Chocolate Cake

Posted on December 14, 2012 by Francesca

Francesca's Chocolate CakeMy parents will be arriving today from Rome to spend the holidays with us. They will be at our house at around 4 pm and the first thing my mother is going to ask for is an espresso macchiato and something sweet to eat. She is chocolate crazy like my daughter. I truly believe that the sweet tooth skipped a generation with me! 🙂 Am I the only one who would choose pizza or nachos with cheese cream (for the record, I go totally crazy about those that are sold at movie theaters) over a slice of cake or a little chocolate without even thinking about it? Anyway… since Christmas is upon us and at Christmas anyone should be on their best behavior, I decided to bake a chocolate cake to make her happy and celebrate her arrival.

Before we talk ingredients and procedure, let me just thank my mother-in-law, Laura. This delicious recipe comes from her and she was gracious enough to share it with me. Thank you, Laura! 🙂

Ingredients:

4 eggs
3/4 of 1 cup, sugar
11 Tbsp, butter, softened
6.5 oz, dark chocolate
1/3 of 1 cup, flour
Powdered sugar for dusting

Directions:

Fill a medium-sized pot with hot tap water and put it on a very low heat on the stove. Put the chocolate in a small pot or a heatproof bowl (if you are using a chocolate tablet, reduce it to small pieces). When the water is about to boil, fit securely the small pot or the bowl over the larger pot. Let the chocolate melt, stirring occasionally and being very careful not to let the water come into contact with the chocolate, until you obtain a smooth sauce.

In the meanwhile, separate the egg yolks from the whites and put the latter aside in a separate bowl.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

In the bowl of a stand mixer, place the sugar and the egg yolks and mix until they are perfectly blended. Add the butter and beat until the butter is completely blended with the egg mixture. Add the melted chocolate and mix for a few minutes. Add the flour and mix until well blended. Stop and scrape the bowl.

With a hand mixer, start beating the egg whites that you previously set aside. Start at a low speed and gradually increase the speed of the hand mixer until you obtain a thick and foamy mixture.

With the help of a spatula, slowly add the foamy mixture to the chocolate mixture, moving the spatula from the bottom to the top.

Pour the mixture into a greased and floured 10-inch round baking pan. Bake for 25/30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean. Let the cake completely cool and remove it for the pan. Put the cake on a big round serving plate and dust its top with the powdered sugar.

Enjoy! 🙂

Francesca's Chocolate Cake

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Psychobubbles: Unraveling the Intricacies of Italian Spumante – Part II

Posted on December 8, 2012 by Stefano

Cheers!On our previous post we started our journey into the world of Italian spumante by covering the basics, very briefly touching upon Champagne, introducing the two main processes to make a natural sparkling wine, the Champenoise or Classic Method and the Charmat-Martinotti or Italian Method, briefly explaining the history behind each such process and finally going through the main steps of the Classic Method production process. So, if you missed that post, you may want to go through it first and then dive into this second chapter of the “spumante saga” 😉

On today’s post we will point out the main differences between the production processes for the Italian Method and the Classic Method and then we will go through the main steps of the Charmat-Martinotti Method, including its variant used in the production of Asti Spumante.

So, let’s get a little more into the specifics of how the Italian Method differs from the Classic Method and what this means to you if you want to buy a bottle of wine made according to one versus the other of such production processes.

First of all, let’s start by saying that two of the most renown Italian Method spumante wines are:

  • Prosecco (although there are a few producers who also make very good Classic Method Prosecco’s, such as Valdo‘s Prosecco Brut Metodo Classico Numero 10 DOCG). Prosecco is made prevalently or exclusively from partly-aromatic Glera (also known as Prosecco) grapes in either one of the following two DOCG appellations of the Veneto region: Prosecco di Conegliano Valdobbiadene DOCG or Prosecco dei Colli Asolani DOCG as well as in the more loosely regulated DOC appellation Prosecco Spumante DOC, which stretches between Veneto and Friuli; and
  • Asti Spumante, which is made exclusively from aromatic Moscato Bianco grapes in Piemonte’s DOCG appellation Asti Spumante.

Generally speaking, Prosecco is made as a dry wine: according to applicable regulations, it may be produced in all variants between Brut (less than 15 gr/lt of residual sugar) and Demi-Sec (33 to 50 gr/lt of residual sugar, which would make it fairly sweet tasting), but your best bets are in the Brut, Extra Dry (12 to 20 gr/lt of residual sugar) or Dry (17 to 35 gr/lt of residual sugar) versions.

Asti Spumante, instead, is typically a sweet dessert sparkling wine, with over 50 gr/lt of residual sugar. So, do not serve Asti Spumante with appetizers – just keep it chilled until the end of your meal and pair it with a dessert.

On our previous post, we saw how two key features of the Classic Method are its in-bottle refermentation process of the base wines and then the generally long period of time spent by Classic Method wines aging on their lees before their being shipped off to wholesalers and retailers worldwide.

What makes Italian Method sparkling wines generally less expensive than Classic Method wines and different in terms of aromas and taste is mainly their different production process. For Italian Method wines, this is much shorter because refermentation of the base wine(s) takes place in a pressurized autoclave instead of in-bottle and so does their much shorter aging time on their lees. Essentially, after the production of the base wine(s), the entire refermentation, aging and bottling phases of an Italian Method spumante all take place in an isobaric, refrigerated environment inside an autoclave, which dramatically shortens production time.

In real life, what does this mean to you? Well, for starters it means that if you buy an Italian Method spumante (like Prosecco, for instance) it will feel different both in the nose and in the mouth compared to a Classic Method sparkling wine (such as a Franciacorta or a Trento). This is because, by aging often for years on their lees, Classic Method wines develop a number of intriguing secondary and tertiary aromas, such as the quite notorious bread crust or “just baked bread” aroma.

Because of the different production process and the much shorter aging time, most Italian Method wines have fewer (or less distinct) secondary or tertiary aromas, but make up for it by being generally made from aromatic grapes (as is the case for Asti Spumante, which is made from aromatic Moscato Bianco grapes) or partly-aromatic grapes (such as Glera, also known as Prosecco) and therefore emphasizing the primary or varietal aromas of the grape(s) their base wine(s) are made out of.

In other words, chances are that if you pop a bottle of Classic Method sparkling wine you will get a broader, more complex aromatic palette and mouth feels while if you pour a few glasses of a quality Italian Method spumante you will likely get a fresher, simpler wine with quite distinct flowery and fruity aromas.

Other differences between a Classic Method wine and an Italian Method one are that the former generally has a color that is warmer in hue, a finer perlage and more structure than the latter. Regarding structure, this is a bit of a generalization as it is essentially dependent on the grape varieties that are used for making the base wines, so the point holds true especially for Classic Method wines that have Pinot Noir in their cuvée (a grape variety that is known to confer structure to the wine) and, even more so, for Blanc de Noirs.

Let’s take a little detour here: on our previous post we said that the base wines of a Classic Method sparkling wine are made from all or some of the following grape varieties: Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and Pinot Meunier (as far as Champagne is concerned), which last grape variety in Italy is generally replaced by different grapes, such as Pinot Blanc (as far as Italian Classic Method spumante is concerned). So, what we could call the “kosher” version of Champagne or Classic Method wines is made out of a cuvée produced from all three of such base grapes. However, there are two main variants from the “kosher” version, that are known as Blanc de Blancs and Blanc de Noirs.

The former is a wine made exclusively out of permitted white-berried grapes (in the case of Champagne, this means a Chardonnay-only wine), which is generally fresher, gentler and of lighter body, very suitable for instance as an appetizer or paired with delicate flavored seafood.

The latter is just the opposite, that is a wine made exclusively or prevalently out of permitted black-berried grapes (again, in the case of Champagne, this means Pinot Noir and/or Pinot Meunier), which is generally a more structured, more complex wine that is more suitable to be served with an appropriate pasta dish or even main course.

Although we will provide a more in depth overview of what a proper wine tasting should entail in a future post, I think it is important to point out certain distinctive features that everyone with an interest in wine can have fun identifying and assessing in a sparkling wine:

  1. Color: this varies depending on the grapes used in the base wines, but it is one of the characteristics that should always be appreciated, be it a warmer straw or even golden yellow color of a well-aged Classic Method wine or a paler straw yellow, sometimes with greenish hints, of an Italian Method wine;
  2. Perlage: this is the key feature to be assessed in a sparkling wine, which oftentimes either makes or breaks the wine – what you are looking for here is the three distinct characteristics of a quality perlage: (i) fine-grained bubbles; (ii) abundant bubbles forming uninterrupted chains from the bottom of the glass to the surface; and (iii) long-lasting formation of new chains of bubbles;
  3. Bouquet: although fine-nosed wine tasters can go wild identifying the slightest hints of this or that, anyone can take pleasure in picking up the scents of a good sparkling wine and trying to identify some of the more distinct aromas, such as bread crust or yeast, apple, almond or wild berries that may be present in a Classic Method wine or the flowery, fruity notes of a Prosecco, often reminiscent of white flowers and pear or again the sweet aromas of sage and peach of an Asti Spumante.

Before we get to the description of the main steps of the Charmat-Martinotti Method, a few practical pieces of advice to maximize your sparkling wine tasting experience (by the way, these apply to any sparkling wine, regardless of its being a Classic Method or an Italian Method wine):

  • The proper glass to serve a sparkling wine (except only the sweet ones, on which see below) is a flute, not a cup: this is because the elongated and narrow shape of the flute both emphasizes perlage and concentrates the fine aromas in the nose;
  • While we are at it, much to Francesca’s dismay (she just loooves her tinted glasses), all glasses you serve wine in, regardless of it being sparkling or still, red, white or rosé, must be made of clear glass or crystal: no matter how “cute” the tint of those pretty glasses you have sitting in that special cupboard, tinted glass is a no no because it kills right away one of the most important features of a wine: its own color!
  • Ideally, your flutes should not be washed with soap, you should just use hot water instead and they should be dried using a natural fiber cloth (such as cotton or linen): this is because, in order for perlage to be at its best, those chains of bubbles need to hang on to something inside the glass, so minuscule lints of cotton or linen are just perfect to maximize your favorite spumante’s perlage, while an ultra-clean, super shiny inside of the flute is going to penalize it.
  • Finally, the proper glass to enjoy an Asti Spumante or any other sweet sparkling wine is instead a cup with a wide, shallow bowl, because its larger opening tames a little bit the generally exuberant varietal aromas, while its shallower depth is not so detrimental to the often coarser, less refined perlage of that kind of sparkling wines.

Main Steps in the Charmat-Martinotti Method Production Process:

  1. Soft pressing of the base wine grape(s)
  2. Treatments of the must (e.g., clarification and application of sulfur dioxide)
  3. Fermentation of the base wine(s) by the addition of selected yeast
  4. Where necessary, blending of the base wines
  5. Transfer of the base wine(s) into a pressurized, refrigerated autoclave with the addition of sugar and selected yeast
  6.  Refermentation in autoclave, which makes the wine bubbly because the carbon dioxide created by the yeast as a byproduct of alcoholic fermentation remains trapped inside the pressurized autoclave and dissolves into the wine
  7. Brief period of aging on the lees in autoclave (generally, just a few months)
  8. Isobaric stabilization and filtration, to remove the lees
  9. Isobaric bottling and closure

The production process of a sweet Asti Spumante is basically the same as that described above, except that Asti Spumante undergoes one single fermentation phase, directly in autoclave, where yeast activity is inhibited by dropping the autoclave temperature when the wine has reached the desired low alcohol by volume and high residual sugar levels.

That’s all for now. On the next post, we will chat about some of what we believe to be among the best Classic Method spumante wines made in Italy that are available on the market, especially for their price/quality ratios.

Cheers!

Posted in Sparkling Wines, White Wines, Wine, Wine Education | Tagged , , , , , , , | 21 Comments

Spaghetti alla Carbonara

Posted on December 5, 2012 by Francesca

Francesca's Spaghetti alla Carbonara

4 Servings

I’ll be honest with you: I was not planning to publish this recipe for at least six months since I posted the recipe for spaghetti all’amatriciana quite recently and the two recipes share some key ingredients. However, things do not always go as planned. Last month, I “met” a new friend, Kimberly of WhiskeyTangoFoxtrot4, which was kind of an unexpected event for me because I’m not very social…to say the least 😉 Kimberly and her husband happened to be in Rome in the past months and her husband fell in love with spaghetti alla carbonara, one of the most famous dishes in the Roman culinary tradition.

She asked me to give her my recipe and her request was just sooooo lovely that I could not possibly say no. So, this recipe is my Christmas (or whatever different kind of festivity they may be celebrating!) present to Kimberly and her husband. I wish Roman Santa would go down their chimney and leave a warm dish under the tree, ready for them to eat in the morning (admittedly, not the perfect time of the day to eat carbonara, but who am I to judge?)… Since, however, this sounds just a little unlikely, I guess Kimberly and her husband will have to work something out in the kitchen on their own 🙂

Before we get to the “technicalities” of this wonderful culinary creation, let’s talk a bit about its origins. There are several theories about it.

Many believe that the carbonai (i.e., men who used to make charcoal) created the dish a long time ago. They used to work in the Apennine mountains and carry with them the necessary ingredients (cured pork, eggs, pasta, cheese and black pepper) to be cooked on an outdoor campfire.

According to a second theory, carbonara was created by a cook belonging to the Carbonari, an Italian secret society fighting for the independence of Italy from the Austrians at the beginning of the 19th century.

Under yet another theory, the origins of this recipe must be traced back to the Neapolitan cuisine. The XIX century cookbook “Cucina Teorico Pratica” by Ippolito Cavalcanti, Duke of Buonvicino, includes a recipe that, although far from the actual carbonara, presents a strong similarity to a dish that some consider to be the predecessor of carbonara.

A fourth theory is also known as the American theory: at the end of World War II, the Allied troops arrived in Rome bringing bacon with them. According to this theory, the American soldiers used to cook, or ask Italians to cook for them, scrambled eggs and bacon and combine them with pasta. Such combination reportedly gave Italian cooks the idea to create this classic of the Roman cuisine.

I cannot tell you which one of the above theories is accurate, since historians and chefs still debate about them. So, just embrace the theory that best satisfies your imagination and let’s start cooking, shall we? 😉

Francesca's Spaghetti alla CarbonaraLet’s talk about ingredients first.

One of the key ingredients of carbonara is “guanciale”, a cured meat deriving from the pork’s jowl or cheek. Unfortunately, no grocery store located in my neck of the woods knows what it is and whenever I tried to explain what I was looking for, they looked at me like I’m totally crazy (yeah, my Italian accent does not help either!) So, I had to go for a substitute which, in this case, would be pancetta, a cured meat deriving from the pork’s belly.

The other key ingredient are the eggs. In terms of number of eggs per person, every cook has their own “rule”. Moreover, some cooks use whole eggs, some cooks only yolks and some others a combination of whole eggs and yolks. Personally, I use 1 whole egg and 1 yolk for two people. When you make this dish, there is one fundamental rule to remember: under no circumstance whatsoever, should you let the eggs cook. If you let that happen, you will end up with some scrambled eggs of sort, your carbonara will be ruined and you will have no choice but to start all over.

During the years, I have heard and seen people add heavy creamy (gasp!!! May the Roman gods be lenient!) in order to make the sauce creamier: just picture me right now pushing a big red button that says WROOOOONG 😉 There is no heavy cream in the original recipe. There should be no heavy cream in your carbonara. The creaminess of the sauce is *exclusively* due to the proper use of the eggs.

As to the cheese to be used, this is an easy one: only Roman pecorino cheese.

Finally, let’s talk about seasoning. I think I have seen them all: onions, garlic, parsley, green peas and whatever the human imagination can come up with. Sorry guys. Believe me when I say that I do not mean any disrespect but once again I’m reaching for my big red button which says WRONG! The original recipe does not provide for any kind of seasoning or extra ingredients and, trust me, carbonara is just perfect the way it is – if it ain’t broken, don’t fix it kinda thing 😉

The key to the success of this very humble dish is to use top notch quality, fresh ingredients that, cooked properly, speak for themselves in a combination of flavors that creates a unique culinary masterpiece.

Ingredients:

4 slices of pancetta, ¼ inch thick
1 Tbsp extravirgin olive oil
2 whole eggs
2 yolks
14 oz spaghetti (a little less than a pack)
6 Tbsp grated Roman pecorino cheese
Salt
Ground black pepper

Directions:

Cut up the pancetta into bits (about ½ of 1 inch in size).

Cutting pancettaIn a non-stick large skillet, heat the oil, add the pancetta and fry, stirring occasionally, until the pancetta gets golden and crispy. Set aside.

Put a large pot of salted water over the stove to boil. While the water is warming up, place the whole eggs and the yolks in a bowl. Add a pinch of salt (be careful not to put too much because pancetta is already salty), 1 Tbsp of pecorino cheese, some black pepper (to taste) and whisk until you obtain a smooth mixture.

When the water is boiling, add the spaghetti and cook until al dente, stirring occasionally. Drain the spaghetti, put them in the skillet with the pancetta and toss to coat.

Transfer the spaghetti back in the large pot where you cooked them. Add the egg mixture and toss to coat (being careful not to let the eggs cook!) Add 4 Tbsp of pecorino cheese and toss to coat.

Put the spaghetti into the serving plates and dust the top of each plate with the rest of the pecorino cheese and some black pepper.

Et voilà! Simple, quick and absolutely perfect the way it is!  😉

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Psychobubbles: Unraveling the Intricacies of Italian Spumante – Part I

Posted on December 3, 2012 by Stefano

Cheers!With Thanksgiving well behind us now, it is not going to be long before the end of the year festivities are upon us and with those a tradition that is common to many to pop some kind of bubbly wine to celebrate, be it a Champagne, a Crémant, an American sparkling wine, a Cava or… an Italian spumante.

But leaving veteran connoisseurs of Italian wine aside, how many have it clear on their minds what the offering of Italian spumante really is? How many know what a Franciacorta is and how it differs from Prosecco? And how about Trento? Or Oltrepo Pavese Metodo Classico? And Alta Langa? Or even Asti Spumante? If by now your head is slightly spinning it is neither you nor the wine, but it is most likely due to the fact that, in my opinion, not much has been done to explain to consumers in the first place that there is such thing as quality Italian sparkling wine and in the second place that no, it is not Champagne nor is it just Prosecco. It is so much more.

So, as an early Christmas, Hanukkah, New Year’s Eve or whatever it is that you celebrate 😉 present, I will do my best to shed some light on the quite mysterious topic of Italian spumante. Since there is much to say, I will try not to bore everyone to death and therefore will break this discussion into four separate posts: today’s will focus on the basics: what is spumante and what is spumante’s traditional production process: the so-called “Classic Method”; the second post will focus on the main alternative process to produce spumante, the so-called “Italian Method”; the third post will focus on a selection of the best (in my view, of course!) Classic Method spumante; and the fourth and last post (phew…) will focus on a selection of the best Italian Method spumante (again, in my opinion). So, if you are interested and want to know more, stay tuned.

Let’s start from the very basics:

1. “Spumante” (pronounced “spoomantay”) is an Italian word which translates into sparkling wine in general.

2. Commercially, a sparkling wine may be produced either (i) through the artificial addition of carbon dioxide to a still wine (so-called “artificial process”) – this is the cheapest and least prestigious (to use a euphemism) sparkling wine production process, which we will not consider for the purpose of this article or (ii) through a second, natural fermentation of the base wine (or the fermentation of a must, as is the case for Asti Spumante) – this is known as the “natural process” and is performed by following either one of two main production methods: the Méthode Champenoise (or Classic Method) or the Méthode Charmat or Martinotti (also known as the Italian Method).

3. One cannot meaningfully speak about sparkling wines without having at least some extremely basic information about Champagne, the king of wines and the wine of kings. In this case, I will take the liberty to quote myself (see, our Wine Glossary): it is the epitome of sparkling wine, it has been around since the XVII century, when it started being served at the crowning ceremonies of the Kings of France in Reims, therefore gaining worldwide popularity and repute. It is the wine for which the Méthode Champenoise refermentation process was invented. This magical name, which is the same as the homonymous AOC appellation created in 1927 (although an area had already been defined in 1908 as “Région de la Champagne délimitée viticole”), is reserved to sparkling wine that is made exclusively from all or some of the following grapes: Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and Pinot Meunier grown in the Champagne region of France.

Until well into the very end of the XIX century, the Classic Method was the only known process to produce a sparkling wine. In Italy, the first sparkling wine ever produced, which therefore coincides with the date of birth of spumante, was a Classic Method wine made in Asti (Piemonte) by famous Italian winemakers Gancia (pronounced “Gancha”) in 1865.

The development of the most commonly utilized alternative process to make a sparkling wine, the so-called Martinotti Method or Charmat Method or even Italian Method, took place at the end of the XIX century, precisely in 1895 when Federico Martinotti, who was in charge of the Royal Enological Station in Asti, invented a steel pressurized and refrigerated vessel known as “autoclave” that is used to make Italian Method spumante wines. This alternative process is also known as “Charmat Method” because a French engineer by the name of Eugéne Charmat adapted the design of Martinotti’s autoclave to suit industrial production of sparkling wine and rolled out the product in 1907. Considering the contributions made by both such gentlemen to devising such alternative production process, I think the proper way to identify it would be “Charmat-Martinotti Method.”

Very broadly and generally speaking, sparkling wines made according to the Classic Method are more expensive (due to the greater complexity and the longer duration of this production process – see below), convey more complex aromas and are more structured in the mouth compared to those sparkling wines that are made according to the Italian Method. In Italy, about 90% of the annual production of sparkling wine is made according to the Italian Method while only 10% is made according to the Classic Method.

To wrap up this post, we will now briefly go through the main steps to produce a Classic Method spumante (which are essentially the same that are used to make Champagne).  One interesting difference between Champagne and Italian Classic Method wines is the grapes: if we said that Champagne can only be made from all or some of the following grapes: Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and Pinot Meunier (the first being a white-berried grape variety, while the second a the third being black-berried grape varieties), the use of Pinot Meunier in the production of Italian Classic Method spumante is extremely rare and such grape variety is often replaced with Pinot Blanc (a white-berried grape). Certain Italian producers have also been experimenting making Classic Method spumante out of “unconventional” grape varieties, such as Cortese, Glera (aka Prosecco) and lately Carricante (a white-berried grape variety indigenous to Sicily), as you may recall if you read our recent post regarding Sicilian winemakers Planeta. We will talk about this more in our third post of this series.

Main Steps in the Classic Method Production Process:

  1. Soft pressing of the base wine grapes (separately for each grape variety)
  2. Treatments of the must (e.g., clarification and application of sulfur dioxide)
  3. Separate fermentation of each of the base wines by the addition of selected yeast (so-called “pied de cuve”)
  4. If appropriate, malolactic fermentation of the base wines (whereby lactic acid bacteria  convert the tart malic acid that is present in grape juice into sweeter lactic acid and carbon dioxide, thus making the wine “rounder”)
  5. Proprietary blending process of the varietal base wines to produce the so-called “cuvée” (pronounced “koovay“), that is the still wine resulting from the blend of the base wines
  6. Bottling of the cuvée, addition of the liqueur de tirage (a mix of wine, sugar and selected yeast that is used to start the in-bottle refermentation process typical of the Classic Method) and sealing of the bottle by using a crown cap known as “bouchon de tirage” to which a so-called “bidule” (see below) is attached
  7. In-bottle refermentation of the cuvée (so-called “prise de mousse”) that makes the wine bubbly because the carbon dioxide created by the yeast as a byproduct of alcoholic fermentation remains trapped inside the bottle and dissolves in the wine (roughly, every 4 gr of sugar present in the liqueur de tirage create 1 atm of additional pressure: generally, the liqueur de tirage contains 24 gr/lt of sugar, which at the end of the refermentation phase results in a 6 atm sparkling wine – however, in Crémant or Satén wines the liqueur de tirage contains less sugar thus producing a gentler pressure)
  8. “Sur lie” (pronounced “soor lee”) aging phase: it is the period of time (which, depending on the applicable regulations of the producing country and relevant appellation, may range from 12 months to several years) that a Classic Method sparkling wine spends aging in the bottle on its lees (i.e., dead yeast cells) after the refermentation phase is completed
  9. Remuage: at the end of the aging phase on the lees, the bottles are placed in a pupitre (a wine rack that holds the bottles bottoms up at an angle) and are manually or mechanically rotated at regular time intervals along their axis so as to cause the lees to precipitate down the bottleneck and deposit into the bidule, that is a small receptacle attached to the inside of the crown cap of the bottle
  10. Dégorgement (or disgorgement): it is the removal process of the lees sediment after the remuage step is completed. Dégorgement was once performed manually by removing the crown cap so that the top portion of the wine (which, as a result of the remuage contains the lees sediment) would be ejected from the bottle. Nowadays it is generally a mechanical process that entails, after the remuage phase is completed, partially submerging the neck of the bottle (which is kept upside down) in an ice-cold solution (-25 C/-13 F) which freezes the portion of wine next to the crown cap and therefore also the lees sediment contained in the bidule so that the crown cap and the iced bidule containing the sediment can be easily removed
  11. Dosage: it is the phase following the dégorgement, when the liqueur d’expédition (a proprietary mix of wine and sugar) is generally added to finish off the sparkling wine restoring the desired amount of residual sugar – winemakers may decide, however, not to add any liqueur d’expédition (and therefore no additional sugar) to certain of their sparkling wines, which are known as “Dosage Zéro” or “Pas Dosé” and which as a result have extremely low residual sugar levels (around 0.5 gr/lt)
  12. Final sealing of the bottle with the typical “mushroom-shaped” cork and wire cage closure.

That’s all for now: we will continue our discussion in the next post, which will focus on the Charmat-Martinotti Method.

Posted in Sparkling Wines, White Wines, Wine, Wine Education | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 20 Comments

The Very Inspiring Blogger Award

Posted on December 1, 2012 by Francesca

The Very Inspiring Blog AwardAnd this is crazy… so call me, maybe? Nah, just kidding! What is crazy and absolutely marvelous at the same time is that, on Thanksgiving day, Flora’s Table was nominated for the Very Inspiring Blogger Award! We are thankful (of course!), honored and immensely happy for this award.

Well, let’s talk a bit about the amazing blogger who gave us the award. Her blog is all about shooting the light and capturing the perfect moment. Do you need any more hints? Yup, we are talking gorgeous photography here but…there is more. Kimberly combines the eye and sensibility of a great artist with a unique sense of humor. She is sweet and super funny and reading her posts is a real pleasure. Thank you so much Kimberly of WhiskeyTangoFoxtrot4 (chuckle) for this award. So, you guys do yourselves a big favor and check her blog out: I promise you will not regret it, although (consider yourselves warned!) you will get addicted to it 🙂

Before we get down to business, let me just thank Nicole and Stefano for their amazing work. Flora’s Table wouldn’t be what it is without their wonderful talent and commitment.

The Rules

1. Display the award logo on your blog
2. Link back to the person who nominated you
3. State 5 things about yourself
4. Pass the award on to 6 other bloggers and link to one of their specific posts so that they get notified by ping back

Five things about me:

– I prefer giving gifts rather than receiving them: I’m not very good at showing happiness and excitement to the giver, especially if I do not quite like the gift 😉

– I’m a fashion addict. After all, I’m Italian: I was born with the fashion gene 😉

– I’m not romantic…at all!

– I have a wicked fascination about women who seemingly had everything to be happy (beauty, money and talent) and yet whose lives were miserable and died tragically – yeah, kind of weird, I know…

– I love the night and its magical silence. After 10pm is when I get the most creative. All of my posts are written at night.

And now, our six nominations to pass the award on, in no particular order:

  • My French Haeven, because Monsieur Stéphane est très chic et charmant, his recipes are unique and mouth-watering and his food photography is gorgeous.
  • Kiarastyle, because Chiara has an impeccable fashion taste and, by following her blog, I keep abreast of the latest fashion trends. Did I mention she is Italian? 😉
  • The Greedy Frog, because it is one of the most gracious… blogging frogs and the recipes are a true temptation for the palate.
  • gabicoatsworth, because Gabi is a kind, cheerful and supporting friend as well as a fantastic writer. Reading her essays and poems is such a pleasure!
  • the drunken cyclist, because his wine blog is sleek, informational and fun to read and… it’s about wine! 😉
  • Talk-A-Vino, because his wine blog is wonderful, chock-full of useful information and wine reviews and the host is a very gracious one.

Congratulations to all the nominees: your blogs are amazing and you sure deserve this award.

Have a wonderful weekend!

Posted in Awards | Tagged , , , , , , , | 18 Comments

Melba Sauce

Posted on November 28, 2012 by Francesca

Yup! Nicole is right. I like to finish my meals with fruit. However, I allow myself to indulge in something sweet once in a while and her rich, creamy and delicious cheesecake is my exception to the rule. Just to keep the fruit in the equation, I like to complement her cheesecake with some Melba Sauce.

Now, I know I’m going straight to the guillottine with this recipe 😉 but what’s life without taking a little risk? The Melba sauce is indeed a French masterpiece. It was created by the famous French chef August Escoffier to honor the Australian soprano Nellie Melba at the end of the 19th century. I can totally see the frowning foreheads of our French readers (led by my French teacher) asking themselves: has she lost her mind?

Well, I tell you what: of course I do not have Escoffier’s recipe nor has any French ever taught me how to make this gorgeous sauce, but I’m a huge believer in constructive criticism. Therefore, I invite you all (regardless of your citizenship) to comment, correct and/or complete my recipe as you see fit!

After all, what are bloggers for? 😉

Ingredients:

1 cup fresh raspberries
1 Tbsp confectioners’ sugar
1/8 Tsp lemon juice

Directions:

Rinse the raspberries with water, put them in a strainer over a bowl and let them drain fully.

Transfer the raspberries, the sugar and the lemon juice in a blender or a food processor and blend until you obtain a creamy mixture.

Place a small strainer over a soup bowl. Pour some of the raspberry mixture in the strainer and, with the back of a spoon, push the mixture through the strainer so that the seeds remain in the strainer. Repeat the same procedure with the rest of the raspberry mixture.

Pour the sauce in a little pitcher and serve it.

Et voilà, simple et délicieuse! Vive la France! 🙂

Posted in Recipes | Tagged , , , , , , | 21 Comments

WineNews from Planeta Vino ;-)

Posted on November 27, 2012 by Stefano

I am glad to share with you a few interesting pieces of news that I have received from the guys at Planeta, one of the truly outstanding Sicilian producers who have marked the rebirth of quality winemaking in Sicily since the Nineties. Planeta has quite a differentiated offering of wines, with traditional peaks of excellence in their Sicilia IGT Chardonnay and Cometa wines (the latter being made out of 100% Fiano white-berried grapes) and very solid performers in their Noto Nero d’Avola “Santa Cecilia” DOC (on which, see our Veal Skewers – Recommended Wine Pairing post) and Syrah “Maroccoli” Sicilia IGT, to name a few.

Well, on to the news:

  1. Planeta’s latest addition to its array of wineries just became fully operational this year: it is called Feudo di Mezzo and is located on the slopes of Mount Etna (Sicily’s notoriously active volcano). This latest property complements Planeta’s four pre-existing Sicilian wineries: Ulmo in Sambuca (1995), Dispensa in Menfi and Dorilli in Vittoria (2001), Buonivini in Noto (2003).
  2. The 2012 harvest from Planeta’s Mount Etna vineyards is the first one to be processed at the new Feudo di Mezzo winery, where four of Planeta’s wines will be produced: (i) two Sicilia IGT wines, a Carricante IGT and a Nerello Mascalese IGT, from the Sciara Nuova vineyard (which features an excellent density of 5,000 to 10,000 vines/HA and lies outside of the Etna DOC area), in which Planeta’s enologists have been experimenting by adding small quantities of Riesling and Pinot Noir (respectively) to the base grapes; as well as (ii) an Etna Bianco DOC wine made from white-berried Carricante grapes and an Etna Rosso DOC wine made from black-berried Nerello Mascalese grapes.
  3. A first “pilot” batch of just 6,000 bottles of the 2010 Nerello Mascalese Sicilia IGT, the first vintage from the Sciara Nuova vineyard, has recently been released. It is made out of 100% Nerello Mascalese grapes (unlike future releases which might be blended with Pinot Noir), it has 13.5% VOL and it is supposed to have an “intense and elegant aroma” coupled with well-defined tannins: I hope I will be able to lay my hands on a bottle of it and get to try it for myself next year, when hopefully volumes will be greater.
  4. The first vintage of Planeta’s first Spumante Metodo Classico has also been recently relased: Planeta’s first attempt at a Classic Method sparkling wine is a Sicilia IGT wine made out 100% Carricante white-berried grapes from their Montelaguardia vineyard on Mount Etna, rests on its lees for 15 to 18 months and is available only in the Brut variety. It is supposed to give out fine pear, grass and mineral aromas and to be “vibrant and lean on the palate“: I would certainly be interested in giving this very peculiar wine a try, if I can get hold of a bottle.
  5. The guys at Planeta reported that the recently completed 2012 harvest had peaks of excellence in the Menfi and Sambuca vineyards, yielding amazing quality in their red wines, especially Nero d’Avola, Syrah and Cabernet Franc, which are rich and varietal with an excellent tannic structure. In the Noto and Vittoria vineyards the harvest was also memorable for Nero d’Avola, thanks to the dry and cool month of September. Planeta’s 2012 Nero d’Avola is said to exhibit structure, balance, bright colors and exuberant nose accompanied by high alcohol, which makes them “expect unique Cerasuolo and Santa Cecilia wines.” Definitely something to be looking forward to!

For more information, please refer to Planeta’s Web site or contacts.

As always, let me know if you get to try any of these wines and want to share your views on them. Cheers!

Posted in Red Wines, Sparkling Wines, White Wines, Wine, WiNews | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 5 Comments

Cheesecake, as promised

Posted on November 24, 2012 by Nicole

I promised that with Francesca’s Prosciutto and Fennel Salad and the Asparagus Baked Pasta that you had a dinner party.  Well, almost. In my humble opinion, no dinner party is complete without dessert. Francesca would say fruit, but I think dessert. I promised a cheesecake and so you will have one. This is one has two layers and isn’t in need of anything else but if you like, you can serve it with some macerated strawberries or the Melba Sauce shown in the photo. (Francesca will follow this post with a recipe for the Melba Sauce)   You do need to bake this the night before you want to serve it.

I wouldn’t be me without an opinion or two.  Stop laughing, Francesca!  Springform pans: I don’t like them coated with non-stick finish, I don’t like dark ones, and I especially I don’t like the ones with the elevated bottom and big one inch foot on the outside as you can’t put them on a cake stand and they take up a lot of room in the fridge.  I like them shiny, with a bumpy bottom that sits in a groove inside the bottom of the ring.  Treat them right by washing gently so as not to bend them and drying them right away and reassembling and they will last a long time.  If you let them air dry, they will pit and rust.

Ingredients – Graham Cracker Crust:

1 & 3/4 cup graham cracker crumbs
1/4 cup granulated white sugar
6 TBS butter, melted

Mix all ingredients in a bowl and toss until thoroughly moistened. Press evenly into the bottom and up the sides of a 10″ springform pan with a spatula.  Set aside.

Ingredients – Cheesecake:

(4) 8 oz Packages of Philadelphia Brand Cream Cheese, softened to room temperature
1 & 1/3 cups granulated sugar
(6) large eggs at room temperature
1 tsp almond extract

Ingredients – Topping:

1 pint of sour cream
6 TBS granulated sugar
2 tsp vanilla extract

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Set rack in just below the middle of the oven.

Place the first package of cream cheese in the bowl of a stand mixer and cream on low speed.  Add remaining packages of cream cheese, one at a time, creaming until soft.  Turn the mixer up slightly and slowly add the sugar. Beat until the sugar is dissolved (Note: don’t beat at too high a speed.  Incorporating air will cause your cheesecake to fall and crack later on.) Scrape down the bowl as you need to.

Turn the mixer up to about medium and beat in the eggs, one at a time, scraping the bowl in between.  Pour in the almond extract and give it one last mix.

Pour the cheesecake mix into the 10″ springform pan with the graham cracker crust. Bake for 50 minutes at 350 degrees. Cheesecake should be set with a slightly jiggly center. Remove from oven and maintain oven temperature.

In a small bowl mix the topping. Wisk until sugar is dissolved.  Pour over cheesecake and bake in oven for an additional 10 minutes. Remove from oven and cool on a rack. Allow to cook until the pan can be handled (it will still be warm).  Cover with an inverted 12 inch dinner plate or a piece of plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight.

The cheesecake will set up in the fridge.  When you are ready to serve it, run a thin knife around the perimeter of the pan and release the sides.  When serving, cut two slices the first time and serve pull one out with a pie server or spatula.  You should end up with a good result.

Posted in Recipes | Tagged , , , , , , | 20 Comments

The Sunshine Award!

Posted on November 23, 2012 by Stefano

With Thanksgiving behind us, we can now catch up on a few things that demand our attention, notably accepting the Sunshine Award that lovely Laura at The Cook to Love Project was kind enough to nominate us for – thank you, Laura! Just so you all know, Laura’s blog is much more than a wonderful cooking blog – although, make no mistake, in The Cook to Love Project you will find plenty of delicious and healthy vegan, gluten-free recipes. Laura’s blog is also a great source of inspiration (not only in the kitchen, that is) which strives to encourage its readers to “eat and live healthfully, creatively, and compassionately” (borrowing Laura’s own words).

On to the award acceptance process: according to the rules, nominees must (i) include a link in your blog to the blog that nominated you; (ii) answer some questions about yourself; (iii) nominate 10 fellow bloggers, linking to their blogs; and (iv) inform them that they have been nominated.

So, we took care of (i) above, and since Laura was so kind as to include both Francesca and me in her nomination, we thought in the Q&A part we would answer one question each, alternating:

1. Who is your favorite philosopher? S: Being a firm believer in logic and science, I definitely say Aristotle.

2. What is your favorite number? F: 17

3. What is your favorite animal? S: this is a tough one as I like and, as a nature photographer, have photographed many of them. Having to pick just one, I would say bears, regardless of the species.

4. What are your Facebook and Twitter? F: www.facebook.com/FlorasTable – sorry, we do not have a Twitter account!

5. What is your favorite time of day? S: Being a photographer, I like the fringes of the day, when the light is warmer, the sky gets tinged with magical hues and contrast is lower.

6. What is your favorite holiday? F: Christmas

7. What is your favorite physical activity? S: Leaving the “obvious” answer aside 😉 I would say skiing.

8. What is your favorite non-alcoholic drink? F: sparkling water

9. What is your passion? S: As you can guess from my icon, my passions are photography and wine!

10. What is your favorite flower? F: this is tough, because flowers have been my passion my entire life, but if I really have to make a choice, I say hydrangeas and peonies.

And now our own nominations to pass the Sunshine Award on, in no particular order:

Congratulations to all the nominees: your blogs are awesome and certainly deserve this award!

Have a stress-free Black Friday!

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Happy Thanksgiving!

Posted on November 22, 2012 by Francesca

Just a quick note to say Happy Thanksgiving to all of you from all of us!

As Nicole aptly pointed out in her post yesterday, there are people who grew up eating differently from you, and Stefano and I certainly fit the bill as where we grew up Thanksgiving was not (and still is not) a holiday, let alone such an important tradition as it is in the United States. So, maybe you all can send some empathy and good karma my way today because, while I am all set with the appetizers for our Thanksgiving dinner (we have included a couple of images to give you an idea of what we are going to eat tonight), I am very much scratching my head at how the huge turkey that is still sitting in our fridge is going to turn out since it is my first time cooking it!!! Oh well, you gotta start somewhere, right? 🙂

Anyways, each of us at Flora’s Table has her or his own things (and people!) to be thankful for, but in this post we all just want to say that we are very thankful to all of you: our followers, our “likers” and more in general all of our readers and fellow bloggers, who really are the building blocks of the wonderful community that is steadily growing around Flora’s Table – our ideal communal table around which we all congregate to sit and eat and toast and chat and laugh, very much the Italian way! 😉

By all means we are still neophytes at this blogging thing, with just less than two months worth of experience under our belts, but we sure are excited at what we have accomplished so far, impressed and humbled by your reaction and support and definitely enthusiastic about all the good things that we have in mind and are yet to come!

So, enjoy your holiday, eat and drink well, and spend some deserved quality time with the people you love. Cheers!

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , | 13 Comments