Interesting Food Pairings for Chianti?

[tammylc]

Okay, I know Chianti goes with everything, so I pretty much can't go wrong. But my wine club is tasting Chianti on Monday night, and I'm looking for some interesting food ideas. We have a couple of Chiantis, and a couple of Chianti Classicos. IIRC, two of the wines are apparently more "old school" and two are in a newer fruitier style.

People will already have had dinner before coming, so we're just looking for little bites, not a big meal. But we could do small portions of pasta or something like that. (I'm thinking about cheese stuffed shells with tomato sauce as one good possibility.)

Thanks!

[DTBarton]

Gnocchi with a sauce of butter, pancetta, fresh sage and black pepper.

Thin slices of Reggiano Parmesan dressed with good balsamic vinegar.

Linguine with a sauce of olive oil, prosciutto, onion, chicken broth, white wine.

Portabello mushroom caps baked with pesto, olive oil and balsamic vinegar. When mushrooms are soft, top with gorgonzola and pine nuts and broil briefly.

[DTBarton]

Top the linguine with grated parmesan and black pepper.

[carswell]

The pesto rosso I mentioned in your Shiraz pairings thread, either spread on lightly toasted country bread or mixed with pasta and lots of chopped parsley and freshly grated Parmesan.

Crostini di fegatini: toasts spread with the Tuscan chopped liver. Duck livers are best, though chicken will do. My version combines the livers with reconstituted dried porcini mushrooms, anchovies, capers, garlic, onion, fresh sage and a splash of brandy.

Shoot me a PM if you'd like the recipes.