Vegetable

Brian likes to serve this slaw with Moroccan Lamb Brochettes (page 124), but it would also complement grilled swordfish, fish brochettes, or grilled sausages. Sometimes, at home with his family, he buys spicy merguez (lamb sausages) from a local merchant, grills them, and tucks them into a baguette with aioli and this crunchy slaw. Choose firm green olives, such as picholines. The texture will be better if you buy the olives unpitted and pit them yourself.

Although you might think of cooked beans as red-wine food, when they’re tossed with shellfish, greens, and a lemony dressing, they pair better with Sauvignon Blanc. Brian created this recipe for a Workshop session on wine and food matching, to demonstrate how ingredients like citrus and arugula can steer a dish toward white wine. Note that you need to soak the beans overnight.

For large parties, it’s useful to have a repertoire of easy hors d’oeuvres that guests can enjoy standing up, with no plate or silverware. Winery chef Tom Sixsmith developed these tender biscuits for the wine and food program at our Visitors Center, where guests can sample appetizers designed to complement our wines. The toasted walnuts in these savory biscuits and the blue cheese butter inside help soften the tannins in our robust hillside Cabernet Sauvignon. To save time, we make the biscuit dough in large batches, cut out the biscuits, and freeze them unbaked. Then we bring them to room temperature and bake them as needed so our guests have warm, buttery biscuits with their red wine. You could also serve them as an accompaniment to a green salad or a vegetable soup.

To show off Florida’s most famous shellfish, Chef Marty Blitz made miniature Thai-style tostadas at the Workshop in 1994. He replaced the conventional fried tortillas with wonton wrappers, which puff and crisp in the fryer and turn a rich nut-brown. Then he topped this crunchy base with a tangy crab and cabbage slaw sparked with fish sauce, lime juice, and chile. It’s finger food, but drippy. Offer sturdy napkins or small plates. If you dislike deep-frying, spoon the slaw into Bibb lettuce cups or Belgian endive leaves. You could also omit the wonton wrappers and serve the slaw in generous portions for lunch, or offer it as a side dish with baked or fried fish.

Chef Nancy Oakes used fresh duck livers from Sonoma County Poultry when she made these elegant crostini during the 1997 Workshop, but chicken livers work, too. She hand-chopped the warm sautéed livers with butter and a lot of sweet sautéed onion, plus just enough earthy truffle oil to make them worthy of a black-tie occasion.

At the winery, we are always looking for enticing finger foods that our guests can enjoy comfortably with a glass of wine in hand. This hors d’oeuvre from Memphis chef Wally Joe, devised at the 2004 Workshop, passes that test. Piped or spooned onto endive leaves, the mousse makes an easily passed hors d’oeuvre. The mousse’s creamy texture and smoky notes find an echo in our Napa Valley Chardonnay, and the apple garnish provides another aromatic link.

By mid-November, the tomato vines in our garden have usually had enough. The days are no longer sufficiently warm to ripen the fruits that remain on the plants, so we start thinking about fried green tomatoes. Southerners might raise their eyebrows, but Brian uses neither cornmeal nor bacon fat when he makes these. He prefers the lightness of vegetable oil and the crispness of a panko coating. These coarse Japanese bread crumbs are a favorite of many chefs because they produce such a crunchy and well-browned exterior. Brian tops the fried tomatoes with a dollop of softened goat cheese from Skyhill Farms and a spoonful of fennel marmalade. The dish offers so many pleasing contrasts: warm and cool, tart and sweet, crisp and creamy. We typically serve it as a passed hors d’oeuvre with our Sauvignon Blanc, which has the bright acidity to match.

The beets and cucumbers in Dolores’s summer garden and the tangy goat’s-milk yogurt from Skyhill Farms, a Napa Valley producer, inspired chef William Withrow at the 2005 Workshop. He folded diced roasted beets into yogurt, then spooned the mixture into edible “cups” made from cucumber chunks. When all of the ingredients are well chilled, this healthful appetizer is incomparably refreshing—just what you want on a warm summer night.

This modern, savory interpretation of panna cotta comes from Chef Debbie Gold, who participated in the 2000 Workshop. It has the silky, quivery texture of a traditional dessert panna cotta, with an appetizing butterscotch color. For an autumn first course, serve the custard with crisp toasts and a tart salad for contrast. Note that the panna cotta must be chilled for at least four hours before serving.

Inspired by the simplicity and purity of Japanese sashimi, American chefs are exploring the world of seafood crudo (Italian for raw). Typically, crudo is accompanied by Mediterranean garnishes like capers and olive oil rather than the soy-based dipping sauce that is served with sashimi. At the 2005 Workshop, Florida chef James Reaux made a beautiful halibut crudo with chive oil, using the abundant chives in the winery garden. For raw preparations such as this one, the seafood must be impeccably fresh.

Over the years, workshop chefs have devised many memorable hors d’oeuvres with chèvre because of Cakebread’s long friendship with two wine-country goat cheese producers: Laura Chenel and Skyhill. This one-bite appetizer, featuring soft herbed goat cheese spread on a potato slice with a dollop of tapenade, comes from chef Pascal Olhats, who prepared it during the 1993 Workshop. If you have a small food processor, you can halve the tapenade recipe, as you need only a small amount for this dish. Then again, tapenade keeps well in the refrigerator, and you will be happy to have some on hand. Use it as a sandwich condiment or spread for crostini, slather it on grilled tuna, or toss it with pasta.

The affinity between asparagus and eggs is apparent to anyone who has ever enjoyed an asparagus omelet. But here’s another variation on that theme. Brian roasts the asparagus to concentrate their flavor, then tops them with fried farm eggs basted with sizzling olive oil. The edges of the egg white become lacy and crisp while the yolk remains runny. A sprinkling of Parmesan helps make the dish more wine compatible. Serve as a first course for a spring dinner party, or in larger portions for a weeknight supper. It’s best to fry only one egg at a time, but each one takes less than 30 seconds.

A light, bright, citrusy hors d’oeuvre for a warm summer night, this tartare requires impeccably fresh tuna. Keep the fish on ice as you prepare it and serve it immediately for the most vivid flavor. To preserve the tuna’s plum-red color, don’t add the salt or soy sauce until the last moment. You can present the tartare in lettuce cups, if you prefer, instead of on fried wontons or crackers.

Like the Devil’s Food Cake recipe, this recipe is oil based, so it can easily be mixed by hand. Cake flour is used here, but not all grocery stores carry it. If necessary, you can substitute all-purpose flour—just use 1/4 cup less and be very careful not to overmix the batter. Also, you’ll notice that this is a raisinless carrot cake; that’s a personal preference. If you want to add raisins to yours, go ahead and add 1 cup. You can also omit the pecans, particularly if nut allergies are a concern.

We serve this seasonal cake from October through December, but it’s so good that people ask for it all year-round. I especially love it with the “Sassy” Cinnamon variation on the Vanilla Icing (page 136), though Cream Cheese Icing (page 144) and the Cinnamon variation on the Cream Cheese Icing (page 144) are good matches as well. Pumpkin Cake or cupcakes are a great dessert to contribute to Thanksgiving dinner, and are often a welcome variation to all the pies.

A colorful platter of crudités and dip is a sure crowd-pleaser for a party—or simply as a snack. As an alternative to lemon-thyme dip, serve the vegetables with the white-bean dip on page 51.