The Wine Country Inns' Association and Cookbook was recently featured in the Santa Rosa Press Democart:

RE-CREATING FLAVORS FROM WINE COUNTRY INNS: ASSOCIATION PUBLISHES COOKBOOK WITH 150 RECIPES FOR DESSERTS, BREAKFAST, APPETIZERS
Published on October 26, 2005

BYLINE: DIANE PETERSON

Each Sonoma County bed and breakfast offers a unique ambiance, whether a Victorian farmhouse tucked away on a quiet country lane or an Arts and Crafts bungalow perched on Main Street.

To help guests choose their own style of vacation -- and allow them to savor the memories once they're home -- 15 Wine Country inns have created a cookbook that showcases the tasty breakfast dishes, appetizers and after-dinner treats served to guests throughout the year.

``Culinary Creations from Sonoma Wine Country,'' published by Wine Country Inns of Sonoma County, offers some 150 recipes that range from breads and cakes to egg dishes and crepes.

``The guests who have stayed here are buying it because they want to re-create the recipes,'' said Cloverdale's Old Crocker Inn owner Susan Degive, who designed the hardback cookbook with full-color photos.

The regional association was formed in 1981 by a group of innkeepers who wanted to collaborate on marketing efforts. The inns take turns answering the association's referral line and screen for membership in the exclusive group.

A smattering of tourist information in the cookbook -- including recipes and tasting tips from nearly 40 wineries and restaurants -- offers not only inspiration for guests to cook at home but fun ideas for outings while they're staying in the county.

``I use the cookbook to entice my guests to get out to the wineries,'' Degive said. ``They can go and taste and buy a bottle of wine, then go home and have a recipe that they can cook it with.''

Diana Van Ry of the Case Ranch Inn in Forestville, who served as the chairwoman of the cookbook committee, first got the idea for the ambitious cookbook after she came across ``Tasting Along the Wine Road Cookbook,'' published by the Russian River Wine Road in conjunction with its annual Wine and Food Affair.

The cookbook includes a two-page introduction for each inn, followed by eight recipes. Listed under Valerie and Don Patterson's Hidden Oak Inn in Sonoma, for example, you'll find recipes for a tomato cheese pie, buttermilk scones, chocolate pots de creme and baked eggs and cheese.

Hidden Oak Inn, located a block east of the Sonoma Plaza, offers three rooms in a brown bungalow draped with a lush wisteria vine. The B&B offers a breakfast bar during the week with eggs, cereal, yogurt and fruit, and an elaborate, sit-down breakfast on the weekends.

At the back of the cookbook, the section on wineries and restaurants includes a recipe from each participant that illustrates a signature dish or a wine pairing suggestion.

Dry Creek Vineyards, for example, offers up Cedar Plank Roasted Sonoma Coast Wild Salmon to pair with its Dry Creek Vineyard Fume Blanc.

The Olive Press -- an olive oil pressing cooperative in Glen Ellen -- supplies a recipe for a citrus cake made with semolina, ground almonds and the Olive Press Blood Orange Olive Oil.

Valerie Patterson said after a hearty breakfast at her Sonoma Valley inn, guests enjoy hiking in Jack London State Park or biking to the Vella Cheese Factory and a picnic at Bartholomew Park. After all that exercise, she sends them up the street to the Sonoma Plaza for dinner at Cafe LaHaye, Deuce or LaSalette.

Van Ry always serves guests fresh-squeezed apple juice from her apple trees in the morning with a frittata or pancakes. At night, she leaves cookies or baked goods out for a sweet surprise.

After breakfast, her visitors enjoy biking and wine tasting along the Russian River, home of many world-class pinot noirs, followed by dinner at Stella's or the Farmhouse Inn in Forestville.

At Cloverdale's Old Crocker Inn -- a rustic yet luxurious lodge built by the Charles Crocker family as a summer retreat -- Degive's chef-husband, Michel, serves a three-course gourmet breakfast every day with homemade breads, a fruit course and an elegant main dish like asparagus crepes.

The lodge's guests work up an appetite by hiking and going on garden tours at wineries, then enjoy dining out at Piacere restaurant in Cloverdale or Cyrus in Healdsburg.

``One of the fun things about this lifestyle is a lot of your job is going out to wineries and sampling every restaurant in town,'' innkeeper Susan Degive confided. ``And I like to have fun.''

The cookbooks cost $19.95 and can be purchased at 1-800-946-3268, at www.winecountryinns.com or at participating inns, restaurants and wineries.

The local innkeepers who shared these recipes are not culinary professionals but accomplished home chefs who require recipes that truly work, since they serve them over and over again to guests.

This recipe is from the Camellia Inn in Healdsburg, a Victorian inn known for its European, country-style breakfast dishes, concerts and cultural arts packages.

Smoked Salmon and Potato Galette

Makes 4 servings

2 teaspoons olive oil

1 cup onion, sliced

2-3 white potatoes, sliced

1 9-by-9-inch sheet of frozen puff pastry, thawed

Salt and pepper to taste

1 teaspoon dried dill weed

2 tablespoons whipping cream

1 tablespoon drained capers

4 ounces thinly sliced smoked salmon

Heat oil in a 10- to 12-inch frying pan. When hot, add onion and cook until limp but not brown. Let cool. Peel potatoes, slice thinly crosswise. Lay puff pastry out flat on a lightly floured board. Trim off corners to form a circle and, with a floured rolling pin, roll out to form an 11- to 12-inch circle. Transfer to a baking sheet.

Spread onion on dough, leaving a 2-inch border. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Arrange potato slices, slightly overlapping onions, and sprinkle again with salt and pepper and dill. Fold edges of dough over potatoes. Drizzle cream over potatoes. Bake at 375 degrees Fahrenheit for about 35 minutes, rotating pan if necessary, until crust is brown and potatoes tender. Top galette with capers and arrange sliced salmon over all while still warm. Serve with sour cream on the side.

This recipe is from the Glenelly Inn in Glen Ellen, where the innkeeper, Kristi Hallamore Jeppesen, has studied cooking in her mother's native Norway. These crepes are good with lingonberry or blueberry preserves on the side, and even a bit of sour cream.

Norwegian Breakfast Crepes

Makes 4 servings

1 to 1 1/4 cups flour

2 2/3 cups milk

2 eggs

1 teaspoon chives or dill

8 ounces Black Forest ham, diced finely

In a bowl, mix the flour, eggs and half the milk. Stir until smooth. Add the remainder of the milk and mix well. Add herbs. Let batter rest 10 to 15 minutes. Broil or saute ham and add it to the batter.

Heat a nonstick, 10-inch skillet and add a small amount of butter or margarine. When foam subsides, pour in a small amount of batter -- enough to make a thin layer when tilted from side to side (about 1/2 to 1 tablespoon).

Cook until lightly golden brown, then roll (like a crepe) onto a warmed serving platter.

This recipe is from the Melitta Station Inn in Santa Rosa, where English hosts Jackie and Tim Thresh specialize in fruit terrines, vegetarian entrees and baked cakes and breads, with tea and scones in the afternoon. This recipe goes well with scrambled eggs.

`Down Home' Corn Muffins

Makes 6-12 servings

1 cup cornmeal

1/2 cup flour

1/2 cup regular whole wheat flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon nutmeg

1 cup buttermilk

1/4 cup melted butter

3 tablespoons honey

1 egg

1 green onion, chopped

1 (11-ounce) can whole-kernel corn

1/4 cup diced red and green bell pepper

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease 6 ``mega'' muffin or 12 standard muffin cups. Combine in a large bowl: cornmeal, flour, whole wheat flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and nutmeg. In a medium bowl, combine the buttermilk, butter, honey, egg, onion, corn and peppers. Add to the dry ingredients and mix until just combined.

Spoon the mixture into the muffin cups. Bake 18-20 minutes until golden. Cool for 3 minutes and serve warm.

This recipe is from Forestville's Case Ranch Inn, where innkeepers Diana Van Ry and Allan Tilton offer a peaceful retreat in an old farmhouse, with three guest suites and a luxury cottage.

Strawberry Lemon Bavarian Cake

Makes 1 cake

FOR SHORTBREAD:

1 stick unsalted butter, softened

1/4 cup sugar

1/2 teaspoon vanilla

1 cup all-purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon double-acting baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

FOR THE BAVARIAN:

3/4 cup strained fresh lemon juice

1 cup sugar

2 tablespoons orange-flavored liqueur

2 tablespoons water

2 envelopes (about 2 tablespoons) unflavored gelatin

2 cups well-chilled heavy cream

1 1/2 pints fresh strawberries, diced, plus 12 strawberries, halved for garnish on top

Make the shortbread: In a bowl, cream together the butter, sugar and vanilla; add the flour, baking powder and salt, and stir the mixture until it forms a dough. Spread the dough evenly in the bottom of a 10-inch springform pan and bake it in the middle of a preheated 350 degree oven for 20-25 minutes, or until it is golden. Let the shortbread cool, and chill it in the pan for 15 minutes.

Make the Bavarian: In a small saucepan, stir together the lemon juice, sugar, liqueur and 2 tablespoons water. Sprinkle the gelatin over the mixture and let it soften for 1 minute. Heat the mixture over moderately low heat, stirring until the sugar and gelatin are dissolved. Set the pan in a bowl of cold water (do not add ice) and stir the mixture until it is just cool, but still liquid.

In a chilled large bowl with an electric mixer, beat the cream until it holds soft peaks. With the motor running, add the lemon mixture, beating until the mixture is just combined, and gently, but thoroughly, fold in the diced strawberries.

Pour the Bavarian into the springform pan and chill it, covered, for four hours, or until it is set. The cake may be made a day in advance and kept covered and chilled. Remove the side of the pan, transfer the cake to a plate, and garnish the top with the halved strawberries.