Seasonal Home Cooking
SPRING & SUMMER TIME
Here’s a rolling season of simple, fresh, delicious home cooked meals with some pairing tips & wine suggestions:
JULY 2026
BURGERS EVERY WHICH WAY!
A couple days ago we had a grilled burger on a bed of kale salad with green onions (bitter and a little chewy), with fast-sautéed cherry tomatoes & garlic, and burrata with a few cucumbers sprinkled on top. Really, it was a lovely, fresh, easy dinner. Highly recommend!
What to think about when pairing? The dinner has beef, but nothing else of substance except maybe the burrata (which is rich but still fresh) and then a bunch of seasonal veggies turned into a salad. Long story short, if you want a red wine, it needs to be relatively fresh and light: Gamay, Pinot Noir, and other lighter-bodied reds – Corvina, Monica, Schiava, Cunoise & more.
Prefer a white? Fresh and light with good acidity works great: Sauvignon Blanc, Gavi, Soave, Verdejo. A little fuller-bodied with softer acidity would also be delicious: Chenin Blanc, Grüner Veltliner, unoaked Chardonnay, and many more!
Prefer rosé? Take your pick. You can't go wrong.
ROASTED FETA & CHERRY TOMATOES
When the weather was nice over the weekend, we made a Mediterranean plate and this feta-tomato dish was one of the elements. Key is delicious feta. We recommend Goodies Mediterranean Market near Lake City. Lovely humans & a great selection of Mediterranean foods (olives, dried grains, canned legumes, spices, homemade baklava, a halal meat counter and much more). Add some crusty bread, and you're pretty close to having a meal. An appetizer or a delicious side for sure!
Wines to pair? A lighter red with good acid. Both the tomatoes & the feta have high acid. We know it's not intuitive, but an acidic wine with an acidic food creates smooth balance on the palate. A light Sangiovese would be the classic pairing. Other high acid, lighter-bodied reds include Gamay, Barbera, cold-weather Pinot Noir & many more.
Prefer a white? Go with a lighter, high acid white as well: Sauvignon Blanc is the classic grape in this category, but many exist: Gavi (grape = Cortese), Soave (grape = Garganega), Verdicchio, Albariño, Aligoté & more.
Bubbles are also high acid and would taste delicious and refreshing with this dish!
JUNE 2026
GRILLED SALMON PASTA
We have a tradition of serving the leftover grilled salmon from the night before over spaghetti and whatever veggies we have available the next night for dinner. Last night was zucchini, green onions & garlic. Fast, easy, super tasty.
What to pair? Summer seafood dinner is delicious with many white wines, but especially ones that have seashell minerality (including a note of salinity) from growing in vineyards near the ocean: Muscadet, Picpoul, Albariño/Alvarinho & Vermentino (Sardinia) are fun examples. Other minerally whites that would taste great: Sancerre, Carracante (Etna Bianco), Gavi, and South African Chenin Blanc.
Prefer a red? Go for a light, translucent, summer red such as our Wine of the Month, a Shiraz-Pinot Noir blend from Australia (see above). Or select the rosé of your choice. Every one we have in the shop would taste great!
GRILLED CHICKEN
Served with cauliflower salad with chickpeas, hazelnuts, and green onions topped with quick sautéed cherry tomatoes & garlic. Easy weeknight dinner. Super tasty.
What to pair? This dinner was pretty light. We'd recommend a (you-can-never-go-wrong-with-summer-dinner) rosé. Higher-acid whites would be tasty: Sauvignon Blanc, Chenin Blanc, Jacquère from Savoie in the French Alps (check out their high-altitude vineyards below). It would be delightful.
Prefer a red? Go for a light summer red so it doesn't overpower the dish: a Mondeuse-Gamay blend (also from Savoie) would taste great as would: a cold-weather Pinot Noir, a light Sangiovese, or the Cunoise from Bartholomew. It'll knock your socks off!
DANISH HAMBURGER
Here's the link to Danish cookbook author & entrepreneur Trine Hahnemann telling you how to make Pariserbøf, a Danish hamburger made with ground beef & grated beets. So easy & delicious.
What to pair? Beets added moisture and an earthy, subtly sweet note. The tarter sauce added good acidity & a little plop of richness, making the dish super easy to pair. Per usual, rosé is the homerun hitter. Maybe a richer in color, fuller-bodied, dry rosé such as our Nebbiolo rosé (June Wine of the Month) or the Wautoma Springs Syrah Rosé. A little more luscious orange wine or a medium-bodied red with good acid would also taste great.
BBQ PULLED PORK
Great summer dish served over crunchy slaw. Julie's sister made this a couple evenings ago, and it rocked. Flavorful but not heavy with all kinds of textures. Only to recommend, especially if serving a crowd.
What to pair? Pork is not a strongly flavored meat, but shoulder is a fatty cut, and the BBQ had tang and heat. Your number one choice is rosé! Tastes great with every condition of this meal.
Prefer a white? Medium-bodied and crisp. Try Grüner Veltliner, Chablis, Fiano, or a flavorful Alvarinho from Portugal. The Elk Cove Pinot Gris would be perfect!
Prefer a red? Main thing – low tannins or the spicy sauce gets spicier. Lighter to medium & fruity is probably best. Try a lighter Côtes du Rhône, a light Sangiovese, or a fresh Carménère from Chile. Another great idea would be a lighter-bodied Zinfandel (or Primitivo)!
MAY 2026
MORELS
Seasonal in Seattle from March through June, these locally foraged mushrooms are a delicacy at our house. (We get ours at the Lake Forest Park Farmers Market.) Simplicity is our answer to enjoying the intense, earthy goodness of morels. We clean them with a quick soak in salty water, dry them off, slice and then sauté them in a little olive oil & butter. This round we added garlic scapes, another delicacy in season right now. Add cooked fresh pasta (with a little pasta water), fresh herbs (if you like), a drizzle of cream (if you like), sea salt, freshly cracked pepper and some freshly grated parmesan. Ta-dah!
There are so many wonderful wine pairing options (across the board) with morels. Here are a few:
PIZZA: THE BLUEBERRY GOAT
Enjoyed this prosciutto-blueberry-goat cheese-topped pizza with my college roommate at Anelare, a winery in Horse Heaven Hills. They have a wood-fired pizza oven with a regularly changing list of pizzas, each one paired with one of their wines.
The blueberry on this pizza was the wild surprise – not nearly as sweet as I expected. The pizza oven changed it to a sort of jammy, smoky fruit note in combo with the salty prosciutto & goat cheese. It was pretty darn tasty. The winery suggested pairing the toppings with Merlot, which I agree with whole-heartedly – plummy, earthy, soft tannins. Delicious.
Here are some other red wine pairing ideas: a medium-bodied Zinfandel would match the jammy note perfectly but not overwhelm the flavors. We have a Primitivo (same grape as Zinfandel)-Negroamaro blend from Columbia Valley that would also be splendid. A fruity Portuguese blend would complement as well. Main thing – don't go too dry! Sweet elements in foods make dry wines taste bitter.
Prefer a white? Plenty of great choices here: 1) acidic wines cut the richness of the pizza – Try: the Chenin Blanc from Stellenbosch or a Bordeaux blend (Sauvignon Blanc/Semillion), or 2) a fuller-bodied white to match the rich, bready crust & flavorful toppings – Try: a Southern Rhône blend, a rounder Pinot Gris from the Willamette Valley, or a terrific Viura-Grenache Blanc blend from Rioja.
Rosé? With rosé, you're always golden! Simply grab the rosé of your choosing.
PNW SALMON
Deep orange-red, rich, fishy (in the best kind of way), flavorful salmon from the Pacific Northwest. Such a wonderful, local fish. We eat it regularly and with gusto — first night grilled and second night (leftovers) with vegetables over pasta. It's a tradition.
What to think about for your wine pairing? Salmon is intense in flavor and deep orange in color, so a red would pair beautifully. But it's still fish, so a medium- to lighter-bodied red with good acidity and/or tannins would be the perfect fit. Pinot Noir from the Willamette Valley is often a favorite as it's delicious and keeps the meal local. Other solid selections: Grenache, Blaufränkish (above), Gamay, Barbera & more.
Prefer a white? Choose a wine that's got good body to hold up to the weight of the fish: Chardonnay, Southern Rhône blend, a richer Chenin Blanc, Falanghina (above) or one with good acidity to cut the richness of the fish. Sancerre and minerally Pinot Grigio from northern Italy would both be great.
Rosé? Perfect every time.
APRIL 2026
STUFFED MUSHROOMS
Roasted mushrooms are rich, moist & earthy. The stuffing = sautéed mushroom stems, onions, oregano, panko & parmesan. Serve as a vegetarian dinner or with a grilled brat & Brussels sprouts on the side.
What to pair? Reds that are medium-bodied with some earthiness. Try: Barbera, Nebbiolo, a Côtes du Rhône blend, Pinot Noir, Zweigelt & many more!
Prefer a white? Select one with some body and flavor to hold up: Viognier, Semillon, a Bordeaux Blanc, Arneis, and Grenache Blanc are a few great choices.
Rosé? With rosé, you're always golden! Simply grab the rosé of your choosing.
WINE FOR SPICY DISHES
We made Thai Basil Chicken Dumplings last week. Really fun and pretty darn easy… especially if you make them using the new-fangled, viral-internet way where you just drop the rice paper around the cooking meatball and let it shrink wrap to form a dumpling. Tasty dinner and notably spicy!
So, what to pair with spicy foods? DO's: 1) acidic wines offset spicy flavors, 2) off-dry wines cool spicy dishes — both good choices. This dish was also salty, and salty foods taste great with acidic and/or off-dry wines as well. 3) Pair like-with-like, so choose a wine that's medium to lighter in body so it won't overpower the dish. DON'T: Tannic wines make spicy foods spicier (like your mouth will blow up!), so avoid like the plague.
Here are some suggested pairings:
Jens and I cook and then sit down to eat and taste wine (& take notes) together pretty much every night. We love to cook, but it’s seldom fancy or time-consuming (as we get home from work around 7:45 each evening). This page is a tribute to simple home-cooking, delicious wine pairings, and enjoying a meal with friends & family.
Cheers!
Julie, co-owner, Portalis Wine Shop