Healdsburg’s Jordan Vineyard & Winery is known for its wines, its excellent culinary programs and its merry focus on the joy of picnicking. Here, the winery’s chef Jesse Mallgren — who used to helm the Michelin-starred Madrona Manor (now The Madrona) in Healdsburg — shares a recipe for a chilled bisque using that most springtime of ingredients, green garlic.

If green garlic is not in season at your grocery, Mallgren suggests substituting a 50/50 mix of scallions and leeks. Similarly, if caviar isn’t something you normally have in your cupboard, you might try using raw, sliced scallops or roasted green garlic — chopped and used to garnish the bisque. Or, just skip it entirely: “It’s good even without the caviar or anything else,” says Mallgren.

Chilled Green Garlic Bisque

Serves 4

INGREDIENTS

1/4 cup Jordan Estate Extra Virgin Olive Oil

2 medium yellow onions, peeled and thinly sliced

1/4 cup green garlic bottoms, washed and thinly sliced

3 cups cream

1/4 cup green garlic tops, blanched then shocked in ice, thinly sliced

1 tablespoon crème fraîche

1/4 cup sliced almonds, toasted

1 ounce Jordan Chef’s Reserve Caviar

DIRECTIONS

On low heat, cook onions and green garlic bottoms in saucepan with salt until soft. Add the cream to the pan and gently warm, then add the green garlic tops. Transfer the mixture to a blender and blend on high until smooth. Strain through a chinois sieve into a bowl. Adjust seasoning as preferred. Then, chill the soup until cold.

Chill four serving bowls. In the bottom of each bowl, add crème fraîche in a small pile. Top the crème fraîche with caviar, then sprinkle the almonds around the caviar. Pour the chilled soup around the caviar. Serve immediately and enjoy with a glass of Jordan Chardonnay.

— Courtesy of Chef Jesse Mallgren of Jordan Vineyard & Winery

This salad recipe comes from the new cookbook from the Oakville Grocery, a California wine country institution. The combination of watermelon, tomatoes and feta tastes like summer in a bowl, according to the authors of “Oakville Grocery, The Cookbook” (Weldon Owen, $35). It’s crisp, cool and sweet-salty. Pair it as a side with anything barbecued or tote it on a picnic with sandwiches.

Among the cookbook tips: Be sure to start with cold watermelon, use the best tomatoes you can find and seek out a good-quality cheese, like a briny Greek sheep’s milk feta or a mild and creamy French feta.

Watermelon, Heirloom Tomato, Feta, and Mint Salad

Serves 6

INGREDIENTS

1 mini seedless watermelon, about 4 pounds, chilled

1¾ pounds assorted heirloom tomatoes and cherry tomatoes, halved, seeded and sliced or cut into 1-inch pieces

2 Persian cucumbers, thinly sliced

2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

2 tablespoons white balsamic vinegar

3 ounces feta cheese, crumbled

1⁄2 cup fresh mint leaves, roughly chopped

DIRECTIONS

Quarter the watermelon lengthwise and cut the flesh away from the rind. Cut the flesh into 1-inch cubes.

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In a large, shallow serving bowl, gently toss together the watermelon, tomatoes and cucumbers. Drizzle the oil and vinegar evenly over the mixture, then toss again to coat evenly. Sprinkle with the cheese and mint and serve.

— Courtesy “Oakville Grocery, The Cookbook” (Weldon Owen, $35)

California’s Jordan Vineyard & Winery is a Sonoma wine country institution known for its excellent vintages as well as excellent culinary programs, including a robust focus on the joy of picnicking. Here, the winery’s kitchen shares a recipe that’s perfect for sunny days out on the grass — a French green bean salad, zesty with aged sherry vinegar and sweet with peaches picked at the peak of the season.

“This simple salad is loaded with crisp vegetables and fresh, seasonal ingredients like peaches and arugula,” writes the winery. “It’s also an especially good white-wine pairing with a chilled glass of Jordan Chardonnay.”

French Green Bean Salad

Serves 6

INGREDIENTS

1/4 cup aged sherry vinegar

1 tablespoon Dijon mustard

1 tablespoon fresh thyme

1 shallot, finely minced

1 cup Jordan Extra Virgin Olive Oil (or good olive oil of your choice), divided use

4 ears corn, shucked and silks removed

2 tablespoons Aleppo crushed peppers

1 cup haricots verts, green beans or romano beans, stringed

1/2 cup hazelnuts, roasted, skinned and crushed

8 cups baby arugula, stemmed and rinsed

1 cup frisée, trimmed of most green

4 to 6 peaches, sliced

Salt and pepper to taste

DIRECTIONS

To make the dressing, combine sherry vinegar, mustard, thyme, shallot, salt and pepper in a blender at medium speed. While blending, slowly drizzle 3/4 cup Jordan Extra Virgin Olive Oil until emulsified. Refrigerate and keep for up to one week.

In a nonreactive bowl, toss ears of corn with remaining olive oil, Aleppo pepper and salt. Grill corn on medium high heat until it begins to brown. Let the corn cool to touch, then slice kernels off the cob and set aside.

Bring a pot of salted water to a boil and prepare an ice bath. Blanch beans in boiling water until slightly tender, about 3 minutes. Shock beans in ice water and drain.

Combine all ingredients in a large bowl. Add salad dressing to taste and gently toss. Serve immediately.

— Courtesy Jordan Vineyard & Winery

By Christi Carras, Los Angeles Times

LOS ANGELES — Fresh off the resounding success of “Barbie,” Mattel is partnering with Universal Pictures to develop another live-action film based on its top-selling dolls.

The El Segundo-based toy company and the studio giant announced Wednesday that they are joining forces for “Monster High,” a big-screen feature inspired by the fashionable, plastic descendants of classic creatures.

Universal and Mattel have tapped Akiva Goldsman — an Oscar winning screenwriter known for “A Beautiful Mind” and “Cinderella Man” — to produce the picture under his banner, Weed Road. Goldsman said in a statement that he has been “fascinated” by the Monster High dolls since his daughters were “obsessed” with them as kids.

“Monster High” is one of many film projects in the Mattel pipeline derived from popular playthings, including American Girl dolls, Hot Wheels, the Magic 8 Ball, Rock ‘Em Sock ‘Em Robots and Polly Pocket. (MGM is developing the latter with “Girls” creator Lena Dunham and “Emily in Paris” star Lily Collins attached.)

The toy factory is hoping to repeat the commercial and critical triumph that was Greta Gerwig’s “Barbie,” which grossed $1.4 billion at the global box office last year and landed eight Oscar nominations.

And Mattel isn’t the only one looking to score its next toy blockbuster.

Margot Robbie, who produced and starred in “Barbie,” is working on film adaptations of the Sims video game and the Monopoly board game through her production company, LuckyChap Entertainment.

May the best “Barbie” alum win.

©2024 Los Angeles Times. Visit latimes.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.