Rosso, rose and rolled white bread

Photo: Oliver Schwarzwald

Vegan stuffing with Tarragon Mustard...

Palermo Rosso, non-alcoholic, comes from France, and is sometimes called Vermouth on the internet. But it isn't. Rather a herbal Bitter or Semi-Bitter with spicy undertones and a pleasant bitter note. In combination with rose lemonade, an amazingly good mixture develops. A dash of cucumber syrup and lemonsquash make it a refreshing aperitif. Mentally, the path from cucumber to cream cheese is not far. Packaged as a suitable snack, Otto Lenghi offers great inspiration: white bread filled with goat cheese, quite simple, with few components. Therefore, it is very suitable to be reinterpreted as a vegan alternative. The goat cheese is replaced by vegan cream cheese. This works great, because unlike some vegan soft and hard cheeses, vegan cream cheese is already quite tasty. Of course, unlike goat cream cheese, it lacks some of its own flavour. That comes now, with tarragon mustard. Not only the special taste of tarragon but also the pungency of mustard make this a perfect pairing. Many people are not familiar with the taste of tarragon, which is why this simple snack is such a surprise. You can control the spiciness individually by adding more or less mustard to the cream cheese. Tarragon, mustard, rose, cucumber - lots going on, but not too much! 

For 6 rolls:

120 g vegan cream cheese, e.g. Simply V

2 tbsp tarragon mustard

3 slices of white bread

1 tbsp flour

3 tbsp water

60 g polenta

200 ml vegetable oil for frying

Salt

Pepper

Mix the cream cheese with the mustard, salt and pepper. Roll out the bread slices 2 mm thin with a rolling pin, then cut in half lengthwise to make 6 rectangles. Spread 2 tsp of cheese cream on each one and smooth it out. Then roll up from the long side.

Whisk the flour and water in a shallow, large bowl, then put the polenta in another bowl. Brush the bread rolls one by one with a little of the flour and water mixture, then roll in the polenta until they are coated all over with it. Chill for at least 30 minutes. Just before serving, heat the oil in a large frying pan over a medium-high heat. Fry the bread in it for 2-3 minutes, turning regularly, until golden brown. Drain the finished rolls on kitchen paper and then cut diagonally into 2 halves. Serve lukewarm.

The drink:

For a white wine glass.

80ml Palermo Rosso

100ml Rose Lemonade

5 cl Cucumber Syrup

4 cl Lemonsquash

Some seltzer for topping

2 cucumber slices

Ice cubes

Put the ice cubes in a glass, pour in the Palermo, cucumber syrup and lemonsquash. Top up with rose limeade and then with a little seltzer water. Garnish with cucumber slices or add thinly sliced cucumbers to the glass.

© Oliver Schwarzwald