Lavender and Stone Fruit Rosé Sangria

July 27, 2016 by Laura Messersmith in Cooking

Summer entertaining should be simple, easy, and low stress. It’s just too hot to be mixing individual cocktails, so summer calls for a big batch of something delicious and refreshing that guests can help themselves and sip on as the sun drops lower in the sky. Rosé has become synonymous with summer afternoons and earlier in the season I had the pleasure of creating a recipe for a rosé tasting event at Maman, my favorite café in New York. Talk about a dream come true!

I was only recently introduced to Lillet Rosé by my lovely friends Josie & David, and afterward couldn’t believe I had gone so long without having it in my life. It makes a super simple aperitif – just add a sizable cube of ice and a slice of something citrusy.

Or, take it one step further and transform it into a twist on sangria. Traditionally sangria combines wine with a liqueur or brandy, but since Lillet is already a fortified wine in my variation you get to skip that step. Score. Maman’s Provencal influence provided the inspiration to enhance the flavor by adding lavender and stone fruit. It fits the low-stress bill, and has the added benefit of being even better when it’s made in advance.

Lavender and Stone Fruit Rosé Sangria (serves 4)

Ingredients:
1 bottle (750 ml) Lillet Rosé
3/4 teaspoon (3-4 sprigs) dried culinary lavender buds
1 ripe black plum
1 ripe white nectarine
2 ripe apricots
1 medium lemon
1/4 cup (2 oz.) club soda
Ice
Garnish (optional): fresh raspberries, blackberries, strawberries

Instructions:
Pour the Lillet Rosé into a large pitcher or glass container. Lightly crush the dried lavender flowers between your hands to release the essential oils and place in a tea bell or a piece of cheese cloth tied with kitchen twine and suspend in the wine. Allow the lavender to infuse the wine while you prepare the fruit.

Wash and remove the stone from the plum, nectarine, and apricots. Slice into 1/3 inch wedges and drop into the pitcher. Thinly slice half the lemon (reserve the other half) into rounds or half moons and add to the sangria. Stir gently with a wooden spoon. Chill the sangria overnight, or at least 3-4 hours, to allow the fruit, lavender, and Lillet Rosé to steep.

Just before serving, use a sharp knife to remove large strips of peel from the reserved lemon and wipe the yellow skin of peel around the inside of each glass. Place the ice in the glasses, remove the lavender sachet from the sangria, and add the club soda to the pitcher.

Divide the sangria among the glasses making sure that the fruit goes in too – it’s delicious! Garnish with a sprig of lavender (if using) or additional berries as your heart desires. Relax and enjoy.

Original recipe created for Maman and sponsored by Lillet. All opinions are my own.

Small Kitchen Friendly?
Yes! I used a large pitcher, liquid measuring cup small cutting board, utility knife, wooden spoon, cheese cloth, and kitchen twine.

Reading Material - San Francisco

October 02, 2015 by Laura Messersmith in Reading Material

Pacific Heights, San Francisco, California | Image: Laura Messersmith — **Pacific Heights, San Francisco, California** | Image: *Laura Messersmith*

It’s been a busy two weeks of travel first out to San Francisco where we hiked up this super steep hill to Pacific Heights and spotted this incredible house on the way – I could move right in! Then it was on to South Carolina with a great crew of friends (and kiddos!) for lots of football, cooking, and beach time. This is what I made in case you were curious:

All those flights have left this space a little radio-silent, but it’s fall again and I’m feeling reinvigorated to dive into new recipes featuring some of my favorite ingredients – prepare yourself for #smallkitchenfriendly recipes with lots of apples, squash, and warming spices. This weekend marks the first hurricane of the season shifting toward New York and it’s the perfect time to hunker down with some excellent reading material read by candlelight if necessary.

Reading Material:

Rainy weekends call for a stack of movies and The Kitchn has a perfectly curated list of their favorite movie kitchens. I’d willingly cook in every single one!

While we’re on the subject of silver screen perfection, this round table discussion of Nancy Meyers from The Toast is a spot-on summation of her seamless style.

If you haven’t read The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins yet (soon to star the wonderful Emily Blunt) please do! It made a 6 hour flight back from SF fly by, pun 100% intended.

This list of media brands as cocktails from Food52 is a little inside baseball, but it still made me smile. I think I’m either a Cherry Bombe girl or on a good day Food + Wine….

More humor, this time burgers as chefs from The New Yorker. Of course, our girl Ina got a shout out.

Orange Curd Creamsicle Floats

August 13, 2015 by Laura Messersmith in Cooking with the Contessa

Orange Curd Creamsicle Float | Image: Laura Messersmith — **Orange Curd Creamsicle Float** | Image: *Laura Messersmith*

Each week I follow along with Ina Garten (aka the Barefoot Contessa) and attempt to recreate one of her dishes in my tiny New York City kitchen. The catch? This is my version of cooking school and I’m making these recipes for the first time. I’ll share both my successes and um, challenges, along the way and we’ll see if I can keep up with the Contessa!

Episode: “Afternoon Tea to Go”

The Set-up: Ina is making recipes for a celebratory tea party at her friend Beth’s new flower shop in Amagansett.

The Menu: Daisy Shortbread Cookies, Red Velvet Cupcakes, Orange Curd

0:52 – Ina has decided that a proper English tea strikes just the right note for the opening of the new flower shop location, but I’m pretty sure the British never ate Red Velvet Cupcakes.

1:24 – Wearing my "I Hate Red Velvet" merit badge today. I’ve just never understood the appeal of something to violently and unnaturally flavored.

2:06 – I can’t be the only one who’s thinking of the Steel Magnolias “bleedin’ armadillo groom’s cake” can I?

3:10 – I’m going to try to focus on the cooking now and Ina’s Pro Tip #1: use an ice cream scoop to portion cupcakes and muffins equally.

4:33 – We’re jetting over to Beth’s new flower shop where she’s taking her cues from the tea party theme and making the table arrangements in a silver tea service and vintage tea tins. Super cute.

5:01 – Back to Ina where she’s preparing to frost the Red Velvet Cupcakes with their traditional cream cheese frosting.

6:19 – I’m always curious to see when Ina will break out the piping bag and when she goes for the more rustic, homemade look.

10:25 – Onward to the Daisy Shortbread Cookies which start with Ina’s classic shortbread dough recipe.

11:37 – Pro Tip #2: Shortbread dough should be chilled, but still pliable and well floured when rolling it out into cookies.

12:08 – Pro Tip #3: Keep turning and moving the dough around as you roll it out to keep it from sticking to the board. Any cracks in the edges can just be pressed back together.

13:20 – Ina says she loves shortbread and uses it for all sorts of cookies and tart shells – a multipurpose dough!

14:44 – Over to Beth at the shop who’s putting the final touches on the loveliest buffet table.

15:36 – The cookies are out of the oven and they look perfectly golden and quite substantial as Ina frosts them with white glaze and tops them with yellow buttons of white chocolate.

19:49 – Now for the Orange Curd, Ina’s twist on the classic lemon or lime curd.

20:23 – We see all of the steps – orange zest, mixing, cooking – but at quite a clip without much description along the way. I wish she would spend a little more time on the process…

21:05 – Ina is serving the Orange Curd with fresh, long-stemmed strawberries on a very simple white platter. Pro Tip #4: White dishes show off the colors and textures of the food really well.

22:17 – The tea party is at a sedate simmer as Beth’s customers sip from Wedgewood tea cups and rave over Ina’s treats.

23:40 – Fast-forward to the end of the day when Beth delivers a thank you bouquet of blue muscari to Ina at the barn.

26:26 – It’s Ask Ina time and all the questions will be tea party related. Byron asks if Ina has a favorite finger sandwich? She says yes, and recommends Herbed Goat Cheese Sandwiches with thinly sliced English cucumbers. Yum.

27:02 – Belinda asks for suggestions on how to make tea sandwiches ahead of time? Ina says to assemble the sandwiches, then store them on a parchment paper lined sheet pan with a layer of damp paper towel over the top and wrap the entire thing tightly in plastic before refrigerating.

28:58 – Eric fell in love with clotted cream in England and would like to know how to find something similar in the States? Ina says mascarpone is the closest thing she’s found and gorgeously layers a scone with it and strawberry jam. Amazing.

29:45 - In case you were wondering we don't see Ina hoover up that scone, but I bet as soon as the camera switched off it was G-O-N-E.

Final Thoughts:
It’s so hard to resist rolling dough out too thinly, how does Ina maintain her self control to keep it 1/4 inch thick?

I don’t really drink tea, but now I really want to have a tea party…

If anyone could change my mind about RVCs it’s Ina, but I’m still cringing over the food coloring.

Lessons Learned:
It’s been about a year since I last made a citrus curd and it was about time to refresh my memory with by trying Orange Curd. I probably should have reviewed my post from last summer, but imbued with a sense of covering known territory I dove right in; confident that since the Lemon Curd Tart of my memory was so straightforward that this version would give no trouble. Alas, it was trickier than I remembered.

Mixing – I did vaguely remember the pre-cooked curd looking very odd and it does. Like a curdled, vile mess liberally seasoned with orange zest. Not a very appealing start to something that ultimately tastes wonderful, but forewarned is forearmed. Don’t be frightened off just keep going!

Temperature – The recipe calls for room temperature butter and eggs and I’d recommend leaving the butter out overnight and the eggs for several hours to reach the right temperatures. My butter was fully softened, but the eggs a little on the cool side – not ideal.

Cooking – I unhelpfully didn’t leave any notes to myself on the length of cooking time, so let me do better now: 10 minutes is what’s recommended in the recipe, but I found it took somewhat longer, probably due to the eggs being colder than recommended. More helpful is to watch the texture for cues about “doneness” – when the curd has been cooked enough it will be thick, smooth, and nearly opaque; somewhere in the neighborhood of pudding in consistency.

Small Kitchen Friendly?
Yes, 100%, especially since there’s no tart shell involved this time. I subbed a microplane grater and a handheld mixer for the food processor/stand mixer pieces. After that all I needed was a large mixing bowl, 2 quart sauce pan, measuring cups, a wooden spoon, and a large food storage container. If you’re making floats or sundaes, then an ice cream scoop, glasses and a jigger will be helpful additions.

The Verdict:
I made Orange Curd as a dessert for company, originally intending to serve it in a tart, but then a flash of inspiration and an excellent suggestion from Mike turned it into a topping for boozy Creamsicle Floats (recipe below). Unlike lemons, which are unflinchingly tart, oranges have a mellower flavor and need firm boundaries to prevent them from becoming cloying. The addition of sparkling soda and a splash of Grey Goose was just what the doctor ordered to balance out the sweetness in our floats. A perfect end to the meal.

Orange Curd Creamsicle Float (serves 4)

Ingredients:
4 (12 ounce) cans San Pellegrino Aranciata or Aranciata Rossa soda
4 ounces Grey Goose vodka, divided (optional)
4 tablespoons Orange Curd
1 pint vanilla ice cream
1 orange, segmented

Instructions:
Chill both the vodka and orange soda in advance. Assuming a hot day, take the ice cream out of the freezer 4-5 minutes before serving and allow to soften slightly, longer if it’s cold outside. If it’s a very hot day, chill the glasses too.

Scoop a generous portion of ice cream (1/4 – 1/3 cup) into a roundish ball and place into the glass. Softened ice cream and an ice cream scoop will make this easier, but the results will be the same regardless of how perfect the scoop is. Your preference here on whether your glass and appetite warrant a second scoop.

Add 1 tablespoon of Orange Curd on top of each scoop of ice cream. Pour in 1 ounce of vodka to each glass before filling the remainder of the glass with orange soda, about 6-8 ounces per glass.

Garnish with a segment or two of fresh orange. Drink immediately!

Dark N Stormy Ice Cream Float

July 22, 2015 by Laura Messersmith in Cooking

I don’t remember when I first tasted a Dark N Stormy, but I do remember when I fell in love with them. It was over a long, sticky Memorial Day weekend five years ago. We were visiting Bermuda for the wedding of some dear friends and the national drink was prominently featured at their reception. The number of cocktails consumed is lost to the winds of time, probably better that way, but my devotion to the Dark N’ Stormy lives on.

Fast forward to a long plane ride earlier this summer with lots of cooking magazines in my carry on and this article in Bon Appétit on boozy floats. That’s when it came to me – my favorite summertime drink was just a scoop of vanilla ice cream away from being an amazing float. When the lightbulb went on I immediately felt silly that I hadn't thought of it sooner - it's so obviously a match made in heaven!

Personally, I’m devoted to the deeply spicy sweetness of Gosling’s ginger beer paired with the sharp sweetness of the company’s Black Seal Rum. Proportions below assume that you’re in it more for the float than for the booze, although you’ll notice from my photos that I used old-fashioned glasses and half the amount of ginger beer. The rum and the ice cream stayed the same, so you can see where my priorities are…

Dark N Stormy Float (serves 4)

Ingredients:
4 (12 ounce) cans Goslings Stormy ginger beer
4 ounces Goslings Black Seal rum, divided
1 pint vanilla ice cream
1 lime, cut in wedges

Instructions:
Chill both the rum and the ginger beer; overnight in the refrigerator if you can. Assuming a hot day, take the ice cream out of the freezer 4-5 minutes in advance and allow to soften slightly, longer if it’s cold outside. If it’s a very hot day, chill the glasses too.

Fill the glasses with ginger beer leaving 2-3 inches of space at the top; 1 can will just barely fit in a pint glass but you'll need the extra space. Measure out 1 ounce of Goslings Black Seal Rum into a shot glass or jigger and gently pour onto the ginger beer so that the rum stays afloat at the top of the glass and there are two distinct layers. Using the back of a spoon will help.

Scoop a generous portion of ice cream (1/4 – 1/3 cup) into a roundish ball and place into the glass. Softened ice cream and an ice cream scoop will make this easier, but the results will be the same regardless of how perfect your technique is. Your preference here on whether your glass and appetite warrant a second scoop.

Repeat the process until each glass is full of foamy, fizzy ginger beer and ice cream. Garnish with a wedge of lime. Drink immediately!

Small Kitchen Friendly?
As easy as they come. To make the full recipe you’ll need four large glasses, a jigger or shot glass, ice cream scoop, spoon, paring knife and small cutting board.

The Verdict:
So simple and so epically good I can’t believe I didn’t think of this combination sooner. I made a batch of these at cocktail hour on a sticky hot July night and they were just what the doctor ordered. Perfect for when it’s too oven-ish to eat, but a drink sounds juuust right. In my book the vanilla and ginger are perfect against the edge of the rum and acid of a small squeeze of lime. On a semi-topical note - I think that the foamy ice cream resembles those briny clouds that form along the shore. So, further nautical authenticity reasons to make this.