My Michigan Wine Tasting Party, Part 2: Goat Cheese and Avocado Crostini

We have an avocado problem in our house.

Seriously?! Does this really happen?

David makes ridiculously good guacamole and we can easily eat an entire bowl of it while waiting for the rest of dinner to cook (of course, we have to make more to go with dinner…) We put avocado on salads. It goes in tacos. And don’t even get me started on my new obsession, avocado toast. (Since when is this a thing? How did I miss it? Where were all my foodie so-called friends when recipes were being posted everywhere?)

This is a less avocado-centric recipe, although that can vary quite a bit based on your personal preference. If you can find a GF baguette, all the better; but this is equally delicious on crackers or used as a dip for veggies. Use the very mildest goat cheese you can find – otherwise you might as well just call this Green Goat Cheese, because it’s all you’ll taste. (If you can bear to pay for it, Zingerman’s City Goat is perfect but it almost seems a shame to add anything else to cheese that good.)

This was the second course of the wine tasting, and I paired it with 2013 Pinot Blanc from Verterra Winery in Leland (the tasting room is across from the Bluebird, should you be inclined to visit). I liked how the dryness contrasted with the rich creaminess of the dip, and the food really brought out some mineral notes I’d never noticed in the wine when it was served on its own.

The recipe comes from Diva Cooking by Victoria Blashford-Snell and Jennifer Joyce, which is surprisingly practical given the name. It’s the first recipe I’ve tried from this cookbook, which I’m likely to reach for the next time I want a recipe that makes me look impressive but is actually very manageable.

Avocado and Goat Cheese Crostini with Roasted Cherry Tomatoes

1 baguette, sliced into ½ -inch pieces
Olive oil
1 pint cherry tomatoes, halved
1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
1 large ripe avocado
5 oz. fresh goat cheese
Grated zest and juice of 1 lemon
1 clove garlic, peeled
2 shakes hot sauce of your choice
Salt and pepper

Preheat the oven to 300. Toss the tomatoes with the balsamic vinegar and a drizzle of olive oil. Sprinkle with salt and pepper and roast for 25-30 minutes.

Turn to oven up to 350. Place the bread slices on a baking sheet and brush with olive oil. Bake until crispy and lightly browned, about 10 minutes.

Put the avocado, cheese, lemon zest and juice, garlic, and hot sauce in the food processor and puree until smooth. Salt and pepper to taste.

To serve, put a teaspoon or so of the puree on the crostini (how much you use depends on how big your crostini are) and top with a tomato half. If you’re feeling fancy, you can chop up some chives for garnish.

My Michigan Wine Tasting Party, Part 1: Crab Salad in Endive

Every year we donate a couple of food-related events to our church’s annual fundraiser auction. It’s a good excuse to pull out the china and go all-out on a dinner party, which we had pretty much given up after having kids. This year I did something a little different and offered a multi-course Michigan wine tasting paired with small plates; now that I’m working at a wine tasting room it seemed like a pretty logical choice. It’s now possibly my favorite event EVER because I didn’t have to clean my house in addition to making the food, and I didn’t even ask about food intolerances.

It’s either very comforting or very depressing to realize that no matter how much you know about food and wine, a lot of people know a lot more; no matter how much you learn, there’s always more to learn; and if you somehow managed to learn it all, it would all change again when the next year’s vintages were released. It justifies my “enthusiastic amateur” status and means that I don’t feel stupid when I ask questions.

The first course in this particular event was a crab salad in endive. I used a recipe from the excellent (excellent!) book Perfect Pairings – and it was just fine – but I have a recipe I love even more so I’m sharing that one with you instead. It’s from the Lee Bros. Southern Cookbook, which is about to move back into heavy rotation now that the weather is getting warmer. I usually think of crab salad as being sort of gloppy and uninteresting – the Jell-o salad of the seafood world – but this one is light and bright and lemony, and I like the tarragon more than the usual chives or parsley.

Photo from the L Mawby website

This one, too

There was some debate (via text messaging, while I stood in the wine department) as to which sparkling wine went best. When in doubt about which wine to buy the answer should be "Yes!" Which is why I ended up with 2 bottles from L. Mawby, a Michigan winery that makes only sparkling wines. Both the Blanc de Blancs and Blanc de Noirs were excellent, and I let the audience vote on which one they liked best (and they were both excellent so you could really try either one. Or both. We won’t judge.)

Lee Brothers Crab Dip

6 ounces picked crabmeat (it’s worth the bother to get the fresh stuff – if you get canned, please buy the absolute best quality you can)
3 tablespoons mayonnaise
2 tablespoons lime juice
3 tablespoons finely diced red onion
1 ½ teaspoons minced fresh tarragon
¼ teaspoon kosher salt, or to taste
¼ teaspoon or more freshly ground black pepper

Endive, for serving (or crackers. Or a fork - see below)

Mix everything together and taste it to see if the salt and pepper are right. Realize you can’t actually decide this without a cracker. Pile the cracker with crab dip to test your theory. Eat the rest of the crab dip with a fork and go to the store for more crab. Repeat Step 1.