This week, Design*Sponge features recipes for avocado goat cheese spread and spicy penne pasta from Amenity Home.
About Amenity Home: After becoming friends at art school in San Francisco, Californian Nicole Chiala went on to work in publishing in London and Minnesota-native Kristina de Corpo to the advertising world of New York. Only when they both ended up in Los Angeles–a place where the wild and refined collide–did they see the way to combine their passions. Working from real cuttings taken from their gardens and walks in LA,
they craft elegant, untamed designs to be silk screened onto luxuriously pure organic fabrics. The two founded Amenity Home in 2004 to ‘bring the solace of nature home’.
View the article and recipes at Design*Sponge.
The suggested wine pairing is the Ridge Santa Santa Cruz Mountains Chardonnay 2005.
These dishes could be served with a full body white wine or a light-medium body red. Given the arrival of summer, I have opted for a full-bodied white. A white wine was probably a much better option for the avocado spread and work with the pasta dish.
I also wanted to feature the Ridge Chardonnay as the 2006 was recently released — and a reminder to order it now before it is no longer available. The 2005 was the #2 wine of the year on last year’s top 100 list from Wine Spectator. You can order online at the Ridge online store.
The Ridge Chardonnay is fermented in-barrel, resulting in great richness with honey and butter flavors. These components will stand up to the tomatoes, cheese and herbs in the pasta. The wine also has very nice acidity and minerality which will compliment the avocado and goat cheese.
You could also select a light to medium body red, like a Pinot Noir — with lots of bright fruit and acidity. Of course, these are just some ideas — always trust your own palate.
Read my original review of the 2005 Ridge Chardonnay.
About the weekly wine pairings with Design*Sponge
I will be providing the weekly wine pairing for the recipes edited by Kristina on Design*Sponge. The In-the-Kitchen-With column appears every Friday at noon, and features the recipes of design*sponge readers’ favorite designers. Design*Sponge is a daily website dedicated to home and product design run by Brooklyn-based writer, Grace Bonney. Launched in August of 2004, Design*Sponge features store and product reviews, sale and contest announcements, new designer profiles, trend forecasting and store/studio tours.
