radishes, zucchini and weissburgunder

We are headed to a friends BBQ and decided our contribution would be vegetables of a few different sorts...  
Roasted radishes are a nice side dish at a BBQ.  The crisp cleanliness of a roasted radish accompanies any meat or veggie really well.   I took the idea of adding tomatoes and onions from Trish Magwood, but roasted radishes are also great all on their own, if that's more your thing.


Rosted Reds - Trish Magwood
one pint of cherry tomatoes
one red onion cut into eighths
one pound of radishes (two bunches) trimmed leaving 1/2 inch stem
two tablespoons of olive oil
two sprigs of fresh thyme
salt and pepper
preheat the oven to 400 degrees ferinheight.  line a baking sheet with parchment paper.  place all vegetables on the tray, drizzle with live oil and add thyme.  stir gentle to coat all vegetables with oil.  roast for twenty five minutes without stirring.  

We sliced zucchini and let it sweat for twenty minutes on paper towel.  This allows for the zucchini to loose some of it's extra water before grilling.
Drizzle olive oil on the zucchini slices and place them on the grill, five to six minutes a side.  Remove, and let cool to room temperature.  Drizzle with lemon juice, crumble with feta cheese, and ripped up pieces of mint leaves.  
We used Ontario Sheep's milk feta cheese from Ewenity farm.

Simple.  Delish.

The wine we brought was meant to pair with all kinds of BBQ'd goodness.  Spicy hot Italian sausages, Macedonian sausage, curry chicken kabobs, merguez sausage, jerk beef ribs... not to mention lemony zucchini and feta, roasted radishes, grilled asparagus and portobello mushrooms.  What  a feast.

 2011 Kellerie Bozen St. Magdalena Weissburgunder, Sudtirol Alto-Adige $19.95 (Private Agent Stock. Only available by the case in Ontario and at the top wine focused restaurants throughout Ontario).

This wine is from Sudtirol, Alto-Adige in northern Italy. Sudtirol is noted for its distinct German and Austrian influences on the wine industry due to the region's long history under the rule of Austria-Hungary and Holy Roman Empires. Because of its unique history and location within the southern Alps and Dolomites, the Südtirol grows a wide range of grape varieties that are unusually not seen in other parts of Italy. These include Müller-Thurgau, Schiava, Lagrein, and today selection Weissburgunder, known in the rest of the world as Pinot Bianco.  This is a very exciting “discovery” wine region for most wine enthusiasts. I highly recommend exploring the wines if you have a chance.

With all the different flavors of tonight’s dishes and the outdoor patio heat, this aromatic white has all the palate cleansing texture and acidity that we need. The 2011 Weissburgunder is one of the most interesting and food friendly wines I’ve found in a while.  It’s super elegant on the nose with citrus, flowers and fresh stone fruits. It is light bodied but with a full texture and the finest acidity that I have encountered in this grape variety. Very persistent with a finish that just doesn’t quit.