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Tongue in CreekBig Recipes from Small Places on the Dry Creek TrailBy Patricia KutzaThey come to sup, drink wine and bed down under some of the best comforters in northern California. But back home, after the last drop of wine is drunk, visitors to Sonoma County's Dry Creek Valley turn to their cookbooks to savor these memories. Most published by local imprints, these less publicized cookbooks celebrate the cuisine that is making the Dry Creek region a destination for both wine and food lovers.
One of Cathy’s signature dishes, Honor Mansion Eggs Benedict is featured along with such inviting entries as Caramel Apple French Toast Bake, Shoe Peg Corn with Green Chilies, Basil Brie Pasta, Butter Rum Apples and Crystallized Ginger Biscotti.
Now her passion for ‘lusty country cooking’, celebrating local ingredients and American-style desserts, is distilled in Brown’s “The Jimtown Store Cookbook: Recipes from Sonoma County’s Favorite Country Market.” Co-authored with Michael McLaughlin, ("Silver Palate Cookbook") and Brown's late husband John Werner, this cookbook artfully blends Carrie’s present culinary preferences with a generous nod to her archive of family favorites and the recipes she acquired while traveling around the globe. Mouth-watering renditions of such family heirlooms as mashed summer squash with sharp cheddar cheese fill its pages. Suggested complete menus are also included. Visitors familiar with the Jimtown style of home-baked good, eclectic American antiques and unusual gifts will also find welcome reminders in Carrie’s loving recollections of the local neighbors who help make this part of Sonoma County so special. The Jimtown store also carries a variety of local cookbooks not readily available elsewhere. Their collection includes: "Dreamsalad Picnic"
By Jack Burton (Jimtown Chef) (Running Wolf Press) "The Young Chef's Cookbook" By Healdsburg Art Council "Live Oak Pre-School Cookbook"
The third volume of the “Tasting Along the Wine Road” cookbook continues the tradition of celebrating the annual Wine and Food Affair, which is held each November along the Russian River Wine Road. During the Affair the wineries and nearby inns create special recipes to complement their wines and serve them to participating guests. Pairing just the right food to complement the differences in the wines produced throughout this region is really an art in itself. Sebastopol Vineyards contributes a grilled lamb salad with plum sauce recipe (pairing it with its "Dutton Ranch" Pinto Noir), Simi Winery offers a lentil cassoulet (pairing it with its Shiraz) and Lake Sonoma Winery pairs its Saini Farms, Old Vine Zinfandel and Dry Creek Valley vintages with a wine country paella dish. Forty-four wineries and thirteen inns submitted recipes for this unusual collection. Contact Information:The Honor Mansion Collection of Award-winning Gourmet Wine Country Recipes Available from: Honor Mansion The Jimtown Cookbook: Recipes from Sonoma County¹s Favorite Country Market (HarperCollins) Available from: JIMTOWN Store Tasting Along the Wine Road Cookbook - Volume 3 Available from: Russian River Wine Road Assn. Images by Patricia Kutza, Jimtown Store and Honor Mansion |
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Cathy and Steve Fowler redefined the word “luxury” when
they opened their Healdsburg-based Honor Mansion Inn, first built in 1883.
Their gourmet breakfasts, happy hour hor de oeuvres, dessert buffets and
special winemaker dinners are legendary. Fortunately they have documented a
generous sampling of these culinary feats in their cookbook, “The Honor
Mansion Collection of Award-winning Gourmet Wine Country Recipes.”
In the back of their cookbook, eight pages full of
helpful hints offer some fascinating reading. Even the most seasoned of
cooks will find useful advice such as using a metal ice tray divider to cut
biscuits in a hurry or using a hair dryer to blow dry cake frosting for a
professional finish. A quick substitution list, pasta cooking chart and a
primer on understanding the content of food labels rounds out its contents.
Carrie Brown’s line of fresh condiments, sauces and
dips, based on her distinctive spreads helped put her Alexander
Valley-based Jimtown store solidly on the map.
The Russian River Wine Road defines the wine-producing
region extending from the Alexander Valley hillsides to the east, the
redwood groves and Pacific Ocean to the west and at its center, the Russian
River and Dry Creek Valleys. Throughout this region wine enthusiasts troll
its spiderlike roads in search of the best vintages its many wineries have
to offer.