
Barbara Scott-Goodman is “a cookbook author, food writer, and content creator and an art director and designer of cookbooks, lifestyle books, food publications, videos, and websites…” and I am glad I stumbled across her book, Wine Time: 70+ Recipes for Simple Bits That Pair Perfectly With Wine.
Have you ever been invited to a party and asked to bring an appetizer to go with wine? Or your dinner party where you want to have some tasty bites to go with the wines from your cellar? This is the book for you.
I like to keep recipes simple. Make dishes with a few ingredients in a short amount of time that taste great. Many of the dishes in this book keep the ingredients and instructions to one page making the recipe quick and easy. Barbara divides the book into 9 chapters:
Chapter 1: Snacks & Bites
Chapter 2: Dips & Spreads
Chapter 3: Cheese
Chapter 4: Vegetables
Chapter 5: Bruschetta & Toasts
Chapter 6: Seafood
Chapter 7: Meat
Chapter 8: Sauces & Condiments
Chapter 9: Wine Cocktails
Each section has about 12 recipes and many of the recipes have a beautifully taken picture of the plated dish. The simpler dishes cover the first 4 chapters and then as you need to do more cooking, such as for Seafood and Meat, several recipes cover two pages. But not to fret. There are many one-page recipes in each chapter.

I have not yet spoken about wine. Barbara does not say to buy a particular brand of Cabernet Sauvignon for example. For each dish, she suggests a few wines by varietal, e.g. Chardonnay and Merlot, or region, e.g. Prosecco, Champagne, Cava. As an example, the first recipe is Parmesan Roasted Chickpeas and she suggests that a Merlot or Chardonnay would go well with the spices used with the roasted chickpeas. This keeps you from having to worry about which wine to buy from your local bottle shop. You do still have a choice to make, e.g. buy a California Chardonnay or from Chablis, for example. Hopefully, you do have some favourite wines that you can select, or ask an advisor in the shop for their recommendations. I will be making this recipe.
Barbara also offers you variations on a theme, e.g. bruschetta or deviled eggs. You can make the traditional version, but she then offers up alternative toppings or fillings. For the deviled eggs, Barbara has 6 different suggestions to change up the standard deviled egg dish.
The Dips and Spreads section is very versatile as once you make the dip or spread, you can use it with crudite, various seafoods or meats, or on toasts and crackers. Her Avocado-Green Goddess Dip sounds delicious. Similarly, if you like cheese, but are only familiar with a few, like cheddar and havarti, Barbara lists several kinds of cheese covering hard, firm, semi-soft, soft-ripened, washed-rind, blue, double & triple creme, chevres, and fresh cheese. And describes their flavour and texture. If you like a firm cheese like cheddar you can check that list and pick another firm cheese from that category to try.
The last Chapter is not about dishes, but cocktails that you can make using wine. Cocktail culture is thriving, so why not try making a few wine-based cocktails for your guests?
I enjoyed reading through this book and marking some of the recipes that I will make and pair with wines for myself and with friends. Have fun with these recipes and be the talk of your dinner parties.
Where Can I Buy This Book?
In Canada you can purchase this book through Indigo. You can order this book via email order.desk@hbgusa.com or within the USA phone 1-800-759-0190. You can also purchase the book through Barbara’s website: https://winetimecookbook.com/.
Thanks to Chronicle Books for publishing this book and providing a copy to review.
Other Book Reviews
I reviewed many other books covering wine, food, beer, cocktails and travel. You can read them at my Book Reviews web page.