A Trip to Rhone Through Wine and Food

Lamb Sausage with Crisp Potatoes
and Domaine La Garrigue Vacqueyras Cantarelle 2009

Once again the best way to pair a wine with a meal is to pay attention to it’s roots. The 2009 Vacqueyras La Cantarelle, a blend of 80% Grenache and 20% Syrah, is perfect to take a backseat (and quietly compliment) a very bold, flavorful sausage. We went with a rosemary and garlic lamb sausage but any pork or lamb sausage you can find will work well. The traditional Rhone meal is sausage cooked in red wine (we did that) and boiled potatoes with shallots (we switched that up a little bit, just to add some extra flavor).  Enjoy!

Ingredients
1 ½ lbs lamb or pork sausage
1 ½ cups French red wine
1 large (or 2 small) shallots, sliced
3 lbs small Yukon Gold potatoes
2 cloves garlic, smashed
2 dried bay leaves
2 tablespoons olive oil
3 cups Spinach/Arugula mix
1 lemon
Salt/pepper, to taste

In a wide pan add sausage and red wine. Add water until sausage is almost completely covered by liquid.  Bring to a boil and cook 10-15 minutes until sausages are cooked through.  Remove the sausages from the pan, place on a baking sheet and keep warm in the oven until you’re ready to serve.

Leave the remaining wine in the pan and add shallots. Continue to boil until onions are cooked through and wine is thick and reduced to 2 tablespoons.  Set aside.

Meanwhile, in a large pan with high sides over medium-high heat, add potatoes, bay leaves, garlic, 1 tablespoon olive oil and about 1 cup water.  Cover and bring to a boil. Once at a boil, uncover and salt generously. Continue to boil until potatoes are fork tender (maybe even a little bit past).

When potatoes are tender and all water has evaporated; using a meat tenderizer (or something heavy and round), smash potatoes down until flat.  Add remaining tablespoon of olive oil and reduce heat to medium. Cook until brown and crisp on both sides, 4-5 minutes per side.

Split spinach and arugula mixture between your serving plates.  Lightly dress with lemon juice and salt. Top with a piece of sausage and onions. Lay potatoes on the side.

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