For tonight’s winesday, I served Louis Jadot 2005 Beaujolais-Villages. Beaujolais is a French wine that is meant to be drunk young and typically has a very fruity, juicy flavor. It is also distinctive in that it is the only red wine that is traditionally served lightly chilled. It goes well with many foods and, because of its juicy quality, it has a very broad appeal. If you don’t like beaujolais, you probably won’t like any other red wines. Louis Jadot beaujolais wines are widely available. I think I’ve even bought this wine at Trader Joe’s. It tastes of berries and spice and even a little bit of…grapes! Imagine that. It tasted to me like what you think wine tastes like when you are a little kid. This wine would be equally good as a holiday wine as it would be served at a summertime picnic.

For dinner, I decided to do a pomegranate-glazed salmon. I thought that would be a nice, festive match for the wine and I’m currently on a pomegranate molasses kick. I was hoping to develop this recipe for the website as part of a group of holiday-inspired dishes but I think it still needs some work (see my cooking notes below if you are interested in what I did.) The salmon itself was really good (local king salmon from Pure Foods Fish) but the glaze was just a tiny bit too sweet for me. However, the meal overall was really good and very pretty: pomegranate-glazed salmon, celery root and potato mashers, and sauteed swiss chard.

Here is my loose recipe for pomegranate-glazed salmon. Whisk together 1/4 cup fresh orange juice, 2 T pomegranate molasses, 2 t brown sugar, 1.5 t lemon juice, 1.5 t soy sauce and 1 t dijon mustard. Sear 2 salmon fillets on both sides until just done. Transfer to warmed plates and cover with foil. Add 1 tablespoon minced shallots to the pan, stir for 20 seconds, add the pomegranate mixture and cook until thickened. Add 1/2 tablespoon butter and salt and pepper to taste and spoon the sauce over the salmon. I think this recipe could easily be expanded upon. Rosemary, mint, star anise or five spice powder, and balsamic vinegar would all make interesting additions.