Why Spend $500 In A Restaurant When You Can Stay Home For $100? This is the blueprint for a five-course meal, from appetizer to soup, salad, entrée and dessert, with wines to match. Don't be nervous - I pulled it off on my first try at a dinner party and trust me when I tell you this, I'm no Julia Child in the kitchen. All you need is some enthusiasm, a few ideas and some good friends to spend the evening with. First, plan the menu and prepare as much food in advance as you can. That way you can visit with everyone instead of spending the evening in the kitchen working on the food. Second, set the mood by working on the atmosphere. Dim the lights, get some soft dinner music and light up some unscented candles - make the house a little cozy and as relaxing as possible for your guests. This will soften the blow just in case the food flops - at least you'll be comfortable!
Here comes the fun part - five courses of gastronomic delight. For the first course, try a simple assortment of cheeses and crackers and littleneck clams straight off the grill. Pair them with a nice sparkler such as the NV Domaine St. Michelle Blanc de Blanc and you're on your way. The clams are easy and cheap, but, they look fancy and expensive. Simply fire up the grill, get it hot and throw the clams on, leaving the grill open. After a minute or two, they'll start opening. Pull them off and get some melted butter for dipping. Three to four dozen clams (@.$99/dozen) with some cheese and crackers and some bubbly is perfect for starters. The second course is corn soup. Make it the night before - the recipe is very simple. Ingredients are minced onions (2 tbsp), butter (2tbsp), flour (2 tbsp), salt (1 tsp), pepper (1/4 tsp), cream style corn (one 14.75 oz. can, one 8.75 oz. can) and half-and-half (2 cups). Sauté onions in butter in a saucepan over medium heat until tender. Stir in salt, pepper and flour. Cook over low heat, stirring constantly until smooth. Stir in corn, bring to boil, boil for 1 minute. Stir in half-and-half, heat through, do NOT boil. Remove from heat, cool slightly. Put mixture in food processor and blend until smooth. Do not puree it - get it to the consistency that you like, then salt and pepper to taste. I prefer it on the thick side, but you can get it just the way you like it with Mr. Cuisinart at your side. I paired the soup with the 1997 Monterey Peninsula Doctor's Reserve Chardonnay, Sleepy Hollow Vineyard. It was a great match - any full-bodied, rich chardonnay will work just fine with the soup. The third course is a simple tossed salad. Make it as plain or as fancy as you want - use your imagination! For this course we took a slight break from wine and finished off the bubbly and the chardonnay. Salad can be tricky to pair wine with because of all the different flavors in the dressings and the vegetables. This would also be a good time to cleanse the palate with some water as well. The fourth course - the entrée. Time to get serious - this will make or break the evening. Again, I recommend making the night before. I chose a simple salmon recipe that looks fancy and exotic and will be sure to impress. The ingredients are four good size sheets of tin foil, onion sliced into rings, carrots (matchstick size pieces) four salmon filets (4-6 oz. each), ginger (2 tsp, grated and fresh if possible), rice vinegar (2 tbsp), sesame oil (1 tsp) and fresh spinach leaves. To prepare, preheat oven to 450 degrees. Center onions and carrots on foil. Top with salmon; sprinkle with ginger; drizzle with vinegar and oil. Season with salt and pepper. Form a foil packet for the salmon by folding the foil over the salmon and double folding the ends. Leave room for heat circulation inside the packet. Make four packets, remember to use the oils and spices evenly over the four salmon filets (ie: do not put all 2 tsp's of ginger on one piece of salmon, divide it up over the four filets). Bake 16-20 minutes on a cookie sheet. Serve the salmon over a fresh bed of spinach, sprinkle with additional rice vinegar and/or garnish with red/orange/yellow pepper wedges to add color if desired. I took a big gamble with the wine for this course. I went for the 1994 David Bruce Pinot Noir from Sonoma County. Why a gamble, you ask? Because most California Pinot Noirs are at their peak (except for the very best, very expensive and very rare Pinot's) just a few years after their release. As they age, you risk the wine losing its color, its fruit and everything else it had to offer when the wine was young. Since David Bruce has a solid reputation with his Pinot Noir, the wine came from a quality Pinot Noir appellation, and most importantly, 1994 is widely regarded as the best year in the history of California Pinot Noir. So, I took the chance. There were three bottles on the shelf, so if luck was on my side I'd still have two gems to go back for. The wine did have some sediment due to its age, but as soon as I poured the wine into the glasses on the table, I knew I had a winner. See the tasting notes below for more on the wine of the night. And no, I won't tell you where I found the wine - the other two are going to help me wash down my Christmas dinner! The fifth course - dessert - was the easiest of all. I asked the guests to bring it and all I asked for was chocolate, chocolate and more chocolate. If you invite people over for dinner, they'll usually offer to bring something - don't be afraid to take them up on it! I specifically asked for chocolate because I know the perfect wine to pair it with - the 1998 Vini Banfi Brachetto d'Acqui Vigneto La Rosa from Italy. It was a match made in heaven! TASTING NOTES - hey, give me a break - I'm not Robert Parker! NV Domaine Ste. Michelle Blanc de Blanc - Columbia Valley, WA: clean, fresh, racy and oh so smooth. Lot's of tiny bubbles that are pretty in the glass and a creamy texture in the mouth to follow. Everyone likes this wine and everyone can find it AND afford it! This wine is a staple for me because of its unbeatable combination of quality, value, and price. Perfect aperitif - works well with all kinds of appetizers. 1997 Monterey Peninsula Doctor's Reserve Chardonnay, Sleepy Hollow Vineyard - Monterey, CA: golden yellow color, complex nose of oak, butter, spice and citrus fruit. Creamy, buttery and rich on the palate - very smooth and easy to drink. Finishes a touch hot - 14.1% alcohol in this big chardonnay. Worked very well with the corn soup. 1994 David Bruce Pinot Noir - Sonoma County, CA: Wow! Brick red color - still looks like a young, fresh, fruity wine. Nose is full of cherry/berry fruit with hints of herbal and earthy notes as the wine opens in the glass. Liquid silk on the palate. Coats the entire mouth with fresh fruit flavors and lively acidity with just a touch of tannin. This wine is still alive and appears to be one of the exceptions to the rule of drinking your Pinot while it's young. Had a small amount of sediment and required decanting. An amazing wine and the steal of the century at $16.99. Great by itself, perfect with salmon. 1998 Vini Banfi Brachetto d'Acqui Vigneto La Rosa - Italy: ruby red color, very pretty in the glass with lots of tiny bubbles streaming to the top. Raspberry and rose petals on the nose - clean, fresh and very fruity and slightly sweet on the palate. Well balanced and slightly spritzy - smooth and a pleasure to drink. Light body - just 7% alcohol. Absolutely PERFECT match with chocolate - the wine sings and oozes fresh raspberry as it blends with the chocolate flavors. The best! Keep in mind these ideas are just a few out of the millions of combinations that are available. All of these recipes and wines can be tweaked to suit your personal tastes as well. The point of this column was just to give you a little inspiration to invite some friends over this holiday season. Believe me, if I can pull this off anyone else can too. The beauty of the whole dinner party concept is the price - a five-course meal for four with wines to match in a restaurant would cost a small mint, and you'd lose the warm, cozy feeling of being at home with friends as well. That's it, finally! Thanks for the visit. This holiday season, join me in the battle against high prices in restaurants and entertain your friends and family at home with a feast and wines to match! Please feel free to write me at cellarbrat1@yahoo.com with your comments, questions and suggestions. Everyone gets a reply! All feedback is welcomed and appreciated. Know someone that likes wine? Send 'em the link - I'd love to increase my circulation to double digits! See ya next time from the cellar, and remember, wine is more fun than you think... Gunerman writes "The Brat In The Cellar" twice per month for the Rochester, NY chapter of Wine Brats, found at www.ggw.org/winebrats/. Wine Brats is a national non-profit organization based in California. They are an active group of adult wine enthusiasts who are mostly young in age but absolutely young at heart. Wine Brats enjoy sharing their passion for wine with their peers and take pride in breaking down the cultural walls that for too long have mystified this beautiful beverage. Ultimately, as a non-profit organization, the Brats' purpose is to attract a whole new generation of adults to the wonders of life with wine. For more information, visit the national site at www.winebrats.org/. Dec. 22, 2000
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