Pairing: Spring veggies with chardonnay

Our Wine of the Week, Edna Valley Vineyard 2013 Central Coast Chardonnay ($15), offers a lovely way to celebrate spring. Aromas tickle and tease, suggesting sweet pear, quince blossom, Granny Smith apple, apricot and a swirl of pineapple, qualities that blossom on the palate. There is a foundation of toast punctuated by dark spice, including clove, cinnamon, allspice and a touch of cardamom. The wine is full in the mouth and long on the finish, with enough feisty acidity to make it refreshing, not cloying.

Certain spring vegetables make a lovely match, especially sugar snap peas and English peas. Napa cabbage is good with the wine, too, and so are leeks. It is a perfect wine to have on your Easter table.

For today’s recipe, I’m suggesting a dish that works for spring brunch, spring lunch or spring dinner, as a centerpiece or as one of many options. To serve as a main course, set each slice on a bed of lightly salted spring greens and spritz of lemon and garnish with a few sugar snap peas or radishes.

You can make both the dough and the filling the night before finishing the strudel. To do so, bring the filling to room temperature before continuing with the recipe.

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Creamed Leek Strudel

Serves 6-8

For the dough:

1 cup sweet butter

1 cup cream cheese

2½ cups flour

1 teaspoon kosher salt

¼ cup cream

For the filling:

3 tablespoons clarified butter

10-12 medium leeks, white and pale green parts only, thoroughly washed and cut into very thin rounds

6 garlic cloves, crushed and minced

- Kosher salt

- Black pepper in a mill

½ cup dry white wine

½ cup heavy cream

1 teaspoon fresh thyme

8 ounces cheese, such as Joe Matos St. George, Vella Mezzo Secco or something similar

1 egg white, with 1 tablespoon water added

1 tablespoon toasted sesame seeds

To make the dough, combine the butter and cheese in a large bowl and mix vigorously until smooth and creamy. Combine the flour and salt in a bowl, mix with a fork and gradually add to the butter mixture. Add the cream, mix well and chill for at least one hour.

Heat the clarified butter in a heavy skillet set over medium-low heat, add the leeks, and sauté, stirring now and then, until they are very soft and fragrant, about 15 to 20 minutes

Add the garlic, sauté 2 minutes, and season with salt and pepper. Increase the heat to medium, stir in the wine, and simmer until the wine is nearly evaporated. Reduce the heat to low, add the cream and thyme and simmer until the cream has thickened, about 5 to 6 minutes. Remove from the heat, taste, and correct for salt and pepper.

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.

Remove dough from the refrigerator and lightly flour a clean work surface. Roll out the dough to form a rectangle 10-inches-by-12-inches.

Spread the cheese down the center of the dough and spoon the leek mixture on top. Fold the pastry over to form a long cylinder, brush the edges with the egg white, and press with a fork to seal tightly. Brush the top of the pastry with egg white, sprinkle the sesame seeds over the top, and then cut crosswise slashes, every 2 inches, in the pastry, being careful not to cut too deeply.

Set the strudel on a baking sheet, set sheet on the middle rack of the oven and bake for 20-25 minutes, until pastry is golden brown.

Remove from the oven, cool for 10 to 15 minute, cut into crosswise slices and serve right away.

Email Michelle Anna Jordan at catsmilk@sonic.net.