We’re trying something a little different tonight.  I have a wine pairing challenge for you.

A friend and colleague of mine, Todd Jessee, is the Cheating Gourmet at a website called Man of the House.  The idea of the Cheating Gourmet is to take what may seem like complicated recipes and find shortcuts, or cheats as he calls them, to turn them into a simple recipes.  I love what he’s doing with it and as we were talking about it he suggested we try to do something to connect my wine stuff with some of his recipes.  But when I looked at the recipes he’s done so far, most of them aren’t necessarily foods I would pair with wine.

So, I thought it would be fun to turn it into a pairing challenge.  I’m going to try a few of these over the next few weeks, so put on your thinking caps and give me your best pairing.

The first one up is Blackstrap Molasses Shrimp.  At first glance this may seem like an easy pairing.  It’s shellfish, right?  But give it a little more thought.  Blackstrap molasses is going to add a sweet layer to this dish that might have you reconsidering your goto wine for shrimp.  And there’s a couple other ingredients in the recipe too that may lead you in another direction.

I have an idea of how I’d pair it, but I’m going to hold back for now because I want to hear what you think.  So check out the recipe and then let me know what you think the perfect wine pairing is.