By The Glass

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Bubbles are a fine
match for food

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Our weekly "By the Glass" column goes into expanded mode today, in preparation for New Year's Eve. Three of our regular contributors offer their suggestions for sparkling wine and food pairings below.

DENNIS ODA / DODA@STARBULLETIN.COM Hideaki "Santa" Miyoshi's nori-wrapped poke includes slices of salmon, ahi, hamachi and soft-shell crab.

But before we get to those, a few basics:

First, price: You can get a bottle of bubbles for 5 bucks, which is fine for fizzy visual effect at midnight, but not for ultimate enjoyment. This year, open the wallet just a bit further. If it hurts, think of it this way -- you are building a meal around the wine, not the other way around. Another soothing thought: Some of the finest French champagnes pair best with the simplest of foods (buttered popcorn, crispy gau gee or won ton, potato chips, anything wrapped in bacon). You could blow your budget on a major bottle, then go cheap on the fixings.

Second, definitions: True champagne is the name for a wine made in the district of Champagne in France. Everything else, even if it's made in the same style from the same grapes, is a sparkling wine. These are made all over the world.

Finally, a few general suggestions:

>> For the typical holiday meal of turkey or ham, an Italian red lambrusco, well-chilled.

>> For most Asian foods, an Italian prosecco in a soft, feminine style, low in bitterness. Prosecco is also a good brunch wine or for afternoon sipping.

>> For raw seafood, including oysters and clams, a French champagne that doesn't run bitter.

>> For dishes with classic French sauces, bold, highly complex French champagnes.

>> For a wide range of desserts and sweet-salty appetizers such as prosciutto-wrapped melon, Italian moscato d'asti.

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Chuck Furuya Fine Wine Imports

CHUCK FURUYA: My recommendation for a holiday bubbly is lambrusco, a dry, deliciously fruit-driven, country-style red wine from Lombardy, Italy.

I know of only two producers making wines beyond the cheap, nonchalant lambruscos of the '80s, Barbolini being one of them. Served well-chilled, Barbolini is my choice for holiday cheer. Perfect with turkey, cranberries and yams. Perfect with honeyed or smoked ham.

At a recent dinner at Merriman's in Waimea, chef Peter Merriman and I paired this wine with paté de foie gras. The typical pairing would have been a dessert-style Sauterne, but we wanted something different. Our thought was to offer something bright and completely refreshing, almost like serving a fruit jelly or compote. Hence, a well-chilled glass of Barbolini Lambrusco ($15).

Another interesting dish with this wine is a Filipino-style hamachi served at Roy's Kahana Bar and Grill. Mike Webber, Roy's manager, offered these comments on the pairing: "We tried a number of different wines. Everything white was dominated by the intensity of the bagoong, ginger, rayu and the richness of the fish. We found that lambrusco, well-chilled, had enough structure to stand up to the boldness of the dish. The fruitiness of the wine was the perfect counter to the salt and heat components."

Filipino-Style Sizzling Hamachi Sashimi

Executive chef Brian Ikenoyama, Roy's Kahana Bar and Grill

1 pound hamachi loin, sliced sashimi style (may also use ahi, opakapaka or onaga)
2 tablespoons EACH bagoong, patis (fish sauce), Thai chile paste, minced garlic, chopped scallion and cilantro leaves
6 tablespoons peanut oil
2 tablespoons rayu (spicy sesame oil)
>> Inamona Jus:
1/4 cup soy sauce
1/2 teaspoon ginger juice (grate ginger and squeeze out juice)
1 teaspoon ground inamona
1 teaspoon chopped ogo
Garnishes: chopped ogo, chopped chives, tobiko caviar, toasted white sesame, micro greens

Arrange fish equally on 6 plates. Combine bagoong, patis, chile paste and garlic; spread over fish. Sprinkle with scallions and cilantro.

Heat peanut oil until smoking and pour over fish.

Combine Inamona Jus ingredients. Drizzle jus and rayu over each plate. Garnish as desired. Serve immediately. Serves 6.

Approximate nutritional analysis, per serving: 260 calories, 19 g total fat, 3 g saturated fat, 40 mg cholesterol, greater than 1,000 mg sodium, less than 2 g carbohydrate, 21 g protein.*

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Lyle Fujioka Fujioka's Wine Merchants

LYLE FUJIOKA: Hideaki "Santa" Miyoshi, owner/chef of Tokkuri-Tei, is a man of many talents. Besides creating interesting and delicious Japanese cuisine, Santa is also a noted sake aficionado, wine connoisseur and a serious poke recipe contest competitor. He has won numerous grand prize awards and this featured recipe is one of my very favorites.

This tastefully intricate poke demands a clean, crisp sparkler to help balance the rich flavors and textures of the soft-shell crab, toro and hamachi. My recommendation for the perfect pairing is the Cattier Vintage Brut 1996 ($30).

This elegant champagne features aromas of apple, cardamom and stone. Quince, lemon, ginger and brioche flavors follow with a blizzard of ultra-fine, palate-scrubbing bubbles and a long, clean, citrusy finish. Imagine a great, crisp white wine infused with effervescence. This is what makes Cattier work so well with this poke in a way that big, toasty, yeasty champagnes would not.

There's a Spider in da Poke!

Hideaki "Santa" Miyoshi, Tokkuri-Tei

16 thin slices (8 ounces) sashimi-grade ahi (see notes)
2 tablespoons Thai chile sauce
2 teaspoons wasabi oil
1 tablespoon minced green onion
Vegetable oil for deep frying
1 soft-shell crab or 1 large shrimp, peeled
Flour for dusting
1 sheet nori
1/4-inch bundle radish sprouts, cleaned
Japanese fish eggs (ikura, tobiko or masago) and minced green onion, for garnish
>> Spider Sauce
2 tablespoons mayonnaise
1 teaspoon Momiji Oroshi (Japanese chile paste)
1 teaspoon grated ginger
1 clove garlic, grated

Drizzle fish slices with Thai chile sauce, wasabi oil and green onion; chill in refrigerator 30 minutes. Drain excess liquid.

Heat oil to 350 degrees. Dredge crab or shrimp in flour and deep-fry in oil until crispy. Set aside to drain on a paper towel.

Combine ingredients for Spider Sauce and set aside.

To assemble: Place nori on a sushi mat. Lay fish slices evenly over nori. Top with Spider Sauce. Slice crab and arrange in the middle. Add radish sprouts. Roll up. Cut roll into six pieces. Garnish with fish eggs, green onion and a little more Thai chile sauce. Serves 2.

Approximate nutritional analysis, per serving: 370 calories, 22 g total fat, 3.5 g saturated fat, 75 mg cholesterol, 500 mg sodium, 11 g carbohydrate, 32 g protein.*

Notes on the fish: In his restaurant, Miyoshi uses equal portions of hamachi, toro (fatty ahi) and salmon fillet, but says you can use any one fish that you prefer. If using salmon, sprinkle the fillet with salt and let sit for 20 minutes before slicing to firm up the meat.

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Richard Field R. Field Food and Wine Co.

RICHARD FIELD: When is a champagne like a red wine? When it's a well-made rosé.

Most champagnes are made from white and black grapes. While these black grapes (pinot noir and pinot meunier) yield clear juice when pressed, it is the maceration of grape skins and juice that produces the reddish color. The longer the skin contact, the greater the color. Think tea bags in hot water.

If there is a wine that is truly the best of white, red and sparkling worlds, these rosés might win the award.

Depending on the producer, styles can range from light to rich and full. These wines can be served as starters and all the way through a meal, the only exception being beef and powerful protein dishes. During the holidays, pink bubbly is festive, exciting to look at in the glass and delicious in a unusual way. These champagnes are brut dry (not sweet) and classic in feel and flavor. But add to this mix an aroma of wild strawberries and a touch of red-wine texture -- a faint tannic finish. Plus, I can't help but think that rosé champagnes makes dinner more romantic

My wife Emily and I recently tried a match that would rock the culinary world to its foundation. Philippe Padovani's chilled Foie Gras Terrine is as good as it gets. I remember this great signature dish clearly from his time at La Mer in the Halekulani and later at the Ritz Carlton Mauna Lani. It didn't matter what else I was having for dinner, I always ordered Philippe's terrine.

A very sweet wine is always the call for this dish, except tonight. We drank the Billecart-Salmon Brut Rosé. Nearly any wine would struggle to match the foie gras, but the rosé held its own.

This exercise, though, was really about finding one wine that we could drink from the beginning to the end of dinner. To take this to its conclusion, we ended with Philippe's famous Strawberry Sunburst. The Billecart worked its magic here, too.

Rosé champagnes aren't cheap, but they can be everything you're looking for: Billecart-Salmon Brut Rosé ($54.99); Nicolas Feuillatte Brut Rosé ($35.49); Pommery Brut Rosé ($35.99).

Strawberry Sunburst

Chef/owner Philippe Padovani, Padovani's Restaurant & Wine Bar

>> Pastry Cream:
2-1/4 cups milk
2 tablespoons sugar
2 egg yolks
1 tablespoon cornstarch

>> Almond Cream:
1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup sugar
1 egg
1/2 cup almond meal (see note)
2 tablespoons Amaretto liqueur

>> Strawberry sauce:
2 pints fresh strawberries, cleaned, with stems removed
1/4 cup sugar
Juice of 1 lemon

>> Sunburst:
6 pints fresh strawberries
8 sprigs fresh mint leaves, julienned

To prepare pastry cream: Bring milk to a boil. In a stainless-steel double boiler, beat egg yolks, sugar and cornstarch. Add boiled milk slowly and cook about 2 minutes, until cream coats a spoon. Remove from heat and pour into a shallow pan to quickly cool, or chill while stirring over an ice bath.

To prepare almond cream: Cream together butter, sugar and almond meal. Beat in egg and Amaretto.

To prepare strawberry sauce: Purée strawberries in a food processor. Blend in sugar and lemon juice; strain.

To assemble sunburst: Preheat oven to 500 degrees.

Clean and stem 6 pints of strawberries. Reserve the 8 largest strawberries. Cut remainder into 1/8-inch slices.

Fold almond cream into pastry cream and spread evenly on 8 dinner plates, covering 2/3 of each plate. Arrange sliced strawberries on top of cream in a sunburst. Place 1 whole strawberry in the center. Place in oven for 5 minutes.

Pour strawberry sauce in a ring around each plate. Sprinkle with mint leaves. Serves 8 to 12.

Note: Almond meal is available at gourmet stores, or substitute your own finely ground almonds or macadamia nuts.

Nutritional information unavailable.

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This column is a weekly lesson in wine
pairing written by a rotating panel of wine professionals.
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