Category Archives: All Recipes

  • Bonus Cocktail (and “Mocktail”): The Watermelon-Drop

    July 17, 2012

    18 Comments

    Watermelon Drop Cocktail.

    It has taken us too long a while, but we promised to make some cocktail recipes that also include an alcohol-free “mocktail” version, so this is the first. And as our kids enjoy their “mocktails”, this will probably not be the last.

    In any event, this week we got our first watermelons at the farmers market (ours are still tiny) and we just had to make a watermelon cocktail. The challenge with watermelon is that has very light, tasty and “summery” flavor and a great aroma, but both are easily lost when mixed with too many strong flavors. So when making a cocktail with watermelon, we tend to look towards vodka (although tequila and watermelon also play well). The Watermelon Drop combines watermelon juice, lemon juice, a bit of simple syrup or agave nectar, some (optional) rhubarb bitters and vodka, preferably quality lemon vodka. And you can simply omit the vodka for a very tasty summer cooler or “mocktail”.

    Muddle chunks of watermelon.

    These days many mixologists, and more than a few cocktail bloggers, have a certain amount of disdain for vodka. Plain vodka has little flavor, by design, and has light texture and little aroma. If you want to add flavor to a cocktail with the base spirit, vodka won’t add much. But if you want some booze in a drink and have the fruit or vegetable shine through, vodka is a good fit. And it is “OK” to simply want some buzz with your juice…nothing to be ashamed of (in moderation 😉 .

    Fine-strain pulp to extract the juice.

    These days, many vodkas come with fruit (and/or other flavorings). Most are just cheap hooch with some artificial flavors. But some are high-quality spirits infused with fruit or vegetable flavors in a style almost like gin. You can also make very good vodka-fruit infusions at home. These kinds of vodkas are quite good, and do add a lot to cocktails. In this cocktail, we use Hangar One’s Buddhas Hand Vodka and it is a lovely addition to the drink. But even here we use a light hand with the vodka, we do not want to dilute the watermelon too much. And if you are curious, Buddhas Hand is a type of Asian citrus similar to lemons but more aromatic- good stuff, and a great compliment to watermelon.

    Watermelon Drop cocktail and ingredients.

    To make this drink, you do need to take the extra step of making watermelon juice. We simply muddle chunks of watermelon and then fine-strain the pulp. A cup of watermelon chunks will get you 2-3 ounces of juice. It only takes a few minutes, but will leave your bar or kitchen a bit sticky (such is life with watermelons). Otherwise simply combine the watermelon juice, lemon juice, simple syrup / agave, rhubarb bitters (if you have them, they add a nice touch) and the vodka, if using. If making a cocktail, we prefer to shake and strain the drink, if making a “mocktail”, serving on the rocks works as well.

    So if simply eating watermelon (and spitting seeds) isn’t enough fun, try this drink out. It is light and tasty, but has big watermelon flavor. And the Watermelon Drop also makes a good “mocktail”, so feel free to share with the kids…

    The Watermelon Drop:

    Ingredients:

    • 2 and 1/2 oz. watermelon juice (about 1 cup diced watermelon, muddled and strained)
    • 1/2 oz. fresh lemon juice
    • 1/3 oz. simple syrup or agave nectar
    • 1 oz. lemon vodka (Hangar One Buddhas Hand is really good here). Omit for a “mocktail”
    • 2 dashes rhubarb bitters (optional, FYI some bitters have alcohol- check the label before using in “mocktail”)

    Assemble:

    1. Dice watermelon and muddle in a large glass or bowl. Fine-strain the pulp and collect the juice.
    2. Add all ingredients to a cocktail shaker with ice. Shake thoroughly and strain into a chilled cocktail glass or coupé. Serve.
    3. If making a “mocktail”, follow all the steps above, but omit the vodka. Serve in a chilled cocktail glass or lowball glass with ice.
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  • Coconut – Curry Cabbage

    July 17, 2012

    18 Comments

    Coconut-Curry Cabbage, served with seared ahi and coconut rice.

    As we mentioned a few posts ago, we made a Hawaiian-themed meal for some friends last week and it featured this cabbage dish. And since we liked it so much, we decided to make it again and post it. This cabbage recipe takes just a few minutes to make, but the mixture of bright, crispy cabbage with rich coconut milk and “funky” curry paste (and, optionally, fish sauce) is a real winner and a great compliment to tropical or Asian-influenced dishes.

    Basic ingredients that are available in most grocery stores.

    The recipe itself is easy, but very tasty. It comes from Bev Gannon’s Hali’imaile General Store Cookbook. This is a restaurant cookbook that often features very ornate and complicated preparations. But the flavor combinations in Gannon’s dishes are always original and intriguing, so usually we use the cookbook for inspiration and adapt the recipes, but this recipe only has minor revisions. It is one of the simplest recipes in the cookbook, and perhaps not surprisingly, one of the best (IMHO).

    Slice the cabbage and dice the onion.

    Saute the onion and the curry paste.

    You start by dicing a small onion and then thinly slicing a medium green cabbage. Then, in a large skillet, add some oil and then soften the onion over medium-high heat. Add a few tablespoons of green (or yellow) curry paste and some salt and cook for a few more minutes. Add the sliced cabbage and cook for a minute or two and then add about a cup of coconut milk. Simmer the cabbage for 6-8 minutes, or until the coconut milk reduces. Then add a splash of fish sauce (if you like it, we do), taste for seasoning, sprinkle on a few black sesame seeds and serve.

    Add cabbage and coconut milk and briefly simmer. Season with fish sauce and salt.

    Garnish with black sesame seeds.

    Another bonus to this dish is that it is easy to scale up/down the recipe to match the number of guests. Expect that 1 medium cabbage will feed 4 guests. So use an overall ratio of 1 cabbage / one tablespoon cooking oil / one-half of a small onion / 1-2 tablespoons of curry paste / 1 cup of coconut milk / 1 tablespoon salt / 1 tablespoon black sesame seeds / fish sauce to taste. You can simply increase or decrease the recipe to match your needs. And as you can make this dish ahead, and then reheat it before service, this is a great side dish for entertaining.

    So far, we enjoyed this dish as a side with sesame-crusted opah and with seared ahi. In both cases, the cabbage added a bit of crunch, pleasant richness and that touch of curry “funk” to the overall dish. As we really like coconut, we serve the cabbage along with coconut rice, and rather than being “too much” we find they are an excellent compliment to each other.

    A great compliment to fish and rice.

    As Californians, and living near the “Cadillac Desert”, we get cabbage year-round. We love making cole-slaw for summer barbecues and putting shredded cabbage in our tacos. But this dish takes cabbage to another level and is worth making at any time of year. And if you live in an area where cabbage is a fall / winter crop, we suggest you try this dish when cabbage is in season- it will give you a quick taste of the tropics.

    Coconut-Curry Cabbage:

    (Adapted from Beverly Gannon)

    Notes Before You Start:

    • You can use green or yellow curry paste in this dish. Curry paste varies, so make sure to add a little, taste and adjust the first time you make this dish.

    What You Get: A tasty, sweet cabbage dish. A particularly good side with tropical or Asian-influenced fish dishes.

    What You Need: No special equipment required.

    How Long? About 20 minutes. The only real “work” is slicing the cabbage and onion.

    Ingredients:

    (serves 4)

    • 1 medium green cabbage, thinly sliced- 3-4 cups
    • 1/2 small white onion, diced
    • 1 tablespoon canola or other vegetable oil
    • 1 to 2 tablespoons green or yellow curry paste
    • 1 cup coconut milk
    • 1/2 tablespoon salt (or to taste)
    • 1/2 teaspoon fish sauce (or to taste- optional)
    • 1-2 tablespoons black sesame seeds, for garnish (optional)

    Assemble:

    1. Slice the cabbage and dice the onion.
    2. Place a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add the oil and then the onion and curry paste and saute for 3-4 minutes, or until the onion is soft. Add the cabbage and cook for 1-2 minutes, until it just starts to wilt. Add the coconut milk and simmer for 6-8 minutes, or until the coconut milk reduces and the cabbage is tender, but retains some crunch. Taste and season with salt and fish sauce, if using. Sprinkle with black sesame seeds and serve.
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  • Memphis-Style Barbecue Ribs

    July 16, 2012

    21 Comments

    Memphis-style ribs (with our house-made pickles)

    There are few American foods that elicit more passion than barbecue. Questions like pork vs. beef (even lamb), “wet” vs. “dry”, ribs, butt or brisket, mustard or vinegar in the sauce all make for dozen of varieties of barbecue. Depending on where you are from, passions can run very, very high. Particularly in the American south if you ask for the “wrong” thing in some areas you may get the “around here we serve “real” barbecue and we use…X”.  The only thing most aficionados will agree on is that barbecue may be the perfect summer meal.

    As a Californian, we don’t really have a regional style (unless you count Santa Maria-style Tri-Tip, which is more of a roast), so we get to “pick and choose” a bit. We will cop to a preference for Carolina-style pulled pork– the hot vinegar sauce variety, but mustard-based is good, too. But the kids and many of our friends prefer ribs, and they do take less time, so we make them pretty often. And when we barbecue ribs, we go for Memphis-style.

    Simple ingredients + time = deep flavor.

    “Mop” sauce.

    Put “rub” on the ribs and let “marinate” for 6-48 hours.

    If you are unfamiliar with Memphis style ribs, they are ribs prepared using a dry spice rub and a vinegar-based “mop” during smoking. Unlike ribs from St. Louis or Mississippi / Alabama that feature a sweet, “wet” sauce, Memphis-style ribs develop a nice dry, spicy “bark” and a very light glaze from the “mop”. Sauce is usually tangy and served on the side, although like all barbecue, opinions on sauce vary. You can use either baby-back ribs or St. Louis-cut ribs (middle of the ribcage) and get good results. Memphis-style ribs are more like pulled pork than most ribs. Good stuff. Really good.

    Get your charcoal ready.

    Let gray ash form on the coals and you are ready.

    And relatively easy to make. One of the misconceptions about making barbecue is that it is difficult. In fact, it’s easy, and requires relatively few ingredients. But the main ingredient you need is time, and there is no substitute. It isn’t an accident that barbecue mostly gets made, and consumed, on weekends. If you need an excuse to laze about with friends for an afternoon (perhaps with a beer or cocktail), making ribs will certainly do the trick.

    Add liquid to a drip pan- the extra moisture helps in smoking.

    Smoke your ribs until internal temp reaches 185 degrees.

    The steps are pretty basic. Get some baby-back or St. Louis-style ribs. Make or buy spice rub (recipe here and below) and rub into the ribs and let them rest in the fridge for at least 6 and up to 48 hours. Soak some wood chips or chunks- we like a mix of hickory and fruit woods like apple or cherry. Get you smoker or grill ready at a temperature about 210 degrees (follow the instructions for your grill or smoker). Set up your smoker with a drip pan, and it helps to put some liquid like beer or apple juice in the drip pan, and then start smoking the ribs. Meanwhile make the “mop” with some vinegar, salt, apple juice and a touch of your dry rub. Liberally “mop” the ribs with the sauce every 30 minutes or so.

    Brush ribs every 30 minutes with “mop” sauce.

    Rest for 20-30 minutes and then slice the ribs.

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  • Weekly Cocktail #20: The Otto’s Grotto

    July 13, 2012

    8 Comments

    Otto’s Grotto Cocktail.

    As we noted in our previous post, we recently hosted a small Hawaiian-themed dinner party for a close friend and made macadamia nut tart. The tart was great, but we wanted to be sure to have a cocktail to match, so we looked no further than Jeff “Beachbum” Berry, probably the world’s biggest expert on Tiki drinks. We happen to have his tiki drink iPhone App (so cool) and looked for a tiki cocktail that would go with dessert. We searched on the keyword “coffee” and after browsing a few results, the Otto’s Grotto almost jumped of the screen. It sounded like a perfect summer “dessert” cocktail. So we gave it a try (of course, we tested it before we served it to our friends.. ;-).

    The Otto’s Grotto is a cold drink that features coffee, white rum, coffee liqueur (Kahlua, Tia Maria or home-made), Licor 43 and a dash of heavy cream. But this is not a syrupy white/black russian, but more of an ice-coffee with a kick and some depth. Coffee is clearly the main ingredient, but the rum, coffee liqueur and Licor 43 all add extra flavor. The cream adds a smooth note and mellows the bitterness of the coffee. While we served the Otto’s Grotto for dessert, you could serve this cocktail almost any time of day and get a very welcome reception. It’s good.

    Float cream on top for a good presentation.

    As for the ingredients, good coffee is the key here. Great coffee = great coffee cocktail, ’nuff said. As for the other ingredients, this is where you have some flexibility. And decent white rum will do, the alcohol will mainly boost the flavor of the coffee. As for the coffee liqueur, we use Kahlua (without shame), but Tia Maria will work. And coffee liqueur is one of the best DIY liqueurs you can make at home, here is a good article on the subject from Marcia Simmons at Serious Eats (they have some really good cocktail writers). Finally we have the Licor 43, a vanilla and citrus liqueur that is sometimes hard to find. We like it in the drink and it is worth having in your bar, but you could substitute Tuaca. And in a pinch, vanilla syrup and an extra dash of rum will work just fine.

    Iced coffee, just better.

    Building this drink is by no means difficult, but a few little steps will help. Firstly, when you mix the coffee and liqueurs, check for taste. Coffee is a highly variable ingredient, you may want to add an extra dash of coffee liqueur or Licor 43 to balance the flavors. And finally, when adding the heavy cream, it helps to drizzle it on a spoon just above the drink. This will help float the cream on top. While not a necessary step, it will look good. And if a drink tastes this good, you may as well rock the presentation. Happy Friday!

    Otto’s Grotto:

    (Adapted from Jeff “Beachbum” Berry)

    Ingredients:

    • 5 oz. iced coffee
    • 3/4 oz. coffee liqueur (we use Kahlua)
    • 3/4 oz. Licor 43
    • 1 and 1/2 oz. white rum
    • 1/4 oz. heavy cream
    • Mint, for garnish (optional)

    Assemble:

    1. Place all the ingredients, except the cream, and ice into a cocktail shaker. Shake thoroughly and pour unstrained into a highball glass or goblet. Float cream. Garnish with a sprig of mint, if you like. Serve.
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  • Macadamia Nut Tart

    July 13, 2012

    10 Comments

    Macadamia Nut Tart.

    Since we eat mostly from our garden (and the farmers market), we tend to cook simple recipes that highlight the main ingredient. And, to us, that makes sense. If we just spent “x” days/weeks/months growing something, we want to actually see and taste it. But we do like “stretch our legs” every once in a while and engage in some real (read: labor intensive) cooking. And recently we did just that. And it was fun. And this dessert was the star.

    So why make a Macadamia Nut Tart? Our friend Scott had a birthday and we had him and Sydney, his awesome wife, over for dinner. Scott is a big fan of the Hali’imaile General Store restaurant in Maui (he even gave us their cookbook, thanks!) and Carolyn and I cooked a dinner from, or at least inspired by, their recipes. We started with a light seafood salad served on nori squares and a picked ginger cocktail sauce and Thai Tuna Tartare with a small salad of shiso and mizuna. Dinner was sesame crusted Opah with coconut rice and curried cabbage (recipe soon). Cocktails started with the Tahitian Postcard, then Zombies and finished with the Otto’s Grotto (recipe soon). That was all good fun, but Scott is a self-described “dessertarian” and Carolyn found this recipe to make sure we had an over-the top-dessert to close out the evening. And a chocolate crust, ringed with macadamia nuts, then filled with macadamia filling and topped with caramelized bananas seemed to fit the bill.

    Make a dough for a chocolate crust.

    Macadamia nuts and sugar, hard to go wrong.

    Process the nuts and sugar for the filling.

    The inspiration for the dessert comes from the Hali’imaile General Store, but Carolyn’s actual recipe is an adaptation of a tart from King Arthur Flour. We like their recipes, as they tend to adapt restaurant-style baking to home kitchens. And in this case, the recipe did not disappoint. While we would never call this “simple” baking, it is less work than you might think and the steps are well-defined. If you like to bake (or have a rainy afternoon to burn) making this recipe is time well-spent. And the tart will certainly taste, and look, great.

    Roll-out the dough for the crust.

    Place the dough in the tart pan.

    Line the crust with whole macadamias and then blind-bake the crust.

    The recipe has a few discreet steps. Make a chocolate crust, blind-bake the crust, create a macadamia filling, assemble, bake and then layer on and broil (or torch) the bananas and sugar. Each step is not hard, they just need be done in sequence, and you need to take your time. The only tricky step is broiling or torching the sugar into a crust on top of the bananas- it requires close attention, but is worth the effort. This tart is not an “anytime” dessert, but it is great for special occasions.

    Add the macadamia filling and bake.

    Add the sliced bananas.

    Broil or torch the top with sugar, cool and serve.

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  • Simple Garden Recipes: Apricot Shrub (And a Bonus Cocktail)

    July 12, 2012

    22 Comments

    Apricot shrub and apricot shrub soda.

    Last Apricot On Earth Cocktail using apricot shrub.

    Let’s get right to it, a fruit shrub is basically an equal mixture of fresh fruit, sugar and vinegar. Yes vinegar. But shrubs are better than you might think (actually quite tasty) and were a very popular way to preserve fruit in the days before refrigeration. And rather than tasting of vinegar, shrubs are sweet and very tangy. The vinegar acts as a flavor enhancer, somewhat like salt on savory foods- you don’t  know it’s there, but everything tastes better. A cool trick, and one that works with most summer fruits. And if you like cocktails or home-made soda, you should know about shrubs. But first a little “back story”…

    Blenheim apricots. Yum.

    Last week Carolyn and I traveled to wine country and then, ironically, started drinking cocktails. Happily both Napa and Sonoma have a number of restaurants and bars that feature world-class drinks, as well as excellent wine lists. One of the best places we visited was Bar Terra, an extension of the very well-regarded Terra in St. Helena. Bar Terra features a less formal and more “bar-driven” menu of smaller plates, wine and hand-crafted cocktails in a very welcoming atmosphere. The food and service were very good, but we did go for the drinks, and Bar Terra did not disappoint.

    The best cocktail we had at Bar Terra (and our entire trip) was a creation that is a riff on the Last Word, that just happens to have apricot shrub. If you are unfamiliar with the Last Word it is a roughly equal combination of gin, lime juice, maraschino liqueur and green Chartreuse. It sounds like a train wreck, but the Last Word is real alchemy, all the flavors blend into a well-balanced, refreshing cocktail. And the recipe invites mixologist to play around. We often ask good bartenders to make a Last Word variant, and the team at Bar Terra struck gold. Their version of the Last Word included dry gin, apricot shrub, maraschino liqueur and yellow Chartreuse (and maybe a touch of lemon juice). The drink was an absolute winner with the apricot shrub supplying both sweetness and tang, the gin and Chartreuse herbal notes and the maraschino liqueur some nutty flavors. And if you didn’t know a shrub has vinegar, you would never place the flavor, you would just notice a lovely, palate-pleasing “zing”. You can’t wait for another sip. We didn’t get a name for the cocktail, but we have an adapted recipe below, and in honor of Bar Terra we will call it the Last Apricot On Earth.

    Rinse your apricots.

    Pit and quarter the apricots.

    We’ve known about fruit shrubs for some time, as they are popular in cocktail circles, but the cocktail at Bar Terra finally motivated us to make shrubs at home. And as we are near the end of apricot season, and there are Blenheim apricots available, we chose to make a “cold shrub” of the apricots before they were gone. Making the shrub is very easy. Simply mash and then macerate equal parts fruit and sugar, let a syrup form for a few days in the fridge and then strain and add an equal part of cider vinegar and mix. You can try the shrub immediately and it will be tasty, but it will “mature” and the flavors develop more with a few days / weeks. And it is not a vinegar, more like a preserved syrup. If you want a full breakdown on fruit shrubs Michael Dietsch of Serious Eats has a good article here.

    Macerate fruit with sugar in fridge for 12-48 hours. 48 hours is better.

    Strain fruit syrup and add the vinegar.

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