Serves 8

Organic chicken is the ideal meat to cook for dinner gatherings. Few are the people that will not relish the succulent meat, intense chicken taste, and crisp skin. And of all the methods to cook chicken, barbecuing is the most effective accenting the unique qualities of chicken. All barbecuing requires supervision. Get your friends involved turning the chicken on the grill and brushing on more marinade. However, if you find this distracting or stress inducing, the chicken is great roasted in a 425-degree oven for approximately 30 minutes.

• 1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
• 6 cloves minced garlic
• 2 cups chopped vine-ripe tomatoes, including the skin and seeds
• 2 cups dry red wine
• 1/4 cup cider or white distilled vinegar
• 1/4 cup honey
• 2 tablespoons chipotle chiles in adobo sauce, minced
• 2 tablespoons chopped fresh oregano, or cilantro
• 2 teaspoons salt
• 3 organic frying chickens cut into pieces, or 8 chicken breast halves, bone and skin on
• 2 cups wood chips, such as hickory or apple
• 1/2 cup heavy cream, optional

Combine olive oil and garlic. In a bowl, combine all remaining ingredients except the chicken and wood chips. Place olive oil and garlic in a 12-inch sauté pan. Place over medium-high heat. When the garlic begins to brown, add the chopped tomato mixture. Bring to a boil and cook until it thickens so it clings to the end of a wooden spoon. Cool to room temperature. Add half the sauce to the chicken. Combine the remaining sauce with the cream. Can be done to this point up to 24 hours before cooking with all food refrigerated.

Cooking: Preheat a gas or charcoal barbecue to medium (not hot). Place the wood chips on a small layer of foil and place at the corner of the cooking grate. Brush vegetable oil on the grill and add the chicken. Cook the chicken until both sides are golden, about 10 minutes of cooking. Close the lid. Every 3 to 5 minutes open the lid, turn the chicken over and then close the lid again. The chicken is done when the internal temperature of the thighs is 165 degrees and breasts 155 degrees using a meat thermometer (about 30 minutes of cooking). Transfer to a heated platter. Bring the cream-chipotle sauce to a rapid boil. Pour the sauce over the chicken. Serve family style, or transfer the chicken to dinner plates.

Menu ideas: Appetizers: Imported olives, both black and green, seed-in, and pitted; thinly sliced salami; roasted, salted nuts. With the entrée serve Oven Roasted New Potatoes and Buttered Peas. Dessert: Fresh Peach Ice Cream.

Keep It Fun: Visions of Grandeur

It’s Monday. I pick up the phone and invite eight friends for dinner Saturday night, thinking “Simple, Easy, Quick.” But as the days pass, a little voice becomes increasingly shrill and persistent. “Complicate.” “Impress.” “Make a Culinary Tour De Force.” The goal of a simple dinner becomes lost. By Saturday night, I’m in a culinary daze, slightly irritable, and distracted throughout the dinner. The next morning I hear the standard refrain from Teri: “Why did you do such an elaborate dinner. You didn’t even have time to talk with your friends.” Quiet that inner voice. Embrace the simple menu. Grandeur comes with a cost.

BBQ Chicken with Lemon-Basil-Garlic Glaze

Serves 8

Boned chicken breasts quickly lose their moist interior when barbecued entirely on direct heat. That’s why in this recipe after the breasts are lightly charred, they are grilled over indirect heat that is maintained at a low temperature.

Lemon-Basil-Garlic Glaze

• 1/2 cup lemon juice, freshly squeezed
• 1/2 cup thin soy sauce
• 1/4 cup Dijon mustard
• 6 cloves minced garlic
• 1/3 cup chopped basil or sage or cilantro
• 1 tablespoon your favorite chili sauce
• 4 organic whole chicken breasts, boned but skin on
• 2 cups wood chips
• Vegetable oil to brush on the grill

Combine all the Lemon-Glaze ingredients and stir well. Add the glaze to the chicken and coat the pieces evenly. Can be done to this point up to 24 hours before cooking with all food refrigerated.

Cooking: Preheat a gas or charcoal fire to medium. Place the wood chips on a small layer of foil, and place at one corner of the cooking grate. Brush vegetable oil on the grill. Place the chicken, skin side down on the grill. Cook until the skin becomes lightly charred, about 8 minutes. Brush with more marinade, and turn the chicken over. Turn off the heat under the chicken (if using coals, push them to one side). Turn the other burners to low. Cover the lid, and cook the chicken over low heat until the internal temperature on a meat thermometer reads 155 degrees. Every 5 minutes during cooking, turn the chicken over, brush with remaining marinade, and close the lid again. When done, transfer the chicken to a heated platter if serving family style or to individual dinner plates. Serve.

Menu ideas: Appetizers: Chinese Jade Dumplings (guests help fold the dumplings), crackers and a dip. With the entrée serve BBQ Portabello Mushrooms and hot dinner rolls. Dessert: Homemade pie and ice cream brought by a dinner guest.

BBQ Chicken Breasts with Red Pepper Tequila Glaze

Serves 8

This is a very good cooking technique for casual dinners. The chicken is given an initial charring on the barbecue and then slow roasted in an oven. Done in this manner, you’ll have more time to enjoy your friends.

• 8 organic boneless chicken breasts halves, skin on

Dijon Marinade

• 1/3 cup Dijon mustard
• 1/4 cup lemon juice, freshly squeezed
• 3 tablespoons oyster sauce
• 2 teaspoons Asian chili sauce
• 3 cloves minced garlic

Red Pepper Glaze

• 3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
• 3 cloves minced garlic
• 1 cup chicken broth
• 1/4 cup tequila
• 3 tablespoons oyster sauce
• 2 teaspoons cornstarch
• 2 teaspoons Asian chili sauce
• 1 cup roasted red pepper, store-bought
• 1/4 cup chopped cilantro sprigs
• 1/2 cup toasted pumpkin seeds (or toasted pine nuts, or slivered almonds)
• 4 ounces soft goat cheese, crumbled

In a bowl that is large enough to hold the chicken, combine all ingredients for the Dijon marinade. Add the chicken breasts, and coat evenly. In a small bowl, combine the olive oil and garlic. In another bowl, combine the broth, tequila, oyster sauce, cornstarch, and chili sauce. Rinse the pepper, pat dry, and chop. Add to the chicken broth mixture the chopped red pepper and cilantro. Place a saucepan over medium-high heat. Add the oil and garlic. When the garlic begins to brown, add the chicken broth-red pepper mixture. Immediately remove this from the stove. Set aside the pumpkin seeds. Crumble the goat cheese. Can be done to this point up to 24 hours before cooking, with all food refrigerated.

Cooking: Line a shallow baking pan with foil. Spray a wire rack with nonstick spray and place on the baking pan. Preheat oven to 300 degrees. Preheat a gas or charcoal fire to medium-high. Add the chicken skin side down. Cook the chicken over direct heat on both sides until golden and lightly charred, about 6 minutes. Transfer the chicken, skin side up, to the wire rack. Place in the preheated oven and roast until the internal temperature of the chicken reads 155 degrees on a meat thermometer, about 20 minutes. Stir the Red Pepper Glaze. Bring to a boil. Place the chicken on a heated platter. Pour the sauce over the chicken. Sprinkle on the pumpkin seeds and crumbled goat cheese. Serve family style or serve on dinner plates.

Menu ideas: Appetizers: Stir-Fry Shrimp in Lettuce Cups. With the entrée serve BBQ Corn with Lime, Olive Oil, and Garlic, and hot dinner rolls; salad greens tossed with your favorite salad dressing. Dessert: Chocolate Crème Brulee.

Keep It Fun: Red Wine Choices

There is a vast range of red wine choices to match with these poultry recipes. Generally the more aggressively flavored the dish, the more full-bodied the matching red wine. Keep in mind that chili in food intensifies the tannins in red wine. The wine and food matching is badly thrown off balance. So if serving a spicy Szechwan chicken pour a low-tannin, full-bodied red wine such as a Zinfandel.

Szechwan Oven Roasted Chicken

Serves 8

When roasting or barbecuing chicken, the flavor is greatly enhanced by lengthy marinating. The protein fibers are loosely bound together so that after an 8- to 24-hour marinating, the flavors will have penetrated right to the bone. On the other hand, fish is even more absorbent and rarely benefits from more than one hour of marinating. As for pork, beef, and lamb, the tight structure of the proteins means that even with lengthy marinating, very little of the marinade penetrates deeply into the meat.

• 2 to 3 organic frying chickens cut into thighs, drumsticks, and breasts
• 1/4 cup Chinese rice wine or dry sherry
• 1/4 cup hoisin sauce
• 1/4 cup oyster sauce
• 1/4 cup honey
• 2 tablespoons Chinese chili sauce
• skin from 1 lime, grated with a micro-plane
• 1/4 cup lime juice, freshly squeezed
• 8 cloves minced garlic
• 1/4 cup chopped cilantro
• 1/2 cup minced green onion

In a large bowl, combine all ingredients except chicken. Stir well. Add chicken. Can be done up to 24 hours before cooking, with all the food refrigerated.

Cooking: Preheat the oven to 425 degrees. Line a shallow baking pan with foil. Place a wire rack on top. Drain the chicken and place skin side up on the wire rack. Transfer the chicken to the oven. Roast until the breasts reach 155 degrees and the thighs 165 degrees on a meat thermometer, about 30 minutes cooking. Twice during roasting, brush any extra marinade across the chicken. Transfer to a heated platter for family style, or onto dinner plates. Serve.

Menu ideas: Appetizers: Bloody Mary Shrimp Cocktail; thick wedges of bleu cheese and Brie with crackers. With the entrée serve Oven Roasted Mashed Potatoes (made a day in advance); Salad course: Waldorf Salad. Dessert: A premium ice cream with Caramel Chocolate Sauce.

Keep It Fun: Plate the Food in the Kitchen

We’re huge fans of plating each course in the kitchen, assuming, of course, that there is plenty of counter space. The food is transferred to the plates quickly. There is the same size portion on each plate. Every plate looks equally attractive. And the serving process is far speedier than serving the food buffet fashion or using the pass-the-platter syndrome. You’ll be amazed. Guests love to help—they’re hungry. Do the following: Place the starch on each dinner plate just slightly off center. Add sauce and place the protein on the sauce. Alternatively, lay the protein on the plate or tilt it on the side of the starch and spoon the sauce over the meat or seafood. Garnish with chopped herbs and serve.

Oven Braised Chicken Breasts with Lemon and Fresh Thyme

Serves 8

To quickly remove thyme leaves from the woody stems, place the thyme flat on a cutting surface and then with the top ridge of a chef’s knife, scrape the stems. The leaves will come off easily.

• 8 organic bone-in and skin-on chicken breast halves
• 2 teaspoons salt
• 1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 1/4 cup minced fresh thyme
• 3 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 4 cloves minced garlic
• 1/4 cup chopped shallots
• 1/2 cup dry white wine
• 1/2 cup heavy cream
• 1 tablespoon grated lemon skin
• 3 tablespoons lemon juice, freshly squeezed
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper or hot sauce

Rub chicken breasts on both sides with salt, pepper, and half the thyme. Place a 2-quart sauté pan over medium-high heat. Add the butter, garlic, and shallots. When the butter just begins to brown, add the remaining thyme, wine, cream, grated lemon, lemon juice, and salt. Bring to a low boil. Then remove from the heat. Can be done to this point up to 8 hours before cooking with all food refrigerated.

Cooking: Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Place the chicken skin side up in a heavy shallow roasting pan. Pour in the sauce. Place in the preheated oven. Roast until the internal temperature of the chicken reads 155 degrees on a meat thermometer, about 20 minutes. Midway through cooking, baste the chicken with the sauce. Taste and adjust the seasonings. Transfer the chicken to a heated serving platter, pour the sauce over the chicken, and serve family style. Or serve the chicken on heated dinner plates.

Menu ideas: Appetizers: Three appetizers brought by dinner guests. With the entrée serve Crisp Polenta with Roasted Red Pepper and Green Beans with Walnut Oil. Dessert: Bought at the local Farmer’s Market.

Braised Chicken with Garlic and Wild Mushrooms

Serves 8
Chicken breasts simmered in a sauce taste great. But the problem is that chicken breasts quickly overcook whether they’re cooked from scratch that evening or reheated. On the other hand, chicken thigh meat is richer tasting and higher in fat. It tastes even better cooked a day in advance and gently reheated, which is great since this easy recipe takes about 1 hour to complete.

• 1 pounds firm mushrooms (shiitake, portabello, cremini)
• 12 organic chicken thighs, boned and skinned by the market
• salt and pepper
• 1/2 cup white flour
• 1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
• 4 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 6 cloves minced garlic
• 1 cup dry red wine
• 1 cup chicken broth
• 3 tablespoons oyster sauce
• 2 teaspoons tomato paste
• 1/2 teaspoon Asian chili sauce
• 1/2 teaspoon sugar
• 1 tablespoon chopped fresh oregano or thyme leaves
• salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
• 1/4 cup heavy cream, optional
• 1/3 cup chopped parsley

If using shiitake or portabello, trim off and discard the stems. Cut the mushrooms into thin slices. Cut each chicken thigh into half. Sprinkle with salt and pepper, then coat with a thin dusting of flour. Place a deep 12-inch sauté pan over medium-high heat. When hot, add the olive oil. When hot, add the chicken. Cook the chicken, stirring often, until it is browned on all sides. Remove the chicken with a slotted spoon. Add the mushrooms and garlic. Reduce the heat to medium, and cook, stirring occasionally until the mushrooms wilt, about 8 minutes. Meanwhile, combine the wine, broth, oyster sauce, tomato paste, chili, sugar, and thyme. When the mushrooms wilt, return the chicken to the pan and add the wine mixture. Cover, and simmer over lowest heat until the chicken is very tender, about 20 minutes. Cool. Can be done to this point up to 24 hours before cooking, with all food refrigerated.

Cooking: Bring to a simmer. Taste and adjust seasonings, especially for salt. Stir in cream. Transfer to a heated platter, sprinkle with parsley, and serve family style, or serve on dinner plates.

Menu ideas: Appetizers: Spicy Marinated Mussels; Melon Slices Wrapped in Prosciutto. With the entrée serve Oven Fries. Salad course: Classic Tuscan Salad. Dessert: Dense Chocolate Brownies with vanilla ice cream.

Is That Wine Red or White?

Want to amuse your dinner guests? Have them taste wine from black votive glasses (available at Target). The black interior makes it impossible to see the color of the wine. Each guest tries to identify only the color of the wine. Unless the wine is a big, buttery California chardonnay or a high-tannin California red fruit bomb, picking the correct color will be difficult! Enlist the aid of an expert. Go to your local wine store and involve the owner or manager in selecting the wines that will lead later that evening to confusion, wrong guesses, consternation, and amusement.

Wine from the Refrigerator? What To Do?

An unfinished bottle of red wine lies in the refrigerator. And you’d like to finish off the bottle early that evening before opening another bottle. But the wine is 44 degrees and warming it to cellar or room temperature will cause an agonizing wait. The solution: pour yourself a generous amount, and place the wine glass in the microwave oven. Heat for 7 seconds at full power! The wine will have risen to just above cellar temperature, the microwaves have no effect on the taste of the wine, and you’re immediately able to enjoy a glass of wine.

Serving a Young Red Wine with Lots of Tannins?

A noted Napa Valley winery owner confided the following tale. Arriving in the tasting room just prior to an important tasting with a wine critic, the winery owner discovered that the latest cabernet release, a big powerful wine with lots of tannins, hadn’t been decanted hours in advance and remained unopened on the tasting room counter. Decanting it vigorously wouldn’t have softened the tannins sufficiently. But maybe a few pulses in an electric blender might prove more effective. Now that’s a very different use of the word “blended” from its usual meaning in the wine industry! The critic loved the wine, and the electric blender remained unmentioned, out of sight, and available.

Cooking with Wine

Students often ask me whether they should cook with the same wine that’s going to be served with dinner. The answer: Absolutely Not. It’s an often-stated rule by chefs that using the same wine in cooking establishes a “taste bridge” between the food and the wine. This practice is flat out wrong and leads to the most pretentious wine discussions. Not even a wine educator is going to be able to tell the quality of wine used in cooking once that dish—a beef stew for example—has simmered for hours in a sauce flavored by garlic, tomatoes, caramelized onions, dried porcini mushrooms, salt, and pepper. Save the good wine for drinking.

Do you have any stories about wine, the subject of wine and food pairing, myths to debunk, funny wine stories, or reactions to the above “wine tales”? I’d love to hear from you.

Once when Teri was on an exotic adventure trip, I gave a dinner party for 8. I ushered my friends into the living room, served wine and engaged in animated conversation, but not a speck of food appeared. After awhile some of the dinner guests went into the kitchen and cooked a delicious dinner. So control and power, blended with a little group activity, are hallmarks of any good dinner.

Several years ago Teri and I gave a dinner party for our long-time publisher and friend Phil Wood to celebrate the publication of Fast Appetizers. He arrived wearing one of his signature billowy polka-dot outfits, created especially for him by a Hawaiian artist, and carrying an armful of wines and copies of his recent cookbook publications. Other friends arrived. I cooked madly as course upon course appeared only to disappear. Massive numbers of wine bottles were opened, and the din rose as one of Phil’s authors led the conversation on the custom of eating bugs in other cultures. He described how the Vietnamese coax tarantulas from their underground dens and then batter and deep-fry the hairy spiders, which led to much theorizing by all of us about suitable condiments.

Meanwhile, sunset transitioned into inky blackness with faint starlight since the installation of an outdoor lighting system had never been a priority of our “work-eat” program. A sudden frantic banging on the pantry door silenced the group. Then more banging. We rushed to the pantry door, and there stood an agitated shepherd, waving his arms and motioning into the darkness. His flock of several hundred goats, brought in by a neighbor for the purpose of “weed-eating” the spring grasses, had broken through the fencing and was moving across our hilltop, devouring not just grasses but roses, Russian sage, low limbs on our olive trees, and the vegetable-herb garden. We couldn’t see the goats, but the sound of their mastication and the image of our hilltop laid barren sent our group into an unbalanced frenzy. Teri supplied flashlights, and after much tripping, shouting and pushing (I fell down and was trampled by goats), we managed to push the intruders back through the hole, secure the opening, and return breathless and disheveled to the dining table.

Surprising dinner guests had entered, eaten and been expelled. “Weed-eating” had been completed in a matter of minutes. And the “work-eat” program, disparaged by some, already had me planning the next dinner party.

Serves 8

• 20 tiny red potatoes
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 4 cloves minced garlic
• 1 cup mayonnaise
• 1/2 cup aged Asiago cheese, grated
• 1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
• 2 tablespoons minced chives

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Rub potatoes with olive oil and roast in the oven until tender when prodded with a fork, about 40 minutes. In a bowl, combine the garlic, mayonnaise, cheese, cayenne and chives. Mix well. When potatoes have cooled to room temperature, using a paring knife, cut a hole in the top of each potato and remove about 1/3 of the potato. Fill the hollow with the garlic-cheese mixture. Can be done to this point up to 24 hours before serving with all food refrigerated.

To serve: Bake in a 350-degree oven until browned on top, about 12 minutes. Serve hot or at room temperature.

Serves 8

• 12 1-ounce logs of soft goat cheese, about 1 inch in diameter, chilled
• 3/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
• 1 tablespoon whole pepper corns, “tricolor” mixture
• 2 cloves minced garlic
• 1/3 cup slivered fresh basil or mint leaves, or cilantro springs
• 1 teaspoon grated orange skin
• 30 of your favorite crackers or Belgium endive leaves

Using dental floss, cut the goat cheese into 1/2-inch thick slices. Place slices in a single layer in a Pyrex pie plate or baking dish. In a small saucepan, combine the oil and peppercorns. In a small bowl, combine the garlic, basil and orange. Place the saucepan over medium-high heat and cook until the peppercorns begin to “pop,” about 2 minutes. Immediately stir in the garlic mixture. After 5 seconds of stirring, pour the hot oil mixture over the cheese. Can be completed to this point up to 48 hours before serving with all food refrigerated.

To serve: When the cheese is chilled, transfer the cheese to a decorative plate. Pour the oil over the top. Serve at room temperature or chilled with crackers or Belgium endive leaves.

At one such event, a couple I didn’t know personally commissioned me to prepare a Chinese banquet for 16 guests. I usually preview the kitchen, but for this event everything was arranged by phone. The home was one in a series of stately Spanish-style houses near the Santa Barbara Mission. The front door was already open, so I walked into the living room, accepted a warm welcome from a group assembled around the fire, and proceeded to the kitchen to “inspect.” I hate a cluttered kitchen, but here were wonderfully empty counters and a center island the size of New Hampshire. Out I went to my old beat-up van to make countless roundtrips, unloading dozens of little containers of stir-fry sauces, marinated meats, chilled lobsters, tea-smoked duck breasts, homemade mu shu wrappers and trays of dim sum—all ready to be steamed, pan fried and boiled. What chaos! Thirty minutes of organizational frenzy later, an elegantly dressed woman appeared in the kitchen. Ah, the hostess! Her first words were, “Who are you, and what are you doing in MY kitchen?” I had transposed the numbers of the address. Wrong house! The real client lived next door!

What’s been your biggest surprise?

Dinner Parties aren’t a kitchen foot-race, way to impress friends, something undertaken as marital duty, a stage to display family silver or repay social debits, a freakish tilt toward culinary kung-fu menu-of-the-month ordeals, or a red badge of courage as you’re buried under mountainous dishes, battered pots, burned kitchen towels and splattered cloths.

Dinner Parties—Yes

Dinner Parties celebrate life, deepen friendships, stimulate storytelling, encourage “We-versus-I” behavior, intensify all the senses, provide a perfect stage for making new friends, become a welcomed refuge from the disheartening cascade of international events and high-pressure day-to-day living foretelling oncoming illness and the loss of old friends, and so they’re a momentary pause as we linger around the table, our little band, celebrating the brightness of being together.

A Note on Menu Planning

A few years ago, an investment banker from Boulder spent a week at my Napa Valley cooking school. He had fallen madly in love with cooking and cooked every night for his wife and three daughters. But menu planning was his Achilles heel. “Timing is a big problem.” “Sometimes everything tastes similar.” “There’s always so much food left over.” Here is my answer to him:

1. The more dishes that can be served cold or at room temperature, the fewer the timing problems. This is especially helpful when choosing appetizers.
2. The most exciting menus feature diverse flavors, textures and colors. If curry is used to season an appetizer, it shouldn’t be used elsewhere. If shrimp is featured as the entrée, then resist temptations to serve your famous Chilled Jumbo Shrimp Appetizer. I’m a ginger fanatic, but it doesn’t show much imagination using this multiple times in a menu.
3. Meat as the entrée solves many timing problems. Meat coming off the barbecue or out of the oven can be left at room temperature for up to 30 minutes. Placed on hot dinner plates and garnished with a sauce, dinner guests will perceive the meat as “piping hot.” Meat can wait for the carrots or the asparagus or the risotto, but never the other way around. So play it safe. Choose a meat entrée and err on having it done a little early.
4. Timing is what makes fish so tricky to serve as an entrée. Fish requires perfect cooking and immediate service. If serving fish as the entrée, choose side dishes that can be kept warm or served at room temperature such as rice pilaf with grilled vegetables.
5. Restaurant chefs are great at multitasking. My nephew, John McDonald, could crack 4 eggs simultaneously while flipping an omelet with the other hand. But for the rest of us having to complete two last-minute cooking tasks at the same time can lead to a massive brain seizure. Plan the entrée and its surrounding dishes with culinary brain seizures in mind.
6. In the early years of my cooking, I always second-guessed the serving size recommended by cookbooks. Inevitably, I had “way more” food and was “way more” tired from prepping unnecessarily large amounts. On some occasions when cooking a dinner party for 8, I’d have enough food to serve all of Santa Barbara. Don’t doubt the recommended serving size provided in this book. These recipes are based on 35 years of giving dinner parties. Just trust me!

Two Appetizer Recipes

Marinated Goat Cheese with Garlic and Basil

(serves 8)

It’s the infused oil that gives this goat cheese an intense and exciting flavor. The marinated goat cheese is also very good used as a filling for the center stalks of celery or inside Belgium endive cups. In terms of technique, since goat cheese tears easily, cut the goat cheese with dental floss rather than a knife.

• 12 1-ounce logs of soft goat cheese, about 1 inch in diameter, chilled
• 3/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
• 1 tablespoon whole pepper corns, “tricolor” mixture
• 2 cloves minced garlic
• 1/3 cup slivered fresh basil or mint leaves, or cilantro springs
• 1 teaspoon grated orange skin
• 30 of your favorite crackers or Belgium endive leaves

Using dental floss, cut the goat cheese into 1/2-inch thick slices. Place slices in a single layer in a Pyrex pie plate or baking dish. In a small saucepan, combine the oil and peppercorns. In a small bowl, combine the garlic, basil and orange. Place the saucepan over medium-high heat and cook until the peppercorns begin to “pop,” about 2 minutes. Immediately stir in the garlic mixture. After 5 seconds of stirring, pour the hot oil mixture over the cheese. Can be completed to this point up to 48 hours before serving with all food refrigerated.

To serve: When the cheese is chilled, transfer the cheese to a decorative plate. Pour the oil over the top. Serve at room temperature or chilled with crackers or Belgium endive leaves.

Baby Red Potatoes Stuffed with Cheese and Garlic

(serves 8)

One of the most gifted chefs in Napa Valley is Kelley Novak, and this is her recipe. It is an utterly delicious way to begin a dinner party. Kelley uses Asiago cheese, but you can substitute any hard, flavor-packed cheese, such as cheddar, pecorino, dry jack or Reggiano parmesano.

• 20 tiny red potatoes
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 4 cloves minced garlic
• 1 cup mayonnaise
• 1/2 cup aged Asiago cheese, grated
• 1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
• 2 tablespoons minced chives

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Rub potatoes with olive oil and roast in the oven until tender when prodded with a fork, about 40 minutes. In a bowl, combine the garlic, mayonnaise, cheese, cayenne and chives. Mix well. When potatoes have cooled to room temperature, using a paring knife, cut a hole in the top of each potato and remove about 1/3 of the potato. Fill the hollow with the garlic-cheese mixture. Can be done to this point up to 24 hours before serving with all food refrigerated.

To serve: Bake in a 350-degree oven until browned on top, about 12 minutes. Serve hot or at room temperature.

• 1/4 cup teriyaki sauce
• 1/4 cup freshly squeezed orange juice
• 2 tablespoons chopped fresh basil leaves
• 2 tablespoons minced ginger
• 1/4 cup mayonnaise
• 1 tablespoon wasabi paste
• 4 6-ounce pieces fresh salmon fillets or steaks
• 1 orange cut into 1/4-inch thin slices
• 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 2 teaspoons black sesame seeds
• 2 teaspoons grated orange skin

In a bowl, combine teriyaki sauce, orange juice, basil, and ginger. Combine mayonnaise and wasabi paste, stirring well. Can be done 8 hours before cooking with all food refrigerated. Marinate the fish with the teriyaki sauce for 5 to 15 minutes, refrigerated. On a heavy baking pan lined with foil, add the orange slices. Place fish flat side down on top of the slices. Add the butter in little pieces across the top of the fish. Turn the oven to Broil. Place the fish 4 inches under the broiler heat. Broil until it turns golden, about 4 minutes. If the fish is not done (the fish should flake easily when prodded with a fork), turn the oven to Bake at 300 degrees and continue cooking. Transfer the fish and orange slices to dinner plates. Scatter with sesame seeds, grated orange skin, and a stripe or dots of the mayonnaise-wasabi sauce. Serve.

• 4 cups gently packed spinach leaves, about 4 ounces
• 1 large clove garlic, minced
• 2 dried red chili pods
• 1 tablespoon thin soy sauce
• 1 teaspoon dark sesame oil
• 1/2 teaspoon white sugar
• 4 5-ounce pieces fresh filet of sole
• salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 1/4 cup white flour
• 1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons flavorless cooking oil

In a large bowl, combine spinach, garlic, chili, soy, sesame oil, and sugar. Toss until evenly mixed. Sprinkle salt and pepper on both sides of the fish. Dust both sides of fish with flour, shaking off all excess. Place two 12-inch sauté pans over medium-high heat. Add 1/4 cup of the oil to the pans. When the oil become hot, add the sole flat side up in a single layer. Pan-fry about 60 seconds on each side, turning the sole over once. The sole is cooked when it just begins to flake when prodded with a spatula. Transfer to dinner plates. Return one of the pans to the stove over high heat. Add the remaining oil. When the oil just begins to smoke, add the spinach. Using tongs or a spatula, rapidly turn over the spinach leaves. The moment the spinach wilts (but has not begun to expel its moisture), spoon the spinach over the fish. Serve.

• 1/3 cup sliced almonds
• 1/2 cup white wine
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon pepper
• 4 5-ounce pieces fresh fillet of sole
• 1/4 cup white flour
• 2 tablespoons flavorless cooking oil
• 3 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 1 shallot, minced
• 1 clove garlic
• 2 tablespoons chopped parsley
• 4 lemon wedges

Toast nuts in a preheated 325-degree oven until golden, about 10 minutes. Combine wine with half the salt and pepper. Sprinkle sole on both sides with remaining salt and pepper. Dust sole on both sides with flour, shaking off all excess. Place two 12-inch sauté pans over medium-high heat. Add the oil to both pans. When the oil becomes hot, add the sole flat side up in a single layer. Cook the sole about 60 seconds on each side, turning the sole over once. The sole is done when it flakes easily when prodded with a spatula. Transfer the fish to dinner plates. Return one of the pans to medium-high heat. Add the butter. When the butter melts, add the shallots and garlic. When the shallots become transparent, about 30 seconds, add the wine sauce. When the wine sauce begins to thicken, about 20 seconds, add the almonds. Sauté for 5 seconds, and then spoon the nuts and sauce over the sole. Sprinkle with parsley. Serve accompanied with lemon wedges.