Grape

Come September, I prepare this cake often, taking advantage of whatever clusters of grapes I can find on our vines after harvesting. At Chanteduc, we grow a mixture of Grenache, Syrah, and Morvèdre grapes, each of which contributes its own personality to the wine and to this cake. I love the rustic crunch that seeded grapes impart, and so I also recommend trying Zinfandel, Cornith, and Cabenet grapes. For seedless grapes, try Red Flame. The original recipe was given to me by Rolando Beramendi at Italy's fine Tuscan estate Capezzna, where this intriguing not-too-sweet cake appears frequently at the table during the fall harvest. Note that the cake is prepared with half butter and half olive oil, producing an unusually light and moist cake.

(FRAGOLE ED UVE CON MENTA E VINIGLIA) This colorful salad is accented with mint, a favorite ingredient in native cooking.

Fresh fruit marinated in Scotch and sugar is a lovely topper for the purchased cake.

We like serving these chewy, moist almond cakes, which are based on the financier, a French pastry, in individual gratin dishes, but the batter can also be baked in a 9-inch glass pie plate for 30 to 35 minutes.

Mix some chilled club soda into the leftover wine marinade for a refreshing drink.

This recipe for chiles en macedonia combines ingredients from three states—Jalisco, Colima, and Michoacan. It came from the late Juan Diego Michel, who taught in Billy Cross's schools in Napa Valley and PuertoVallarta. The dish was a favorite of the Michel family in Jalisco, where, in his younger days, Juan Diego had his own restaurant and used the recipes from 200 years ago that had been passed down to him. To Cross, he was a Mexican-cooking mentor.

Pack the fruit and sauce separately, and keep the sauce chilled.

A favorite test-kitchen Muscat wine is Bonny Doon's Muscat Vin de Glacière from California.

Active time: 20 min Start to finish: 25 min

Can be prepared in 45 minutes or less, but requires additional unattended time.

For optimum browning, roast this dish in the upper third of your oven.

The traditional apple, walnut and chopped celery salad is updated with a yogurt and low-fat mayonnaise citrus dressing, pine nuts and Cajun seasoning.

These grapes make for both an elegant winter centerpiece and a sweet treat for the holidays. Active time: 30 min Start to finish: 2 1/2 hr

Active time: 15 min Start to finish: 1 1/2 hr