New Year’s Resolutions. Yeah, I know.
But this is a good one.
This year, I resolve to always make at least one dish myself to serve at our First Friday events.
For this evening, our January First Friday, I am in fact preparing two dishes. Simple, straightforward, fantastic with wine, and delicious.
Marinated Mushrooms, and Mixed Olive Tapenade.
As of right now, the Marinated Mushrooms are not in fact confirmed. They may in fact become a tapenade as well, depending on how I feel about the texture when I taste them again just before the event starts. But for the time being, I am going with Marinated Mushrooms.
Getting Ready To Marinate The Mushrooms
The ingredients are pretty basic. A mix of white-button and crimini mushrooms, a heavy wrist’s worth of olive oil, dried basil and dried oregano, sea salt, red bell pepper, garlic, and the secret ingredient:
2006 Lytton Estate Grenache!
Marinating Mushrooms
Why the 2006 Lytton Estate Grenache? Well, partly it just tastes delicious, and pairs really well with these ingredients.
Slicin' Peppers ...
But also, it’s our new January
ATP release, and as such it will be the featured wine that we pour tonight. So I thought it would quite groovy to serve dishes that were made with the wine we’ll be tasting!
Marinated Mushrooms!
Continuing on, I will now go on record as saying that Olive Tapenade is one of my very favorite things to eat, ever. Particularly on a slice of Watsonville Sourdough from Sumano’s Bakery. And particularly with a glass of Ridge wine.
Oooh, garlic!
My ingredients for this dish are also pretty straightforward, and not entirely dissimilar from the dish above.
Bless You, My Cuisinart ...
Green and black olives, dried oregano and dried basil, olive oil, sea salt, capers, and yes, 2006 Lytton Estate Grenache!
Olive Tapenade!
To be perfectly honest, I don’t cook many dishes that don’t have garlic, sea salt, herbs, and olive oil. Mexican, Indian, Italian, Mediterranean, whatever, they’re still going to have my core in there. And wine. Of course wine. One for the dish, one for the chef. One for the dish, two for the chef …
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This entry was posted on January 6, 2012 at 2:29 pm and is filed under Events & Photographs, Food & Wine Pairing, Grenache, Special Offerings, Varietals & Blends, Wine & Food Pairing, Wine Clubs. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.
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January 7, 2012 at 10:25 am |
[...] and headed straight to Ridge for their First Friday tasting. After enjoying some lovely wines and tasty nosh and chasing a toddler around the grounds, we headed home in time for baby dinner (baked tofu, peas, [...]
January 6, 2012 at 8:52 pm |
The mushrooms were fantastic! Sadly, I didn’t taste the olive tapenade, but hopefully I’ll have another chance. Great additions to First Friday!
January 7, 2012 at 11:22 am |
So glad you liked the mushrooms, and sorry you didn’t get to taste the tapenade; guess I’ll have to make it again!
January 6, 2012 at 7:36 pm |
You have food at the tasting room evey first friday?!!!
January 7, 2012 at 11:22 am |
But of course!
January 6, 2012 at 5:48 pm |
Christopher, great idea! Can’t wait to taste!
PS I have lots of Slow appetizer recipes I can share with you!
January 6, 2012 at 7:13 pm |
Oh yeah, let’s talk cookin’!
January 6, 2012 at 5:22 pm |
God, it looks good!!
January 6, 2012 at 5:26 pm |
Thanks Marianne! C’mon up and have some!