Rosé

Kara and I are not really wine connoisseurs. We understand the basic differences between varietals, enjoy wine tastings, and can recognize a really good wine, but for our tastebuds, it can often boil down to red, white, and her favorite… ROSÉ.

When we saw an episode of Ayesha Curry’s show that was based all around rosé wine and featured lemon, raspberries, and capers—many of Kara’s faves—I had to do the whole menu.

An interesting tidbit about rosé is that it is most likely the earliest type of wine ever made (the earliest evidence is from around 7000 BCE). I’m paraphrasing here, but aside from the type of grape, wine gets much of its color and flavor from the amount of time it spends with the skins of the grapes. Pull the skins out early and you have a white, leave them in and you get a rosé, use darker grapes and other processes with the skins to get a red. In the early days, they didn’t quite have the techniques down well enough to make what we now consider red or white, so the first wines were probably rosés. It’s a much different process now, and that was a very basic overview, but I find it interesting.

Roasted Pepper and Goat Cheese Bruschetta

A fantastic appetizer—and one we plan to keep in the books—the name pretty much describes it, but the bell peppers are marinated in a simple but tasty sauce. These things are good!

Rosé Lemon Caper Salmon + Cauliflower Rice

You guys know I've got my salmon cooking technique on lock, and this is just a new treatment with the herb sauce- reduced rosé wine with capers and parsley. The cauliflower “rice” consists of cauliflower that has been pulsed in a food processor until it’s about the same size as rice, then sautéed with green onions and thyme and other spices. It doesn’t really taste like rice, but it is very good.

Lemon Olive Oil Cake

I am not a dessert guy, but this just sounded too much up Kara’s alley to pass on. Yellow cake with lots of lemon zest, using olive oil instead of vegetable, and for the frosting, which is usually confectioner’s sugar and water, I subbed fresh lemon juice rather than water. Topped with raspberries. Pretty yummy, even for a guy who doesn’t like desserts.

Rosé Spritzer

And of course you have to have rosé wine with the meal. We mostly drank plain rosé, but we tried this spritzer which is half rosé and half sparkling lemon water, garnished with raspberries and a gently rubbed sprig of thyme. It’s a unique experience when you catch the thyme in the aftertaste of this beverage.