The pairing of food and wine aims for a balance of flavors where the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. This can be experienced when tasting lovage soup with an Alentejo white wine. Aromatic and summery lovage soup offers an irresistible taste experience. The strong aroma of lovage gives the soup a full-bodied flavor. This light herbal dish is also delicious on a warm summer day.
Aromas Unite Food and Wine
Lovage soup highlights herbaceousness and a round, full-bodied flavor. For this aromatic dish, we seek a wine partner from nuanced and herbal white wines.
Herdade São Miguel Colheita Seleccionada White
Herdade São Miguel Colheita Seleccionada White is a Portuguese white wine where four different grapes—Antão Vaz, Verdelho, Viognier, and Arinto—build a summery wine experience. The Antão Vaz grape comes from the Alentejo region and gives the wine liveliness, fullness, and crisp acidity. The Verdelho grape brings citrusy aromas, crispness, and fruitiness to the wine. The characteristics of the Viognier grape—refinement, exotic fruitiness, and low acidity—are also well present in the wine, which as a whole works harmoniously with lovage soup. The warm soup and the wine chilled to about 50°F create a tasty and refreshing summer meal.
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For lovage soup you need:
1 dl chopped lovage
6 spring onions
2 garlic cloves
4 potatoes
2 chicken stock cubes
1 l water
2 dl cream
chopped chives
butter
Here's how:
Chop the garlic cloves and onion, sauté in butter in a pot until soft. Add the cubed potatoes and chopped lovage. Let simmer in the pot for a moment. Add water and chicken stock cubes, let the soup boil gently for about half an hour. Purée the soup with an immersion blender, add cream and heat. Finally, add chopped chives to the finished soup.
You can make a vegan soup by using plant-based cream and margarine and replacing the chicken stock with vegetable stock.
Lovage is an ancient herb native to the Iranian region
Lovage is recognizable by its characteristic aromas of celery, leek, or meat broth. Lovage is especially well suited for seasoning soups and broths. Lovage is said to have healing properties: it relieves asthma symptoms, improves appetite, and removes fluid from the body. In the past, lovage was used as a love herb. This is reflected in the names it has been given in different languages. In English, lovage is "lovage" and in German "liebesstückel".
Text, recipe, and photos: Heikki Remes. www.viinimies.com
