Merengue & Orange Torta: Two Easy Dinner Party Desserts To Throw On A Table

It may be starting to cool down in other places but it’s still so hot in Miami that the mention of pumpkin spice latte makes me sweat. Ashley Stanzione, on half of the mad pizza genius couple behind stanzione87 and ash! pizza parlour at The Citadel Food Hall, invited me over while my kitchen is still under construction for a day of cooking together - the theme? food you still want to eat when it’s 10,000 degrees outside.

Come to think of it, I wouldn’t call it “cooking.” None of the recipes you’ll find in this menu drop require much work at all. They’re more like recipe lists. Things you can throw together for a dinner party - or lunch party - held in the comfort of high-powered air conditioning if you know what’s right for you.

I’ve long been wanting to pick up a package of Inés Rosales tortas, the packaging is just so beautiful and simple - but I’m not much a sweets person and I’d rather have cheese for dessert. But the hot day food theme gave me the perfect opportunity to throw it in my cart and not think twice about it. Boy, were we glad that I did. I picked the orange one, thinking a bit of citrus zest on a sweaty day never hurt anyone. I would buy it again a million times.

The company has been around since 1910 and the tortas are kind of flaky, kind of crisp, a little soft - they’re somewhere between a pastry, cookie and cake. They originate from outside of Sevilla, Spain and the orginal flavor is olive oil.

I’d recommend serving the orange flavor it with an affogato on a hot day - it’s my favorite kind of dish - something that looks fancy but is very easy, required no cooking and will 100% solicit compliments from your guests (I’m a Leo). If you get the plain/olive oil flavor, I think that same affogato but with a square of dark chocolate served alongside it would be amazing. Actually, no one is stopping you from adding the dark chocolate to the orange ones, come to think of it.

Anyway, the other little dessert I picked up is a pack of meringue. Somehow, the package totes that they have no fat and no cholesterol (insert the shrugging emoji here). I like them for a dinner party because they’re really cheap, nostalgic and you can basically throw them on the table and let people rip open a pack for themselves (ie no more dirty dishes). You could serve it with a bowl of berries for everyone to pick out of, if you wanted.