by Colin Michael

 www.colinmichaelphoto.com

Join us this Summer for a season you will never forget…

Our 2010 Summer Editorial Calendar:

a. Wine and Surf

- Seafood

- Surfing

b. Wine and Travel

- OC Beach Cities

- San Francisco

- Seattle

- Chicago

- Sydney

- The Maldives

c. Wine and Boats

- Yaughts

- Pontoon

- Houseboats

- Many more…

Safe Travels!

colorandaroma

A Personal Experience at the CIA (of food, that is)

By Dennis Myers

If Napa Valley is to be characterized as the New World Mecca of wine growing, then the prestigious Culinary Institute of America West Coast campus is the region’s seminary for food and wine studies.

Punctuated by the spires of the former Christian Brothers winery, the school has the look of a sacred enclave where students religiously devote time (and lots of money) to culinary pursuits at the highest level. Also known as the “Greystone” campus, the school is not far from Route 29 and near the outskirts of St. Helena in Napa Valley, just two hours north of San Francisco.

Early in the 1990s, the CIA (not to be confused with the government bureau), headquartered in Hyde Park, New York, recognized that a location in the West Coast’s burgeoning wine region could be instrumental in advancing their influence on the culinary arts. They were right. Surrounded by world-class vineyards and the exceptional restaurants of the Napa Valley, the famous school has successfully broadened their professional culinary programs and their influence is indeed felt all over the globe.

The teaching kitchens are five-star educational facilities, surrounded by terraces of organically grown herbs, vegetables and flowers, all used on campus.  Culinary events and training sessions are conducted in the main building around a series of cooking islands in a 15,000-square-foot teaching area.  A top-rated restaurant, the Wine Spectator Greystone, is open to the public there.

The Rudd Center for Professional Wine Studies was recently added to the building’s roster. It is, essentially, a laboratory for the study of tastes, especially wine, of which I have now found myself a student.

Most vintners believe that an important factor contributing to taste, especially of wine, are the characteristics of the land and the climatic influences upon it, aka terroir (pronounced “tear-waare”).  They believe the terroir — geologic, topographic, atmospheric and soil factors such as temperature ranges, elevation, rainfall, aspect to the sun, wind velocity, soil pH and fog frequency, to name a few — affect the growth and health of the vine and, thus, the fruit. Controversy arises over how much control winemakers can exert when it comes to influencing these aspects of the terroir.

As a culinary enthusiast, I have attended professional chef programs at the CIA in the past.  On this visit, I participated in a four-day examination of all features of terroir — from the type of soil to the taste of the grape in a glass of wine. Frankly, I was feeling a bit terroir-ized, knowing from my first glance inside the Rudd Center’s “Napa Valley Vintners Sensory Classroom” that I was playing in a league way above my wine-tasting skills.

For one thing, before me stood three tiers of tasting stations with glistening wine glasses precisely arranged in rows. There was a set of eight wine glasses ready for each student’s first tasting.  The instructor’s table was equally equipped with glassware, as well as eight wine bottles in brown unmarked bags, ready for pouring.

Shortly, the fourteen other students assembled. Formal introductions confirmed I was in impressive company.  There were three buyers for large wine distributors, one local vineyard owner, three employees from Napa wineries and two spouses of chefs destined to be sommeliers in their own restaurants. The rest were collectors.  And me, a chef in my own home (although near-professionally equipped) kitchen with just enough wine knowledge to make me dangerous.

The lecture and first tasting started promptly at 9 a.m. (a little early for my taste buds but I guess rolling with the program is part of being a professional). Like all the instructors at the Rudd Center, Rebecca Chapa’s credentials are stellar. She’s a Certified Wine Educator and holds the Diploma Wine and Spirits from the Wine and Spirits Education Trust in London.  She chairs the Los Angeles International Spirits Competition, and is a Contributing Editor for Wine & Spirits Magazine as well as a prolific writer for other wine publications as well.

Her degree in wine and spirits was earned at the prestigious Cornell University’s culinary school. Add to these credentials consulting assignments and competitions all over the world, and I could sense this frosh was in for a real education.  On top of that, Chapa is serious about the terroir, including the dirt and rocks that literally comprise it.

In a nutshell, the terroir class examines the environmental influences that impact vineyards and, as a result, affect the aroma, flavor, body and style of wines made from those vineyards. Technically, that means everything that touches the valuable fruit used to produce wine is evaluated to identify the grape’s heritage.

This includes understanding the viticultural factors as well, such as site assessment — rootstock, grafting, vine spacing and a myriad of other variables that wine growers have grappled with over the centuries. And that doesn’t even count what happens after the grape is picked!

My classmates and I were all staring at the now-poured eight glasses of white wine (and spitting cup) in front of us, and, soon, all of these considerations would be factored into our assessment of their contents. At first, my senses felt overextended trying to decipher this colorless — pardon me, “straw-colored, medium-bodied, slightly acidic with hints of chalk and grass” — wine’s origin. After an hour of discussion about the characteristics of the first two selections, the bottles were unveiled and the origin of the wine revealed, the Alcance region of France.  Who’da known?

A small sample of the region’s soil was neatly piled next to the bottle. Eventually, terroir started sinking in and making sense, mostly because our lecturer spent considerable time describing how the regions were formed long before man inhabited the earth. Remember, Chapa has a dead-serious attitude about dirt and rocks. The Alcance was once an ocean later to be covered by earth as a result of glacial movement — thus, the importance of this shifting substance, aka terroir. 

The best part of the class was the field trips, including Frog’s Leap Winery where we met John Williams, the owner and veteran vintner in Napa Valley. His demonstration of the difference between organic farming and conventional methods showed us the actual affect on the ground.  Williams used a spade to turn the soil easy in a row of his grapevines. Yet, across the road in a field using advanced drip irrigation and conventional fertilization techniques, the soil was hard and difficult to break.

That demonstration illustrated part of the controversy. Skillful wine experts are said to be able to affect the taste of New World wines to the point where they match exclusive wine regions of the Old World — regardless of the terroir. There are all kinds of influences that can be used, including oak barrel usage, fruit ripeness, micro-oxygenation and additives, among others. Any winery with an effective marketing program emphasizing the Old World likeness and such “artificial” wines can command premium prices compared to wines reflecting the actual terroir.

That was the case with Frog’s Leap versus the neighboring vineyard. Williams’s excellent organic wine, carefully grown to adhere to stringent organic certification guidelines, garnered a lower price (and profit).  Thus, the controversy.

Back in the classroom, Chapa never gave up on us.  By the end of the fourth day, we were instructed to “identify Old versus New World wines in a blind tasting with greater than 65 percent accuracy.” There, the proof was in the pucker! Most of the class received 100 percent reward for their tasting skills.

I managed to get two of the three identifications right — even though two of the answers were reversed and, therefore, technically incorrect.  But who’s counting?  By my math, I passed the 65 percent test! More importantly, we all left the class better-versed and educated about the influences the terroir had on winemaking techniques — and we found there was a testable and taste-able difference.

The CIA has a wide selection of wine and culinary courses designed for all types of interests. Maybe I’ll look into another topic right away before the terroir-ized attack sets in again, just to prove to myself that this wine-tasting stuff can be easier than it looks.

By Liz Goldner

At the turn of the last century, French artists and art lovers uninhibitedly imbibed in the pleasures of fine food, wine and art.

These incurable sybarites, including Monet, Renoir, Matisse and Toulouse-Lautrec, lived life to the hilt, creating Impressionist canvases throughout the day, cooking up a feast at mid-day and evening, then dining and drinking in bistros in their beloved Paris and the surrounding countryside all night long.

Claude Monet, 1840 to 1926, famous for his paintings of water lilies, was later known for his kitchen gardens, growing fresh produce and herbs, and for his elaborate recipes. He moved to Giverny in 1883, creating so many magnificent landscape paintings that the village became famous. He also supervised expansive kitchen gardens and selected poultry for breeding stock.

Monet’s recipes, collected from restaurants and friends, were recently published in “Monet’s Table.” His tastes ran from steamed chicory, green beans and chestnuts to al dente asparagus and fresh salads. He enjoyed drinking expensive Veuve Clicquot Champagne without the bubbles, which he purposely dissipated by decanting the bottle long before drinking its contents.

Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, 1864 to 1901, created artworks depicting Montmartre’s nightlife of cafés, bars and brothels, places he frequently visited. He also loved to toil in the kitchen, whipping up peculiar, yet gourmet dishes.

Lautrec preferred lunch to dinner, often inviting several friends to join him and always serving fine wine. He disliked water so much that he was known to add goldfish to the pitchers to deter would-be teetotalers. His food concoctions included eel liver, fried octopus, thrush en casserole, heron, coot en cocotte, boar, sautéed squirrel and wood pigeon with olives.

Yet his taste for the artist’s palette prevailed over the eccentricities of his food palate. Legend tells us that after one meal, prepared for fellow painter Edouard Vuillard and close friends, Lautrec led the group to a friend’s apartment, pointed to a freshly painted Degas on the wall and exclaimed, “There is your dessert.”

Art in Restaurants

John Ghoukassian, owner of three gourmet restaurants in Orange County, is an ardent admirer of Impressionist works. Growing up in Tehran, he often visited European cities, especially their cafes and bistros where works by local artists, some by the then-famed Impressionists, were on display.

When the luxury-loving Ghoukassian chose a career, he also combined fine food, wine and art, opening an acclaimed gourmet restaurant in Tehran in the 1970s, aptly named “Lautrec.” Along with contemporary European and Iranian cuisine, he satiated customers’ visual appetites by displaying European Impressionist works on the walls.

Ghoukassian moved to the United States in 1983, opening Bistango (little bistro) in Los Angeles the following year, and again adorned the restaurant with fine art, creating the look and feel of the European places he loved. Three years later, he closed the L.A. location and opened a similar restaurant, another Bistango, in Irvine. He opened Bayside Restaurant in Newport Beach in 1999 and Kimera in Irvine in 2007.

While fine restaurants throughout the Southland show original art, Ghoukassian’s venues are unique, combining features of art galleries with world-class restaurants. Bistango and Bayside are so well-known for their revolving art shows where major collectors regularly attend openings.

Artful Dining

Ghoukassian’s restaurants are based on the merging of exceptional art with fine wine, dining and music. They serve new-American cuisine and offer extensive collections of wine from award-winning lists. Bistango has more than 700 varieties, while Bayside has a circular glass wine cellar, displaying 2500 bottles.

Bistango’s Chef Javier Montoya serves crisp gourmet pizzas topped with Black Forest ham and Gruyere as well as seared ahi steaks, veal chops, seared scallops and filet mignon in a bleu-cheese sauce. Homemade pastas include fettuccine with curry-marinated lamb and shiitake mushrooms and cream. Bayside’s menu is similar, adding a Champagne Sunday Brunch.

The casual diner at Bistango or Bayside might dismiss the artworks as decoration. But look more closely and you’ll see world-class pieces by a variety of artists, some of whom are museum-recognized.

Curated Shows

Twenty two years ago, Ghoukassian engaged Studio Gallery of Irvine to provide art for Bistango’s walls. Gallery owner Antoinette Sullivan and the restaurant’s owner struck up a professional relationship, based on mutual respect and love of art. They put together four exhibits yearly, featuring several artists at Bistango and one major artist at Bayside.

The restaurants have exhibited some of California’s most famous painters, including Carlos Almaraz, Chuck Arnoldi, Billy Al Bengston, Richard Diebenkorn, Laddie John Dill and Ed Moses. In 22 years, they’ve curated over 80 shows of approximately 1200 artists.

While many galleries concentrate on specific types of art, such as contemporary abstract, Bistango and Bayside show a wide range of paintings, sculpture, photography and mixed media by local, national and international artists, emerging, mid-career, established and masters.

The works at Bistango and Bayside are often colorful, portraying a joie de vivre reminiscent of Parisian bistros. In Bistango’s 2007 winter show, several paintings of women by Israeli artist Eli Boodnero were hauntingly reminiscent of film noir characters in mysterious settings. Glass-based assemblage pieces by Debora Wayne glowed like giant jewels while photographic selections ranged from whimsical and awe-inspiring to haunting.

One of Bistango’s past exhibits featured artists from Australia, France, Germany, Mexico, Peru, Slovakia, Spain and the United States. Bayside was simultaneously exhibiting 25 canvases by Brian Scott, an Expressionist oil painter from Canada who created “Liz and Dick in Puerto Vallarta” of a home owned by Liz Taylor and Richard Burton.

Left Hand Journals

At Bistango, Sullivan and Ghoukassian were pleased to feature the works of Ron Pastucha, also from Canada but living in Orange County for the past 22 years. Pastucha, an activist artist who has exhibited works in upscale galleries throughout Southern California, was showing 12 of his newest pieces, “Left Hand Journals.”

He severely burned his right hand, his drawing hand, while cooking in April 2006. During therapy and enduring a long healing process, he painstakingly began writing journals, then drawing and painting with his left hand. While his right hand is significantly healed, he’s unable to write or draw with it for long periods.

Pastucha’s style combines contemporary allegorical imagery and refined realism to address social issues such as consumerism, materialism, rampant advertisement and urban decay. He has developed several powerful series, directing his message at major icons such as Mickey Mouse, Coca Cola and the Statue of Liberty.

When Pastucha started journaling four years ago, his art bore little resemblance to his earlier style. The “left hand” works were initially raw, primitive, childlike and often Expressionistic, employing nearly indecipherable words and simplistic stick figures. Yet the passion in these pieces expressed an outpouring of creativity as well as frustration.

As Pastucha progressed, his left-hand works demonstrated a growing dexterity and more polish, taking on the imagery of earlier pieces. These new drawings and paintings also incorporated Impressionistic, dissolving aspects, derived from the artist’s continued lack of tactile control in his left hand. (Outdoor painters, particularly Impressionists, often deliberately create works with dissolving aspects to mimic the changing natural light.)

Pastucha says that, even when his right hand is completely healed, he’ll continue to paint and draw with his left hand. “I feel more creative,” he states, pointing out the fact that the right brain (intuitive side) controls the left hand.

Ron Pastucha is continuing the Lautrec tradition of Impressionism, a style of art born from passion, frustration and a disability. His paintings give the viewer a sense of the genre’s earlier days when artists painted intuitively, breaking away from the older, more realistic art forms. Pastucha’s works suit Bistango’s ambience seamlessly, as the restaurant expertly blends the sensual delights of fine food, wine and art.

Photos by Eric Stoner

What’s your fantasy of the perfect holiday party? Chestnuts roasting on an open fire? Nobel laureate guests? Buff servants in harem pants serving exotic drinks? No matter how differently we see the particulars, there is a universal ideal to the dinner party fantasy: hosts and hostesses swirl at the center of the action, oozing with charm and sparkling with cheer, resistant to holiday stress and extra pounds. In our minds, we see our svelte, idealized selves wearing an au courant holiday ensemble with shoes that do not make our feet hurt, even in the highest of heels. We get along with our significant others like Romeo and Juliet because we never fight and are so blissfully happy.  Drinks and conversation flow like the Tiber and the food is nothing short of glorious: fit for royalty, piping hot, visually exquisite, and camera ready.  Nowhere, however, in the history of party fantasies has it ever included, “And you have to do it on a budget.”

But alas, in the new world of stay-cations and unemployment, excessive spending is out and frugal is the new cool. How exactly does the current economic climate change the party scene if you must or simply want to throw a party in this post-financial meltdown, post-Madoff holiday season? It’s surprisingly easy: all you need is a little planning, a few make-ahead menu items, and an attitude adjustment.  Incite your inner gamer and view budget entertaining as the fabulously fun challenge it is. Methodical is marvelous, especially if you can make careful spending also look positively clever. You know, anyone can call the secret number for the baker who makes that death-by-chocolate flourless chocolate cake that Brad and Angie love or the incendiary caterer who charges $150 per person. Only you can make your party happen on a dime. Take enormous satisfaction this celebration season in knowing that you can rise like a phoenix to a challenge of entertaining well on a smart budget.

So, here it is: a do-it-yourself guide to not only a delicious holiday party using ingredients all found at Trader Joe’s and the 99-cent store but also complete recipes for creating this elegant dinner for 10.  For what you might spend on dinner for two at a celeb-encrusted little trattoria with an appetizer and shared entrée, you can throw your own killer party.  What you’ll need is a comprehensive shopping list, a timed agenda of what goes in the oven when, and some household staples. (This menu assumes you have extra virgin olive oil, flour, salt, and butter.) For our get together, we spent about $175 (yes, including all alcohol) to make a relatively simple meal that looked like it cost much more than it did.

For your own party, be bold, go forth, and above all, have fun. And book a mani-pedi with your many leftover dimes. Note: in these recipes, * = you can find it at a 99-cent store.

Download the shopping list and recipes.

Download the shopping list only.

The Libations

• An endless supply of ice, bubbly water, flavored and not
• Water pitchers with sliced lemons and mint leaves
• A fantastic Italian cocktail called a Negroni. (ne-GROAN-ee), invented in Tuscany in the 1900s by Count Camillo Negroni.  Every time he visited his favorite bar in Florence, Negroni ordered an Americano with the soda replaced by gin.  To seem as cool as the count, others soon began to order their Americano a la Negroni.

Ingredients for 10 Negronis

• 10 oz. gin
• 10 oz. Campari
• 7 oz. Sweet Vermouth
• Orange slices or half slices (Note: Tradition calls for the orange to be burned, but this cocktail drinks equally well without it. Directions for burnt orange slices: Make the cocktail, pour into the glass. Hold the orange slice with tongs, ignite the cocktail into flames, and burn the orange. Or, oven-broil several slices pre-party.)

Method

Combine all ingredients in an ice filled shaker. Shake until well chilled and strain into a chilled martini glass. Garnish with a slice however you will, perched or swimming.

Roasted and Sun-dried Tomato Pizza

Ingredients

• Rectangular cookie sheet, 13 x 15, preferably non-stick
• Cooking spray*
• 1 bag prepared pizza dough
• 2 28 oz.-cans fire-roasted diced tomatoes, drained*
• 2 12 oz.-jars roasted red peppers*
• 1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil (*soy + olive oil)
• 1 jar sun-dried tomatoes, drained, half-inch slices
• 4 large garlic cloves, minced*
• 1 tsp. Kosher salt
• Ground pepper to taste
• 3/4 cup shredded Fontina, Gruyere or Mozzarella

Method

Preheat oven to 425°. Spray cookie sheet with cooking spray. Roll out dough to cover entire cookie sheet. Combine peppers and tomatoes with olive oil, garlic, salt and pepper. Spread cheese over dough. Top with tomato/pepper mixture. Bake for 30 minutes. Cut into squares and serve.

Cheese, Olive, Nut, and Fruit Platter with Toasted Baguette Rounds

• Best quality Parmesan cheese (Italian and Australian)
• Fontina cheese
• Mixed olives
• Walnuts
• Grapes
• Sesame-crusted nuts*
• Pistachios*
• Mini baguettes*
• Dates
• Apples*
• Strawberries*

Method

Slice baguettes on a diagonal. Drizzle with olive oil and salt. Broil 3-5 minutes. Turn over. Broil another 30 seconds until brown. Place on a platter and serve with cheeses, olives, nuts, and fruits.

Parmesan-Almond Chicken Paillard with Arugula and Lemon Vinaigrette

Ingredients

• 5 lbs. chicken breast halves, boneless & skinless, sliced to 1/2-inch strips
• 3  eggs, beaten*
• 1-1/2 cups ground almonds
• 1 cup grated Parmesan cheese
• 2 bags arugula
• 1/4 cup shaved Parmesan

Ingredients for Vinaigrette

• 2 tsp. grated lemon rind
• 2 Tbs. fresh lemon juice
• 1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
• 1 tsp. kosher salt
• 1 tsp. Dijon mustard (optional)
• splash of Champagne vinegar (optional)

Method

1. Pre-heat the oven to 350°.
2. Pound the chicken breast gently between two pieces of parchment paper. Combine Parmesan and ground almonds in one plate with 1 tsp. salt.
3. In shallow bowl, beat 2 eggs.
4. Dip chicken first in the egg mixture, then coat with the parmesan-almond mixture.
5. Heat 4 Tbs. olive oil. Shallow fry the chicken in hot oil for approximately 2 to 3 minutes until browned.  Place on lightly oiled cookie sheet and bake for 25 minutes.
6. Prepare the vinaigrette. Toss with arugula.
7. Place cooked chicken in the bottom of a large, pretty bowl. Place arugula on top of the chicken. Sprinkle shaved Parmesan on top of the arugula. Serve with your nicest salad tongs.

Tuscan Bacon, Sausage, and Lentil Soup

Ingredients

• 6 slices bacon, cut into 1-inch pieces
• 1 large onion, chopped*
• 1/4 cup parsley, de-stemmed and chopped
• 2 carrots, peeled and sliced into rounds*
• 6 cloves garlic*, chopped
• 6 mild Italian sausages cut into 1-inch rounds
• 1 red pepper, medium diced*
• 4-6 cups water
• 1×14 oz. can diced tomatoes*
• 1/3 cup hard lentils
• Salt, to taste
• 1/2 cup Parmesan cheese, grated

Method

1. Sauté bacon. Discard all but 1 Tbs. fat, then sauté onion, parsley, red pepper and carrots for 6 minutes, or until soft, in a pasta pot. Add garlic and sauté 1 minute until light brown.
2. In separate pan, sauté sausage until browned. Discard fat and reserve sausage.
3. Add water, tomatoes, lentils, and salt to taste. If you are using the pre-cooked lentils from Trader Joe’s, halve the cooking time: simmer for 30 minutes (15 minutes for pre-cooked lentils)
4. Add reserved sausage.
5. Serve with a bowl of Parmesan cheese on the side.

Tuscan Roasted Potatoes

Ingredients

• 3 lbs. yellow potatoes, whole*
• 3/4 c. extra virgin olive oil
• 4 Tbs. butter*
• 1 tsp. lemon zest
• 2 tsp. rosemary, chopped
• Salt and pepper*

Method

Preheat oven to 375°. Arrange potatoes in a baking dish in a single layer. Salt and pepper the potatoes. Combine oil, butter, lemon zest, rosemary, and butter in a saucepan and heat until butter is melted. Pour mixture over potatoes. Bake until lightly browned for 30 to 45 minutes. This dish will work just fine if served at room temperature.

Insalata Caprese: Mozzarella (or Burrata), Tomato & Basil Plate

Remember: hold off on the oils until the last minute before guests arrive or, better yet, wait until everyone’s arrived and do a little food performance art in the (hopefully) well-populated midst of your own party. Applying the olive oil at the last possible moment keeps this simplest, most romantic of salads pleasantly dressed for serving.

Ingredients

• 1-1/2 pounds fresh mozzarella, (buffalo Mozzarella, if possible) sliced 1/4-inch thick OR 1-1/2 pounds Burrata balls, cut in half
• 6 large ripe tomatoes best-quality, sliced 1/4-inch thick
• 1-1/2 cup fresh basil leaves, shredded
• 1/4 cup best quality extra virgin olive oil
• Salt and pepper

Method

Alternate cheese, basil, and tomatoes in a circle on a platter, overlapping and also cover with shredded basil. (Shred by first stacking several even-sized basil leaves on top of each other. Roll the basil leaves and slice into 1/8-inch thick shreds for distribution over tomatoes and cheese.) Right before eating, drizzle on extra virgin olive oil and snazz with coarse salt and pepper. Makes 10 servings.

Lighter-than-air Cheesecake with Mixed Berries

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 cups ground cookie crumbs (any hard cookie* or biscotti*)
• 1 tsp. chopped rosemary
• 6 Tbs. butter, melted*
• 2 pounds block cream cheese, room temperature
• 8 oz. Mascarpone cheese (substitute 8 oz. of cream cheese or 8 oz. sour cream as needed)
• 1 1/4 cups sugar*
• 2 eggs*
• 4 cups mixed berries* (did you even know you can get strawberries at the 99-cents store?)

Method

1. Wrap the bottom of a 9-inch springform pan with aluminum foil to halfway up the sides of the springform pan. Then do it again, so you have two layers of aluminum foil.
2. Grind cookie crumbs and rosemary in a food processor; add butter and process.  Press into the bottom of the springform pan but not the sides. Chill for a half an hour.
3. In a mixer or with hand-beaters, blend cream cheese, Mascarpone, sugar, and eggs.
4. Place cream cheese mixture in the springform pan, smoothing out the top.
5. Place springform pan into a large roasting pan. Pour enough hot water in the pan to reach halfway up the side of the springform pan.
6. Bake for 70 minutes. Cheesecake should be ever so slightly browned.
7. Cool an hour, then refrigerate for at least four hours.  Serve with mixed berries.
8. Super easy to make this the day before the party.

Party Tactics

Want to splurge or ask friends to cart something along? Add four bottles of a fantastic Italian white wine (skip the Pinot Grigio and go for Sylvaner, Kerner, Grechetto or Falanghina) and four bottles of a great red like a Brunello di Montalcino. Pop into an artisanal cheese shop and get Humbolt Fog from California, any great quality Manchego or Istara from Spain, Brillat-Savarin from France or anything your cheese purveyor recommends.

Serve dessert with an array of beverage choices: decaf or regular coffee; an interesting tea, like Rooibos; yummy, really cold Moscato di’Asti in your best flutes.

As for décor and serving, if you don’t have glassware, buy wine and water glasses at the 99-cent store. It is not only acceptable to have glasses that don’t match: it’s fantastic. For napkins, buy two yards of fabric, cut them into squares with a child’s ragged-edge safety scissor, roll and tie with ribbons, also from the 99-cent store. Borrow plates if you don’t have enough. Don’t have a centerpiece? Break off fantastic tree branches from your yard (or a neighbor’s), spray with gold spray paint and wrap them in twinkle lights. Buy multi-colored gourds and place in a large bowl. Remember, for entertaining and economy, imagination rules. Sip Piña Coladas, listen to Hawaiian music and pretend you’re on the Big Island. Eat Italian food, put on a CD of whooshing water and pretend you’re on a gondola (but be prepared for the side effects).

There you have it, a menu fit for even my fantasy dinner party guests of Winston Churchill, Lincoln, Mata Hari, Ghandi, Orson Welles and Ingrid Bergman. Hey, it’s my fantasy party.  Who would you invite to yours? Make your fantasy party a bit more real this year by shopping smart for great ingredients and making some magic in the kitchen while you party on a dime.

*

[Allison Robbins is a writer based in Santa Monica and owns Allison Robbins Wines, custom-designed wine tastings and wine distribution.]

– photos by Deborah Alexander, food styling by Sasha Emerson

Wine Tasting for two at Rubicon Estate in Napa Valley, CA

In those few hours between the grind of work and the labor of making dinner and finishing out the day, we often come together for happy hour at our favorite pubs, wine bars, restaurants, and saloons of all sorts for deals on drinks and eats. Celebrating leisure, laughter, and libations, happy hours can help folks chill out after a long day.

Where’s your favorite place to spend a few happy hours with friends? What’s on the menu at your favorite happy hour destination? Which happy hour has the best deals, atmosphere, food, etc.?

If your restaurant/bar/whatever has a killer happy hour that you want to share with color and aroma readers, submit menu info and contact information to happyhour@colorandaroma.com or simply post it to the comments section below.  We’ll help get the word out about the best spots to relax and have fun on a school night.

Wine is a subjective beverage, which helps explain why many find the prospect of developing a deeper relationship with it daunting and mysterious. It does not need to elicit such anxiety. Food is nourishment, yes, but it also can function as art.  Wine is the nourishment for the mind and soul and helps conjure the art of conversation. Let’s celebrate it daily, whether with our daily bread or when we break bread with others during holiday celebrations. More wine-food pairing advice for the holidays.

• Roast turkey with bacon herb butter
• Greek lamb with potatoes
• Lobster tamales
• Brisket pot roast with sides

Download a food-wine pairing crib sheet for easy shopping, whatever your feast.

*

Roast Turkey with Bacon Herb Butter

Cooking time: 4+ hours

INGREDIENTS

8 slices bacon (1/5 lb.), crisped
1 cup butter (2 sticks)
1 Tbs.+ fresh sage, chopped
1 Tbs.+ fresh chervil, chopped
1 Tbs.+ fresh thyme, destemmed
Salt and pepper, to taste
3 cups leeks, chopped (approximately 2 medium leeks, white and pale green sections)
4-1/2 cups chicken broth

METHOD
Crumble/chop bacon. Mix with butter and chopped herbs. Chill.

Salt and pepper turkey inside and out. Loosen the skin and apply 1/3 of butter mixture under the skin and over the breast meat. Rub 2 Tbs. of butter mixture on outside of turkey. Set aside 1/3 cup of butter for basting.

Stuff leeks into the cavity to keep the bird moist. Pour 1/3 cup of broth over the turkey. Baste with the remainder of the broth throughout roasting period.

Place turkey in the bottom third of the oven and roast for 15-18 minutes per pound in a 350° oven (usually around 4 hours+).

Recommended Wines to Pair with Roast Turkey

Greek Lamb with Potatoes

Serves 6 persons: takes 5+ hours

INGREDIENTS

5-6 pounds bone-in leg of lamb
1/4 cup olive oil
Juice of 2 lemons
Oregano: 3 Tbs. fresh or 1 Tbs. dried
Salt
Pepper
10-20 peeled garlic cloves, stuffed into slits cut into the meat
Quartered russet or red rose potatoes seasoned with salt and pepper to taste enough to fill the pan when tucked around the lamb

METHOD
Wash the lamb; rub with oil, salt, pepper, oregano, and a good squirt of lemon juice. Place into roasting pan.

Roast the lamb at 300° for about five hours. Baste throughout. Add water if the pan gets too dry. Work to achieve a good dry/wet balance throughout roasting. Flip the lamb over halfway through the roasting period. One hour before it’s due to finish roasting, add the potatoes to the pan and tuck around the lamb.

Serve with tzatziki sauce and grilled pita bread as well as a Greek salad with Kalamata olives, feta cheese, Romaine, cucumbers, olive oil, the best tomatoes, lemon juice, and Sherry or red wine vinegar.  If you wish, add some finely sliced red onion.

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Fine mature red wines and their nuances work great with the gamey complexity of lamb.

Paso A Paso Tempranillo	Jumilla, Spain	$11
2007 Beckmen Cuvee Le Bec Rhone blend	Santa Ynez Valley, California	$19
2006 Bernard Baudry Le Clos Guillot	Chinon, Loire Valley, France	$23
1999 John Kerr Bien Nacido Syrah	Santa Maria Valley, California	$29

Lobster Tamales

Serves 6 as main course

INGREDIENTS

2 lbs. prepared masa harina
1 dozen dried corn husks, reconstituted in lobster broth
3 2-lb. spiny lobsters
1 cup white wine 1 large red (or green) bell pepper, roasted, seeded and finely chopped
2 Tbs. olive oil 1 Tbs. butter 1 jalapeno pepper, seeded and finely diced
1 tsp. red chili powder 1 clove garlic, minced
1/2 tsp. dried cumin
1 bunch fresh cilantro, stems removed and finely chopped

METHOD
Place live lobsters in a large pot of boiling water with cup of white wine and pinches of cumin and red chili powder. Parboil for 5 minutes. Remove lobster and set aside broth. Remove meat from the tails, carapaces, and any legs of good size. Roughly cut or shred the meat into bite sized pieces and place into a bowl.  Squeeze the juice from one lime over the meat, cover with plastic wrap, and put in fridge. Use this lobster broth when you rehydrate the cornhusks for extra flavor and in the making of the masa.

Rub the bell pepper with vegetable oil and roast over an open flame or BBQ to char completely. While still hot, place the peppers in a plastic bag and set aside for 15 minutes. After 15 minutes, wipe away the charred skin with paper towel, de-stem and remove seeds, chop into fine pieces, and set aside.

Heat the olive oil and butter in large sauté pan over medium heat. Add the chopped jalapeno, garlic, and cumin and warm ‘till fragrant. Add chopped lobster meat, bell pepper, a pinch of cilantro, and a splash of the Sauvignon Blanc you by now need to be consuming while cooking. Continue to sauté gently until the lobster meat turns completely white. Remove from pan, place in bowl, cover, and chill in the fridge for one hour

Assemble the tamales with the prepared masa and a few tablespoons of the filling mixture per tamale to get 12 4- to 5-ounce tamales. Steam for 45 minutes to an hour over a constant gentle rolling steam in a tight-covered, large pot with a raised basket or tray between the water and tamales, with a splash of white wine in the boiling liquid to add some aromatics. Be careful to keep the water level away from tamales or you’ll end up with lobster corn porridge. Serve with your favorite green salsa and queso fresco or cotji cheese, a salty Mexican crumbly cheese.

For information on making the masa and assembling the tamales, check out this site or this one for further instructions.

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Recommended Wines to Pair with Lobster Tamales

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Brisket Pot Roast

Cooking time: 1.5-3 hours, depending

INGREDIENTS

1 whole brisket (3 to 5 lbs.)
1 tsp. garlic salt 1/4 tsp. pepper
1 tsp. garlic powder 1 tsp. onion powder
1 large onion 2 stalks of celery, chopped
2 cloves of garlic, minced
Approx. 1 cup boiling beef broth or stock
1 to 2 tsp. Worcestershire sauce
1 package fresh, whole mushrooms
1 or 2 bay leaves Approx. 1 cup brewed coffee (hot or cold)
Approx. 1 cup hearty red wine
1 lb. peeled whole carrots

METHOD Season with salt, pepper, and powders and brown the brisket in a hot pan on all sides to render fat from the meat. Remove brisket from pan and set aside. Sauté onions, celery, and garlic in the rendered fat from the brisket; set aside. Add brisket to gently boiling broth or stock.  Add Worcestershire sauce with mushrooms and bay leaves.  Add coffee and wine. Bring to a boil.  Add more liquids as needed to completely cover the meat.  Cover tightly and put in a 350° oven for approximately 1.5 to 2 hours.  Add to the broth the sautéed vegetables and carrots for the last 30 minutes of cooking time.

Fork for tenderness and make sure the pan contains enough liquid. This dish cooks best in a heavy covered roasting pan.  One may also cook the meat on a lower temperature (i.e., 300°) for 3 hours to allow for time to perform any last-minute errands before guests begin arriving.

Recommended Wines to Pair with Brisket Pot Roast

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The History of Food

The use of oil to prepare foods such as latkes for Hanukah feasts represents the story in the Torah of one-day’s volume of oil miraculously lasting eight nights.

Potato pancakes (a.k.a. latkes)

INGREDIENTS

6 medium-sized potatoes
1/4 tsp. pepper
1 small onion
1 tsp. garlic salt
2 eggs slightly beaten
1/2 tsp. baking powder (optional)
3 Tbs. flour or matzoh meal
Garlic clove or garlic powder, to taste

METHOD
Peel and grate potatoes, onion and garlic (if used).  Put into a clean cotton tea towel-lined bowl for 10 minutes or so to drain and allow the chef to squeeze out liquid, or simply place these vegetables in the bowl and remove the liquid from the top.  Stir in eggs.  Add other ingredients.  Drop spoonfuls onto a hot skillet covered with either peanut oil or chicken schmaltz.  Brown on both sides.  Drain on absorbent paper.  Serve hot with applesauce.

Applesauce

Peel and cut up some tart apples, add a pinch of cinnamon, nutmeg, about 1 Tbs. sugar to taste with a little water and cook in the microwave for a few minutes until soft.  Squash, mash, or process = applesauce.

– by Jonah Waldman, Rachel Duchak, and José Dahan

– random design by Wordle

Pairing wine with food need not be overthought. When all else fails, fall back on the familiar and simple traditional rules because they still work well today:

• Red wines with red meats
• White wines with white meats
• Local wines with regional foods

Of course, with the globalization of the culinary world and the widening availability of the worlds’ oenological offerings, one can get crazily creative and have fun breaking the old school rules.

I feel wine is a food group all its own worthy of celebration.  However, when paired with food, a wine can be more wholly appreciated for the fullness of its merits. It belongs on the table, especially during holiday feasts, because it can make food more enjoyable. Likewise, food can enhance a wine’s organoleptics, thereby making, when paired correctly, what might on its own seem an angular, dry, austere wine into a supple and smooth beauty.

Jump to: Recipes and Pairings for Winter Feasts
Roast turkey with bacon herb butter
Greek lamb with potatoes
Lobster tamales
Brisket pot roast with sides

Ingredients and Cooking Methods Matter
A few principles should not be overlooked when pairing food and wine. Obviously, ingredients account for an important factor but so does one’s particular method of cooking. One can’t simply look at the ingredients of a meal and make a decision on what wine could be poured without first looking at how the chef plans to prepare that meal. Boiling or poaching results in much lighter tastes than the deeper flavors and different textures achieved with grilling or roasting. Consider the weight and intensity of the foods to be served and work to match them with an equally weighted wine so that neither overwhelms the other. A dish may be considered light but also intense, or heavy without much intensity. Think Thai foods: intensely flavored and complex, yet light in weight. Also consider what roles spices and seasonings can do to influence flavor.

Balance, Contrast, and Attention to Details
Your goal: find wines that can either provide balance to the food or present a nice contrast. Acidity and sweetness in relation to both wine and food can influence and impact these taste components. Pair a wine with an equal complexity of aromatics, flavor profile, and body. For example, traditional Thanksgiving turkey is distinctly new world, which stems from the British Christmas day version. Find wines that can engage with this: perhaps a new world red with plenty of fruit, or play on tradition with an oaken, bold, creamy California Chardonnay with good acidity and fruit complexity that can function as an equal to the distinctive dense yet delicate poultry.

Seek out a 2009 Beaujolais nouveau from Damien Dupeuble, a rare bird on many a Thanksgiving table and fruity enough for our bird and its trimmings because it’s released after only six weeks from the point of harvest and is always available for sale on November 20th at the Los Olivos Grocery just in time for the celebration of a bountiful harvest. It pairs perfectly with the turkey, especially considering the fact that Thanksgiving celebrates harvest: these wines provide the earliest indication of quality possibilities for the vintage.

Consider starting this meal with a vintage Champagne, an excellent stimulant for the appetite due to its effervescent bubbles which carry the aromatics to the surface of the wine, suspending them there just above the liquid at the top of the flute to tickle our nose and senses with its yeasty, fresh baked bread, citrus loveliness.

When Food and Wine Play Nicely Together
Tannins in wine make up another important consideration when pairing food and wine. A big, dry tannic Bordeaux or Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon on its own can be quite difficult to enjoy. However, for a life-altering experience, pair one of these wines with a cut of meat containing some fat to balance the dry, gripping sensation of the wine. Rare red meat possesses this fantastic attribute whereby it makes big, tannic wines seem less so.

Succulent roast lamb and its complex gamey meat work well with matured complex nuanced spiced wines of the new world, such as Syrah and Rhône-inspired blends, or the old world Cabernet Francs of Chinon from France. For value, look to Spanish Rioja Crianza, or Jumilla. Delicate lobster with its creamy, sweet-flavored rich meat works well with California Chardonnay or a zingy, zesty, tangy Sauvignon Blanc from Graves or the new world. These varietals work wonderfully in cooling down spicy meals and intense flavors when served chilled.

Homework for Feast Participants
Choosing the right wine to drink that pairs with a holiday meal presents quite the challenge because the holiday table will likely feature many dishes.  There’s no one wine that will be perfect for every dish at any feast, so make arrangements for guests to bring specific wines that will pair with major stages of the meal.  Throughout dinner, complement your feast with a succession of wines that pair well with the various dishes.

In addition to these several acts of wine enjoyed across the performance of the meal, try to find one wine to savor and enjoy throughout the feast with every dish: a “one-size fits all” wine, or at least “fits most.” To serve as a guide, try to take into account what the majority of the ingredients in the array of dishes on the feast table bring individually to the meal.

Bring Out the Good Stuff
Holiday feasts present an excellent opportunity to open and share a rare, coveted wine. If you have such wine available to you, use it as inspiration to create a great dish that will, in turn, celebrate the wine. Alternatively, if you have a recipe you want to try, let the food guide you to find a wine with which you may have little to no experience. Wine is a subjective beverage, which helps explain why many find the prospect of developing a deeper relationship with it daunting and mysterious. It does not need to elicit such anxiety. Food is nourishment, yes, but it also can function as art.  Wine is the nourishment for the mind and soul and helps conjure the art of conversation. Let’s celebrate it daily, whether with our daily bread or when we break bread with others during holiday celebrations.

Recipes and Pairings for Winter Feasts

Download a food-wine pairing crib sheet for easy shopping, whatever your feast.

[I am just a humble student of the grape and a lover of wine. I’ve grown up around food, wine, and cooking since my Grandpa Gene, and Mom and Dad involved us in the kitchen preparing meals. Many steps in my life have led me into wine.  From growing up in Los Olivos and becoming familiar as a kid with the science of wine to landing a part time harvest job with Montana/Brancott Winery in New Zealand during a surf trip, my life seems magnetically drawn to the grape. Wine steward, wine merchant, cellar master, winemaker, vineyard guy, wine marketer: I live wine.

Now immersed in the retail world as the wine buyer for the Los Olivos Grocery in Central Coastal California, I’m able to taste around 3000 bottles a year and sell what I like.  I enjoy establishing relationships with tourists and locals alike, trying to find that perfect wine for any occasion, for any palate, and for any price point.

My brother followed his passion for food and now is executive chef for Noah's Canteen of Kellog Idaho: he helped me with the lobster dish. In my own kitchen, I often cook by feel, free-flowing with the ingredients. Recipes for me are ideas to follow, and often they come out completely different due to my choosing to not follow the directions and working to improve on ideas and flavors.]

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– design by Wordle

3½ cups sifted flour
1½ teaspoons salt
2 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
2 to 2½ cups sugar
1 cup melted unsalted butter, at room temperature
4 large eggs, at room temperature, lightly beaten
2/3 cup cognac, bourbon or whiskey
2 cups persimmon puree (from about 4 fully ripe Hachiya persimmons)
2 cups walnuts or pecans, toasted and chopped
2 cups raisins, or diced dried fruits (such as apricots, cranberries, or dates)

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1. Butter 2 loaf pans. Line the bottoms with a piece of parchment paper or dust with flour and tap out any excess.

2. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

3. Sift the first 5 dry ingredients in a large mixing bowl.

4. Make a well in the center then stir in the butter, eggs, liquor, persimmon puree then the nuts and raisins.

5. Bake for 1 hour or until toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.

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Storage: Will keep for about a week, if well-wrapped, at room temperature. Persimmon bread takes well to freezing, too. Using the higher amount of sugar will produce a moister, sweeter bread.

Adapted from Beard on Bread by James Beard.