Last night we were treated to a wonderful Italian dinner prepared by my sister. She and her husband had recently taken a class at Cookology. The class was Italian based recipes with wine.  Cookology is a fun and educational culinary school in Northern Virginia.

We began the afternoon with appetizers – crackers, bleu cheese and white cheese. With the appetizers we had Vermentino di Gallura, DOCG. This imported Italian wine was from Pedres Thilibas. This straw colored wine was delightful. The aroma and taste were dry and crisp with citrus notes. The stainless steel produced wine was 100 percent Vermentino. It was excellent with the cheeses and crackers. Suggested pairings included shellfish and fish. After tasting this particular Vermentino, I am looking forward to trying others, too.

My sister wanted to see if she could recreate the success of the class in her home for us. Using the recipes from the class, she adapted the recipes servings for the four of us. They served the same Italian wine that had been used at the Cookology class and we shared a wine that we made.  The dinner was very successful.

The first course was shrimp and a very special bruschetta. Both were excellent. The entrée consisted of very tender filet mignon in a wine sauce with glazed figs. For dessert, there was chocolate mousse. All of the dishes used wine as an ingredient even the chocolate mousse. Dinner was delicious and rated a success!

If you live in metropolitan Washington DC, and enjoy food check out the Cookology website to see all the classes that are offered.

Hoping everyone has a great week!

Cheers! Kathy