If you’re like us, you have a ton of cookbooks that you sift through before every party. And if you’re like us, there’s one or two recipes that you always go to for those parties. Maybe they are easy recipes, or maybe they are amazing recipes to pair with wines. Or, perhaps they’re just great appetizers that get the party off on the right foot. I’d like to share one of our favorite recipes, taken from Williams-Sonoma, Entertaining, by George Dolese, that fits all of those categories. This recipe is easy, makes great appetizers, and those appetizers are perfect to pair with Champagne.

This delicious appetizer is so easy to make, my 12 year old son was the chef. He had a tiny bit of help from us, but in general, he did everything from preparing the dates, to stuffing them, topping them, and baking them. Therefore, even if you have no cooking skill, you can make a perfect appetizer to impress your guests.  We’ll cover the recipe step by step, and recap at the end.

Dates Stuffed With Goat Cheese

The Williams-Sonoma Entertaining book recommends you use Medjool dates, however, our grocery store just had “dates” and they worked fine. I don’t like to discriminate. Start by preheating your oven to 375 degrees.

Lightly oil a baking dish that is just large enough to fit your dates in a single layer

Take a paper towel and use it to wipe the oil on the pan, removing excess. You want your dates to not stick to the pan, but you aren’t deep frying them. That’s for Paula Dean!

Put 1 TBS of olive oil in a small fry pan and warm on medium heat for 1-2 minutes.

Once the oil is warmed, you’ll pour 2 TBS of plain breadcrumbs (or panko)  into the pan and cook, stirring constantly, until they are evenly golden brown, about 1 1/2 minutes.

Remove pan from heat and transfer crumbs to a plate, letting them cool. While the breadcrumbs cool, start pitting your dates. Using a sharp paring knife, slit the top of each date lengthwise, and carefully pry the pit out.

Be careful not to make the slit on top of the dates too long, or your goat cheese will ooze out when baking. It takes a little practice, but you’ll get it. You want to make a little pocket in each date to stuff the goat cheese into.

Once all of your dates are pitted, you’ll begin filling them with the goat cheese. Using a small spoon, gently fill each date with enough goat cheese that it just crests the top of the date.

Once all of your dates are stuffed, arrange them in a single layer in your lightly oiled pan. Top each date with some of the toasted breadcrumbs.

Once all of your dates are stuffed and topped with breadcrumbs, you’re ready for the bake. Bake dates on 375 until warmed, about 10-12 minutes.

Remove from oven and carefully transfer to serving dish. The dates will be hot, so use a spatula or tongs.

These dates are simple to make, and delicious. They’re a surefire appetizer to serve at any party. The dates also  pair perfectly with Champagne or sparkling wine.

We paired our dates stuffed with goat cheese with an excellent Champagne from Vilmart & Cie, the NV Grand Cellier Brut, Premier Cru.

The Vilmart & Cie “Grand Cellier” Brut Premiere Cru is a blend of 70% Chardonnay and 30% Pinot Noir. The Brut NV Premier Cru Grand Cellier is the first in a line of specialty and Tete de Cuvees in the Vilmart line up. The blend is aged 3-5 years on the lees before degorgement, which helps create a full and rich mouth feel. This is a great NV Champagne incredible length, sophistication and mineral strength that is not usually found in non-vintage Champagne. The high percentage of Chardonnay provides a fresh apple and light tropical fruit note that is a beautiful and harmonious balance between crisp and full. Alder Yarrow from Vinograpy rated this $73 Vilmart & Cie “Grand Cellier” Champagne between 9 and 9.5 out of 10.

If you make these dates, let me know what you think. And more importantly, let me know what Champagne you pair them with.

Goat Cheese Stuffed Dates

ingredients

• 1 T olive oil
• 2 T fine dried bread crumbs or panko
• 24 large dates, preferably Medjool
• 1/4 lb soft fresh goat cheese

directions

The video has all the information about making the grilled buffalo burger, as well as the tasting notes on the wine. Let me know what you think of it, by leaving a comment below, or rating it on YouTube!

What are we drinking?

I’ve made a lot of great friends on Twitter, and quite a few have asked for food and wine pairing advice. I recently started collaborating with Robyn Medlin from Grill Grrrl, a website all about grilling some fantastic meals. We’ve discussed quite a few projects, which we’ll be rolling them out to you in the next few weeks. Robyn and I got on the topic of her grilled buffalo burgers, and I decided to make them for lunch and pair with a nice shiraz, the 2007 Vinaceous Snake Charmer.

Where does the wine come from?

McLaren Vale Australia

McLaren Vale, one of Australia’s renowned wine regions, is located in Southern Australia. It’s famous for Shiraz, which accounts for 50% or more of it’s production annually. Vinaceous does not have it’s own vineyards, but rather sources it’s fruit from various vineyards in the area.

What does the wine taste like?

The video has all of the tasting notes you’ll need, but there’s definitely some nice berry fruit coupled with a great peppery finish. It’s a wine that changed from the time I opened it, until we finished the meal. I preferred it after 20 to 30 minutes of air, as you’ll see in the video.

What to pair it with?

If you saw my short writeup about the Syrah/Shiraz grape, you’ve seen some of the things that can pair with the Vinaceous Snake Charmer Shiraz. Grilled meats, whether lamb, beef, sausage, or obviously buffalo, are a natural food and Shiraz wine pairing. It does well with aged and hard cheeses such as Gouda and Parmesan.

Recap

Coming in at around $20, the Vinaceous Snake Charmer 2007 Shiraz is everything you’d expect from a McLaren Vale wine. Big fruit flavors with an aggressive pepper finish out of the bottle, it mellows nicely with air, and compliments almost anything you throw on the grill. However, don’t take my word for it! Grab a bottle of the Snake Charmer, pop the .. screw top .. and come back and comment on it below! And as always, Cheers!

It’s common knowledge that buffalo wings and beer go well together. They’re a staple in nearly every sports bar in America. What you may not know is the right wine will pair perfectly with hot wings, allowing you to enjoy your next Superbowl party with wine, instead of brews. A well structured, semi sweet wine, such as a Washington or a German Riesling, cuts the heat in spicy food nicely. And while it’s no secret that I’ve been talking about hot foods with Dr Loosen Dr L Riesling a lot recently, I haven’t shared with you my Grilled Hot Wings recipe to make that food and wine pairing awesome.

Grilling at the Lake

During our lake house vacation this year, we decided to fire up the grills and make some snacks for an early afternoon meal. We had to feed the 15 people with us, and had one grill with oysters on it, another with ribs, and two with my hot buffalo wings. Most everyone has had wings that are fried, and a few of you health conscious wing lovers have had them baked, but you haven’t enjoyed them until you’ve had them grilled. It takes a good hour toiling over hot coals to make this spicy snack, but they absolutely rock, and your guests will thank you for taking the time for them.

This recipe takes about 15 minutes of prep time, between mixing the ingredients below, washing and cutting the wings, and pouring a glass of wine while you get to cooking. You’ll end up cooking the wings for about 50 minutes, give or take 15, and it’s hands on the whole time. First, you’ll want to get your ingredients together

• 3 pounds of chicken wings – you can separate at the joints or just buy drummetts
• 1 1/2 cup hot sauce (12 oz) – Louisiana style. I used “Cristal” last time, and Louisiana before
• 1 cup of Cola soda (8 oz)
• 1/4 teaspoon of cayenne pepper (little less if you don’t want the heat as rockin!)
• 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper

I experimented with 4 or 5 different ratios of hot sauce to cola before I was happy. You’ll find your “sweet spot” with the mixture and people will RAVE about the wings.  Additionally, I double the sauce recipe because it does reduce down, and I like to make sure the wings are submerged for their time in the sauce.

Grilled Hot Wings

Preheat your grill to a medium heat. I always cook these wings over direct heat, but you may want to set it up indirect.

Using a large dutch oven or sauce pot, mix the ingredients, adding the chicken last. Place the pot to the back corner of the grill and allow the sauce to simmer.

Add wings and let them sit in the simmering sauce for approximately 8-10 minutes. Then using tongs like in the picture, take them out and grill them for 5-8 minutes. turning mid way to avoid burning.  Return the wings to the simmering sauce, which will be reducing and thickening, and allow them to simmer again for 8-10 minutes. Repeat this process 4-6 times until the wings are done. Approximately 50 minutes in all. I usually finish the last 5 minutes in the sauce, to leave them “sloppy”. However, you can finish them on the grill for dry wings. (edit note, my family now prefers them dry, and the past two times I finished them on the grill and they were awesome!)

A few edit notes – it’s an active recipe, so you really want to watch them cook.  The first time on the grill, you will likely get a char on the wings. Just be sure not to burn them. Most people, even my 10 yr old son, prefer the chared ones, they have a nice flavor.  Also you CAN do the wings in the oven, if you cant grill. Just heat the oven to 350, and simmer the sauce on the stove top, going from oven to pot the same as you would the grill. You wont get the charred and grilled flavors, but they still rock!

You should test a wing before you take them off, making sure it’s cooked through, pulls off the bone easily, and if you use a meat thermometer, the temp should be about 170 degrees. Additionally, the USDA says the thighs and wings of poultry should be cooked “until the juices run clear.”  I did make these in the oven once, using two cookie sheets in a 350 degree oven while i had the sauce on the burner. It works just as well as the grill, though the taste is a little different, and your stove may get messy!

Grilled Hot Wings

Now, I know this is a wine blog, so why the recipe? Well, as you read before, I’m all about Rieslings with spicy food. When @DolceDebbie and I did the Cabot cheese event, she created these KILLER Habanero Shortbreads using Cabot Hot Habanero Cheese, which I paired with the Dr L Riesling. The sweetness, or the Residual Sugar (RS), helps offset the heat from the food, and really brings out nice, ripe fruit. When we served this at the lake house, we opted for Chateau Ste Michelle 2008 Columbia Valley Riesling which is a nice, value driven wine for this dish. Both Dr Loosen and Chateau Ste Michelle have Riesling in the $10-12 range, which go perfectly with this recipe.  Dr Loosen and Chateau Ste Michelle have a joint venture, Eroica Riesling, which, while a little bit more expensive at around $20, worked just as nicely. The Eroica was rated 91 points by by Wine Spectator and Wine Advocate, and is a great option for a “Grocery Store Wine” if you prefer sweeter, fruit driven whites.

Let me know what you think of the wings. And of course, give the wines I mentioned a try, and let me know what you think of them alone, as well as paired with this dish. I’m confident you’ll enjoy as much as we did!

It seems that while people like wine, they LOVE goat cheese appetizers.  Perhaps because the flavors are just so exciting, and they do pair well with wine. Or perhaps because their friends can’t cook, and they want to impress their friends with a great lead-in appetizer. Regardless of the reason, Robin and I love goat cheese, and this appetizer is one we really enjoy.

For the November Twitter Taste Live wine tasting event, my twitter friend Beth G Sanders offered me the below goat cheese recipe. She felt it would make a great addition to the food lineup I had to go with with 5 Hahn Estates Wines and 4 Grocery Store Zinfandels. Robin and I have made this three other times for company, and it’s a hit each and every time. It’s got a great tart flavor from the goat cheese, with some awesome tomato and pesto flavors to make it a wide ranging appetizer.

Goat Cheese Torta

Ingredients

16 ounces cream cheese, softened

8 ounces mild goat cheese

2 cloves garlic, minced

4 teaspoons fresh oregano, snipped or chopped

1/8 teaspoon ground pepper

1/4 cup pesto

1/2 cup sun-dried tomatoes, packed in oil

2 tablespoons slivered almonds, toasted

fresh oregano

stone ground crackers or baguette, thinly sliced

Directions

Line a 1-quart loaf or souffle pan with clear plastic wrap. In a food processor bowl or large mixer bowl, combine cream cheese, goat cheese, garlic, oregano and pepper. Process or beat with electric mixer until smooth. Spread 1/3 of the cheese mixture in the bottom of the pan. Top with pesto, spreading evenly. Layer with another 1/3 of the cheese mixture.

Drain sun-dried tomatoes, reserving one tomato for garnish. Chop remaining tomatoes. Spread chopped sun-dried tomatoes evenly over cheese mixture in pan. Top with remaining cheese mixture. Cover with plastic wrap, and press gently to pack the cheese. Chill several hours.

Uncover cheese; invert onto serving plate. Cut reserved sun-dried tomato into thin slices. Garnish with thin slices of sun-dried tomato, the toasted almonds and fresh oregano or parsley. Serve with stone ground wheat crackers or thinly sliced baguette.

Source: Junior League of Memphis, Heart & Soul

Grocery Store Zinfandels

If you tuned in live to the TTL 05 event, you know that after the Hahn Estates wine tasting, I went on to my own Grocery Store Zinfandel tasting. My idea was to find 4 zinfandels in the grocery store, all under $20, and taste them live with you.  A lot of people look for cheap, or at least inexpensive red wine, and I though Zinfandels would be fun for that.

The wines i selected were:

Zen of Zins 06 Old Vines Zinfandel (Ravenswood) $10.50

Cline Ancient VInes 07 Zinfandel $16.50

Estancia Paso Robles 05 Zinfandel $13.50

7 Deadly Zins 06 Old Vines Zinfandel (Lodi) $18.50

Quite frankly, I wanted to add Gnarly Head Zinfandel, as it’s AMAZING at $10. However, I had already posted and had friends get the wine, and I didn’t want to throw a monkey wrench into the mix. And after 5 Hahn wines, I thought 4 Zinfandel were enough! However, I would honestly recommend it over the 4 wines I reviewed for the night, so give it a shot if you can find it!

Of course, this video has the entire tasting, and I’d love for you to watch it. It was filmed after a 5 wine tasting, and well, frankly, I was a bit happy. As was Robin, who did join for some of it. If you don’t make it through the whole video, I’ve summarized all of the wines in the blog post.

First up was the Estancia Paso Robles 2005 Zinfandel which cost $13.50 at our local grocery store. I believe this was a “request” since many people have seen it in the store. The wine clocked in at 13.5% Alcohol by Volume (ABV), and was aged 8 months in American oak, 25% new. This ended up being the first, and only, wine I spit during an event. There was nothing on the nose, maybe some cranberry and white pepper, but that was likely reaching for something.  The palate was quite awkward, with little fruit, no spice, no smoke, no flavor. I quickly moved on, until someone made us pause.

Kirsten Wright tried to turn a negative into a positive, and had a great idea. Stuck with an “unpleasant” bottle of wine, she thought this would be a great candidate for Sangria. I think with enough doctoring, it would definitely be a nice sangria wine. Though at $13.50, I am sure there are more cost effective wines to do this with. Brava, Kirsten, for thinking outside the wine box.

We moved on to the Cline Ancient Vines Zinfandel 2007, which was $16.50 in our local grocery. While grape vines are considered Old Vines from 40 to 80 years, they are considered Ancient when they are 80 until about 100 years of age. While the 14.5% ABV is listed on the bottle, I couldn’t find a good data sheet on the wine, so I am not sure of the aging method. The Cline Ancient Vines Zin was ruby red in color, and had a bouquet of raspberry with mocha or chocolate as well. My video doesn’t express it eloquently, and I blame the 6 wines prior, but as soon as you bring the wine to your lips and take that breath in, the bouquet, or aroma, encourages a mouth watering moment when you can literally taste the fruit forwardness of this wine.

The palate of the Cline Ancient Vines Zinfandel is quiet silky and smooth in the mouth, with a tremendous amount of fruit. A mixture of raspberry and blackberry flavors are present in this new world red. While it didn’t have noticeable tannins, and there wasn’t a big presence of spice or earth or smoke, it would indeed pair well with steak or even pasta. Though $16.50 precludes the Cline from being an every-day sipper in my book, it was certainly nice enough to have as a casual drink with friends.

Next up was Ravenswood’s Zen of Zins 2006 Old Vines Zinfandel. At $10.50, it was certainly the most inexpensive of all of the wines of the night, though not the best. It had a very dark nose, with a good bit of spice on it. The scent of chocolate covered raspberries came through, and it was interesting. The palate was smooth, but really doesn’t bring a lot. The Zen of Zins had no discerning flavors, and did have that soapy mouth feel that makes you want to wash it out. It was light in the mouth, had no spice that the bouquet held, and while it “complimented” the goat cheese torta, it really didn’t do much in terms of flavor.  I’d say this would be a decent table wine, pleasant but pedestrian. Frankly, at $11, there are much better wines to try.

The last wine of the night was the 2006 7 Deadly Zins, Lodi California, which was $18.50 in our grocery store. This was certainly the priciest wine of the night, and an interesting side note, cost only $11 for a friend, Lynn, in California, who was tasting along with us on the video.  The nose had a nice raspberry bouquet, and had some nice spice that reminded me of a Christmas candle.  The palate was quite interesting, and really reminded me of candied fruit, and well, Hubba Bubba Bubblegum! Not something you look for in a wine, usually, but it wasn’t terrible! A number of my friends who were tasting along with me said it was a sweet sipper and  Rebekah and her girlfriends loved it.

The 7 Deadly Zins was not sickly sweet, and a number of the tasters who joined us via ustream video chat said it would be a great porch wine. I had to agree, but would do so if you could find it for the $11 that Lynn can. At $18.50, the 7 Deadly Zins was just a bit too expensive to be in the porch wine category when there are SO many other wines to try at a better price.

I really was not crazy about the outcome of this tasting. I enjoyed the Cline Ancient Vines Zin, perhaps my favorite of the night, but didn’t get WOWED!  Therefore, I just went to the store and bough 7 more Zinfandels. There will be a Zin Tasting event, soon!

Speaking of events, please tune on on 2/28 when Debbie Frangipane and I host a live Italian food and wine tasting event in Tampa. We will have 15 people with us, and will be streaming live on my ustream channel.  You can get some details of the event on the twitter taste live event page.

Robin and I love to entertain. We don’t do it enough, maybe once every month or two. We’ll have a bigger party, maybe 20-30 people, once or twice a year, then we’ll have 2-4 other people over now-and-then. We always try to plan out a fun and exciting menu, complimented by fun beverages.  You all know I’m a big fan of wine, and now you’ll see I love to cook!

Here’s a short video of my preparing my favorite appetizer.  I’ll add a photo and some quick step by step instructions below.  Frankly, it’s so easy, you’ll wish you found it earlier.

Cooking Video – Our Favorite Appetizer for wine & cocktails from agoodtimewithwine.comRobin and I LOVE this recipe. We serve it at every party. http://agoodtimewithwine.com will have pictures and written recipe. Comment if you make and like or disline!

Click to expand - Ingredients

The ingredients list is really short for this fabulous appetizer. Flat bread crackers, goat cheese, red grapes, olive oil.  You can embellish a bit with fresh rosemary, or infuse your olive oil like we did with the rosemary.

I use flatbread crackers that have rosemary and sea salt in them. You can use plain as well, but avoid anything with seeds or “everything” flavor.  I also like the ones I have pictured here because they’re very thin. You could use thicker ones if that’s your preference.

Break the flat bread crackers up into about 2 inch by 2 inch pieces. I do them by hand, and some are bigger and others smaller. I try to make sure the cracker is at leat as big as the diameter of the goat cheese slices. I slice the cheese in thin strips, and as I’ve shown in the video, the best way is to use an egg slicer. They’re about 1/8 an inch thick or so.  Place 1 piece of cheese on each cracker, then top with 1/2 of a red grape. I slice them lengthwise, and usually put two grapes on each cracker.  Drizzle olive oil over the grapes and cheese and you’re almost done.  If you didn’t use the olive oil infused with rosemary, chop up some fresh rosemary leaves, then sprinkle over the oil for a nice finishing touch.

This sweet and savory dish goes well with a whole range of wines. Our favorite is Sauvignon Blanc, though we’ve had it with pinot noir, viognier, and chardonnay.  The evening I made the video I had it with a Zinfandel. I believe it was an “Ok” pairing, but not perfect. However, simply try it with your favorite wine and see how you like it. I don’t know if it would pair well with a Cabernet Sauvignon, but if that’s what you drink, who’s to say it’s wrong!?

Take some time to leave your comments below. I’d love to know what you make when you entertain. And if you make this appetizer, I’d love to know your thoughts on how it went!