Rosé + Trendy Toast, Four Ways

Mulderbosch Cabernet Sauvignon Rosé

“This wine rains kisses in your mouth.” –Insatiable By Gael Greene

The first Wednesday of every month is Wine Wednesday! Spectacular wines under $10.00. Yep. Under $10.00. Sometimes wine is less expensive where I am, but most of the time it’s more expensive. Hopefully that means that I will pick wines that are well below the $10.00 limit for most of you.

I will post wines that I particularly like. I am no specialist by any means, but I do love wine. I know the basics of the different varietals, what regions generally produce, how wines are made, but this space is all about preference. We all like what we like, and you might like what I like too. I will post food pairings and why those pairings are suitable for the specific wine.

Mulderbosch Cabernet Sauvignon Rosé 2015

Price: $8.99

Variety: Cabernet Sauvignon

This week it feels like spring has finally sprung. There’s a shift in the air, right? I can feel it. I’m not sure if it’s the slightly longer days or the warm breezes, but it’s got me excited.

And what better way than to jump in with a chilled rosé? The perfect summer beverage in my opinion. The term #SummerWater is so fitting. Rosés are wonderful because they have some of the body of a red wine, but all of the refreshing crispness of a white wine.

Now let me be clear here—I’m not talking about blush wine. Blush wines like White Zin and pink-ish moscato are a whole different animal. Those wines tend to be extremely sweet and cloying in the back of your throat after a few sips. Now those wines have their place for easy drinking or possibly cocktail-mixing, but if you’ve never indulged in a dry rosé, you’re about to be pleasantly surprised.

When making a red wine, the color comes from long periods of time of letting the juice and skin of the grapes hang out together. The classic way of making a rosé wine is allowing the juice of the grapes to sit with the skins just long enough to tint it slightly. That allows the wine to take on characteristics of a white wine with some touch of reds.

This Mulderbosch pick in particular is a wonderful rosé. It is made with Cabernet Sauvignon grapes which is a varietal associated with big, bold reds. As such, at the front, I taste strawberry and other fruit-forward notes with a dry finish and a minerality taste throughout more characteristic in white wines. It’s bright without being too acidic. Fresh and slightly citrusy, we’ve got a body that lives up to the Cab varietal. AKA a great combo of a red and a white!

Now because rosé wine is quite closely associated with the trendy (often lady) foodie and only the best summer Instagram’s, I decided to pair it with another #basic food trend. Toast. Avocado, lemon, and all the best toppings. There’s even an egg on top of one. The magic of a good rosé is that it is robust enough to stand up to many different flavors making it perfect for endlessly customizable vehicles like toast. Also, toast is kind of the best, right?

Even better? Freshly-baked no-knead bread which is so incredibly easy to prepare (see below!). Completely hands off, you just whip it up, let it sit overnight, and pop it in the oven with minimal prep the next day. Perfect! Of course, bread fresh from the oven should only be acceptable to eat with a slather of butter and sprinkling of flaky salt, but I’ve got toast four ways here for those 99.5% of the remaining times you have bread on your cutting board.

The key to toast is to pay attention to the textures and overall combination of flavors and tastes. You need the crunch, bitterness, saltiness, creaminess, acid, etc. My favorites? Complete with their trendy-inspired nicknames:

The #baesic (bae- rather than ba- for obvious reasons): Avocado with lemon, red pepper flakes, cucumber curls, and sesame seeds. Bonus points for a splash of toasted sesame oil. The fattiness of the avocado and freshness of the cucumber tease around the acidity of the rosé while the nuttiness of the sesame complements the red wine characteristics.

The “Is butter a carb?”: Thick slathering of sweet cream butter with thinly sliced radish, a bunch of sea salt, and dill. The bite of the radish makes the finish on the wine a little dryer while the butter tames the overall “harshness.”

The “Put an egg on it”: A smear of hummus with lemon-dressed watercress and an e.v.o.o fried egg. The watercress adds wonderful bitterness to the wine rounding out the tastes while the hummus and egg add richness. The lemon brings out the citrus notes in the wine.

The spring staple: smashed peas with chopped mint and a squeeze of lemon layered on top of a healthy spread of ricotta cheese. The mint accentuates the minerality in the wine by bringing out a touch of herby-ness while the ricotta plays on the acidity of the wine in a different way than the lemon. In addition to tasting more citrus which the lemon brings to the table, you’ll notice tangier flavors from the ricotta.

And there you have it! Everything you need to ring spring in with a fabulous rosé and fresh toast combos for your trendy breakfasts and snacks.

The no-knead bread? My favorite technique is this one with a couple of notable changes. It’s rather simple, and I’ve reproduced the results many times! Also a trendy recipe, so we’re all in theme here. Ha! I’ll chat about some of the science-y aspects of no-knead bread in a future post, but just think the following: yeast + time = gluten formation = success! Oh and those changes I was talking about?

First, if you’re like me you probably don’t have instant yeast, and you don’t want to go buy it. You have those loose packets of active dry yeast hanging around in the cupboard. The easiest way to swap it out is to warm the water until just warm to the touch (around 90⁰F) and stir in a teaspoon of sugar. Sprinkle the yeast on top and let sit until fragrant and bubbling up. Then proceed as normal. That will ensure your yeast will do its job over the next 12 hours.

Second, to refrain from burning the heck out of yourself, let the dough rise a second time on top of a sheet of parchment paper. That way once the Dutch oven is preheated, you can just carefully drop it in—parchment paper and all. Voila!

Now go get this wine!