Roasted Arctic Char and Oregonian A to Z Chardonnay

herbed butter:

1 stick of unsalted butter, at room temperature

the grated zest of one lemon

handful of chopped basil

handful of chopped mint

handfull of copped chives

a couple of pinches of coarse salt

-stir together until blended

Spread the butter inside the fish, and coat the outside with olive oil salt and pepper to grill.

 Place the fish on the grill and let it sit for 6-8 minutes, or until you can see in the belly that it's cooked (because cooking time depends on the size of the fish really).  Turn it over, rotating belly side up so all the herbs don't slide out onto the grill, and cook the other side the same way.  We also roasted sliced zucchini, portabellos, baby green onions (or baby leeks of garlic or whatever is fresh at the market), and a few little potatoes.  Cook all the extras to your liking.  Put the fish on a platter to rest for a few minutes, topping the skin with extra herb butter.  Voila!

 When serving, the fish lifts right off the bone if it's cooked properly.  It's the easiest thing to serve and it looks so very impressive.  Put a spatula in the fish along the spine and lift the flesh off to find the bones.  Make sure you lift the fish leaving the bone on the platter.  When you've lifted all the flesh off the first side, the bones lift off in one piece leaving the second side on the platter to serve.

We chose to open a bottle of Oregonian A to Z ('zee' in American speak) 2010 Chardonnay, the 2009 currently on the LCBO shelves in LCBO: Vintages (their Pinot Gris and Chardonnay are actually both available at LCBO:Vintages for $19.95...)  This clean & fruity unoaked Chardonnay paired exceptionally with BBQ fish and vegetables, the winemaker describing it is as 'bright tangy and intense."

Oregon has been challenging Burgundy with their fine Pinot Noir and Chardonnay for years now. Lots of the best wines are expensive and most of the cheap wines are sub-par, which makes it really hard the consumer to get into Oregon wines.  However, A to Z Wineworks makes some of the best value Oregon wines, there slogan is "Aristocratic Wines at Democratic Prices". The winemaker Cheryl Francis will be in Ontario next week for the IC4 , International Cool Climate Chardonnay Celebration in Niagara. It's gonna be awesome with winemakers around the world descending on Niagara to talk and drink Chardonnay.  www.coolchardonnay.org, July 20-22nd.   Check out the website for details if you want to join in on the fun.

bon appetit.

dinner is served.