Beet and Syrah Risotto, a Meandering Post

Beet and Syrah Risotto. (c) Finom. By Molly Hovorka

I have nothing against Borders or Amazon — I’ve certainly been known to spend hours in the former and countless dollars at the latter — but I do prefer local, independent bookstores. My two favorite in San Francisco are Stacey’s on Market Street, and Books, Inc. (various locations, but I like the one on Chestnut quite a lot, especially before they remodeled.) I had a meeting by Stacey’s the other day, so I enjoyed a good hour there afterward, finding about 50 travel books that I liked but could not afford. I finally wound up in the bargain basement, where I scored a couple of great food books:

The 2005 Michelin guide to London restaurants… for ONE DOLLAR. And, The Wine Lover Cooks with Wine, for $8.99, which is a follow-up The Wine Lover’s Cookbook, one of my most-used books. I should explain that I’m a big believer in food and wine pairing. I pair food and wine at home every night that I cook, and my husband and I spend hours negotiating pairings when we go out to eat. It’s really rather obnoxious.

The recipes in these books often include wine, but even better, each recipe also provides a suggested pairing and an alternative pairing, along with great information about pairing generally. I’ve learned a ton from these books, and have even tried — and liked — wines that I tend to dislike (like Beaujolais and Zinfandel) simply because the pairing worked so well.

Since the farmers’ market had some beautiful looking beets this week, I decided to try the Beet and Syrah Risotto with Gorgonzola and Parsley-Walnut Pesto from my new cookbook. This is an amazing dish for a cold evening, and can also be adapted for vegetarians. (The author suggests this risotto as an accompaniment to pork tenderloin, but its certainly filling on its own. You can also use vegetable stock as I did, instead of chicken stock.)

Sadly, I just finished up the leftovers for lunch. I’m already looking forward to making this again, because, ohhh. It is so rich and delicious, if time consuming to make. Basically you roast a head of garlic first, and blend it with parsley and toasted walnuts to make the pesto. You then roast the beets. While the beets are cooking, you can make the risotto: saute leeks, yellow onions, and shallots in butter and olive oil, and add arborio rice, strirring to coat. Then, add a cup of Syrah and let that soak in before you add five cups of stock, one ladle at a time, until all the liquid is absorbed. Chop the roasted beets, and add them to the risotto along with a lot of crumbled Gorgonzola, and stir until the cheese is melted. Sprinkle with salt and pepper, top with some of the pesto, and garnish with chopped yellow tomato. Voila, you have a very satisfying and colorful meal!

My only mistake was the wine I used to cook with. I didn’t have any Syrah at home, so I picked up a bottle at Rainbow Grocery while out running errands. The recipe calls for an American or Australian Syrah/Shiraz, but I opted for French on the principle that you should cook with something you’d drink, and and American and Australian tend to be too big and jammy for my taste.

Well. Oh. My. God. It’s not often that I pour wine down the the drain for being undrinkable, but beware Mas de Janiny Syrah. It was not only fizzy, it also tasted like ass juice, not that I know what ass juice tastes like this being a figure of speech. I did use it in the risotto, and loved the risotto, but I know it would have been better had I used the wine that I wound up serving with it, after pouring the Syrah down the drain. (The Alain Jaume & Fils 2006 Grand Veneur Reserve Cotes du Rhone is fantastic for its price, around $13/bottle at K&L.)

To summarize:

• Food and Wine Pairing – a mania
• Sid Goldstein’s The Wine Lover’s Cookbook and The Wine Lover Cooks with Wine – great cookbooks
• Beet and Syrah Risotto – LOVE
• Mas de Janiny syrah – vomit
• Grand Veneur Reserve – happy

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