This post is sponsored by La Crema Wines. All opinions here are my own. You can find the companion recipes over on the La Crema blog. 

Over the past two years, I’ve developed a series of dinner menus with La Crema, each one featuring the flavors of a different country. For most of the dinners in this series – Japanese Izakaya, Italian Seafood, Provencal Rose – my inspiration has been firsthand. But for this one, featuring the warming spices of Morocco, I’m an armchair traveler. An armchair eater maybe? So I can’t tell you if these recipes taste just like they would if they were eaten outside the bustling Medina or in the cool courtyard of a riad. All I can promise is that they evoke warmth and vibrancy, two things I find myself craving as the days shorten and darken.

As usual, this menu contains an appetizer,  a main course, a side dish, and a dessert. The first three courses are all over on the La Crema blog, and you can find the dessert recipe – for Pistachio Thumbprint Cookies – below. The appetizer this time is a Spiced Moroccan Carrot Dip, served with fresh pita bread. It’s a surprisingly flavorful and vibrant appetizer, made bright with a bit of lemon, tahini, and pomegranate molasses. I found myself craving it after work the day after I made it, which is pretty rare for snacks that are mostly made of vegetables.

The main course is Moroccan-Braised Lamb Shanks, served over what I’ve decided to call Royal Couscous – couscous with lots of delicious mix-ins like apricots and pistachios. The lamb is a rich, slow-cooked dish flavored by sweet dates, Pinot Noir, tomatoes, stock, and warming spices. After two and a half hours in the oven the lamb should be meltingly tender. Spooned over couscous mixed with apricots, pistachios, chickpeas, apricots, parsley, red onion, and preserved lemon it makes a meal fit for a feast. Especially with a bottle of La Crema’s Monterey Pinot Noir  served alongside it! Lamb is great with lighter-bodied, fruity, yet spicy red wines like Pinot Noir.

And for dessert, Pistachio Thumbprint Cookies. There is a traditional Moroccan dessert called a m’hanncha, commonly translated as snake cake. As far as I can tell, it’s an impressive rolled and coiled version of baklava. I thought about making this massive dessert for this post, but thought it might be a bit much for Trevor and I to tackle eating in the next few days. And also, I really wanted a cookie. It’s that time of year, you know? So I took the flavors of the m’hanncha and translated them to something more bite-sized: Pistachio Thumbprint Cookies.

They’re not the world’s prettiest cookie – although that little drizzle of white chocolate helps! The lovely green color I was imagining was instantly lost when I added a tablespoon of cinnamon the filling mixture. But – they are really delicious! The filling has such a lovely hint of rosewater in every bite. They are easy to make and the flavors are unexpected. The cookie base is a simple, soft sugar cookie that I adapted from these thumbprint cookies on Epicurious. It comes together really easily and rolls nicely without any chilling or finesse needed. Since the nut filling is fairly sticky, it’s easy to get the filling to adhere to the cookie.

Enjoy, and don’t forget to head over to the La Crema blog via the links above for the other recipes!

Pistachio Thumbprint Cookies

Thumbprint cookies with a rosewater-scented pistachio and almond filling. Inspired by the traditional Moroccan “snake cake” called M’hanncha.

Cookie dough recipe adapted from Epicurious.

• Author: Katie at the Kitchen Door
• Yield: 18-24
• Category: Cookie

Ingredients

For the filling:

• 2/3 c. shelled pistachios
• 2/3 c. raw almonds
• 1/2 c. powdered sugar
• 2 tsp cinnamon
• 1 TBS rosewater
• 2 TBS honey
• 1 egg

For the dough and topping:

• 1 1/2 sticks butter, at room temperature
• 1/2 c. sugar
• 1 egg, at room temperature
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 2 c. AP flour
• 1/4 tsp baking soda
• 3 oz. white chocolate broken into small pieces

Instructions

1. To make the filling: Place the pistachios, almonds, powdered sugar, and cinnamon in a food processor. Pulse several times, until the nuts are very finely chopped and the sugar is evenly mixed in with the nuts. Add the rosewater, honey, and egg to the food processor and pulse several more times, until the filling is evenly damp. It should be a thick, sticky mixture, almost paste-like. Set aside.
2. To make the cookie dough: Cream the butter and the sugar together on medium speed (or vigorously by hand) until light and fluffy. Add the egg and beat until it is evenly incorporated. Add the vanilla to the dough and beat to combine. Add the flour and baking soda and beat until just combined (don’t overmix). The dough should be smooth and easy to roll into small balls.
3. To assemble and bake cookies: Preheat the oven to 350F and line a cookie sheet with parchment paper. Roll the cookie dough into small balls, slightly smaller than the size of a ping pong ball. Space the balls evenly on your prepared cookie sheet, then use your thumb to make a deep impression in the center of each ball. Fill the thumbprints with the nut mixture, pressing the filling gently against the sides of the cookie to help it adhere. Bake the cookies until they are just starting to turn golden brown on the top, about 15 minutes. Remove from the oven and let cool.
4. If you’d like to decorate with a white chocolate drizzle, place the white chocolate in a metal bowl. Bring a small pot of water to a simmer, then place the metal bowl on top of the pot. Gently melt the chocolate, using a spatula to stir it and encourage even melting. As soon as all the chocolate is melted, remove the bowl from the heat (use pot mitts – the bowl may be hot!) and use the spatula or a spoon to drizzle white chocolate on top of the cookies. Let chocolate harden before serving.

The post Moroccan Dinner with La Crema: Pistachio Thumbprint Cookies appeared first on Katie at the Kitchen Door.

This post is sponsored by La Crema Wines. All opinions here are my own. You can find the companion recipes over on the La Crema blog. 

Apologies for the quiet here this past month. Things have been busy, and cooking, writing, and reflecting have fallen by the wayside a bit. We’ve got 24 days to go until our wedding, which is both insane and kind of a relief. I’m feeling rock solid about marrying Trevor, which is 99.9% of the battle, but there’s still a lot of miscellaneous stress associated with hosting a party for 50 with all kinds of societal and emotional strings attached. I’ve got a lot of thoughts on weddings at this point, but I’ll save those for a later date.

Today, what I’m here to talk about is this Scandinavian dinner menu – my latest collaboration with La Crema wines. It’s inspired by my recent trip to Iceland: in July I finally took advantage of Boston’s relative proximity to Scandinavia and spent a long weekend there. Iceland has been at the top of my travel wishlist for years and I was so excited to finally be in the land of moss-covered lava and epic waterfalls. I have to do a real travelogue at some point, but suffice it to say that the Icelandic landscape is incredible (and here’s a few teaser shots!). One moment we were driving through an alien landscape of hardened lava boulders tumbling into the sea, the next there were pockets of geyser steam rising up all around us, and then, suddenly, we were in the midst of fields of lupine in front of massive glaciers.

Iceland is known for being pretty expensive. I certainly found this to be true, particularly when it came to food. The silver lining to this was that the price differential between cheap food and fancy food was much smaller than it is here in the US. While a gas station hamburger could set you back $20, a three-course meal with wine at a top restaurant only cost $60. So despite the expense, we managed to have some very good meals. Our most memorable culinary experience was a 3 course dinner at Forettabarinn in Reykjavik. It was our final night as a group (and a semi-bachelorette celebration) after a long weekend of adventuring in South Iceland. The food was creative and well-executed, the wine was abundant, and the company was unbeatable. That lovely dinner served as the inspiration for this one.

There are three courses to this menu. First, a super-simple Smoked Salmon and Rye Crackers appetizer. Everyone should have a few minimal-effort, but still fancy-feeling appetizers in their repertoire. This should be one of them. The only “cooking” is to whip up a little cream with capers, slice a cucumber, and assemble. It’s also very portable, so guests can easily grab one of these and a glass of wine while mingling. On that note, the wine to open for this course is La Crema’s Monterey Chardonnay. Its bright acidity and smooth texture stands up nicely to the fatty, smoky salmon and rich caper cream.

The main event consists of two parts – Mashed Potato Waffles with Horseradish Sauce and Mustard-Thyme Pulled Leg of Lamb. I don’t think I’ve ever had lamb served BBQ style before my dinner at Forettabarinn, but it’s so wonderful. Ideally, I would have liked to use a slightly more economical and fattier lamb shoulder for this recipe, but I couldn’t find one at my butcher. The result was still good – tender, falling apart lamb, completely imbued with the flavors of mustard and wine and paprika. It was delicious on top of the potato waffles with a bit of horseradish sauce and grainy mustard. For this course, I opened a bottle of La Crema’s Monterey Pinot Noir and it was so good together! Just tangy and juicy and yum.

For dessert, I whipped up a light Skyr Mousse with Wild Blueberry Sauce and Gingerbread Crumbs. If you’re not familiar with it, skyr is Iceland’s answer to yogurt, only it’s thicker and tangier. Similar to Greek yogurt, it’s rich in protein and very trendy here in the US. To turn it into mousse, I incorporated whipped cream and a hint of sugar. It was such a treat – light and airy with a distinct tang from the skyr. It was also so simple to put together. The only other recipes I saw for skyr mousse involved a fussy gelatin method, but I opted for a much simpler treatment here – whip cream, whip skyr, fold together, serve. With the maple-blueberry sauce and a sprinkling of gingerbead cookie crumbs it’s a more-than-the-sum-of-it’s-parts dessert.

You can find the recipes for the first two courses on the La Crema blog: Smoked Salmon Rye Crackers with Caper Cream; Mashed Potato Waffles with Horseradish Sauce; and Mustard-Thyme Pulled Leg of Lamb. The Skyr Mousse with Wild Blueberries recipe is below!

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Skyr Mousse with Wild Blueberries and Sweet Gingerbread Crumbs

A simple skyr-based mousse made from whipped cream and thick, yogurt-like Icelandic skyr. Served with wild-blueberry sauce and gingerbread crumbs.

Inspired by dinner at Forettabarinn

• Author: Katie at the Kitchen Door
• Yield: 4

Ingredients

• 1 cup wild Maine blueberries, fresh or frozen
• 1/4 cup maple syrup
• juice from 1/2 lemon
• 1 cup heavy cream, chilled
• 4 TBS sugar
• 1 cup plain or maple flavored skyr (Icelandic yogurt), chilled
• 1.5 oz. gingerbread cookies, preferably Anna’s Swedish Thins
• 1 TBS brown sugar

Instructions

1. Place the blueberries, maple syrup, and lemon juice in a small saucepan and stir to mix. Bring to a gentle simmer over medium-low heat. Simmer the berries until they have burst and released their juices and the sauce is slightly syrupy, about 8-10 minutes. Keep a close eye on them to be sure they don’t burn. Remove from the heat, transfer the blueberry sauce to a storage container, and chill thoroughly.
2. To make the mousse, whip the heavy cream on high until stiff peaks have formed. Add the sugar and beat for a few seconds longer, just to incorporate the sugar into the cream. In a separate bowl, beat the skyr for 30 seconds until it is lightened slightly. Add half of the whipped cream to the skyr and use a spatula to gently fold together. Repeat with the remaining half of the whipped cream, folding just enough to mix the two together. Don’t overfold or your mousse may deflate. Chill the mousse until ready to serve.
3. Place the gingerbread cookies and the brown sugar in a small food processor and pulse several times to make crumbs. Set crumbs aside.
4. To serve the mousse, drizzle the chilled blueberry sauce on top of the mousse. Sprinkle with the gingerbread crumbs. Serve immediately

The post Scandinavian Dinner with La Crema: Skyr Mousse with Wild Blueberries and Sweet Gingerbread Crumbs appeared first on Katie at the Kitchen Door.

*This post is sponsored by La Crema Wines. All opinions here are my own. You can find the companion recipes over on the La Crema blog. 

As soon as the first hint of spring arrives, I start thinking about rosé wine. Perhaps I’m just more susceptible to social trends and marketing than I think I am, but somehow, that first chilled glass of rosé, preferably consumed on a terrace on a sunny but cool evening, has come to embody the fact that summer is coming. In March and April I test the waters with a glass here and there, usually consumed indoors while looking longingly at the outdoors, wishing spring would hurry up and get here. And then May hits, and it’s all rosé all the time (#roséallday, people).

In celebration of the start of rosé season, I’ve put together a pairing dinner using La Crema’s two rosé wines – the Monterey Pinot Noir Rosé and the Saralee’s Vineyard Pinot Noir Rosé. In the past my dinner series collaboration with La Crema has taken us to Japan for Izakaya, Latin America for a spicy Thanksgiving menu, and Italy for a summery seafood feast. Now, for spring and for rosé, we’re going to France, where effortless appetizers and simple but elegant entrées are king. And also there’s a lot of pink wine.

There are four courses in this menu. First, a Spring Crudité Platter. If you are thinking to yourself, “how boring,” bear with me a moment. This is not a platter of dry baby carrots and too-thick ranch dressing sitting, ignored, in a corner. This is a vibrant, effortless display of spring’s best vegetables. Blanched asparagus, snap peas, tender spring carrots, bitter endive, spicy radish slices, and sweet pepper… all served with an addictive, pale green herb aioli. Crudité platters can be very classy.

Second, a simple and savory Goat Cheese Tart with Peas and Prosciutto. It’s similar to a quiche, but thinner and denser. It’s also so, so good. Even if you’re not tackling the whole French Rosé Dinner menu, give this goat cheese tart a try. It’s  a great multipurpose recipe to have in your cooking arsenal, and you can vary the vegetables with the season. Equally good warm or cold, a thin slice is a perfect appetizer for dinner, while a big slice makes a filling breakfast.

The main course is a lovely Baked Halibut Provençal – halibut marinated in lemon and olive oil and served over a rich tomato, olive, and caper sauce. It’s inspired by the time I spent in Provence years ago, on my first vacation with Trevor. We rented an apartment at the top of a hill in Cassis and spent a week there. It was a tiny little place with an expansive patio, and every day after beach hopping we would hike up the hundreds of dusty stone steps with bags of vegetables from the market hanging on our shoulders. We were using most of our disposable income on the apartment so we ate simply – ratatouille and grilled chicken. This recipe takes it’s cues from those meals. A simple but perfectly cooked protein accompanied by a sauce full of seasonal vegetables and herbs.

And to finish off this lovely French dinner, a cake! Or, mini Strawberries and Cream Chiffon Cakes, to be precise. I wanted to make a French version of strawberry shortcake, one of my favorite spring desserts. I swapped the buttery shortcakes for a light and airy chiffon cake, and layered the chiffon cake with strawberries and whipped cream. A few more tweaks upped the elegance – there’s rosé in the cake batter and mint and tarragon in the strawberries.

This cake was everything I was hoping it would be. I was worried that it would be worse than your standard strawberry shortcake. Strawberry shortcake is, after all, pretty difficult to improve upon. But the chiffon cake – soft and airy – was the perfect thing for soaking up all the delicious strawberry juices. The rosé wine flavor was just barely present in the cake, and you could taste the mint and tarragon in the strawberries, too. It was the kind of dessert that I thought about multiple times while sitting at work. That’s the surest sign of a win, in my book.

You can find the recipes for the first three courses on the La Crema blog: Spring Crudité Platter, Goat Cheese Tart with Peas and Prosciutto and Baked Halibut Provençal. The Strawberries and Cream Chiffon Cake recipe is below!

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Strawberries and Cream Chiffon Cakes

A French take on Strawberry Shortcake, using light and airy chiffon cake as the base. The chiffon cake has rose wine whipped into the batter for a hint of flavor, and the strawberries are macerated with fresh tarragon and mint.

Chiffon cake recipe adapted from the Joy of Cooking.

• Author: Katie at the Kitchen Door
• Yield: 6
• Category: Dessert

Ingredients

For the cake:

• 2 1/4 cups sifted cake flour
• 1 1/4 cups sugar
• 1 TBS baking powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 5 egg yolks
• 3/4 cup rosé wine
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil or canola oil
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 7 egg whites
• 1/4 tsp cream of tartar

For the filling:

• 2 lb. strawberries, washed, hulled, and thinly sliced
• 1/3 cup plus 1/4 cup sugar, divided
• 2 TBS minced fresh tarragon leaves
• 2 TBS minced fresh mint leaves
• 3 cups heavy cream
• 2 tsp vanilla

Instructions

1. For the cake: Preheat the oven to 325°F. Spray an 11×17 inch sheet pan lightly with cooking spray, then line with a piece of parchment paper. Set the prepared pan aside.
2. In a large bowl, whisk together the cake flour, sugar, baking powder and salt until evenly combined. Now add the wet ingredients – the egg yolks, wine, canola oil, and vanilla and beat thoroughly, until a smooth batter is formed. Set this batter aside.
3. In a large, clean bowl, begin beating the egg whites on high speed (or vigorously by hand). After about 30 seconds, stop and add the cream of tartar, then continue beating. Beat until the egg whites are very stiff and glossy – they should completely hold their shape. Add a third of the beaten egg whites to the bowl with the batter and gently fold with a spatula until the two mixtures are evenly combined. Now add the remaining egg whites and fold in until evenly combined. Scrape the batter into the prepared sheet pan and use a spatula to spread evenly. Bake until the top of the cake springs back lightly when pressed, about 20 minutes. Run a knife along the edges of the pan to release the cake. Let cool to room temperature, then invert the cake on a piece of aluminum foil and peel off the parchment paper. Set the cake aside or refrigerate until ready to use.
4. For the filling: Place the sliced strawberries in a large bowl with 1/3 cup of sugar and the minced mint and tarragon leaves. Stir to coat the berries with sugar. Set aside and let macerate for at least 15 minutes. You can also cover the berries and let them sit in the fridge for up to 24 hours.
5. When you are ready to assemble and serve the cakes, beat the heavy cream on high with the remaining 1/4 cup sugar until it is whipped enough to hold it’s shape. Avoid over-beating as it will take on a butter-like consistency. Stir in the vanilla.
6. Cut the cake into 12 squares that are approximately 4 inches wide. For each cake, place one cake square on a plate. Cover with 2 or 3 large spoonfuls of strawberries and their juice, arranging neatly. Spread some whipped cream on top, then repeat the layers – cake, strawberries, whipped cream – once more. Garnish with a strawberry. Serve immediately.

The post French Spring Dinner with La Crema: Strawberries and Cream Chiffon Cakes appeared first on Katie at the Kitchen Door.

I’ve been working with La Crema for a while now, and we recently seem to have found a groove in a series of internationally-themed dinners to pair with their Chardonnays, Pinot Gris, and Pinot Noirs. In July we did an al fresco Italian seafood feast, for Labor Day we had a Greek-American cook-out, and now, as the weather turns colder, we’re looking to the other side of the world to find the inspiration for this Korean-inspired dinner. I say Korean-inspired because, well, I’m not Korean, and I’ve never even been to Korea, and I don’t want to call these recipes something they are not. Because they are definitely not traditional, authentically-prepared Korean recipes, the kind of recipe that gets passed down from generation to generation and takes a lifetime to learn. What they are are a collection of delicious recipes that attempt to incorporate some of the influences and flavors of Korean cooking into the way I cook and eat at home.

With that disclaimer out of the way, let’s get to the food! The appetizer here is Vegetarian Lentil and Mushroom Mandu, Korea’s stuffed dumpling. Trevor walked in the door just as I was frying these up. “You’re just in time,” I told him, and he grabbed one (one of the ugly ones that I would let him eat before photos) straight from the frying pan. He bit into one and sort of grunted appreciatively before I said “they’re vegetarian.” At which point he looked at me with a mixture of anger and confusion, so upset because he didn’t even notice they were vegetarian. (Also when we eat vegetarian food without me telling him in advance he feels like I’m tricking him.) Because lentils and mushrooms and cabbage can taste as good as ground pork when wrapped up in a dumpling and fried. Not that I have anything against pork, I just love being able to create vegetarian food that’s as satisfying as meat. You can find the Mandu recipe here on the La Crema blog.

For the main event, we have two dishes – a simple Cabbage and Kimchi Salad with Sesame-Miso Dressing, and an Autumn Bibimbap. The salad is all about the super flavorful and creamy dressing – a mixture of tahini, miso, honey, ginger, and rice vinegar. It’s the kind of dressing that makes eating raw cabbage slightly addictive instead of slightly awful. The addition of kimchi – a funky, tangy, spicy fermented cabbage dish that’s ubiquitous at any Korean meal – brings an unexpected heat and excitement to an otherwise sweet and mild salad. The bibimbap, which is inspired by the book Bowl: Vegetarian Recipes for Ramen, Pho, Bibimbap, Dumplings, and other One-Dish Meals, includes a few seasonal variations on a classic bibimbap: gochujang-roasted brussels sprouts and tamari-roasted portobello mushrooms. Mixed with the more traditional toppings of bulgogi-marinated beef, pickled cucumbers, and a fried egg, it makes a comforting, delicious fall dinner, especially served with a glass of La Crema Monterey Pinot Gris. The bright minerality of the wine is a good counterpoint to the spicy gochujang and rich egg in the bibimbap and the funky heat of the kimchi in the salad. (Find the bibimbap recipe here and the cabbage and kimchi salad recipe here!)

And for dessert, we have Red Bean Paste Filled Sesame Cookies, which are arguably more inspired by our time in Hong Kong and Japan than Korea but the flavors seemed to be loosely aligned with Korean desserts. I knew what I wanted these cookies to taste and look like, but I wasn’t quite sure how to get there. Incessant googling of variations on “crispy sesame cookies stuffed with red bean paste” didn’t reveal anything, so I had to experiment on my own. I started with the vague idea that these cookies should have the texture of shortbread, crumbly and buttery, with a distinct sesame flavor from a generous amount of tahini. And I knew I wanted them to be sizable, big enough that you could fill them amply with sweet red bean paste. I’m pretty happy with the way they turned out – and they were super easy to make. They’re not perfect perfect, but I’ll come back with an updated recipe if I end up tinkering with them any more.

Stay tuned, because I’m really excited about what La Crema and I have cooked up for Thanksgiving! Think chipotle, passionfruit, mole sauce… it’s going to be all kinds of delicious.

Disclaimer: This post is sponsored by La Crema. All opinions are honest and my own.

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Red Bean Paste Filled Sesame Cookies

A Katie at the Kitchen Door original recipe. Makes 8 large cookies.

• 1 stick salted butter, room temperature
• 1/4 c. tahini paste
• 1/2 c. powdered sugar
• 1 c. cake flour
• 1/2 c. sweetened red bean paste, store bought or homemade, chilled
• 2 tsp sesame seeds

1. Preheat the oven to 350°F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and set aside.
2. In a medium bowl, beat room temperature butter until light and fluffy. Beat in the tahini paste until it is evenly combined with the butter. Sift the powdered sugar into the butter-tahini mixture and beat until evenly combined. Stir in the cake flour and beat until a smooth dough is formed. Dough should stick together in a ball when you make one with your hands. If the dough is too difficult to work with, chill for about 30 minutes before continuing.
3. To form the cookies, take ~1 TBS of dough and use a cupped hand to form a half sphere with a hollow center. Fill the center of the cookie with 1 tsp of the chilled red bean paste, then carefully close the tops of the cookie dough over the top of the red bean paste. Roll into a ball and then flatten slightly to make a thick, disc-shaped cookie. Use a fork to gently press hash-marks into the top of the cookie and sprinkle with sesame seeds. Repeat until you have used all of the dough. Bake cookies until golden brown and just beginning to crack, about 20-25 minutes. Let cool slightly and serve warm.

The post Korean-Inspired Dinner: Red Bean Paste Filled Sesame Cookies appeared first on Katie at the Kitchen Door.

A few weeks back, on a chilly Saturday afternoon, I packed up big bags of food, table settings, and wine, and brought everything to my parents’ house for a little harvest dinner party. The theme of the dinner was Pumpkin + Chardonnay, and I worked with the people over at La Crema Wines to pick out the best chardonnay pairings for each of the three recipes we created. There was no particular reason for hosting this dinner other than a desire to create something lovely to look at, an excuse to drink too much wine, and a way to use up the squash from the garden that have been lingering on our windowsill.

The first course was a simple Grilled Pumpkin and Raw Kale Salad, dressed with lemon and olive oil and served with a big slice of creamy camembert. To pair with the salad, we served the La Crema Monterey Chardonnay, which is rich and buttery and played beautifully with the funkiness of the cheese and the bitterness of the greens. While grilled squash and chardonnay might sound like a summery pairing, everything about this course was pungent, savory, and rich, setting just the right tone for kicking off our harvest dinner.

Next, we moved on to the main course – Mini-Stuffed Pumpkins with Middle-Eastern Spiced Beef and Israeli Couscous, paired with La Crema’s Sonoma Coast Chardonnay, which is a bit brighter and fruitier than the Monterey. Rather than the more traditional cheese/sausage/bread filling used in many stuffed pumpkin recipes, I opted for stuffing them with a tagine-like mixture of sweetly spiced, stewed beef, dried fruit, nuts, and Israeli couscous. The beef itself is hands down the best beef I’ve ever made. After numerous almost-but-not-quite-delicious preparations of short ribs and other fatty cuts and roasts, I finally had the fall-apart-tender, deeply savory, saucy, non-greasy beef of my dreams. And now I want to make it over and over again, in different flavors and served over different starches until I’m tired of it.

We wrapped things up with individual servings of Pumpkin-Vanilla Pot de Creme, creamy, gently spiced little puddings served with a generous dollop of maple whipped cream. The last bottle to be opened was the La Crema Russian River Valley, a honeyed chardonnay with slight echos of the baking spices used in the pot de cremes. At this point we were all full and happy and a little bit tipsy, lingering over the last creamy spoonfuls of pudding and sips of wine.

I perhaps went overboard in styling the table, but it was so much fun to shoot. There’s inspiration to be found in making something beautiful just for the sake of beauty. I wanted to capture the lovely colors of the last burst of foliage as the backdrop, enhancing them with oranges and reds and creamy colors on the table. Truth be told, it was a little cold for sitting outside for long, so we quickly moved the set-up inside by the fire, but the atmosphere was just as lovely indoors. In New England the foliage is mostly past, now, but I hope to make this sort of outdoor harvest dinner a tradition to look forward to at the peak of each fall season.

To see more pictures and notes from this dinner, check out the three companion posts and recipes over on the La Crema Blog!

Course #1: Grilled Pumpkin and Raw Kale Salad
Course #2: Mini-Stuffed Pumpkins with Middle-Eastern Spiced Beef and Israeli Couscous
Course #3: Pumpkin-Vanilla Pot de Cremes

This is a sponsored conversation written by me on behalf of La Crema. The opinions and text are all mine.

The post Harvest Pumpkin Dinner with La Crema appeared first on Katie at the Kitchen Door.