Janet Fletcher wrote this interesting book (Rizzoli Publishing 2019) on the various sections of the California vineyard regions. It is a beautiful collection of pictures worthy of just looking at but also worthy trying out the recipes. Ms. Fletcher has written a variety of other cookbooks, from Yogurt : Sweet and Savory Recipes For Breakfast Lunch and Dinner to Fresh From The Farmer's Market. She has won a James Beard award for food journalism as well as teaching cooking and cheese appreciation classes across the country.(She also writes a column on cheese for Specialty Food magazine and has created her own weekly blog Cheese Planet). Her descriptions of the various regions from the Napa Valley to SoCal are lush and inviting. The accompanying photos are too. I loved just looking at the pictures of the wineries and fields along with the beautifully photographed dishes. Another reason to like the book is that it's not just grapes. Ms. Fletcher also includes sections on pears,plums, asparagus , and even olive oil along with other California crops. These are incorporated in the many recipes too. Flowers are included too, as mentioned in the Resendiz Brothers Protea Growers. The protea is a spiky pink flower that grows exclusively in the California desert.The book is also good for those planning Spring wine tasting trips because wineries are highlighted in great detail. I would love to visit the Francis Ford Coppola Winery which also has movie memorabilia to view along with good on site restaurants and a relaxing pool.
The recipes reflect each area and the crops harvested there. The section on pears has an interesting mixed chicory salad with pears and blue cheese. I want to make a variation of this for my Christmas Eve dinner.Since California is home to the Gilroy Garlic Festival, Ms. Fletcher includes a Gilroy garlic and potato soup, another must make , that has Spanish smoked paprika and saffron perfuming and flavoring it. Of course avocados figure in this as well. There are three recipes, each perfect. One is Dungeness Crab and Avocado Toastados, a nod to California's Mexican past along with Grass Fed Burger with Avocado and Chipotle Mayonnaise and Scallop Crudo with Avocado and Pink Peppercorns. The states multi-ethnic groups are also represented in these recipes. There is pho, the Vietnamese soup, brought by the many Vietnamese immigrants who settled in 1980's California and pizza, a nod to the many Italian vintners who brought the industry to the state. Desserts are here as well. A refreshing dish would be the strawberry sherbet with sparkling wine recipe. It's a frozen slush of strawberries and kirsch splashed with sparkling wine. I would love to try the apple galette with honey ice cream and the Zinfandel poached pears with marscapone cheese. A plus to all the recipes is the suggestion of what wine would go best with them.
Wine Country Table: With Recipes That Celebrate California's Sustainable Harvest is the perfect escape when winter and the holidays become too much. Relish the lush pictures of fields of California's best crops, read about the different recipes and wineries. Enjoy this book - this literary vacation from
all that stress.
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