In the 1980’s one of my favorite restaurants was Joyce Goldstein’s Square One in San Francisco.  It was the essence of the wonders of Mediterranean food, with access to marvelous ingredients in the burgeoning California food scene.  Although the restaurant closed over 15 years ago, Joyce is alive and well and has written a number of excellent cookbooks.  I have several of those, and the other day in search of new inspirations, I opened one of them, Mediterranean Fresh, published in 2008.

In the mood to do some adult play in the kitchen, I chose two recipes, one of which I had made before and which offered new opportunities, now that we have found Kite Hill almond cheeses.

With Barbara’s help we managed to make a fine dinner.  I made some changes in the eggplant roll recipe.  Instead of goat cheese, I made a purée of steamed broccoli leftovers, the almond ricotta and cream cheeses, and olive oil.  The other adjustment was inadvertent: Barbara forgot to add the olive oil when she made the Catalan vinaigrette.  Here is what it looked like.

The wine was a Ligurian red, 2014 Rossese di Dolceaqua, from Jan D’Amore. Redolent with the smell of roses and berries.  And of course, delicious.