Oregon Wine + Food: The Cookbook Live Event Last Night

My copy of the Oregon Wine + Food: The Cookbook

Last night I had the pleasure to head over to Broadway Books, one of my favorite bookstores in Portland, and hear the authors of “Oregon Wine + Food: The Cookbook”—Danielle Centoni and Kerry Newberry—talk about the book, their process, and share memories of their time writing the book.

Here’s a bit about Danielle and Kerry from the Broadway Books page:

Danielle Centoni is a James Beard Award-winning food editor and writer. Before moving to Portland, she was the food editor for the Oakland Tribune, where she also covered food for The Oregonian. She was also the senior editor for Imbibe magazine and editor of Eater Portland. She develops recipes for brands and national publications, including Weber and Better Homes and Gardens, and is a regular freelance writer for The Kitchn, Rachael Ray Every Day magazine, EatingWell, and Bon Appetit. Her previous books include Portland Cooks, Just a Spritz, and Fried Rice.

Kerry Newberry is a Portland-based writer who writes about food, wine, farming, and travel. She holds a master’s degree in Educational Leadership for Sustainability from Portland State University and has studied with the Wine & Spirit Education Trust. Her writing has been featured in numerous publications, including Travel Oregon, Sunset, Edible Portland, The Oregonian’s MIX Magazine, Forbes, Fodor’s, Oregon Public Broadcasting, Wine & Spirits Magazine, and SIP Northwest. Her writing has been recognized with multiple awards and fellowships by Les Dames d’Escoffier International, Edible Communities, and the Symposium for Professional Wine Writers.

The Event

Swedish Shrimp Salad on Rye Toast (pp 128-129) from Oregon Wine + Food: The Cookbook. Recipe from Susanne Fullerton of Fullerton Wines.

When I arrived at about 5:55pm, folks were already there, gathered together near a table with wine from Fullerton Wines—a nice Chardonnay that looked beautiful and from what I could tell, was delicious. Danielle arrived a little later with platters of small open-faced rye toasts topped with Swedish Shrimp Salad, a little bit of lime, dill weed, and whitefish roe. I remarked that I had never had roe that color, a kind of light yellow, and it was very mild; the shrimp was tasty, too—and I’m not normally a consumer of shrimp. The whole combination was delicious.

Around 6:15pm, we walked over to the seating area and Danielle and Kerry were introduced by Sally McPherson, owner of Broadway Books. They did a brief introduction of the book, then made time for a Q&A. Some of the things that were discussed included:

Choosing the wineries and vintners, a total of 40.
Appreciation for the landscape of the Willamette Valley and how it is an element that keeps Oregon wineries more family-owned and less corporate.
The challenges the vintners enjoy from climate unpredictability in our region.
Working to make the recipes accessible and enticing.
The ups and downs and excitement of writing this book, including memories specific to COVID times, when masks still had to be worn.
As a writer and editor it was nice to hear how positive their editing process was and how collaborative the project was with the publisher (Figure 1).

Danielle Centoni (left) and Kerry Newberry (right), introduced by Sally McPherson, owner of Broadway Books (far left).

The proprietor of Fullerton Wines, Eric Fullerton, was there and shared some thoughts on Oregon wines. They are considered an “urban winery” and have a bar and tasting room in NW Portland (1966 NW Pettygrove Street). They grow their grapes south of here in Corvallis. I asked about the name “Fullerton,” which I’m mostly familiar with as the name of the city in California. Turns out it’s a Scottish name from immigrants that came from the west coast of Scotland to this country in the 17th century.

The Chardonnay from Fullerton Wines served at last night’s event.

You can read more about them and what they offer, including their wine pairing dinners on the Fullerton Wines website. Blogger Pechluck also recently attended one of their dinners, which you can read about here.

The Book

The book itself is hardback and full of gorgeous pictures and tempting recipes. I heard them mention two of them last night—a lasagna made with tiny meatballs, and a chocolate pudding—and I knew I had to buy this book. I don’t drink wine anymore, but my husband does, so he will enjoy that aspect of the book. Heck, I’ll enjoy reading about them, too!

The book is ordered in the following way:

Introduction
Oregon Wines: Fact Sheet
A Timeline: Meaningful People, Places, and Moments in Oregon Wine
Featured Grape-Growing Regions
Grape Varieties
The Wineries—a list with page numbers of each winery’s place in the book
The Recipes—a list with page numbers (recipes accompany the interviews) in categories including Appetizers and Small Plates; Soups, Salads, and Sides; Vegetarian; Fish and Seafood; Meat; Desserts
Metric conversion chart, Acknowledgments, Index, Author bios

Danielle and Kerry mentioned that one of their favorite things while putting this book together was doing the interviews, and the book is full of them for the 40 wineries they included—starting with Abbey Road Farm and ending with Winter’s Hill Estate. The vintners have very nice photos taken of them and the recipes have wine pairings included, as per the winery connected to that recipe. Gorgeous food photos, and lovely images of grapes and the landscapes found in Oregon’s AVAs (American Viticulture Areas).

It’s really a joy to look at this book, to read this book, and I can’t wait to start making some of the recipes. We may do some wine tasting—myself as the designated driver, of course—and enjoy the beauty of the Willamette Valley and other parts of the state that produce the beautiful Oregon wines on the market.

Big congrats to Danielle and Kerry for this beautiful book. As both an author and editor/proofreader, I know the hard work that goes into this kind of project. So head to your favorite bookstore (here’s the Broadway Books link) and pick up a copy. Many thanks to Broadway Books for hosting this book event.

Oregon Wine + Food: The Cookbook (Hardcover)
Authors: Danielle Centoni, Kerry Newberry
Publisher: Figure 1 Publishing
Publication Date: May 2, 2023
Pages: 256
Language: English
$34.95