Harvest time means family time at Ingredients

Cold weather makes us crave warmth. Depending on the circumstances, this might mean we want to pull on a wooly sweater or cozy up to a warm bowl of soup. Some may simply want to surround ourselves with people we love. As the wind picked up outside Ingredients Cafe on Tuesday, October 24, patrons at the Wine-pairing Dinner turned to the last two cravings: food and family. Chef Ben had informed Shiela Stewart of the Wine Merchants that the night’s theme would be that of a Family Harvest Dinner, and she followed suit by choosing five glorious stateside wines produced by family-owned wineries. This theme appeared to be held close to the hearts of several of the diners. One couple was celebrating a birthday, and next to them, a longtime patron shared his table with his parents. I noticed he kept his arm around his dad for most of the meal. As for me, this was the first time in over a year-and-a-half of attending wine-pairing dinners at Ingredients that my husband’s schedule finally allowed him to join me. Love was definitely in the air.
The night’s feast centered around filling comfort foods, starting with a Wild Mushroom Tart with Boursin Cheese, Pine Nuts and Balsamic Vinaigrette. Like a feral concoction straight from the woods, a mix of greens dressed in the vinaigrette tumbled over the meaty grilled mushrooms stacked on top of the cheese and buttery phyllo dough base. While this may not be something that many families would wind up sitting down to at the dinner table, the mix of salt, sour and creaminess was certainly familiar. And, as Shiela poured the Swanson Rosado, from California, she declared that this pink wine was “not Boone’s Farm.” Ah, now that would have made the dish more familiar at my childhood table. Shiela said this light pink wine received its rosy color because it was from the first, gravity induced, pressing of the grapes. It went very well with the dusky flavors of the food. The Rosado was fruity and left an aftertaste of strawberries in the mouth.	Wild Mushroom Tart with Boursin Cheese, Pine Nuts and Balsamic Vinaigrette
The second course brought a taste of home for this girl from New Hampshire: a New England-style Sweet Corn and Potato Chowder with White Shrimp. The deep bowl held a veritable treasure trove of tastes and textures. Every time the spoon broke through the chive-sprinkled surface, it held a different mix of creamy potatoes, hunks of bacon and burst-in-your-mouth corn. Diced sweet red peppers freshened the buttery broth, and mimicked the fleshy crunch of the shrimp. To complement the cream of the course, Shiela chose to pair it with a Lake Sonoma Chardonnay, from California. “This is a typical California Chardonnay,” Shiela said. It was big on butter, but still, there was an energetic bite to it. When tasted with the chowder, it really brought out the smoke of the bacon, adding a whole new layer to the flavors. Shiela was excited to get to the third course of Hot Smoked Salmon, Grilled Pumpernickel, Apple Fennel Salad and Pomegranate Syrup. Turns out, the salmon was from Alaska, Shiela’s home state.	New England-style Sweet Corn and Potato Chowder with White Shrimp
The whole dish was artfully displayed on the plate. The bread had been toasted in such a way to form a curved trencher on which the other ingredients were piled inside. As the diners went for their first bite, the room filled with the “ker-chunk!” of knives breaking through the crisp pumpernickel. The salmon was smoked in-house and was exceptionally moist. The spiciness of it played off the liqourice of the fennel and the tartness of the pomegranate. Like many foods that hail from the Nordic lands, each flavor was distinct and pungent. The fun part is finding which flavor combinations are your favorite as you make your way around the plate. As a counterpoint to the taste separations of the food, Shiela poured an Archery Summit Premier Cuvée from Oregon. A cuvée is a mix of wines, and this one was a combination of pinot noir grapes from Archery Summit’s various vineyards. The result was a smoky, dense wine that was subtly complex. It melded with the salmon’s fish flavor and amplified the apple’s tartness.	Hot Smoked Salmon, Grilled Pumpernickel, Apple Fennel Salad and Pomegranate Syrup
When talking to my husband about the scheduled menu for this dinner, I used the fourth course’s Pot Roast Stuffed Filet of Beef as the top attraction. It did not disappoint. Topped with crisp Onion Rings and served on an island of Rutabaga Puree surrounded by Bordelaise Sauce, Chefs Ben and Tony’s dish embodied the essence of the term “comfort food.” The heady aroma of the onions preceded the servers as they carried out the plates. When they were set before us, I couldn’t help but immediately snatch up one of the rings with my fingers. Clothed in a batter jacket rather than a breading, the onions were juicy and gave easily when bitten. The tenderloin’s meat within meat construction was an ingenious concoction, both tender and buttery. The pot roast was infused with the flavor of long-cooked gravy while the filet was pink and could be cut with a butter knife. The rutabaga was also silky smooth – almost a cream sauce itself. If this description is making your mouth water, I understand this dish is featured on the restaurant’s November Dinner Menu. Try it for yourself. Shiela paired a spicy Chappellet Merlot from the Napa Valley with this concoction. It had just enough fruit to perk up the rich beef.
For the finale, Chefs Ben and Tony recreated the ultimate childhood memory for some people: Imagine it, you and your cousins have just come in after playing hockey outside in the cold. You crowd into the kitchen where all the grown-ups have congregated. The warm smell of baking pumpkin pie permeates the air and mugs of hot chocolate are lined up like soldiers on the counter, waiting for each of you to add a dollop of homemade whipped cream. After refusing to remove your scarves, but, all right, your hats and mittens, you and the cousins drink the chocolate down to the very last drop. Then, the bunch of you charge back outside. Oh, but not until you all sneak a piece of that peanut brittle in the living room to tide you over. The Chefs riffed on this idyll by creating their “Come In From the Cold Duet” (with the addition of the peanut brittle, I warrant it should have been called a trio, or maybe a hat trick?) consisting of Pumpkin Pie Brûlée and Hot Chocolate with Nutmeg Whipped Cream. To add symmetry to the plate, a chunk of dense peanut brittle was also included.	Pumpkin Pie Brûlée, Peanut Brittle and Hot Chocolate with Nutmeg Whipped Cream
This oh-so-rich dessert was a wonderful showcase for the use of spices, which was departure from the other courses where the main ingredients were so strongly flavored there was no need to add additional tastes. To pair with it, Shiela poured a Rombauer Zinfandel from California. It was a syrupy drink, which surprised some patrons. The Rombauer smelled like a Zin, but tasted sweet, like a dessert wine, like a port. Its rich pepperiness, however, went well with the nutmeg in the pumpkin and the whipped cream. The hot chocolate itself was decadently thick, and full of real cocoa flavor.  This time, we’ll have two months in which to digest before the next wine-pairing dinner. Chefs Ben and Tony are going to skip the monthly event for November so they may focus on their other holiday duties. The dinner will be back in action on Tuesday, December 19, so mark your calendars early because they plan to make the night extra special.