It’s not Always About the Wine

Raymond Cheesemongers cheese tastings provide the rare opportunity to sample how very good domestic cheese can be.

Sonoma County is home to small-scale food producers and specialty retailers.

By now you’d think I’m a one dimensional person - no clue or interest in anything but tasting wine. Well, you’re close, but actually we took a break from wine tasting to sample artisnal foods from the region. In our back road travels we tripped upon the small, country village of Glen Ellen. Just a mile or two off of the Sonoma Highway (Route 12) is this awkward little town with fantastic restaurants (we dined at The Fig Cafe, you should too), art galleries, and small shops retailing hand-crafted cheese, olive oils, and chocolates.

Figione’s of California Olive Oil Company offers extra virgin olive oils, citrus infused olive oils, and 20-year old balsamic vinegars. The best way to learn about olive oil types is to taste, to taste side-by-side, one after the other until you can taste no more. At which point I suggest moving to the balsamic vinegars to help cleanse the palate and settle the stomach.

Located just a few doors down from Figione’s is Raymond Cheesemongers, a small retail shop featuring local, regional, and domestic artisnal cheeses. For ten dollars we tasted a wide range of cheeses served by a hostess with a great knowledge of the products and its production. This was probably the best ten dollars spent all day for it bought me more than good cheese, but a baseline of flavor knowledge that could have only been achieved by tasting what was described.

Now, if I only had a glass of wine with my olive oils and cheeses.

Potatoes Roasted In Olive Oil

Here’s a great side dish that is simple to make, doesn’t need a lot of attention, and bridges well with meat sauces and gravies.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Add halved potatoes to a mixing bowl and season with salt and pepper. Stir in enough olive oil to coat the potatoes. For quick prep, simply chop the herb of choice and add to the bowl. For a more dramatic presentation, pinch a small sprig of the herb lay onto the potato’s cut side, and place into the roasting pan, cut side down. Pour remaining olive oil into roasting pan, creating a thin even layer across the entire pan.

Bake until you see the edges of the potatoes turn brown and crispy, about 40 minutes. Remove from roasting pan and serve cut side up.