Carolyn, Jeff and I chat about pairing wine and grilled cheese sandwiches for Canada Day on the national edition of Global Television’s Morning Show.
These aren’t your ordinary grilled cheese sammies: step it up on July 1 or 4, and create one of these for yourself and for your guests.
Loblaw’s Executive Chef, Mark Russell, created these terrific grilled cheese sandwich recipes. The accompaniments are part of Loblaw’s From Our Chef line.
Here are my favourite Canadian wines that I’ve tasted recently, plus wines from around the world in the spirit of international peace and diversity through food and drink!
Baldersen Extra Old Cheddar
Classic Grilled Cheese on Multigrain served with
From Our Chefs Tomato Cheddar Soup
Henry of Pelham Winery Old Vines Baco Noir
President’s Choice Triple Blue Brie
Grilled cheese cut into small bites and served on From Our Chef
Beet Apple Salad with Micro Greens on a Rectangle Plate
Inniskillin Niagara Estate Riesling Icewine
Le Baluchon
Portabella Mushrooms Baby Arugula served in a BBQ Sesame Burger Bun served with Mini Roasted From Our Chef Peppers
Colio Estate Lily Sparkling Wine
Lindsay Bandaged Goats Cheese
Honey fig fresh Basil on Cinnamon Raisin Bread served with Pistachio From Our Chef Geleto
Mountainoak Farmstead Premium Gold Gouda
Featuring From Our Chef Pulled BBQ Beef Rib Meat and Caramelised Onions served on a skewer with Dill Pickles (kebab presented like a sandwich)
Southbrook Vineyards Triomphe Cabernet Sauvignon
Fromaggio Di Bufala
Open faced Grilled Ciabatta topped with From Our Chef Kale Vegetable Salad
Henry of Pelham Winery Chardonnay
President’s Choice Swiss Cheese
Sandwiched with Apples and served with From Our Chef Cashew Broccoli Salad
Defino Inferno Harvarti
From Our Chef Sweet Chili Chicken Fresh Mango Harvarti grilled cheese served with Chunky Guacomole
Southbrook Vineyards Connect White
Pairing Wine & Creative Grilled Cheese Sandwiches (Video)
Carolyn: Mel is salivating right now. Wine and cheese go hand in hand but we decided to take things one step further to inquire about the best wine and grilled cheese pairings.
Jeff: Natalie Maclean, the editor from Canada’s largest wine site, is here making it even easier to find great wine pairings. Let’s talk about this brand new app.
Natalie: Okay, well it’s a label scanning app. it is Canada’s first. All you need to do when you’re in the liquor store is open the app or search on my name in iTunes, Android Market or Google Market Place. You click on the scanner, it scans and up comes this wine with its pairings, the score, the tasting notes. Maybe a possible cheese…
Jeff: This is really the Shazam of wine, isn’t it Natalie?
Natalie: Exactly, because it not only brings up all that information, it tells you where that wine is, in your closest liquor store and how many bottles are there right now. It can remember all your wines and you can save them in your virtual cellar.
Jeff: Before we move off the app to these pairings, you have to show everybody … I’ve never seen a cell phone case like this before.
Natalie: I just had this made. It’s my emergency stash.
Jeff: Alright, you want to start here on the far side?
Natalie: Well, first of all I have to thank executive Chef Mark Russell from Loblaw’s. He created all of these gorgeous grilled cheese sandwiches with Canadian cheeses and Canadian wine pairings. All the garnishes are from our chef’s line, so all of these are ready to go.
Jeff: Okay, this hardly, by the way, classifies grilled cheese.
Natalie: I know. We’re stepping it up here. We’re going to start with a classic grilled cheese sandwich with Balderson Extra Old Cheddar. Mark has put that on some multi-grain bread along with a tomato cheddar soup. I’ve paired it with a Henry of Pelham Baco Noir Old Vines. I’m going to start passing these down the line.
Carolyn: Okay, I’ll take it this one, it’s my favourite.
Natalie: Exactly, I’ve paired Cheddar and Cabernet. It’s a classic pairing.
Jeff: Okay, what do we have next to it there, Natalie?
Natalie: We have a President’s Choice Triple Blue Cream Cheese. He has done it with croutons on a bed of beet salad. I’ve put an Inniskillin Ice Wine with that because often we do blue cheese with a sweet wine, like a Bordeaux. But, it’s Canada Day, Ice Wine – Inniskillin is classic with blue cheese. I think you’ll find that’s a gorgeous match.
Jeff: I going to keep you moving because we have a minute and a half if we’re going to get through this.
Natalie: Right. Le Baluchon with Portabella grilled mushrooms … Mark stacked it three stacks high for drama. He’s very dramatic, a very creative chef and I’ve paired it with a Lily Sparkling wine from Southwestern Ontario; a gorgeous Sparkling wine. I’m going to pour this and I just love the sound of a Sparkling wine.
Jeff: Nothing sounds better than that?
Natalie: I know.
Jeff: The sound of that cork?
Natalie: Isn’t that terrific? I’ll let you guys enjoy that.
Jeff: Is this like a grilled cheese dessert, here?
Natalie: It is. It’s a goat cheese with honey and fresh figs and we have some pistachio ice cream on the side. I’ve paired that with either a Riesling or a Pinot Gris.
Jeff: Alright, Natalie, for more information people can go …
Natalie: … to my website. I’ll put all of these recipes and all of the wine pairings there. Of course, you can check out the President’s Choice website. You know, it should be a great Canada Day if you go the grilled cheese route.
Jeff: Absolutely! Natalie Maclean, thank you so much. Great to see you as always, have a great Canada Day and we’ll see everybody back here tomorrow at the morning show. Have a good day!
Natalie: Happy Canada Day.
Posted with permission of Global TV
