Lori Lyn - Small Plates, Perfect Wines Creating Little Dishes With Big Flavors

Good wine, food, and camaraderieif you have all three, you have the makings for a great meal.

Randy Ullom, Kendall-Jackson winemaker

Small plates are revolutionizing the way we eat. From restaurants to homes, dynamic menus composed of small plates are being served in lieu of traditional one-plate entres. Made for sharing, small plates can easily be served alone as an appetizer or first course, but are even better when combined with other small plates as a complete meal.

Small plates are inspired by the tapas of Spain, the antipasti of Italy, the meze of the Middle East, the yakitori of Japan, and a myriad of other little dishes from cuisines around the globe. What these traditional foods all share in common is the ritual of relaxing with something to eat and a glass of wine from the same place, from sherry to sake.

The small plates showcased in this book invite you to the table to mark the break between work and play, to enjoy a glass of wine, and to savor your meal in the company of others. Peruse the recipes to whet your appetite, then step into the kitchen and start cooking. With these small-plates recipes in hand, you are already on your way to a great meal.

Small plates are a great way to play with new combinations of ingredients to pair with delicious wines.

Justin Wangler, Kendall-Jackson executive chef

Its not a surprise that where you find good wine youll find good food. At Kendall-Jacksons Wine Center, in the heart of Sonoma Countys bountiful wine country, this is especially true. Jess Jackson, Kendall-Jacksons founder, is committed to promoting the marriage of wine and food and to that end has created a slice of culinary heaven amid the lush vineyards of Sonoma.

At the helm is Justin Wangler, Kendall-Jacksons executive chef, who it can easily be argued has a dream job: He works for a man who shares his passion for food in a location surrounded by Mother Natures bounty with a team of talented individuals. The Kendall-Jackson culinary team, including chefs Andrei Livinenko and Matthew Lowe, are ambassadors of the pleasures of food and wine. They spend their days introducing Wine Center visitors to dishes created especially for enjoying with wine.

For this book, the Kendall-Jackson culinary team collected its favorite small-plates recipes, many of which were developed to take advantage of the abundance of fantastic ingredients available in the wine country, especially those grown in the Wine Centers two-plus acres of gardens.

In the same way that natures beauty inspires artists, the gardens at Kendall-Jackson supply the culinary team with their own palette of colors, flavors, textures, and aromas to use in creating gourmet masterpieces. The gardens actually consist of several smaller gardens, each dedicated to showcasing the beauty of flora and food. All are farmed using sustainable techniques that encourage diversity, such as planting heirloom seeds and creating areas to attract butterflies and beneficial pests.

The Wine Sensory Gardens are a unique section composed of a broad variety of plants that represent the various aromas and flavors you might detect in a glass of wine. The garden is divided into sections that correspond with red, white, and specific wine varietals, with each section featuring plants with the aromas and flavors found in the corresponding wines. Its easy to imagine Kendall-Jacksons chefs trekking through the garden for ideas when its time to develop a recipe for a specific wine. From citrus to raspberries, theres a little bit of the sensory gardens in the recipes throughout this book.

Even more crucial to the creativity of the culinary team are the Culinary Gardens. To tour the neat rows of both familiar and exotic plants is a treat for gardeners and food lovers alike, as well as a virtual exploration of the riches of Sonoma County. The culinary garden itself is divided into smaller sections, including areas devoted to specific countries and cultures, among them France, Italy, Asia, and South America. Its unparalleled bounty offers the chefs fresh, at-the-peak-of-their-season ingredients. From peppery arugula and spicy cilantro to juicy plums and sweet persimmons, the gardens abundant harvest is the foundation for this books diverse recipes.

The most well-known ingredient that grows in the Wine Centers gardens is the heirloom tomatoes, the cornerstone of Kendall-Jacksons Heirloom Tomato Festival, held every September. Now in its second decade, the festival is testament to the winerys devotion to all things delicious. Every year, the gardens are filled with more than two thousand tomato lovers, who come to taste the nearly two hundred heirloom varieties at their most delicious.

From the herbs showcased in the French Garden to the spices of the South American Garden, from springs fava beans and summers squash to falls persimmons and winters cauliflower, youll find the gardens influence in every recipe in this book. Each small plate and every wine its paired with are a reflection of the diverse and delicious bounty of the California wine country. Use this book to inspire your own gardening plans or excursions to your local farmers market and produce counters, then re-create these food and wine pairings at your table. Enjoy!