La Gourmandesse

2010 Caliterra Sauvignon Blanc, $9.00. LCBO#275909.

I think I have the recipe to recovery after a very disheartening day at the office: Have your significant other make you dinner, drink some cheap wine, eat a Cadbury cream egg and watch Law & Order. The wine will relax you, the dinner & chocolate will cheer you up, and Law & Order will reassure you that your life is really not that bad. You could be on trial for murder, after all. Even the worst of work days must be better than a day in the courts.

I grabbed this wine yesterday in the LCBO, it was right beside my favourite affordable Sauvignon Blanc, Cocha y Toro, which recently moved from $10 to $11. I was curious if this $9 Chilean bottle could live up to my reliable cooking and drinking white wine.

The wine is a pale straw colour, with lots of tropical fruit and herbs on the nose. Those same notes show up in the taste, with some papaya and pineapple coming through. I find it slightly lacking in zip, with a need for more citus punch. It’s a teensy bit light, flat or watery…hard to pinpoint which.

With all that said, it is still highly drinkable, just not as special as my go-to white wine. I am sad to report that I’ll need to keep paying a few bucks more to get the exact balance and flavour I’m looking for.

Overall, I give this bottle 7.5/10 for taste and 4/5 for value.

The building blocks of dessert greatness.

Recently, I was watching an episode of the Barefoot Contessa, and learned how to make a stunningly easy and decadent cake. Check out the ingredients: whipping cream, marscapone cheese, kahlua, cocoa powder, espresso, and…….chocolate chip cookies! Icebox cake–it’s brilliant; like a more interesting version of tiramisu.

You can use store bought cookies, as long as they are fairly large and somewhat chewy. I baked my own, using the Tate’s Bake Shop recipe, which Ina Garten recommends. One batch, about 30 large cookies, was perfect. They need to be completely cool, so I made them the day before I was ready to assemble the cake.

I was so convinced that I had to make this cake once I saw it on tv, I even went out and bought a new springform pan. In Ina’s recipe, she uses an 8″ pan and does 5 layers of cookies and mocha cream. The recipe for the mocha cream can be found here. My pan was 10″, and I was able to do 3 layers, but my cookies were somewhat thick, so I think they took up extra space.

The assemby is pretty easy, start with a layer of cookies, cover that with mocha cream, keep going, and make sure to end with mocha cream. The consistency made it really easy to spread, the marscapone gives the whipped cream a great texture. I think this would be amazing way to ice a chocolate layer cake as well.

The cake needs to chill overnight, so that the cookies can soften and the cake can set. When it’s time to serve, just remove the springform edge and you’re set.

I made this cake for a girl’s night, and I must say the slices disappeared fast! The cake is soft, creamy and decadent, with the chocolate chips adding a bit of crunch to the experience. The bottom layer of cookies stayed somewhat crisp, which made a perfect natural crust to the cake. Make this cake when you have a crowd to serve it to, because it’s so rich, you’ll never finish it yourself.

Ruffino Chianti, 2009. $14.95. LCBO#1743.

I love presents. Especially when they are drinkable. And even more when they aren’t actually for me, but I still get to drink them. Kevin just had a birthday, and our lovely friend Jenn gifted him a bottle of her favourite red.

Naturally, a few days later, I suggested that this bottle of hearty Italian Chianti would pair well with beef stew. And, of course, it did; I think it would be even more marvelous with roast beef or steak.

The wine is a bit of a sneak attack in your mouth. It starts out mellow and light-medium bodied, but then explodes on your palate with cherry fruit, and finishes with a zip. I really enjoyed it, there’s a good sweet-tart balance, and it is very drinkable alone or with food.

We had a smidge left over and I’m drinking it now, with some very dark chocolate. It’s still tasty, even a few days on, and is a marvelous match for the chocolate. It adds an almost cherry cola quality to the wine.

This bottle was a wonderful treat, and one I will definitely buy again. Maybe to go with some pot roast or spaghetti and meatballs. Yum.

Overall, I give this bottle 9/10 for taste and 4/5 for value.