The featured match this month on our Web site Home Page is “hamburgers”, so we thought we would give you an amazing recipe we found for — get this — Mocha Burgers. We use our outdoor grill all year round so it’s always a perfect time to grill some up.
Ingredients
- 1 lb ground beef, or mix of ground beef and ground pork (better)
- 1 egg, lightly beaten
- ¼ cup bread crumbs
- 1 oz bittersweet chocolate, grated
- 1 tbsp finely ground espresso or coffee
- 1 small onion, chopped
- 1 clove garlic, minced
- 2 tsp cumin seed, crushed
- Salt and pepper to taste
Mix all the ingredients together, form into four large patties, and let rest in fridge for about one hour before grilling. Grill until meat is cooked through, then top with caramelized onions, fresh tomatoes, herbed mayo, and your favourite toppings.
As for the wine match, look for something not too tannic (the meat is cooked through) with darker fruit notes (think cherry or plum) and smoky/chocolate notes. The Vinicola Mediterranea wines from Puglia (Primitivo in particular) would be good matches, as well as Morellino di Scansano or the Geoff Merrill SGM. If beer is your preferred choice, look for something darker, like a Porter.
In 2008 we started to work with Domingos Damasceno de Carvalho (SOTA) in Portugal by importing a few cases of their famous 2006 Damasceno Red (Aragonês, Syrah, Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot blend) through private order. In 2009, the winery became part of our Consignment Program. The wines were very popular and sold out quickly — 2008 Damasceno Red should be in stock again by the end of January.
had a very successful trip to Vinitaly (April 2 – 5), in Verona, Italy. This is our fifth visit, and we are still amazed with how big the show is — 4,200 exhibitors and over 110, ooo vistors. We met and tasted with all our existing suppliers, and will be adding at least two new producers as a result of our tastings - one producer from Abruzzo (Cantine Galasso) and one from Umbria (Cantina Franco Todini). Overall we were very pleased with all the wines we tasted; we just wished we had the consignment space to bring them all in.
