The first one is a flash-back to the 1980s early 1990s when we first opened our winery and Carneros was just founded as an appellation. Mushroom-walnut pesto on crostini appetizer was at every winery party in the industry; I remember joking with a friend on our way to party at a sparkling winehouse if we should place a bet if they serve them.

The main reason is that mushrooms have that wonderful hint of umami, and then you have the tannins of the walnuts to zip-it-up flavor-wise for a perfect pairing with wine. I was basically going through some of my vintage cookbooks and literally yelled, “I haven’t had that in ages!” Then I had to explain to my sister why; she didn’t join me at the parties back then since she wasn’t out of high school yet. You are not limited to only serving this on toast, I love tossing pasta with it and serving it next to grilled chicken or pork. If I have leftovers from the pesto that isn’t enough for pasta … I mix breakfast sausage with it and fry it up in the morning and serve with poached eggs.

I have learned over the years some of the key ‘tricks’ to making a rich soup is making sure you roast the vegetables to get some of the sugars to caramelize inside of them. Then there are the tricks I have stolen: from my cousins in Ireland use turkey stock instead of chicken; from my mother … there is always an excuse to add more butter. Red lentil and sweet potato soup is pretty hearty and freezes very well. You can puree all the vegetables together, but I like to have the crunch of the diced carrots and celery.