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25

Apr

Pomegranate & Blueberry Cheesecake

Sean Sellers  in Dessert Wine, Chenin Blanc, Blow the Bank, Desserts , , , , , , , ,

InterWined Food
Each Friday, InterWined.com pairs one great wine with one great meal and publishes the results along with the recipe in a little feature it likes to call ‘Blow the Bank’.

This week, ‘Blow the Bank’ ends its month-long celebration of some of American cuisine’s greatest dishes from classic comfort foods to the unsung greats of American soulfood, with a decidedly European-take on a well-recognised transatlantic treat.

One word describes the 2003 Château de Fesles Bonnezeaux (12.5%) from the Loire Valley and available from Oddbins in the UK and Wine Chateau.com in the US (with numerous vintages available in Canada, New Zealand, and mainland Europe): smooth.

Made from 100% botrytis Chenin Blanc grapes, the Bonnezeaux screams smooth operator…not unlike the way Sade used to do on the radio. It has a fine golden colour with a rich, slightly creamy fresh fruit flavour with a hint of vanilla or nutmeg thrown in for good measure and makes for a stunningly attractive match to the smooth and silky mix of cream and fruit found in InterWined’s Own Pomegranate & Blueberry Cheesecake.

Pomegranate & Blueberry CheesecakeDigestive BiscuitsCheesecake BasePomegranate & Blueberry Mix

Like the hamburger and countless other “American” foods, the American cheesecake is rooted across the Atlantic in the kitchens and dinning rooms of a host of different European traditions. So what makes a cheesecake American? New Yorkers and Chicagoans might tell you it’s the baking.

But it’s not.

It’s the cream cheese. Cream cheese is a wholly American invention. Not until William Lawrence invented his now famous Philadelphia cream cheese in 1872 on his farm in New York State and its eventual owners, Kraft Foods, managed to manufacture a pasteurised version in 1912, did any cheesecakes resemble the stuff of today, whether or it was cooked as the New Yorkers and Chicagoans would recommend, or uncooked as the British and many others prefer. Before then, all cheesecakes were made the European way with a filling made of ricotta, mascarpone, quark, or Neufchatel cheeses.

Of course, that doesn’t mean that the American preference for baking doesn’t continue. Indeed, outside of perhaps only a handful of US restaurants and cities, the cooked cheesecake remains the more time-consuming norm. And while InterWined hates to pick sides in this most delicious debate (both are great!), for the sake of time and convenience, why not throw American preferences to one side and enjoy the speed and ease of a simple, smooth uncooked cheesecake, such as InterWined’s Own Pomegranate & Blueberry Cheesecake.

InterWined’s Own Recipe in Full

Pomegranate & Blueberry Cheesecake

Click on the post to view and download the recipe

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23

Jan

Weekly Whine & Cheese #3: Never Too Late to Say You’re Sorry

Sean Sellers  in White Wines, Viognier, Chenin Blanc , , ,

Despite British Invasion band The Zombies’ famous lyrics to the contrary, it’s never too late to say you’re sorry.
In fact, it’s about bloody time.
Take our first subject, Canada: We at InterWined.com have long suspected that it was the strange brew of jealousy and envy that drove the great majority of Canadians to settle within a […]

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26

Jun

Wine with Wine

Jacob Gaffney  in Red Wines, Grenache, White Wines, Chenin Blanc, Châteauneuf du Pape , , , , ,

Following the comment, InterWined gulped some 2005 Vida Organico Chenin Blanc (£7) from Argentina and can write a book about this one wine.

Atypical for a Chenin Blanc, found in white wines from the Loire Valley in France (red wines from Loire are usually 100% Cabernet Franc), the Vida Organico does not have that dry, neutral zip of a Loire, nor the chalk-like structure. Instead, it’s fatter and greasier — a bit of dry melon and kinda sweet. Best on its own: 8.4.

InterWined also sprung for a bottle of Chateauneuf du Pape. It cost £13; but, hey, it can have up to thirteen different grapes by law, so that helps catch InterWined up in its new quest to try every wine grape.

These wines — from the Rhone in France — are usually about 80 to 90 percent Grenache, which has many spellings, so the editor noted.

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