ZOV, Recipes and Memories From the Heart Dinner

March 1, 2008
Our 11th dinner was from the ZOV, Recipes and Memories From the Heart by Zov Karmardian. One of our cooks dined at Zov's Bistro in Tustin, CA and had a delicious meal. After hearing her rave reviews, the group decided this book would be a interesting and different cuisine for us.

Each cookbook club member chose a dish to prepare for the dinner and Sandra set up the order of the courses, created the menu and paired the wines with the advice from our cellarmaster, Bill. It was difficult to decide how to order the dishes because they were all pretty rich and heavy, including dessert. But the resulting feast was another gastronomical delight.

MENU

Spinach & Leek Spanakopita (p. 129) Annie prepared the Spanakopita for the dinner in a smaller baking dish, making the filling thicker and the ending result absolutely fabulous and irresistible! It was difficult to cut through the bottom layers of filo but I don’t know if there is a solution to that problem.
2003 Wolf Family Vineyards Sauvignon Blanc, Napa Valley was an appropriate pairing, giving a bit of citrus as well as sweetness to counter the spinach/leek and creamy tastes of the spanakopita.

Puree of Butternut Squash Soup & Rosemary Scones (p. 100 & 227) The soup was on the sweet side but very yummy. Sandi followed the recipe exactly with great results. The Rosemary scones did not have the texture of scones but were more like biscuits. Sandi said that when they first came out of the oven, they were more scone-like.
2006 Trefethen Dry Riesling, Oak Knoll District, Napa Valley was another great pairing with the soup. The acid in the dry Riesling balanced the sweetness of the soup and added another layer of flavor.

Sautéed Calamari with Tomatoes & Oregano (p. 45) Sharon prepared it perfectly and it was difficult to not ask for seconds. She said it was relatively a quick and easy recipe to follow with great results.
2006 Trefethen Dry Riesling Again, the Riesling was perfect with the tomato-y calamari. It added nice notes of fruit and sweetness to the dish.

Moussaka (p.187) When Willie prepared this the first time he followed the recipe exactly but did not like the taste of the ground beef. For our dinner, he substituted ground lamb and doubled the Béchamel Sauce recipe with fabulous results. The resulting doctored recipe yielded a richer moussaka that was flavorful and moist. Willie also tried the Sou-Boreg, Layered Pasta with Monterey Jack Cheese recipe (p. 130). He was enticed to try the dish because of the great photograph (so was I!). but with disappointingly bland flavors. He even made homemade pasta sheets with the Monterey Jack Cheese and the result was tasteless and was so bad, it was tossed out....after all that hard work and a big mess in the kitchen to clean up!
2004 Ferrari-Carano Chardonnay,Reserve, Napa/Sonoma Counties This dish required a wine that would stand up to the richness of the béchamel and the Ferrari-Carano Chardonnay Reserve did exactly that. It was an oaky & buttery style wine with great fruit flavors that complimented the Moussaka.

Mixed Baby Greens with Air Dried Beef & Sherry Vinaigrette (p. 54) Theresa was able to find air-dried beef from A.G. Ferrari. This was an interesting dish with unique combinations of flavors. Theresa used walnut oil instead of hazelnut oil in the recipe since it also called for walnuts in the salad. She thought it was odd to ask for hazelnut oil and then put walnuts in the salad. The Basterma (air-dried beef) reminded me of proscuitto. She said that once you can find the basterma, the salad was easy to prepare.
2004 Ferrari-Carano Chardonnay, Reserve Again, the Chardonnay was a good companion to the salad. The walnuts and beef needed a heartier white wine and this chardonnay came through and showed the salad’s ingredients well. Although difficult to pair wines with vinegar, this one was a winner!

Spinach Stuffed Leg of Lamb (p. 166) Sandy said that this was a very easy recipe to prepare. She marinated the lamb for 24 hours and the result gave us flavors that penetrated the lamb beyond the outer layer. She had the butcher trim the leg of lamb for her which saved her a lot of time.
Eggplant Stuffed with Garlic (p. 145) Another easy recipe to follow according to Mary. A very tomato-y dish that went well with the lamb. Mary had also tried the Savory Beef Briouts recipe (p. 42) that turned out to be dry beef rolls. It was also too dough-y but there really isn’t a way to make it thinner. She thought maybe if there was a sauce to serve with it to counter the dryness, it might help. BUT, she couldn't get her family to eat it so she had to toss it out.
Rice Pilaf with Lentils & Caramelized Onions (p. 136) Sandra prepared this dish once before the dinner and found the lentils to be overwhelming. She halved the amount of lentils for our dinner and doubled the carmelized onions with delicious results. She topped the pilaf with a sprinkling of French Fried Onions purchased from Trader Joe's. They provided a nice crunchiness to the rice and lentils. Sandra also tried the Coconut Beef Stew (p. 166)which turned out to be very delicious. The coconut and spices in the stew adds new dimensions to an old favorite. She also tried the Pan-Seared Whitefish with Tomato Curry (p. 206) with disappointing results. In her opinion, the curry and fish did not go well together and was not a memorable dish.
1987 Ridge Vineyards Cabernet Sauvignon, Monte Bello, Santa Cruz Mountains. This wine was rich with fruit, complex berry and cherry flavors that went well with the lamb. It was hearty enough to stand up to the eggplant dish as well. Another great choice by Bill from his great cellar!

Bread Pudding with Chocolate Chunks & Bananas (p. 245) Sandra prepared this dish once before, using semi-sweet chips from See’s Candy and Challah bread and thought the dish to be too sweet and heavy. For the Cookbook Club dinner she used bittersweet wafers from S. Guittard (instead of chopping up blocks of chocolate required by the recipe) with much better results. Using Brioche bread also yielded a lighter bread pudding. Next time she will double the sauce because there really wasn't enough. The group decided not to serve a wine with this dish. It is difficult to pair wines with chocolate and the richness of this dessert called for coffee or tea.