Foods with Wine

My hubby and I went to our good friends' home the other night for an evening of wine tasting. We each had to bring a Cabernet Sauvignon and a Sauvignon Blanc. I was a little worried about picking out a Sauvignon Blanc as one description recounted it's taste as "cat piss on gooseberries." I don't know about you, but this depiction wasn't all that appealing to me. I'm not a huge fan of white wine any way; though I was when I was about 20 years younger when all the rage was Chardonnay. My mother-in-law is a Chardonnay fan and I got a kick out of her ordering a glass of Chardonnay in the Legion one time. "What?, the bartender asked. All we got here he said is what comes out of this hose." I love Cabernet Sauvignon! I picked up one bottle each of a California Cab and a Sauvignon Blanc, and brought along an appetizer to go with the Cabernet. I came up with a "Steak Crostini." What better to go with a Cab than a nice juicy rib eye horderve. Every single one of the steak crostini was devoured. I highly recommend this appetizer with a nice glass of red - whatever that might be.

Steak Crostini: I used a left over ribeye steak from the night before. I also bought a gorgeous loaf of baguette from Costco. It was a nice crusty artisan bread from Quebec. Here is the recipe:

Chop up 1 cooked Rib Eye Steak nice and fine because it will be sitting on your baguette toast. Then chop up one whole onion fine and put both the steak and the onion into a pot with a couple of tablespoons of butter and saute. You know I like to use butter because it adds a smooth texture to the onion and keeps the steak nice and succulent. Then add 1/4 cup of balsamic vinegar and 1/4 cup of garlic flavored white wine vinegar, and 1/4 cup of red wine and simmer. I then added 4 finely chopped figs, a sprinkle of salt, a sprinkle of pepper, and 1 tbsp. of Splenda or you can use sugar. I also added a tbsp. of pink pepper corns for a little kick and because they are so pretty, and 1 tbsp. of white truffle oil. Reduce the concoction until most of the liquid has evaporated and let cool. When you make a steak crostini, obviously add whatever it is that you would like for ingredients. I often use whatever I have on hand. I added truffle oil to give the steak a nice mushroomy taste - but of course you could just saute some mushroom in this instead. Also, use whatever vinegar you like for the reduction. I like balsamic because it adds a rich syrup like taste and glaze to the steak. I also ran out of garlic so I used the garlic white wine vinegar I had on hand. Taste your steak as you go and decide what you would like to add. I think a nice Brie cheese or gorgonzola or even a blue cheese would be a fabulous addition to this.

Cut up the baguette toasts and put on a tray in a 300 degree oven until they are just lightly browned. Remove from the oven and cool. Spread each toast with a generous dollop of Boursin cheese or cream cheese and top with the steak fusion and a nice shaving of Parmesan cheese. Enjoy!