Fig & Prosciutto Flatbread Pizza

September 29, 2015

Last week when I was experimenting with fall figs, I whipped up a yummy Fig & Rosemary Sparkling Cocktail that ended up being a team favorite. We had a pound of figs left over and some prosciutto so I fired up the oven to create a crispy flatbread. I was so surprised at how incredible this was! I’d never rolled our my own dough so this was the first pizza from “scratch” that I’d made, (although the fresh dough was still store-bought – can’t take all of the credit!) so I had no idea what to expect. I was ecstatic at how perfect the crust was and the combination of salty and savory prosciutto, creaminess of the mozzarella, sweetness of the figs and slightly sharp parmesan made this a crowd pleaser. This paired perfectly with a glass of Edna Valley Pinot Noir… with just the right amount dark cherry on the nose, concentrated fruit, a touch of nutmeg and fall spice on the palate, the Pinot really complimented the sweet and savory flavor profile of the pizza. I’ll definitely be making this again! So easy and so worth the TINY bit of extra effort to get that perfect crust. Cheers!

Time: 45 minutes
Yield: One 16″ round flatbread pizza

I N G R E D I E N T S

2 tbs. flour
16 oz. pizza dough (we used Trader Joe’s pre-made classic dough)
2 tbs. extra virgin olive oil
4 oz. prosciutto
8 oz. fresh mozzarella (sliced)
5-6 figs (thinly sliced)
1.5 cups arugula
1/4 cup parmesan cheese (shaved)
1/2 tsp. sea salt

D I R E C T I O N S

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. If you’re using a pizza stone, make sure your stone is in the oven during the preheating process (dramatic shifts in temperatures can cause a pizza stone to shatter if the stone isn’t warm before placing it in your oven).
If your dough is refrigerated, allow it to come to room temperature before working with it. Flour your work surface and gently kneed, stretch and roll dough to desired shape and size. Ours was ~16″ in diameter.
Brush a little olive oil on the dough and top with prosciutto and mozzarella. Transfer dough to your pizza stone and bake for 15 minutes (or until crust has started to crisp).
While the pizza is in the oven, carefully top the pizza with figs and bake for 3 more minutes. You want to give the figs time to warm up and heat throughout without over cooking them.
While the figs are warming, place arugula in a bowl and toss with olive oil and sea salt.
Remove pizza from oven and transfer to a cutting board. Allow pizza to sit for 1-2 minutes before slicing. Top with arugula and shaved parmesan. Serve with a glass of ONEHOPE Pinot Noir for the perfect pairing. Cheers!

Fig + Rosemary Sparkling Cocktail

September 23, 2015

Happy First Day of Fall, guys! Aren’t you so excited?! Jake and I flew back from New York on Monday after a whirlwind trip to celebrate the marriage of two of our close friends and I was REALLY hoping for some fall weather while there, but we were SOL. The temps were in the mid 80’s for almost the entire time, with the exception of ONE afternoon when we could feel the familiar crisp autumn air that I miss so much now that I call LA home. Thankfully, it has cooled off at least a little and I don’t feel so weird burning a Pumpkin Candle now that it isn’t 100 degrees in our house 😉

Every year, I tell myself that I’m going to experiment with figs in the fall (I’ve never cooked with them before now!), but they’re so hard to find and something else always seems to take priority. By the time I make the effort, they always seem to be out of season and impossible to track down. I’ve been dying to get my hands on some this year to mix into cocktails and to add a little something sweet to the fall entertaining cheese boards we’ve been crafting for work. Finding them proved to be difficult since figs aren’t generally carried at most big-chain grocery stores, but when I finally spotted them at a downtown LA farmer’s market, I grabbed all I could and headed straight for the kitchen. After a bit of research on fig cocktails, I stumbled across this one that sounded too good to pass up. I made a few proportional adjustments to accommodate our bubbly and it turned out SO deliciously perfect. I whip up a ton of cocktails for work and our team is pretty vocal at this point with what they like and don’t like so I was pleasantly surprised to hear that this was one of the favorites we’ve ever made. Check it out below!

Timing: 1 hour total
Yield: 4 cocktails

I N G R E D I E N T S

Rosemary Simple Syrup

1 cup honey
1 cup water
3 sprigs of fresh rosemary

Cocktail

1/2 cup fig puree (2 cups fresh figs, 4 tbs. water blended in a food processor)
4 oz. chilled vodka
Juice from 2 lemons (peel for garnish)
4 oz. Rosemary Simple Syrup
ONEHOPE Sparkling Brut
Ice

D I R E C T I O N S

Combine honey, water, and fresh rosemary into a sauce pan and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to a simmer, stirring occasionally until the mixture has reduced by half. Remove from heat and allow the mixture to cool completely. We transferred to a jar and placed it in the freezer for 30 minutes.
While simple syrup is chilling, remove stems from figs and place all but two figs in a food processor. Pulse to puree until consistency resembles that of apple sauce. Set aside.
Using a citrus peeler, peel your lemons (4 ribbons – one for each cocktail). Juice both lemons and set juice aside.
Once your simple syrup has chilled completely, combine syrup, fig puree, chilled vodka, lemon juice, and ice in a cocktail shaker and shake vigorously.
Fill two glasses with ice and pour cocktail mixture into each glass. Top with ONEHOPE Sparkling Brut and garnish with lemon peel, fresh rosemary, and one half fig each. Cheers!

Weekend in Napa

August 25, 2015

Jake and I spent the weekend in Napa to celebrate the marriage of our business partner, Logan to his beautiful new wife, Elizabeth. The two were married at Brown Ranch in Carneros on one of the most stunning properties I’ve ever seen in front of rolling hills of vineyard and next to a perfect lake. It was truly magical! We were in post-wedding recovery mode on Sunday while juggling a few visitors before heading back to work yesterday. Just before sunset last night, I took a stroll around our property to capture some of its beauty during “magic hour” as we call it and here are a few of my favorites. Cheers!

Pappardelle Pasta with Portobello Mushrooms, Caramelized Onions & Goat Cheese

February 13, 2015

When brainstorming for a simple meal to pair with our Pinot Noir at ONEHOPE, I had one thing stuck in my mind and knew we had to make it work – pasta. Pasta is so simple to make and can be manipulated to perfectly pair with any wine. Whether you’re craving something creamy, acidic, cheesy, spicy – there’s a pasta for every desired taste profile. Since mushrooms and goat cheese are both wonderful for a Pinot Noir, I searched the web for inspiration and landed on this. Done and done! A ribbon pasta just seemed more romantic (a la Lady and the Tramp) so I decided on Pappardelle in lieu of Ziti to keep with our Valentine’s Day theme and to also really soak up that goat cheese. This savory, hearty pasta pairs wonderfully with ONEHOPE’s Edna Valley Pinot Noir. This wine is just acidic enough to cut through the rich goat cheese and is the perfect, full bodied and earthy compliment to portobello mushrooms and sweet, caramelized onions. YUM!

Yield: 4 servings

Ingredients

1 pound pappardelle pasta
3 tablespoons butter
4 tablespoons olive oil
1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup water
2 onions (chopped)
1 pound portobello mushrooms (stems and gills removed, caps sliced in half and then crosswise into ~1/4″ slices)
4 ounces goat cheese (crumbled)
4 ounces freshly grated parmesan
2 tablespoons fresh parsley (chopped)

Directions

In a large pan, heat 1 tablespoon of butter and 2 tablespoons of olive oil over medium heat. Add onions and stir occasionally for ~30-40 minutes or until onions are golden brown.
While onions are caramelizing, in a large pot, boil your pasta in salted water according pasta’s instructions.
Remove onions from pan and heat 1 tablespoon of butter with 1 tablespoon of olive oil. Add mushrooms and stir until soft and medium brown. In the same pan, add the onions, balsamic vinegar, pepper, half the parsley.
When pasta is fully cooked, drain and add remaining olive oil to the pot. Return cooked pasta to pot, add the onion and mushroom mixture, salt, water, 2/3 of the goat cheese and 2 ounces of grated parmesan. Toss while making sure to evenly coat pasta and meld flavors. Plate immediately.
Garnish each dish with remaining fresh, crumbled goat cheese, top with remaining parmesan and a sprinkle of parsley.
Pair with ONEHOPE’s Edna Valley Pinot Noir. Cheers!

PS: Check out my other Valentine’s Day wine pairings here and here.

Wilted Frisée with Coarse Grain Mustard Vinaigrette and Granny Smith Apples

February 12, 2015

No meal is complete without something green so when putting together a 3 course wine dinner, I knew we needed a little something fresh that would be a perfect pairing with Chardonnay. While I was bouncing around ideas with our Sommelier, she threw out the idea of a wilted frisée salad. Honestly, I was skeptical. Frisée are the little bitter greens that I’ve always picked out of a mixed green salad simply because they’re always a little too tough or frankly, bitter (which they are by nature). I’ve never been a fan. Creating a salad comprised of all frisée scared me, but she convinced me when she suggested slightly wilting it to make it easier to eat and to help meld the flavors of a course grain mustard vinaigrette. I decided to take the chance and I’m so glad I did. I could not believe how much I LOVED this salad – I actually went back for seconds! The combination of light, slightly bitter greens, mustard vinaigrette and apples are the prefect compliment to our California Chardonnay. The chopped, granny smith apples bring out the hint of apple and pear in the wine while the mustard vinaigrette offers the perfect touch of acidity to compliment the bitterness of the greens. This is a delicious, light and crisp salad to enjoy before a hearty main course (coming tomorrow). YUM! Give it a try this weekend for your Valentine and I promise you’ll love it. Just be sure to pair it with a little Chardonnay. The combo is pretty spectacular. Scroll down to view the recipe!

Yield: 2 salads

Ingredients

1 head frisée
1 tablespoon coarse grain mustard
1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
1/4 cup feta
1/2 medium granny smith apple (chopped)

Directions

1. Heat a large pan over medium heat. Add 2 tablespoons of olive oil.
2. Toss greens in pan until slightly wilted and just starting to brown.
3. To make your vinaigrette, whisk together mustard, red wine vinegar, black pepper, salt and remaining olive oil.
4. In a large bowl, toss greens, chopped apple, feta and drizzle with vinaigrette. Serve with a crisp chardonnay.

Cherry Preserves & Goat Cheese Puff Pastry Appetizer

February 11, 2015

Happy Wine Wednesday! With Valentine’s Day quickly approaching, I wanted to share a little something I put together for work – Valentine’s Day food and wine pairings. Jake and I are true foodies and we love exploring new restaurants in our area, but some of my happiest memories with him are when we’ve cooked together and enjoyed a great bottle of wine at home. The goal was to create 3 easy-moderate recipes that paired deliciously with three of our wines and could be simply replicated by a couple or whichever partner has decided to treat the other on Valentines Day. I did some research and after bouncing ideas around with our Sommelier, we decided on a few that would be perfect. We gave them a try and they were SO GOOD! I will definitely, 100% be making each of these again… and maybe this weekend!

The first one is a sweet and savory pastry that will melt in your mouth. Paired with ONEHOPE California Chardonnay, the goat cheese, cherry and buttery pastry highlight the crisp apple and pear notes in the wine. Enjoy the hint of caramel on the finish to perfectly meld with the savory goat cheese and pastry. YUM! Find the recipe below and stay tuned for two more yummy treats tomorrow and Friday. xoxo

Yield: 4 large pastries

Ingredients

2 sheets puff pastry
8 oz. cherry preserves
8 oz. chevre
Egg wash (1 egg + 2 tablespoons of water lightly beaten)
2 tbs melted butter
Powdered sugar (optional)

…and the perfect Chardonnay 🙂

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees
2. If using frozen puff pastry, allow it to thaw for 30 minutes. You want your pastry to be workable, but not sticky.
3. Lightly flour work surface and rolling pin. Roll dough to just under 1/4″
4. Cut out your dough using a large cookie cutter. We were able to cut out 8 large hearts (enough for 4 pastries) and 4 small hearts (enough for 2 pastries).
5. Place half of the cut out dough on your work surface and layer shapes with chevre and preserves. Be careful not to use too much of the either cheese or preserves. For a 4″ heart cookie cutter, we used about 2 tablespoons chevre and 2 tablespoons preserves per pastry. Be sure to leave a 1/2″ border of dough around the filling.
6. Place the remaining dough shapes on your work surface. Using a knife, score the dough in whatever design desired. This will allow your pastry to vent while baking.
7. Give the scored dough shapes a little stretch and place over the shapes with the chevre and cherry preserves. Make sure the edges line up.
8. Using a fork, press the top and bottom layers of dough together around the edge of your pastry to seal it shut.
9. Using a brush, lightly coat each pastry with egg wash and melted butter. Place on greased cookie sheet and bake for about 8 minutes (or until edges are golden and pastry begins to flake).
10. Remove from oven and allow pastries to set for 2-3 minutes before serving. Sprinkle with powdered sugar if desired.

Lately…

December 9, 2014

{A shot of our famous glitter bottle. How rad is this thing?! AND each one provides 15 healthy meals to a child fighting hunger}

Hey there! No matter how prepared we feel for the holidays at work, it’s always insane in December and blogging just falls by the wayside. November and December are the two months when over 70% of our business for the YEAR occur and we trade our spaces behind the computer to high-tail it to the warehouse to help with fulfillment. I realized it had been a few days since I last posted so I wanted to drop by with a note to say hello. Check out a few of the things I’ve been working on and be sure to follow me on Instagram for more realtime updates 🙂

{Sneak peek at a fun new project I’ve been working on with my mom. Pillows galore! I’m dying over the colors!}

{The 31 Bits holiday party is always an absolute blast. How dreamy is their space with those lights and balloons?}

{Finally found a few hours to put up our tree 🙂 Half of the lights weren’t working, Target didn’t have any white lights in stock and the process took a million times longer than I expected, but her glow makes me SO happy. And kitty is clearly enjoying it too.}

{Behind the scenes at yesterday’s NYE shoot featuring our glitter bottle with Zoom Theory! By the end of it we were covered in confetti and champagne, but I’m stoked at how this turned out and can’t wait to share the final images.}

Cheers!

Thanksgiving Week

November 26, 2014

Happy Thanksgiving week! Jake and I took the red eye to New Orleans on Monday night to be here with his family for the holiday and it’s a little different than what we normally do, but I’m happy to be in such an amazing city with loved ones. I just wanted to pass along the Fall / Winter Entertaining Guide I put together for ONEHOPE in case you were looking for any more recipe ideas for tomorrow. There are definitely some yummy ones in there so check it out. All of the images from that shoot can be seen here so be sure to visit there for some more decor tips and ideas.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Meg

Images by Brian Tropiano.

Butternut Squash Soup

November 21, 2014

One of the many things I love about fall is eating seasonally and experimenting with fall flavors. Fall is the perfect time to experiment with butternut squash, figs, root vegetables and all sorts of yummy produce and I always find myself craving a great, hearty soup around this time of the year. A quick internet search for a great butternut squash soup recipe lead me to this with an almost perfect 5 star review average with over 1,900 reviews (!!!). I knew I had to give it a try. I adjusted it a tiny bit to make it slightly healthier and the end result was nothing short of incredible. We served it with warm sliced sourdough bread and a crisp Sauvignon Blanc to cut through the hint of spice and creamy, buttery flavor one weekend when we had friends in town and we were thrilled with their feedback. This is something really great to make on a cool fall weekend so I wanted to pass it along. Cheers!

Ingredients

6 tablespoons chopped sweet onion
4 tablespoons butter
1 5lb. butternut squash
3 cups water
4 chicken bullion cubes
1/2 teaspoon dried marjoram
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
1/4 teaspoon ground cayenne pepper
1 8oz package reduced fat cream cheese
1/2 teaspoon garlic salt
1 tablespoon olive oil

For Apple Topping

1 apple diced (I used a fuji apple)
1 tablespoon butter
1 tablespoon brown sugar

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Cut squash in half lengthwise. Season with garlic salt and olive oil. Place in a baking dish cut side down and fill dish with 1″ of water.

2. Roast squash for 45 minutes or until soft and tender. Remove from oven and allow to cool for 10-15 minutes.

3. Once squash is cool enough to handle, remove skin, discard seeds and dice remaining squash.

4.. In a large saucepan, saute onions in margarine until tender. Add squash, water, bouillon, marjoram, black pepper and cayenne pepper. Bring to boil and simmer for 20 minutes to allow flavors to meld.

5. Puree squash and cream cheese using a hand blender until smooth. Heat for 10 more minutes (do not boil).

Directions for Apple Topping

1. In a small pan, heat butter until melted.

2. Add apple and brown sugar. Saute on medium heat for 2-3 minutes.

Chardonnay + Cheese

November 6, 2014

When I first started working for a wine company, I knew absolutely nothing about wine beyond the fact that I liked to drink it. I had no formal education in wine and the extent of my experience with it was picking up the cheapest or prettiest + cheapest combination bottle in my local market. Like a lot of early wine drinkers, I couldn’t differentiate between varietals, wasn’t quite sure which wines pair with what foods and couldn’t appreciate any of the complexities that I now seek in my fermented grapes. While most of the people that work in our company don’t fall in the “wine snob” category, we still experience know-it-alls (or think they know-it-all) wine snobs at events and in meetings with buyers which makes the industry intimidating and honestly, annoying at times. My personal opinion is that wine is a subjective experience that is supposed to be fun and it’s supposed to be an experience. Certain wines will enhance certain flavors in certain foods, but learning it through experience rather than studying wine notes from a book is really what this industry should be all about. No two palates are the same and everyone is going to taste wine differently which is exactly what makes it so fun and personal.

This division of our company puts on wine tastings in the customer’s preferred setting of choice and while some of our reps have a ton of wine experience, many of them don’t and are eager to learn what to serve at their tastings and what favors are going to pair the best with each wine. Last month our focus was Chardonnay so I had some serious fun putting together a cheese plate and easy apps that would be delicious with Chard. I thought I’d pass it along just in case anyone is interested in learning more about what to pair with Chardonnay. Check it out below 🙂

CREATING THE PERFECT CHARDONNAY CHEESE PLATE

When you think of a wine party, the most obvious food pairing is cheese. However, with Chardonnay, cheese isn’t always the easiest to pair with a varietal that has such incredible stylistic range. While some chardonnays are extremely fruity and citrusy, others are oaky and buttery which can compete with the creamy cheeses you might initially think to pair with a white wine. I explored a few different cheeses to find the best combination with our Chardonnay that offers a perfectly balanced profile of fruit and oak. As told by our Sommelier:

With most Chardonnays, you get some green apple, a little citrus, and depending on the producer either no or tons of oak and malolactic fermentation to give it that buttered popcorn style. Our Chardonnay undergoes an extremely cold, slow fermentation that extracts tons of tropical fruit character out of this wine. Scents of pineapple, banana, white peach and pear jump out of the glass at me when I pour it. It spends about six months in American oak, but only 20% new oak. The rest of the barrels are all 2-3 years old so it is more for a textural component rather than making the wine overly oaky. You get some notes of vanilla and toasted coconut, but it is definitely in balance with the fruit character of the wine.

CHEESE: I sought to find the best cheese to pair with our style Chardonnay and found a few favorites: Mt. Tam, a brie-style triple cream crafted by Cowgirl Creamery in California. Another favorite was Cabot’s Clothbound Cheddar which is nutty in flavor and has a similar consistency to parmesan while being much more mild to taste – perfect for our style Chardonnay. The two can be purchased in a set from Cowgirl Creamery that also includes and absolutely unbelievable Echo Mountain Blue Cheese (still delicious with our Chardonnay when drizzled in a little honey and perfect for the reds at your wine tasting tasting), or can be ordered individually as well. If you’re looking for less expensive options, both Whole Foods and Trader Joe’s offer a wide variety of double-triple cream, brie and mild-medium cheddar cheeses that will be perfect for pairing with Chardonnay.

OTHER BITES TO INCLUDE: In my opinion, creating the perfect cheese plate is all about striking a balance between cheeses and other small bites that enhance the flavors of your wine. Some crackers and perhaps a loaf of fresh French Bread are key. The fig spread and honey found in both our Wine & Cheese Party and Cheese Party Packages are essential for getting that sweeter balance and will make cheeses like a tangy blue cheese more approachable for those who might not love an extra sharp cheese on its own. Figs are also particularly delicious with our Chardonnay and can be served with any cheese imaginable all the way from a creamy brie to an aged, extra sharp cheddar or parmesan. An artichoke spread (also found in both our Wine & Cheese Party and Cheese Party Packages) offers a savory yet citrusy touch while olive oil is a natural pairing and will give your guests something light to dip their bread in when they’ve indulged in enough cheese

PS: From a gorgeous marble cheese board to honey, olive oil, salami, cheese knives, and more, our Wine & Cheese Party and Cheese Party Packages offer a one stop shop for all of the goodies you will need to create the perfect wine and cheese party. Cheers!

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