Summer Drinkin' cont'd

I went to a southern food potluck last night and need to share two things that will make my summer great:

Lynchburg Lemonade

1 3/4 oz. Jack Daniels
1/4 oz. Triple Sec
lemonade (fresh squeezed is best)

Optional: lemon-lime soda

Just mix all the ingredients and serve over ice in a tall glass. If you need me, I'll be on the porch swing sipping Lynchburgs and strumming my banjo (someone please buy me a banjo).

Coconut ambrosia salad (taken from allrecipes.com)

• 1 (11 ounce) can mandarin oranges, drained
• 1 (8 ounce) can crushed pineapple, drained
• 3 1/2 cups frozen whipped topping, thawed
• 2 cups shredded coconut
• 2 cups miniature marshmallows
• 1/2 cup milk
• 1 cup maraschino cherries

1. In a large bowl, combine the oranges, pineapple, whipped topping, coconut, marshmallows and milk.
2. Mix together well and chill 1 hour before serving. Garnish with cherries.

The Whisky Sour

Wondering what to do with the left over whisky from St. Patrick's Day? Think whisky sour. There are a lot of recipes on the web for this classic, so I'll list what seem to be the most standard/popular:

The Whiskey Sour

3 parts whisky
2 parts lemon juice
1 part sugar syrup/ tsp powdered sugar

Shake ingredients over ice.
Strain into a sugar-rimmed glass.
Garnish with a lemon curl or a cherry.

Optionals:
a dash of fizzy water
a dash of egg white (ewwww)

Crusty Bread

I love fresh bread. It's not packed full of enzymes to keep it fresh, it's full of flavour and you can use it in just about everything from onion soup to bread-y desserts.

Here's an altered version of Nigel Slater's bread. It makes a loaf about 10" around and quite high.

Ingredients:

4 cups flour
1 envelope quick-rise or instant yeast
2 tsp salt
2 cups water
Roughly 2 more cups flour.

Method:

Combine the flour, yeast and salt in a large mixing bowl.
Add the water and mix, resulting in an extremely soft and sticky dough.
Generously flour your cooking surface and tip the dough onto it.
Flour your hands and sprinkle some more flour onto the dough, enough so that it doesn't stick to you.
Knead the dough for about 10 minutes, adding flour when it gets too sticky.
After ten minutes the dough should be only a little tacky and form a neat ball, place back in the bowl and let rise covered in a warm place for an hour. (don't forget to flour the bowl a little to reduce sticking).

After an hour, bring the dough onto the floured surface again and knead a bit more - 2 or 3 minutes - and shape into a roundish, flattish ball.
Place it on your floured pizza stone or cookie sheet.
Dust it with flour, cover it again, and let it rise again for another hour. Heat the oven to about 500 degrees.

Once it has risen, uncover it and place it in the oven.
Bake at 500 for 12 minutes, then reduce the heat to 425 and bake another 20-25 minutes.

Once it's out of the oven, put it on a rack to cool and let stand for at least 10 minutes to settle.

I'd suggest then spreading some butter or margarine on it and eating it while still warm.

Chin-chin!

Fiddlehead pasta

We've been eating well as the spring earth comes alive and gives us material to work with, not the least of which is fiddleheads.

Earthier and more complex but similar in nature to asperagus, these little shoots mesmerized me as a child. It's only this year that I've been introduced to them as an ingredient, though.

Here's the pasta we ate last night:

Fiddlehead Pasta

Ingredients:

1 cup fiddleheads
1 onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 or 2 large tomatoes, diced
1 pint of mushrooms, chopped
2 tbsps virgin olive oil
1 tbsp buttter (or olive oil)
Tarragon, Basil, Oregano and Thyme to taste.
Salt and Pepper to taste.
Parmesian Reggiano for topping.
Cappelli d'Angelo Pasta for two people.

Method:

Trim and set the fiddleheads to steam in your steamer. They need to steam properly for about ten minutes.

While that's going on, heat oil and butter in a pan. Add the onions and garlic, and mushrooms with a bit of salt to sweat them. After they've become transparent/browned, add the tomatoes and the spices. Let cook on medium-high for a few minutes, then reduce the heat to medium low and cover. Cook until the tomatoes have melted and it's of a "saucy" consistency.

While the sauce is reducing, throw on the pasta. Angel hair pasta takes only a few minutes of boiling, so time it well.

TIP: If you add a tablespoon of oil and a shake of salt to the water before throwing in the pasta, it won't stick together or leak liquid on your plate.

When the pasta is almost ready to be drained, remove the fiddleheads that have been steaming, dice them and add them to the sauce. Let cook another minute or two, then add the drained pasta, mix and serve with plenty of parm and a nice wine. And garlic bread, if possible.

Chin-chin!

Shortbread cookies

Happy Robbie Burns' day, everyone!

Scottish short bread cookies:

1/2 c. butter, softened
1/4 c. sugar
3/4 c. flour
2 tbsp. corn starch
1 pinch salt
1 tsp vanilla.

Cream the sugar and the butter, then add the flour, salt, cornstarch and vanilla.

Work until it comes together. Then roll it out on a lightly floured surface, use cookie cutters or the rim of a glass to cut out the cookies, and bake at 325 for 10 - 15 minutes, carefully.

Chinchin!

Bacardi Cake

Here it is: the most delicious way to get drunk:

Ma's Bacardi Cake

Cake:
1 pkg yellow cake mix
1 3 3/4 oz package of vanilla pudding mix
4 eggs
1/2 cup cold water
1/2 crisco oil
1/2 bacardi rum

Glaze:
1/4 lb butter
1/4 cup water
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup Bacardi rum

Cake:

Use a 10" tube or bundt pan.

Pre-heat oven to 325 F. Grease and flour the bundt pan.

Mix all the cake ingredients together. Pour into prepared pan. Bake 1 hour.

Cool on rack 10 minutes, then invert on serving plate. Brush glaze evenly on top and sides of the the cake.

Glaze: Melt butter in a saucepan. Stire in water and sugar. Boil 5 minutes stirring constantly. Remove from heat and stir in rum.

I also use extra glaze as a sauce on individual servings.

Chinchin!

Eggnog

Well, it has come to this: I'm too lazy to go to the store to satisfy my eggnog craving.

But the upside is that it's unbelievably easy and cheap to make your own. I don't know why i even bother with that store bought crap.

NOTE: Storebought anything is never, ever, as good or as healthy as homemade / done fresh. So go wash your hands and start cooking.

Jadenog:

Pour about 750 mL of milk into a sauce pan over medium heat

In a bowl mix,

2 egg yolks, beaten
1 tsp real vanilla extract
3 tbsp honey (or to taste... experiment often)
1 tbsp brandy, rum or other such holiday booze.

Pour egg mixture into the milk, stirring constantly. Reduce heat.
Taste-test here. These are your flavours. Not sweet enough for you? Add a little more honey/sugar.

In another bowl, beat 2 egg whites until light and frothy. Fold into cooled milk mixture.

Put in a jar and refrigerate. It's delish. Grind a little nutmeg over the top of each glass you serve, from a real nutmeg if possible, not that pre-ground-to-dust crap (see note above).

Chinchin!

Corn Fritters

I just had a craving today for corn fritters. I've never made them before but they were a success. This is what I did:

Corn Fritters:

1 cup flour
2 tsp baking powder
2 tsp cayenne
2 tsp black pepper
2 tsp sugar
1 tsp salt

2 eggs, separated
1 can of corn nibblets

Oil for frying (about 1.5 inches deep in your pan)

Put the egg whites in the fridge while you're doing steps one and two. It will help to have them cold when you're beating them.

Mix the dry ingredients in a bowl.

Then mix the egg yolks with the corn in a separate bowl. Add the flour mixture.

Then beat the egg whites until almost stiff and fold into the mix.

Heat the oil until it's quite hot.

Tip: To know when oil is hot enough to fry in, stick a wooden chopstick into the centre of the pan. It ought to take under two seconds for bubbles to form around the chopstick.

Using a large tablespoon, spoon the dough into the oil. It should be about thirty seconds a side, if the oil is hot enough. Just flash fry them and put them on paper towel to drain.

Enjoy with maple syrup.

Chinchin!