Cherry Tart - easy to complex

With Valentines Day only a few short weeks away its time to start thinking about what to serve for your most romantic evening. Unlike most romantic meals Valentine's Day is the one event where what you serve for a main course is rather irrelevant....what matters is desert. Most years I like to go with something that involves chocolate. This year however I have created two cherry desserts..one easy for last minute occasions and one that takes at least one day of advanced preperation. We start with the easy and move to the complex....like life more or less.

Cherry Tart – From canned cherries
Base Ingrédient: Don Quixote Mon Chérie Cherry Port

This is a quick an easy dessert that looks elegant and shouts romance with every bite. It adds an element of sophistication and guys...we all can benefit from any help we can get in appearing sophisticated. Serves 8.

Ingredients
3 cups – Canned red sour cherries
5 oz – Mon Cherie Cherry Port
3 oz – Cherry syrup from can
3 oz – Cream cheese (1 package)
1 Tbs – Cream or milk
3 Tbs – Sugar
1.5 Tbs – Cornstarch
Pinch of salt
Pinch of cinnamon
8 baked tart shells (can purchase but freshly made is better)
Whipped cream (from heavy cream is best but Cool Whip works)

Mix sugar, cornstarch, cinnamon, and salt in a saucepan. Stir in Port until dry ingredients are dissolved then stir in syrup until smooth. Over medium heat continually stir mixture until it thickens. Remove from heat and mash in cream cheese. Blend in milk until smooth. Spread evenly in bottom of tart shells using 1/3rd of mixture. Distribute cherries into the tart shells and pour remaining sauce on top. You can either serve warm or put in fridge to cool. Top with whipped cream prior to serving.


Now for the more complex...but like all things in life, the effort is rewarded.

Cherry Tart – From fresh cherries
Base Ingrédients: Don Quixote Mon Chérie Cherry Brandy
Don Quixote Mon Chérie Cherry Port

An elegant desert that adds sophistication and charm to any social event or romantic evening. Requires one day of advanced planning to prepare fresh cherries. If you are in a hurry, see recipe above…won’t be as good though. Serves 8.

Ingredients
3 cups – Fresh sweet cherries
4 oz – Mon Chérie Cherry Brandy
4 oz – Mon Chérie Cherry Port
3 oz – Cream cheese (1 package)
1 Tbs – Cream or milk
4 Tbs – Sugar
1.5 Tbs – Cornstarch
Pinch of salt
Pinch of cinnamon
8 baked tart shells (can purchase but freshly made is better)
Whipped cream (from heavy cream is best but Cool Whip works)

24 hours prior to serving begin soaking fresh cherries. Clean, de-stem, and pit cherries. Cut into halves and place in medium sized bowl (you can also use an empty wine or spirits bottle). Add brandy and port to cherries. Cover and let soak for 24 hours.

After marinating, drain juice from fruit. Mix sugar, cornstarch, cinnamon, and salt with juice in a saucepan until smooth. Over medium heat continually stir mixture until it thickens. Remove from heat and mash in cream cheese. Blend in milk until smooth. Spread evenly in bottom of tart shells using 1/3rd of mixture. Distribute cherries into the tart shells and pour remaining sauce on top. You can either serve warm or put in fridge to cool. Top with whipped cream prior to serving.

To make an elegant before dinner apertif or after dinner digestive. Double the amount of brandy and port used to marinate the cherries and use the extra 8 oz of marinated liquid for a champagne apertif or an after dinner drink served at room temperature.

Ginseng Extract

We are taking a week in Vegas for several reason; we need to buy stuff for our tasting room, we need to meet with our distributor, I plan to find an old Chinese herbalist and learn to make ginseng extract, and perhaps most important, we need to unwind...and as we all know and value, what happens in Vegas.....

Yesterday I found an old Chinese gentleman willing to talk to me about ginseng. I learned a bit on the formula for making extract. It is complex...and varies greatly depending on what root you use and how old the root is. Red ginseng from Korea with a root six years old is best...it can cost over $120 per ounce though. American or white ginseng is far cheaper. To compare red and white ginseng is not really fair since they have a different effect on the body.

Like everything at Don Quixote, we use the best ingredients and have already found a supplier for organic red ginseng roots. Red ginseng is the best panax root. Panax is an ancient Greek word for "cure all". Red ginseng speeds up the body system while white ginseng slows things down. Both help with stress and men's virility. Both help reduce sugar levels in blood, help stimulate brain efficiency, and help remove toxins from the body. White ginseng is native to Northern America and Southern Canada.

Making ginseng extract is far more complicated than vanilla extract. To make vanilla extract you literally simply soak vanilla beans in spirits wait three months and are done. While I won't reveal the recipes I am learning, it involves a more elaborate process.

The first matter we have to resolve is will we produce a pure extract at 35% alc. like our vanilla extract that is meant to be diluted when used or will we make a ginseng wine that is flavored to be drinkable without dilution. The ginseng wine would be much lower in alc....probably around 9% alc. If we make a wine, the issue becomes what the wine should taste like....hum...

Echos

I saw the echo.
First as Coyote’s laughter
bouncing off empty canyons like cascading memories
of all those things that should have been.
Then as you…

Blue Moon

Blue Moons are very rare, only once every 19 years. A blue moon over Don Quixote Distillery rises over the Sangre de Cristo mountains. Our deep clear sky magnify the effect almost making you feel a sense of lunar presence. This cocktail is an elegant looking fruity flavored treat for those once in a Blue Moon occasions.

Blue Moon
2 oz - Don Quixote Blue Corn Vodka
1 oz – Grand Marnier
2 tsp blue Curacao
cracked ice

Mix vodka and other ingredients with cracked ice in a shaker or glass until
chilled. Strain into cocktail glass. Serves 2.

Grand Marnier can be substituted with Contreau or even Triple Sec but the resulting cocktail will lose some of its sophisticated elegance.

History of the Cocktail

Did you know the cocktail is an American invention? It was officially invented in New York in 1808. The first cocktail recipe called for (sugar + water + bitters + spirits). Ironically, in that same year, the American Temperance Society was formed. Before it was over, the ATS had a huge influence on American culture, politics, and even the election of presidents. In many respects America has never fully recovered from the damage the ATS imposed...just look at how lobbyist and special interests control our entire political process today.

As I write my blog, I will pass along various cocktail recipes. You will be able to find them all on my website. Today's cocktail is named after the New Mexico state bird and is called the "Road Runner". Like our roadrunners darting in and around the high dessert brush, this gin based elixir is stealth and illusive, but goes a long way toward quenching an insatiable thirst.

Road Runner
4 oz - Don Quixote Gin
1 oz - dry vermouth
1 oz - Pernod (or other licorice or anise flavored liqueur)
2 tsp grenadine
cracked ice

Shake gin and other ingredients with cracked ice until chilled.
Recommend serving in a wine glass. Serves 2.

Pernod can be substituted with Spanish Ojen, Greek Ouzo, or French Ricard. These are all types of a liqueur called "pastis" which are best known for their thirst-quenching ability. Pernod was created by Henri Pernod in 1915 after Absinthe was outlawed. This liqueur is basically absinthe without wormwood and like absinthe, clouds up when mixed with water. After a hard day in the hot dry heat, this is just the companion for that relaxing period between early evening and sunset.

Wine Club Kicks Off

The Don Quixote wine club provides a way for members to automatically receive bottles of our wines and port on a monthly basis. Members also enjoy other benefits such as free tastings in our show room and 10% all wine and merchandise purchases in our show room.

In addition, members receive a monthly newsletter filled with wine tasting tips, cooking and cocktail recipes, and information about what is happening at both the winery and distillery. Members also can place orders for wine over the phone and receive a 10% discount.

Each month two Don Quixote wines will be sent to you at the members discount price. We currently offer 9 table wines, 3 fruit wines, 1 herbal wine, and 5 ports. This spring 4 new table wines will be introduced. As a new member you will receive a complementary bottle of our vanilla extract with your first month's wines (a $15.00 value).

Beauty Defined

Here’s what I’ve learned about a woman’s beauty...
Truly beautiful women are like a memorable wine,
not defined by lineage or outward appearance,
but by the charm of their presentation
and the simultaneous way they are approachable
while being mysteriously aloof.

New Year's

Today I am thinking about all the men from
last night’s Casino ballroom sitting
across the breakfast table from the woman they love
thinking about the hot Latina lady from last night
and how her way-short skirt rose to intoxicating heights
as she reached
for her New Year’s glass of champagne.