Fig + Prosciutto Salad with Almond Milk Ricotta

September 21, 2017

Currently in Napa, the mornings are crisp, the vines are changing color, and harvest is in full force. It’s clear that fall is just around the corner (tomorrow in fact) and that summer days are coming to a close. I always get a burst of energy when the seasons start to change and I feel it in the fall more than any other time of the year. A new wave of productivity usually takes over for me and I’m inspired to cozy up and try new recipes with a different influx of produce at the market and in the garden. Just as sweet summer stone fruit is winding down for the year, figs reach their ideal ripeness between the end of August and early September in Northern California. Using nectarines and brown turkey figs as our jumping-off point for a late summer salad, I completed the dish with almond milk ricotta, arugula, a simple vinaigrette and Viognier to pair.

I asked our Director of Wine at ONEHOPE, Mari Coyle what wine she would pair with this and she said, without a doubt, Viognier. I was delighted, as Viognier has become one of my favorite varietals since Jake introduced it to me six or seven years ago. I asked Mari for some background on why she selected this wine and she said, “the nectarine brings out the stone fruit flavors in the Viognier, while the figs compliment the spicy ginger and honey notes in the wine. Rhone whites are often mineral-like in flavor with viscosity like honey. This minerality seeks salt, found in the Prosciutto. Arugula plays off the spicy notes again and a little Ricotta sets the stage for the honey dressing which oozes to complete the perfect Viognier pairing.”

Wham bam. Sounded fabulous. And it was. Enjoy!

FIG & RICOTTA SALAD
Yield: 1 serving
Wine Pairing: Viognier

INGREDIENTS

4 tbs. Kite Hill Almond Milk Ricotta
1-2 brown turkey figs, sliced
1 nectarine, sliced
3 oz. prosciutto, very thinly sliced
1/4 cup arugula

Dressing
2 tbs. olive oil
2 tbs. red wine vinegar
1 tbs. honey
1 clove garlic, minced
salt & pepper to taste

DIRECTIONS

Using the back of a spoon, spread ricotta irregularly on a plate or platter.
Form prosciutto into small bunches (one slice of prosciutto per bunch) and stagger the bunches along the outside of your plate.
Fill in negative space with sliced figs and nectarine.
Top with arugula and drizzle dressing over top.
Serve with ONEHOPE Viognier.

PS: Nervous about almond milk cheese? I was too. Here’s a little (actually kind of long) back story on my relationship with nut milk cheeses…

I haven’t talked about it much over here, but I made a complete 180 in terms of my diet and lifestyle this year. With major cleanups to my diet and a new found love for pilates, I’ve tried to reverse years of careless eating and have seen incredible changes to both my health, both physically and mentally. My goal in January was to lose 30 lbs before I turned 30 (April! A bit of an aggressive goal), but when I found pilates and dropped inches while building more muscle mass than I’ve had since college, it became less about the number and more about how amazing I was feeling. I made it down to 22 lbs lost by my 30th and I’m hovering at 25-27 lbs lost now, knowing that one day I’ll drop those last 5 or so. For now I’m happier and feeling better than ever.

A big part of my diet change was cutting out dairy almost entirely. I’ve mentioned this before, but having grown up in the midwest, dairy, particularly cheese, was a huge part of my diet growing up. It was unfathomable to eat eggs, a salad, a sandwich, chili, literally almost anything without cheese. I LOVE cheese. After moving to California and getting into the wine industry where cheese is one of the most prominent pairings for wine, my love for cheese only grew with the discovery of burrata, Humboldt Fog, Truffle Tremor, triple cream brie… it was endless.The thought of a nut milk based cheese irked me and I refused to give them a try until I scrolled past a picture on Instagram. The shot was of a fully loaded sandwich with a delicious combination of sprouted bread, turkey, avocado, jalapeno sauerkraut, and Kite Hill almond milk cream cheese. WHAT?! I hopped on to Kite Hill’s site to see where they were sold and were conveniently at my local Whole Foods. I picked up a package on my next visit and gave it a try. It was love.

When I started seeing figs in the market, I picked some up and started scouring the internet for some new fig recipes to try. A frequent combination that intrigued me was ricotta with sliced figs and honey. I knew that Kite Hill had an almond milk ricotta that would be perfect for this dish and it truly was. I can’t wait to explore some more recipes with almond milk cheese this fall. Cheers!

Fig Season! / 5 Minute Cheese Board

July 7, 2016

It’s fig season in California (woohoo!) and I’ve got a slight obsession with them (see last year’s flatbread pizza and fig cocktail recipes here) so I scooped up a basket of brown turkey figs while prepping for our 4th of July celebrations last weekend. We were keeping things easy for the holiday this year so instead of creating some full-blown concoction, I decided to use them for the base of a casual cheese board since I was still in need of a quick appetizer.

I’m kind of in love with cheese and charcuterie boards and create them all of the time for work and almost anytime we host or need to bring a dish to pass. There is nothing more “wine country” to me than a well curated board so they’re one of my favorite low-stress options for guests or just a casual night at home in Napa with the two of us. That being said, there are a few rules of thumb when it comes to crafting a cheese board that I always follow no matter how many people I’m prepping for. Here is what you’ll need:

Something sweet // honey for drizzling or a great jam meant to be paired with cheese
Something salty // nuts – I like Whole Foods’ truffled Marcona almonds with sea salt
Something briny // Castelvetrano olives or pickles
Something seasonal // Figs! Artichokes are also a favorite
At least one type of cracker or bread // use whatever you have on hand, but try to go for something plain that won’t interfere with other flavors on your board
A hard cheese and a soft cheese // Vermont aged white cheddar and a goat cheese or fresh burrata are always great options

Lastly, you’ll need a cheese board and some ramekins or small bowls for olives, olive pits, pickles, etc. I used a vintage cheese board I picked up at the flea market this time around, but a few of my favorite store-bought options are below. I also broke my own rule #6 for this one because I knew we’d all be drinking whites or light reds and was really feeling two particular cheeses that I had in my cart at the time (a creamy herbed goat cheese and Cypress Grove’s Humboldt Fog), but I generally try to stick to the above. Here is what I used:

Something sweet // honey for drizzling // honey packaging is usually a little unsightly so I transferred a bit of honey to a small pinch bowl and served with a honey dipper (both below)
Something salty // Whole Foods’ truffled Marcona almonds with sea salt // you can find these by their artisanal cheese selection where there are a huge variety of fresh olives available.
Something briny // Castelvetranno olives // my favorite olives in the world (see #2 for where to buy)
Something seasonal // Figs!
At least one type of cracker or bread // sea salt flatbread crackers
A hard cheese and a soft cheese // I used an herbed goat cheese and Humboldt Fog

Do you have any favorite must-have additions to your cheese boards? I’d love to hear!

Grilled Caprese Pizza with Artichoke

June 21, 2016

Without a doubt, the time seems to keep passing by faster and faster each year. I’ve arguably never felt so overwhelmed with work projects and with wedding season in full force, our travel game is real! I travel a decent amount for work and Jake travels about 4 times what I do, so with regular work travel combined with weddings (averaging at 6-12/year for the past few years), our summers seem to fly by in a blink. One thing I’ve really tried to focus on this year is to not wait for the weekend to partake in traditionally summer “weekend things” in an effort to squeeze as much of my favorite season out of this year as possible. Since to me there is almost nothing that feels more summery than barbecuing and eating dinner in our back yard, I’ve made it a priority for us to cook together/grill at least twice per week, even when it might be easier to heat up some leftovers and keep things easy.

I’ve been wanting to try grilled pizza for a while now and when one of our “weeds” in our back yard from the previous owner turned out to be an artichoke plant, I was feeling even more inspired than ever to fire up the grill. I purchased this pizza stone and pizza peel, picked up a few other ingredients from the store and we were good to go. I didn’t really put a ton of thought or time into researching a recipe for this (other than how to grill artichokes and I went by this aioli recipe) and instead just tried to keep it simple with things I knew would pair well together. This ended up being one of my favorite meals we’ve made together and we’ll definitely be making it again this week – I can’t wait!

PS: This recipe is all about timing so pour yourself a glass of wine and prep in advance if possible.

GRILLED CAPRESE PIZZA WITH ARTICHOKE

Prep: 15 minutes
Active: 45 minutes
Yield: 1 pizza (2 servings)
Wine Pairing: Napa Valley Red Blend or Edna Valley Pinot Noir

INGREDIENTS

4 medium/large artichokes
2 cups baby heirloom tomatoes
1 small bunch basil, chopped (15-20 basil leaves)
1lb. fresh pizza dough (I use Trader Joe’s fresh dough)
2 tbs. cornmeal
2 tbs. flour
8 oz. fresh burrata
2 cloves garlic, crushed
Salt & pepper to taste
Olive oil
Freshly shaved parmesan

AIOLI INGREDIENTS

2 garlic cloves
1 large egg yolk
2 tsp. fresh lemon juice
1/2 tsp. Dijon mustard
1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
3 tbs. vegetable oil

DIRECTIONS

Fill a pot with 1-2″ of water and bring it to a boil while prepping your artichokes.
Prep your artichoke by cutting the sharp tips off the artichoke petals. Then trim the top of the artichoke (cut off about 3/4″-1″) and remove the smaller petals by the stem. If your artichoke has a long stem, trim it down to an inch or less.
Reduce water to a simmer, place artichokes in a steam basket and cover
Cook for 20-40 minutes until the outer petals easily pull off.
While your artichokes are steaming, knead and roll your pizza dough. Add flour as necessary to keep the dough from sticking to your hands and surface. Stretch your dough to desired size and shape (1lb. of dough dough should create a 10-12″ circle). Sprinkle pizza stone with cornmeal to keep your dough from sticking to the stone. Once dough is in place, drizzle with olive oil, sprinkle with 1/2 of your chopped basil leaves, add all of the burrata and finish with a dash of salt and pepper.
Fire barbecue to medium flame and place pizza stone on grill.
In a medium bowl, combine tomatoes, garlic, the remaining basil, salt, pepper and olive oil. Stir to evenly coat tomatoes and transfer to a grill basket or foil and place on grill.
Remove artichokes from steam basket and cut in half length wise. Brush with olive oil, sprinkle with salt and place on the top rack of your grill.
Prep aioli (directions below) while monitoring grill.
Allow your tomatoes to blister and artichokes to char slightly before removing. Scoop out the heart of 2-3 artichokes.
Once dough has reached your desired texture, remove from grill and top with artichoke hearts and tomatoes. Garnish with fresh basil and shaved parmesan. Plate remaining artichokes with aioli and serve immediately.
Serve with your favorite red wine (I recommend this or this). Cheers!

AIOLI DIRECTIONS

Mince and mash garlic to a paste with a pinch of salt using a large heavy knife. Whisk together yolk, lemon juice, and mustard in a bowl.
Combine oils and add, a few drops at a time, to yolk mixture, whisking constantly, until all oil is incorporated and mixture is emulsified. (If mixture separates, stop adding oil and continue whisking until mixture comes together, then resume adding oil.)
Whisk in garlic paste and season with salt and pepper. If aïoli is too thick, whisk in 1 or 2 drops of water. Chill, covered, until ready to use.

Indigo Harvest Party

October 14, 2015

Last month, we threw a little get-together at work to congratulate two teammates who had achieved some major milestones. The vibe was supposed to be casual and nothing too fussy, yet I wanted it to feel pulled together with some commonality. Since it was almost fall, but was still so incredibly hot, I decided to play around with a harvest theme that incorporated some cooler hues to keep the design from being too stuffy and hot on a scorching September afternoon (no reds or oranges here!). Thanks to a recent trip to the Rose Bowl Flea, I had a ton of indigo fabric that I knew would make a great base. I picked up some weathered indigo cloth napkins from World Market to keep the look cohesive and to create some contrast against our simple white plates. Playing off of the harvest theme, each place setting had a little artichoke on the napkin and larger artichokes, bay leaf, and simple fall greens placed down the center of the table. I evenly spaced a few white marble candlesticks and some simple votives to bring in a little warmth and glow. Since we were super limited on time, I threw some extra greens in a pitcher for the buffet table and painted a really quick congratulatory sign with watercolor to hang above. The food was also kept simple with a cheese and charcuterie board to pair with each of the wines we were going to be serving that night. A few sprigs of green kept everything tied together and we were ready to go! Take a look at some of my favorite shots from the party below. Cheers!

{All images by Joel Maus of Studio EMP}

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!

Wine Wednesday

October 12, 2011

Wine and cheese are two items we always have on hand in our household. Whether it’s just the two of us for a relaxing night in or a casual last minute get together with a few guests, a great bottle of wine and a platter of 3-4 delicious cheeses sets the perfect tone for effortless entertaining. I’m not sure if it’s the fall colors over the weekend in Michigan or my cousin’s 2012 vineyard wedding brainstorming session that got me excited about wine parties, but I’ve really come back to California with an itch to host a slightly more formal wine tasting this fall that would include more than just four people. I’m thinking cheeses, meats, olives, gourmet mac & cheese and even cracker crust pizzas… YUM! Check out some of the images below that have me completely inspired (and hungry) this morning 🙂

{Cracker crust pizza, red wine and a fabulous raised cheese platter. Love! Image via}

{Delicious assortment! Image via}

{One of my personal favorites: bite sized gourmet mac and cheese. Mmm! Image via}
{Gorgeous! Image via}
{I love the idea of using a slate as a labeled cheese platter. Image via}

{Cleaver! Cork spreading knives to fit with the theme. Image via}

{What a great idea! Chalkboard runner with labeled pairings. Love! Image via}

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