If you love good food and wine, here is an impressive cookbook that brings both together beautifully.
The Bryant Family Vineyard Cookbook: Recipes From Great Chefs and Friends (Andrews McMeel Publishing; September 1, 2009; $50.00, jacketed hardcover) is a collection of more than 80 recipes from culinary masters celebrating the Bryant Family Vineyard. Barbara Bryant tells the story of the vineyard and award-winning travel photographer Robert Holmes captures the beauty of Pritchard Hill in exclusive photographs throughout the book.
This cookbook features recipes from such celebrated chefs as Thomas Keller, Eric Ripert, Jean-Georges Vongerichten, Lidia Bastianich, Daniel Boulud, Charlie Trotter, Terrence Brennan, and Patricia Wells. Recipes range from such classics as Le Cirque’s famous Pasta Primavera and Eric Ripert’s Smoked Salmon Croque Monsieur to Barbara Bryant’s own original recipe for Cheddar Wafers as well as her recipe for Baked Wild Rice with Onion and Pecans and her Almond Biscotti. There is also Daphne Araujo’s Mushroom Lasagna and Daniel Boulud’s Roasted Turkey Breast with Endive, Apples, and Walnuts and Narsai David’s Chocolate Decadence .
Turning to the wine, the Bryant Family Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon, first produced in 1992, has the reputation of a “cult favorite” among wine connoisseurs and has a waiting list of more than 6,000. As Park B. Smith of Veritas Restaurant noted in the foreword: “All of the chefs who have contributed to this book are artisans of their vocation. Their culinary delights are best appreciated, however, when teamed with the art of a winemaker. Food and wine are natural complements to one another.”
A beautiful cookbook makes a very nice gift and what is especially nice this time of year, or at any time, is that a portion of the proceeds from this book will be donated to The Bowery Mission, http://www.bowery.org an organization whose roots go back some 130 years with a goal “to be the most effective provider of compassionate care and lfe transformation for hurting people in New York City.” As stated on their website: “Last year, The Bowery Mission & Kids With A Promise provided homeless men and women with more than 362,500 meals, 78,500 nights of shelter and 50,000 articles of clothing, as well as showers, haircuts, 550 professional doctor’s appointments and 69 eye examinations.”
