Kao Soi (Yummy Thai Food!)

Kathy and I love Thai food, and eat it often.  There are quite a number of Thai restaurants in San Antonio that are very good but San Antonio is 60 miles from here, so we have learned to make a number of Thai dishes ourselves.

When I worked in Chicago, there was a Thai restaurant near the office that served a dish call Kao Soi that I ate every chance I got. Kao Soi, also known as Chiang Mai Noodles, is a delicious combination of soft and crispy noodles with chicken in a coconut curry broth. We have found no Thai restaurant in San Antonio that serves it, so I did some research and developed this Kao Soi recipe.

If you go to most Thai restaurants in the U.S., you will get food from the southern part of Thailand.  If you are lucky, though, you may find this dish, which comes from the northern Chiang Mai province that stretches from Myanmar (Burma) to Laos.  The food in this region, and Kao Soi in particular, has influences from the south (coconut milk, red curry paste, chicken), India and Myanmar (curry powders, including a hint of turmeric), and China (the wheat noodles).

It is pretty straightforward to find the ingredients in Chicago or Houston, but not so much in places like Kerrville or Bangor.  It is worth the trouble to search, though, and if you can't find what you need locally, you should remember that the internet can solve a lot of problems.  We have even been known to buy some of the ingredients from Amazon.com. I think you will like Kao Soi enough that these ingredients will become pantry staples. 

Don't be afraid to substitute if you can't find what the recipe calls for. If you can't find tamarind, just add some more lime juice to taste.  If you click on the photo above, you will find Kim Chee, a pungent Korean cabbage pickle, which substitutes as a garnish for the pickled Chinese cabbage.  Palm sugar is best, but use turbinado or even plain white sugar if you must. (No - scratch the white sugar....)  And in the first picture above, you will see that we use crispy  La Choy chow mein noodles for a garnish - totally wrong, but it tastes great, and saves the mess of frying your own.

Stone Sour

If you haven't figured it out yet from previous posts, Kathy and I are partial to cocktails made with rye whiskey.  If you like a good cocktail, and have not experimented with it yet I would highly recommend trying it - either a Sazerac or a Manhattan would be a good place to start.   

If you would rather have something citrusy, here's another rye drink to add to your collection. The Stone Sour is a whiskey sour variation from California, but don't hold its origin against it - it is very good. Best with one of those homemade cocktail cherries.

If you don't have any rye in the cupboard, I'm sure this would also be good with bourbon.

The Island

Back in July, I shared a rough sketch of an idea we had for a new kitchen island.  Doing the sketch ended up being the fun part.

When we first started thinking about an island, we had researched local cabinet makers and visited a couple that had been recommended or whose work we had seen around town.  The fellow we talked to at the cabinet maker we chose was pretty impressive, and the company did a lot of work for good home builders and businesses around town, so we decided that they would be a good choice.  Things came up, and we put things on hold for a while, and when we went back the fellow we were working with had left for greener pastures.  

We had spent a lot of time thinking about details of legs, drawers, colors, work surface - even made a mockup  the size we were thinking about to make sure it would work well in our kitchen.  Discussed and compromised on surface height.  And we (mostly Kathy) went through way too many iterations of specification documents. Eventually, the specs were right. (As an aside, we were also working in parallel with them on built in shelving, with all the same frustrations.) Among other things the specs included trimming a bit off the top of the legs we had selected.

Picked granite for the top in San Antonio, and made arrangements with the fabricator in Fredericksburg. (When you live in the Hill Country you learn quickly that you have to go all over the place to get what you need - thank goodness we have the internet and email to reduce the pain a bit.)  Looked like we were set.

Then a bit of reality set in. Color samples came back wrong, problems with specified drawer glides, miscellaneous other small problems, and we ended up having to settle. Nothing major, but a lot of preventable irritations. (On the parallel project the shelving had to be rebuilt.)  And despite the specs, the cabinet maker did not trim the legs, leaving the final product about an inch taller than what we had asked for - a height that I had originally thought would a good working level, but not ideal for Kathy. We decided to accept the island rather than fight it any longer.

Craftmanship on the final product is great, and think it will work very well in our kitchen.  But I suspect Kathy will always be a bit irritated by it.

Summer Treats - Mojito

It's really a little too late for summer treats, but here in Texas and a lot of the south it still feels like summer.  And with recent rains I was reminded of that by the sudden explosion of peppermint and spearmint that we grow in pots on our patio. (Remember that we do not have a vegetable and herb garden because of the various beasts that frequent our yard - as one of our dear departed neighbors used to say in her Texas twang "It's a regular Jooo-rassic Park out there". But I digress....)

Anyway, we grow the mint for one purpose only - making Mojitos, one of our favorite summer treats.  It is a very simple, refreshing cocktail of rum, mint, and lime, and it is perfect for sitting out on the patio watching beasts on a hot summer afternoon. 

It is not at all traditional, but the drink is also pretty good with one of those cocktail cherries!

With the recipe linked above, I have included a post from Spice Lines, one of my favorite food blogs.  In it, Courtenay Dunk, the author, gives a bit of history and her take on Mojitos.

I hope you enjoy Mojitos as much as Kathy and I!

Turtle Burger

This is a break from my standard of only providing my favorite recipes -- I haven't even tried it, but it seems so obvious that it would be good that I have included it anyway.

If you wear a t-shirt similar to the one above, then maybe this recipe is for you:

Handmade ground beef patties, topped with sharp cheddar cheese, wrapped in a bacon weave, then the next step, add hotdogs as the heads, legs with slits for toes and tail.   

Next step.  Place on an oven rack, covered loosely with foil and baked for 20-30 minutes at 400 degrees.  A little crispy, not too crunchy...just how a turtle should be, no?

Rick Bayless' Essential Simmered Tomatillo-Serrano Sauce

This last weekend, Kathy and I had what was possibly the best meal we have had all year.  Not at a restaurant, but at home.  Kind of odd combination, but it was amazing.  


It started out with a stop in a little grocery store after my haircut in Comfort on Saturday.  A bag of tomatillos and some serrano chiles came home with me.  (Also some all-natural Kim Chee, but that's a story for another time.)

The tomatillos and serrano chiles became Essential Simmered Tomatillo-Serrano Sauce, prepared from a recipe by Rick Bayless, who operates Frontera Grill and Topolobampo restaurants in Chicago, and who has a number of excellent cookbooks including Rick Bayless's Mexican Kitchen. When you make this sauce, make sure you use the roasting method -- it makes all the difference in the world.

We had pork tenderloins in the freezer just begging to go on the grill before freezer burn set in, so they got a quick bath in olive oil and a sprinkling of a spice rub called Ozark Seasoning from Penzey's Spices, where we buy most of our spices. This was not a natural choice when thinking of a Mexican Sauce, but it turned out to be a perfect combination. Pork was grilled over charcoal and pecan wood until just medium (slightly pink with internal temperature about 150-155°.)


Some of the tomatillo-serrano sauce got mixed in with some sliced onions that had been fried over medium-high heat until brown but still crunchy (almost all the way to the high setting on most stove tops like most of you and I use), then simmered briefly over medium heat.  Perfect with the tenderloin.


Served with some chunks of potatoes roasted with olive oil, salt and pepper until golden brown, and a tangy cole slaw.  Since we are being eclectic - maybe a nice India Pale Ale.  Yumm!

Summer Treat - Fitzgerald Cocktail and Other Refreshing Gin Drinks

My recent posts have featured some of my favorite summer treats, and today I decided to talk about another one.


It's been a little while since I posted a cocktail of the week -- sometimes I just want to drink one of the old standards, or maybe even not have a cocktail. So this week after my cocktail of the week hiatus, I picked one of my favorite summer spirits - Gin.  Especially Bombay Sapphire Gin.

Gin and Tonic is maybe the best, most refreshing, summer drink of all times.  Imagine some British officers in India in their idle times, standing around in a rather fancy officers' lounge with pith helmets under their left arms and drinking cocktails served by guys in turbans. But I digress...  No recipe really required - a couple of ounces of Sapphire gin, about 6 ounces of good quality tonic water, and a big twist of lemon, served over ice. Sitting outside on a shaded back porch with friends on a hot summer day, trying not to imagine guys in pith helmets. 


This week's cocktail of the week is a nice change, though. And it is good enough that Kathy offered that it is probably the best gin drink she has tried. (That does not, however, mean that she now likes gin.)


The Fitzgerald Cocktail was invented by Dale DeGroff, author of The Craft of the Cocktail, my favorite cocktail book.  As you can tell from the linked recipe, it is really just a Gin Sour with a splash of Angostura bitters.  (Also, if you use lime instead of lemon, the Fitzgerald would become a Bennet Cocktail.)


Click on the picture to get a closer look at how pretty the drink is.  You can almost smell that wonderfully refreshing gin / lemon combination.  Enjoy!

Summer Treats - Basil

Basil is one of summer's treats. Whether you grow it in your garden, get it from your friend at work, or buy it at the farmer's market, it is plentiful during those months.  It is very versatile, and  it goes wonderfully with summer's fresh garden tomatoes.  The example that comes immediately to mind is Insalata Caprese, a very simple, very tasty combination of tomato slices, fresh mozarella, basil, olive oil and a little salt and pepper.  This beautiful salad is very appropriately the colors of the Italian flag.


Another of my favorite uses for basil, and one of the most traditional, is Pesto.  I like it in soups, salads, sandwiches, or pasta dishes (maybe a simple lasagna with bechamel and shredded mozzarella), but those are just a few of the many ways it can be used. It would be hard to find a Pesto recipe that didn't give good results -- look in any Italian cookbook and find a recipe and it will be pretty much the same as every other recipe you find.  This Classic Basil Pesto Recipe is one of several I found in my favorite cooking magazine, Fine Cooking. It can be made by hand with a mortar and pestle, as illustrated by my photograph here, or it can be made with a lot less work using a food processor like I really did before putting it into the mortar for the photograph.

I like Basil Pesto in soups, salads, sandwiches, and pasta dishes but those are just a few of the many ways it can be used. The batch here went into a very simple lasagna.  I made it with enough lasagna noodles to make three layers in the baking dish, the basil pesto, shredded fresh mozzarella, and a bechamel with just a touch of nutmeg. There's not really a recipe, but I spread a layer of bechamel in the dish, then put layers of lasagna, pesto, mozarella, and bechamel twice. I finished with a third layer of lasagna covered by bechamel and a sprinkling of Parmigiano-Reggiano, and baked it at 350° until bubbly and browned.

No meat, no tomatoes, no ricotta, although you could put some cooked Italian sausage or chopped drained tomatoes  or both, in the layers and it would be great. 

Kathy and I liked it just fine, though, as shown above, and served with a green salad and a nice pinot noir. (Click on the picture to take a closer look - yum!)

Foodie Dreams

Foodies (like me) and decorators (like Kathy) are always dreaming about improving their surroundings.  Sometimes their dream visions even coincide.  This was such a weekend, and Kathy and I came up with this initial sketch for a farm table / kitchen island. Better place for me to cook, prettier kitchen for Kathy. Plan is to have painted table, and granite top.

Hope the details work out as well as the general idea.  Stay tuned.

Summer Treats - Jim's Gazpacho

One of the best treats of summer is home grown tomatoes.  And if you are lucky enough to have some, then you should certainly try Jim's Summer Gazpacho.


Gazpacho is a perfect summer treat, light and refreshing, but with a substantial flavor.  It is my favorite use of all those home grown summer tomatoes, and the only uses I can think of that can even come close are tomato sandwiches on homemade bread, and Insalata Caprese, a simple combination salad with fresh tomatoes, fresh mozarella slices, basil, a drizzle of olive oil, and salt and pepper to taste.

This recipe is my latest take on Gazpacho, but it is very flexible, and you should experiment freely with types of peppers, type of tomato juice, green onions, an addition of a handful of diced homemade white bread with crust removed, julienned basil, diced zucchini, or whatever else strikes you.  And if you want a finer texture process in a food processor.

Gazpacho makes a pretty good meal served with a good loaf of crusty bread, but it can also be part of a light meal of cold shrimp or grilled fish, or some good fish tacos, chicken salad, or another light entree of your choosing.  If you are fortunate enough to live somewhere where lobsters live, a lobster roll would be an outstanding pairing!  And for the kiddies, this Gazpacho would be oh so much better with a grilled cheese sandwich than that nasty Campbell's Tomato Soup, provided that you didn't make it too spicy .

Blueberry-Lemon Streusel Bars

I made these Blueberry Streusel Bars with Lemon-Cream Filling for an office birthday celebration.  It was the first time I had made the recipe, but it was in my files with a note that it is one of my daughter Lisa's favorites, and I almost always like her recommendations.  It also seemed like a good summer treat, pretty easy to make, and good for a group. I was a little nervous about how they would turn out, but I shouldn't have worried - everyone seemed to enjoy them.

When you make them use fresh blueberries and lemons, and make sure the blueberries are at room temperature.  You can multiply the recipe as long as the pan size increases proportionately.

Great dessert for that summer barbecue!

My First Attempt at Cocktail Cherries

I finally got around to cracking open one of those jars of my homemade cocktail cherries, and I'm pretty proud of how they turned out, especially for the first try.  No more of those bright red maraschino cherries with all the deadly chemicals. 

I made the recipe up after doing a lot of looking at different versions I found on the internet.  The only requirement I had in advance was that I wanted to use Luxardo maraschino liqueur, made from Marasca cherries the basis of the original maraschino cherries made before the current dayglo commercial version was developed.

I am sure I will be experimenting with the recipe over time.  I especially want to try using sour cherries instead of the sweet ones I used this time. 

These will be a great addition to those Manhattans and Old Fashioneds, but they may also show up in some unusual places for a cocktail cherry to be -- like this mojito (this weekend's cocktail of the week).  Isn't it pretty?  And no dye or chemicals added.

Brazilian Coconut Shrimp

I don't need to say a whole lot about this one.  If you love shrimp on the grill, you just have to try it.  This recipe for Brazilian Coconut Shrimp started with one by Steven Raichlen in his How to Grill.  But I don't like green bell pepper, and I like ginger more than he does, and it does not need any basting or extra lime at the end, so I changed the recipe around.  You should do the same.  This recipe idea is really flexible, and you should make it in just the way that sounds good to you. I would not have thought about marinating shrimp in coconut milk, but with the ginger and jalapenos, and just a touch of char on the edges, it really has a pleasant spicy, slightly sweet flavor that is perfect for summer.

Raichlen thinks his recipe would also be good with scallops, fish, or chicken, skewered or not.  I think this variation would, too.  If you don't want to take the trouble to skewer everything, just grill some chunks of onion and red bell pepper.

We had it with a salad and some leftover (!) potato salad. Don't remember for sure what we drank with it, but looking at this picture, it strikes me that your favorite ice cold beer would be perfect -- sit out on the back porch and watch the antelopes run around while you eat.

Coming Soon

This has been one of those busy weekends where it doesn't seem like much got done. We spent quite a bit of time doing exciting stuff like editing pictures and reorganizing contact lists, doing a Costco run (not a small thing since we have to drive 70 miles for that) and shopping for a new phone for Kathy (Droid!)  And I guess I did get a little bit done with Jim's Place for Food and Booze.  We got to experiment with Pomegranate Cosmopolitans (not our favorite, as I reported on Friday) and ate at a favorite area restaurant (The Grotto Grill in Bandara - see my Facebook post).  


But all that is just a bunch of excuses why I haven't told you yet about cracking open the cocktail cherries I wrote about a couple of weeks ago (awesome!), or about the Brazilian Coconut Shrimp Kebabs on the grill that I made today (one of the best ever grilled shrimp recipes!).  They will both be great additions to your summer grilling repertoire, so I'll get the recipes written up as soon as possible.


Side note:  If you like seafood, but are not near the sea, or BP has destroyed your normal supply, check out Costco.  Their frozen seafood section has all kinds of fish, scallops, and shrimp that are packaged without any of those nasty chemical additives like sodium tripolyphosphate that are found in much of what you often get at the grocery store.

Pomegranate Cosmopolitan

Kathy and I don't like this week's cocktail of the week so much.  We knew going in that vodka is not one of our favorites.  But we had some pomegranate juice that we got on special at our grocery store (it was free with our store's coupon), and we decided to experiment with it.  The resulting Pomegranate Cosmopolitan was very pretty.


I know, though, that several of my family and friends do like vodka, so I will keep this in our collection for them, and I'll be happy to serve it any time one of them comes to visit.


And if any of you decide to try it, I hope you will let me know if it is good.


As for me, I think I'll be having something made with rye.

Cocktail Cherries

There are a lot or cocktail recipes that call for a maraschino cherry or two. They mostly make the drink pretty, and I guess if you get used to them, they even taste OK - I usually manage to eat them.  Just don't try to fool yourself that they actually taste like cherries. In fact, as early as 1911, a New York Times editorial described a maraschino cherry as "a tasteless, indigestible thing, originally to be sure, a fruit of the cherry tree, but toughened and reduced to the semblance of a formless, gummy lump by long imprisonment in a bottle filled with so-called maraschino."  Almost a hundred years later after the turn of the century, another Times item described them as "the culinary equivalent of an embalmed corpse", and that might be a fitting description given what they contain.  The cherries shown in the picture above are pretty decent as maraschino cherries go, but they contain all kinds of things that I have reservations about eating: corn syrup and high-fructose corn syrup, Red #40 dye, and several types of chemical preservatives.

Lately, I have been seeing quite a number of articles about alternatives that taste better, and any number of recipes about making your own cocktail cherries.  Chief among the commercial recommendations is Luxardo Gourmet Maraschino Cherries which you can buy through Amazon.com for about $18.  When I saw some fresh cherries at the grocery store today, though, I decided I would try to make some of my own. Aft looking at a bunch of recipes I found on the internet, I decided to use ideas from a number of different versions, and canned my own recipe using sweet bing cherries, Luxardo Cherry Liquor , Brandy, lemon juice, and turbinado sugar.  Two pounds of cherries yielded 6 half-pint jars. 


They need to sit for a few days, so I can't tell you yet how they turned out.  I suspect they will be a little too sweet, but far better than standard maraschino cherries. Next time, I'll try to find some sour cherries, possibly frozen, or I'll use Trader Joe's Morello Cherries, which were recommended in a couple of recipes I saw. 


If this batch turns out good, though, I'll publish a recipe in a couple of weeks.

Sazerac Cocktail

To the best of my recollection, I had my first Sazerac after my Mom and Dad returned from one of their regular visits to New Orleans.  When they went, they liked to enjoy the Commander's Palace in the Garden District, which on their recommendation became one of my favorite restaurants anywhere.  Commander's food is excellent (and my mouth is watering as I write this), but it is the way they treat you that sets them apart. It is a place where it still feels right to wear a jacket at dinner, and where they make you feel important even though you are not. A place where you want to be with your family on special occasions, and where you take important business associates.

When my folks went to Commander's, they enjoyed a Sazerac cocktail.  One time when they were there, the bartender shared his Sazerac recipe - written on a napkin (I think in 1982, but the writing is not real clear) - and my Dad brought it back and made it for me the next time I visited.  It was wonderful. 

The Sazerac is one of the old traditional cocktails of New Orleans. I couldn't even come close to describing its history in the way that Chuck Taggart does in his Gumbo Pages web site, and I recommend it highly for everything New Orleans. You should definitely read his Sazerac history as you enjoy the cocktail for the first time.

Not many bars and restaurants know how to make a Sazerac, or even what one is.  But I sometimes ask for, and am rewarded with one when I go to good restaurants. I have not found one yet, though, that makes this simple drink as well as you can at home.

Some recipes call for Bourbon (as does the Commander's recipe given to my Dad) and others for Rye whiskey, and some call for using both Angostura and Peychaud's bitters, but the traditional version uses only Peychaud's.  In our experiments, Kathy and I have decided that the traditional Rye whiskey and Peychaud's only is the way to go.

The traditional New Orleans Rye is Old Overholt, but most reviewers think that Sazerac brand and Rittenhouse are probably a bit better.  My biggest surprise, though, is that the Jim Beam (ri)1, the overpriced Rye that I had spoken poorly of of when I talked about Manhattans in an earlier post, is really good in a Sazerac. I think we might have to keep some around just to dedicate for that use.

As I have been writing this (and enjoying the Sazerac shown in the picture), I have also been thinking about how much I would like to have a nice meal at Commander's, ending up with the Whiskey Bread Pudding Souffle. Anybody want to make a weekend trip to New Orleans?

The Little Herb Garden

There are a few summer garden necessities that are just better when you grow them yourself.  And there are also some that are almost impossible to find in Kerrville, Texas, so we are attempting to grow them at home.  It is not real practical to grow a real garden like our friends in Maine do - we would have to station an armed guard to keep the deer, antelope, and giant red-eyed Texas jackrabbits out, so we plant them in a few pots on the patio, where our yard beasts rarely go.

The plants in the picture above include the following:

• Spearmint and peppermint for middle eastern food and mojitos (and there is already enough mint to make those mojitos).
• Basil for Italian and Thai food.
• Parsley for potato salad and just about everything else except Thai food.
• Cilantro for Mexican and Thai.
• Tomatoes for Gazpacho and fresh tomato sandwiches.
• Lemon Grass for Thai.
• Kaffir Lime tree for leaves to use in Thai food.

 I think it may soon be time for some Tom Kha Gai, a Thai Chicken and Lemongrass Soup with coconut milk, lime leaves, and straw mushrooms, one of Kathy's favorites. (Or maybe a mojito.)

Chicken and Yellow Rice (Arroz Amarillo con Pollo)

You may have figured out from my previous posts that Cuban food is among my favorites, and this Arroz Amarillo con Pollo is near the top of my list. It is a meal that everyone likes - very flavorful, but not spicy, and safe to serve to everyone except your strictest vegetarian friends. Every Cuban restaurant in Tampa makes this dish, but none are any better than this version which is an authentic Spanish recipe used at the famous Las Novedades restaurant in the Cuban Ybor City neighborhood from 1890 until the restaurant closed in the 1970's.

When you make Chicken and Yellow Rice, I would suggest using only the dark pieces of chicken, which will not dry out as easily as chicken breasts, and which will have a lot more flavor.


Also - very important- spring for a good quality saffron. It is expensive, but you don't need much. Do not use any kind of saffron powder, and absolutely do not add turmeric to make the rice more yellow like some recipes call for.  If you use good saffron, it will almost certainly be yellow enough, and it will definitely have a very fine flavor. (Saffron can be pretty choosy, though, about who it turns yellow for.)

Serve this with a red sangria, but choose a recipe that is not so sweet as the Sangria Mexicana I gave you with the recent Shrimp Ceviche post.  A good one to try would be my sister Alice's Sangria that she shared with Kathy and me a few years ago.

Sweet Tea

Last weekend I posted my cocktail of the week, and also had bonus cocktail Saturday, so this week I decided to have "no booze Sunday" instead.  Sweet Tea is probably more important than any alcoholic drink right now, though - it's time for barbecued meat, and while you can have barbecued meat without booze¹, it is just not right to have it without Sweet Tea.


The problem, however, is that there is way too much bad Sweet Tea in this world - over-brewed and bitter, weak, stale, too sweet, or not sweet enough.  One solution is to brew your tea using a method shared by the founder of Sweet Leaf Tea Company a while back in Texas Monthly magazine.


To make a half-gallon pitcher, boil 1 quart of water that has been filtered to remove any chlorine or other impurities.  Take it off the heat and dump in 1/2 ounce of high-quality loose leaf black tea (that will be something like 3 tablespoons, but use a decent kitchen scale if you have one), which will give you a lot better flavor than what you can get from the stuff they put in tea bags.  Give it a little stir and steep for exactly 4 1/2 minutes - any longer will make it bitter.

While you are waiting, fill a half-gallon pitcher with ice and pour a rounded half-cup of white sugar over it.  When the timer you are using goes off (use a timer, because if you don't you will get distracted and forget when 4 1/2 minutes is up), strain the tea through a wire mesh sieve into the pitcher.  Stir until the sugar is dissolved, cover the pitcher and refrigerate until cool.


A couple more thoughts.  If you like mint, it would be good to add a few sprigs to the ice and sugar before adding the hot tea.  Also, if you are not having barbecue, and you don't need a sugar high, you might just want to omit the sugar - this method makes a wonderful pitcher of unsweetened tea.

In this picture, you will see that the tea in the pitcher is a little cloudy.  That's OK - the tea experts say that can happen with good quality tea, and it doesn't hurt a thing.


Serve over ice with a nice wedge of lemon.  Then enjoy with some 5-hour slow-smoked spare ribs, or those Bourbon-Brined Pork Chops.


^{1This does not include beer, which is also necessary with barbecue.}

Ceviche de Camaron (Shrimp Ceviche Cocktail)

Sitting on the back porch on a pretty, quiet spring day - a little breeze stirring the wildflowers and the wind chimes, and hummingbirds buzzing around while they visit the nearby feeders.  Perfect time for this Ceviche de Camaron, either as an appetizer or a light afternoon meal.


Thanks to my brother John for suggesting this one.  It's a really easy recipe, and it is perfect for those of you that don't like the idea of "cooking" raw seafood using only the juice of limes. For this recipe, the shrimps are actually steamed until perfectly done.  Be careful with the amount of ketchup you use - I cut the amount in half because I didn't want sweet shrimp.  I think it would probably be good substituting chipotle ketchup if you have it, but if you do, be careful about how much hot sauce you use.


Serve this with tortilla chips and a the Sangria Mexicana shown in this picture, or, if you prefer, a less-sweet sangria, the Summer Margarita I wrote about earlier, or a good Mexican beer.

Lynchburg Lemonade

This is what Lynchburg Lemonade is all about.  Chillin' out after a hard day of working in the garden. So good you drank it all and now are waiting for your hosts to give you a refill....

I was going to wait a bit longer before posting this recipe, but Lisa and Joe's work day and cookout with Bourbon Brined Porkchops prompted this to be "Cocktail of the Week Bonus Saturday".  Enjoy! 

This cocktail is designed for Jack Daniels, but bourbon does great as well.  Just don't spoil any really good bourbon making this drink.

Manhattan

The Manhattan must be one of the simplest cocktails of all times, and one of the very best.  I discovered it at the insistence of my sister-in-law, Paula, and I thank her for that.  Two ounces of whiskey, one ounce of Italian Sweet Vermouth, and a couple of splashes of Angostura Bitters, garnished with a cocktail cherry - how easy is that?  It's a cocktail that needs no recipe, and even grandpas like me can remember how to make one.

But it may also be one of the most flexible cocktails ever.  First you get to pick the whiskey.  Kathy and I like to use Rye, but Bourbon makes a great Manhattan, too.  I understand that some people even use brandy instead of whiskey, but I'll not be trying that any time soon. 

The Manhattan I just made for this picture used a rather overpriced brand of Rye in a too fancy bottle, called (ri)1, which is made by Jim Beam.  I have to tell you that it is good, but not good enough to justify the price, which I am embarrassed to have paid.  Old Overholt, a cheap brand and a standard in New Orleans, makes a good one, and I have read that Sazarac and Rittenhouse brands are excellent at a fair price. Perhaps there will be further experimentation at a later date.

Then there is the vermouth.  Brother John suggested a tiny little splash of dry vermouth with the sweet vermouth, and I think that does a lot for the drink.  And you can choose to use French vermouth instead of Italian, as I did for the one in the picture, and I can attest to how good that can be. 

There are a lot of variations that have official names, and they undoubtedly are good, but I suggest you experiment, and don't be swayed from what you like by cocktail snobs that want to tell you that you are not making a Manhattan correctly.

Grapefruit Cocktail

The idea for this Grapefruit Cocktail came from a recent issue of Fine Cooking, and I have included their version with my recipe.  Kathy and I tried theirs, and it was good, but thought we could make one a little more to our taste.  After a number of tries, we figured out it out. (Maybe anything would have been good by then?) 

This is another good summer cocktail -- not too sweet, and very refreshing.  Since we first tried it and the Hemingway Daiquiri, I have been surprised to learn how many people like grapefruit juice.....

Be sure to use a good 100% blue agave silver tequila.  These were made with Patron, but there are a lot of others out there.

One last thought - a blender wouldn't hurt this drink a bit!

Papa Doble (Hemingway's Daiquiri)

Thinking about Cuban Sandwiches also made me think about Black Beans and Rice, Chicken and Yellow Rice, Filete Salteado (all on my list to talk about sometime) and Caribbean cocktails.  And what more appropriate than this week's cocktail, the Papa Doble or Hemingway's Daiquiri.  It was served to Ernest Hemingway at El Floradita Bar in Havana, although the version served to him was said to have been made with 6 ounces of rum.  A variation on a standard daiquiri, it contains grapefruit juice and a hint of cherry provided by maraschino liqueur in addition to the standard white rum, lime juice and simple syrup. I have provided two versions, and both are excellent, but you will have to experiment and decide whether you like the sweeter version or the one that is more tart.

I like 10 Cane Rum, which is made directly from sugar cane juice, instead of the more common molasses, and the maraschino liqueur is Luxardo, made in Italy using the flesh and pits of marasca sour cherries cultivated exclusively by Luxardo.