My perfect dinner consists of artesian cheese, homemade crusty bread and an excellent wine, simple and decadent.

Our wine this evening was a lovely 2005 Chateauneuf du Pape from Domaine Du Pegau.  Using the French wine as a theme, I decided to make a delicious looking bread from The Bread Baker's Apprentice called Pane Siciliano.  This bread (pictured on the right) is made with semolina and takes three days from start to finish.  The pate fermentee (pre-ferment) is made on day one, day two the dough is made and the bread is shaped then it is fermented overnight before being baked on day three.  The semolina is responsible for the golden color of this bread and lends it a wonderful aroma and a nutty taste. 

The recipe made three loaves, two of which I froze for future use.  Because this was the first time I tried this recipe I also made a loaf of no-knead bread (the bread on the left) just in case my Pane Siciliano didn't turn out well.  I needn't have worried because the Pane Siciliano turned our perfectly, but lets face it, there is no such thing as too much bread :)

There is also no such thing as too much cheese!  My intent was to purchase 3 French cheeses but I loose my self control when expected to choose just a few cheeses from the hundreds available at my market!  The orange cheese is Mimolette, then going clockwise above it is Pierre Robert, Comte, Buche Maitre Seguin (Bucheron), Daru, and Fromage de Savoie (similar to Reblochon).  The Daru is actually from Ireland and an impulse buy as I had never tried it.  Unfortunately neither Wilson or I cared for it but the dogs liked it well enough :)

I do love olives with cheese as well as fruit but certainly not together so today we went to the savory side with three different tapenads and a baba ghanoush.

So as not to over power the cheese and wine I kept the garlic to a minimum.  I like my tapenads a bit chunky, preferring to hand chop all the ingredients instead of using a food processor.  These are a "I never make it the same way twice" recipe but for the record here is how I prepared them this time:

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Baba Ghanoush

1 small eggplant roasted, (about ¾ cup chopped)
1 T lemon juice
2 tsp olive oil
1 tsp tahini
½ clove garlic, minced
salt
freshly ground pepper
about ½ cup parsley, chopped

Place your eggplant on your stove top burner with the flame at medium.  Turn it periodically until nice and charred all over.  Place in a bowl and cover with plastic wrap which allows it to steam.  Once cool, pull off the charred skin and cut open.  I prefer to remove most of the seeds and allow any residual liquid to drain away.  Hand chop the eggplant and toss in a medium bowl.  Add in the remaining ingredients to taste and enjoy!

Nicoise Tapenade

½ cup Nicoise olives, chopped
2 tsp capers, chopped
½ clove garlic, minced
zest of 1 small lemon
1 generous tsp fresh thyme leaves
2-3 tsp olive oil
few grinds black pepper


Nicoise & Pinenut Tapenade

½ cup Nicoise olives, chopped

1 tablespoons capers, chopped
½ clove garlic, minced
½ cup pinenuts, chopped
1 tablespoon olive oil
zest of 1 small lemon
¼ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
½ cup fresh basil, chopped

Sun Dried Tomato Tapenade

½ cup sun dried tomatoes, chopped
½ clove garlic, minced
¼ cup basil, chopped
little oil from the sun dried tomatoes
2 tsp balsamic vinegar
freshly ground pepper
little salt

For dessert we had a cocktail!

This yummy concoction is a Pineapple Almond Vanilla Tini (I need to come up with a proper name, any suggestions?) and very satisfying as a dessert.  Be aware that I like them strong!

Pineapple Almond Vanilla Tini

1 part vanilla vodka

1 part amaretto

1 part pineapple juice

Fill a cocktail shaker with ice and add the ingredients.  Shake well and strain into a martini glass.