100 Recipes, 365 Day CHALLENGE

Julie and Julia (2009)

Let’s not kid ourselves — I’m not Julie (Powell) or Julia (Child), Sarah Scott or Sarah Heller, Alice Waters or April Bloomfield. I’m a fairly recent transplant to the Bay Area, where with the help of my husband and our business partner, we launched an amazing mobile winery guide app for visitors to Napa Valley. While living and breathing wine every minute of each day, I developed an obsession for pairing food and wine, seeking out interesting recipes wherever I can. But have food and wine pairings become overrated?

Personally, I enjoy the idea of preparing a meal that has been vetted by the experts. I imagine a group of trained, talented and highly acclaimed wine educators and chefs gathered around a sterile stainless steel kitchen table, discussing and arguing (not necessarily throwing around dangerous objects) how to pair Beef Osso Buco with Herb Polenta Pomegranate Butter, Carrots & Gremolata or Kabocha Squash Tart with Caramelized Onions and Golden Chanterelles with their favorite wines. The visualization alone provides the much needed comfort, especially when I open that expensive bottle of wine I have been saving for that special occasion.

My dear friend, Jan Koval, a contributing member of the WineryGuide blog, would tell you that food and wine pairing is a theory-induced blindness. In his unfiltered article Jan explains that human ability to adapt to all senses — sight, sound, taste, aroma, and touch — effects the way we taste wine. He would tell you, “If you like steak and Cabernet together then keep doing that, but understand that it has nothing to do with the color of the food, the varietal, or the weight of the wine. I drink whatever I feel like at the time, regardless of varietal”.

So what’s all this buzz about then?

In an effort to discover the hidden truths and complexities (if any) related to the food and wine pairing phenomenon, I have taken on a challenge: 100 dishes in 365 days based on recipes prepared by food and wine experts, posted on various Napa Valley winery websites and a couple of food and wine publications. Here are the sources:

1. Cakebread Cellars
2. Clif Family Winery
3. Foley Food and Wine Society
4. Food and Wine Magazine
5. HALL Wines
6. Robert Mondavi Winery
7. Round Pond Estate
8. Rutherford Hill Winery
9. St. Supery Estate Vineyards and Winery
10. Schafer Vineyards
11. Silver Oak
12. Wine Enthusiast

If you know of any additional Napa Valley wineries offering online recipes, please let me know, I would love to check them out!

Thank you for visiting my blog and hope to see you here again shortly. My first recipe blog is coming next week. Keep your fingers crossed!