Drink Recipe: Ginger Lemon Drop

Ginger Lemon Drop

I was trying to figure out what cocktail to make using our SKYY Infusions Ginger vodka.  (Usually, I mix the vodka with Fever Tree Ginger Beer to make a super gingery drink.)  I happened to take a look at the hang tag around the neck of the vodka bottle and thumbed through the few recipes that SKYY suggested.  The Ginger Lemon Drop caught my eye.  Who would think that ginger vodka, lemon juice and maple syrup would go together?  It does.

Here's the recipe:

2 oz SKYY Infusions Ginger
1 oz freshly squeezed lemon juice
1/2 oz maple syrup (or simple syrup)

Shake all ingredients with ice and strain into a chilled martini glass.
Garnish with a lemon twist.  (Oops, forgot the lemon twist)

Enjoy!

Recipe: Chocolate-Hazelnut Squares

These Chocolate-Hazelnut Squares (Food and Wine Magazine, Oct 2012, p. 113) were a hit at my office!  Rich, dense and not as sweet as they look. 

The recipe isn't hard, just a little labor-intensive.  Maybe it seemed labor-intensive because I had so many dishes to wash afterwards. 

Here are some tips:

• Because they are rich, cut them into bite size pieces.  A regular brownie-sized piece might be too much for a non-chocoholic.
• Cut the cake into squares and then dip them into the ganache (instead of spreading the ganache on the top and sides of each square with a spatula).
• Make a double batch and take these to a cookie/dessert exchange!
• The next time I make these, I'm going to add mini milk chocolate chips to the batter to add another dimension to the texture and a little more sweetness.

http://www.foodandwine.com/recipes/chocolate-hazelnut-squares

Guest Post (FoodFiend): Recipe: Sausage and Cheese Manicotti

Rest assured, FoodFiend has not stopped cooking.

I am on vacation this week, and not responsible for any Thanksgiving cooking besides appetizers (thank you, thetaster and GrandCrubaaa...) so I decided to undertake a sausage manicotti recipe that I knew would be a bit time consuming. It was - abot three hours from start to finish - but FoodFiend's counterpart liked it so much that he pretty much literally licked the skillet I made the sauce in and is now practically singing and dancing while he cleans up my huge kitchen mess with nary a complaint.

Here is the recipe, as published on epicurious, but apparently taken from Bon Appetit in 2003.

Ragù and filling

• 12 ounces Italian sweet sausages with fennel seeds (about 3 1/2 sausages)
• 1/2 cup finely chopped onion
• 1/2 cup dry white wine
   
• 1 28-ounce can Italian plum tomatoes with basil
• 1/8 teaspoon dried crushed red pepper
• 8 large fresh basil leaves, slivered

 

• 2 cups fresh whole-milk ricotta cheese or one 15-ounce container whole-milk ricotta cheese
• 1 cup 1/4-inch cubes mild imported provolone cheese (provola) or sharp domestic provolone cheese
• 2 tablespoons plus 3/4 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
• 1/4 teaspoon coarsely ground black pepper

Assembly

• 1 pound manicotti (large tubular pasta)
• 1 tablespoon olive oil

For ragù and filling:
Pierce each sausage several times with tip of knife. Place sausages in heavy large saucepan; add onion. Cover; cook over medium-low heat 5 minutes. Turn sausages over; stir onion. Cover and continue to cook until sausages release some fat and onion begins to color, about 5 minutes. Uncover; increase heat to medium. Add wine and simmer until wine evaporates and onion is golden, stirring often, about 5 minutes. Remove from heat.
          

Fit food mill directly onto pan. Add tomatoes with juices and puree through mill into pan, leaving only seeds behind and scraping all tomato pulp from underside of food mill into pan; or puree tomatoes with juices in processor, then strain out seeds and add puree to pan. Add crushed red pepper. Simmer very gently over low heat until sauce thickens and reduces to scant 2 cups, stirring sauce and turning sausages occasionally, about 1 hour 15 minutes. Add slivered basil and simmer sauce 5 minutes longer. Using tongs, transfer sausages to plate and cool. Season sauce to taste with salt and pepper.
 

Place ricotta in medium bowl. Mix in provolone cubes, 2 tablespoons grated Parmesan, and black pepper. Cut sausages into 1/4-inch cubes; stir into cheese mixture. Season filling to taste with salt. (Sauce and filling can be made 1 day ahead. Cover separately and chill.)

For assembly:
Cook manicotti in large pot of boiling salted water until still somewhat firm to bite and about 3/4 cooked, about 7 minutes (depending on brand). Using tongs, carefully transfer manicotti from pot to foil-lined baking sheet and cool.
 

Brush olive oil over bottom of 13x9x2-inch glass baking dish; spread 3 tablespoons sauce over. Using teaspoon, fill each of 12 manicotti with about 1/3 cup cheese-sausage mixture. Arrange stuffed pasta in single layer in prepared dish and spoon remaining sauce over. (Can be made 2 hours ahead. Cover with plastic wrap; let stand at room temperature.)

Preheat oven to 350°F. Sprinkle remaining 3/4 cup Parmesan atop sauce. Bake manicotti uncovered until heated through and sauce is bubbling on bottom of dish, about 20 minutes. Let manicotti stand 5 minutes and serve.

 

Of course I can never make it exactly like it says.

The recipe notes suggested whole milk ricotta, imported provolone, etc. Well, that's all well and good, but FoodFiend is on a budget, and trying not to eat her own weight in calories every day. I didn't have time to truck to Central Market in search of sausage with fennel, and turkey sausage was on sale at Tom Thumb, so I used that. I don't have a food mill, so I got diced tomatoes and liquefied them in the blender. Worked great. I used part-skim ricotta and regular old provolone and parmesan, a la Tom Thumb. I'm sure it would have been even better with the good stuff, but it caused great swooning with the normal stuff.

 

 

 During the lengthy simmering process...

Assembled, ready for the oven...

Not my best plating job, but I was in too much of a hurry to eat it!

Recipe: Orecchiette with Sausage and Cherry Tomatoes

Italian gigli pasta, not orecchiette

This past weekend, we cooked up a storm!  Last night, we tried out the Orecchiette with Sausage and Cherry Tomatoes recipe from Food and Wine Magazine's Nov 2011 issue (p.140).  From looking at the photo, I obviously didn't use orecchiette (small ear-shaped pasta) but instead used gigli (lily-shaped) pasta.  Our local Kroger only had some type of extra-fiber Barilla brand orecchiette, and I didn't want to try their enhanced fiber pasta.

The dish turned out great!

Here are a few tips:

• I added double the amount of red pepper for a nice kick.
• Instead of aged provolone, we did a mix of mozzarella and gruyere, and I used about 6 -8 oz of cheese altogether.
• Next time, we'll use a pint and a half to maybe even 2 pints of cherry tomatoes to produce a little more sauce.

http://www.foodandwine.com/recipes/orecchiette-with-sausage-and-cherry-tomatoes

As a side note, here is a fun primer on pasta shapes at The Cook's Thesaurus.

Recipe: No-Knead Bread

If you love bread, you must try this recipe!  It is incredible.  The texture of this bread is perfect -- not too light, not too dense; the crust is crunchy, and well, perfect.

Amazingly easy, no need to knead the dough, and it only requires 4 ingredients.  My friend's dad made this recipe, and I literally wanted to eat the entire loaf (and I'm not even a huge bread person).  As you can see from the photo, we ate half the loaf last night. 

Tips:

• Make sure you use instant yeast.
• Plan ahead.  If you want the bread for dinner, you'll need to start the bread 20 hours in advance.  Here is an example timeline:
• Start making the bread @ 10 pm
• Tend to the dough 18 hours later @ 4 pm
• Tend to the dough again 15 minutes later @ 4:15 pm
• Start baking the bread after 2 hours @ 6:15 pm
• Bake the bread for 45 minutes; it'll be done @ 7 pm
• Note:  At the end of the recipe, we only needed to bake it an additional 15 minutes, not 30.

The recipe was printed in The New York Times back in 2006, and I'm so glad it's still posted online!
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/08/dining/081mrex.html?_r=0
I just watched the 5 min video (at the link above) where The New York Times' Mark Bittman talks to Jim Lahey of Sullivan Street Bakery about his recipe.  Jim provides a faster version of this recipe that involves adding red wine vinegar and using hot water so that the dough only needs 4 hours to rise instead of 18 hours.  I may try this next time!

Recipe: Prosciutto-Stuffed Chicken with Mushroom Sauce

Not a lovely photo of the dish

The photo of the dish does not do the recipe justice.  As you can see, I smothered my chicken in a bit too much mushroom sauce.  If you want to see how the dish could look, there's a great photo of it in the Nov 2012 issue of Bon Appetit on p.43.  (The recipe is on p. 44.)

Overall, it was a pretty easy dish to make and was good but didn't blow me away. 

Just a couple of notes. . .  we decided to add a little cream to the mushroom sauce, and baked the chicken in the oven for almost 20 minutes instead of the 7-8 minutes stated in the recipe (in order to get the chicken to 165 degrees).

http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Prosciutto-Stuffed-Chicken-with-Mushroom-Sauce-51122430

Recipe: The Ultimate Green Bean Casserole with Crispy Fried Shallots

With Thanksgiving coming up this week, we decided to test a recipe I found in Williams-Sonoma's most recent catalog.  (It was my first time making a recipe from their, well, ad.)  Of course it wasn't just any green bean casserole -- they call it "The Ultimate Green Bean Casserole with Crispy Fried Shallots."

All in all, it was pretty good, but I wouldn't call it ultimate.  I would definitely make it again but don't think it can replace the traditional, creamy, semi-mushy Campbell's Soup recipe that takes 5 minutes versus the 45 minutes it took me to prep and cook everything using this recipe. One tip: Try par-boiling the green beans in advance so they soften a bit.

Perhaps we'll have 2 kinds of green bean casseroles this year for Thanksgiving and let the family decide which they like better!

http://www.williams-sonoma.com/recipe/the-ultimate-green-bean-casserole-with-crispy-fried-shallots.html

Sweet! Hollywood

The next time we go to L.A., we are definitely making a special trip to Sweet! Hollywood which is a 30,000 square foot candy store!  It sounds like candy heaven.  Apparently, there are Oompa Loompas there. 

Click HERE for photos from eater.com.

Here are a few paragraphs from their press release:

Where else would you find The Sweet Tooth™, an oversized white chocolate molar, The Golden Chocolate Egg, an enormous milk chocolate egg adorned with real 23-karat gold luster, or the fantastically fruity and colorful White Chocolate Pencils (That Really Write)?

The store’s centerpiece is the new WONKA® boutique, a fantastical sweets emporium that brings to life the world of Willy Wonka and his deliciously outrageous candy creations. Carrying every kind of WONKA candy and exclusive WONKA merchandise, the boutique is ringed with authentic English telephone booths filled with WONKA treats. Outside the store, whimsical window displays document Wonka’s epic travels, which inspired his most creative chocolate collections yet—the WONKA Inventing Room™ Collection.

“Sweet! Hollywood is the exclusive home of the WONKA® Inventing Room—a new artisan chocolate collection that captures the whimsy and wonder of Willy Wonka’s fantastic adventures around the world,” said WONKA spokesperson Tricia Bowles of Nestlé USA Confections & Snacks. “WONKA fans of all ages have dreamt about how candy would look and taste if Willy Wonka’s imagination were truly let loose. Now we know, and what better place to experience these delightful and delicious new WONKA Inventing Room chocolates than the capital of creativity and imagination, Hollywood?”

Sweet! Hollywood
Featuring 12 themed boutiques in a glorious retail carnival, Sweet! Hollywood turns candy into an entertainment experience:

• Visitors can create custom chocolate bars, take personal tasting tours and play exciting candy games in addition to shopping in candy boutiques that are exclusive to Sweet! Hollywood.
• Shoppers can play a tune as they climb the musical piano key stair steps to the store.
• Inside, watch gumballs travel 700 feet of track—propelled by a beautiful red Ferrari.
• Outside, shoppers can learn about Willy Wonka’s far-flung adventures by gazing into the elaborate store windows designed by Academy Award-winning designers, Moonbot Studios, and built by one of Hollywood’s go-to set designers, Jim Hayes.

Of course, candy takes a starring role in this Hollywood blockbuster, home to dozens of exclusive candy concepts, themed apparel, souvenirs, gifts and curiosities. Each boutique highlights distinctive candy collections curated from across the world, including:

• Debuting in America at Sweet! Hollywood is Sticky, a colorful candy from Australia made right before your eyes! Uniquely Uncommonly talented candy sculptors create some of the most exquisite hand-made sugar candies ever seen in a live show guaranteed to fascinate and delight your senses.
• The Peace of Candy boutique excites with an international assortment of unique candy flavors and packages, while over in the Route 66 shop, visitors travel through American candy history with a collection of new and vintage brands.
• The Stay Puft boutique is wall-to-wall marshmallows, and Rick O’Lish Licorice gathers every kind of licorice in one fabulous place. The Yucky shop tweaks the sweetness of candy and merchandise with fun, gross-out treats.
• AS IF: The Shop for Spoiled Girls is a couture candy collection that offers gourmet lollipops, Hello Kitty-licensed candy and custom chocolate high-heel “shoes” in vivid prints and colors.
• The Tinseltown boutique includes a glamorous collection of famous-character candies, chocolate Walk of Fame stars, and Hollywood’s coolest gifts and souvenirs.

6801 Hollywood Blvd., Suite 201, Hollywood, (323) 809-4380, www.sweetlosangeles.com

http://sweetlosangeles.com/press-room/

Mozzarella Company Cheesemaking Class

A couple of weeks ago, we went to the Mozzarella Company and took their Cheesemaking class -- something I've been wanting to do since I heard about the class a few years ago.  I don't know why we waited so long!  We had so much fun that I would definitely take the class again.  It's a great team-building event or something to do with friends or a date. 

The class description pretty much sums up what we did in a nutshell but doesn't convey how FUN it was nor how much cheese you really get to eat (I ate to my heart's content).

Upon arrival, students dress to make cheese by donning aprons and hairnets.  The event begins with a behind-the-scenes tour of the cheese factory. Once the tour is complete, the hands-on cheesemaking course begins. Participants will first learn how to make Fresh Ricotta and scoop it into baskets. Next, the participants are given a block of Fresh Mozzarella Curd, and they learn how to stretch and form many varieties of Mozzarella such as balls, Bocconcini, Mozzarella Rolls, and Queso Oaxaca.

The event concludes with a cocktail party – a wine and cheese tasting of award-winning cheeses produced by the Mozzarella Company.  Each participant receives a Mozzarella Company apron to wear and take home and the participants also divide up the cheeses that they have made during the class to take home.

For more information: http://www.mozzarellaco.com/classes.html

 

 

Balancing Act: Wine Glasses

Watch this 54 second video of a British sommelier setting a world record for wine glass balancing -- in the end, he apparently balanced 51 glasses in one hand!