Sangria with Sparkling Wine and Stone Fruit

For an excellent summer refresher, perfect for a picnic or party this upcoming Labor Day, how about trying this recipe for sangria? Using in-season stone fruit, this recipe is the perfect way to celebrate (or mourn) the end of summer. Feel free to use whichever fruit you choose, but it is especially nice with fresh, ripe stone fruit such as peaches, nectarines, and/or plums. Mangoes, pluots, or cherries would also make a nice addition. I happened to use a white peach, a white nectarine, and a white pluot.

For the spirit, a peach or plum brandy works especially well (try a plum Palinka from Hungary), but any other brandy works fine too. Many white wine sangria recipes call for the addition of sugar and soda, but there is no need if you use a sweet sparkling wine. Sweet sparkling wines such as Asti, semi-seco Cava, demi-sec Champagne, or Prosecco work the best. The addition of peach nectar to the sangria is reminiscent of a Bellini, a cocktail of Prosecco and peach purée that was invented in the late 1930s at Harry's Bar in Venice, Italy. So, if like me you were unable to take a trip this summer, grab a glass of sangria and let your mind wander.

Sangria with Sparkling Wine and Stone Fruit

Tip: Prepare peach ice cubes ahead of time so that the sangria will not get diluted by regular ice cubes.

2 cups peach nectar
1 peach
1 nectarine
1 plum
1 cup brandy
1 750-ml bottle of sparkling wine
peach nectar ice cubes (about 2 cups nectar)

Slice fruit into wedges and add to pitcher with brandy. Let macerate covered in the refrigerator for up to an hour. Add peach nectar and sparkling wine. Add ice cubes. Serve and enjoy. Yield: 2 quarts.

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Restaurant Week Mini Reviews Part Two: Mia Dona and Centro Vinoteca

Before extended restaurant week is over Labor Day Monday, I decided to pit two recently opened Italian restaurants against one another (Mia Dona opened in February and Centro Vinoteca in July.) I was very impressed by these superb establishments. I think the owners have given each a look, feel, and cuisine that will make many other Italian restaurateurs hide in shame behind their mama's aprons. I pretty much liked both Mia Dona and Centro Vinoteca. But I did feel that Mia Dona's restaurant week prix-fixe menu was better representative of the restaurant's everyday offerings, while Centro Vinoteca's menu was completely different. See for yourself and make a visit to both of these places serving home-cooked style, simple and rustic Italian cuisine.

Mia Dona (206 East 58th Street, 212-750-8170), Donatella Arpaia’s home-cooked Italian gem, affords a wonderful Mediterranean dining experience presided over by Greek chef Michael Psilakis, who brings forth rustic and unique Italian cooking. Simplicity and elegance rule here, from the setting to the food. A front corridor-like room of whitewashed brick walls decorated with ornamental plates brandishes beautiful Roman/Grecian faces while in the back wood paneling and zebra striped rugs create a private dining experience. Rustic presentation is a signature, exemplified by the unexpected surprise in the breadbasket of a bulb of roasted garlic. Our first course of salad and pasta set the tenor for the evening. The salad, a simple bibb lettuce salad with shaved vegetables (celery and radish), herbs (chives and parsley), provolone, and red wine vinegar was refreshing and crunchy, whereas the baked tubetti pasta with smoked mozzarella, fresh basil, and tomato sauce, was earthy and satisfying. Our main course included meat and pasta: a grilled hanger steak with broccoli rabe served on a bed of herbed ricotta and topped with a single pepperoncino; and ricotta-stuffed ravioli with spinach and pistachios in a vermouth and cream sauce. The steak was excellently prepared, complemented nicely by the bitter broccoli rabe and the unusual herbed ricotta, and was overall impressive. The ravioli dish was simple and nice, even though the pasta was hiding underneath all the spinach and pistachios with only one raviolo peeking out, I still found it very well dressed and slightly sweet. For dessert I ordered the tiramisu and was cringingly hoping for the best (my experience with tiramisu in restaurants has always been quite the letdown compared to my own recipe), but I was pleasantly surprised at how perfect it was. The tiramisu with espresso gelato was decadent, homey, and very close to my definition of tiramisu. My only caveat was that it was a tiny piece. My friend enjoyed the equally as good gianduja semifreddo with dark chocolate sauce and hazelnut brittle. Ah! What a decadent time we did have.

At Centro Vinoteca (74 East 7th Avenue South, 212-367-7470) in the West Village, Food Network personality and chef Anne Burrell presents bold-flavored Italian dishes with a separate piccolini (small plates) menu for those interested in quick bites with their sips of wine in the modern and slick duo-level enoteca and restaurant. We started our late afternoon lunch with two excellent glasses of wine: a Bastianich rosé and a Piemonte gavi di gavi. We ordered two unique appetizers; one was a trio of fried zucchini, chicken liver pate with balsamic onion on bruschetta, and a truffled deviled egg; and the other was a parmesan sformato with arugula and red pepper ragu. The trio was simple and hearty, but the liver pate was very minerally and almost unpalatable. The sformato, a parmesan custard akin to soufflé, was interesting but did not quite hit the spot. For our main course we selected the eggplant involtini with roasted tomato sauce stuffed with ricotta and the tagliatelle with grilled corn, green beans, and rock shrimp in cream sauce. The eggplant was much like a basic eggplant rollatini with a nice smoky flavor emanating from the roasted tomato sauce. The tagliatelle was perfectly prepared, accented nicely by the summer vegetables of green beans and corn with delicate pieces of succulent rock shrimp. For dessert we would have enjoyed the peach short cake, but the waitress informed us that the restaurant was all out, so instead we had the hazelnut cake with nutella mousse and the sweet tarallucci with salty caramel. The cake was nice and moist, and of course anything with nutella is good. The taralucci were little sugar cookies accompanied by a bowl of caramel for dipping. The cookies were nicely enjoyed with an order of espresso. I think I would have preferred a fruit dessert, but the cookies and cake brought out the Italian picture of sitting at a café and watching the passersby, which is exactly what the restaurant offers, a great place to see and be seen in the Village while enjoying a good glass of wine with bites of sumptuous little things.

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Watermelon and Mint Ice Cubes

For an interesting twist to serving iced tea, add these watermelon and mint ice cubes. I've adapted a recipe from Relish magazine, an excellent new food magazine that can be found as a supplement in your Sunday paper. The ice cubes go well with any drink you want to liven up, not just tea: add it to punch, lemonade, mixed drinks, and so on. This recipe also works well for making freezer pops and granita.

Watermelon and Mint Ice Cubes

2-1/2 cups watermelon, cubed
1 to 2 tablespoon honey
1 tablespoon sugar
juice of 1/2 lemon
24 mint leaves

Into a medium bowl, press the watermelon cubes through a fine mesh strainer. Discard the pulp. To the watermelon juice, add honey to taste, sugar, and lemon juice. Combine and strain the liquid again into a measuring cup to make for easy dispensing. It should equal 2 cups, which will fill an ice cube tray entirely. Place mint leaves in ice tray and pour the liquid over the mint. Freeze for at least two hours before using. Yield: 24 ice cubes.

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Restaurant Week Mini Reviews: Abboccato, Grayz, and Riingo

For this year's summer restaurant week, I made about seven reservations, but ended up only being able to go to three (I was sick on week one). I went to Abboccato and Grayz for lunch, and Riingo for dinner.

Abboccato (136 West 55th Street, 212-265-4000), part of the Livanos Restaurant Group, which runs Molyvos and Oceana among other excellent restaurants, is a sleek subterranean Italian cave of a restaurant. Recently renovated as the Web site touts, the space is a beautiful setting, especially romantic for the evening. For lunch, the place was abuzz with a mixed lunch crowd of businesspeople and tourists. Our lunch here was rather good with a few hiccups here and there: we didn’t get napkins until we asked for them, and service was a bit shotty. The appetizer of the chiccetti misti was nice, a selection of three mini appetizers, a bruschetta with a white bean spread; a corn, yogurt, and dill salad; and a mozzarella and red pepper salad. For the main entrée I had the fish of the day on top of a vegetable ragu and my friend had the tagliatelle with Bolognese sauce. My fish, a tilefish, tasted rather fishy and I did not care for the vegetable ragu. My friend’s tagliatelle was great but could have been more al dente. For dessert I thoroughly enjoyed the chocolate bomboloni with hazlenut filling along with whipped cream and gianduja pieces. My friend had a rather good tiramisu. Unfortunately, the bomboloni had a $3 supplement as does many other items on the menu including the insalate di mare appetizer and the veal scaloppini entrée, which has a $6 supplement. I don’t think a restaurant week menu should have supplemental pricing. I think that Abboccato was a nice try and I’d like to go back again to see if I can enjoy a better experience.

Grayz (13-15 West 54th Street, 212-262-4600), Gray Kunz last remaining restaurant in New York after Café Gray closed in late June, is streamline and modern and also an underground restaurant located in an old Rockefeller townhouse on West 54th Street. The entry leads downstairs to an upper dining room and bar, and then further down is a small dining room in a cave-like hallway leading to the atrium main dining room. According to Eater is to be renovated this month and will close August 10 and reopen in September. I made reservations way in advance and I was even then lucky to get a prime lunching time. I was confused thought to receive two phone messages asking for reservation confirmation, because if I didn’t confirm my reservation would be given away. I found this very odd, but did not call the restaurant back. When I showed up there was no trouble getting in, so I don’t understand their precaution. Soon after being seated we ordered off of the restaurant week menu. Unlike Abboccato, which offered three choices per course, Grayz only offered two. So I went with one choice, while my guest went with the other. We ordered the chilled tomato coulis and spicy tuna-kampachi tartare for appetizers, the spare rib croque monsieur and seared cod for entrées, and the mixed berries and the chocolate mousse. We also ordered two glasses of cava to wash everything down. I thoroughly enjoyed everything. The coulis was refreshing; the tartare spicy and satisfying; the croque monsieur was pretty good; the fish was sublimely flavorful served with an artichoke, harissa, fennel-saffron emulsion, and the desserts were refreshingly cool and justly sweet. The mixed berries were infused with port and topped with a watermelon-champagne granité. The chocolate mousse was a rather small portion but was also accompanied by braised cherries and a sauce. I will definitely go back to Grayz again, for the nice service, the elegant atmosphere, and especially because we received two gift certificates for the value of our lunch at $24.07.

Riingo (205 East 45th Street, 212-867-4200), Marcus Samuelsson's Japanese/ American bistro-fare restaurant, was a let down. After having a great time at Merkato 55, I was hoping that I'd find the same joy at Riingo. The restaurant is very small; it is a dark and eery windowless corridor tucked into a slim allotment shared with the Alex Hotel. Images of canles were projected onto the back wall further underlining the eeriness. For appetizers my friend ordered the salmon avacado roll and I ordered the beer-braised short rib. the sushi roll was just like any other. The short rib was unusual in that it was boneless and formed into a cube, and charred in such a way that it resembled a brownie. It was delicious but very dry and under seasoned. For the main course I chose the hanger steak, which I ordered medium rare, but it was cooked toward medium-well. It was also unflavorful, dry and chewy. It came with a strange bitter brown sauce that I did not like at all. My friend's soy-glazed salmon with bulgur wheat was rather good. For dessert I unfortunately chose the doughnuts with green tea ice cream. My friend opted for the never-can-go-wrong-with molten chocolate cake with vanilla ice cream. My dessert was awful: the doughnuts were as heavy as lead, not at all airy or light, and the green tea ice cream was astringent and overly tannic. This was the first dessert at a restaurant that I did not finish—and I always finish dessert. I think that speaks for itself.

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