Judith Henderson’s Wine & Country Living

I only have last minute shopping to do for Christmas. And keeping my shopping as local as possible, I visited The Winehard Hotel's lobby and it's "Wall of Wine," as I call it, for a bottle of Poet's Leap off-dry Riesling.

In keeping with our cold winter nights, serving a white bean chili sounds yummy. Now, to find that original blue cheese cornbread recipe I developed in the kitchen of my Haight Ashbury flat in 1967. At the time of the recipe, California was just awakening to an early Napa Valley wine scene, and several "Cooking with Wine" cookbooks popped up for sale. I bought one of these cookbooks and immediately began revising the poor darling, because although the recipes taught us to cook with wine, the recipes themselves lacked the illustrious twist in food ingredients a handful of us bay area chefs were experimenting with in our early California Cuisine kitchens and places of employment.

Today, as I thumbed through my Ashbury files, there she was: a recipe card well worn with the title, "Blue Cheese Cornbread." I ran upstairs, preheated the oven to 350 degrees, pulled out the ingredients and bread pan. The recipe, by the way, was created during a slim month when my college kitchen cupboards where bare except for a single box of Jiffy Corn Bread Mix and a slim wedge of blue cheese.

I recall in those days having to be both frugal and creative and here's a good example: Originally, I called for the use of Maytag Bleu Cheese, a very expensive blue cheese produced by the Maytag Farm in Newton, Iowa. But you can use any blue cheese you desire. The squares are also delicious served with brunch items, as well as appetizers of all kinds.

I have talked before about the Poet's Leap Riesling, a wine made and bottled under the umbrella of Long Shadows Winery, Columbia Valley. Because of that, I'll keep it simple: Poet's Leap is best chilled twenty minutes before serving and goes with everything including White Bean Chile and Spicy Sausages with Blue Cheese Cornbread. Long Shadows: 509- 526-0905 / www.longshadows.com. Winery: 1604 French Town Road, Walla Walla.

Blue Cheese Cornbread

Serves 4

1-8 ½-ounce pre-packaged corn bread mix

1-egg

½-cup milk

3/4-cup crumbled blue cheese

2-green onions chopped fine

1-teaspoon cracked black pepper

½-cup white sugar

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease an eight-inch square pan. Combine all ingredients and mix until blended well. Spread mix in pre-paired pan, top in white sugar sprinkled evenly across the top; bake on middle rack of oven for 30-minutes. Cool slightly, cut and serve with your favorite White Bean Chili. For this week's food and wine pairing, serve Blue Cheese Cornbread squares, paired with a bottle of Poet's Leap Riesling, for that perfect "scrummy" bite!

For more recipes, color photos & catering ideas from Moveable Feasts Catering: chefjudithhenderson.com.