The Winebuff Blog

Archive for December, 2011

A hot one…Jalapeño Cranberry Sauce

Dec
11
2011

A Christmas dinner with turkey is just not complete without a good dollop of cranberry sauce. Tom and Linda from the Wine Buff Sligo have added a tex mex slant to one of our favourite sauces. The jalapeño, cardamom and cloves bring out the special depth of flavours from the cranberries.

Ingredients

Roasted Cranberry Sauce
1 orange
1 lb. fresh or thawed cranberries
1 cup sugar
2 tbsp. extra-virgin olive oil
1 tsp. salt
4 green cardamom pods, crushed
4 whole cloves
2 sticks cinnamon
1 small jalapeño, stemmed and thinly sliced
1 1/2 tbsp. port

Heat oven to 180°. Using a peeler, remove peel from the orange, taking off as little of the white pith as possible. Cut peel into very thin strips about 1 to 2″ long. Squeeze juice from the orange; strain and put aside one 1 tbsp. of juice.

In a bowl, combine peel, cranberries, sugar, olive oil, salt, cardamom pods, cloves, cinnamon, and jalapeños. Toss and transfer to a parchment paper–lined baking sheet. Roast in the oven until cranberries begin to burst and release their juices, about 15 minutes should be enough.

Transfer the cranberry mixture to a bowl; stir in put aside orange juice and port. Let sit for at least 1 hour so that the flavours are infused. Remove and discard cardamom, cloves, and cinnamon before serving.

Christmas……Sweetie’s

Dec
07
2011

Curiously, Christmas pudding (plum pudding) was a latecomer to Ireland, but it caught on quickly and to this day it’s one of the most traditional of all Christmas dessert dishes.

While some still prefer home cooked puddings, ready-made and cooked puddings are now available. Higher quality shops such as Nash 19 in Cork offer Christmas puddings comparable to homemade, without the hours of your work and preparation.

For a nation that love our sweet chocs after dinner, we surprisingly don’t make much of dessert wines, we often stick with whatever we were sipping with our main course, despite the fact that a thick-set red isn’t remotely the right partner for pudding or the sweet tasting delights.

Clear the decks, and away with your red… The sweet wines are coming!

We did a wee taste preview last night of a Christmas pudding from Nash 19 in Cork, the recipe was handed down to Clare from her grandmother, which we matched to four of our favourite Wine Buff dessert tipples.

Up first, was the 2005 Loupiac-Gaudiet a sweet wine from Bordeaux, best to add fresh cream to the pudding this brought out the best in the Loupiac, great taste of honey and caramel.

Second was the 2004 Tokaj Classic 3 puttonyos from Hungary, a concentrated wine with apricot and pineapple flavours, an excellent balance between sweetness and acidity and a perfect match for the rich pudding.

Next up was the Reserve Port from Van Zeller, young ports really cope where other dessert wine falter, try it lightly chilled, it was rich and robust with the pudding and if you have overdone the Christmas dinner its great with a couple of mince pies.

And finally we drank the Dios Baco Pedro Ximenez sherry, this is sweet syrup, liquid raisins and figs, in a glass, almost two sweet for the pudding, amazing with vanilla ice-cream and a huge favourite for those with a sweet sweet tooth.

Clare is keeping the original recipe a family secret.

Ingredients  

Peter Ward Fruits, Sugar, Eggs, Nuts, Spices, Salt, Brandy, Rum, Flour.