Movie Menu Theme Night: Bella Martha

Before there was No Reservations (not the Anthony Bourdain series, but the CZJ/Aaron Eckhart movie), there was Bella Martha, a beautiful German film featuring the passionate and beautiful Martina Gedeck and Sergio Castellitto. One of the most intelligent and inspiring cooking movies I've seen, Bella Martha tells the story of chef Martha, who is so focused on her cooking and her restaurant that she has totally lost herself in food. The relationships that she develops with her niece and with a new Italian colleague, Mario (played by Sergio Castellitto), restore her passion for life and love beyond the kitchen.

In one romantic and sensuous scene Mario blindfolds Martha and feeds her unexpected and amazing gourmet treats. Queue my idea for how to convert this movie into a romantic dinner for a couple:

Ingredients:
A soft bandana or scarf large enough to be used as a blindfold
Romantic music (you could even go so far as to play the soundtrack from the movie)
And finally, you should each shop secretly for some gourmet surprises to share with your loved one

Directions:
Pick some extravagant delights to feed to your significant other, like dark chocolate, cheese, strawberries, slices of mango and other sensuous fruits, and perhaps some pate if he or she isn't generally opposed to that kind of treat. Be creative, but remember that your loved one won't appreciate your efforts as much if you use the blindfolding as an opportunity to force feed him or her things that they've never tried before and probably won't like (I know my fiancee would gag if I fed him pate).

Take turns blindfolding and feeding each other. The flavors and fragrances of the foods that you share will be even more intense when you don't have your other senses to rely on.

Style footnote: I love the way Martha pairs red and purple in one of her outfits toward the end of the movie. I can't remember if it's an eggplant top and a red skirt or a red top and an eggplant skirt, but either way, the colors are brilliant together and perfect for celebrating this fall's jewel-tone trend.

Tina Nordström's Culinary Tour of Sweden

I first fell in love with Tina Nordström's cooking 2 years ago when I found her show, New Scandinavian Cooking, on public television. In this series Tina travels all over Sweden, preparing regional foods while she travels, and often cooking outdoors against the stunning backdrop of the Swedish countryside.

Tina's recipes are simple and elegant, and feature ingredients that we don't often use in the US (but should!), like cloudberries, elderflower, herring, fennel and vodka.

Although the show no longer airs in my area, you can purchase the DVD of all of Tina's episodes on the show's website, as well as her cookbook, A Culinary Tour of Sweden. Most of the recipes from her shows are also listed on the website, including her recipes for Dill Schnapps, Cloudberry Zabaglione and Royal Swedish Meatballs.

If you ever happen to see New Scandinavian Cooking pop up while you're channel surfing, check it out... Tina will win you over with her amazing smile in mere moments!

Amazing Modern Kitchen Designs

A few weeks ago I saw an HGTV special on the 10 Most Amazing Kitchens, and I have been thinking about one of them ever since. While all of the kitchens were stunning and I would die to cook in any of them, the one that really won me over was the minimalist kitchen. Its simple design is so chic; it is totally modern without being unfriendly and unwelcoming.

Complete with custom La Cornue appliances, elegantly arched fixtures, limestone floors that are warmed with radiant heat, and gently illuminated white onyx counters (1,600 led lights make these glow with minimal energy expense), and a custom made ceiling centerpiece, this kitchen is designed to dazzle.

Designed by Amy Finley for her own home, this San Diego kitchen is truly an inspiration.

A Peach for Your Thoughts?

Our neighbors were skeptical when my dad planted a peach tree in our front yard in Bangor, ME. They didn't think there was any way he would be successful in growing anything edible... the dirt wasn't that good, and let's face it, the climate up there is pretty different from the normal peach climate. Well, my dad is an amazing gardener. He makes dirt (he's an expert composter!) that plants crave and thrive on, and after a visit home this weekend my brother tells me that we now have a beautiful tree covered with juicy peaches... in central Maine!

Even if you don't have your own peach tree, there are loads of peaches at the local farmer's markets and grocery stores, and they're begging to be eaten. I'm usually a peach purist, and just love the velvety goodness of a juicy peach in my paw, but recently I've found some new ideas for peaches that I'm dying to try. Do fresh peach bellinis and peaches wrapped in bacon sound good to you? They do to me!

Emily's Fresh Peach Bellini

Peach Puree Ingredients:
6-8 large, juicy peaches (buy local peaches from your farmer's market for the best results)
1/2 lemon
1/4 c. sugar

Peel and slice the peaches and put them in the bowl of a food processor. Pulse until you have a fine puree with no lumps. Squeeze half the lemon (remove all of the seeds first!) into the processor and add the sugar. Pulse again and then have a little taste. Depending on the sweetness or tartness of your peaches, you may need a little less sugar or lemon juice. You should end up with a very peachy, sweet and a little bit tart puree that is perfect for mixing into cocktails.

Combine 1 part peach puree with 3 parts champagne, and give the mixture one stir for good measure. I like adding a little St. Germain liqeur for a different twist, and garnishing with a lemon twist or a slice of peach. Delish!

Pancetta-Wrapped Peaches
Food & Wine Magazine, July 2008

This recipe from Stuart Brozia of San Francisco's Rubicon restaurant can be used as a unique addition to a summer salad, or as a delicious hors d'ouevre.

Ingredients

16 thin slices of pancetta
2 medium freestone peaches—halved, pitted and cut into 8 wedges each
Salt and freshly ground pepper
16 basil leaves
1 tablespoon olive oil
Aged balsamic vinegar, for drizzling

Directions

Place the pancetta slices on a work surface. Position a peach wedge at the edge of each piece of pancetta and place a leaf of basil on top of each one. Season with a little salt and pepper and then roll up the pancetta around the peaches. Heat the olive oil in a heavy skillet over medium heat. Add the peach and pancetta bundles and cook until the pancetta is crispy on brown, flipping every minute or so to make sure they cook evenly. Don't overcrowd your pan and do small batches until all of your peaches are cooked. If you like, drizzle with some good balsamic vinegar before serving.

For more details on this recipe and some other great peach recipe ideas, check out the peach slideshow on the Food & Wine website, like arborio rice pudding with peaches and churros... I can't wait to try that one too!

Movie Menu Theme Night: Big Night

Big Night is one of my favorite movies, if not for the amazing food, then maybe for the fact that it's the kind of ensemble cast movie where you find a young, gaunt Marc Anthony playing a dishwasher/busboy with hardly any lines. You quickly end up rooting for the two protagonists, brothers and restauranteurs Primo and Secondo (imagine naming your children First and Second...), as they struggle to keep their restaurant alive in an American town that just doesn't seem to appreciate their authentic Italian recipes.

Without a penny to spare, they decide to put everything they have left into one last big meal. They invite the local press, all of their friends and Louis Prima, and prepare an extravagant meal that their guests would remember for a lifetime. You'll have to watch the movie yourself to find out what happens on their Big Night, but I recommend doing it with some good Italian home-cooking, good friends, and a lot of robust red wine.

To create your own Big Night feast, invite a group of your most passionate friends -- 8-10 people would be perfect. Prepare a playlist for your evening with classics by Louis Prima, Tony Bennett, Dean Martin and Frank Sinatra. Have your guests bring a bottle of Chianti or Sangiovese and you'll have plenty of wine to keep the party going well into the evening. To add extra oomph to your theme night, you could impose a gentle dress code based on the still shot from the movie above --- floral dresses, coiffed hair and red lipstick for the ladies (Minnie Driver and Isabella Rosellini are so glamorous in this movie!) and jackets and slicked hair for the gents.

For your menu, pick some easy Italian dishes that you can prepare ahead of time. One of the brilliant things about the menu that Primo and Secondo served was that their main course was prepped well in advance, so both brothers could enjoy the evening with their guests. Bruschetta and antipasto are easy to prepare as your starter, and even doing something as simple as a lasagna (you can dress it up a little and make it even more special by making a white lasagna) will be a satisfying and easy accompaniment to this movie. If you are very brave, you could timpano. The recipe calls for layers of prosciutto, pasta, meatballs, cheese, bechamel, and the result looks exactly like it sounds: like a large drum of Italian deliciousness. Try it with this timpano recipe from Mario Batali.

Serving simple affogato is a great way to end the evening. Just put a scoop of your favorite gelato in a heat-proof glass (I would recommend chocolate or hazelnut gelato), drown it in coffee, and top with a generous dollop of whipped cream. It's a nice sweet treat to end the evening, very easy, and the caffeine will help keep the fun going for a few hours of dancing to your playlist of Italian crooners late into the night.

I'd love to hear how your Big Night theme party turns out!

Cupcake Craze!

I've never needed much inspiration to bake or eat a whole batch of cupcakes... in fact, I must confess that I've always been a bit cupcake crazy. Now I'm not alone! Celebrities are going wild for sugary designer cupcakes and charming cupcake boutiques are popping up from coast to coast. To celebrate this 2008 cupcake craze, I wanted to recognize a few of the celebrity favorites that started the new cupcake buzz.

Magnolia Bakery, NYC

Since 1996 Magnolia Bakery has been serving up sweet, buttercream-topped confections to Manhattanites and tourists alike. The Magnolia cupcakes are so popular that customers are limited to only a dozen per person.

Magnolia was started by Allysa Torey and Jennifer Appel with a mission to make breads. After a week of struggling to make bread without enough time, hands and space, Allysa opted to start whipping up cakes instead. When they had extra batter from the small 6" cakes, they started making cupcakes instead of letting it go to waste. The pink-frosted vanilla cupcakes soon became one of Allysa's most popular creations, and as word of mouth broadcast the tastiness of Magnolia's treats, the cupcake craze began.

Torey and Appel wrote a best-selling cookbook together called The Magnolia Bakery Cookbook: Old-Fashioned Recipe's from New York's Sweetest Bakery before parting ways in 2000, when Jennifer started her own Buttercup Bake Shop in Midtown Manhattan.

Further fueling Magnolia's popularity, it was featured in an episode of Sex and the City, as well as a widely circulated SNL short called Lazy Sunday with Chris Parnell and Andy Samberg.

Sprinkles, Beverly Hills
I have been hearing about Sprinkles Cupcakes everywhere lately. It's in US Weekly, it's on E!, it is on Oprah, the Martha Stewart Show... it seems that every time I turn on the TV there's a gorgeous Sprinkles cupcake to haunt me!

It's no wonder... the designer cupcakes by Sprinkles are wildly popular with celebrities, and now the cupcake boutique has become more of a chain, with locations from Beverly Hills to Houston, and with more locations planned to open soon reaching all the way to the East coast, and even to Boston (yay!).

If you don't live near a Sprinkles, Sprinkles can come to you. Now you can order their cupcake mix from Williams-Sonoma and bake up your own batch of cupcakes in your very own kitchen. Williams-Sonoma offers Sprinkles' chocolate, vanilla, lemon and devil's food cake mixes so you can make a whole collection of these celeb favorites for your next birthday party. Hey, if they're good enough for Katie to give to Tom, and Bridget to get for Heff and Holly's anniversary, then they're good enough for anyone!

Bento-Style Lunchboxes for Back to School

Whether you're heading back to school or just trying to save money or eat healthy by bringing lunch from home rather than buying the latest sandwich creation from Au Bon Pain, a bento-style lunchbox is a great option for packing an assortment of lunch items in one easy package.

Similar in concept to the traditional Japanese bento box, this clever lunch box (a.k.a. lunch jar) by Zojirushi features 4 stacking dishes that fit inside an insulated canister. The container includes the most efficient innovation in dining utensils to date -- the spork. The whole thing packs neatly into a black travel bag. Thanks to Zojirushi, it's never been easier for an apronista-on-the-go to pack a chic, 4 course bag lunch!

Marc Jacobs Stemware

Waterford Crystal recently added a collection by one of fashion's favorite designers to their portfolio. Bringing his unique design flair to traditional Waterford crystal, Marc Jacobs has created a new collection of show-stopping stemware and dinner plates that even the most sensible gentlewoman would lust after. A graduate of the Parsons School of Design, Marc Jacobs rapidly rose to the top of the fashion world and now holds an esteemed role as the design mastermind behind Louis Vuitton's ready-to-wear line, and has built a new fashion empire under his own labels, Marc Jacobs and Marc by Marc Jacobs.

My favorite addition to the Waterford collection is the Marc Jacobs Robert Stemware, which features a gorgeous argyle-like pattern of facets that throw mirrorball patterns of light across the table.

Even more lovely, though less practical, are the Clare glass flowers. Every apronista in-the-know will soon be swooning for a bouquet of sparkly, eternally blooming crystal irises, Queen Anne's lace and poppies by Marc Jacobs!

Flirty, Girly Jessie Steele Aprons

I think that the aprons a cook chooses to wear in the kitchen say as much about her personal cooking style as a signature dish. A simple, solid Williams-Sonoma apron may reveal a cook's preference for classic dishes or focus on pure, simple ingredients. On the other hand, a flashy, patterned apron may reveal a cook's flair for creative flavor combinations and fusion cooking. My apron style (and cooking style) is somewhere in the middle, or oscillating between the two. Compromises like the floral Williams-Sonoma classic or the ruffled creations from Anthropologie have been my favorites to-date, and now I'm adding a new apron to my kitchen closet -- a hostess apron from Jessie Steele. Jessie Steele's aprons have a sweet sophistication, thanks to her attention to details like tiny bows, cute pockets and delicate patterns. The French hostess apron at Sur la Table (below) is the best of both worlds.

Movie Menu Theme Night: Waitress

This little movie has so much heart, it has to be shared. What better way to enjoy it than with a group of girlfriends, some pie crust and a pantry of ingredients to make your very own passionate, personalized pies, like Jenna's I Hate My Husband Pie: “You take bittersweet chocolate and don’t sweeten it. You make it into a pudding and drown it in caramel..."

Invite three of your closest friends to a Waitress Pie Party (more than 4 people total and you may not be able to fit all of the pies in the oven). At the store, gather a bunch of ingredients like fresh berries, chocolate, instant puddings, chocolate, caramel and butterscotch sauce, marshmallows, dried fruits, nuts... whatever strikes your fancy! If you don't have enough pie pans for everyone, buy a few of the aluminum pans at the store as well, or, if you plan ahead, you could instead use this as an excuse to buy some mini pie pans for you to keep and reuse later.

For a simpler variation on the same movie theme, you can use one of Jenna's recipes. I like the sound of the "Mermaid Marshmallow Pie". I found a recipe by the same name on RecipeCircus.com that sounds very easy to make and eat!

Marshmallow Mermaid Pie

9 graham crackers
1/2 C. sweetened, flaked coconut, toasted
5 Tbs. butter, melted
34 lg. marshmallows (8 oz.)
1/2 C. whole milk
1 1/2 C. heavy or whipping cream
1 oz. unsweetened chocolate, grated


Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Combine coconut and graham crackers in food processor until coarse crumbs form. Combine crumbs and butter with fork. Press to bottom and side of 9-inch pie plate. Bake 10 minutes and cool on wire rack. Heat marshmallows and milk in 3-qt. saucepan over low heat until smooth, stirring constantly. Remove saucepan from heat. Cool completely (30 minutes.) In large bowl with mixer at medium speed, beat cream until stiff peaks form. Fold marshmallow mixture into whipped cream with grated chocolate. Spoon filling into cooled crust. Refrigerate pie at least 3 hours or overnight. Top with mini marshmallows.

As a favor for your guests and for another fun project to tackle while you're enjoying the movie, get a plain apron for everyone to decorate themselves and take home.

Have fun! I'd love to hear how your Waitress Pie Party turns out!

Mojito Heroes

At this point the mojito trend has made it even to the most distant outposts of society. Not quite trendy in the city anymore, but still popular, every restaurant around is trying to reinvent the cocktail with their own unique twist. Even mango and raspberry mojitos now border on passé, but if you're a mojito-lover, have no fear -- here are a few new variations on mojito that will surely prevent this drink from going the way of the cosmo:

Kumquat Mojito
(from Food and Wine, June 2008)

Ingredients

20 kumquats ( 1/2 pound), halved lengthwise
1 cup mint leaves
One 10-ounce can frozen orange juice concentrate, thawed
1 3/4 cups white rum
1 quart club soda
1 large lime, cut into wedges

Directions

In a large pitcher, combine the halved kumquats and mint leaves. Using a large wooden spoon, vigorously muddle the mixture. Pour in the juice concentrate, rum and club soda and squeeze in the lime wedges. Fill the pitcher with ice and serve.

Kumquats can be found in the specialty fruits section of most grocery stores, and they are eaten whole -- no peeling necessary. They're delicious on their own, and make beautiful cocktail garnishes as well!

Cherry Mojitos
(Martha Stewart Living, May 2007)

This recipe features vodka, rather than the usual rum.

Ingredients

1 1/4 cups sugar
1 1/4 cups fresh lime juice (about 9 limes)
3 pounds dark cherries, such as Bing, pitted (a cherry pitter isn't necessary, but it makes the process a lot more pleasant!)
1/4 cups black cherry vodka (like Effen Cherry vodka)
1 (750 ml) bottle sparkling water

Directions

Bring sugar and 1 1/4 cups water to a boil in a small saucepan, stirring until sugar has dissolved. Remove from heat; let cool completely. (Makes about 2 cups syrup.) Syrup can be refrigerated in an airtight container up to 1 month.

Put lime juice into a medium bowl. Halve 2/3 of the cherries; add all cherries to lime juice. Stir in syrup. Refrigerate at least 1 hour (up to overnight). Stir cherry mixture and vodka in a large serving bowl. Fill 12 glasses with ice. Spoon 1/2 cup cherry-vodka mixture into each glass. Top with sparkling water; serve immediately.

Do you have another favorite mojito ingredient? I've tasted watermelon, coconut, green tea and blackberry mojitos and they're all delicious. Pretty much any fruit will work, so try making up your own mojito and please let me know how it turns out!

Gadget of the Week: Prepara "Herb-Savor"

Why grocery store herbs come in such enormous bunches is a mystery to me. I never use them up fast enough, and then feel guilty about wasting the excess... I have actually hunted recipes so that I can use up the rest of my cilantro. It's not a big problem - zucchini, potato and cilantro soup is pretty delicious - but I'd rather save the leftovers to be used for the next time I'm making my own guac or salsa.

Until I have enough counter space for an AeroGarden, this little gadget might just save the day: the Prepara "Herb-Savor" from Sur la Table. The product's claim is that it can prolong the life of cut herbs for up to three weeks. You fill the bottom part with water and store it in the fridge. Sounds like it's worth a try!

P.Y.O. Strawberry Rhubarb Pie

Nothing kicks off Summer like getting up early in the morning and going to pick your own strawberries. There's something so romantic about gathering the berries, hot and juicy in the morning sunshine, and then bringing them home to make a fluffy shortcake or tart strawberry rhubarb pie.

It was a tradition in my family to get up at 5:00 am on strawberry-season mornings in late June to be among the first pickers in the field. Even in Northern Maine it was a race to get into the fields first and pick the ripest berries -- on those June mornings you might even see "traffic" on the dirt roads to the best berry farms. We'd all come home with berry-stained shirts, but nobody was as much of a berry fiend as my little brother -- he'd plop down in a corner of the field and eat every berry in sight. The farmer made idle threats that she should start weighing him before and after letting him onto the field so she could charge my mom for the difference.

Berry-picking season is just getting started in the Boston area and will last for a couple of weeks, so you have plenty of time to get out to the closest farm and pick your own sun-riped berries. If you can manage to restrain yourself enough and not eat all of your berries on the way home from the farm, try my mom's amazing strawberry rhubarb pie recipe below.

Strawberry Rhubarb Pie

Pastry Dough Ingredients:
1 stick (1/2 cup) plus 1 tablespoon cold butter (no substitute) cut in pieces
1 1/4 cups flour
1/4 cup confectioner's sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 to 5 tablespoons ice water

Filling Ingredients:
4 cups rhubarb, trimmed and cut in 1/2" chunks
2 cups stemmed, halved strawberries
3/4 cups sugar
1/3 cup cornstarch

Pie Crust Pastry Directions:
In a food processor whirl the butter, flour, sugar, and salt until you have fine crumbs. Add 4 tablespoons of ice water and whirl. If it does not form a ball, add one more tablespoon of ice water. You may need more or less depending on humidity, so add the water gradually. Do not process any longer than necessary for a tender crust. Roll dough on a heavily floured board to fit your pie plate for one bottom crust and one top crust. Place the crust in a deep dish pie plate and fill.

Filling Directions:
Mix all ingredients and pour into the crust.

Pie Assembly & Baking:
Place the top crust over the filling and pinch the edges of the pie to seal the crusts together. For a shiny, sparkly finish (not necessary, but a good portion of being a true apronista is in the presentation), use a pastry brush to brush on a tablespoon of milk, and then sprinkle with granulated sugar. Protect the crust with a ring of aluminum foil or a crust protector. Place the crust protector over the pie. Bake in a 375 degree oven for 25 minutes. Remove the pie crust protector and bake another 30 minutes or until the filling is bubbling around the edges and the crust is golden.

Variation:
Instead of using two pastry crusts, substitute the top crust with a buttery streusel topping. We recommend using only 3/4 cups of sugar in the pie filling if you use the streusel crust.

Streusel Topping:
3/4 cups flour
3/4 cups brown sugar
4 tablespoons butter
1 teaspoon cinnamon

Add all ingredients to the food processor bowl and whirl to fine crumb. Gently pour over the filling and pat gently. Follow standard recipe baking instructions.

Boston.com recently featured a great list of P.Y.O. berry farms in the Boston area. Check out the list and the recipe, and let me know how your pie(s) turn out!

Wear Your Passion for Cooking!

If you love cooking and fun, unique jewelry, then you might fall in love with these little jewelry items as much as I did. Yes, they might make you feel a little bit like Ms. Frizzle (a children's book character who had the perfect outfit and earrings for every field trip, see link for her outerspace field trip attire), but they're so charming!





I love the whisk earrings on the left. They remind me of a beloved pair of earrings I had when I was in college that looked like tiny paint tubes.



For a guy who really loves breakfast, and I mean really, REALLY loves breakfast, these cute little bacon and eggs cufflinks just might be a perfect gift. However, my dad really likes breakfast and I know he would be horrified if I showed up with these as his Father's Day gift (and even more so if I told him that they are $300 at Barney's!).

Top Chef Finale: Who will win and what will Padma wear?

Even the most vapid reality show premise can usually muster some addictive drama. Top Chef goes well beyond that, adding real fire and spice to the entertainment. This season in particular has been especially fierce, and of course the most melodramatic character (Lisa) has managed to make it into the very last episode, even though she's been in the bottom two week after week. Like Jade from ANTM Cycle 6, she just won't go away!

Thankfully my favorite is still in the running, and I'm hoping that Stephanie will pull through with a well-deserved victory tonight. She has the best attitude and the best dishes, but Richard has contributed the favorite recipes in the past couple of episodes, so it's still anyone's game.

Stephanie made reality TV history when she actually avoided drama by trying to pair her competitors with the castoffs that she thought they would work well with. Can you imagine a combo of Dale and Lisa? Dale and Stephanie are actually friends from before the show began and except for his mistake of leaving porkbelly out overnight in Finale Part 1, I think Dale will be an asset to Stephanie in the home stretch.

I will definitely be tuning in this evening to see what happens, and to see what the fabulous apronista-of-the-moment, Padma Lakshmi, will be wearing. She has a keen eye for delicious dresses and accessories, like the gorgeous sundress she's wearing on the right.

Which Top Chef finalist would you like to see win tonight? Did Richard's sweetbread dish knock your socks off? Did Lisa's tostones make you run right out to Whole Foods for some plaintains? Are you still lamenting Spike's scallop scandal from 2 episodes back? Please take a minute to vote for your favorite finalist in my Top Chef poll on the right, or leave a comment below!

Spring Flower Pot Cakes

I just discovered The Pioneer Woman blog, and in so doing, a whole world of new recipe ideas to try, like these spring flower pot cakes. Very girly and sweet, these little treats would be perfect for a girl's birthday party or a shower. Just follow the instructions at the link above to layer sponge cake, ice cream and Oreo cookie crumbs, decorate with an edible flower and "ta-da!" -- you'll have a whole table full of tasty blooms in no time.

I will be a regular reader of The Pioneer Woman from now on. The "Cowgirl Recipes" all look delicious!

Sassy Summer Sangrias

There's nothing quite like sipping an icy cold glass of sangria in the summer. A sweet and fruity red wine sangria is certainly delicious, but have you tried making your own white wine sangria? The lighter white wine flavor can take on fruits with brighter flavors, including fruits like peaches, raspberries, mangoes, kiwis and even rhubarb. Here are a few of my favorite white wine sangria recipes. They're not just delicious -- they're sassy!

Strawberry Rhubarb Sangria
(from Blueprint Magazine, Summer '07)

Ingredients:

1 cup granulated sugar
1 whole vanilla bean, halved and scraped
5 stalks rhubarb, 4 coarsely chopped, 1 cut into 1/4-inch slices
1 pint fresh strawberries, hulled and halved
4 ounces brandy
1 bottle sparkling rose
1 cup red wine
1 tablespoon superfine sugar
2 limes, juiced

In a saucepan, combine granulated sugar, 1 cup water, and the vanilla bean. Simmer until sugar dissolves, turn off heat, and add chopped rhubarb. Cover for 5 minutes. Break up rhubarb with a spoon and set aside for 30 minutes, then strain.

Crush 12 berries into the brandy in a bowl; let sit for 30 minutes. Strain. Combine brandy mixture, rose, red wine, superfine sugar, lime juice, and the rhubarb syrup in a pitcher, and stir in rhubarb slices and rest of strawberries. Serves 6.

(I always leave out the vanilla bean and it's still delicious.)

Sangria Flora
(from Food & Wine Magazine, July 2008)

Ingredients:

One 750-milliliter bottle Sauvignon Blanc
1 1/2 cups St-Germain elderflower liqueur (or elderflower cordial)
1/4 cup Cointreau
6 strawberries, sliced 1/4 inch thick
6 raspberries
2 peaches, sliced 1/4 inch thick
1 orange, thinly sliced crosswise
1 pound green and red grapes
Ice

Combine all of the ingredients in a pitcher and let stand at room temperature for 3 hours, or cover and refrigerate overnight. Serve in wineglasses over ice.

Do you have a favorite sangria recipe? Please leave a comment and share your favorite white wine sangria ingredients!