Kevin Ramquist, Chef de Cuisine, F. Scott’s Restaurant & Jazz Bar

Crostini with Goat Cheese, Oven Roasted Tomatoes and Fig Jam
Ingredients:
1 baguette cut into ¼ inch slices
2 TBL melted butter
1 8-oz. log of  goat cheese
10 roma tomatoes
1 jar of fig jam
¼ cup extra virgin olive oil
Method of Preparation

Baguette

Melt Butter in pan, toast the baguette slices in a pan on the stove over medium high heat until golden brown on both sides; set aside.

Goat Cheese

Take goat cheese out of the refrigerator and let stand at room temp for about one hour.  Cut the corner off of the packaging so you can easily squeeze the goat cheese out.

Roasted Tomatoes (You may also purchase prepared roasted or marinated tomatoes.)

Cut the roma tomatoes in half and drizzle with olive oil; salt and pepper and roast at 220 degrees for 6 to 8 hours until tomatoes lose about half their volume. Let cool.

Assemble

To assemble, spread the fig jam on the Crostini, then squeeze goat cheese on top of that, and top with a quarter of the cooled tomato.

Note: At F.Scott’s we use crispy fried polenta instead of the Crostini.  (If you would like to try this at home they sell pre-made polenta at the grocery store in a log form. Slice polenta a quarter of an inch thick and quarter that slice; in a heavy-bottomed pan pour canola or other oil to about half an inch up the side of the pan; fry over medium high heat until golden brown and crispy.)

Crostini means “little toasts” in Italian

Chef Jeremy Barlow, Tayst Restaurant (photo credit:John Schweikert)

Divine Holiday Cheese Puffs

These amazingly light and flavorful cheese puffs are a simple combination of the light pastry dough pate a choux and your favorite cheddar cheese. My current favorite is the Sweetwater White Cheddar from the Sweetwater Valley Farm in Philadelphia, Tennessee, but any strong cheddar will do. First you make the pate a choux:

2 cups water
2 sticks butter
2.75 cups bread flour
1 TBL salt
2 cups beaten eggs, about 8

Preheat oven to 375. Then melt the butter in water in a large pot. Add the flour and salt until the dough begins to pull away from the sides of the pot. Move the dough to a stand mixer, use paddle attachment and as dough cools, add eggs a little at a time.

Next mix the dough with shredded cheddar at a ratio of 1 to 1, so 1 cup of the dough to 1 cup of cheddar. Mix lightly with your fingers until just blended. Scoop into small balls and bake at 375 until brown and crispy – start checking at 15 minutes. These are delicious warm or at room temperature, and you can mix in finely chopped ham, seasoned ground beef or other savory meat for a heavier appetizer.

Cocktails, Wines and Bubbly!

One of our favorite readers, Barbara Keith Payne submitted this cocktail for your holiday enjoyment.  She is a lucky girl – her husband Richard, owner of the Wine Chap in Belle Meade, whipped this up for her since she’s a devotee of White Russians. (Note to reader: it’s midnight, the night before I am going to New York with my family, and I need another photo.  When I googled “white russians” to find a picture, this is what came up.  I am punch-drunk, minus the punch, so this picture made it in the blog.)

Two wild and crazy white Russians!

As Barbara says, “Who doesn’t love to drink their dessert?”

Feel No Payne Cocktail for the Holidays
Peppermint Mocha White Russian
1 oz. vodka
1 oz. Peppermint Mocha Kahlua
Half & Half

Pour all ingredients over ice, garnish with a peppermint stick. Yum-Yum.

Here are some wines that make nice gifts:

PepperPot Red Blend $16.00
Delicious South African blend of Syrah, Mourvedre, & Tannat – a delicious spicy peppery mix, perfect on a cold winter night.

Miracle One Carneros Chardonnay $29.99
Wonderful medium-bodied Carneros chardonnay with just the right amount of oak. Made by a native Nashvillian- so a little local flair!

La Marca Prosecco $13.99
Beautiful sparkling wine from Italy, this has fresh aromas of white peach & honeysuckle & a creamy finish. A Tiffany blue label makes it a very elegant gift.

For an added touch, add an ornament or a wine stopper to your package. We love the wine stoppers from Knobstoppers located in Midtown.

Happy Holidays!

Liza and Elizabeth

© 2010 – 2011, StyleBlueprint. All rights reserved.

I can’t remember the brand name of my porch furniture.  But, I know that I got it on a 75% clearance sale at Home Expo about six years ago.  It was obvious why no one had purchased it: it was grey with grey damask outdoor fabric.  It was just kinda blah.  And, an expensive blah at that.  But, I saw the bones were good as it was light-weight rust-proof aluminum that carried a heavy visual feel.  I think it was made by Lane, but if not, it was a reputable name that I knew made good furniture.  I knew I had to recover the pillows.  Thus, a call was made to my hubby and he agreed to the purchase.  The furniture came home with me that day.  Flash forward six years and you know what has happened: the cushions were never recovered.

As we put our house on the market, I thought about having those cushions redone, but elected to put my money elsewhere. But, the grey cement porch, grey aluminum and grey cushions were actually making me gloomy.  Now that we have decided to stay in Nashville, the first thing I did was buy the fabric and have those cushions redone!  I ordered some Sailcloth by Sunbrella at The Fabric House.  My FABULOUS decorator, Rachel Halverson*, mentioned that she thought I should have the furniture painted while I was at it.  The results are fabulous.  Rachel picked out a Sherwin Williams color: Black Beauty in exterior oil and my painter came with this awesome equipment that can “blow” the paint on to give it a professional powder finish.

Rachel also suggested that I remove the frosted glass from the side table and have a piece of stained wood cut down to fit there. I NEVER would have thought of that and I love it.  At this point, I will probably paint my porch swing next Spring and add an outdoor rug.   But, for now, phase 1 is complete.

There is a story behind my porch coffee table.  It was purchased from Pier One 13 years ago as my DINING ROOM TABLE!  We could fit six, tightly, around that table.  But, as I’m a believer that the tighter the fit the better the conversation, that never bothered me.  When I inherited my fabulous dining room table from my husband’s grandmother 10 years ago, I took this Pier One table and sawed the legs off to make it coffee table height and moved it to my family room.  Then, it was moved to the porch and lots of rain fell on it.  It has warped and peeled as the laminate top was never made for the outdoors.  But, I love the weathered look and I believe in recycling furniture as long as you possibly can, so it’s a perfect porch table for us.  Funnily enough, Rachel LOVES this table and asked me where I got it.  Sorry, it’s not one you can ever go out and buy!

The wooden trivets, upon which the glass hurricanes are placed, were purchased at Merridan Home Furnishings on Franklin Pike.  The hurricanes are currently at Pier One, as well as the candles and sand that you can see in them.  The new green pillows were purchased at Restoration Hardware for 50% off.  My orchids are going CRAZY outside right now as this weather is perfect.  Import Flowers has wonderful HUGE orchids for about $40 that you would think were well over $100 as they are so large.  Mums are courtesy of my dear friend Kristen who just pops over with things that make me smile.  One day my life will calm and I will be able to be that friend to her as well:-)

I hope I have inspired you to make sure you have a welcoming porch that beckons to you each day to enjoy.  Rarely used before, this weather and the new look have us outside reading or conversing daily.

Now, the story of St-Germain and why it is the perfect cocktail for your porch: Over the course of only a few days each Spring, 40-50 men hand pick and gather wild elderflowers from the foothills of the Alps in France.  They then climb down the hills and bicycle the blossoms to market…as that is the only way to gather these precious blooms!  Thus, those few days of gathering give the world its only St-Germain for the year.  It is hand-made in limited quantities and “the first liquor in the world made in the artisanal French manner.”- from website.  The liquor also comes in the hands down most beautiful bottle I have ever seen.

Cocktail recipes for this coming weekend! Reader beware: I make a drink the way I cook “a little of this, a little of that.”  So, feel free to interpret these recipes the way YOU see fit!  These recipes are courtesy of my equally rebellious recipe friend, Jere.  Thank you, Jere!  And, St. Germaine can be pricey, so a big THANK YOU to The Wine Chap for offering 10% off St. Germain this week to Styleblueprint readers.  So, don’t feel cheap.  Speak up and say we sent you!  Get that discount! -Liza

Cocktail Ideas:

• Take a vodka tonic and finish it off with a splash of St-Germain. Squeeze a little lime in there for good measure. (I like this with Blue Saphire Gin instead of Vodka)
• Mix some vodka with Italian lemon soda (available at Whole Foods and Target), add a splash of St-Germain.
• Muddle some blackberries, strain them if you need to, add (you guessed it)—vodka and perhaps a little cranberry juice, and St-Germain.
• Bellini—mix champagne with St-Germain. Throw in a slice of fresh peach.
• For more precise recipes, including margaritas, mojitos and martinis, see their website.

*I know I know!  Rachel is super busy right now for those of you trying to get on her calendar.  Never fear, just book that appointment even though it’s 3-4 weeks out.  That time period of “after the kids go back to school and pre- Holiday crunch” is always crammed busy in the decorating world.

© 2009 – 2010, StyleBlueprint. All rights reserved.

He knew I’d been in to write this post, but I wanted him to go in with a blank slate, so little info did he have.  Well, he burst back through the kitchen door and simply said, “They are so nice and that place is huge.”  Yep, we are both officially fans!

So, it’s hot as all get out.  Jungle Hot.  Africa Hot.  Nashville Hot. Too hot to fuss with a gathering, but the slow down in pace begs for a get together none the less.  Let The Wine Chap simplify the process.

Richard Payne is The Wine Chap, a London native who fell for a Nashville gal and moved here 12 years ago.  He grew up in a wine lovin’ European family with access to all those great European wines.Basically, he knows wine because he was raised around wine.  It’s second nature and he can steer you in the right direction.

Call them up, or stop by and ask them to put together a mixture of wines from around the world. Richard has picked out six here (get two of each):

France: William Fevre Chablis 2007 - $17.99
Argentina: Don Tiburcio Red Blend 2005 – $16.99
Italy: La Cala Vermentino 2007 – $12.99
Spain: Finca El Paso Monastrell 2007 – $12.99
West Coast: Broadside Edna Valley Chardonnay $19.99
Tennessee: Arrington Vineyards Red Fox Red Blend – $24.99

What a great way to branch out and try some new wines.  The Wine Chap offers a 10% discount on a mixed case.

When I wanted to know what to pair these wines with, I immediately contacted Jay Frein, co-owner of Margot Cafe & Bar and Marche. They continually serve up fresh local offerings and are top of my list for best places to eat out in Nashville.  I knew Jay would steer us right.

For food, Jay suggests that with a wine offering this broad to select a range of foods as “it is probably more fun to do it a little more loosely. Often things go together that you would never really expect.”

Even better, you can call up Marche catering and tell them what you are doing and your budget, and they will put a lot of this together for you (see sample catering menu here.  I’m hungry just reading this!).  So…..a stop by The Wine Chap and then over the river and up the road to Marche and you are done! Pretty good idea to skip the heat of the kitchen, huh?  And you get to support two really great guys who have made Nashville home for the better of us all who live here.

© 2009 – 2010, StyleBlueprint. All rights reserved.