Time: 10 minutes

Serves: 2-4 as a side dish

Inspired by: My love for asparagus, lemon and quick turn cooking when I’m in a hurry but want to eat healthy!

Ingredients:

• 1 bunch asparagus – ideally thin tender ones
• 1 lemon
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• Salt and pepper to taste

Preparation:

• Begin to heat a sauté pan or cast iron skillet.
• Wash and drain the asparagus. Snap the tough ends off the bottom.
• Grate the peel of the lemon with a fine grater (approximately 1 tablespoon of zest).
• Put the olive oil and the asparagus into the hot pan and toss well.
• Cook until you begin seeing the outside char but still firm.
• Squeeze lemon over the asparagus and add salt and pepper to taste.
• Cook asparagus just a bit more until it is your desired firmness; toss with lemon zest just before removing from skillet to serve.

Wine Suggestions: You might select a wine that goes best with your main course, however, Asparagus is one of those foods that has certain chemicals in it that can make your wine taste green and vegetal. Charring the asparagus on the grill or as in this recipe can help reduce that effect quite a lot, as can cooking with thin spears (which have less of these chemicals). Cheesy sauces and dressings help too, but I prefer to eat lighter and taste the asparagus! A few rules of thumb are to stay away from wines with lots of tannin and oak and choose crisp aromatic varietals such as Sauvignon Blanc, Verdejo, Pinot Gris or Gruner Veltliner and maybe an unoaked Chardonnay. Fruity, spicy and off dry whites such as Riesling and Gewürztraminer are good too, and Champagne is always a great option. With the lemon flavors in this dish I think the best pairing are high acid wines such as Champagne, an unoaked Chablis, White Burgundy or Sancerre.

Time: 20-30 minutes

Serves: 8-10 as a side dish

Inspired by: My good friend Sue who is amazing with both food preparations and wine and champagne selections! This was one of the several dishes she brought to a gourmet thanksgiving dinner party this year. Even those who don’t normally like cranberry sauce really enjoyed this refreshing side dish.

Ingredients:

• 1 bag cranberries
• 12-15 kumquats
• Approximately 1/4 cup sugar (taste for desired sweetness)
• Approximately 1/2 cup fresh, strong crystallized ginger (quantity can very according to your taste)

Preparation:

• Chop cranberries with sugar in a food processor and then dump into a large bowl.
• Pull the stems off of the Kumquats and cut into halves.
• In the same food processor (no need to clean), chop the kumquats with the ginger.
• Dump the kumquat-ginger mixture into the bowl with the berries and mix well.
• Refrigerate and serve the next day.

Notes: This is more of a light fruity salad than a relish/condiment, so I categorized it in both places.

Time: 15-20 minutes

Serves: As many as you’d like

Inspired by: Green beans are one of my least favorite vegetables, but when they are dressed up with things I like such a nuts and cheese, it changes everything.

Ingredients / Preparation:

• Green beans for as many as you are serving.
• Wash beans and snip off ends.
• Toss in olive oil, salt and pepper.
• Saute over medium heat for 5-10 minutes (depending on the texture you prefer). Sprinkle with grated Manchego (or any hard salty cheese) and toasted almonds.

Wine Suggestions: You’ll probably select a wine that goes best with your main course, but if you are considering wines that are most complimentary to green beans, good pairings are high acid, unoaked wines that can compliment herbal flavors such as Sancerre, Verdejo or my favorite would be a Gruner Veltliner that seems to pair well with most anything.

Time: 15-20 minutes

Serves: 8 as a finger food appetizer

Inspired by: The mother-in-law of one of my closest friends, Judy Sellers. Judy is food and wine savvy as well as being incredibly adventurous, fun and interesting – someone I’m thrilled to know. One thanksgiving when we hosted dinner, she and her husband joined us and brought this as an appetizer. Everyone loved it and I still make it for parties because it’s so yummy. That was my first introduction to Hugh Carpenter and this recipe is from his “Fast Appetizer” cookbook. After that a few of us girls took a “How to Cook Fish” class with him that was really well done.

Ingredients:

• 1 lb raw medium to large shrimp (deveined and peeled, but with the tail still on)
• 2 tablespoons thin or low-sodium soy sauce
• 2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lime juice
• 2 tablespoons freshly squeezed orange juice
• 2 tablespoons light brown sugar
• 2 tablespoons flavorless cooking oil (I use an extra light olive oil)
• ½ – 1 teaspoon Asian chili sauce (I’ve been using Thai Kitchen roasted red chili paste)
• 1 tablespoon finely minced fresh ginger (don’t forget this – it’s a key ingredient)
• 1 clove garlic, finely minced
• ¼ cup chopped fresh basil (I substitute with Italian parsley when I can’t get fresh basil)

Preparation:

• Fill a bowl with water and some ice to make very cold.
• Boil water in a large pot and cook shrimp about 1.5 to 2 minutes – until done but don’t overcook.
• Drain shrimp in colander and add to bowl with ice water so they don’t continue cooking.
• When it’s cooled down, drain again.
• Mix the basil Ponzu sauce ingredients together in a shallow glass bowl (this can be made up to 10 hours before serving).
• When ready to serve, toss the shrimp with the sauce – can serve with toothpicks as “finger” food.

Notes: I purchased Hugh’s cookbook so this is the original recipe, but I recommend doubling or tripling the Ponzu Sauce ingredients so it covers the shrimp a bit better, or if you wanted to put some on the side for dipping. The shrimp taste best when they are freshly covered or dipped in the sauce.

Wine Suggestions: Because there is a slight sweetness and spiciness to this sauce, a slightly off-dry wine such as a Riesling is a nice pairing. Depending on what chili you use, if the sweetness and spiciness is only slight, the ginger and other aromatics make it a nice pairing with dry, aromatic whites such as a dry Riesling, Gruner Veltliner or Torrontes.

Time: 30 minutes

Serves: 8

Inspired by: Once I started making quinoa more often, I found out that it tastes good with just about anything in it. I had these ingredients in the refrigerator and threw them in and it was so good with the spicy grilled shrimp I made that night.

Ingredients:

• 2 cups quinoa
• 2 ½ cups water (I always use 1 1/4 cups water for 1 cup quinoa)
• ½ teaspoon salt and a dash of olive oil
• 1 mango chopped in small pieces
• 1/2 – 1 cup chopped mint leaves (typically 1 bunch of mint)
• ½ teaspoon ground black pepper
• ¼ cup light olive oil
• Juice of one lime

Preparation:

• Rinse quinoa in a fine mesh sieve – run under cold water until water runs clear.
• Transfer to medium saucepan; add 2 ½ cups water, ½ teaspoon salt and dash of olive oil.
• Bring to a boil, cover, and reduce to a simmer; cook until water is completely absorbed – about 20 minutes.
• Transfer to a medium bowl and mango, mint and ground pepper.
• Drizzle with lime juice and olive oil and toss until well combined.

Notes: This is good hot or at room temperature so it’s easy to make ahead for dinner parties. It’s great as a leftover and heated up the next day too.

Time: 5-10 minutes

Inspired by: Rikke’s vegetarian lasagna with homemade pasta and a layer of pesto! This was the most amazing lasagna so when I tried to come up with a lasanga recipe that would be similar, I wanted to make my own pesto oil and concocted the below. Now I use this on pasta and in veggie dips. It’s so easy.

Ingredients:

• 3 garlic cloves
• 2 large bunches fresh basil leaves (approximately 3 cups lightly chopped leaves)
• 1 cup extra virgin olive oil
• ½ – 1 teaspoon of salt (to taste)
• 2-4 tablespoons parmesan (optional)
• pine nuts (traditional pesto has some pine nuts, but I prefer to leave them out)

Preparation: Blend all ingredients well in a food processor.

Serve with: Awesome on pasta. I use this in my grilled vegetable lasagna and white bean pesto dip.

Wine suggestions: I have heard that pesto can be a good pairing with Cabernet Sauvignon. I can see how that might be true with a pretty rich dish that uses a lot of pesto.