Cooks a fresh and summery menu, paired with Pazo Baión

Surprise your friends and family by offering them a deliciously fresh and summery menu paired with the three Rías Baixas of Pazo Baión

Summer is one of the times of the year when we are least hungry… and when we eat the most! Between vacations, celebrations and get-togethers with friends to enjoy the good weather and summer relaxation, we eat more than our body asks for. Therefore, if you have to cook for family or friends during these months, we recommend that you prepare a fresh and summery menu of light dishes with seasonal products.

Not only will you save money by consuming seasonal vegetables, fruits and seafood, but you will also be able to enjoy them at their peak quality. Beyond your cooking skills, the most essential part of a delicious dish is always the produce.

Suppose you cook a fresh and summery menu. In that case, you will be able to surprise your guests, have a great time in their company, savour the delicacies of our gastronomy and not arrive in September with too many extra kilos.

What if this fresh and summery menu were complemented by some delicious Albariños that stand out for their personality, structure and freshness? That is precisely what we propose today, a fresh and summery menu paired with Pazo Baión’s Rías Baixas, consisting of four light and easy-to-prepare dishes:

• A salad paired with Gran a Gran to whet your appetite.
• Some mussels with seafood, one of the star products of O Salnés, paired with Pazo Baión.
• A very easy and delicious skewers of chicken and seasonal vegetables, paired with Vides de Fontán.
• A refreshing ice cream of berries paired with Gran a Gran.

1. Tomato, basil and burrata salad paired with Gran a Gran

What more typical summer food is there than a salad? This dish could not be missing from our fresh and summery menu. Still, we want to escape from the prototypical image of salads dominated by lettuce and opt for a dish that is an explosion of aromas and flavours: a tomato, basil and burrata salad.

How to prepare the first course of our fresh and summery menu?

1. Slice the tomatoes and place them in the bowl where you will serve the salad.
2. Add the creamy burrata cheese, place it in the middle of the bowl, and add the basil leaves, depending on the relevance you want in the dish.
3. Stir in the pine nuts and olive oil and season to taste with salt and pepper.

Serve this simple yet delicious dish accompanied by Gran a Gran, a single-estate Albariño, which stands out for its honeyed and candied notes. A wine that, thanks to a fascinating natural process and careful elaboration, is the best companion of the richest starters.

2. Mussels in seafood sauce, paired with Pazo Baión

At the second stop of our fresh and summery menu, an exceptional product awaits us: mussels. Pazo Baión is located a few kilometres from the Arousa estuary, known as the marine pantry of Europe. Inside the estuary are hundreds of rafts where the tastiest mussels grow.

Moreover, in the municipality to which Pazo Baión belongs, Vilanova de Arousa, the Mussel and Cockle Festival is celebrated between August 11 and 13. This is an excellent example of this product’s social, economic and gastronomic relevance.

Therefore, the second course of our fresh and summery menu is a classic of our cuisine: mussels in marinara style.

To prepare this wonderful dish, you only need to buy mussels from the estuary and follow these steps:

1. Open and wash the mussels well. This step is not only the first but the most important. Removing the beards from the mussels and leaving them well-washed is essential.
2. Put the mussels to cook in a pot with very little water, salt and bay leaves. Once the water boils, cover the pot for about 1 minute so that the shells open.
3. Then separate the parts of the shells, leaving only the regions where the mussels are located, filter the cooking water and reserve the mussels.
4. To prepare the sauce, fry the onions with olive oil; when golden brown, add the parsley, then add the flour and stir until it is well cooked.
5. Then add the filtered broth, the white wine and the paprika. You must integrate these ingredients well and let them cook for a few minutes.
6. Finally, pour the sauce into the casserole where you reserved the mussels and cook everything together for a few minutes, stirring until the sauce thickens.

This Galician gastronomy classic pairs wonderfully with our winery’s flagship, Pazo Baión. This wine concentrates the fundamental characteristics of the albariños in its interior, standing out for its intense varietal perfume, in which the notes of fruits and white flowers stand out, and its freshness. Pazo Baión is, without any doubt, the best companion for the second course of our fresh and summery menu.

3. Chicken brochettes, paired with Vides de Fontán

White meats also have a reserved place in our fresh and summer menu, paired with the wines produced in the cellar of Pazo Baión. On this occasion, we bring you a recipe that is very easy to make and very tasty in summer: simple skewers of chicken and seasonal vegetables.

Preparing the third dish of our fresh and summery menu is straightforward. Take note:

1. Marinate the chicken breasts with finely chopped garlic, olive oil, salt and pepper. You can leave them marinated the day before to get more flavour.
2. Chop the breasts and peppers into small squares and the zucchini into slices.
3. Assemble the skewers alternating the chicken and peppers, zucchini and cherry tomatoes.
4. Cook the skewers in the oven at 180º for 15-20 minutes on the grill or a grill until you see that they are well done. You decide how to make the third course of this fresh and summery menu. We recommend that you grill them if you have one available. The flavour will be spectacular and, of course, 100% summery.

What can you accompany this delicacy with? With an Albariño with three years of ageing and long development in the mouth: Vides de Fontán. An elaboration that has obtained scores bordering on perfection in the central wine guides of our country. A wine that stands out in the D.O. Rías Baixas for its complex ageing process, which gives it toasted aromas that marry perfectly with white meats such as chicken.

4. Wild berries ice cream paired with Gran a Gran

We have reached the end of this fresh and summery menu, and we guarantee that your guests will leave with a great taste in their mouths. Why? You’ll take them back to their childhoods, get them to cool off, and give them something everyone loves: a good homemade ice cream.

Who hasn’t picked wild blackberries as a child to gorge themselves on this tasty fruit? Following the example of Marcel Proust and his madeleine, offer your guests an ice cream of berries to take them back to their childhood and remind them of summers when they seemed to stretch into infinity.

How easy is making homemade ice cream to sweeten a fresh and summery menu? See for yourself:

1. Mix the yoghurt with the sugar and mascarpone cheese until smooth.
2. Add the raspberries and blackberries and blend until all the ingredients are perfectly integrated.
3. Put the mixture in the freezer. Please take out the ice cream about 20 minutes before eating it so that it has a creamy texture and is easy to handle. And with this simple step, your work is finished when designing and cooking this fresh and summery menu.

Now all that’s left is for you to enjoy the ice cream with our Gran a Gran, the best pairing for the most delicious sweets.

What do you think of these recipes that make up the fresh and summery menu of Pazo Baión? Are they not affordable? These four dishes will conquer the senses of your friends and family without making them feel stuffed and giving them a freshness that is appreciated in the hottest summer months.

Bon Appétit!