It may seem a little unattainable for a Sunday family brunch at home, or a casual Friday night dinner.
But that's exactly what the new book "Wine Food" ($25, Lorena Jones Books) is meant for.
Portland culinary experts Andrea Slonecker and Dana Frank just released a gorgeous collaboration they bill as a wine-and-food-lovers' playbook, with 75 affordable wine styles and producers to try along with 75 recipes — several years' worth of inspiration for brunches, salads, vegetable dishes, picnics, weeknight dinners and feasts.
Anyone who loves to throw a party, or just enjoy wine and food at home, should grab this book.
"When we travel, we experience culture through the lens of wine and food," Frank and Slonecker write in their book's introduction. "We don't always speak the local language, but we can communicate at the table because the pleasure of drinking and eating is universal. Those moments expose us to new wines and influence our cooking."
Sections of the book indicate in simple terms why, exactly, the wine pairs well with each rustic, globally inspired dish, as well as how to cook with and store wine, how to taste and serve wine like a pro, how to read labels and how to buy wine (bottle, box, can or keg) at the corner wine shop, grocery store or online.
Frank — a sommelier who has overseen the wine lists at Ava Gene's and other top Portland restaurants — offers three to eight producers for every wine style highlighted, mostly under $25 per bottle, which is a big help for anyone who gets overwhelmed with all of the Oregon, Washington, California and European wines to choose from.
Illustrations show how wine matches with your favorite foods — less high-end dining and more along the lines of rustic pasta, takeout foods and popular sweets.
These authors come with serious creds.
Frank is also co-owner of Portland's Bow & Arrow Wines, an urban winery and wine distributor, and in July opened Bar Norman, a natural wine bar with casual food, on Southeast Division Street.
Slonecker is author of six cookbooks, including "Beer Bites" and "The Picnic," which gives simple tips on picnicking.
The pair say they see the book filling a niche, even in Portland's crowded culinary world.
"We knew each other from the food and wine industry in Portland and felt like there was a need for a new take on the classic food and wine pairing book," they say. "We talked about the idea over lunch one day and decided to start working on a proposal. Three years later, here we are."
As any cookbook author knows, the research isn't all fun and games.
"It was a little bit like putting a puzzle together — making sure there were enough vegetable recipes, fish and seafood recipes, easy recipes and some more complicated ones, seasonal dishes, and then of course the wines to go with those foods," Slonecker and Frank say.
"In some cases, we had a favorite wine so it automatically made the cut. It was definitely tough making decisions about what to include in the book, but the idea was to keep it very well-rounded."
When you're in the mood to hunker down in the kitchen this fall, Slonecker and Frank recommend one of their favorite seasonal dishes to get into the autumnal spirit and the holidays: carmelized onion soup with bruleed blue cheese, paired with Amontillado sherry, or their "giant stuffed pumpkin," paired with red burgundy. Cheers!
