Category Archives: Blog

Crostini Take 2

Note: This is a second go round for this blog. As I restart work on book number 2 about wine groups the concept of appetizer platforms will be key and Crostinis are a fantastic platform

 

Just about everyone loves a Crostini. They are perfect for a wine group gathering:

  • They taste great
  • You can have a wide variety
  • Pare wonderfully with a variety of wines
  • Range from sweet to savory with every combination in between
  • Can be delegated easily with each participant responsible for an offering
  • Easy to eat in a party setting
  • Fun and informal
  • Easy to make
  • Even leftovers are great.

Crostini (meaning “little crusts” in Italian; singular crostino) are an Italian appetizer   consisting of small slices of grilled or toasted bread and toppings. The toppings may include a variety of different cheese, meats, fruits and vegetables , or may be presented more simply with a brush of olive oil and herbs or a sauce.

Crostini make a wonderful theme for a wine group gathering. You can provide participants with a recipe or simply ask them to get creative. One can stick to store bought ingredients and with a little creativity can come across as a culinary genius.

Crostini Menu

  1. Smoked Salmon With Salmon Spread

  2. Seared Sea Scallop With Horseradish Cream Cheese 

  3. Smoked Salmon With Horseradish Cream Cheese

  4. Mortadella With Herbed Cream Cheese And Pepperoncino 

  5. Roast Beef With Horseradish Cream Cheese And Green Onion

  6. Bacon With Herbed Cream Cheese, Pesto and Sun Dried Tomato 

  7. Roasted Brussel Sprouts With Gorgonzola Cream Cheese 

  8. Roasted Grapes With Gorgonzola Cream Cheese And Red Onion 

  9. Walnut, Apricot and Brie Crostini

  10. Sweetened Strawberry With Herbed Cream Cheese And Balsamic

Clockwise: Bacon With Herbed Cream Cheese, Pesto and Sun Dried Tomato.Walnut, Apricot and Brie, Mortadella With Herbed Cream Cheese And Pepperoncino, Roasted Grapes With Gorgonzola Cream Cheese, Sweetened Strawberry With Cream Cheese, Seared Sea Scallop With Horseradish Cream Cheese, Smoked Salmon With Horseradish Cream Cheese, Roast Beef With Horseradish Cream Cheese, Roasted Brussel Sprouts With Gorgonzola Cream Cheese,

My history with Philadelphia cream cheese steps forward in the menu. In a previous life, I ran the cream cheese business for Kraft Food Ingredients. An old boss at General Foods once said to me that there is nothing more boring than a 5-minute conversation about the coffee business at a cocktail party. The same could probably be said about the cream cheese business. There are a few things I can tell you from my cream cheese experience:

  • It pares amazingly well with both sweet and savory applications. The sweet strawberry Crostini benefits from the rich creaminess of the cream cheese. The savory salmon spread delivers a perfect combination of flavors. Several times I have had salmon haters tell me they don’t like salmon, but they love this spread.
  • European cream cheese is really good as it is half cream and half milk. American cream cheeses have gone with 1/4 cream and the rest milk. Having sold Philadelphia Cream Cheese made both in the U.S. and in Europe I can tell you that product from Europe tastes better. Fat delivers flavor.

Cream cheese certainly helps these Crostinis.

Try a CROSTINI theme at your next wine group gathering.

If you enjoyed this blog and similar other stories/wine group/supper club lessons follow me on Facebook and Twitter and subscribe to get future blogs at www.impromptufridaynights.com/blog and check out my book Impromptu Friday Nights a Guide to Supper Clubs. Published by Morgan James Publishing and available through most channels where books are sold.

A Good Excuse For a Party SECOND TEST

ONGOING APOLOGIES FOR THESE REPETITIVE BLOGS. WE ARE TRYING TO FIX THE BLOG DISTRIBUTION AND. NOTE THAT “JAY R” IS A DEVELOPER THAT IS ASSISTING ME. WE JUST NEED TO GET HIS NAME OFF THE DISTRIBUTION (?)

 

We have a tradition of buying very big (3 liter) bottles of Joseph Phelps wines for each of our grandchildren. We buy it in the vintage of their birth year and the plan is to have a party to celebrate their 16thbirthday.

Actually, my buddy Tom Julian started the tradition. Our daughter Jennifer was born in California in 1984. Tom came out to visit and we went to the Napa valley as part of his visit. The Phelps vineyard has always been one of our favorites. It is in a little sub-valley in the Napa valley and it produces some excellent wines. Tom bought Jennifer a 3 liter bottle and we enjoyed it at a wonderful party in 2000.

Originally, we had planned on having it to celebrate her 18thbirthday, but we got a little nervous about how well the wine would age. We kept it in the basement of Tom’s old house in Rye NY on Onondaga street. His basement was the perfect place to store wine. Fortunately, the wine held up very well. When we first opened it we were nervous. Older wines will change color slightly. This wine had a reddish tint versus the deep purple of newer wines. The taste of the wine was good at the start and as the evening progressed, it got better and better. Funny how that works…

(Tom Julian, Jennifer, Paul and Susan Kenny getting ready to open a 16 year old bottle of Phelps Cabernet in 2000)

Right now we have  a 5 bottle inventory of 3 liter bottles of Joseph Phelps Cabernet or Insignia. These bottles mark the birth years of  Max (2013)  Emma (2014), Dylan (2017) Declan (2018) and Hadley (2019).  This tradition will lead to some fantastic wine and great excuses for a succession of parties.

The good news as that I have parlayed the collection of large bottles into an excuse to buy a wine cellar. In Memphis we don’t have the luxury of cellars. My wine cellar is actually a large refrigerator. How large? All I can say is that when the truck delivered it on a pallet, it was too large to fit in our garage. With the help of my son Brian we were able to wrestle it into the house and our collection of large bottles of Phelps wines is aging comfortably. The tradition was a great excuse to buy the wine cellar. Lord knows that my wife Susan wouldn’t have let me buy it otherwise.

Again, there is nothing like a good excuse!

If you enjoyed this blog and similar other stories/supper club lessons follow me on Facebook and Twitter and subscribe to get future blogs at www.impromptufridaynights.com/blog and check out my book Impromptu Friday Nights a Guide to Supper Clubs. Published by Morgan James Publishing and available through most channels where books are sold.

Emma at age 3 with her bottle of Phelps Cabernet

Feature photo was taken at Christmas in 2021 with all 5 grandchildren and their bottles of Phelp’s wine

Test Post

Test post Test post Test post Test post Test post Test post Test post Test post Test post Test post Test post Test post Test post Test post Test post Test post Test post Test post Test post Test post Test post Test post Test post Test post Test post Test post Test post Test post Test post Test post Test post Test post Test post Test post Test post Test post Test post Test post Test post Test post Test post Test post Test post Test post.