Copper Leaf Smoked Salmon Tartine with Orange Creme Fraiche

This is great opportunity to play with food and wine pairing.  The ticket price of $49 allows you to sample from what ever wines, beer, cider you select and to taste the bites that whet your appetite. The food servings are tastes. These samples are small so you can taste a large number of treats from the various chefs instead of trying just a few dishes before you are sated. I heard some complaints about the size of the tastes last year, but those came from people who expected appetizer sized plates or enjoyed the flavors so much they wanted more. One of the dishes that people couldn’t get enough of last year was Ruth’s Chris Steak House Rack of Lamb. Come with an adventurous spirit, ready to pair a number of bites with a number of wines and you won’t be disappointed.

Spend a Sunday afternoon savoring tastes from:

• Andaluca, Executive Chef Wayne A. Johnson
• Arnie’ s Restaurant.com, Executive Chef Bill Pennington
• bin on thelake, Executive Chef R. Paul Hyman
• Blackfish, Chef David Buchanan
• Blueacre Seafood, Executive Chef Kevin Davis
• Boka Kitchen + Bar, Executive Chef Angie Roberts
• The Capital Grille, Executive Chef Paul Vigil
• Chateau Ste Michelle/Chef in the Vineyard, Culinary Director John Sarich
• Cedar Café, Chef Brent Clarkson
• Coho Café, Executive Chef Bruce Nacion
• Copperleaf Restaurant, Executive Chef Mark Bodinet
• Eagle’s Buffet, Chef John Jadamec
• Earth and Ocean, Executive Chef Adam Stevensen
• The Georgian, Executive Chef Gavin Stephenson
• Ivar’s Seafood Restaurant, Executive Chef Jason Bray
• Purple Cafe and Wine Bar, Executive Chef Robb Kirby
• Ray’s Boathouse, Executive Chef Peter Birk
• Ruth’s Chris Steak House, Executive Chef Ian Branning
• Salty’s on Alki, Executive Chef Jeremy McLachlan
  

  Saltys Ceviche

• Taste of Tulalip, Executive Chef Perry Mascitti Pastry & Chef Nikol Nakamura
• Torch Grill, Chef Josh Schiessl

Make sure that you don’t miss out on the Shepard and Chef team for American Lamb, Lola Chef Liam Spencer along with Oregon lamb producer Reed Anderson.

Sparkling wines at Seattle Food and Wine Experience

Over 1000 brands of beer, cider and wine will be available for tasting and pairing. Sip wines from Washington, Oregon, Idaho, California, Spain, Italy, France, New Zealand, Australia, Argentina and South Africa. Be sure to stop by the comparative wine tasting bar, allowing guests to sample wines from different growing regions via side-by-side comparison. Regions included: Italy, New Zealand, Washington State and Oregon. Or create your own comparative tasting as you wander the aisles. Never had a Italian white wine? Here is your chance. Want to compare Pinot Noirs from around the world? Here is your chance.Want to experiment pairing red wines with chicken? Here is your chance! Have you ever tried a crisp radish with truffle salt paired with a cold beer? Stop by Pike Brewing booth for your chance to tantalize your taste buds!

Kathy Casey autographing cook books

Be bold and adventurous in your food and wine pairings as you enjoy the event. Ask the chefs for ideas to pair with their dishes or strike up a conversation with someone who is REALLY enjoying their pairing. Nancy, from deVine Table, wrote about some of last year’s successful Seattle Food and Wine Experience food and wine pairings.

Admission to the experience is only $49 per person and includes access to all areas of the event. No one under 21 will be admitted and ID is required.  A portion of proceeds from event ticket sales will benefit the Giving Grapes Foundation, a 501c3 organization that provides financial assistance to service industry professionals who have to take time off work due to injury or illness.

Related posts:

1. Seattle Food and Wine Experience 2010

With its passion for artisan food and local products, Seattle is starts to make sense. Add in the natural connections between Washington beer, wine and cheese, then add in the great summer time tourist activities available in Seattle and you have a great place to celebrate cheese.

What is Cheese-a-topia?

Cheese-a-topia is a huge celebration, an educational conference, a competition and retail opportunity all rolled into one! The core of Cheese-a-topia is the  multi-day conference. This conference is for cheese professionals and wanna-be cheese professionals. Conference sessions deal with diverse topics such as:

• Beer and cheese pairing
• Cheese making demonstrations
• Distributing cheese
• Marketing cheese
• Product liability issues
• Sensory evaluation
• Small business planning
• Wine and cheese pairing

The opening key note is Laurie Demeritt, COO and President of The Hartman Group. Michael Pollan, author and professor will be the closing keynote for the conference.

But there is more…

After Michael’s keynote there are the Cheese Awards and the Cheese Festival on Saturday.  Held at the Benaroya Hall, the Cheese Festival features all of the cheeses, tasty samples from the local Seattle restaurants and the opportunity to taste and pair with local craft beers and wines. The Cheese Festival is part of the core Cheese-a-topia conference, but the public can purchase tickets to just the Cheese Festival and Award ceremony for $85. That is the basics ticket but there is more…

Michael Pollan will be hosting a VIP cheese tasting at the Cheese Festival in the Founders’s room at Benaroya Hall. The VIPs will be tasting all of the best of category award winning cheeses with Michael. VIPs will also enjoy other delicious food and an open bar as they sample the best cheeses. Tickets to this VIP tasting are very exclusive and can only be purchased for $400 by contacting the VIP Guest Coordinator, Katie Crow, at (206) 322-1644 x38 or katie@sugarmtn.net.

Cheese-a-topia Public Cheese Sale

On Sunday, you can purchase chunks of great cheese for only $5. The public cheese sale will be held Sunday, August 29 from 11-2pm at the Palace Ballroom in downtown Seattle. Cash is preferred for this cash and carry opportunity for some truly exquisite cheese!

Related posts:

1. Wine and Cheese Pairing Class

Farm fresh vegetables

Food movements come and go but the locavore movement has been steadily growing over the last couple of years.  In 2007, it was the Oxford dictionary word of the year but what does it really mean? Locavores, (aka localvores) take on the challenge to eat locally grown and produced food for a day, a week, a month or a lifetime. While many locavores take it on as a challenge and restrict their diets to locally grown products, other simply prefer the taste and environmental benefits of foods that are fresh, seasonal, and grown close to home.

What are the benefits of eating and drinking local?

When it comes to eating local food, it is so much easier to get fresh food. It goes without saying that those Wenatchee apples are probably fresher than the ones from New Zealand. Seasonal eating comes into play, but if both apples were picked and enjoyed in peak season, that Wenatchee apple is going to be fresher. Food changes as it ages and the faster you get it after harvest the more it holds true.

Fresh ripe peaches and nectarines

The closer you are to the source of the food, the easier it is to delight in produce at the peak of freshness. Perfectly ripe fruit is delicious and fragile. It just is not feasible to ship really ripe berries or stone fruit long distances. Even at the local farmers markets you will see signs to handle the juicy and fragrant fruit with care or not at all. Some farmers are so protective that they insist on handling and bagging the fruit for you so it won’t bruise or burst before you buy it.

Heirloom tomatoes at the Farmers' Market.

When you eat local, you have the opportunity to eat new varieties of common foods as well as trying new foods.  This young gentleman is inspecting an assortment of heirloom tomatoes that you will not find at most of your large corporate grocery stores. Heirloom tomatoes were only one of the food discovered when this author challenged themselves to eat local and enrolled in a Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) program. CSA programs are a collaboration between farmers and near by communities to support families and farms to benefit both. It is a means of keeping local dollars in the local community.

People are passionate about food and where ever there is passion, there are politics. Food politics abounds on the web, in books and movies. Although we don’t necessarily see this network as a political platform, we are passionate about our food! Many of the reasons that locavores accept the challenge of eating local are political in nature.

But what about the drink? Did you know that wines are made in the Puget sound, with grapes grown here in Western Washington? I was greatly disappointed that the Puget Sound AVA was not represented at all at the recent North American Wine Bloggers Conference in Walla Walla. We will be featuring some of the wines grown and crafted in the Puget Sound area during our 100 mile dinner. Pike Brewing is also dedicated to sustainable and local brewing when they can maintain their quality. They hope to have some local beer for our dinner. I am also in conversation with Sky River Meadery. You can stay up to date on the beverages that I am able to find and acquire on the beverage forum topic.

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Recipe

• 1 clove garlic, cut in half
• 1/2 c. dry Italian white wine
• 1 TBS flour
• 1 c. crumbled gorgonzola cheese OR 1 c. grated provolone (the gorgonzola will make a more pungent fondue)
• 6 fresh basil leaves, slivered

Rub inside of fondue pot with cut side of garlic. Next, heat wine in pot until it begins to boil. Toss cheese with flour, then add slowly to pot, stirring the whole time. Add the basil leaves to mixture and stir until smooth. Serve with dippers like mushroom and roast beef skewers and cubes of bread.

Dedie served her Gorgonzola fondue with rare roast beef and mushrooms tid bits. It was my good fortune to sit next to Nancy who eats neither beef nor mushrooms, so I got to eat hers! It was a delicious and savory dish that we are still talking about a month later.

• Bean’s Cheese and Wine Pairing project
• Nancy’s Cheese and Wine Pairing project

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1. Wine and Cheese Pairing Class
2. Classics: Wine and Cheese

Food and Wine Pairing at NW Wine Academy

Advanced Food and Wine pairing transcends the classic pairing rules and encourages students to de-construct their food and wine pairings. Instead of learning to serve Wine A with sauce B, students will work with five proteins, five sauces and five wines to create the best pairing(s) possible. It is relatively easy to pair a single dish with a wine but creating wine pairing for a multi-course meal brings more challenges. Students will learn how to create menus for wine pairing that will please and refresh the palate through out the meal.

Advanced Food and Wine Pairing will be held at the Northwest Academy at South Seattle Community College on Thursday nights, starting July 1st. Class is from 5:30-9:30 for eight fun filled informative weeks. Intro to Food and Wine Pairing is a pre-requisite or permission from the instructor to register. This is a three credit course. Registration is now open. Don’t miss out! Contact Regina Daigneault, Wine Studies Coordinator (206) 764-7942 for more details.

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1. Wine and Cheese Pairing Class

Ruth Chris Steak House Preparing Rack of Lamb at Seattle Food and Wine Experience

One of my favorite ways to spend a Sunday afternoon is enjoying food and drink with friends and the Seattle Food and Wine Experience gave me the opportunity to do just that!

I was part of the media team, so I didn’t get to sample that many of the dishes as I would have liked but I did get to taste a few of the delicacies offered. The American Lam Board was a gold sponsor for this event, so there was a LOT of lamb to sample. Based on the length of the lines, the most popular was the three lamb options served by Ruth Chris Steak House. Executive Chef Ian Branning led a team that served three succulent lamb dishes:

• Coriander Cured Lamb Loin with Sweet Pepper Relish
• Braised Lamb Shoulder Tart with Salsa Verde
• Roasted Rack of Lamb with Chili Balsamic Glaze

Ruth Chris Steakhouse Rack of Lamb

The rack of lamb was especially popular, bringing both long lines and rave reviews. The Ruth Chris Steak House lamb trio was part of Ménage à Trois presentation. Ménage à Trois are three wines, each composed of three varietals, from Folie à Deux Winery in California. The red blend is composed of Zinfandel, Merlot and Cabernet. The white blend is composed of Moscato, Chardonnay and Chenin Blanc. The rosé blend is composed of Merlot, Syrah and Gewurztraminer. Press kit stated that the lamb dishes were to be paired with each of the wines  but that wasn’t clear at the event. I would have loved to see them reorganize the display so the lamb dishes were spread out and served next to the wines designated to pair with them instead of the lamb dishes at one end of the display and the wines along the sides.  It would have helped with crowd control and  made it easier for people to pair the wine and lamb. That side by side pairing of wine and food tables at the Lamb Jam is what I appreciated most about that event.

Tulalip Casino is becoming my favorite restaurant at wine pairing events. To be accurate, it is the Tulalip Casino family of restaurants: Blackfish Wild Salmon Grill and Bar and Tulalip Bay Fine Dining were represented at Seattle Food and Wine Experience. The lines were too long for me to take the opportunity to taste their creations at this event, but everyone I talked to that tasted the Tulalip offerings were raving about them, especially the crab cakes. Julien Perry blogged about his favorite foods, including the crab cake. Be sure to check out his gorgeous picture of the crab cake!

Milbrandt Vintners Rose

Two wines from the event come to mind about pairing with the crab cake. My favorite white wine of the day was Forgeron Cellars 2007 Chardonnay. This was an elegant chardonnay where the oak adds body but never forgets to respect the grape. This Washington Chardonnay is well balanced with fruit, pleasing acidity, body and a lingering finish.  I am betting that the Milbrandt Rosé would have been delicious paired with the crab cakes as well. This rosé is a pale salmon pink wine that had momentary exposure on the 100% Syrah skins. Crisp, light and bone dry, this Washington rosé was refreshing palate cleanser, ideally suited to patio sipping or paired with seafood.

Frost Donuts

Frost Donuts was another big draw at the Seattle Food and Wine Experience. I have been hearing about bacon maple bars for years but was always too timid to try one, but I couldn’t pass up a smidgen of smokey bacon maple bar from Frost donuts. I must admit that I have no idea what I would pair with this smokey, salty and sweet treat. I would love to hear your ideas!

Pearl Dining Porcini Chicken

One of my favorite dishes was the Porcini chicken with wild mushrooms and black truffle vinaigrette from Pearl Dining. The flavors were subtle but intoxicating. The dish was earthy, savory and satisfying! I would have loved to have paired this with Amity Vineyards 2007 Crannell Single Vineyard Pinot Noir. It was my favorite pinot of the event and had just enough earth in that pinot that I bet it would have rocked with the Chicken dish from Pearl. My picture taken under fluorescent lights can’t begin to do the Porcini chicken dish justice.

Pike Brewing Radish pairing

The title of this network may be called Food and Wine Pairing network, but I would be amiss if I didn’t point out the opportunities to pair beers and food at this event. Only one booth was specifically set up for beer and food pairing and that was Pike Pub and Brewing. I am not ashamed that I made TWO stops at the Pike Brewing booth to sample Naughty Nelly and Uncle Monk’s Triple and to snitch a radish lightly dipped in truffle salt. Yum!

Oil and Vinegar and more!

In addition to the beverages and prepared dishes there were a number of vendors to appeal to the foodies.  Oil and Vinegar had a beautiful booth highlighting their unique oils and vinegars. Attendees could sample a tempting variety of oils, vinegars and “dippers”. I tried the Tuscan Blend Dipper and it was delicious! The blend is designed to make dips, flavor pasta or sauces. At the show, the Tuscan Blend dipper was mixed with olive oil for a decadent dipper for crusty bread.

The Sea Salt Superstore was also getting a lot of buzz. They had a huge assortment of salts to sample and purchase. The one that really had attendees talking was the Smoked Bacon Chipolte Salt. The aroma on that salt was amazing and made me  wish my blood pressure would allow me to enjoy that salt on a regular basis.

Overall, people seemed well pleased with the event. No event is perfect and this event will continue to evolve. Be sure to get there early next year as the most popular dishes run out early and they would benefit from having more food available so it is available throughout the event. I am a lamb lover so I was a happy girl but there was complaints from vegetarians about the limited options for them. Although there were lots of beverages available, the one conspicuously missing was plain water. Water was needed to help people pace their alcohol consumption and cleanse palates.

Read more about the Seattle Food and Wine Experience.

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1. Taste and Learn at the Seattle Food and Wine Experience

“This lecture/laboratory class series introduces the philosophies and techniques involved in bringing cheese and wine together in a cohesive pairing. We will look at what makes some cheeses wine friendly and some wines are cheese friendly. The class will focus on the eight styles of cheese from fresh cheeses to bloomy rinds and blue; the challenges of pairing each style. The course will cover cheese production, storage and selection while exploring the relationship between the  Fromage Gérante and the Sommelier.  Participants will learn how to present a cheese plate or board.”

This wine and cheese pairing course is a 10 week credited course, offered as part of the Food and Wine Pairing certificate available at the NW Wine Academy.

WIN 156 Food and Wine Pairing: Cheese begins on April 6, 2010 on Tuesday evenings from 6-8pm.
Important Note: When registering online, you will see that course description talks about Fortified wines. Don’t worry as long as you register for WIN 156, you are in the wine and cheese pairing course.

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2. Classics: Wine and Cheese
3. NW Wine Academy offers Advanced Food and Wine Pairing this summer

If you need inspiration for tablescapes, recipes, or wine selections, go ahead and pour yourself a glass then sit down, relax, and take a look at what’s on the table.

Nancy demonstrated her skill in tablescaping, wine selection and cooking during our launch party for the Food and Wine Pairing Network launch party. If you enjoyed the party, stop by her blog and thank her! She is an exquisite  hostess and likes to share her expertise and experiences with others that want to create their own divine experiences around wine and dining.

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Classic cheese platter to serve with wine

In the world of wine, there are a number of classic food pairings: salmon and Pinot Noir, lamb and Merlot and of course wine and cheese. Wine and cheese are such a classic pairing that many people assume that any good wine will go with any good cheese.  We tend to be rule breakers around here  but there are some basic cheese and wine pairing rules that you will want to consider.

Cheese and Wine Pairing Rules

• The saltier the cheese, the sweeter the wine.
• The stronger the cheese, the lighter the wine in terms of body, color and flavor intensity.
• Creamy rich cheeses pair with sparkling wine and white wines. The high fat content of these cheeses distort red wines.
• Sweeter wines will pair with more cheeses than a dry wine
• Sparkling wines go with the greatest variety of cheeses
• What grows together, goes together in other words pair cheeses and wines from the same region.

Classic pairings

• Port  + Roquefort
• Sauternes + Blue cheese
• Sauvignon Blanc + goat cheese
• Sparkling wine + Brie
• Cabernet Sauvignon + aged Gouda

More pairing options

• Gewurztraminer + Swiss and German cheeses
• Viognier + goat and cow bloomy rind and washed rind cheeses
• Riesling + Gouda and savory, washed rind cheeses
• Merlot + sheep cheeses
• Pinot Noir + Manchego

• Sangiovese + Gruyere
• Shiraz + aged cheddar

Want to learn more about Cheese and Wine Pairing? Check out Chef Lenny Redé’s Wine and Cheese pairing course at NW Wine Academy.

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2. Cheese-a-topia comes to Seattle
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Asparagus served at ANOTHER wine event

BUT, I don’t always love asparagus with my wine! Asparagus is such an elegant vegetable that it is often served by chefs at wine events. It does look gorgeous and asparagus can be a delicacy when attended to by a talented cook. All is well until you take that first sip of wine after the asparagus. Ewwww!

Wine + asparagus = ?

Asparagus makes wines taste “green” or vegetal.  Sometimes people will describe a wine as dank when paired with asparagus. Asparagus can turn a fruit forward fruit into something too nasty to name. Asparagus greatly exaggerates the oaky characteristics of a wine and wines with a high level of tannins can be ruined by a bite of asparagus. Joe Power of Another Wine Blog calls asparagus  kryptonite to oaked Chardonnays and big tannic red wines.

Wines that work

So what is a wine lover with a fondness for asparagus to do? Look for wines that inherently have some green notes like Pinot Grigio (Pinot Gris) or Sauvignon Blanc.  Those two wines are the most popular white wines to pair with asparagus but they are not your only options. How about a Grüner Vetliner? I haven’t tried it yet myself but Barry from Barry’s Wine Notes says that it is a winning wine to pair with white asparagus, Spargel Allemagne. Others advocate for pairing asparagus with a quality Grüner Vetliner, that some complexity to the wine is the key. A Riesling can also work with asparagus, the key is a crisp acidity and some nice citrus notes to the Riesling. One of my tasks this spring will be to try a Siegerrebe with asparagus. I will let you know how it goes.

Think green, think acid and think citrus when it comes to pairing a white wine with asparagus.What about red wines and asparagus? This is a much trickier pairing but not impossible, especially with grilled asparagus.

Philippe Jeanty, chef-owner of Bistro Jeanty in Yountville, California, in an interview with Sunset magazine recommends:

“Pinot Noir. The char character from the grilling works wonderfully with Pinot, which is both light-bodied and earthy.”

Some people advocate pairing a Beaujolais with asparagus. I am not the biggest Beaujolais fan so I am not the best judge on this pairing. It might work with the extremely low tannins of Beaujolais but I am thinking there is too much fruit to go with most asparagus dishes. What do you think?

Don’t forget the old adage of pairing, when in doubt think BUBBLES! A crisp sparkling wine that leans more toward the mineral notes versus fruit will pair with grilled asparagus as well as a creamy asparagus dish.

Cooking Techniques

Try grilling the asparagus to tone down some of that bitter grassy “green” flavor. Then serve the grilled asparagus with a creamy sauce or dip like Hollandaise.  I sautéed asparagus then made a creamy ham and asparagus casserole. The creamy cheese sauce mellowed the asparagus without killing the flavors that make the vegetable unique and made it much more food friendly. I enjoyed a light rosé with that springtime casserole even though rosé is usually considered a big no-no when pairing with asparagus.

Citrus is an important bridge for pairing for asparagus. Try lemon pepper and lemon butter to help you pair the asparagus with wines that can mirror those citrus notes. Fresh orange  pieces tossed into asparagus sautéed in lemon butter is as beautiful as it is delicious! It is also much more food friendly.

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