THE WALL STREET JOURNAL. **** Saturday/Sunday, March 7 - 8, 2020 |D7
Total Time:30 minutes
Serves: 44 medium sweet potatoes,
cut into 1-inch-thick
wedges
1 tablespoon olive oil, plus
more for drizzling
Kosher salt and freshly
ground black pepper
2 ounces ‘nduja, at room
temperature
4 tablespoons butter, at
room temperature
1 lime, zest finely grated(^1) / 2 cup Greek yogurt
(^1) / 4 cup fresh cilantro
(^1) / 4 cup mint leaves
(^1) / 4 cup Thai basil leaves
1.Preheat oven to 450
degrees. Toss sweet pota-
toes with olive oil and sea-
son with salt and pepper.
Spread wedges across a
sheet pan and roast on
lower third rack until
browned in spots and ten-
der, about 25 minutes.
2.Meanwhile, use a food
processor or mixer to beat
together ’nduja and butter.
3.In a large bowl, toss hot
sweet potatoes with ’nduja
butter and season with salt
and lime juice to taste.
4.Spread yogurt across
a serving platter or individ-
ual plates. Sprinkle with
lime zest and salt, and
drizzle with olive oil. Top
with sweet potatoes and
’nduja butter drippings.
Scatter cilantro, mint and
basil leaves overtop.
BETTER TOGETHERThe spicy sweet potatoes are served on a
layer of cooling yogurt. Fresh herbs and lime juice brighten the dish.
SLOW FOOD FAST/SATISFYING AND SEASONAL FOOD IN ABOUT 30 MINUTES
EVERY ONCE IN A WHILEan ingredient
comes along that really knocks chefs off
their feet. In recent years, ‘nduja, the
spreadable Italian sausage, has shown up on
more and more menus across the country,
lending gorgeous fatty richness and a spicy
kick to everything from charcuterie boards
to pasta sauces. At Rolf and Daughters in
Nashville, Philip Krajeck has found a partic-
ularly appealing application for the stuff. He
mixes ’nduja with butter and slathers it on
a whole roasted sweet potato. The salty-
sweet-spicy combination is sensational.
In his third Slow Food Fast recipe, Mr.
Krajeck cuts the cooking time by slicing
sweet potatoes into wedges before roast-
ing. Once the wedges have caramelized
and crisped at the edges, he tosses them
with ’nduja butter, which instantly melts
into the hot potatoes, tinting them a
beautiful glossy amber and imparting lip-
smacking notes of paprika and pork. He
serves the spicy sweet potatoes over a
smear of tart yogurt and finishes with
fresh cilantro, mint and Thai basil, plus a
generous squeeze of lime juice. “Southern
sweet potatoes and funky, fatty, spicy
spreadable salami pair well with Thai
herbs and the cooling lactic acid of Greek
yogurt,” Mr. Krajeck said.
Some supermarkets carry ’nduja, but if
your local one doesn’t, try a gourmet store
or order it online. And consider purchas-
ing more than you need for this recipe:
You’ll want to add it to everything. Mr.
Krajeck is positively smitten with it in this
dish. “We’ve been using this flavor combi-
nation for years,” he said. “And we’re still
super excited about how it eats.”
—Kitty Greenwald
Roasted Sweet Potatoes With ‘Nduja, Yogurt and Herbs
KATE SEARS FOR THE WALL STREET JOURNAL, FOOD STYLING BY PEARL JONES, PROP STYLING BY SUZIE MYERS; MICHAEL HOEWELER (PORTRAIT)
Lucien Albrecht Cré-
mant d’Alsace Brut
Rose$18Produced in
Alsace via the tradi-
tional Champagne
method, this pink and
sparkling Pinot-Noir-
based wine is lush and
fruity with a touch of
sweetness. It’s a ter-
rific foil to a wide
range of cheeses.
OENOFILE/WHITE, RED, SPARKLING AND CHEESE-COMPATIBLE
2018 Château Graville-
Lacoste Graves Bor-
deaux$16Winemaker
Hervé Dubourdieu pro-
duces top white Bor-
deaux. Sémillon is the
dominant grape in this
Sémillon-Sauvignon-
Muscadelle blend, lend-
ing a soft, round quality
to the fresh, clean,
cheese-friendly white.
2017 Domaine de la
Taille Aux Loups Clos
de la Bretonnière Vin
de France$28Loire
Valley-based vigneron
Jacky Blot is an ac-
knowledged master of
Chenin Blanc. This silky
wine is marked by
equal measures of
bright acidity and ripe
fruit.
2015 Bodegas Muga
Rioja Reserva$28A
very traditional-style
Rioja from a very tradi-
tional Spanish pro-
ducer, this earthy, ap-
proachable red is aged
in both American and
French oak barrels and
later in bottle. It pairs
nicely with both strong
and mild cheeses.
2016 Talley Vineyards
Pinot Noir Arroyo
Grande Valley Califor-
nia$28Produced in the
cool coastal San Luis
Obispo region of Califor-
nia, this wine is marked
by snappy, lively, crunchy
red fruit. It’s a lithe and
lively wine and a truly
vibrant companion with
cheese.
I brought 12 bottles of wine—
mostly whites, but a few reds and a
few sparkling wines, too. Tina, Pam
and I each contributed three cow,
sheep and goat cheeses.
The straightforward, salty Loca-
telli Pecorino and a Manchego aged
12 months (both sheep’s milk) and a
mild Alpine cow’s milk were easy to
pair as their flavors weren’t particu-
larly complex. A couple strong blue
cheeses were more challenging, and
we found the beer-washed Foxglove
cheese from Tulip Tree Creamery in
Indiana a particular challenge to
pair with wine. We ultimately
dubbed the Foxglove a real wine
killer, as its funkiness overwhelmed
every wine in our tasting. When I
called Tulip Tree’s co-owner Laura
Davenport several days later, she
told me the Foxglove needs a “bold
flavored wine, like one made from
rhubarb.” (I can’t say I’ve ever come
across a rhubarb wine in any of the
wine shops I frequent in New York.)
The red wines included a Frap-
pato, a native Sicilian red grape
that was a bit too high in acidity
for the creamier cheeses but
proved a boon to the salty sheep
cheeses. Ditto the Lambrusco. The
2015 Bodegas Muga Rioja Reserva
($28) was a remarkably good fit
with a range of cheeses; its tan-
nins softened by time in the barrel
and bottle, it was a supple and ac-
commodating match for even the
tangiest goat cheese.
Richard thought a Pinot Noir
would be good with many of the
cheeses, and he was right. The
2016 Talley Vineyards Pinot Noir
($28) from the Arroyo Grande Val-
ley region of California went par-
ticularly well with all the cheeses
(save the Foxglove) thanks to its
vibrant fruit, bright acidity and
relatively low (13.6%) alcohol.
Of the sparkling wines we tasted,
the Lucien Albrecht Crémant d’Al-
sace Brut Rosé ($18) hit all the right
notes. Its slight hint of sweetness
complemented the creamy cheeses
and its lively cherry fruit gave the
simple ones a bit of a lift. Several of
the whites paired well with just
about everything, notably the 2018
Château Graville-Lacoste Graves
Bordeaux ($16). In this white Bor-
deaux blend, Sémillon softened the
acidity of Sauvignon Blanc.
The dazzling off-dry 2018 Dön-
nhoff Oberhäuser Leistenberg Ries-
ling Kabinett ($28) had a tingly
acidity and a touch of sweetness
that tamped down the funkier
cheeses. Richard contributed an-
other off-dry wine, the rich, rather
sleek 2016 Domaine de la Taille Aux
Loups Montlouis Demi-Sec Chenin
Blanc ($32). It paired so well with
virtually all the cheeses, it moved
Richard to quote a friend of his who
once declared Chenin “the Boutros
Boutros-Ghali of cheese,” referenc-
ing the late diplomat and former
secretary-general of the United Na-
tions. The 2017 Domaine de la Taille
Aux Loups Clos de la Bretonnière
Vin de France ($28) was another
easy cheese match in a dry style.
The rest of the wines paired
well with some cheeses but not
with others. Richard and Tina’s
son Nicholas declared the combi-
nation of Manchego and Hidalgo
La Gitana Manzanilla Sherry ($15)
downright perfect, for instance,
but Sherry’s dominant character
squashed the mild Alpine cheese.
The wines that were truly univer-
sal matches had three common at-
tributes: They were light to me-
dium bodied, exhibited lively but
not excessive acidity, and had ripe
fruit or a bit of sweetness.
I called Ms. Martin a few days af-
ter our tasting to share the results
and found both Ms. Martin and Mr.
Riahi in the cheese shop. The wines
we liked best turned out to be some
of their favorites, too. “We’ve always
poured Crémant d’Alsace with
cheese,” said Ms. Martin. Mr. Riahi
concurred. “You want a little bit of
fruitiness—nothing too dry—with a
moderate bubble,” he said. They also
agreed on the Rioja Reserva and Pi-
not Noir as cheese-versatile reds, on
account of the wines’ relatively light
body and soft tannins.
Ms. Martin has managed to bring
some customers around to her prin-
ciples of pairing. One of them even
takes it upon herself to tell other
customers they really need to try
white wine and cheese. The results
of my tasting, meanwhile, could be
described as decidedly mixed. Rich-
ard and Tina still drink red wine
with their cheese after dinner,
though Tina has noted that they do
drink Blanc de Blancs Champagne
before dinner with some cheeses.
Pam reported that the tasting
brought about a fundamental shift
in her pairing approach. I was grati-
fied to hear her say, “Red is no lon-
ger my default.”
Email Lettie [email protected].
Itsslighthintof
sweetnesscomplemented
thecreamycheesesand
itslivelycherryfruitgave
thesimpleonesalift.
FOLASADE ADEOSO; F. MARTIN RAMIN/THE WALL STREET JOURNAL (BOTTLES)
ON WINE/LETTIE TEAGUE
Right With Cheese:
Red or White?
WINE AND CHEESEare paired to-
gether so often that they practi-
cally form a single word: wineand-
cheese. But how often are the two
truly a dynamic duo? I find it’s of-
ten a hit-or-miss match, perhaps
because I eat whatever cheese I
have on hand with whatever wine I
happen to be drinking.
I have always considered white
wine a better fit than red with a
wide range of cheeses. It’s lighter,
brighter and more flexible. Accord-
ing to cheese expert Gayle Martin,
“White wine allows the milk to
sing.” Ms. Martin owns Plum Plums
Cheese in Pound Ridge, N.Y., with
her husband, Michael Riahi, with
whom she also owns a wine import-
ing company, Riahi Selections.
Ms. Martin considers red wine
“the worst possible” cheese match.
But much to her professional cha-
grin, her customers don’t seem to
agree. “The majority of our cus-
tomers pair cheese with red wine
because they’re pairing it with a
special bottle, and those special
bottles tend to be red,” she said. “I
tend to get a little stumped when
they bring in a bottle of Bor-
deaux.” Red Bordeaux and Napa
Cabernets can be challenging to
pair on account of their high levels
of alcohol and/or tannins.
My friend Tina, a cookbook edi-
tor, and her husband Richard, a
former wine retailer, drink red
wine with cheese after dinner be-
cause red is generally what they
have left in their glass. Richard
told me that Tina has often been
heard to observe, “This red wine
needs cheese” after a meal.
Would Richard and Tina still
prefer red if they tasted both red
and white wines with all kinds of
cheeses? I proposed a tasting, and
my friends agreed with alacrity;
they even offered to host. Our
friends Pam, Marc and Emanuele
came as well, along with Richard
and Tina’s two children, Nicholas
and Chloe—cheese mavens all.
The Chef
Philip Krajeck
His Restaurants
Rolf and Daughters
and Folk, in
Nashville, Tenn.
What He’s
Known For
Thoughtful cooking
servedupina
gracious, accessible
style. Old World
breads and pizzas
made with the best
regional ingredients.
EATING & DRINKING