• 4 cloves garlic
• 2 tsp. salt
• 3 T. fresh rosemary, chopped
• 2 T. fresh thyme
• olive oil (see below)
• 8 lamb chops, 1 inch
• 6 shallots
• 8 Roma tomatoes
• 1/3 cup Kalamata olives, drained, pitted and chopped roughly
• 1 cup red wine (Pinot noir or other fruity red)
• 1- 1/2 cup homemade stock – vegetable or beef
• 2 T. butter

1. Overnight (or less, depending on your schedule), marinate lamb chops in a zip lock bag with 4 T. olive oil and 1 T. fresh rosemary. Remove and pat dry with paper towel.
2. Mince the garlic. In a small bowl, blend the garlic, salt, herbs, pepper, and three T. of olive oil. Set aside.
3. Preheat oven to 425.
4. Quarter the shallots and tomatoes and toss in a bowl with 1 T. olive oil, sugar and salt and pepper to taste. Place on a baking sheet, tomatoes cut side up, and roast in oven for 20 min. Set aside.
5. Sear chops in skillet, in 1 T. olive oil over moderate heat until golden brown, 3 minutes per side.
6. Transfer chops to shallow baking dish, but don’t wash the skillet.
7. Reduce oven to 375.
8. Pour wine and stock into the skillet you have reserved. Add herbs mixture and boil until reduced to about 1 cup. Set aside.

When ready to really get serious and serve:

1. Transfer shallots and tomatoes to lower third of oven. Put chops in upper third.
2. Roast the vegetables 10 – 13 min. until slightly caramelized.
3. Roast chops about 8 – 10 min. in upper third of oven. (You want them very pink in the middle, and they are already seared……this is the hard part!) Remove from heat and loosely cover with foil and let them rest while you assemble the rest of the dinner.
4. Pour any juices from meat into sauce, and reheat sauce gently. Cut butter into pieces; add chopped olives; season with extra salt and pepper to taste.
5. Serve chops with roasted vegetables strewn over the top, and your favorite accompaniment on the side: soft polenta, mashed potatoes, or rice. Drizzle with sauce.

Adapted from recipe, courtesy of Michael Chiarello

FOR THE SOUP

• 12 large (4 pounds) fresh market tomatoes, stemmed and quartered
• 1/2 cup olive oil, divided
• 1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
• 12 garlic cloves, peeled
• Salt and ground pepper to taste
• 1 cup chopped onions
• 2 cups fresh basil leaves
• 2 cups chicken broth (can use some white wine)

FOR THE BRUSCHETTA

• 
1 loaf country-style bread 
Olive oil for basting 
Course sea salt to taste

DIRECTIONS

Preheat oven to 500 degrees

Prepare tomatoes: In a large bowl, mix tomatoes, 1/4 cup of oil, vinegar, garlic, salt and pepper to taste. Spread tomato mixture on a non-reactive roasting pan in a single layer. Roast in the oven till dark in spots, 35 minutes or more. Remove and allow to cool.

In a large saucepan over medium heat, combine remaining 1/4 cup oil, onions, and a pinch of salt. Cook until onions are very soft, 10 minutes. Add the basil leaves and sauté or a minute.

Add some of the broth to the cooled tomatoes, and process (an immersion blender works great) in a large soup pot. Add remaining broth and onion mixture and pulse until all is blended and smooth. Soup can be refrigerated and re-heated when ready to serve.
Bruschetta: Cut bread into 2×4 inch pieces, brush with oil, and toast in hot oven. About six minutes total. Turn once. Place one piece in each soup bowl, and then ladle in the soup.

This soup freezes beautifully, so you can have that fresh tomato experience waiting for summer bounty.

Serve with Bethel Heights Pinot Blanc

Serves 6 – 8

• 7 cups mushroom broth, or part vegetable broth
• 4 T butter
• 2 T olive oil
• 3 cups peeled, chopped butternut (1/2 – 3/4 inch dice)
• 2 cups Arborio rice
• 1/2 cup white wine, Chardonnay preferred
• 1 onion, chopped
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 4 T fresh sage, chopped
• 1/4 cup cream (optional)
• 3 oz. crumbled Gorgonzola cheese (creamy blue)
• 8 T Parmesan
• 1/4 cup toasted walnuts or filberts
• Salt and pepper to taste
• Bring broth to a simmer and hold it at that temperature

In dutch oven, melt butter and add olive oil

Sauté onion until slightly soft; add garlic and sage and sauté several minutes more.

Add squash and sauté additional five minutes.

Add rice, stir to coat with oil, and sauté additional three minutes.

Begin adding broth, one cup at a time, and allow each cup to incorporate before moving on to the next addition. Stir occasionally so mixture does not stick – add broth if that begins to happen. Bringing the rice slowly to al dente will take about 40 minutes. You want risotto moist and creamy, not dry, but also not runny. You get to keep tasting often as you go.

Just before serving, add cheeses and allow them to integrate briefly. Add more broth for consistency, if needed. Add tasted nuts.

Add cream last (or omit – though it is good!) – and bring just to simmer. Do not get even close to a boil if you add the cream.

Serve with crusty bread and a big salad. And of course, with Bethel Heights Chardonnay.

Paul H. Huber, E & J Gallo Winery, Fresno

Harry and Ietje Orr have been members of the Bethel Heights Cellar Club since 2006. World travelers, they have great appreciation for food and wine. When they migrated to California from Tennessee and the Carolinas in 1966, they were immediately enchanted with northwest cuisine and the great wines of California. One cookbook Ietje bought right after moving to California is Adventures in Wine Cookery, with recipes submitted by California Winemakers, and published by the California Wine Advisory Board in 1965. Ietje shares her “no fail” favorite for lamb shanks from this cookbook.

Serves four to six

• 4 lamb shanks
• 1 ts dill
• 1/2 ts oregano
• 1 large clove garlic
• 1 large onion, thinly sliced
• 1 (8 oz.) can tomato sauce
• 1/4 cup brown sugar (Ietje suggests less…3 ts)
• *1 cup white wine
• 1 1/2 ts salt
• Pepper to taste

Place shanks in roaster or dutch oven..

Add remaining ingredients. Cover roaster and cook 3 hours in moderately slow oven (300 degrees). If shanks are large, raise temperature to 325-350. At this point, Ietje suggests cooling and then chilling the meat and broth 8 hours or overnight, either separately or together, covered. This allows easy removal of the cap of fat that will congeal on top. Bring meat and broth back to room temperature. Uncover, and continue cooking for another 45 minutes until meat is very tender. Remove meat and keep warm. Reduce sauce to half over high heat. Pour sauce over meat and serve.

RECOMMENDED PAIRING

A Reserve Pinot, such as the Casteel Reserve or Southeast Block.

* Marilyn’s pondering… I am very tempted to suggest instead of white wine, use Pinot noir. All the other ingredients marry very well with Pinot, and it seems, well, more “Oregon”. Ietje said she’d be just fine with my suggestion, so let the experimentation begin!

Note: This marmalade can be used for many other recipes, including a side dipping sauce for shrimp or pork tenderloin. It makes about two cups.

To serve 30 appetizers

• 1 fennel bulb, finely diced. Reserve some of the feathery greenery for garnish.
• 2 T shallots, peeled and finely diced.
• 2 oranges, peeled, segmented, and diced.
• 1 T orange zest
• 4 cups orange juice (can use frozen orange juice for this)
• 1/4 cup white wine
• 1/4 cup brown sugar
• 1 T fennel seed
• 1/4 cup Cointreau
• 30 sea scallops, patted dry

Combine all ingredients except the 2 T of the Cointreau in a heavy saucepan. Reduce by about 75% or until you have no more than two cups. Add remaining Cointreau and set aside. If the marmalade is too tart, add a bit of white sugar at this point. This can be made days in advance. Bring about 1 cup back to warm on top of the stove when you are preparing to serve the dish.

Sauté scallops in batches, in 1 ts. olive oil and a small dab of butter, until lightly browned on each side. About 3 minutes total time. A non-stick skillet works best. I would always undercook rather than overcook a scallop.

To serve immediately, place a scallop on a wheat cracker, and top with a scant teaspoon marmalade. Garnish with minced fennel greens.

If the dish is part of a buffet of appetizers, I would put the scallops topped with marmalade on one plate, and crackers on a separate one.

A terrine is considered a country-style paté, and while it takes some time to assemble, and requires you to have a way to grind meat, it stores in the refrigerator for up to 10 days ahead of when you want to serve it, benefiting from the time. It also freezes well. This version uses many traditional ingredients, but includes wild mushrooms, giving it a rich, earthy note. Be sure to make the Cranberry Blueberry Mustard as an accompaniment to drizzle on top of each serving slice. The mustard can be made well in advance of when you need it, and also is great with pork tenderloin).

Twelve First Course Servings or up to 24 half slices for an appetizer, served on a baguette slice.

• 1 T butter
• 1 small onion, chopped
• 4 garlic cloves, minced
• 2/3 pound wild mushrooms, stems removed, brushed clean and thinly sliced.
• 3 T Madeira
• 1 T Cognac
• 1 1/3 pound rib end boneless loin pork, or shoulder, or butt (You will need a meat grinder for this. About 2 ½ cups coarsely ground meat)
• 2/3 pound chicken livers (you can use a bit less, but the full flavor is really good)
• ¼ pound bacon ends, finely chopped, or put through the grinder with the pork.
• ¾ cup rich beef broth reduced to a soupy 2 T
• 1 large egg, beaten
• 2 T chopped fresh parsley
• 2 ts chopped fresh thyme
• 1 ts juniper berries, crushed
• 2/3 ts ground allspice
• ¾ ts ground cumin
• ½ ts ground pepper
• 1 ts sea salt
• ½ cup shelled, slivered pistachios
• 2 bay leaves to decorate and flavor the top of the terrine

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Position rack in upper third of the oven.
2. Grease a 1.5 quart terrine, or glass or enamel bread pan (high gloss). See note below regarding caul fat lining (optional).
3. Melt butter in heavy skillet. Add onion and cook about 4 minutes, then add garlic and cook an added minute or so.
4. Add mushrooms, cover, cook 3 minutes. Uncover and cook until mushrooms are soft and liquid is evaporated.
5. Stir in Madeira and Cognac. Bring to a boil and reduce by half. Set aside.
6. Blend the ground pork, minced bacon and chicken livers in bowl of a food processor and pulse till blended.
7. Blend in the mushroom mixture and pulse till blended. NOTE: I had to do this in batches in my quisinart, and that worked fine. Once everything is pulsed that needs to be pulsed, the remaining steps can be done by placing everything in a large bowl and blending smooth by hand.
8. Add all remaining ingredients except bay leaves and pistachios and blend well.
9. Spoon 1/3 of the mixture into the prepared mold and smooth with the back of a wooden spoon, making sure you even the mixture. Add the pistachios in an even layer across the mixture. Pack remaining mixture into the mold smoothing and leveling. .
10. Top with bay leaves and cover the pan tightly with terrine led or heavy aluminum foil, and make sure the foil is tight against the meat as well as a tight seal for the mold.
11. Poke several steam vent holes in the foil, Place terrine in a larger baking dish, just large enough to hold it if possible, and then pour in boiling water to come up half way on the sides of the mold.
12. Place in oven and cook until instant-read thermometer registers 150 degrees when inserted in the center (about an hour).
13. Transfer mold to a rack and cool.
14. Weight down and refrigerate overnight. (NOTE: I use three small soup cans that fit in my glass bread pan and then for good measure stack something else on top. You can be creative, but make sure the weight is evenly distributed, and actually is in contact with the foil. Some chefs suggest a brick).
15. The following day, drag a knife around the edge of the mold several times, turn it over, give it a sharp wrap, unmold, and wipe off excess fat. Wrap in plastic wrap, and refrigerate at least several days before cutting. I recommend you cut it cold, and if serving as an appetizer, place each piece on a slice of French baguette, with a line of mustard on top of each. Terrine is a bit fragile, but just pat it back into shape on the plate, or for a crowd, on the baguette slice.

CAUL FAT

For those of you who want to really get into this, there is a way to line your pan with pork belly fat, or caul fat. You would be pleased to explore this! Julia Child in Mastering the Art of French Cooking is a good source of information on doing this. It isn’t essential but it does hold the terrine together when you unmold, and then you simply pull off this lovely veil of fat and continue. Talk to your local butcher on where to source.

CRANBERRY BLUEBERRY MUSTARD

This tasty mustard is from The Shoalwater Restaurant in Seaview, Washington.

• ¾ cup fresh cranberries, rinsed, drained, picked over
• ½ cup fresh blueberries, rinsed, drained, picked over
• NOTE: I admit I used frozen berries for both of the above, and it was just fine
• 1/3 cup raspberry vinegar (I substituted red wine vinegar because I didn’t have any raspberry)
• 1/3 cup sugar
• 2 T port
• 2/3 cup water
• 1/3 cup dry mustard
• 3 egg yolks, room temperature

1. Combine berries, vinegar, sugar and port in a saucepan over high heat. Cook over high heat, stirring, until berries pop. About 10 minutes if using frozen berries.
2. Purée in food processor.
3. Strain mixture through fine-mesh sieve into a medium bowl and set aside. (I often skip this step, or give up on it halfway through. It seems so wasteful).
4. Combine water and mustard in top of a double boiler, and set over simmering water and stir until smooth.
5. Whisk in egg yolks, one at a time, and blend and stir until mixture begins to thicken. Whisk in the reserved berry purée. Transfer to a glass jar, cover, and refrigerate. It continues to thicken up as it cools.
6. Serve with Bethel Heights dry Rosé.

Perfect accompaniment for Bethel Heights Chardonnay. Add French bread and a tossed salad, and you’ve got dinner!

This recipe is an adaptation from Deane Morgan’s Salmon cookbook published in 2005. It is a wonderful way to use leftover baked or poached salmon, left in large chunks, (no skin or pin bones), and added just before you add the cream. All it has to do is warm up before you add the cream.

• 2 ears fresh white corn
• 1 tsp sea salt
• 3 strips bacon, chopped
• 
1 onion, chopped
• 6 to 7 red potatoes, partially peeled, some skin intact. Yukon Gold also are very nice.
• 
2 T fresh thyme leaves
• 1 bottle clam juice (or two cups of your own seafood broth)
• 
1 cup chicken broth, preferably homemade
• 1 cup (or less) leftover white wine
• 1 cup half and half cream
• 1 salmon fillet, 12 ounces minimum, and if you have more, add it and increase the liquid and potatoes if you need to. 
If using fresh salmon, cut into two inch squares for cooking in the broth. If using cooked salmon, tear into nice large chunks and add it just before the cream.
• 1/3 cup minced fresh Italian parsley
• Fresh ground pepper to taste

1. Husk corn and remove silks. Par-boil for 3 minutes. Plunge in cold water. When cool, cut from cob and set aside. Discard cobs.
2. 
Cook bacon pieces in large, heavy-duty skillet or dutch oven until moist, but cooked. Remove with slotted spoon, and set aside. Pour off all but 1 T fat.
3. Add onion and sauté over medium heat until soft (about four minutes).
4. 
Cut potatoes into half-inch cubes.
5. 
Add to onions: potatoes, salt, clam juice, wine, broth and thyme. Bring to boil. Reduce heat, cover, and cook until potatoes are just fork tender (10 minutes or so).
6. 
Add corn, bacon and salmon. If fresh salmon, bring to gentle simmer, and cook for five minutes or so. Just until salmon turns dull pink. If cooked salmon, just warm it all up. Add cream, but do not let soup boil after you add the cream. Just a nice simmer. Add parsley, season with added salt and the pepper.

Serve with our Justice Vineyard Pinot Noir.

• Four 6-oz wild salmon filets, skin removed
• Hazelnut-Pesto crust (see below)
• 4 T olive oil
• Lime wedges

Dredge salmon in Hazelnut-Pesto crust on both sides, covering completely. Heat olive oil in heavy sauté pan or iron skillet. When oil is hot cook fillets four minutes per side, until just firm to the touch, and still moist in the center. Better to undercook than overcook. Serve with lime wedges on the side, accompanied by small roasted new red potatoes and fresh grilled asparagus.

HAZELNUT-PESTO CRUST

• 1 cup toasted hazelnuts (see toasting notes below)
• 1 cup bread crumbs, dried
• 1 cup fresh basil leaves, packed tightly
• 1 cup flour
• 1 cup fresh grated parmesan cheese
• 6 cloves garlic, minced
• Sea salt and pepper to taste

Toasting hazelnuts: Place on cookie sheet, and roast for 15 to 20 minutes in a 225 degree oven. Remove and cool slightly. Wrap in a dishtowel and briskly rub to remove loose brown skin. Some will remain. Just remove what will rub off.

Place hazelnuts in food processor and get them started. Then add all remaining crust ingredients and process till just smooth, and nuts are nicely chopped to blend in.

This recipe makes twice as much as you will need.  It freezes well, and is very good as a coating for scallops or halibut pieces.