Happy Hour: Figs, Cheese, Sherry

Happy Hour: Figs, Cheese, Sherry

International Happy Hour
Mission Figs/Cambozola/Oloroso Sherry

Fresh figs from California, creamy cheese from Germany, and semi-sweet sherry from Spain together create an amazing food synergy. They enhance each other in this simple yet stellar international happy hour fare.

Our cherished dark purple California figs were brought to the New World in the 1500s and got their name from the Franciscan missionaries who brought them up from Mexico and planted them in the mission gardens along the Pacific coast in the late 1700s.

  • Black Mission Figs have a honeyed-earthy-fruity flavor and creamy lusciousness. They are available fresh from mid-May through November.
  • Cambozola is German cow’s milk cheese reminiscent of a combination of French Brie and Italian Gorgonzola…triple creamy with that distinctive bleu cheese flavor.
  • Oloroso Sherry from Jerez, Spain has wonderful aromas of nuts, vanilla and caramel plus rich nutty semi-sweet creamy flavors. Oloroso sherries offer a terrific balance between sweet and dry.
  • A chewy rustic bread brushed with good olive oil is key, be sure to grill the bread over an open flame rather than toast it, that smoky char adds an important element to the combination.
  • Fresh thyme sprigs add another earthy layer.

Enjoy figs warmed in adorable cast iron pans with bubbling cambozola on grilled bread with a nip of oloroso sherry for a rich, savory, smoky, and sweet happy hour. Cheers to Fall!

Fresh Figs and Melted Cambozola Recipe

Continue reading “Happy Hour: Figs, Cheese, Sherry”

Cocktail Nibbles Inspired by The Late Great James Beard

Cocktail Nibbles Inspired by James Beard
For the Civilized Tradition of Cocktail Entertaining
Nibbles Inspired by The Late Great James Beard

well washed down with the drink of your choosing
flavored with good will and love and understanding

Simple and Sublime. Tomato and Onion. Plus my favorite cocktail, and yours. He wrote the first major cookbook devoted exclusively to cocktail food and drink in 1940! His entertaining advice is pithy, precious, and ultimately timeless. These bites are not meant to satiate, but to leave one hungry, hungry for what comes next…

“The food, no matter how simple, should show some degree of imagination,” wrote James Beard, Dean of American Cookery.

featuring

Mini Sweet Onion Sandwiches with Mayo and Fresh Herbs
and
Mini Heirloom Tomatoes Dipped in Absinthe and Kosher Salt 

When James Beard died at 81 on January 21, 1985, he left a legacy of culinary excellence and integrity to generations of home cooks and professional chefs. His name remains synonymous with American food. – from James Beard Foundation

Continue reading “Cocktail Nibbles Inspired by The Late Great James Beard”

winter canapé – sweet potato, bleu cheese, walnut, kale, cranberry gastrique

winter canapé - sweet potato, bleu cheese, walnut, kale, cranberry gastrique

winter canapé – sweet potato, bleu cheese, walnut, kale, cranberry gastrique

winter canapé - sweet potato, bleu cheese, walnut, kale, cranberry gastrique

Here’s a hearty yet elegant hors d’oeuvre to serve at your New Year’s Eve gala. Guests will most likely be imbibing. And this crunchy wintery appetizer pairs perfectly with sparkling… sparkling wine, sparkling water, sparkling lights. With holiday colors and cold-weather flavors, this canapé is sure to be a hit. It certainly was at our year-end party…

winter canapé – sweet potato, bleu cheese, walnut, kale, cranberry gastrique

RECIPE

Continue reading “winter canapé – sweet potato, bleu cheese, walnut, kale, cranberry gastrique”