The Perfect Pairing: Talley Vineyards and Chef Claudia Sandoval

Talley Vineyards had the honor of pouring at this year’s 2022 Palm Desert Food & Wine Festival; a weekend filled with amazing wine, immaculate bites and warm desert winds.

When we were invited to be a part of the festival’s James Beard Luncheon, an event that would kick off the weekend featuring celebrity chefs and cooking demonstrations, we couldn’t resist. The luncheon included a 4-course meal, each course created by an award-winning celebrity chef.

Talley was paired with celebrity chef, Claudia Sandoval, winner of MasterChef (season 6) and host of the upcoming Food Network show Taste of the Border. Serving up her contagious laugh and fiery red hair, Chef Sandoval prepared a Scallop Pomegranate Aquachile (recipe below) paired with our Estate Chardonnay.

Scallop Pomegranate Aguachile

(Makes 4-6 portions) 

Ingredients: 

• 1 lb. U12 scallops, sliced thinly in half or thirds
• 1 cup cucumber, brunoised (skin in) 
• 1/2 cup small red onion, brunoised
• 1/4 cup fresh ginger, minced 
• Kosher salt 

For aguachile sauce: 

• 6 oz pomegranate juice
• 1 whole jalapeño, stem removed 
• 1 cup fresh-squeezed Persian lime juice 

To garnish: 

• Marigold micro flowers or petals 
• 1 cup fresh-squeezed Persian lime juice 

Directions: 

To prepare scallops:  

• Slice scallops horizontally to create thin even slices – 5 pieces will be needed per dish. 
• Spread evenly on a sheet pan and season lightly with kosher salt. 
• Keep refrigerated and cold. 

To make aguachile sauce: 

• In a blender, add pomegranate juice, whole jalapeño, and lime juice. 
• Blend until smooth. 
• Strain thru a fine mesh sieve. 
• Season with salt. 

To make brunoise mix: 

• In a bowl mix cucumber, red onion and ginger until well incorporated. 

To plate:

• Place sliced scallops into a circle slightly. 
• Add brunoise mix sparsely around the edges of the scallops. 
• Garnish with flowers and cilantro. 
• As a final touch, add aguachille juice to the bottom of the bowl evenly throughout plates, leaving scallops and brunoise floating atop the sauce.

Cioppino is the classic fisherman’s stew that originated in San Francisco. It has a special place among Talley family traditions. It is a dish that regularly appears on the Talley dinner table, and each year this recipe is the star of the Pinot-Cioppino Dinner benefiting the Marianne Talley Foundation.

The seafood medley is paired with Talley Pinot Noir and guests enjoy the dish (along with Rosemary’s famous cheesecake) as money is raised to support students from Arroyo Grande High School and celebrate the memory of Brian’s sister, Marianne.

Ingredients:

• 2 teaspoons garlic, chopped
• 2 cups onions, chopped
• 1 cup green onions, mostly white parts, chopped
• 1 fennel bulb, chopped (optional)
• ¼ cup olive oil
• 1 medium bell pepper, chopped
• 1 (14-ounce) can tomato sauce
• 1 (7.75-ounce) can El Pato Tomato Sauce (Mexican Hot Style); alternatively, add a small number of chili flakes or hot sauce to taste
• 42 ounces canned diced tomatoes (a 28-ounce can plus a 14-ounce can)
• 3 cups dry white wine
• ½ cup minced fresh parsley, divided
• 1 teaspoon salt
• ½ teaspoon pepper
• ½ teaspoon oregano
• ½ teaspoon basil
• 1½ pounds firm white fish (halibut, sea bass, or cod)
• 1½ pounds small clams
• 1½ pounds shrimp, shelled and deveined
• 1½ pounds mussels
• 1½ pounds Dungeness crab, cooked, cleaned, and cracked (optional)

Directions:

About 1 hour before serving, prepare the sauce. Sauté garlic, onions, green onions, and fennel in olive oil until soft. Add bell pepper. Add tomato sauces, tomatoes, white wine, half the parsley, salt, pepper, oregano, and basil. Simmer together for 20 minutes. Correct seasoning. The sauce can be made ahead of time and reheated.

Fifteen minutes before serving, reheat the sauce. After it’s simmering, transfer about 2 cups of sauce to another pan with a lid. Poach the white fish in the covered pan until done, about 5 minutes or until flaking. This prevents the fish from falling apart in the final cioppino. (It also affords those with shellfish allergies the opportunity to enjoy the dish without any exposure to shellfish.)

Meanwhile, add clams, shrimp, mussels, and crab, if desired, to the first pot of sauce and cook until the shrimp is pink and the clams and mussels open, about 5 minutes. Serve in bowls by placing a piece of fish on the bottom, then ladling sauce on top, including an assortment of shellfish. Sprinkle with the remaining parsley. Serve with good sourdough or French bread for dipping in the sauce.

Wine pairing:

The Talley family loves Pinot Noir with cioppino, our 2018 Estate Pinot Noir is a medium-bodied wine with enough tannic structure and acidity to stand up to the spicy flavors.

If you don’t like red wine, try our 2018 Oliver’s Chardonnay or 2019 Riesling.

2018
Estate Pinot Noir

2018
Oliver's Chardonnay

2019
Riesling

The coastal San Luis Obispo and Santa Barbara County region is unique as a place that grows both world-class Chardonnay and avocados—truly a match made in heaven. Avocados are just about my favorite thing that we grow on the farm, and I consider guacamole to be the best possible expression of the avocado.

There are many variations of the basic guacamole recipe. Mine focuses on five critical ingredients: ripe avocados, cilantro, garlic, jalapeño, and lemon juice in place of more commonly used lime juice. In the summer and fall, when we have heirloom tomatoes, I add tomato. Many cooks add onion as well, but I prefer to keep my guacamole simple. It should be served on traditional Mexican corn tortilla chips.

Ingredients:

• 3 medium-size ripe Hass avocados
• 1/2 cup cilantro leaves, chopped
• 1 lemon, juiced
• 1/2 medium jalapeno pepper, finely diced
• 1 clove garlic, finely diced
• 1 small ripe tomato, chopped (optional)
• Kosher salt

Directions:

Combine garlic, cilantro, half the jalapeño, and tomato, if desired, in a bowl large enough to accommodate finished guacamole. Add avocados, leaving the mixture as chunky as possible. Add half the lemon juice and salt to taste. Depending on how spicy you like it, add more jalapeño. Add more lemon juice if needed.

Wine pairing:

With the guacamole you can serve either Mexican beer or our 2018 Estate Chardonnay.

2018 Estate Chardonnay

Our tradition of baking apple pie stretches back at least to my Grandmother Hazel’s time. Among my earliest memories are those of her baking and the rest of the family enjoying homemade apple pie. (For some reason, I didn’t come to love apple pie until I was in my 20s.) My father carried on the tradition but took it to another level by planting apple trees especially to supply the fruit for his pies. He chose Gravenstein, a classic tart-tasting, early season baking apple.

I still get apples from the trees he planted right next to Rosemary’s Vineyard. The pie-baking tradition continues with my daughter Elizabeth, though her recipe for the crust has changed. This recipe is my grandmother’s original, which I wrote down on September 1, 1998, while assisting her in baking the pie. The large quantity of shortening yields a super-flaky crust.

Serves: 6 to 8

Prep time: 2 hours

Ingredients:

• FILLING
  • 6 small Gravenstein apples (substitute 4 Pippins or Granny Smiths)
  • 1/2 tsp Cinnamon
  • Pinch of Cloves
  • Pinch of Nutmeg
  • 1 tbsp flour
  • 1/2 cup sugar, depending on tartness of apples & preference can use up to 1 cup
  • 2 tbsps butter
• CRUST
  • 2 cups Flour
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 1 cup shortening
  • 6 tbsps cold water

Directions:

For the filling, core and peel the apples. Slice into wedges about ½ inch thick. Mix in a bowl with cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg, flour, and sugar. Let the mixture steep while you prepare the crust. It should be somewhat juicy when you pour it into the pie crust.
Set a rack in the lower third of the oven, and preheat the oven to 350°F degrees.

For the crust, mix flour and salt. Cut shortening into the flour mixture with a shortening cutter or 2 knives until the mixture has the consistency of very coarse meal. Don’t overwork it. Add just enough water to incorporate. Knead only enough so that the mixture comes together in a ball. Let rest.
Divide the dough into 2 not quite even portions. Choose the slightly bigger half as the bottom crust, and roll out as thinly as possible on a pie cloth. The crust should be larger than the pan. This crust is very soft and delicate, so work carefully. Gently fold the crust in half and unfold into the pie pan. Repair any tears in the crust, and push the crust down into the pan. Pour the apple mixture into the pan.  Dot with butter by placing it around the apple mixture evenly.  Roll out the other portion of the dough into a circle bigger than the pan. Fold the top of the crust in half and gently drag it onto the top of the pie. Using scissors, cut away the excess dough that’s hanging over the outside edge of the pan. Using your thumb and fingers, crimp the top and bottom crusts together, forming a decorative edge. Using a sharp knife, gently cut 8 holes in the top crust to allow air to escape during cooking. Place the pie in the oven and bake for about 1 hour. Serve warm.