ChefSteps is a team of chefs, writers, and food lovers who develop recipes, techniques, and guides to help people cook better at home.

ChefSteps

Always wanted to create an epic multicourse dinner? In our <a href="https://www.chefsteps.com/activities/tasting-menu-spring">Tasting Menu: Spring</a> feature, we’re sharing recipes from a carefully orchestrated tasting menu we served to friends at a cozy spring dinner party in the ChefSteps kitchen. Our menu description: Oat. Crackers. Cured olive.


But really, what’s in there? Our nickname for this one is “bird feed”—picture a delicious homemade cracker topped with oats, seeds, and coconut flakes, with black Moroccan olives for briny complexity. 


Plating suggestion: A small slate block or other little plate


Pair with: 2013 Nikolaihof Grüner Veltliner Hefeabzug


Wine note: This is a grüner veltliner from one of the oldest estates in Austria, the first biodynamic vineyard in the world. Creamier than typical grüner veltliners, it’s still got great acidity and spiciness and laser-focused minerality. Can’t find it? Go with another minerally, spicy white.

About the dish: This dish came about because of some development work we were doing for David Kinch, owner-chef of the great <a href="http://www.manresarestaurant.com/">Manresa</a> in California. The version of the dish we came up with is simple, but we took a lot of care developing the combination of toppings—we wanted on-point flavor combinations, of course, but also a beautiful, mosaiclike effect.