Around the World in Six Bottles of Ros&#233

Lovely ros&#233s from France, Spain, and Italy (left to right.)

Lovely rosés from France, Spain, and Italy (left to right.)

We’ve been drinking a lot of rosé this summer.  It has been so hot and humid, with 90° plus days.  Stifling.  That can put a damper on your outdoor enjoyment and definitely a damper on outdoor entertaining.  But rosé can help.  So can sitting by a pool.

With Joe and most of our neighbors’ children participating on the same swim team, we’ve had many swim meet nights battling the heat (and sudden thunderstorms), sharing our potluck food offerings under an umbrella table and tasting many different rosé wines from around the world.

Rosé is finally overcoming its bad rap in the States (a rap deserved because of the ‘pink’ and ‘white’ zinfandels marketed here).  Americans have discovered what the French, Italians, and Spaniards already knew:  rosé made with great grapes, served well-chilled with some light food on a sweltering evening is a great way to spend time with friends (even while sweating!)

Not all rosés are going to be loved by everyone.  They can range from super-fruity, raspberry Kool-Aid to peppery, suck-the-saliva-right-out-of-your-mouth bone dry.  And price is not an issue:  3 of our favorites came from Trader Joe’s in Virginia and were less than $8 a bottle.  Here are our favorites from the summer that struck the right note and made us happy.  (Not included: the one that I ended up pouring out on the ground at a casual picnic it was so undrinkable.  And yes, it was one that I purchased for $12.99. Ouch.)

Picnic, empty rose bottles

Since I am not a wine writer, I’ve taken the tasting notes from the winemakers’ own web sites.  There are 3 here that are private label Trader Joe’s (under $7!) so the winemakers are unknown to us.  For those I quote the descriptions from Trader Joe’s Fearless Flyer.

Château Pey La Tour 2011

France

$9.99

Translated from the French: “Château Pey La Tour rosé is pale pink in appearance. The blend combines the aromatic freshness and structure of Cabernet Sauvignon and Cabernet Franc (red currants, black currants and blueberries) with typical Merlot finesse. Fruity and well-balanced, the wine is wonderfully refreshing on the finish.”

Frédéric Bonnaffous, Estates Director

Borsao 2011

Spain

$8.99

“Red luminescent colour with warm glows. Has a strong aroma of berries and sweets. Very young and fresh in the mouth, well balanced with its acidity, rich in floral nuances and spices.”

Rebecca’s Note:  I really loved this one from Spain.

 

Bricco Dei Tati 2012

Italy

$9.99

“This is a young, fresh, lively Barbera with a persistent and attractive bouquet of black cherries and a bit of spice on the palate. It has few tannins which is typical of the Barbera varietal, and a medium finish. Delightfully approachable, it is great with medium to strong cheeses, barbecue and game.”

Light and airy horseradish spread on water crackers.  Perfect with rose.

Light and airy cream cheese-horseradish spread on water crackers. Perfect with rosé.

 

Three more lovelies from Italy, Napa Valley, and France (left to right.)

Three more lovelies from Italy, Napa Valley, and France (left to right.)

Incanto Rose Vino Frizzante

Italy

$7.99 (Trader Joe’s)

Raboso is a grape variety typically produced in Veneto, the growing area surrounding Venice.  Our winemakers produce this Raboso in a modern, pleasant style, vinifying it as a Rosato and refermenting it to a Frizzante effervescence that greatly enhances the appreciation of its fruity aromas.  Serve well-chilled as an apertif or as a refreshing summer drink.

 Rebecca’s Note:  This one has a little fizz which is fun.  The bottle did not list a vintage but I’m sure it must have been young (2012.)

 

Trader Joe’s Petit Reserve Rosé 2012

Napa Valley 2012

$5.99 (Trader Joe’s)

Trader Joe’s Petit Reserve Napa Valley Rosé comes to us from a very famous Napa Valley winery – they make super wines that tend to be quite expensive. Yet Trader Joe’s Petit Reserve Rosé is a mere $5.99* a bottle. Part of the arrangement is that we’re not allowed to tell you who they are. We’re okay with that kind of anonymity when it comes with a value like this and a wine that’s refreshing, crisp and dry, with fresh berry flavors and a hint of spice.

 

Quinson Côtes de Provence 2012

France

$5.99 (Trader Joe’s)

The Provençal know their rosé, and we know a good value in Côtes de Provencal Rosé when we taste one. Quinson Côtes de Provence Rosé is just that. Hailing from the area of southern France from Marseilles to Nice, Quinson Côtes de Provence Rosé is a fetchingly dry rosé with a characteristically light pink hue. Its nose of ripe red berries and spices leads to amply fruity flavors on the palate.

 

Cheers!  Stay cool outside with friends and a well-chilled rose.

Cheers! Stay cool outside with friends and a well-chilled ros&#233.

 

Special cheers go out to Cork & Cakers, Chris and Adrienne Harrington, for introducing us to our new three favorite rosés!

Joe’s Lunchbox: Veggie Fried Rice

 

Veggie fried brown rice with green onion and scrambled egg.

Veggie fried brown rice with green onion and scrambled egg.

 

Joe came home from his 5th-grade nutrition class saying that he’d like to eat less meat and more vegetables and grains.  I said, that’s great!  Let’s try some new recipes. I’d like to eat less meat, too!

So I’ve been making of lot of rice (brown and basmati), beans (pinto and black), and several permutations of this vegetable fried rice.  Fried rice is a good way to use up leftover steamed rice and whatever else might be languishing in your vegetable bin (green onions, shallots, carrots, celery, mushrooms, broccoli, frozen peas, corn).

 

Rice cookers come in a vast array of price ranges.

Rice cookers come in a vast array of price ranges.  I bought mine (same make and model as pictured) at a thrift store for $6 but you can pay up to $199 for a fancy one with digital display.

 

I bought a rice cooker at the thrift store and we’ve been putting it to use, making rice at least once a week.  Normally I’m not a fan of gadgets that are devoted to one single purpose.  I already have too many gadgets.  My good friend (whose husband comes from a large Filipino family and eats rice at every meal, including breakfast) swore she could not live without hers and now I am a convert.

It is so easy to cook rice this way if you are going to be cooking it once a week or more. The rice steams perfectly and the cooker turns itself off (into ‘warm’ mode) when it’s ready so it is very forgiving of your timeline.  The rice comes out just right, every single time.  (No more peeking under the lid to check if rice is done.)

Here’s the scenario:  rush home from work or whatever your activity was pre-dinner, walk in the door, get out the rice cooker, pour a cup of rice in and at least a cup and half of water, push the button, then live your life, write your blog, check your email, feed the cat and/or dog, throw a load of laundry in, get the mail, pay a bill online, pick that random sock off the floor, and in 20 minutes or so, rice is done.  Check.

 

Excellent Chinese cookbook by Nancie McDermott.

Excellent Chinese cookbook by Nancie McDermott.

 

Nancie McDermott, author of Quick and Easy Chinese: 70 Everyday Recipes (Chronicle Books, San Francisco, 2008) includes four recipes for fried rice.  Once you have her method, you can adapt the recipes to include what you have on hand (or exclude what you don’t.)  You’ll need some basic Asian pantry items (soy sauce, sesame oil) and if you’d like you can jazz it up with other Asian sauces, condiments, or chile pastes you might have.

I love going to our big Asian grocery store, so my exotic condiment shelves overflow.

 

Love spicy, garlicky Asian condiments.

Love spicy, garlicky Asian condiments.

 

Seriously though.  You only need soy sauce and sesame oil (plus aromatics like garlic, ginger, onion) to make an outstanding fried rice.

Vegetables for fried rice

 

 

Garlic and brown eggs still life,

Here is Nancie’s recipe for Ham-and-Egg Fried Rice which I have adapted by taking out the ham and adding more vegetables and aromatics.  The excellent cooking instructions are hers with some adaptations from me.

Basic Veggie Fried Rice

Serves 4.

Ingredients

  • 4 cups cooked rice, cold or at room temperature (Note from Rebecca: use up that leftover rice from your Chinese takeout order)
  • 1 T. vegetable oil
  • 1 T. sesame oil
  • 1 T. chopped garlic
  • 1 T. dark soy sauce
  • 1/2 C. shredded carrot (I peel the outer layer of a large carrot and discard the dirty peel, then keep shaving the carrot into ribbons until I have 1/2 C.  Then cut the ribbons in half to make them more bite-size.)
  • 3 T. chopped green onion
  • 3 well-beaten eggs

Directions

  • Break up the rice clumps into individual grains for easy stir-frying.
  • Heat a wok or large, deep skillet over medium-high heat.  Add the oils and swirl to coat the pan.  Add the garlic and green onions and cook, stirring often, for 15 seconds.  Do not let the garlic burn.  If you feel (see or smell it burning) turn the heat down!
  • Add the eggs and then tilt the pan to spread them out.  Stir the eggs and aromatics together and scramble the eggs into soft lumps.
  • When the eggs have barely scrambled, add the rice all at once and toss.
  • Cook the rice, tossing often, 2 to 3 minutes.
  • Add the soy sauce and stir.
  • Add the carrot ribbons and toss another 30 seconds until rice is hot and tender.

 

The key to a stir-fry is to have all your ingredients chopped up, measured, and ready to go.  The French term is mise en place.

The key to a stir-fry is to have all your ingredients chopped up, measured, and ready to go.
The French term is mise en place.

 

Consider fried rice as your emergency back-up plan when you haven’t planned dinner or had time to shop.  The most time-consuming part of it is the chopping, and if you take a tip from my (much more well-organized) sister, you will OF COURSE have little zip-lock baggies in your fridge with the dribs and drabs of chopped garlic, chopped onion or shallot, sliced cabbage, the 3 tablespoons of cooked corn too good to throw out, the one chicken breast your family didn’t eat at dinner 2 nights ago, etcetera.

Master the method and then go forth and experiment!  Buy some crazy condiments at your Asian grocery store (which makes a fun field trip for children, by the way.)

Cheers!

Rebecca

 

 

 

Life Is What Happens While You’re Making Other [blog] Plans

Land ahoy!  The Yachtsmen in the Palisades Parade.

Land ahoy! The Yachtsmen in the Palisades Parade.

 

We’ve had a busy two weeks with daily swim team practices, meets on Wednesday nights, parent volunteer jobs, dinner parties, potlucks, Fourth of July celebrations and basic life, hence no Corks & Cake posts for 17 days.  Unacceptable, I say!

I set a personal goal when we launched this blog to post at least 3 times/week (which is almost nothing in blog-land).  It is mind-blowing to me that all these talented, talented women and men in the blogosphere post original content with highly styled photographs sometimes 3 times/day, 7 days a week.

Seriously, how are they not chained to their computers with their cameras in one hand and a whisk in another?

My hat is off to them, even through my slacker chagrin.

Glorious Old Glory decor on the walk to the parade.

Glorious Old Glory decor on the walk to the parade.

 

So, my dear Corks & Cakers, I promise to catch up.  And just so you don’t think me too much of a slacker, here’s a roundup of what we’ve been cooking and serving in the kitchen on Lee Street.

Art student, Sam, creates our Relay Food Deliciously Local Foods party menu.

Art student, Sam, creates our Relay Food Deliciously Local Foods party menu.

 

We had a very fun, very tasty dinner party outside for 29 guests (including children.)  Whew.  Did I just say dinner for 29?  Yes!  Relay Foods (an online farm stand and specialty food delivery business based in Charlottesville, VA) teamed with House Party and selected several hosts and hostesses in the mid-Atlantic region to host a party featuring local products available through Relay Foods.  I ordered local cheeses, salami, sausages, produce, relishes, and rounded it out with ice cream, vegetarian side dishes and all-beef hot dogs for the kids.

 

Lovely local cheeses and black truffle salami.

Lovely local cheeses and black truffle salami.  Photo courtesy of Peter Krogh Photography.

Krogh_130628_7565

Photo courtesy of Peter Krogh Photography.

 

It was a great undertaking (deserving of an upcoming post all its own) made more complex by the off-and-on rainy weather.  The only way to pull something like that off is to have lots of good friends who know you well, have dined with you often, and who will jump in where needed and come early to help with all the last-minute prep.  Thank you to all!

On July 4th, my first ‘Vintage Kitchen’ column for OKRA magazine (the online magazine for the Southern Food & Beverage Institute) was published!  Read it here.

A taste test of Vintage Punch recipes for OKRA magazine.

A taste test of Vintage Punch recipes for OKRA magazine.

Titled “Drink Like the Revolutionaries:  Vintage Punch for the Fourth of July” it was much fun to research old recipes and more fun to drink the research!

After the July 4th parade (which my husband’s band, The Yachtsmen, were in), we reveled poolside for a live rock and roll set in the hot, hot sun.

 

The Yachtsmen in the drink after a set in the scorching sun.

The Yachtsmen in the drink after a set in the scorching sun.

 

In the pool:  The Yachtsmen.  On the grill:  jerk chicken.

 

Walkerswood Jerk Sauce is a fabulous (and easy) marinade for chicken.

Grace Jerk Seasoning is a fabulous (and easy) marinade for chicken.

 

We also took it easy this week by relying on some of our favorite prepared foods:  Costco’s lime-marinated flank steak (ready-to-grill) and Edwards’ Key Lime Pie.

 

So good and almost gone.

So good and almost gone.

 

We hope you had a great Fourth of July weekend too!

 

Happy Birthday, America!

Happy Birthday, America!