Good Wine Cheap (and good food to go with it)
by John Grover

Several members of our gourmet club recently spent a week on the Island of Curacao in the Caribbean. After a week of beaches and golfing, they were inspired to host a Cuban dinner in honor of their favorite restaurant on this otherwise Dutch island. The food was excellent; but, the dessert our friend Donna made below was so extraordinary that it must surely make the angels weep. Cafe con leche is the traditional "latte" that many Cubans drink for breakfast. It combines a strong espresso coffee with steamed milk and sugar.

This month’s wine is the 2006 Snoqualmie Riesling from Washington State’s Columbia Valley. This wine is termed off dry with 5% residual sugar. Yet the sweetness is well balanced with a crisp acidity. Snoqualmie Vineyards has achieved a luscious blend of tastes including pear, apricot and spice with this wine. While not a true dessert wine, it will go well at the end of a meal with a cheese course or the dessert below. This wine is a real find at only $8 to $9 a bottle.

Cafe Con Leche Custard (as reprinted on the TasteofCuba.com website)

Ingredients:

4 tbsp cornstarch
3 cups milk
1 cup heavy cream
2 &1/2 tbsp instant coffee powder (Donna used instant espresso powder)
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
whipped cream
chocolate covered espresso beans for garnish

Stir cornstarch into 1 cup milk, stirring until smooth. In top of a double boiler, pour the cornstarch mixture and the rest of the milk, cream, instant coffee powder, and sugar. Stir over medium-high heat until thickened. Cover and let simmer 10 minutes.

Beat the eggs well. Slowly add 1 cup of the hot coffee mixture to the eggs, beating continually. Pour egg mixture into remaining coffee mixture in the double boiler, still over heat, and beat well to incorporate. Cover and simmer 2 minutes.

Remove from heat and pour into coffee cups. Cover with plastic wrap, leave to cool and then refrigerate. When chilled, top with fresh whipped cream and 1 chocolate covered espresso bean (shaved chocolate on top is a nice alternative). This recipe serves 4.

I hope that you will contact me with your comments and favorite wines at jgrover@berk.com. I will be happy to share them with the broader Mensa group.

John Grover is a member of Mensa of Northeastern New York. He lives with his wife Sharon in the Hudson Valley of New York.