Sparkling Pink with Grapefruit - Shortbread Cacio e Pepe
Recipe, Food-Styling, Photo & Styling:Oliver Schwarzwald
A pairing with spice
I once discovered the pairing of Parmesan shortbread with Campari Prosecco on an old bar menu. A fsuper idea! Why make it complicated when it can be simple? That's why I'm presenting the non-alcoholic version for us here. As I'm not the most patient of bakers (baking is not cooking), I can assure you that the recipe for the shortbread is really simple. I added pepper to the parmesan, so it's shortbread à la Cacio e Pepe. Not only does this sound great, it's actually an excellent combination, because the pepper simply makes the whole thing better.
For the drink, we need a grapefruit and bay leaf syrup. This syrup brings citrusy bitter notes into play. A little ginger adds extra spiciness. To add another layer of bitters and give the drink more depth, we add a dash of Monin bitters syrup. If you prefer, you can also use Sanbitter as an alternative. The whole thing is topped up with our Sparkling Pink, whose fine acidity and light perlage give the drink the necessary effervescence.
An unbeatable combination! If you don't want to go to so much trouble, you can also mix just Sanbitter with Sparkling Pink in the easy version, which also works!
The shortbread:
Ingredients:
250 g soft butter
250 g wheat flour (type 405)
125 g cornflour
125 g Parmesan cheese, freshly grated
1 tbsp pepper, coarsely ground
1 pinch of salt
Preparation:
Prepare the dough:
Process all the ingredients in a food processor or by hand to form a smooth dough. Make sure the butter is soft so that the ingredients combine more easily.
Chill the dough:
Divide the dough into two equal halves. Wrap each half in cling film and place in the fridge for approx. 30 minutes. This step is important as it makes the dough firmer and makes it easier to roll out.
Preheat the oven:
Preheat the oven to 180 °C (top/bottom heat).
Roll out the dough:
Take the chilled dough out of the fridge and roll out between two layers of baking paper to a thickness of about 0.5 cm. If the dough becomes too soft, you can put it back in the fridge for a few minutes.
Shape the shortbread:
Cut the rolled out dough into strips about 2 cm wide and 8-10 cm long. The exact size can be adjusted according to preference.
Bake:
Line a baking tray with baking paper and arrange the shortbread strips on it. Make sure to leave some space between the strips, as they can expand slightly during baking.
Bake in a preheated oven at 180 °C for about 15 minutes until the shortbread is lightly golden around the edges.
Leave to cool:
Carefully remove the shortbread from the baking tray and leave to cool completely on a cooling rack. This step helps to make the shortbread strips crispy. Do the same with the second half of the dough.
Storage tip:
The cooled shortbread keeps well in an airtight biscuit tin and remains crispy and delicious for several days.
The drink:
Grapefruit syrup:
2 grapefruit (organic) approx. 400ml
240g sugar
1 tsp grated ginger
2 dried bay leaves
Zest of 1/2 grapefruit
Rinse the grapefruit in hot water and squeeze. Remove the skin from one half with a peeler. Carefully heat the juice, bay leaf, zest and ginger in a pan. Stir in the sugar until it has completely dissolved. Remove the pan from the heat and leave to cool.
2 cl syrup
2 cl Monin Bitter Syrup
1 cl Verjus Pur
10- 15 cl Highlevelzero Sparkling Pink to top up
Ice
Fill the glass with ice. Pour in the syrup and bitters, stir briefly and then top up with Sparkling Pink.
Cheers!