Ratatouille au Gratin How to Cook Two Meals at Once Hosting adults is one thing. Hosting families is another. While children aren’t exactly demanding when it comes to decoration and music, they can be extremely picky with food. This typically leaves you with two options: “dumb down” your entire meal to accommodate everyone or make [...]

Root Vegetable Gratin  It only tastes like you slaved over it. In an ideal world, your refrigerator is always filled to the point of bursting and you have all the time you need to cook a meal that everyone will love. In reality, however, your refrigerator may be pretty barren, especially towards the end of [...]

By Pat Anderson I’m sure most people who have grown zucchini have had the experience of finding the zucchini they missed… which has grown to a massive size, is seedy, and too big to be used in the normal way. What do you do? Here’s what I did: Serves 4 Ingredients: 1 massive overgrown zucchini… [...]

Swiss Chard Bacon Tart with Crème Fraiche and Pine Nuts Paired with Delta Pinot Noir or Kris Pinot Grigio, which do you prefer? We love these wines and can’t decide over 2010 Delta Pinot Noir from Malborough, New Zealand or the 2010 Kris Pinot Grigio, Veneto, Italy.  They are a great match for this savoury [...]

Pickled Beef Tongue Recipe in Creamed Spring Leek Tart This vibrant summer dish pairs beautifully with the clean notes of cool climate chardonnay. Meet Chef Young at the Moveable Feast brunch on Sunday, July 22nd. Tickets on sale at coolchardonnay.org. Ingredients: 1 beef tongue Water Salt Pickling Liquid: 2 cups white vinegar 2 cups water [...]

Ratatouille by: Shari Goodman Throw the word “Ratatouille” (rat-a-too-ee) into a conversation these days and people tend to think of the 2007 Oscar winning, computer-animated movie produced by Pixar. In this movie, Remy the rat, dreams of becoming the best chef in Paris, and not to spoil the movie if you are among the few [...]

Mushroom Strudel The Magician, an unusual blend of Shiraz and Pinot Noir, is Reif Estate’s first appassimento style red wine. In 2009 the winery purchased two tobacco kilns and refurbished them for a number of research projects including the drying of grapes prior to fermentation. The grapes were hand harvested and slowly dried in the [...]

Pistachio Crusted Rack of Lamb Paired with Grant Burge The Holy Trinity 2007, Australia French cut rack of lamb, encrusted with a blend of pistachio, herbs and Dijon, is the perfect partner for Grant Burge The Holy Trinity 2007. A blend of Grenache, Shiraz and Mourvedre, the wine offers lots of intense fruit with a [...]

By Pat Anderson Summertime, and sometimes it’s just too darned hot out to eat a hot meal. Soup and salad makes a great combination, especially if it’s a creamy cold soup that you’ve made in advance, and only needs to be poured from a pitcher in the fridge into bowls! Vichyssoise is an adaptable cold [...]