Summer is here and the grapes are coming on!

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8th annual Celebrity Chef Challenge

The Celebrity Chef Challenge features six professional chefs in a timed culinary competition ala the “Iron Chef”

Chefs have 45 minutes to turn 5 secret ingredients into 3 power packed dishes, all under the watchful eye of a live audience. The event boasts a lavish food, beer and wine show that highlights our regions finest restaurants, wineries and breweries. 

Of course Bantam Cellars will be there. Would we miss an event that is focused on fine cuisine and fabulous wine? Not on your life. Join us for this fun filled night of hedonistic pleasure.

Friday April 30, 2010 530 to 930 pm at the California Auto Museum (formerly the Towe) 2200 Front Street, Sacramento Ca.

www.chefevent.com

Peeps Party November 14th

http://www.kodakgallery.com/gallery/creativeapps/slideShow/Main.jsp?token=287293284114%3A140058559

Click on the link to see pictures of our November Peeps Party!!! Fun, fun!

Cool pictures of a few Amador wineries and a dinner at Taste through the lens of one of our lovely customers

http://www.flickr.com/photos/johnjoh/sets/72157615499574673/

 

Worth looking at, this guy is good with his camera!

A great guide to the wineries of the Foothills

More Almost Fall Pics!

Almost Fall Gala Pictures!

Almost Fall Gala Dinner

Such a fun night! Not only did we have a guest from Bangor Maine. (HI TESS!) but, my entire family came for dinner. Buck and Karly, Mom and Larry, all my sisters Kerin, Lisa, Lynne and their hubbys Jim, Greg and Tim were all present.

The menu was simple and really good tasty ingredients made it just perfect. What a great time of year! I still had all the fresh garden herbs and ripe juicy tomatoes in the garden that made for exquisite garnishes and an amazing salad course. Dessert was simple and made with phenomenal local Figs. Yummy! I just have to add that this was a menu made up of my favorite childhood and young adult foods. The first time I ever had Chicken Cordon Bleu was at a dinner show at Harrahs Lake Tahoe. My dad took the family to go see the Carpenters. I was maybe 8 years old. The first thing I learned how to cook well was seared scallops and Karly introduced me to her amazing Bleu Cheese Flan when I was 18 years old. I truly believe that figs are one of the most under rated fruits grown this time of year. I simply love figs! Bon Appetite my friends!

Marching into Spring Gala Dinner March 27 2009

Here is the slide show of the March dinner, enjoy! Thanks to Ron Wulff for his stellar photography.

 

New Peeps Wines and Recipes

2006 Barbera, Rich and vibrant this wine will rock with the simple dessert below. It’s our second bottling of Barbera here at Bantam. The first won awards, guess where? You’ve got it! Italy! Consorzio Internazionale De Barbera to be exact. Yeah we’re proud!
Strawberries and Barbera
yield: Makes 6 servings
active time: 15 min
total time: 1 1/4 hr

Sweet early strawberries in their prime and a good bottle of fruit-forward red wine — you just can’t go wrong with the simple combination of these two stellar ingredients
1 cup Garth Cobb Barbera
1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice
About 1/2 cup sugar
1 lb strawberries (2 pt), trimmed, and halved if large

preparation: Stir together wine, lemon juice, and sugar (to taste) in a bowl. Stir in strawberries and let macerate at room temperature 1 hour, then chill until cold, up to 1 hour but no longer. (Fruit will become too soft if it steeps for more than 2 hours.)
Serve berries in small bowls with some of their juices.

Serve alone or over pound cake, sponge cake or ice cream, also good topped with fresh whipped cream.

2008 Vermentino, this citrus forward wine screams to be served with lemon inspired dishes. I love it with any kind of seafood and roasted chicken. But this club wine is dedicated to desserts. Try the simple cookie recipe that follows for a special treat and serve them with a nice cold glass of dry, lemony and crisp 2008 Bantam Cellars Vermentino. Don’t forget to use your heart cookie cutter. This Varietal hails from the island of Sardinia. In France they call this grape Rolle. It is so good on the porch on a warm day or next to a fire when it’s chilly out. Enjoy!

Lemon Almond Sugar Cookies
Cookies
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter or solid vegetable shortening, room temperature
1 cup sugar
1 large egg
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
1 1/2 teaspoons grated lemon peel
1 1/2 teaspoons almond extract
2 cups all purpose flour
2 teaspoon baking powder 1/2 teaspoon salt

Icing
3 cups powdered sugar
2 tablespoons (or more) milk
1 1/2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
preparation: For cookies:
Using electric mixer, cream butter and sugar in large bowl until light. Beat in egg, lemon juice, lemon peel and almond extract. Mix flour, baking powder and salt in small bowl. Add to butter mixture and stir until well combined. Divide dough into 3 pieces. Flatten each into disk. Wrap each in plastic and chill 2 hours or overnight.
Preheat oven to 350°F. Roll out 1 dough piece on lightly floured surface to thickness of 1/8 inch. Using cookie cutter dipped into flour, cut out cookies. Transfer to ungreased cookie sheets, spacing evenly. Gather scraps, reroll and cut out additional cookies, chilling dough if necessary. Bake until cookie edges are golden, about 10 minutes. Transfer cookies to racks and cool. Repeat rolling, cutting and baking with remaining dough pieces in batches. For icing
Place sugar in bowl. Stir in 2 tablespoons milk and lemon juice. Add more milk if icing is too thick to pipe.
Spoon icing into a pastry bag fitted with small round tip or into parchment cones. Pipe icings decoratively onto cookies. Let stand until icing sets, about 2 hours. (Can be made 1 week ahead. Store cookies in single layers in airtight containers.)