February 23rd
2008
Picture me making some dessert, shouldn't be too hard, right?! In fact, I'm making new desserts now every other day, even though the dessert section of my book was the first milestone I achieved. But that's probably of little surprise to you frequent readers, no? Yet new ideas keep inspiring me, this time around I wanted something to complement a very pure and basic panna cotta. How about a reduced, thick, spiced wine syrup? This had to be good.
A bottle of rosé wine had been hiding behind the olive oil bottles in the corner of our kitchen counter for round about a week now, and neither did I remember who put it there nor where it actually came from. But I knew exactly where it would go. In a small pot I started boiling down the rosé wine with sugar and different spices such as nutmeg, cinnamon and cloves - a fantastic aroma was roaming though our apartment within minutes. With the help of a digital timer I kept checking back every ten minutes, letting it simmer continuously over low heat. The wine was bubbling leisurely without me, that's why - after half an hour cooking time - I expanded the time frame and added another twenty minutes. Annoying bee-bee-bee-beeeeep-sounds not only kept me on my toes, but also distracted me from my new favorite CD - for a good reason, the syrup ended up having a perfect consistency and an amazing intense color, mainly amber with shades of red and orange. Carefully I poured it in a sealable glass container to let it cool down.
Whoohoo! Checking back the next morning, my flavorful spiced rosé syrup had turned into an incredible firm and sticky mass, much firmer than for example honey or golden syrup. No way you could have drizzled this elegantly over a beautifully arranged plate, it would come down as a big fat lump. Now I'm wondering: What have I done? Is there something such as wine caramel? It tastes great, I'm just not sure what to do with it!
That sounds like an interesting creation... It might be wine caramel indeed, and since it's possible to make a caramel sauce by adding water to caramel and heating it until the caramel melts, maybe you can do the same with your thick wine syrup? Or try adding butter? Or melt it in some cream and freeze it (or not)? I'm definitely looking forward to reading about your experiences.
I'm thinking fruit. Maybe ice cream. Will it drizzle if warmed? Really sounds lovely.
You can put the glass container in bain-marie (inside a pot of gently simmering water) for a few minutes, that's how I fix crystalized honey.
Good luck!
Put it on vanilla ice cream?
Warm it up before you "drizzle it" with hot water on the container it is in?
Pour and/or spread it in a silicon molds and chill it and/or freeze to make candies. Perhaps mix with dark chocolate and do this.
Add to a cookie mix and cook?
A twist on the Croqombouche with spice wine carmel instead of regular?
I don't know if any of these ideas work with the consistency.
what about incorporating it into other foods as a sweetener.
Hell, it looks good enough that I would just eat it by the spoon full!
Will it stir into hot tea? I bet that would be lovely. Or what about in the ramekin, then add flan on top, then bake in water bath.
does it taste better hot or cold? if cold, find some good goat cheese to eat with it like goat cheese and honey. If hot, try chilling it so you can cut it into cubes and then bake inside a thin pastry like xiao long bao. but then you wouldn't see the great color...
oh, or how about a variation on honey glazed walnuts?
Sounds like it would be gorgeous with figs and cheese at the right time of year...
I like the sauce for ice cream (or as a ripple through it), or how about warming the syrup through and making an orange scented biscotti type biscuit to dip into it?
That looks wunderbar!!
I would put it in the bottom of ramekins and make flan or creme caramel.
Or what about swirling it into a bunt cake batter?
I like the glazed nuts idea and definitely in hot drinks - I would try pairing it with a strong cheese, too.
Otherwise, even a few seconds in the microwave might loosen it up!
I would like to taste it on pancakes!
Your rosé was probably not a dry one. And even if it were, every wine has residual sugar (google your wine, a lot of winemakers give this info about their wines though it is not necessarily written on the label), in a rosé, which tends to be not too dry, it could be as high as 18g/l. So you really made wine caramel, congratulations! But it does look lovely. I would also suggest diluting it slightly with water (with the help of gentle heat) and than eat it with cheese, especially goat cheese. I make a spicy pepper-rosé wine chutney that we always eat with cheese, so this should go well, too.
This lovely rose syrup is exactly what we're looking for to add to an upcoming dish. Thank you for this elegantly , simple and sexy photograph!
Whatever it is what you did, it looks gorgeous!! Mmmhhh...wine caramel...might be a new culinary discovery/invention! :)
i dont think anything you do with this creation would be wrong!
This sound interest. Thinking 'bout delicious sweet candy, hope i can taste it tonight..
i think pouring some into some Greek-style yogurt (like Total brand) would be delicious. just a suggestion!
What if you warmed the caramel and spread it on the tart dough (cooked) of a lemon cream tart? If you feel like engaging in other ample steps that is.
apartment therapy - the kitchen just had an article about red wine syrup.
And if you had let the wine syrup simmer for another 30 minutes, you would have ended up with charred fluffy hardened foam. And there's absolutely nothing you could use that for. Trust me, I've tried :)
PS Thank you for the music tip - will surely check it out!
I'm loving all these comments--such inspiration here!
How about drizzled over a gorgeous blue-cheese-and-pear galette? Seems like a perfect complement.
Now I want to get a bottle of rose for my own experiments!
Can you melt it by putting it back on the stove and melting it? It sounds sooo yummy.
break it up into tiny shards (like shattered glass) and sprinkle them on ice creme?
Beautiful images, love that colour! Thanks for introducing me to a fine frenzy, I'm listening to it right now, sounds in the kitchen are so important.
Hi! The description sounds me delicious. I'm from Portugal where we have good rosé wines. Try it with cooked pears or apples it should be good.
I usully cook pears with oporto wine, cloves and cinammon. Its very good.
Hi Nicky and Oliver
I only recently stumbled on your site while searching for a good Moroccan flatbread recipe, may have not found that here but i liked what i saw, your site is very well designed and the stories i have read so far are all great.
on the syrup, when you let it cool did you put it into a fridge or let it sit out? and is it necessary to refrigerate to prevent spoiling?
On a side note i tried your foccacia recipe and it was delicious, but i had a real problem with it sticking to the glass baking dish, i've already tried oiling up the dish, maybe i should just pour it onto a baking sheet on a pan, any suggestions on that? also i noticed some variations to the recipe calling for a mix of wheat flour in the mix havent tried it yet but who knows. I used to be really close with an old Italian family back home and the mother made the best foccacia i have ever had but it's just been to long since i've had it to remember anything other than it was good...
Whenever I have a dinner party and find leftover wine in the bottles the next morning, I make a red wine syrup with cloves and orange juice or zest.
It's funny that you tried this for a panna cotta, because just a couple of days ago I made a very dark, rich red wine syrup for a nutmeg and orange panna cotta--the results (which were wonderful) are here.
Beautiful blog.
Fantastic picture! Makes me want to run to the kitchen and look for some rosé wine!
I would either warm it up and pour it over a creamy dessert, such as your panna cotta, or slice it into small pieces (if it's hard enough) and coat the pieces in bittersweet chocolate, almost like a truffle.
Maybe saute some fresh fruits with it and serve it with ice cream?
I'm thinking it would be good as the base of a flan rather than the typical carmel.
Why did you give up your panna cotta idea?
Use it as a creme caramel panna cotta: leave the syrup in the bowl and just add your panna cotta stuff. Let it get hard and reverse it!
Wouldn't that be nice, too?
Can you turn it into an ice cream? Or an accompaniment for cheese?