Antipasto: The Secret to Our Relationship

 The secret to our relationship, eleven years of bliss, by the way, is taking the time to eat together every night. Our dinner time is sacred. From approximately 7:30-9:00 we are together at one table, no phone calls, television or internet, just us. We talk about work, family, relationships. We wallow, opine (those who know us can only imagine), consult, strategize and ultimately, reconnect. When we skip this time everything feels more hectic, distant and stressful.

One of our favorite ways to eat together is a fabulous spread of Antipasto. It lessens the time AlphaChef is cooking, reinforces the act of lazily eating and sipping wine, and allows us to revel in the tastes and the conversation. With Antipasto the combination of tastes we discover throughout the meal are infinite ("wait, take a bite of this cheese and then a sip of the wine, do you notice the cherry that comes out??") and again, reinforces the act of simply sitting and eating. How could you go wrong?

We just happen to live near the best cheese shop in Minneapolis. Surdyks http://www.surdyks.com/  has the best selection of local and imported cheeses, meats, olives, chocolates, chutneys and condiments in the area. Beyond selection, their staff are knowledgeable and enthusiastic about their product, which is obvious the minute you walk through the door. If you get a good cheese monger all you have to do is give the slightest hint that you like good cheese and ask for a suggestion and you'll be sampling all night. I have never felt hurried or pressured, even when the line is out the door. Surdyk's also has a liquor store so you buy your meats and cheese and bring them to a knowledgeable wine seller to pair it, it's foolproof. Below I will divulge some of my favorites, you can bring the names, so you're not flying blind when you go in there (dropping any names at the cheese counter is the hint that you like good cheese, by the way, so pay attention).

Olives d' Provence and Green Lucques

These are the olives. I discovered the Green Lucques some years ago at the Byerly's olive bar. I was addicted from the start. Their grassy green color is complemented by a firm texture and mild, but rich and buttery flavor. The flavor is crisp and clean, there is nothing like it in the olive world. When Byerly's stopped carrying them (and believe me, I anticipate every time like an excited child on Christmas morning and come away just as disappointed) I despaired, until my AlphChef brought them to me from Surdyks. The Olives d' Provence were his way of steering me away from my exclusivity with the Lucques and they stuck, now I buy both. Cured in oil, one goes a long way with an intense salty, herbal flavor.

In our house, protein rules, and while cheese has plenty of it, AlphaChef has to have meat. It just is. So I acquiesce. It's actually not that painful. The Fra Mani Toscana is a salami that begins with the expected flavors but has a surprisingly long lasting finish of garlic, pepper and herbs. We found it went quite nicely with a coarse ground mustard, adding just the right amount of vinegar to highlight the flavors.

French L'Eden Cleron

The cheese. I discovered this cheese by telling the cheese monger that I wanted a soft cheese that was mild but complex (are you getting the verbiage??). This was a lovely brie. It was mild, as suggested, but had a yeasty finish with notes of citrus and a little bit of sour, as one might expect from a blue cheese. It went perfectly with the red wine we paired. We added dates, Medjool dates we found at Trader Joe's to give us some fiber (let's be real) but also to complement and balance the cheese.

Finally the pate. Pate is an acquired taste, it is liver after all. My first experience with pate was stealing some my grandmother was eating and rinsing my mouth for hours trying to get the taste out (Granted, I'm German. It probably wasn't the best stuff). Now I crave it. I started with a truffle mousse, also found at Surdyk's, which is a chicken liver based pate with mushrooms. It was rich and creamy but without the overwhelming taste. Craftsman Restaurant has a fabulous charcuterie plate and I found myself loving the duck pate they serve, so I expanded my pate horizons and tried this Duck Mousse with Port Wine. It is amazingly good. It's creamy, rich and has just the right balance of spices to offset the liver. We tried to stage the picture with the lettuce, it still looks better in person. Let's face it, pate just isn't very photogenic.

All of this was served with a baguette (essential and also at Surdyk's) and a lighter bodied red wine. The food, although hopelessly indulgent, cost about $18 total. I still have half the mousse, a third of the brie and most of the olives left- it is luxurious, but cheaper than a burger and beer for two at most sports bars. Add ambient lighting, a random mix on our stereo and good conversation. It's love.