I have to admit, I’m loving these easy French Fridays with Dorie “recipes” lately. Cases in point – last week’s pistachio-avocado, the week before’s asparagus soup and this week’s “tartine” (p 44). It’s crazy month for teachers (this is my last Friday of the school year – and it’s not even a full day – yay!) so the “non cooking” is much much appreciated. Last weekend I was at TBEX (the world’s largest gathering of travel bloggers) and was only home very briefly to feed Cleo and water the tomatoes so this was the perfect little snack to tide me over until I got to the party food!
The recipe calls for baguette, spreadable goat’s cheese, strawberries and balsamic vinegar but I enjoyed these first off with no balsamic because, well, I was too hungry and started eating these as I watered the tomatoes right after I took these pics…
I tweeted how delicious this was and Dorie herself tweeted back that I should try this with “Saba” (a reduction of grape must).
@eatlivtravwrite If you have some Saba in the house, drizzle a little over the tartines. Saba's good w anything, but it's fab with berries.
— dorie greenspan (@doriegreenspan) May 30, 2013
As I contemplated this, I finished the tartines and made a mental note that I needed to make these again with something along the lines of Saba.
Well I didn’t have Saba but I did have “Vin Cotto” on hand…
Vin cotto (literally “cooked wine”) according to Wikipedia is “a dark, sweet dense condiment produced artisanally in the Apulia region of southeastern Italy. It is made by the slow cooking and reduction over many hours of non-fermented grape must until it has been reduced to about one fifth of its original volume and the sugars present have caramelized. It can be made from a number of varieties of local red wine grapes including Primitivo, Negroamaro and Malvasia Nera, collected after being allowed to wither naturally on the vine for about 30 days.” This website calls vincotto “the ancient version of balsamic vinegar”. Interesting…
Well all right then! I just happened to have some and it sounded like it might be the perfect match for this dish.
And oh, boy, was Dorie ever right! As well as being fabulous on the toasted baguette, this was great just drizzled over a bowl of strawberries and a little crumbled goat’s cheese. I ended up with a tiny amount of each left over and it was perfect with a glass of wine as a pre-party, pre-dinner snack! This is a combo I will remember and make again and again!
French Fridays with Dorie participants do not publish the recipes on our blogs (though this week, you can find the recipe online here), we prefer if you purchase Around My French Table for yourselves which you can do here on Amazon or Amazon Canada. Or for free worldwide shipping, buy from The Book Depository. Go on, treat yourself then join us here!
Win a copy of Jennifer Perillo’s Homemade with Love (two copies available, worldwide!) Contest closes Tuesday June 11th 2013 at 6pm EST. Enter here!
Do you read my blog in your Google Reader? Did you know that Google Reader will be no longer as of July 1st? What to do? Well you can follow my blog with bloglovin! (and all your other favourites too!)
Love that you got Dorie’s input! Another non-recipe winner!!!
I thought these were wonderful too. I used a balsamic glaze. Oh, and some had a little pistachio oil too… delightful.
Never heard of Saba, but will try to hunt it down. And I have to wait until strawberries are sweet, this is no good with tart ones. An absolute winner, this tartine!
Yep – this is a great combo. I tried it first in a salad THEN tried it as a tartine. It’s a winner no matter what you do with it.
I have seen the grape must condiment in a specialty shop in Saratoga – I think I will have to give it more consideration.
Love the vin cotto idea! Great thinking!
This sounds delicious, but more than that: the pictures make me salivate. Sorry if that’s not a savory image, but it’s really your fault for taking such GORGEOUS pictures. (Still, no one said I had to over-share. OK, my fault.) Yum.
Grappa is more fun than saba… I assure you.
It looks great Mardi, and how cool that Dorie tweeted you. I loved this.
How delicious! Your strawberries look so juicy!
I enjoyed this with an aged balsamic, but your vin cotto version looks even more delicious. Glad you’re almost at the end of the school year – here’s to summer!
Interesting. Never heard of Saba before but now I’ll have to keep an eye out for it. And I’m loving these non-recipes too.
I used a fig balsamic reduction, and it was great, too. Such an easy and adaptable recipe.
How cool was this that Dorie tweeted you 🙂 I had to laugh as you put “Dorie herself” as she has that type of reference in our household as well…kind of like the Queen just called or something. I had not heard of Saba before but will now be hunting it down. What a fun adventure…and good luck with your year end school activities !
So beautiful, so simple, so good.
Wow, Mardi, I saw your exchange with Dorie come through on my Twitter feed and was all excited for you. Saba/Vin Cotto, never heard of either so I am happy for the education provided on your Post this week. Your tartines just kept looking better and better. I know this has been a busy month for you. Remembering also that Trevor and I crowned you the Queen of Canada. Funny how we Americans can just snap our fingers and make that happen. I know you’ve had a good year but I also know you are looking forward to the Suimmer and some fun times ahead.
Oh my gosh Mardi, this is spectacular. I am speechless, and you know that never happens. lol
Perfect snack, or dinner, or breakfast. So many possibilities! Definitely a great idea from Dorie.
wow. saba?? I dont think I’ve heard of it before! your baguettes have got me thinking about making my own bread again… hmmm…
Ohh, this is a good idea! I am all for simple recipes these days. I happen to have some cranberry goat cheese in the fridge that is just slightly sweet. I think it’d be perfect for an afternoon snack.