Goat Daube and Lioco Pinot Noir
The Tail End of Braising Season
We’re well into spring in Minnesota, so I’m racing to use up the last of the braising meats I picked up at our winter farmers markets (held indoors). That said, we still have plenty of cool days where a nice warm stew or braise is perfect. Today we have a traditional Provençal daube on the menu; we’ll be using some nice goat stew meat I purchased from Singing Hills Goat Dairy. We love their cheeses, and on occasion, they will offer some goat meat as well. Don’t be too shy to try goat if you have the opportunity. Its flavor is mild and not nearly as assertive as lamb can be. I like daube because you get to pack the dish with lots of carrots and mushrooms. A bit of orange rind gives the dish an added citrus lift.
It’s not too late for braised goat!
With all the earthy mushrooms in the dish, I thought I’d see how it paired with Pinot Noir. Lioco recently sent me a few of their wines to sample (thanks!), so I thought I would test out one of their Pinots at dinner.
Lioco Savaria Vineyard Pinot Noir has a beautiful garnet red color, brightly translucent
Lioco Pinot Noir Savaria Vineyard, Santa Cruz Mountains 2012 ($50, sample from the winery)
Eye: Translucent well into the center, with a blue-purplish edge.
Nose: Very clean nose immediately on opening. Red fruits, strawberries, maybe a bit of blueberry too. Very expressive, not shy at all. A bit of floral, not very earthy.
Mouth: Red fruit, definite tannins if you pay attention. Light mouthfeel, not tart, smooth yet nice and lively.
The overall impression is dominated by red fruit. This is a nice, lean, food friendly Pinot Noir. It’s also very young; I would expect it to develop nicely in the coming years.
Lioco Savaria Vineyard Pinot Noir
I’ll usually pick a bigger, darker red with most of my braised dishes. With so many mushrooms, however, Pinot Noir seemed like a natural choice. The Lioco certainly had enough depth to pair with the braised meat, and it just seemed natural with the mushrooms and carrots.
Lots of mushrooms and carrots pair nicely with the Lioco Pinot Noir
Lioco produces food-friendly Pinot Noir and Chardonnay
Provençal Goat Daube
Ingredients
- 1 lb. stew meat – I used Singing Hills Goat Dairy goat meat
- 8 oz. dry red wine – use a wine you’d be willing to drink, but something inexpensive
- 4 strips of orange zest
- 2 sprigs of fresh rosemary
- 3 sprigs fresh thyme
- 1 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil
- 1 onion, roughly chopped
- 2 garlic cloves, minced
- 1 14 oz. can of plum tomatoes, undrained
- 1 tsp salt
- 1/4 tsp freshly ground black pepper
- 6 carrots, peeled and sliced
- 1 lb. fresh sliced mushrooms, white or cremini
- 1 8×8″ square of cheesecloth
- A few thin slices of Parmigiano Reggiano cheese per serving
Instructions
- Combine the goat stew meat, red wine, 2 strips of orange zest, 1 sprig each of rosemary and thyme in a bowl, cover and refrigerate several hours or overnight. Swish the ingredients around a couple of times during marinating.
- Remove the meat from the marinade, strain off the red wine and discard the orange zest and herbs.
- Combine the remaining orange zest, rosemary and thyme in the cheesecloth, tie the bundle and set aside
- In a dutch oven over medium-high heat, brown all sides of the meat in the olive oil. Don’t crowd the meat, separate into two batches if needed. Remove the meat from the dutch oven.
- Reduce the heat to medium. Add the onion and garlic to the dutch oven without scraping out the brown bits from browning the meat. Cook until translucent, 3-4 minutes.
- Return the meat and any juices to the pot, add tomatoes, the wine from the marinade, salt and pepper. Add the herb filled cheesecloth. Simmer covered for 1 hour. Don’t let the liquid boil too vigorously, just an slow bubble.
- Add the carrots and mushrooms. Simmer for 1 hour more.
- Serve over your choice of pasta, barley, faro or rice. We used bowtie pasta. Even though there are plenty of vegetables in the stew, I like to serve a colorful vegetable on the side as well.
- Enjoy!
My thanks to Lioco for providing this wine as a sample for evaluation. The tasting notes and opinions expressed about the wine are my own.
foodwineclick 
Food and wine…two of my favorite words. I look forward to exploring all of your articles. Your photos are beautiful!
Thank you! I hope you’ll like what you see.
I already do. We want to visit California’s wine country, and you have some great info there. Thanks!
Looks beautiful and tasty..and might even convince me to try goat. 🙂
Thanks. If you get the opportunity, go for it! My wife doesn’t care for lamb at all, but she is just fine with goat.