Vinho Verde

When planning dinner tonight I was thinking about 3 things:
1. I’ve got hamburger meat thawed out.
2. I’m trying to be “good.”
3. It’s hot and I’m going to be tired.

Taking those things into consideration I hopped over to one of my favorite blogs and checked in on a “skinny” dinner, which I would thoroughly contaminate with my own poor choices I’m sure.  So here I am facing a zucchini boat of a dinner utilizing low fat sausage when I only have sad ground beef.  This doesn’t sound promising.  Here’s something to learn about me: when faced with a food decision:  I. Always. Choose. Mexican.  That is all.

So here’s how dinner went down:

Ingredients for Taco Stuffed Zucchini

• 3 medium sized zucchinis
• 1# ground beef
• 1/2 yellow onion, sliced
• 1/2 red bell pepper, diced
• 1 packet of taco seasoning
• 2/3 C Water
• 1 6oz can of el pato tomato sauce
• 1 small can of sliced black olives
• 1/2 C shredded cheese
• 1 box whole grain (yes, they make that) couscous, cooked according to box instructions

Preparation

• Cut the zucchini in half length wise; remove guts.
• saute onion and bell pepper in a pan, all the ground beef, and cook until brown, then drain.
• Add the seasoning packet to the meat situation and stir in the water, cook until most of the water is gone.
• Fill the zucchini with the taco mixture, top with tomato sauce, olives, and cheese.
• Bake in the oven covered at 350 for like 15 minutes, uncover for like 10 minutes and voila!
• Serve with the couscous, or as my guy found out: little tiny pasta.

Now for the good stuff:

I purchased a bottle of wine last night to go with a take out Tex Mex feast which was delicious.  The aforementioned wine was also muy delicioso with this dinner.  I’m breaking several rules on this one guys, but it’s hot outside and I’m not about to go all Tempranillo on this dinner. 

Nobilis Vinho Verde $5.95 at Central Market

It’s a light, highly acidic, somewhat sparking wine made using the Alvarinho grape from the Vinho Verde region in Portugal.  Hopefully that geography lesson wasn’t too boring!  The wine had a slight sweetness and when paired with the “Hot and Spicy” taco seasoning packet, totally eased the fire in my mouth.  Now dinner wasn’t too robust, and the lower meat-to-vegetable ratio made the meal seam lighter so I found this to be a good pairing.  The fat in the ground beef was also cut nicely with the acidity in the wine, and the olives did something really cool with the chalky undertones I noted.  Did I mention is was $5.95 and totally didn’t taste/smell like lighter fluid??

Would it have been better had I paired it with a traditional salt cod dinner of the region? Maybe, but I’m in Texas and Tex Mex was on the menu and this little baby rocked it.