Hey Syrah, Syrah, Whatever Will Be, Will Be: Mushroom Rice #Winophiles

I am so fortunate to be a part of an incredible group of wine bloggers that join together once a month to talk about wine and food pairings from France.  It's the third weekend of the month and this month we are celebrating wines from Northern Rhone.  Come and join us on Saturday for a Twitter Chat about the Northern Rhone wines.  Use the hashtag #winophiles to find us!  This month we are hosted by Syrah Queen.  Be sure and visit her wonderful blog.  Join us for a twitter chat #Winophiles on Saturday, April 19th 11:00 am EST. We will take a deep dive into the Northern Rhône.

So why the title?  Hey Syrah, Syrah, reminds me of a song I used to sing when I was younger, called Que Sera, Sera by Doris Day. The song talks about accepting what lies ahead and not worrying about the future. This song could be an anthem for our stay at home order, accepting it and making your time at home all it can be! And of course, sera and syrah.  A fun play on words.

Again, I am the novice when it comes to wine, so I share with you what I learned and found fascinating about the wines we are exploring.  The Northern Rhone area has been making wines since the Roman era and is the main producer for the grape Syrah. There are eight crus in Nothern Rhone and each produces a wine that is different than the others. You should explore each cru and find the one you love the most!

I was fortunate that the wine I wanted was available to me at Cork and Rind, a lovely wine and cheese store in Saint Charles (Missouri) where I live.  It's near the Historic District on Capitol in a charming renovated historic home.  If you are planning a trip near here, you should go and order a cheeseboard and eat it at one of our local parks.

The wine is a 2017 Crozes-Hermitage Silène.  Wine.com describes it as "Bright violet. Mineral-accented cherry, boysenberry, and smoky bacon aromas are complicated by suggestions of olive and candied flowers. Energetic and focused for the vintage, offering concentrated bitter cherry, cassis and violet pastille flavors braced by a spine of juicy acidity. Closes sappy, smooth and quite long, with sneaky tannins and a lingering suggestion of juicy black and blue fruits."

The Shiverick Wine website has these tasting notes: Ripe fruit balanced out by backbone and structure, this Syrah shows plum, black pepper, pencil lead, and warming spices. Perfect with heartier comfort foods such as cassoulet or braised beef short ribs.

The Chave family, the winemakers, have been producing wines on the famous Hermitage Hill since 1481. Can you imagine? My husband's family's grocery store was in the family for over 100 years and we were so incredibly proud!  Gerard Chave took over from his father in the 70s and now has passed on their winemaking tradition to his son, Jean-Louis. Their strategies include low yields, full ripeness, and traditional farming methods.

Appellation: Crozes-Hermitage AOC

For pairing this lovely wine, we decided to do steaks as we do for most of our beautiful reds, but the focus will be on this delicious side dish called Mushroom Rice.  The hearty, comfort food of rice will bring in those earthy flavors to pair with this delicious wine. We've talked about my husband's steak prowess here and here.

Here is the side dish we served with our steak. It was perfect with the smooth, deep wine. Comfort food and a Nothern Rhone wine is a match made in heaven.

Check out the other wonderful wine pairings with Northern Rhone wines:

• Cindy from Grape Experience shares “Strength and Power Meet Balance and Elegance in Syrah from the Northern Rhone”
• Wendy from A Day In The Life On The Farm presents “To Syrah with Love” 
• Lauren from Swirling Dervish explores “Old World Syrah from the Northern Rhone: 2016 Alain Graillot Crozes-Hermitage”
• Jeff from Food Wine Click presents “A View of Northern Rhone’s Saint Joseph through Three Wines”
• Linda from My Full Wine Glass shares “Crozes-Hermitage: A gateway to Northern Rhône wine (#Winophiles)”
• Jill from L’Ocassion tells us “How France’s Northern Rhône and Southern Rhône Valleys Differ” 
• Gwendolyn from Wine Predator writes about “In These Times, Drink from Deep in The Cellar: Two from Northern Rhone’s St Joseph’s #Winophiles“
• Robin from Crushed Grape Chronicles explores  “Finding connections in the Northern Rhône #Winophiles”
• Susannah from Avvinare writes about “Virtually visiting Crozes-Hermitage through Chapoutier’s Wine”
• Camilla from Culinary Adventures With Camilla shares “Chicken Chasseur + Guigal Crozes-Hermitage 2016”
• Nicole at Somm’s Table presents “A Simple Spring Lamb Feast with Maison Nicolas Perrin Crozes-Hermitage” 
• Jane from Always Ravenous shares “A Taste of Hermitage Marsanne”
• Martin from Enoflyz shares writes about “Looking For Value in Northern Rhône? Look For Crozes-Hermitage!”
• Lynn from Savor The Harvest presents “Exploring Treasures of the Northern Rhone #Winophiles”
• Terri from Our Good Life shares “Hey Syrah, Syrah, whatever will be, will be”
• Here on Syrah Queen I share “Exploring Côte-Rôtie – Syrahs With A Twist

Mushroom Rice

Yield: 6

Author: Terri Steffes

Prep time: 6 MCook time: 40 MTotal time: 46 M

A delicious and earthy side dish for steak, or on its own with garlicky cheese bread.

Ingredients:

• 5 T butter
•  1 lb mushrooms, cleaned and chopped
• 1 medium yellow onion diced
• 2 cloves of garlic, minced
• salt and pepper
• 1 t fresh thyme
• 2 c white rice
• 1 10 oz can of consomme
• 2 20 oz can of water

Instructions:

How to cook Mushroom Rice

1. Cook mushrooms in a pot with 2 T of the butter 3-5 minutes until caramelized, then cook 3 minutes more.
2. Remove mushrooms and set aside.
3. Add onions, salt and pepper, thyme and the last T of butter to the pot and cook 3-5 minutes on medium.
4. Add mushrooms back to the pot, with the minced garlic and cook 1 minute. 
5. Add rice, broth, and water.
6. Bring to a boil, reduce heat to low and cook covered 20 minutes. Turn off heat and rest 10 minutes before serving.

Calories
180.61

Fat (grams)
6.44

Sat. Fat (grams)
3.76

Carbs (grams)
27.98

Fiber (grams)
2.96

Net carbs
25.01

Sugar (grams)
2.98

Protein (grams)
5.50

Sodium (milligrams)
106.40

Cholesterol (grams)
15.27

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