Culinary Adventures with Camilla

#winePW collides with #MerlotMe Wine Pairing Weekend - #winePW - happens on the second Saturday of the month. And this month - October 2015 -  foodwineclick  is hosting. Jeff invited us to jump on the #MerlotMe bandwagon with him. Click to read  his invitation. . The MerlotMe website  encourages wine lovers to "celebrate the greatness of Merlot throughout the month of October." So, we are. In addition, all of the #winePW bloggers were offered three bottles of Merlot to try, taste, and pair for this event. Complimentary wine? You bet. I'm in. About the title of my post: Fungi, Fun Guy, & Two Napa Valley Merlots. I decided to pair the wines with earthier, meaty flavors and settled on mushrooms because I didn't have any truffles. That's the 'fungi' part. The other 'fun guy', well, that's my Love. Our mini boys are off on a Fall Break adventure with my parents. So, Jake and I were able to head outside for a backyard picnic this pas...

Due to waaay too much vino on Friday night, I am getting a late start on blogging about the food I served that evening. We celebrated Jake's 36th birthday with 'A Fungi Feast for My Fun Guy.'  First up: a triple mushroom pâté. I served this with raisin-rosemary crackers from Trader Joe's. I started with a recipe from Gourmet magazine from 1997 and tweaked a bit to come up with this version. It's a pretty involved recipe, but it's well worth the effort. 1 1/2 C chicken stock 2 C chopped shitake mushroom 2 C chopped trumpet mushroom 2 C chopped crimini mushroom 1 stick butter 2 minced shallots 4 minced garlic cloves 1/4 cup wine 1 C organic heavy cream 4 large eggs 1/4 cup ground almond meal 1/4 C chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley 2 t chopped fresh thyme 1/3 cup panko bread crumbs 1-1/2 T fresh lemon juice 2 t pink Himalaya salt 1/2 t freshly ground black pepper Butter loaf pan, then line bottom and sides with parchment paper and butter pape...