You may know actor Kyle MacLachlan from his roles as the squarely Upper East Side husband to Sex & the City’s Charlotte, Portlandia’s wacky mayor or – our favorite – the creepily cheery Agent Cooper of David Lynch’s 90s cult hit Twin Peaks.
MacLachlan is also a wine lover – and a wine producer. In Walla Walla, Washington, he works with Dunham Cellars to craft two wines, Pursued by Bear and Baby Bear. This fall, we joined MacLachlan in Washington for a potluck Thanksgiving feast, where his favorite local farmers, chefs and a mixologist each brought their favorite family recipes. This week, we’d love to introduce you to some of these characters, and to share their recipes. To read the full story, download our Fall Entertaining Catalog. – Ed.
Cheesemaking is in Pierre-Louis and Joan Monteillet’s bones. He is a native of Millau, France, just 20 miles from Roquefort, and she, a wheat farmer’s daughter, grew up in Walla Walla raising a menagerie of cattle, horses, pigs, sheep and chickens. As our truck doors swung open to their sun-soaked goat farm, Monteillet, Joan and Pierre-Louis rushed over, hugging and kissing us like old friends.
But these are people who are used to making friends quickly. The couple met in 1978 in Oaxaca, Mexico, where they were both exploring Zapotec ruins. After an evening feasting and dancing to a 15-person Marimba Band playing “The Flight of the Bumble Bee,” the two exchanged addresses. Six weeks later, Joan, back in Walla Walla working as the chef at the Left Bank Restaurant, received a surprise visit from Pierre-Louis, who had hitch-hiked for three days from El Paso to see her.
After a few hours petting goats and pulling vegetables for the following night’s dinner, Joan and Pierre-Louis invited us inside as twilight set in. Joan took out her favorite cheeses and refilled our glasses for the third time, and we all danced in the kitchen to Simon & Garfunkel’s “The Only Living Boy in New York.” As we walked back to the car, Eric Dunham said, “You always leave Joan and Pierre-Louis feeling better than when you arrived.”
At the following day’s Thanksgiving dinner, Joan brought a beautiful rustic salad of garden greens, local pears, and the Monteillets' own goat and sheep’s milk feta. We especially loved her simple (and portable) dressing, a mustardy vinaigrette shaken up in a Bonne Maman jam jar.
Pear-Hazelnut Salad with Jam Jar Dressing
By Joan Monteillet
Serves 8
For the dressing
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
1/3 cup red wine vinegar
2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
1 cup fruity light olive oil
Pinch of black pepper (taste the Dijon for salt before automatically adding salt)
An empty jam jar or Mason jar
For the salad
1½-2 pounds of the most beautiful greens you have on-hand, torn into large bite-size pieces (Joan used several lettuces from her garden, including sucrine, a small French butter lettuce, tart sorrel and peppery arugula)
2 Warren pears, peeled and cut into ¼-inch thick slices
1 cup chopped unsalted hazelnuts, lightly toasted
1 cup crumbled goat and sheep’s milk feta cheese
- In the jam jar, shake all of the dressing ingredients until fully incorporated.
- Toss the lettuce, pear, and hazelnuts with dressing, to taste, reserving the rest. Sprinkle with feta cheese to serve.
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