One can never have too many simple, no-brainer pasta recipes to fall back on during a hectic weeknight. Nor one that goes so perfectly with a freshing wine that’s breaking new ground in packaging.
“Penne with Broccoli, Pine Nuts & Ricotta” is ideal for those times when you have leftover ricotta from baking a sweet treat.
This quick and nourishing vegetarian pasta dish is from the cookbook, “The Mediterranean Cook” (Smith Street Books), of which I received a review copy.
It was written by Meni Valle, an Australian cookbook author of Greek heritage who’s an expert on Mediterranean cuisine.
Arranged by the seasons, the no-fuss recipes include “Watermelon & Feta Salad with Flaked almonds, Honey Vinaigrette & Mint” and “Pumpkin & Feta Piet” in spring-summer; and “Green Minestrone” and “Roasted Eggplant with Cannellini Beans” in autumn-winter.
When Mike Lanham was a young cook, he’d dress up in his one set of nice clothes and use his meager savings to dine at a two- or three-starred Michelin restaurant. Admittedly, as early as 2 hours beforehand, he’d find himself getting nervous, anxious that he’d fit in properly or commit a dining faux pas.
So, when it was time to open his own restaurant, he knew he didn’t want his diners to feel the same jitters.
“Fine-dining should be fun,” he explains, “and well thought out.’ But certainly not intimidating.
His aptly named Anomaly aims to deviate from the expected stiff formality one sometimes associates with highfalutin dining.
The tasting menu-only restaurant started out as a pop-up before opening its own brick-and-mortar in San Francisco’s lower Pacific Heights neighborhood. Last week, I was invited in as a guest of the restaurant, which received recognition from the 2024 California Michelin Guide.
The restaurant has two dining rooms, the front one right behind a lounge-space where diners can enjoy glasses of sparkling wine before they are escorted to their tables; and a second main dining room that affords a bird’s eye view of the open kitchen.
A Prosecco that has no bubbles. And it’s intended to be that way.
Wait. What?
Nope, this isn’t Prosecco that lost its fizz after being opened for a couple of days. Instead, Voga Italia Prosecco Still is just that — a still wine.
It’s made by Voga Italia, part of Enovation Brands. CEO Giovanni Pecora explains that Prosecco can be made in three styles: Spumante (fully sparkling), Frizzante (semi-sparkling), and Tranquillo (still).
I had a chance to try a sample, which comes in a trendy contemporary bottle that looks very much like the a Voss water bottle. Unscrew the plastic cap and there’s a cork underneath.
This wine is made from the Glera grape from the Veneto region of Italy. With plenty of acid and minerality, this refreshing wine tastes of green apple, lemon, lime, and a touch of kiwi.
Wisconsin-born and a teacher by profession, Debra Mathy shared a passion for wine with her father. So much so, that the two of them spent years looking at wineries around the world in hopes of one day buying one.
Sadly, just three months before she would buy Dutcher Crossing Winery in Geyserville in 2007, her father was diagnosed with melanoma cancer and passed away.
She pressed on, though, intent on fulfilling their dream. Indeed, she became the first single woman to own a winery in Sonoma. When she purchased Dutcher Crossing, it made five wines and consisted of 35 acres. Today, it produces more than 30 wines across 75 acres.
I had a chance to sample a bottle of the 2023 Dutcher Crossing Winemakers’ Grenache Rosé ($40) from the Dry Creek Valley. The pale salmon-hued wine is full of the lively flavors of strawberries and raspberries. Tangy and refreshing, it spent four months in neutral French oak barrels, giving it a tad more body.
It’s not by accident that the names of both Theorem Vineyards and its signature Voir Dire Cabernet Sauvignon allude to science and truth.
After all, the 60-acre Calistoga property was originally purchased in the late 1800s by Dr. Richard Beverly Cole, who not only was San Francisco’s first practitioner of obstetrics and California’s first surgeon general, but also built what is believed to be the first school house in the Napa Valley on that land. The Cole Valley neighborhood in San Francisco is named after him, too.
In 2012, the property was purchased by husband-and-wife, Jason Itkin and Kisha Itkin, who were merely looking for a second home. He is a Houston-based top trial lawyer who famously won an $8 billion record-setting verdict against Johnson & Johnson, and she is a former reservoir engineer who worked in the oil and energy industry.
Six years later, though, they opened their winery there. They now produce eight wines with their winemaker Andy Jones, former assistant wine maker for Thomas Brown; and consulting winemaker Thomas Rivers Brown, one of the valley’s most distinguished winemakers.
You can taste those wines, if you’re fortunate enough to be one of only 17 guests the winery is permitted to host each day, Wednesday through Sunday, by appointment-only. But it will cost a pretty penny. Lavish and over-the-top, the standard wine tasting with cheese is $200 per person. If you’re feeling flush, tack on additional $95 per person for the “Garden & Glass” option that includes substantial gourmet noshes featuring beef from cows with Wagyu genetics raised on the Itkins’ 20,000-acre Theorem Ranch in Montana, as well as veggies and herbs harvested from the winery’s own culinary garden.
Last month, I had a chance to do just that when I was invited as a guest to tour the winery and experience its “Garden & Glass” that began with a welcoming glass of its 2022 Sauvignon Blanc, a zippy white with nice minerality plus more body than expected, thanks to time spent fermenting in neutral French oak.