Grilled Shrimp Satay with Peaches and Bok Choy

This recipe from Bon Appétit takes classic satay and adds a sweet, tangy flavor element by incorporating peach nectar into the peanut sauce and accompanying the shrimp with fresh grilled peaches and baby bok choy. While it is easy enough to skewer the ingredients, this particular recipe presents them mounded on a platter with the sauce drizzled over it.

When selecting a wine to go along with this dish, there are so many distinct flavors to consider – the sweet fresh fruit and nectar, the salty soy sauce, the spicy chili paste, the peanut butter. In addition, there are the different textures of the shrimp and bok choy to be considered. A reasonable wine choice will act as a bridge between flavors and textures. A dry or medium dry, well-balanced Riesling is perhaps the natural or classic choice for an Asian style dish such as this because of Riesling’s extreme food-friendliness. It puts out the fire from the chili, yet the wine’s residual sugar harmonizes with the nectar in the sauce and with one of the key ingredients -- grilled peaches. Another tack to take is to select a wine that mirrors the complex flavors of the dish such as a funky white wine blend that combines grapes such as Riesling, Gewurztraminer (for the spice), Muscat, and Sylvaner. Wines like this are produced in Alsace, France. Or, you can choose other white blends from California that combine grapes such as Chenin Blanc, Chardonnay, and Muscat. These wines are usually labeled under proprietary brand names rather than by grape varietal, though you can usually discover the blend of the wine by reading the back label. If in doubt, simply ask your wine merchant. Chances are that he or she will delight in helping you to discover new blends as they come onto the market.

For more information on how to prepare this recipe, please visit www.epicurious.com.

--Felicia M. Sherbert