Vineyard Recipes - The Beechwood Inn

The vineyard is where wine begins... Living the wine life is about living life to the fullest, eating great food, savoring great wine, and doing all this with family and friends. I am dedicating my blog in part to introduce to you great vineyards from around the world, along with that, sharing great recipes from those vineyards. It will be like taking a vacation without ever leaving your home.

My first pick is not a vineyard at all, although they do have their own wines. The Beechwood Inn is a Bed and Breakfast located in the north Georgia mountains (Clayton, GA) and was voted "Best Inn for Wine Connoisseurs". It's a place where wine lovers can go to have a fabulous 5 course gourmet dinner, made with organic ingredients matched with meticulously selected wines. Gourmet breakfast is served also. Each week there is a different region or theme to indulge in; Tuscany, Spain or the Mediterrenian, just to name a few. Inn guests are often visited by celebrated wine makers and chefs from around the world. Georgia premier wine county inn provides rustic elegance in a romantic setting.

Beechwood Inn

David and Gayle Darugh - Owners/Innkeepers
220 Beechwood Drive
Clayton, Georgia 30525
706.782.5485 or 866.782.2485

http://www.beechwoodinn.ws/

Enjoy this recipe compliments of the Beechwood Inn.......

Recipe for Gnudi

Gnudi means "nude in a Tuscan dialect and is pronounced "nudie." Its name is because it is unrobed of its usual pasta covering.

Gnudi

1 pound fresh ricotta cheese
1 large egg
1/3 cup finely grated Pecorino Romano (about 1 ounce) plus additional for garnish
1/2 teaspoon salt
Large pinch of ground white pepper
3/4 cup all purpose flour plus additional for coating
Sauce and garnishes
5 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, divided
6 thin pancetta slices
12 whole fresh sage leaves
2 pounds fresh wild mushrooms (such as crimini, oyster, and stemmed shiitake), sliced
2 large shallots, chopped
6 fresh thyme sprigs
2 teaspoons chopped fresh sage
2 cups low-salt chicken broth
1 teaspoon black truffle oil
1/4 cup ( 1/2 stick) chilled butter, diced

Preparation:

For gnudi: Line colander with several layers of cheese cloth and spoon ricotta cheese into colander. Let drain at least 30 minutes and up to 1 hour. Beat egg, 1/3 cup Pecorino Romano cheese, salt, and white pepper in large bowl to blend. Mix in drained ricotta. Sprinkle 3/4 cup flour over and stir gently to blend, do not over stir. Cover and chill dough 1 hour.

Do ahead: Can be made 1 day ahead. Keep chilled. Line rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper. Place some flour in bowl. For each gaudy, gently roll 1 heaping teaspoonful of dough into ball. Add to flour; toss to coat lightly, shaping into short log. Using the back tines of a fork roll the log several times to decorate. Place on baking sheet.

Do ahead: Can be made 4 hours ahead. Cover; chill.

For sauce and garnishes: Heat 1 tablespoon oil in large pot or extra-large skillet over medium-high heat. Add 3 pancetta slices. Cook until crisp, about 3 minutes per side. Transfer to paper towels. Repeat with remaining pancetta. Add whole sage leaves to skillet; sauté until crisp, about 1 minute per side. Transfer to paper towels.

Heat remaining 4 tablespoons oil in same skillet over medium-high heat. Add all mushrooms, shallots, thyme, and chopped sage. Sauté until mushrooms brown and liquids evaporate, about 12 minutes. Transfer mixture to bowl. Add broth to same skillet and boil until slightly reduced, scraping up browned bits, about 7 minutes. Remove from heat. Add 1 teaspoon truffle oil and mushroom mixture and season to taste with salt and pepper. Do Ahead: Sauce can be made 2 hours ahead. Let stand at room temperature.

Cook gaudy in large pot of boiling salted water until very tender, about 8 minutes. Meanwhile, rearm sauce. Add butter; toss until blended. Using strainer or slotted spoon transfer gaudy to pot with sauce. Toss over medium heat until sauce coats gaudy. Season with salt and pepper.
Transfer to large shallow bowl. Crumble pancetta over. Top with sage leaves; serve with additional Pecorino.

Copyright - The European Wine Table 2009

Pinot Noir Heaven

Pinot Noir is my favorite red grape variety. Great examples come from Burgundy, France. Appellations like Romanee, Pommard, and Volnay produce some of the world most prized and expensive examples of the grape. Other less expensive appellations include; Alsace, France and Oregon, USA. I bought this bottle of wine about a year ago at a Korean Market, thinking it would probably taste good. I know wine regions, and since I knew that Germany sits parallel to France's Alsace wine region, I knew this wine would taste fabulous. Upon pouring this wine into the glass I knew I had something special. The colour was light cherry with a hint of brown. The bouquet was sweet cherry mixed with earthy barnyard. It was everything I thought it would be and I hadn't even tasted it yet. I dreamed of how I could turn that bouquet fragrance into a perfume. Then came the sip....oh my goodness, I can't even explain the shear pleasure this wine brought to me. Light in body with vibrant, deep cherry and earth embedded with spice and herbs. I was good. I couldn't stop drinking it. By the time the food was on the table, barbecued ribs and grilled short ribs........my body was feeling this wine. Feeling it in a great way. My husband, who was working the grill while I was feeling the wine came in with the food. I gave him a glass....He took one sip and said, " you're good"!!!! I said, "I know".

Rheingau 2005 Pinot Noir (Edition Maximilian) $8.99 (Korean Market)

Orvieto

Orvieto, Orvieto...it has a certain ring to it. Poetic almost, which is how I will discribe it, poetic. Now you know that food and wine pairing is, for the most part, a personal choice. Which is why I chose to have this Orvieto Classico with my homemade white truffle oil and mushroom pizza. The pizza had an earthiness that I thought would match well with this wine from an Italian classico region. I was right. Let's look at Orvieto, the wine region, for a moment. Orvieto is a white wine from the west-central appellation called Orvieto within Umbria, Italy. This appellation produces dry to semi-sweet predominately white wines made with a high percentage of Trebbiano (Ugni Blanc its formal name) grapes. Complex soils of gravel, limestone, and clay make up this DOC region that produces wines, including this one, that have aromas and flavors of lemons, limes, and green apples entrenched in mineral earthiness and acidic backbone. To make matters even better for my pizza and me I had an Orvieto Classico, which is an even more refined area within the Orvieto appellation. Think of it as a city within a county. The wines from this and any classico region are more complex. This young wine was very balanced and I'm sure that if I had let it sit in the bottle for another year or two it would be just as complex with little more elegance. I didn't want to wait that long!

Gaetano D' Aquino 2007 Orvieto Classico DOC - $7.99 (Trader Joe's)


Recipe - White Truffle Oil and Mushroom Pizza

• 1 thawed pizza dough or your own bread maker pizza douth(enough for one large round pizza)
• Truffle Oil
• 4 cups of Mozzarella Cheese (just to be on the safe side)
• 1 package of Portabello Mushrooms

1. Preheat oven to bake at 500 degrees
2. Using a rolling pin roll out pizza dough into a very large circle
3. Place rolled out dough onto a pizza pie baking sheet
4. Roll the edge of the pizza dough around the entire circle (tuck under all the way around to make a pie)
5. Drizzle the Truffle Oil inside the pizza dough pie (enough to cover the dough)
6. Layer Mozzarella cheese inside the pie (enough to cover the dough and more if you like)
7. Layer Portabello Mushrooms on top of the cheese (as much as you like)
8. Place pizza into oven and bake for 10 minutes

Makes about 8 healthy slices of pizza