Wine time: Wines to try with a fish dish

Mike and Cindy Kelly, two of our readers, alerted us to Saltwater Markets in Clover. We took the short drive over and found much more than we expected.

They had fresh grouper, tuna, scallops, shrimp and many other fish and shellfish. We selected wahoo and cooked it per their instructions. It was great.

Clint and Elizabeth Boyd have been providing restaurants with fresh seafood for more than 10 years. Their shop at 713 Bethel St. carries a variety of seafood, as well as beef. If you need something they don’t have, they’ll find it and can ship it to you.

Moreover, they have cooking classes and even schedule private lessons.

Visit their website saltwatermarkets.com for recipes and cooking videos. Here’s our wahoo recipe and recommended wines.

Wahoo with Butter Cream Sauce

1 lb. Wahoo fillets

1/2 cup white wine

1/2 cup heavy cream

2 Tbs. fish sauce (or soy sauce)

2 Tbs. shallots, chopped

3 tsp. fresh ginger, finely chopped

1/4 cup (1/2 stick) butter

1 Tbs. garlic, finely chopped

1 Tbs. lemon juice

Salt & pepper

In a baking dish or sauce pan salt and pepper the fish fillets and cook them with half the butter in an oven preheated to 350 for 15 minutes.

Meanwhile, in a sauce pan over medium heat combine the shallots, ginger, garlic, lemon juice, and white wine. Cook until the liquid is reduced by half then transfer to a blender and puree until smooth.

Return the mixture to the sauce pan and add the heavy cream. Bring it to a simmer and add the other half of the butter a little at a time not allowing it to burn.

Remove the fish fillets and add them to the cream sauce mixture along with the butter they were cooked in.

Finish cooking the fillets over medium low heat for 5-10 minutes while spooning the sauce mixture over the fish.

Note: Wahoo can be substituted with Grouper, Mahi Mahi or other firm-bodied fish with this recipe.

Wine recommendations

Sure, chardonnay and sauvignon blanc are good choices with seafood, but there are lots of great white wines out there, many that you’ve probably never heard of. Here are four that are excellent with seafood. Because they’re lesser known, they can be found at bargain prices.

▪ Rutini Trumpeter Torrontes 2015, Mendoza, Argentina – about $11. Torrontes is a white grape that thrives in Argentina. This wine has a pale straw color with aromas of flowers. It has moderate acidity and is well balanced with flavors of citrus and stone fruit. At this price this wine is a great bargain.

▪ Martin Codax Albarino 2014, Rias Baixas, Spain – about $17. This is a medium bodied wine with good aromatics and crisp acidity. It has good structure and balance with flavors of pear, passion fruit, apple, peach and lemon zest with notes of minerals and spice on a dry finish.

▪ Domaine Delsol Picpoul de Pinet 2014, Languedoc, France – about $15. This is a delicate, well balanced wine. It has almost a clear hue with subtle green highlights and a floral nose of spring flowers. It has fruity flavors of citrus with a presence of lime.

▪ Chateau L’Oiseliniere Muscadet 2014, Loire, France – about $14. The grapes, Melon de Bourgogne, are grown near Nantes, the port city where the Loire river flows into the Atlantic Ocean. This is one of the few places in the world where this grape thrives. The wine is called Muscadet, not to be confused with Muscat. This is a perfect seafood wine flavorful, crisp and bone dry with subtle mineral and citrus flavors.

This story was originally published July 5, 2016 at 12:21 PM with the headline "Wine time: Wines to try with a fish dish."