Summary
California's Central Coast wine country is on everyone's lips. Running roughly from Monterey to Santa Barbara, the Central Coast is the fastest-growing American Viticultural Area (AVA) in the state. Here, great minds conceive and create great wines--many of them blends of Rhône grape varieties. Complement these wines with the lush resources of unspoiled land, sea, and barnyard and you have the recipe for a fresh and alluring wine country lifestyle.
For nearly two centuries, people have gravitated to the Golden State. But it's the center of the state that remains pristine, far enough from the crowded cities but close enough for a long weekend trip. The land of rolling, golden hills; lush agricultural produce; and simple values still remains. You could call it "Tuscany, with cowboys."
In this lushly photographed tome, best-selling cookbook author Brigit Binns writes a vivid, delicious love letter to her home state. 120 Wine-friendly and wine-inclusive dishes showcase California's glorious bounty, such as Shaved Artichoke and Pancetta Salad with Lavender; Fennel- and Garlic-Crusted Roast Chicken; Petrale Sole with Pinot Noir Butter Sauce; and Fresh Fig Tart with Honey, Goat Cheese, and Pistachios. Each recipe has a wine pairing suggestion from the region as well as from afar. Plus, 25 get-to-know-them profiles bring the reader inside the hearts and minds of the region's passionate winemakers and food artisans. We all dream of the wine country lifestyle. With The New Wine Country Cookbook , you can now savor the romance, bold honest flavors, and rustic outdoor sensibility of California's sublimely unpretentious new wine country in your own home.
" The New Wine Country Cookbook provides an evocative view of the dynamic food and wine culture of California's fastest growing wine region. The Central Coast should be on every food and wine lover's radar."
--Rajat Parr, wine director of the michael mina group and author of the James Beard award-winning Secrets of the Sommeliers
"Paso Robles . . . is becoming a hot destination, worthy of the most discerning wine and food travelers."
--Wine spectator
Even if you can't visit (and believe me, after paging through this gorgeous book, you'll want to), this book will help you create a convivial, wine-country feast in your own home."Paso Robles is a region full of mavericks and innovators...French wine nobility cultivate vineyards next to fourth-generation cowboys, and for every sleek new wine bar, there's a cowboy saloon with moose heads hung on the walls."
--Justluxe.com
"This is an incredible and beautiful collection of recipes, stories about Central Coast vineyards, and photos. It makes you feel like you are a native of this beautiful, down-to-earth wine region of California. Brigit knows this world and describes it in ways not many can do. I'm completely jazzed to try these recipes."
-- Susan Feniger, chef and owner of Border Grill Restaurants and Susan Feniger's Street
Brigit Binns has authored or co-authored twenty-five cookbooks, many of them for Williams-Sonoma. She's also helped many of this country's most respected chefs--like New York's Michael Psilakis ( How to Roast a Lamb , Little Brown, 2009) and Los Angeles' Joachim Splichal ( Patina: Spuds, Truffles, and Wild Gnocchi , Collins, 1995)--turn their cookbook dreams into reality.
The Cook & The Butcher , her eleventh book for Williams-Sonoma, has won wide praise. Her book collaboration with the "rock-star" butcher Ryan Farr--San Francisco's "King of Meats,"-- Whole Beast Butchery (Chronicle, 2011) was nominated for a 2012 IACP award.
Her husband, actor Casey Biggs, has gained fame as the "Paso Wine Man," via a viral video spot that was awarded the Wine Spectator Video of the Year, and won several Addys.
