Tips For Pairing food & wine

• Pair great with great,humble with humble. Wines and foods of the same “status”have a natural bond. A humble dish like meat loaf doesn’t need—doesn’t even feel right with
• Work with natural flavor affinities. In the same way that coffee and cream just naturally seem to go together, so does, say, a rich salmon fillet and a refreshing white wine.
• Showcase expensive, complex wines with dishes that are utterly simple like, say, a great grilled steak.
• If the wine is delicate,make sure the food is, too. If the food is robust, serve a bold wine.
• The “weight”of the dish and the weight of the wine should always be in harmony. With, for example, a beef stew, opt for a full-bodied red such as Australian shiraz.
• Certain ingredients—known as “bridges”—can tie the flavors of a wine and a food together. For example, adding goat cheese to a salad makes that salad a better match for sauvignon blanc because goat cheese and sauvignon blanc share similar tangy flavors. Adding black peppercorns to a sauce would help bridge that sauce to a wine that is peppery, such as syrah.
• All things considered,wines that are high in acid are generally the easiest to pair with the widest variety of foods. These wines act like a knife, cutting through the flavors of other foods and leaving the palate refreshed and ready for the next bite. Some familiar examples are Riesling, sauvignon blanc and sparkling wines for whites, pinot noir for red.
  

Roasted Beef Tri-Tip

1 2- to 4-pound Morton’s of Omaha* Steakhouse Classic Tri-Tip
2 1/2 pounds Yukon Gold potatoes Kirkland Signature* canola oil
Salt and pepper
2 pounds asparagus, trimmed and peeled
1 tablespoon butter

1. Preheat oven to 425°F.
2. Place beef in a roasting pan fat side up. Roast in the oven for 1 hour, or until internal temperature is 130°F, for medium-rare. Remove from the oven and let rest for 10-15 minutes.
3. Wash potatoes, cut into quarters and place in a bowl. Add oil, salt and pepper to taste, and toss to combine. Place on a sheet pan and roast in the oven for 35-45 minutes, or until golden brown. Potatoes can be roasted with the meat as long as they are not placed too low in the oven,where they may burn.
4. Preheat grill to medium-high.
5. Combine asparagus with canola oil to coat and toss. Grill asparagus for a few minutes, or until tender. Remove from the grill, top with butter and season to taste with salt and pepper.
6. Slice the meat across the grain about 1/8-inch thick and serve with the potatoes and asparagus.

Makes 4-6 servings.