I love to cook, and I am always trying new recipes. So much so that when my family asks, “What’s for dinner?” my reply is often, “Something we’ve never had before!” So when the Savory World of Seneca event comes around every year, I jump at the chance to experience new foods. The event, which spans three days, is held at wineries on Seneca Lake, New York. Each member winery features a delicacy from their chosen country, paired with some of their wine.

Here’s a sampling of some of my favorites:

Lakewood Vineyards served a spicy mesir we’t from Ethiopia with Injera bread paired with an interesting wine, Seifus Tej dry mead. Fruit Yard Winery’s soul-warming vegetable barley soup from Ireland was nice on a cold winter day. Glenora Wine Cellars made spanakopita, a Greek spinach pie made with feta cheese and phyllo dough. Rock Stream Vineyards served lappenpickert, a potato cake from Germany topped with sour cream.

Castel Grisch Winery’s easy baked veggie egg rolls from China inspired me to run out and buy egg roll wrappers to make my own egg rolls sometime in the near future. Catharine Valley Winery’s Swedish meatballs paired nicely with a Konig Estate Reisling. J.R. Dill Winery’s Korean gochujang pork from South Korea is made with its own Jabber Waulkie Red or Cabernet Sauvignon.

I always welcome a sweet treat, so Leidenfrost Vineyards’ French toast with caramelized bananas from France was a nice change. Bagley’s Poplar Ridge Vineyards’ Danish dream cake, drømmekage, is a delightful sponge cake with a caramelized coconut topping. Fulkerson Winery’s dessert, chocolate crackles, is an Australian chocolate treat made with crispy rice cereal, cocoa powder and coconut.

They always provide a PDF of the wineries’ recipes, so if anyone feels inspired to try these at home, they can download the recipe book here: https://senecalakewine.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/Recipes_2019_Savory_b.pdf

— Tracey Cullen, art director