Summer Corn and Tomato Salad with a side of Sancerre

By now you all know how much David loves his French wine, with Sancerre ranking amongst his favorites.  Also, any of you ladies who have been indulging in a little Fifty Shades this summer should recognize this wine as well.  This is a white from the Loire Valley in France known for it's sauvignon blanc wines.  To be clear, sauvignon blanc is the grape, Sancerre is the region and it's the region, with it's soil and climate, that gives it the nice little spin separating it from the rest of the world's sauvignon blanc wines.  There's great balance to this wine and you'll get subtle notes of fruit, floral and mineral from it.

Because the flavors in this wine are more shy than outgoing it has a reputation for being very food friendly and is a great pairing with some of summer's best fresh vegetables.  I picked up locally sourced Point Judith sea scallops at Dave's Market the other night and needed a nice side to go with it that was both light and flavorful.  Lucky for me the farm stand near my house had some corn ready due to a great early growing season.  I selected some lovely looking cherry tomatoes from the same stand and headed on home to create a delicious summer meal.

This was a throw together meal as I didn't really have a set plan in my head...I just started cooking and whatever came of it was what it was.  I halved the cherry tomatoes and cut the corn from the cob, tossed it with some red wine vinegar, extra virgin olive oil, salt, petter and parsley along with some finely diced shallots.  You could grill the corn before adding it to give it a nice smoky flavor.  Toss this all together and even add some cubed ciabatta bread for a summer panzanella if you so fancy.

The scallops I seasoned with salt and pepper and then seared them on both sides in olive oil with a squeeze of fresh lemon.  I felt like they needed a little something extra so I reduced down some balsamic vinegar with agave nectar, a natural sweetener I've been into lately, and drizzled it right over them.

What should you expect to pay for this Sancerre I speak of you ask?  Well, Dave's favorite is the Lucien Crochet and you can get it for around $35, nothing earth shattering.  For about $22 you can pick up the 2010 Joseph Mellot, a less expensive bottle that's on our list to try.  Put a nice chill on it and enjoy!

Cheers,
Trish and Dave