Nibbles & Sips

Fun with food and beverages: recipes and opinions about what, how, and why we eat.

Cake for Dinner?!

Nibbles

While it’s true one of the perks of being a grown-up (notice I didn’t say adult) is the option to have brownies and ice cream for supper now and then, that’s not what I’m talking about, here.

No, while reading through the Weddings folder on my Google Reader I came across this article on Offbeat Bride about SmörgÃ¥stÃ¥rta, Swedish “sandwich cake,” and I was intrigued.

Originally I was going to make this for when friends were coming over for a game day, but plans shifted and I ended up making it for supper this weekend for just Todd and I. Of course, I didn’t even think about scaling the thing down so now we’re testing out how well it freezes! (Will report back should we ever defrost it.

Smorgastarta "sandwich cake" decorated with vegetables

I used a recipe from About.com’s Scandinavian Food selection with very few adjustments for our own preferences. The verdict? Tasty, well-suited for a brunch or baby/wedding shower or pot-luck, and kind of hard to pair up with other foods.

Considering it was “sandwich cake” (a concept that brings to mind towers of triangular sandwiches at a church mixer), I approached it like you would a sandwich supper. Since it had so many components I considered it a one-dish meal, though it looked kinda lonely on the plate. Of course, the usual sandwich accompaniments felt redundant or just wrong:

  • Chips? While they would provide a texture change, they just didn’t seem right.
  • Veggies? This SmörgÃ¥stÃ¥rta was loaded with veggies and topped with extra ones, it would have been redundant.
  • Potato Salad? Again, redundant, but this time from a texture standpoint.

There’s a lot going on with this dish but, after mulling it over, decided that the perfect accompaniment (when served as a main course) would be a fruit salad. The bight acid of the fruit would cut through the rich creaminess of the SmörgÃ¥stÃ¥rta without fighting for position with the vegetables in and on top of the dish.

Because man do the Scaninavians/Sweedes love their dairy products!

There’s butter and cream cheese and mayonnaise and sour cream positively everywhere in this dish. I’m all for rich and creamy but it was a little too much for Todd–he ended up scraping off some of the side frosting in order to finish his (or should that be Finnish?! okay, I’ll quit while I’m ahead).

Slice of vegetarian Smorgastarta

Like I said, I followed the recipe for the Vegetarian SmörgÃ¥stÃ¥rta pretty closely, so there’s no sense in repeating it here. The few changes I made were pretty minor:

  • For the artichoke spread, I used a 12 oz jar of marinated artichoke hearts, drained, for the 14 oz can of the regular artichokes, mainly because we already had it at home.
  • For the Hungarian liptauer spread I took the option of using cottage cheese and subbed onion powder for the minced onion–the amount of work it would take for 2 Tbsp of minced onion just wasn’t worth it when I was already 2/3 of the way into the 3 separate fillings; I also just stirred everything together rather than using a blender or food processor.
  • I used country white bread and did trim off the crusts, but then turned around and used the trimmings to fill the gaps between the slices. Since I wanted the round look and not a square, I assembled everything within a large springform pan, making my edges nice and neat (which came in handy during the frosting step!), and tore my bread layers to fit.
  • And as much as I love butter, I drew the line at how much it was going to take to butter all interior sides of all pieces of bread for the entire project. I used olive oil spray and it served the same purpose (adding a fat “barrier” to keep the fillings from making the bread soggy).

For decoration I raided my end-of-the-week crisper drawers and found half a cucumber, half a red onion, radishes, and grapes. A quickie radish “rose” placed in the center of the frosted sandwich cake, ringed by black grape halves, and then alternating fans of red onion wedges (my favorite effect) and cucumber “scales” to finish it off. Apparently the brightly decorated outside of the SmörgÃ¥stÃ¥rta is just as important as the variety of fillings within!

Collage of the steps involved in making vegetarian smorgastarta

I had fun making this dish, even though it was a fair amount of work and messed up the kitchen but good (lots of bowls used over the course of the day). I’d only make it again for a large group as part of a buffet, I think, but each of the spreads are worth making on their own the next time you have a reason to make tea sandwiches and don’t fancy the usual egg salad.

Here’s to multiculuralism!

Meet the Roses | Beringer White Zinfandel

Sips

Beringer White Zinfandel bottle and poured glass
Many, many years ago I was at some local event with my then-boyfriend (seriously, no clue why we were there; concert? party?) and they had a cash bar.* This was before I discovered my love of red wines and well before Pinot Noir was as plentiful as it is, today, so I asked if they had white wine. They did. And they proceded to pour me half a cocktail cup (one of those 10-oz plastic ones) of something pink.

“But I said white wine.”

“Yeah, it’s White Zinfandel.”

Not wanting to pick a fight with the large man in the t-shirt across the bar, I thought “whatever” and drank it.

And I was not a fan.

I’ve yet to try one that has impressed me and avoid them in general. Red Zinfandel I have no problem with, but White? Not so much.

The disclaimer of the above notwithstanding, I really hoped this bottle of Beringer White Zinfandel would change my mind. Or, at the very least, temper my opinion of what I’ve heretofore considered the kool-aid of the wine world (you know how red kool-aid doesn’t always have a particular fruit flavor, is sweet but also kinda thin? exactly how I see white zin).

Alas, my mind has not been changed.

I chilled it, as the bottle recommended. I was happy to see a cork instead of the ubiquitous screw-top. And I chose it for it’s recognizable name and really, really wanting to believe the “America’s Favorite” scripted on the label.

If that’s true, I weep for our collective palates.

The color is a rather vibrant peachy-pink, the nose suggested fruit (certainly not a bad thing) but it was a bit muddled. The flavor? Lackluster. It had a mushy mouth-feel with no discernible flavors other than sweetish. Smooth? Sure, to the point of boredom. It just sat there, it failed to excite.

The thing is, I like sweet wines. Moscato is music to my mouth! There’s a Blackberry wine made a few hours east of me that I would bathe in were it prudent or affordable to do so! I even like the fruity Arbor Mist blended wine beverages–some of them are very tasty and great for a summer party.

And, yet, white zinfandel leaves me unimpressed.

But I’m just one girl who likes wine and, while neither a connoisseur nor wine snob, tries to give each wine a fair shake. Many people love this wine (be it for reasons of price, availability, or maybe because it’s middle of the road and that’s what they’re after) and, well, more power to you ya, I guess. I just won’t be joining you in a glass of White Zinfandel any time soon.

Now to see if the remains of the bottle might make a decent sangria. It might be akin to making a silk purse from a sow’s ear, but I hate wasting a bottle of wine, even if it was only $6!

Cheers!

*Said even took place at the local VFW hall and their standard contract, I believe, is to handle the liquor sales for any given event held there, so the bartender being in a t-shirt and trucker hat–way before trucker hats came back into “fashion”–affords my memory no clues as to the nature of the event

Plenty of Rum to Go Around–Happy National Rum Day!

Sips

When I posted the recipe for last month’s Chocolate Cherry Frozen Cocktail I mentioned that I hadn’t tried Cruzan’s vanilla or black cherry rums and, well, the good folks at Cruzan couldn’t let that slide and generously sent me a bottle of the vanilla rum to try out.

Oh, man, am I glad they did!

And it just happened to be in time for National Rum Day, August 16!

Since beginning this blog I’ve been making a concentrated effort to taste more spirits neat–after all, if I’m going to use them as building blocks for the cocktails I design, I need to really understand the properties of each alone before combining them with others. This is not always a pleasant endeavor, as some spirits can have a very hard edge and can be bracing on their own.

That was not the case with the Cruzan Vanilla.

Ho-lee cats, folks, that’s some good rum!

I believe I described it as nirvana in a bottle at dinner with friends the next night (and then invited them all over to give it a try, themselves). No one disagreed, I might add.

First of all, it’s sweet. No big surprise, here, as rum is distilled from sugar cane, but the vanilla addition seems to add to the usual rum-sweet that you’d expect.

Second, it’s smooth. Hard edges? More like puffy clouds of silk–and we’re not talking the slubby dupioni, either!

Third, it mixes well. Almost too well, in fact.

Rum and Coke is an easy mixed drink to order and hard to get wrong, but many times (due to the plethora of hard-edged call-brands at the average ladies’ night) you can tell just how much the bartender liked you by how much bite the drink had. Every now and then I like to enjoy a throw-back drink like the R&C (not really a Cuba Libre since I don’t add the lime), and I thought a Vanilla Rum & Coke might be a nice place to start.

If you like Vanilla Coke, you will adore Cruzan Vanilla Rum and Coke. The combination of the two is sweet, sweet goodness, and this is where the danger comes in: you could go through quite a few of these in an evening and not realize how much you’ve imbibed until you go to stand up and miss the floor.

So, as always, drink responsibly.

After the R&C success, I decided to go with another basic rum drink: the Dark & Stormy. I’m renaming the combination of Ginger Beer and Cruzan Vanilla the White Storm–a light-colored drink that is both sweet and tangy, the vanilla and the ginger balancing each other out so nicely, it’s refreshing and perfect for a hot summer night hanging out with friends.

White Storm

2-2 .5oz Cruzan Vanilla Rum
1/2 oz Lime Juice
6 oz Ginger Beer (or as needed)

Fill a tall glass 3/4 full with ice and pour each ingredient over the ice, topping it off with the ginger beer (measurement was based on my glass, your glass may very). Stir leisurely until cool. Sip and enjoy.

Feel free to skip the lime juice if you’d prefer an even sweeter experience–the tart from the lime is interesting, true, but I could really take it or leave it.

Todd also suggested Cruzan Vanilla would be amazing in a Hurricane, something we’ll keep in mind for Mardi Gras, and I’m salivating over the thought of it in my Christmas-time Rum Balls this holiday.

Cheers!

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FTC Disclaimer: I was provided a sample of the Cruzan Vanilla Rum for purposes of review. All opinions are entirely my own.

A Craving Worth Giving In To

Nibbles

Saturday evening, after a day of running errands and a late lunch/early dinner at our favorite Chinese buffet, Todd and I were both craving something sweet. I had been thinkjng about a batch of chocolate chip cookies, but really didn’t have the energy ever for that, when Todd mentioned, “Cake would be real good right now.”

Now, sometimes, this sort of thinking (cake, pie, ice cream, etc.) has us putting on shoes and heading to the nearest grocery store just because. But it was after 9pm, we were both in pajamas, and really didn’t want cake enough to go out and forage for it. I revisited the cookie idea, half-heartedly, when I remembered all those mug cakes that are floating around the Internet.

A quick search later and I was looking at the One Minute Chocolate Cake from Chocolate-Covered Katie.

And less than 2 minutes later I was serving Todd and I these beauties:

Chocolate Microwave Cake

I divided the batter into 2 small LeCreuset ramekins (I love using these, they’re so cute, and I got them on deep discount at Marshall’s a couple years ago) and topped them with a small spoonful of ice cream (Bryer’s Lactose Free Vanilla) and a maraschino cherry.

I wasn’t sure how well it’d be, microwave breads being what they are, but this was just firm enough without being rubbery, very chocolately and worth a tiny bit of effort to have just enough chocolate cake for two without a trip to the store or leftovers to haunt us.

Of course, now that I know how quickly we can have chocolate cake, this could be dangerous!

Chocolate Microwave Cake
(without the optional substitutions from Chocolate-Covered Katie)

3 Tbsp all-purpose flour
1 2/3 Tbsp Cocoa Powder
1 2/3 Tbsp Sugar
1/4 tsp Baking Powder
1/8 tsp Salt
3 Tbsp Milk
2 tsp Canola Oil
1/2 Vanilla Extract

Mix together the dry ingredients thoroughly (should be uniformly brown, no streaks of white still visible), then stir in the liquid ingredients and mix until batter-like.

Scoop into 2 small or 1 not-so-small ramekin(s) or mugs and microwave 30-45 seconds on High. The top still looked kinda squishy on our 2 after 45 seconds, so I gave it another 10 and it was perfect. Microwave oven strengths vary, so experiment to find your microwave’s sweet spot.

Serve warm as is or with your topping of choice.

Meet the Rosés | Volére Rosé

Sips

So we’re kicking off our Rosé reviews with something I never thought I’d utter on this blog:

a box wine

Wait! Before you go, here me out?

Many of us who love wine, even those of us who love wine on an “unsophisticated” level, love the process that goes with the wine. The foil cover, the corkscrew, the cork. Letting a red wine breathe. Saving the labels and corks. It’s an experience even before you get to the swirling, sniffing, and swishing.

First they started with the corks. Some went synthetic, some went screw-top. As “cheap” as those screw-tops may feel–and they do represent a cost-savings for the bottlers and, therefore, us–they drastically reduce the possibility that this great bottle of wine you opened will taste “corked.” They also eliminate the need for storing on their side (for the same reason, no cork to keep from drying out).

I get it. I don’t have to love it, but I get it.

Then it was the boxes. Ditching the heavy glass bottles makes a lot of sense in some ways (no breakage, easier to stack and store, etc.) but, to me, it just removed all ceremony from the drinking of wine, and I love the ceremony as much as the flavors.

And I’ve resisted, lo these many years.

But I’m a sucker for good packaging.

So when I received the note about Volére’s new Wine-in-Purse collection last month, and they had a rosé available, I just had to request a sample.

And it’s darling, just like I thought it would be!

Volere Rose Wine in Purse, with poured glass of wine

Inside this cute little purse-shaped box–complete with cord handle for easy carrying–is 1.5 L of wine (that’s 2 regular bottles, folks), kept in an air-tight pouch (aka a bladder, but that’s not the most appetizing word choice, right?) with a convenient pour spout. Because the pouch deflates as you empty it, no air comes into contact with the wine still inside, meaning that leftovers keep far longer than in your average recapped or recorked bottle. Up to 5 weeks, according to the packaging!

But How Does It Taste?

When I swirled my first glass of it, I was reminded of strawberry wine back home in Louisiana. No surprise, then, that the bottlers describe it like so:

An intense bouquet of wild strawberry, raspberry and rose petals mingle with complex flavors of fresh red berries on the palate.

It has the crispness of a not-too-dry white wine with a little bit of berry from the red. I get floral notes but they don’t overpower, and it’s a little sweet without being cloying. And the color is so deep, it’s more of a salmon than just a pink wine.

Volére suggests their Rosé would go well with “appetizers, white meats, grilled vegetables and fresh seafood” or just something to sip before dinner. I think the packaging would make it stand out for any sort of gift-giving, tucked into a gift basket or presented to your hostess as is. And you know I’ve got weddings on the brain, so immediately I jump to this as a gift for bridesmaids or thank-you gifts to your vendors. And at $14.99 each (remember, that’s 2 bottles worth) it will stretch your gift budget far!

I admit, I was wooed by the packaging, but I’m not sorry I tried this wine and might even be willing to give some of those other box bundles a try.

Maybe.

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Volére Premium Italian Rosé Wine is produced by Cantina di Saove and imported MW Imports out of Brookln, NY. I was provided a wine-in-purse container of Rosé to try for purposes of review. All opinions are my own.