Ever imagine yourself cooking with the big boys — or gals, for that matter?

The daydream or fantasy plays out something like this: You’re on the line in the kitchen of a starred Wine Country restaurant and the man or woman in charge is looking to you to dazzle diners tonight. So dazzle ’em you do, plating up that special dish you’ve been wanting to serve family and friends. And now the moment’s at hand. And the chef turns to you and says ...

OK, snap out of it. You’re at home, in your own kitchen and the only question you’ll be asked by someone in the family in a few hours is, “What’s for dinner?”

Is this the day you’ll dazzle ’em with your variation of Grandma’s Sunday roast, or time to try something a little more venturesome — maybe a recipe or two from one of the exceptional chefs living and working right here in the Napa Valley?

Well, we’ve saved you the trouble of searching the Web for Wine Country fare. On a recent visit to Eleanor and Francis Ford Coppola’s Rubicon Estate in Rutherford, we asked winery executive chef Kelly McCown if he’d share a few of his recipes, ones that would appeal to home cooks. McCown readily agreed.

But, as the saying goes, “There’s many a slip ’twixt the cup and the lip.”

McCown was busy preparing a special meal for visiting travel planners, and he felt the menu was simple enough to be tackled by home cooks. We think McCown might not have been hanging out in the average home kitchen of late.

His three course menu looked great on paper. But when he handed us a recipe for making our own sauerkraut (“Take 30 pounds of cabbage ...”), we knew it was time to regroup.

After a couple of phone calls and a meeting with this talented, classically trained young chef — who has spent considerable time manning the stoves at some of the best restaurants in San Francisco and Wine Country — we were able to bring together recipes that are not only approachable but can readily be adapted to the level of cooking with which one is comfortable.

For example, the first course consists of seared sea scallops dressed up with a cauliflower puree, black trumpet mushrooms and roasted hearts of palm. McCown feels the extra ingredients here provide added flavor and texture to the scallops. But he’s not insisting that the home cook prepare the dish exactly as he does. It’s quite acceptable, he says, if the home cook sears the scallops and serves them just with the coconut milk-infused puree. Adding the sautéed mushrooms provides added color and flavor to the dish. And roasting hearts of palm slices will give the dish his professional touch.

The main course is roasted pork tenderloin with choucroute (the French word for sauerkraut) and cider jus. We gained a major concession from Chef McCown when he agreed that the home cook could use sauerkraut from a favorite deli, or even a commercial one that you already enjoy. We convinced him when we pointed out that noted TV chef Jacques Pepin told viewers using commercial sauerkraut was OK when preparing one of Pepin’s Alsatian-styled meals.

After all, McCown’s recipe only calls for three-quarters of a cup of sauerkraut, tossed with sliced savoy cabbage and potatoes.

Finally, the dessert course is a streamlined version of what McCown prepared for winery guests. It’s a poached pear with crème anglaise, a delicious dessert that can be made ahead of time. The poaching liquid calls for some unusual ingredients, but McCown has listed adequate substitutions and would not chastise you if you left out the green cardamom or the wild cherry kernels. His use of Coppola’s pinot grigio and sweet Japanese rice wine proves a nice touch.

Named one of Bon Appetit magazine’s rising star chefs, McCown brings nearly two decades of experience to Rubicon Estate.

Upon completion of his culinary training at the California Culinary Academy, he honed his craft in some of San Francisco’s finest kitchens, including La Folie, Fleur de Lys, Hayes Street Grill and Lascaux. He then moved to Seattle, opening the trend-setting restaurant Lampreia.

In the years that followed, McCown continued with some of the Pacific Northwest’s foremost restaurants, including the Painted Table, Theoz, Pampas Club and the James Beard Foundation’s celebrated Flying Fish, where McCown was chef de cuisine.

Upon returning to California in 1999, McCown first worked as sous chef at Wine Spectator Greystone Restaurant, then joined Todd Humphries and restaurateur Pat Kuleto to open Martini House in St. Helena.

Since moving to Rubicon Estate, McCown has received exceptional reviews for his Napa Valley cuisine.