Les Celliers de Sion

They called us for a season of dinners at the winery. First thing we did was drive up and walk the land with them. They had a few spots, so we saw all of them and picked the one with the view, the one where all 45 could sit at one long table.

Then came the part nobody saw coming. The valley was under fire restrictions. No open flame, which is the one thing we do.

So we changed the question. Instead of what can we cook over fire, it became what goes with their wine and can still be done without it. We built the menu around the bottles. Empanadas and brochettes with apricots from the season to open. Then tira de asado off the gas grill. Then the pineapple, burnt on top.

And we cheated a little. We pulled the grates off the grill and put the food straight over the gas burner, close enough to catch the char we usually get from wood. Everything family style, down the middle, so people had to reach across and talk to each other.

We did it three times, 45 guests each. By the third one the whole thing ran like we had been cooking there for years.

The human stuff was, as always, the main ingredient.