Cooking is Easy"
Cooking Chat paired "Linguine with Pesto, Fresh Tomatoes and a Sauvignon Blanc"

Join the #winePW conversation: Follow the #winePW conversation on Twitter throughout the weekend and beyond. If you're reading this early enough, you can join us for a live Twitter chat on our theme "Wine for Summer's Bounty" on Saturday, August 9, from 11 a.m. to noon Eastern Time. Questions for the chat are posted here on the #winePW site. You can also visit our group Pinterest board to pin some great pairing ideas for later! Stay tuned for the September Wine Pairing Weekend, which will focus on "Regional Food and Wine Pairings" on Saturday, September 13.

Grilled Swordfish and Eggplant with Fusilli and Tomatoes for #SundaySupper

This recipe for Grilled Swordfish and Eggplant with Fusilli and Tomatoes was too good not to share! I was glad to see that the #SundaySupper BBQ Party is featuring a wide array of dishes beyond true "barbecue", so that I could bring this recipe to the virtual party. Thanks to Jenny from the Messy Baker and Melanie from Melanie Makes for co-hosting the event.

Inspired by the flavors of Sicily, this dish was so fresh tasting with awesome tomatoes and plenty of garlic to punch up the flavor of grilled swordfish and eggplant. A certain someone in our house who often passes on the seafood options was very enthused about how the swordfish tasted in this dish.

Not a fan of eggplant? I wasn't either, until I learned to salt it, then grill as I do here. If you're already a fan, that's just another reason to make this soon! But please, if you come upon this dish later after tomatoes have gone out of season, please do not make this dish with hardened tomatoes found in the grocery stores in the winter! This is meant to be enjoyed in the summer only, with those awesome tomatoes just starting to roll in. I used a tasty heirloom variety. Enough preliminaries, on with the tasty details!

For the swordfish
12 to 16 ozs swordfish steak
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
1 garlic clove, minced
1 tbsp lemon juice
dash of salt

Veggies and pasta
2 small eggplants, sliced semi-circles 1/2 inch thick
2 medium good quality summer tomatoes, diced
1 garlic clove minced
1 tbsp parsley
1 head of garlic, roasted (you can easily do this on the grill)

12 ozs fusilli pasta
2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
salt and pepper to taste
1/4 cup feta cheese
extra parmesan cheese to pass at table

Instructions
First, spread the eggplant sliced out on a plate in a single layer. Salt the eggplant slices generously, and let the eggplant sit and aborb the salt for at least 30 minutes. I've found this salting process to be a key factor in getting me to add eggplant to the list of veggies I enjoy.

Preheat a grill to medium high. Spread the salted eggplant out in a grill pan or other such device to keep the eggplant from slipping through the grill grates. Coat with cooking oil spray. Place the grill pan on the grill to cook the eggplant. Turn the slices over after 5 minutes, and grill for another 5 minutes or so until the eggplant is cooked to a nice tenderness and has begun to caremelize. Remove the eggplant from the grill and set aside to cool. Note:  you can grill the eggplant directly on the grill if you don't have anything to put them in, but you'd want to use whole circle slices and turn them carefully. You can leave the grill on to be ready for the swordfish.

When you put the eggplant on the grill, start a pot of water to boil for pasta and prepare the swordfish marinade. Combine the 1/4 olive oil, garlic, lemon juice and a dash of salt in a large bowl. Add the swordfish, and gently turn it over to coat it thoroughly. Let the fish marinade for 10 to 15 minutes at room temp.

As the fish marinades, prep the tomatoes. Gently combine the diced tomatoes with 1 tbsp of olive oil, parsley, 1 clove of minced garlic and a dash of salt. Set aside.

Put the pasta on to cook just before you start grilling the swordfish. Remove the swordfish from the marinade, and gently shake off the excess marinade. Reserve the marinade. Place the swordfish on a the grill, and grill covered on medium high for about 6 minutes. Turn the swordfish over, and grill until just cooked through, which will take about 6 more minutes. Keep in mind the fish will cook a bit more while resting and you don't want to overcook it. Our swordfish steak was about an 1 1/2 inches thick, if yours is different that would impact the cooking time a bit.

When the fish is done, place on a platter and loosely cover with aluminum foil to keep warm as you put together the pasta dish. When the pasta is cooked to your liking, drain it and combine with 1 tbsp olive oil, the roasted garlic (squeezed out of the garlic skin after it has cooled enough to work with) and eggplant. Next stir in the feta cheese and olives, followed by one-half of the tomato mixture, saving the other half of the tomatoes to top off the dish. Bolded that step because the fresh tomato topping is key to taste and presentation!

To plate the dish, divide swordfish to have a piece ready for each diner. Plate a serving of pasta, followed by a piece of swordfish, then spread some of the reserved fresh tomato topping. A tablespoon or so is good to start, and pass the tomatoes along with parmesan cheese for additional toppings. Enjoy!

Be sure to check out all these tasty creations from my fellow #SundaySupper bloggers!

Beverages

• Best Wines For A Summer BBQ Party from ENOFYLZ Wine Blog
• Grilled Peach and Cinnamon Whiskey Sour from Peaceful Cooking
• How To Make Fresh Squeezed Lemonade from Life Tastes Good
• Pineapple Margaritas from The Messy Baker
• Stone Fruit Sangria from Because I Like Chocolate
• Strawberry Lemonade from Basic N Delicious

Appetizers

• BBQ Stuffed Calimari from Jane's Adventure in Dinner

Sides and Accompaniments

• Cucumber Salad with Blackberry Browned Butter Vinaigrette from Nik Snacks
• Easy Fruity Salad from Hot Momma's Kitchen Chaos
• Grilled Corn on the Cob with Lime Butter from The Redhead Baker
• Jacques' Cucumber Salad with Onions from Food Lust People Love
• Mango Peanut Slaw from The Texan New Yorker
• Mom's Classic Macaroni Salad from Webicurean
• Roasted Strawberry BBQ Sauce from Bobby's Kozy Kitchen
• Two Tomato Chutney from What Smells So Good?

Main Dishes

• Asian-Style Pasta with Gochujang Peanut Sauce from Wallflour Girl
• Barbecue Ribs from girlichef
• BBQ Stuffed Peppers from Small Wallet, Big Appetite
• Bistecca from Confessions of a Culinary Diva
• Competition Baby Back Ribs with Apple-Bourbon Barbecue Sauce from Crazy Foodie Stunts
• Grilled Cedar Plank Salmon from That Skinny Chick Can Bake
• Grilled Clams with Chorizo from Noshing With The Nolands
• Grilled Sanma from A Mama, Baby & Shar-pei in the Kitchen
• Grilled Shrimp with Lemon Basil from Nosh My Way
• Grilled Swordfish and Eggplant with Fusilli and Tomatoes from Cooking Chat
• Grilled Wings from Hezzi-D's Books and Cooks
• Lemon Oregano Spatchcock Chicken from Kudos Kitchen by Renee
• Mango Beef Kebabs from Curious Cuisiniere
• Steak Skewers with Chimichurri from Jelly Toast
• Sweet and Tangy Blueberry BBQ Chicken Pizza from Simply Gourmet

Desserts

• Amazing S'mores 7-Layer Bars from Flavor Mosaic
• Banana Pudding Pie from A Kitchen Hoor's Adventures
• Blackberry Cake from Peanut Butter and Peppers
• Blueberry and Raspberry Galette from Rhubarb and Honey
• Farm Stand Blackberry Buckle from The Wimpy Vegetarian
• Grilled Peach Crumble from Try Anything Once Culinary
• Grilled Peaches with Mascarpone Cream and Sweet Balsamic Syrup from La Bella Vita Cucina
• Hot Fudge Ice Cream Pie from Melanie Makes
• Lemon Ricotta Bars from The Foodie Army Wife
• Old Fashioned Sour Cherry Pie from Pies and Plots
• Pineapple Upside Down Cake from Take A Bite Out of Boca
• S'mores Chocolate Cookie Cups from Cupcakes & Kale Chips

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