Time: 5 minutes

Serves: 2

Inspired by: The first time I had scallops cooked perfectly, they became a favorite food! Unfortunately many restaurants don’t cook them hot enough and then overcook them so they don’t get that yummy glaze and can be rubbery. I’ve also found that they are phenomenal without very little seasoning – just a bit of salt and pepper. This is about as easy as it gets… The photo above shows them served with a spinach salad with mango vinaigrette.

• 3/4 of a pound of wild scallops – ideally fresh but if they’ve been frozen they are almost just as good
• 1 cup of spinach leaves or other greens (optional)
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• salt and pepper to taste

Preparation: Add the olive oil to a large sauté pan on high heat. Once it is very hot, add the scallops. If they are medium to large – cook them 1.5 – 2 minutes on each side. They should get nice and browned (that’s from the very hot pan) quickly. Add a bit of salt and pepper to taste and use tongs to serve on a bed of greens or with your favorite salad.

Wine Suggestions: I love scallops with a crisp, high-acid wine with a lot of minerality.The Albariño that we had them with tonight (photo below) was beautiful (2008 Bodega Fundada Rias Baixas). A Chablis or White Burgundy with no or light oak would be beautiful as well. Some love a creamy, buttery chardonnay to match the creaminess of the scallops. The photo above shows them served with a spinach salad with mango vinaigrette, and because of the texture of the scallops and sweetness of the salad dressing, the pairing with this viscous, minerally and fruity Condrieu was perfect!

Time: 45 minutes to prep and cook; 15 minutes to assemble after cooled

Serves: 40 “bites”

Inspired by: This recipe is from Hugh Carpenter’s “Fast Appetizers” cookbook. I was looking for a fun finger food with caviar for New Years Eve. I added a tiny bit of sour cream to these, but I think they’d be great either way.

Ingredients:

• 20 baby red potatoes
• 2 tablespoons flavorless cooking oil (I used a light olive oil)
• 2 ounces fresh caviar, good to best quality
• 2 tablespoons chopped chives (no chives at the market today so I am using chopped spring onion)
• 2 tablespoons sour cream (optional)

Preparation:

• Preheat the oven to 375 degrees
• Cut the potatoes in half and slice off a very small sliver on the rounded side so they don’t wobble around on the cookie sheet
• Rub the potatoes with the oil and place on cookie sheet
• Roast until they feel tender when prodded with a fork – about 30 minutes.
• Cool to room temperature.
• Cut a small scoop/hole in the top of each potato. Fill with caviar and sprinkle with chives. If you are using sour cream, later in just a dab of it before the caviar and chives.
• Refrigerate.

Notes: This can be completed up to 8 hours before serving if you are not using the sour cream. If you are, it can get a little watery so wait and assemble close to serving. Serve chilled.

Wine Suggestions: Caviar and Champagne are always a fun pairing – their complimentary textures are perfect and the high acidity of the champagne is perfect with the brininess of the caviar. Of course any other dry, crisp high-acid white wine would be excellent as well such as a Chablis or other unoaked White Burgundy.

Time: 1 hour

Serves: 45 “bites”

Inspired by: I can’t remember when I first had these. I just know that I’ve always loved mushrooms of any type, and every time I’ve had these I’ve thought they were decadent. With something close to these ingredients as the stuffing, I don’t know how you can go wrong. I love that they are easy to prepare ahead for parties and I think they still taste good even when they cool off and are only at room temperature.

Ingredients:

• 45 cremini mushrooms
• 1 onion, chopped well
• 2 cloves garlic, minced very fine
• 2-3 tablespoons butter
• 5 stalks celery, chopped well
• 1 cup chopped parsley
• 1 1/2 cups grated parmesan
• 1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• salt to taste
• 1/2 – 1 cup bread crumbs

Preparation:

• Wash mushrooms; remove stems carefully to keep mushrooms whole – keep the stems
• Slice off a very small sliver on the rounded side of the mushroom and lay them on a cookie sheet (that keeps them from rolling around)
• Chop all the excess mushroom stems and pieces well
• Melt the butter in a large saute pan and saute the onions, chopped mushroom stems and garlic  – about 10 minutes on medium heat
• Add the chopped celery, parsley and black pepper – saute another 10-20 minutes until everything is cooked through
• Add the parmesan and then begin adding some breadcrumbs until the mixture is your desired thickness for stuffing the mushrooms
• Stuff the mushrooms so that they are very full and rounded at the caps
• Bake at 350 degrees for about 20 minutes

Notes: You can prepare these and wrap them up well in the refrigerator a day ahead of cooking. It’s best to bring them to room temperature before baking. And a note to myself – I think chopping all this stuff should work just fine on “pulse” mode in the food processor. Every time I make them I think about that when I’m almost finished chopping.  It would save a lot of time!

Stuffed Mushrooms – Pre Baked

Wine Suggestions: I love mushrooms with a Red Burgundy, but I think the flavors here would go well with most high-acid crisp whites (White Burgundy, Gruner Veltliner, Sancerre, Chenin Blanc), and light to medium-bodied reds (Red Burgundy/Pinot Noir, Rioja).

Time: approximately 1 hour; 20-25 minutes prep; 30-35 minutes to bake

Serves: approximately 30 2 x 2 inch squares

Inspired by: My friend Jeanette makes the most amazing brownies. She never gives out her recipe – smart girl! I am making desserts for my New Years Eve party and wanted to try one new dessert. It’s funny to realize that I’ve never made brownies. As I thought about what I’d like in a brownie, chewy and cherries came to mind (I love both) so I decided to at least attempt something like that. If you are a brownie “purist” I’m sure you’ll want to skip the cherries. I took the core of an old recipe on the Sunset magazine website for chewy brownies and then added my own twists — dried tart cherries and orange zest. I have no idea if the orange zest did anything at all since the other flavors are so strong/rich, but it sounded good to me when I saw an orange here in my kitchen. I might even try adding a bit more next time. I can’t believe how easy they were to make, but the jury is still out…. I wasn’t crazy about how “gooey” they came out initially. For me, chewy = great. Gooey = ?? I’m not sure about that yet. I did find, however, that they were awesome with a perfect consistency two days after making them.

Ingredients:

• 1 cup unsalted butter, cut into chunks
• 4 ounces of unsweetened chocolate, broken into chunks (1/2 of an 8 oz Ghirardelli bar)
• 4 large eggs
• 2/3 cups sugar
• 3 tablespoons orange zest (or whatever you get by grating the peel of one orange)
• 2 teaspoons vanilla
• 1 cup all purpose flour
• 1/4 – 1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate pieces (the other half of an 8 oz Ghirardelli bar broken into small pieces)
• 1/2 cup dried and pitted cherries (I used Montmorency cherries that I found at Trader Joes)

Preparation:

• In a small saucepan melt the butter and the unsweetened chocolate on medium to low heat.  Begin stirring once it is soft and remove from heat once it is melted.
• In a large bowl, hand mix the eggs well.
• Add the sugar, vanilla and orange zest; mix well.
• Add the chocolate/butter mixture; mix well.
• Add the flour and mix well (you can easily do all the mixing by hand).
• Butter a 9 x 13 x 2 inch baking dish and pour the brownie mixture into the dish.
• Sprinkle the semi-sweet chocolate pieces and cherries over the top evenly and then push down and spread a bit so they are slightly covered with brownie mix.
• Bake in a 350 degree oven for 25 minutes.
• It should spring back a bit with a quick touch, but unlike a pie, an inserted knife will not come out clean – it should still be pretty gooey inside.
• Let cool completely on a rack before cutting. Will stay fresh for a couple of days (normally I’d say in an air tight container but I left mine in pastry cups in the open air and they were even better two days later).

Notes: I originally used 3/4 cup of the cherries and the semi-sweet chocolate chips and a bit more chocolate in the initial mix and I think it was too much of both, so I already modified the recipe a bit. I might even skip adding the chocolate chips at the end next time and see how they are without. I need a lot more experimentation here – but wanted to keep these notes for next time I try this again!

Wine Suggestions: I would skip the wine – these are so rich, but I’ll add a few notes here. I often hear people say they like red wine and chocolate. I can see how this might work in some unique cases of overripe, almost sweet wines, but I prefer my wine to be a bit sweeter than my dessert. I think a late harvest zinfandel or a tawny port could be awesome with chocolate, and fortified fruity wines like Banyules and Ruby Ports typically have cocoa or chocolate in the nose, as well as other berry fruits like cherry and raspberry and are classic companions to chocolate.

Time: 10-15 minutes

Serves: As many as you’d like

Inspired by: Eating at Madison & Fifth with my good friend Jeanette. We LOVE the pasta/mushroom dish there – it’s much more decadent than what I make because it has truffle oil and butter – but that dish really just reminds me that I love fresh pasta with any kind of sautéed or grilled mushrooms on top! This is about the easiest dish to prepare – no recipe required really – but I’m posting this as a reminder to myself to make this now and then.

Ingredients:

• Fresh pasta – I prefer Pappardelle or any thin, wide fresh pasta noodle
• Approximately 3/4 of a cup chopped mushrooms per serving – I think all mushrooms rock – these are cremini in the photo but I’ve used all kinds and often many kinds all together (grilled Portabellas are another favorite)
• Butter or olive oil
• Fresh lemon juice
• Salt and pepper
• Fresh minced garlic (optional)
• Fresh parsley chopped (optional)

Preparation: Wash, slice and sauté mushrooms in butter or olive oil  – add salt and pepper to taste. I think salt is the key to bringing out the flavors of the mushrooms. Mushrooms are also best when not overcooked – keep them firm and juicy – probably about 5-8 minutes on a medium heat for cremini’s – this varies quite a bit per type of mushroom. If you love garlic, add some minced garlic a few minutes before the mushrooms are finished cooking. When the mushrooms are just about finished, take them off the heat. Cook the pasta according to instructions, usually about 2 minutes. Drain pasta and immediately toss in olive oil, a bit of lemon juice and a bit of salt and pepper. Add some chopped parsley if you like. Pour the mushrooms and their cooking juices over the top and toss lightly.

Notes: I recently made my favorite grilled vegetable lasagna and had a couple of packages of fresh lasagna sheets left over so I cut them into 3/4″ strips and they were awesome as pasta noodles. The fresher the pasta, the more easily the noodles stick to each other so add some olive oil to your cooking water, stir pasta immediately after dropping into the water, and add some salt for flavor. Continue stiring a bit to keep the noodles separated while cooking. After draining, toss immediately with olive oil to keep noodles separated.

Wine Suggestions: I love an earthy Red Burgundy with anything mushroom! My next choice would be a high-acid white to cut through the butter such as a Chablis or White Burgundy. Because this is buttery, many people would also love a rich, buttery and creamy California Chardonnay.

Time: 60-75 minutes

Serves: 4  – just the two of us had this tonight with fresh whole grain bread and roasted brussel sprouts. We could have easily had two more people join us – we ate way too much and we’ll still have awesome leftovers for tomorrow.

Inspired by: It’s the end of December and for the past couple of weeks, I’ve been seeing Dungeness crab at the fish counter. I’ve been thinking that I must get some of these before the season is over! I LOVE crab and it brings with it a lot of memories for me – mainly related to my dad. I remember as a child going out for crab with my family, and my brother and I would leave the restaurants still playing with the claws. I also think of my dad ordering crab cioppino at restaurants and wearing a bib because it was so messy. When I started thinking about what I wanted to have for dinner tonight, crab and tomatoes came to mind… and that got me googling crab cioppino recipes. The first one I found was “Judith’s Dungeness Crab Cioppino Recipe” from Food and Wine (Judith was chef Michael Mina’s late mother-in-law who apparently used to make it for Christmas Eve dinner). It looked great and easy, but I had to make a few modifications based on ingredient availability and the fact that I was cooking for 2, but it turned out so amazing, I’ll do it exactly the same way next time! This recipe makes a very thick soup with a LOT of kick! Yum.

Ingredients:

• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 1 small red bell pepper – chopped
• 1 small onion – chopped
• 1 large jalapeno – minced
• 4 medium garlic cloves (2 minced; 2 whole)
• 1 tablespoon tomato paste
• 1-2 bay leaves
• 1/2 cup dry red wine
• 1 14 oz can of fire roasted organic tomatoes – diced
• 1 10 oz can of whole baby clams
• 1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 1/2 cups hot water
• 1/2 – 1 cup packed basil leaves
• 1/2-1 teaspoon crushed red pepper
• 1 steamed Dungeness crab
• 8 mussels
• 8 littleneck clams
• 12 shrimp – shelled and deveined
• some small scallops or halibut pieces (optional)

Preparation:

• In a large soup pot, sauté the onion for about 2 minutes on high heat. Add the red bell pepper and sauté for about 2 more minutes. Add the minced garlic and jalapeno and sauté for another 6 minutes or until it is all very soft and beginning to brown.
• Add the tomato paste, stir well, and cook for another minute.
• Add the tomatoes, wine and bay leaf and cook for another 5-10 minutes – until thickened.
• Add the can of clams with their broth and season with salt and pepper.
• Bring to a boil and cook on medium heat for about 20 minutes.
• Meanwhile – in a food processor – combine the basil leaves, whole garlic cloves, and red pepper flakes – chop well. Add 1/8 cup of olive oil and puree until smooth. Then prepare the crab by removing the top shells and the flap on the undersides – pry out any brownish insides and feathery lungs and discard. Rinse the crab bodies in cold water and break them up into pieces that are a few inches in length – or however you’d like to see them presented in your dish when serving.
• Now it’s time to add the clams, mussels and shrimp to the pot – be sure to push them into the hot broth. Once the shells of the clams and the mussels open (about 2 minutes), add the crab pieces and push into the broth as much as possible – put the lid on the pot and continue to cook for another 2-4 minutes until everything is hot.
• Use tongs to take out all the shellfish and distribute evenly into bowls – then scoop out broth evenly into bowls.
• Drizzle/spread the basil puree over the top of each and serve with fresh bread.

Notes: I would have liked including some scallops, but they weren’t available. White fish, such as Halibut, would have been good too. If you like your broth thinner – replace the can of clams with 16 oz of clam broth (I wasn’t able to find it – the stores were probably sold out from Christmas, but it’s what the original recipe called for). I’m sure you could also double the diced tomatoes without losing flavor – this is a VERY flavorful and spicy dish! It can also be made ahead and refrigerated for up to 3 days.

Wine Suggestions: We drank this with a 2003 La Spinetta Barbera d’ Asti Superiore. It needed some decanting, but it was a fabulous pairing with the rich tomato and spice of the dish.