Showing posts with label wine. Show all posts
Showing posts with label wine. Show all posts

Wednesday, September 19, 2012

Time to Taste Some “Flavors of the Garden”

The Civic Garden Center is again sponsoring a special neighborhood gardens harvest sampler on Saturday, September 22 at the CGC. Called “Flavors of the Garden,” it follows their fall plant sale, and various community gardens will be represented, sharing some food made from what they’ve grown this season. “Flavors of the Garden” is from 4:00 pm to 6:00 pm at the Civic Garden Center, 2715 Reading Road, near Reading and Oak (just across from the old Bethesda Hospital, if you are looking for a landmark).

Enright CSA will again host a table showing off our harvest. Nancy Sullivan has volunteered to make an herbal wine cooler to serve that was a hit last year. She’s looking for donations of bottles of white wine to make the popular Basil Sangria. Bring bottles along with you to pickup Saturday morning if you’d like to help. And if you could prepare a dish using produce from our garden to share at this event, please contact Suellyn at suellyn7@yahoo.com.

This is not a potluck or a fundraiser! It’s just a free fun event to allow different community gardeners to get together and talk about how the growing season shaped up, as well as share a little of what they grew.

Sample sized portions of dishes from 15-20 different gardens are available to those who attend. There's also an opportunity to walk the paths in the CGC, peruse their library, and shop their small garden-oriented gift shop as well as network with foodies and garden people from all over the city. You can come even if you don't cook something, but we hope to have 2-3 dishes that will serve 20-30 small portions on offer.

Monday, August 22, 2011

Up to Our Elbows in Basil, Part 2: Put the Basil in the Wine, Drink It All Up

Basil Sangria
(from Nancy Sullivan)

Basil. We all think we can't get enough, until we think there is just
too much. Want a completely out-of-the-box recipe for all the great
basil we have been getting? Try white wine sangria. Nancy made up a batch of this last Saturday and reports that it was very well received!

Peach White Wine Sangria

1 cup loosely packed fresh basil leaves plus 8 to 10 sprigs
1/4 cup sugar (start with less, add more to taste)
1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
2 cans peach nectar (23 fluid ounces total) or a 32 oz. bottle of apricot
nectar
1 (750-ml) bottle chilled white wine
1 large peach (peeled if desired), diced; more if you want it fruitier!

Coarsely chop basil leaves and put in small saucepan with sugar,
lemon juice, and apricot or peach nectar and bring just to a simmer,
stirring until sugar is dissolved. Remove from heat and let stand 5
minutes, then pour through a medium-mesh sieve into a heatproof
pitcher, discarding basil leaves. Stir in wine, add cut up peach(es).
Chill, covered, at least 1 hour and up to 24. Serve over ice. Top off
with a little soda water if desired. Garnish with basil sprigs.