Appetizers for Another Wine Tasting

Each year, for the past few years, the Aberdeen Boys and Girls Club has been holding a large fundraising event. Wines are available to try and many people bring foods in, myself included, to eat while walking around tasting wines. My stance on this is to make particular foods that will pair the best with the wines I am serving at my table, and this has made my table sought after. I believe this has much to do with the fact that if a wine and food are properly paired, both the wine and the food will taste better.

Four of the Appetizers Served: Clockwise from top left: Lemon Artichoke Pesto Crostini, Smoky Beef and Currant Empanadas, Spanakopita Cups and Potato and Pea Samosas with Green Chutney

few years back, in with the auction held each year for a wine tasting for 20 to 25 guests at someone's home, my appetizers have been included as a part of the auction. This year, the people who won the auction held their wine tasting this past Friday evening. Generally, I am not informed of what particular wines the wine distributor will be bringing, so I go about creating appetizers that will possibly pair with at least a couple of wines, and ensuring that things will taste good.

At this wine tasting, the couple hosting chose to try each appetizer with wines I suggested might be best, and then taking it a step further and testing others, to see how they paired. I was extremely happy to see this approach, and there turned out to be some exceptional pairings. 

Rosemary & Parmesan Wafers

All the 6 appetizers I made were ones I had made before, minus the Rosemary Parmesan Wafers (recipe below). For example, I had made the Smoky Beef and Currant Empanadas a few years ago, originally to pair with a Malbec at the B&GC fundraiser. While they also went well enough with the Malbec at the wine tasting on Friday evening, it was an amazingly "smoky" flavored Zinfandel (Predator Old Vine Zinfandel, 2015) that really stole the show as a pairing for the smoky flavors of the empanadas.

Another surprise was the wines that paired with the little Potato & Pea Samosas. For the Samosas, I originally made them as Chicken and Raisin Samosas, to serve with a White Conundrum wine. They are easily made into Potato Pea Samosas by increasing the amount of potatoes in the recipe to 1½ pounds and eliminating the chicken entirely. A White Conundrum blend was also served at the wine tasting on Friday, and that was the direction I steered people. But while it was really a lovely pairing, I got thinking about a Carmenere wine I had researched years ago. The distributor had brought a different Carmenere (and the second I have ever tried) to this wine tasting, and I recalled how the articles I read on Carmenere stressed that it went well with things that contained cilantro. Since the green chutney I served with the samosas was made with cilantro and mint, I wondered. . .

And again, this was a most fantastic pairing, far better than even the Conundrum White. A total surprise and just perfect. The Carmenere was Casillero del Diablo Reserve, 2015. 

Other appetizers went well with the wines I suggested, such as the Hoisin Pork with Blackberry Chutney, which I wrote about when I tested the recipe on July 14th. I figured that its best match would be a Pinot Noir, and it certainly was. Anything more forcefully flavored just did not work at all, and I tasted it with a Cabernet, a Merlot, and also with a red blend. None of these did the appetizer any favors. The Joel Gott Oregon Pinot Noir 2012 was perfection with this appetizer. 

Rosemary & Parmesan Wafers

It was a really wonderful opportunity to taste and test wines with appetizers, particularly since I do so much of this king of food and wine pairing. At the last minute, I decided to add in one last appetizer, little Rosemary Parmesan Wafers, thinking it might just pair well with a Chardonnay. At home, I happened to have a Cabernet Sauvignon open, so I tasted one of the little wafers with that Cab, and it went wonderfully well. I was anxious to taste them with the Folie a Deux Russian River Valley 2014 Chardonnay, and this also did not disappoint. 

I omitted the chicken from two appetizers, mainly because at least one of the attendees at the wine tasting on Friday was vegetarian. The recipes themselves are easily made without the chicken. In the case of the Lemon Artichoke Pesto, when I made it originally, I first made the Lemon Artichoke Pesto and then sauteed the chicken in a pan and then pulsed it in the food processor, before adding it to the Pesto. I had tasted the pesto to see if the flavors were good on their own; they were fabulous. Once adding the chopped chicken, it made more, of course, and it tasted good, but it tasted good either way. If choosing to make this recipe (click the link to the recipe title above), simply omit the chicken and the next couple of ingredients, and proceed. The recipe was originally created to pair with a Pinot Grigio, and it paired nicely with the New Zealand, Peter Yealands Pinot Gris 2014, as well as with the Folie a Deux Chardonnay mentioned previously.

The Spanakopita Cups I made are such a tasty little treat and so very simple. With the flavors of spinach and Feta cheese, they pair excellently with a Sauvignon Blanc wine. In this case, it was Decoy, Sonoma County Sauvignon Blanc 2015. Interestingly though, there was a rosé that also paired well, having just enough acidity to work with the flavors. It was a Jean-Luc Colombo 2014 Cape Bleue Rosé.

Rosemary Parmesan Wafers

Rosemary Parmesan Wafers

Makes about 55 to 60 wafers

3 tablespoons sugar
2 tablespoons finely minced fresh rosemary leaves
½ cup almond meal
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 ounces Parmesan cheese, grated finely 
½ teaspoon salt
½ - 1 teaspoon coarsely ground black pepper
2 sticks (½ pound) cold, unsalted butter
2 egg yolks, lightly whisked 

In a small bowl, rub together the sugar and rosemary. Or, pound with a mortar and pestle. Pour this mixture into a food processor and add in the almond meal, flour, Parmesan and salt. Pulse to distribute ingredients. Cut the cold butter into small cubes and add them all at once to the bowl of the processor and pulse until the mixture resembles coarse meal. Drizzle the egg yolks into the bowl and pulse until the mixture begins to come together into a ball. Turn the mixture out onto a greased surface and divide in two halves. Roll each half of the dough into a long, narrow cylinder, the length of a paper towel roll. If you have an empty paper towel roll, or two, these will make excellent tubes to house the dough later. 

Once each half of dough is rolled into a neat cylinder, set two pieces of plastic wrap onto a counter and set the dough roll at one edge. Roll tightly and twist the ends to seal. If the paper towel roll is handy, slide the dough into the tube. Repeat with the other roll of dough.

Place the rolls of dough into the refrigerator for at least two hours or up to two days. If in a rush, freeze the dough for about 30 minutes. If the dough is left in the freezer for longer, it will have to be slightly thawed in order to slice them and bake.

Preheat oven to 350 and line two baking sheets with parchment. Remove one roll of dough from refrigerator or freezer and unwrap from the plastic film. Set the roll on a cutting surface and slice into ¼-inch thick slices. Set the slices of dough onto the prepared baking sheets, about 1-inch apart. Bake the wafers for about 15 minutes, or until very lightly browned at the edges. The wafers will seem quite soft at first, but will firm up once cooled. 

Store in an airtight container for up to 2 days.

These wafers make a wonderful pairing with a Chardonnay or Cabernet Sauvignon Blanc wine.

My passion is teaching people how to create a harmony of flavors with their cooking, and passing along my love and joy of food, both simple or exotic, plain or fancy. I continue my journey in ethnic and domestic cuisines, continuing my journey to explore diverse culinary experiences and hopefully to start you on a journey of your own. Join me also at A Harmony of Flavors on Facebook, and Pinterest.

Chicken & Mushroom Pate to Serve with a Pinot Noir

Continuing with my testing of new recipes to pair with the wines I will showcase at this year's Winefest Renaissance, benefiting the Boys & Girls Club of Aberdeen Area, yesterday I made Chicken & Mushroom Pate. This will pair with an earthy Pinot Noir from J Vineyards. Once again, the recipe came out splendidly, and just what I hoped, flavor-wise. Gathering ideas of what to use in the making of this appetizer, I selected items from my food and varietal pairing sheets. I wanted to use mushrooms, because what is more earthy than a mushroom? Still, I wanted to pair a meat in there somewhere. Chicken seems to be the dominant meat in this year's food pairings. So far I have 3 dishes with chicken as a part of the whole. 

Pairing list

Looking through the internet, the most common pairing in a mushroom pate is chicken livers. Perhaps chicken livers are a great match. I, however, will not eat liver of any kind. Believe me, it is not that I am blacklisting something I have never tried, either. I have tried chicken liver pate; even made it once myself. I was fed beef liver as a child and hated it then. I made it as an adult and still hated it. So, no liver in my pate!

So what would be good to pair with the mushrooms, I wondered. Since I had already bought boneless, skinless chicken thighs to use in the little Pork & Chicken Sausage patties for the sliders I wrote of a couple of days ago, I felt that chicken thighs, being a dark meat, would be a great pairing with the mushrooms. I do not really care for dark meat from chicken or turkey, but if it is mixed in something I can eat it just fine. Okay then, chicken thigh meat would be used. Looking at the list of foods to pair, I chose Pecorino Romano cheese to add that sharpness to the mix. I used fresh rosemary to perk up flavors even more. 

Chicken Mushroom Pate on Pita Crisps

Recently I created a spice mixture I am calling "Pepperless Piquancy". I love pepper. particularly black Tellicherry peppercorns, freshly ground. Not everyone is quite the pepper fanatic that I am though, so I was thinking about spices that could give a similar "zip" to a dish, but contain no true pepper. I made it up a while ago, but have not posted it here in my blog because I have been judiciously testing and tasting it to see how it works. I used some of this Pepperless Piquancy in my pate. I cannot really taste it as such, but I was really loving the overall flavors. Nothing was jarring or out of place. If you do not have the spices to mix a batch of my Pepperless Piquancy to try out in this appetizer, just substitute ground pepper; even better if the Gourmet Blend sort. If looking at the Pepperless Piquancy recipe below and you note that the main ingredient is pink peppercorns, understand that pink peppercorns are not related to pepper at all, but because they resemble pepper and have a certain pepper-like sharp fruitiness, they are included in pepper blends.

Pepperless Piquancy

Makes almost ¼ cup

1½ tablespoons pink peppercorns
1 tablespoon Szechuan "pepper"
1½ teaspoons Grains of Paradise
½ tablespoons ground ginger

Toast the first three ingredients in a hot, dry skillet until they are very fragrant. Pour them out onto a plate to cool, then grind them to a powder in a spice grinder or with a mortar and pestle. Stir in the ground ginger. Store the mixture in a jar with tight fitting lid in a cool dark place.
I also used a teaspoon of black cardamom seeds, going on what our friend Rich suggested when he first smelled their smoky aroma. He felt the black cardamom would pair well with mushrooms, and it truly does. Again, not everyone will have black cardamom in their spice rack, so this is optional. If looking for the smoky quality to substitute in this appetizer, I suggest smoked paprika. Use 1/2 teaspoon, taste and add another if it is not yet of the smoky flavor you want.

Down to the Basics

Okay, I now had a creditable list of food items I wanted to use in the making of this Chicken Mushroom Pate. I debated adding some dried mushrooms but left that out. Just another step, when there is already much to do. One thing I truly meant to do was add some toasted walnuts. Unfortunately I completely forgot! Another thing I absolutely wanted to do was deglaze the pan, after cooking either the mushrooms or the chicken. I like to add wine and let it completely evaporate. It gives such great flavor intensity. Mushrooms and chicken can be bland. I was looking for ways to punch up the flavor. I had some dry Prosecco in the fridge, so I used that. Any dry white wine would do well in this instance.

Now that I had an idea of how to make the Chicken Mushroom Pate, I also had to decide what to serve the pate ON. I thought long on this aspect. My sister in law suggested using the little bagel chips. Some bagel chips I have seen are very tiny, and I was unsure how this would work. I did like the idea of using something crisp, in contrast to the soft texture of the pate. I popped over to the local grocery yesterday and picked up a pack each of Bagel Chips and also Pita Crisps. Turns out that the bagel chips are so hard and crunchy, it makes it impossible to take a bite. Either you stuff your face with the whole thing, or it crumbles and breaks. Okay, nix the bagel chips. The Pita Crisps however, were perfect. I felt like I had found Mama Bear's Chair - it was just right. They are thinner, yet have enough strength to hold the pate. It is easy to take a bite and still have the remainder stay whole. Bingo.

One serving of Chicken Mushroom Pate, to pair with a sampling of Pinot Noir

This pate is perfect to serve in a bowl with a little spreader. Since I am using this to pair with a Pinot Noir at a wine tasting event, I am serving two little pita crisps with a little scoop of pate on each as one portion. Measured out, this recipe made 68 scoops (about 1 tablespoon each), or 34 servings.

Chicken Mushroom Pate

68 (1-tablespoon size) scoops

Chicken Mushroom Pate on Pita Crisps

CHICKEN PREP:
1 pound boneless, skinless chicken thighs, well trimmed
1 teaspoon Pepperless Piquancy, or ground pepper to taste
1 teaspoon salt
2 - 3 cloves fresh garlic, minced

MUSHROOM MIXTURE:
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 onion (about 6 - 6 1/2 ounces), finely chopped
1 pound mushrooms (I used Baby Bellas), sliced
½ teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon black cardamom seeds, ground, optional
1 tablespoon fresh rosemary leaves, finely minced
⅔ cup champagne or dry white wine
more olive oil, for frying the chicken
3 tablespoons fresh parsley, finely chopped
3 ounces (1 cup grated) Pecorino Romano cheese
½ cup heavy cream, divided
parsley leaves, for garnish

First, make sure the chicken is well trimmed of fat and cut into small pieces, none larger than 1-inch. Sprinkle on the Pepperless Piquancy, salt and the minced garlic and mix together well. Set this aside while preparing the mushroom mixture.

mushrooms releasing liquid  |  liquid cooked out  |  wine added  |  wine evaporated  |  chicken well browned

Heat a large skillet, preferably nonstick, and add in the butter and tablespoon of olive oil. Once melted, add the minced onion and lower heat to medium low, cooking the onion very slowly, about 8 minutes, until softened and golden. Add the mushrooms to the onions in the pan and raise the heat to medium high. It will seem a lot at first, but they will cook down quickly. Add in the 1/2 teaspoon salt, black cardamom, if using. Cook, stirring for 15 to 18 minutes, until all the liquid that releases from the mushrooms is cooked out, and the  mushrooms are golden brown. Add in the rosemary and the champagne and cook quickly, stirring, until all the wine has evaporated, 5 to 8 minutes. Pour this mixture into a large bowl to cool. 

Before and after processing the mixture

Return the skillet to the heat and add in a little more olive oil. Pour in the chicken mixture and cook on medium high, tossing continually to brown evenly and cook the meat through, about 6 to 8 minutes. Once meat is cooked through, add to the bowl with the mushrooms. Add in the parsley. Let the mixture cool to room temperature. 

Once cooled, add the Pecorino and mix. Using a food processor, process the mixture very fine in two batches. During this process, add in half the heavy cream to each batch being processed. Remove to a bowl and mix well. This can be made 1 or 2 days in advance. The mixture can also be frozen until needed. Thaw completely before using.

My passion is teaching people how to create a harmony of flavors with their cooking, and passing along my love and joy of food, both simple or exotic, plain or fancy. I continue my journey in ethnic and domestic cuisines, continuing my journey to explore diverse culinary experiences and hopefully to start you on a journey of your own. Join me also at A Harmony of Flavors on Facebook, and Pinterest.

A Great Website, and an Appetizer

Hi Everyone,

I have recently been contacted by a gentleman from Australia who has traveled fairly worldwide and has a wonderful concept for his website. It is all about bringing cultures together through food. All sorts of ethnicities are included, and he is attempting to include such things as where bloggers buy their food for these ethnic cuisines, not counting large supermarket chains. He is also interested in "street foods", something I was highly interested in, when I lived in Guatemala, though I never took photos of any of it, back then. If anyone is interested, I did list his website here: www.allaboutcuisines.com. I urge everyone to at least check out his website and if anyone can help with fleshing out the categories, and adding some great street food photos to that section, I am sure it will be greatly appreciated. Food brings together diverse cultures. This should be celebrated.

Mushroom Crostini with Sherry & Rosemary

Having lived in Guatemala for 12 years as a new young wife (long ago), I came in contact with so much new and interesting food I had never seen or heard of before, and this journey led me to a lifelong interest in ethnic cuisines and different foods and spices. That has brought me to where I am today. I constantly look for new ideas, new spices, new combinations. At times I have lived in places where many wondrous ethnic shops are available and at others not so much. But it has been a lifelong joy when I find a little ethnic grocery, where entering the new sights and smells just transports me to another place. The smells are just amazing.

When we lived in Justice, in the greater Chicago area, there was a little Greek/Italian grocery we frequented. Sadly I cannot recall the name, or exactly where it was located, but walking in there, the smell of the barrels of olives or huge chunks of Feta cheese were immediately noticed, as well as many other interesting foods not seen in a grocery chain store. In Guatemala I recall loving the typical candies like Canillas de Leche, or just the candied fruits like figs and oranges, or candied vegetables such as squash or sweet potato. We often stopped at little stands outside someone's house where we ate things like Pipian de Pollo or Res, or Tripa. We bought Pupusas and curtido. We often stopped for freshly roasted corn on the cob, rolled in cream and then in Queso Fresco. Those memories will never fade.

Black Cardamom, closeup

Green Cardamom

I wish now that I had had the foresight to get photos, no matter that they wouldn't be of great quality. Alas, the memory alone must serve. For now though, I made another recipe today that is just spectacular. It has been something percolating in my mind for some time, but when our friend Richard was visiting recently I was giving him some of the less-known Indian spices to smell. He is very inventive when it comes to pairing flavors, and after smelling the black cardamom (not to be confused with green cardamom, he commented that the smoky earthiness of the cardamom should go well with the earthy flavors of mushrooms. And I thought, "Duh! Now why did this never occur to me?" It is just wonderful to have others with great ideas like that. So today, I finally got down to trying it out. I had wanted to revisit a recipe I had played with a couple years back. It was mushrooms, and meant to go onto toasted bread. However, I burnt the bread so badly, the whole thing was a bust. You couldn't even taste the mushrooms for the burnt bread, though my husband valiantly ate them anyway. True love, there!

A few days ago I made some Multi Grain and Seed Bread that turned out just spectacular, so I used that bread as the base for these Mushroom Crostini with Sherry and Rosemary. This would be perfect on thinly sliced baguette, shown. The recipe makes about 3 1/2 - 4 cups worth and will top at least 24 little baguette slices. This should make 24 appetizer servings or 12 servings as a first course. A nice earthy wine would go well with these, such as a Pinot Noir, or a Carmenere from Chile.

Mushroom Crostini with Sherry and Rosemary

1 baguette, sliced about 1/4-inch thick
2 - 3 tablespoons olive oil for brushing on the bread

Mushroom Crostini with Sherry & Rosemary

1 ounce dried shiitake mushrooms, soaked 20 - 30 minutes in 2 cups boiling water
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 large onion, thinly sliced and rough chopped
2 - 3 cloves garlic
1 pound "baby bellas" or cremini mushrooms, stems removed, sliced thinly
1 teaspoon sea salt
a few grinds of the pepper mill
1 tablespoon fresh rosemary leaves, minced
1 black cardamom pod, seeds removed and crushed, pod discarded
1/2 cup Fino Sherry, or dry white wine
1/4 cup heavy cream
1 - 2 ounces grated Parmesan cheese

Heat a large skillet and add in the 2 tablespoons olive oil. Add the onion and reduce heat to medium low, cooking the onion slowly, tossing often, for about 15 minutes, or until nicely golden. Add in the garlic and sliced mushrooms with the salt and pepper and continue to cook, stirring often, until all the liquid has evaporated and the mushrooms begin to brown slightly. about 10 minutes. Meanwhile, remove the shiitakes from the hot water (discard water) and cut out the hard stems. Slice them in half, then thinly slice them across. Add the shiitakes to the skillet with the cardamom, rosemary and Sherry. Raise the heat to medium high and cook, stirring, until all the Sherry liquid has evaporated. Add in the cream off the heat and stir to combine. Set aside.

Broil the olive oil brushed baguette slices very close to the broiler for about 2 minutes, or until browned. Flip them over and brown the other side. Remove from oven and pile on mushroom mixture and top with grated Parmesan. Broil for another 2 minutes, or until the cheese is melted and just beginning to brown. Serve immediately.

1 ounce dried shiitake mushrooms

Bon Appetit!



My passion is teaching people how to create a harmony of flavors with their cooking, and passing along my love and joy of food, both simple or exotic, plain or fancy. I continue my journey in ethnic and domestic cuisines, continuing my journey to explore diverse culinary experiences and hopefully to start you on a journey of your own. Join me also at A Harmony of Flavors on Facebook, and Pinterest.

Lots of New Recipes to Create

There is a big Wine Tasting event in town this weekend, for the benefit of the Boys and Girls Club of the Aberdeen Area. I am participating in this event by showing people how to rate wines, using actual wine rating sheets, and then tasting food prepared especially for specific wines. If anyone out there has tried a wine and disliked it, you may want to rethink.

Wine and Food Pairings for the Wine Tasting Event

I have held wine tastings in my home, for family or select friends, just to demonstrate what differences can be found when one tastes a wine alone, versus with a food that goes well with the wine. One sister said she didn't like Chablis. Or, for that matter, the Crab Cakes I served with that wine. I asked only that she taste and give it an opportunity. She tasted the Chablis and was pleasantly surprised. We went through the rating process and proceeded to tasting the Crab Cakes. Once tasting the Crab Cakes, which she was reluctant to try, she said they were actually pretty good. Once tasting the Crab Cake with the Chablis, she was shocked! The flavors changed and it was as if it was a completely different wine. The Chablis tasted different, and far better, with the food, and the Crab Cakes became amazing.

This is the way to really find out what ones tastes are. It is not enough to taste a wine once and dismiss the entire scope of that grape on the basis of one wine that didn't meet with approval. There are so many vintners out there in so many countries, all making wines in different styles, out of the same grapes.

Now that I got thoroughly entrenched on my soapbox here, my topic was "lots of new recipes to create". Back to the Wine Tasting event, I am going to hand out rating sheets for 6 of the many, many wines to be tasted at the event. I am also preparing a particular appetizer to go specifically with each of those 6 wines. I researched online what the wine style is for each of these 6 wines, so I could pair a food accurately. That means I have 6 new recipes I will be creating this week. I hope I have some time in between to get back here and report progress.

I am going to be showcasing six wines. The list here shows the wine with the food pairing I am making. I am creating all these are recipes specifically for this event, and while they all "Taste" great in my mind, there is always the question of how they translate into actuality. Until then! Cheers!



My passion is teaching people how to create a harmony of flavors with their cooking, and passing along my love and joy of food, both simple or exotic, plain or fancy. I continue my journey in ethnic and domestic cuisines, continuing my journey to explore diverse culinary experiences and hopefully to start you on a journey of your own. Join me also at A Harmony of Flavors on Facebook, and Pinterest.