Wine and Cheese

I love entertaining.  I enjoy preparing and cooking for it.  I enjoy when people come over and have a good time.  However, I hate the clean up.  Last weekend, was the first time, we have entertained in awhile.  We had wine, cheese and a little debauchery also know as Cards Against Humanity.  I purchased two expansion packs and wrote some clever ones of my own.  The handwritten ones actually were the most popular of the night.

For food, I didn't want to just cut up cheese and put it on a plate so I tried some different combinations.  For the first dish, I was inspired by the mushroom and brie from Meditrina. This I paired with a Spanish Rose.  I have a Brie Baking Dish from Crate and Barrel. It is awesome. However, I bought a brie from Costco that was too large for the dish.  I had to trim around the edges to make it fit.  Then I caramelized red onions and mushrooms.  I deglazed the pan with red wine. I also added a little thyme in there as well. I cut off the top of the brie and then added the mushroom mixture on top.  I wanted the mushrooms and onions to sink into the brie.  I baked it on 350 for 8 minutes.  Since, I cut off the edges, the brie oozed over the baking dish.  It wasn't very pretty. However it was absolutely delicious.  It was a big hit and I don't think anyone minded that it wasn't the prettiest.

In the center of the picture below, I also had goat cheese in ramekins which I put in the oven on broil for a few minutes and then topped with honey.  This was paired with a Zinfandel.

To the far right, we had different red wines, a smoked gouda, cheddar from Beehive Cheese, and different meats.

I think the entertaining bug has bit me once more and I will have to put something together again soon.

XOXO,
Sothea