Black Bean and Sweet Potato Stew with Chilies and Polenta Triangles

Kent, Barbara and Steve came over tonight for one last ZAP leads meeting. It's always a good excuse to get together and eat and drink good wine.

- This was the first time I used frozen dough for the Cheese Sablés. It was left over from the last time we had this group over. I took it out of the freezer on Sunday. It worked out nicely.
- The onion dip was good, like a nicer version of the one made from onion soup mix. The pita chips were excellent (I used whole wheat pitas).
- The stew was easy to make and since I had everything prepped the night before it was hardly any work at all. Everyone liked it, but it really wasn't something I loved. Larry likes my veggie chili better. The polenta triangles are pretty bland, but perfect for the stew - good texture for soaking up the stew.

• Manchego Cheese with Quince Paste
• Red Grapes
• Istara and Stilton
• Golden Onion & Thyme Dip (Fine Cooking #61, Holiday Baking Winter 2004, p. 98C)
• Pita Chips (Fine Cooking #61, Holiday Baking Winter 2004, p. 98C)
• Mrs. Lenkh's Cheese Sablés (Fine Cooking #74, November 2005, p. 10)
• Black Bean and Sweet Potato Stew with Chilies and Polenta Triangles (Bon Appétit, October 1998)
• Triple-Chocolate Cheesecake (Fine Cooking #57, May 2003, p. 53)

Wine:
- Rosenblum 2003 Eagle Point Zinfandel (Mendocino County, California). One of my favorite wines from Rosenblum. A really yummy nose, and just plain good all around.
- Copain 2003 Arrowhead Mountain Zinfandel (Sonoma County, California). A bit closed at first, but it got better once we decanted it and had some food with it. Needs more time in the bottle, I think.
- d'Arenberg 2003 The Galvo Garage (Australia). Really nice meritage.