deVine Table

Roasted Strawberries

This recipe comes from my food and wine pairing instructor, Chef Lenny Rede with a slight tweak on my part. On the night he served this dish in class, these strawberries were the rich, syrupy contrast to fluffy, creamy desserts  paired with bubbles. When I returned from a recent trip to Oregon with a bottle of dark vinegar wondering how best to use it, this preparation immediately came to mind.

The Recipe

• 2 pints strawberries, washed and hulled
• 3 tablespoons dark vinegar such as balsamic ( I used Willamette Valley Vineyards Black FigVinegar)
• 1 teaspoon agave nectar or honey
• Pinch of salt

Preheat oven to 250 degrees. Spread the strawberries out on a baking sheet (Tip:  for easy cleanup, cover your baking sheet with foil). Drizzle with vinegar, agave nectar or honey. Sprinkle salt on top. Shake the pan a bit to evenly distribute the vinegar. Bake for 25 minutes or until the strawberries are soft and the vinegar has become syrupy.

Strawberries ready for the oven

So, what to do with your roasted strawberries? Top your pancakes with them. Or follow the example set by the blog Scarborough Foodie and serve them atop toasted bread with goat cheese. Topping ice cream with roasted strawberries as done by the Flourishing Foodie is another option.

Wine Pairing

No matter how you serve the strawberries, I recommend pairing them with sparkling wine. When Chef Lenny served these berries in Food and Wine Pairing:  Desserts class, we tasted them with Cerdon de Bugey, a lovely bubbly rosé composed of Gamay, La Spinetta Moscato which is so breathtaking it will have you calling for the smelling salts, and Pineto Brachetto D’Acqui. With regard to Brachetto, I ask, “where have you been, and why hasn’t anyone told me about you before?” If there is one thing I’ve learned after three years of food and wine pairing classes it’s that you can hardly ever go wrong with bubbles.

It’s the end of the quarter at Northwest Wine Academy. That means it’s time for me to prepare a food and wine pairing to present to the class as part of my grade. The topic is dessert wines.

I’m one of those people who craves the contrast between sweet and salty. So, when I saw a recipe for potato chip cookies, I whipped up a batch hoping to strike that balance. My partner on the project, Steve Roberts of the Wine Trails books and apps, tasted them and declared we had a winner.

After several taste tests and tweaks of the recipe, this is the final version that we will present in class.

This recipe is adapted from “Crazy About Cookies” by Krystina Castella. (more…)

A Pairing for Apricots

Life as a student at Northwest Wine Academy is full of challenges. The biggest challenge of them all? What food and wine pairing to present on the final night of class. This quarter the class I took was Varietals III which covers a variety of libations beyond wine such as beer, cider, sake, and spirits.

The idea for the pairing I presented came to me the night we tasted ciders in class. While tasting an apricot cider, this recipe that I have prepared for dinner parties came to mind. It’s a nice way to end a meal when you don’t feel like having an overly sweet treat.

I’ve adapted this from The Lavender Cookbook by Sharon Shipley. Serves 20. (more…)

Utterly decadent Cardamaro Ice Cream

I’m still obsessed with Cardamaro. Not only have I incorporated it into biscotti, but also this recipe. This is a decadent treat that I love serving to dinner guests for dessert. There is nothing like homemade ice cream so refreshingly cool, creamy, and smooth. With an automatic ice cream maker, it’s unbelievably easy to make. In the long run your own machine will save you money and you’ll have better quality ice cream.  I dedicate this recipe to my friends, Lisa and Kristi, who are true believers in the value of a home ice cream maker.

This recipe is inspired by the book Ice Cream by Liz Franklin.  This usually serves 4 people in our house.  You could serve 6, but you’ll probably leave people wanting more!

Ingredients

• 8 ounces mascarpone cheese
• 1 cup whole milk
• 1/4 cup packed brown sugar
• 3 tablespoons cardamaro

Combine all ingredients in a large mixing bowl and whisk together until everything is combined and the mixture is smooth. Pour the mixture into the chilled freezer bowl of the ice cream maker. Turn on the machine and check it after 25 minutes. If it’s not thick enough, give it another 5 minutes or so until it reaches your desired consistency. Homemade ice cream melts very quickly, so be sure to dish it up and eat it right away. Immediately transfer any leftover ice cream into a freezer safe container and put it in the freezer.

Cardamaro Biscotti

I was introduced to Cardamaro last year, and I have been obsessed ever since. I started carrying this wine based herbal apertif at Dish it up!, bought a bottle for myself, and began drinking and experimenting with it. This is one of my first recipes featuring this Italian aperitif.

“What is Cardamaro?” you might ask. This wine based herbal aperitif from Piemonte, Italy is a form of Amaro. Dark brown in color with enticing herbaceous aromas, it is produced using a recipe that was developed over the last century by the Bosca family. Cardoon and blessed thistle (think artichoke) and other botanicals are part of the mix.

This recipe is adapted from the book, “Biscotti” by Lou Seibert Pappas. Makes about 3 dozen. (more…)