Monthly Archives: September 2014

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Fall Cocktails 2014 … let the fun begin

I’m gonna start with a caveat: I don’t drink alot of cocktails based on “brown” liquors. You know, the whiskey family: bourbon, scotch, rye. I never developed a taste for them straight-up or on-the-rocks, so I don’t reach for them when I’m developing a new cocktail. But I love a splash of bourbon in my pecan pie, so I usually have some Jack Daniels around for that. Why JD? It’s what my dad drank.

With our first burst of cool weather, I started thinking about cool weather cocktails. Fresh-pressed apple cider is one of those fall treats with a limited availability, so I wanted to try something to highlight it. Vodka wasn’t the right liquor – although neutral in flavor, too much “burn”. The botanical notes in gin were going to overpower the apple. I was out of black rum. But my little flask of Jack Daniels was there — and whiskey can have warm, caramel notes from the charred oak aging, which would pair beautifully with apple.

You’ll note I gave ranges for the whiskey and apple cider. I preferred the “lighter” version — less whiskey less cider and more ginger ale. The CGP preferred the “stronger” version — more whiskey more cider and a hit of lime at the end.

Apple Cider Fizz
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2 – 3 tablespoons Tennessee Whiskey or good bourbon
1 tablespoon Pama liqueur
1/3 to 1/2 cup fresh-pressed apple cider (farm-stand or refrigerator section)
ginger ale
lime (optional)

Fill a tall pub glass with ice. Add the whiskey, Pama, and apple cider. Stir well. Top off glass with ginger ale and stir gently to combine. Add a touch of lime juice if desired.

We drank ours with homemade hand-pies filled with beer-braised chuck roast, onions, mushrooms, and a bit of Cheddar:

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Party Notes: If I were serving this at a party — I’d make it by the pitcher, use smaller glasses, and garnish the edge of each glass with a little apple wedge.

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Grillin’ some wings …

I’m not the biggest fan of buffalo wings. Too much vinegar … one note spiciness. Just not my thing. If we’re out and someone orders a plate, I’ll have one, but I don’t order them for myself. They are also incredibly greasy and messy — I get the stuff all over face and up my arms. Or maybe I’m just a slob.

But throw some wings on our Big Green Egg– well — that’s a different story altogether. First of all, a slow moderate roast in the BGE renders off all the fat, leaving the meat moist but not flabby. Secondly, I can toss the hot wings in my own sauce — whether that’s a sweet and spicy tomato-based barbecue sauce (like Sweet Baby Ray’s!), or a mustard-based barbecue sauce, or even a Thai sweet chili sauce! And I don’t have to drown them — a little goes a long way (and keeps my arms clean, right?).

Smoked Chicken Wings
Serves a crowd

Enough “party wings” to cover your grill grate without crowding [*]
Barbecue rub [**]
Barbecue sauce

Lay your wings out on a cookie sheet or two. Pat them dry if they are super wet. Liberally dust both sides with barbecue rub of your choice. Let them set out for the 30 to 45 minutes it will take to set up your grill and get the fire going. This rest period is important for seasoning — the salt will draw moisture out of the meat and then the salt gets drawn back INTO the meat.

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Set up your grill for indirect grilling — on the BGE, we set up for indirect grilling with a plate setter. Aim for about 350F.

Once the grill has reached temp, lay out the wings out on the grate. Shut the lid and let it go about 45 minutes. No peeking!

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At the 45 minute mark, flip the wings, rearranging if you are seeing hot spots. Shut the lid and let it go another 30 to 45 minutes. You may peek at the 30 minute mark to see if they are done. They should be evenly browned/charred and pulling away from the bone a bit. Poke one with your finger — should be fairly firm.

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Pull them from the grill and immediately put in a large bowl and pour your favorite sauce over them. Toss gently, adding more sauce sparingly. It’s important to do it the moment they come off the grill — so the oh-so-crisp skin will soak up the sauce. But not drown in it!

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Eat immediately!

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[*]  “Party wings” means the first two joints of the wing, separated, and the wing tip discarded. Feel free to buy full wings and separate yourself. For me, it was more efficient to buy them ready to go. Our BGE holds about 40 pieces — I think that was 5 or 6 pounds worth.

[**]  We usually make our own rub. Salt, fresh ground black pepper, smoked paprika, ground cumin, garlic powder, onion powder, ground coriander, ground chipotle, I’d skip the brown sugar for these wings. But a purchased barbecue rub will work just fine.

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Tea IN Cookies?

So we got a new coffee machine at work. Not exactly blogworthy, I know. For a host of reasons, we lease a machine that brews cups individually. It reduces waste — does anybody else remember That Person who would come into the office kitchen, decide the nearly-full-carafe of coffee wasn’t Quite Fresh Enough, and pour the whole thing out and make a new pot? **I** like this single-serve system because it reduces the opportunities for my co-workers to make a mess that they won’t clean up. I swear I’m going to set up a webcam and catch the lazy individual who keeps leaving dirty dishes in the sink for a week. And then publicly shame her/him.

The old coffee machine used envelopes of finely ground coffee/tea. The new one uses paper pods of finely ground coffee/tea. Not mechanically compatible with each other, clearly. So we had a bunch of leftover envelopes that were going to be thrown out. Now, I don’t like waste. But I also wasn’t going to tear open 100 envelopes of coffee to fill a basket filter to make ONE carafe of mediocre coffee. The tea, on the other hand, kinda tickled my fancy. I’d been drinking the chai fairly regularly and the Early Grey occasionally. So I decided to grab some of each to play with at home.

I paired the chai with white chocolate in a fairly traditional CCC recipe. The spices were subtle and the tea flavor more so — but both were there. Next time I’d probably use two envelopes of the chai — it was almost too subtle. I liked the visual effect of the flecks of tea in the cookie. I chose to let the chai infuse the butter since those spices usually need heat+fat to really bloom.

Earl Grey is pretty strong so I decided to pair it with chocolate. I also used two envelopes because I wanted to ensure the flavor came thru. I chose to steep the leaves in gin and leave out vanilla — trying to reinforce the herbal notes more so than sweet. I tasted NO gin in the final product — so not entirely sure if that was necessary :).

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 Tasters gave both cookies a solid thumbs-up!

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White Chocolate Chai Cookies
Makes about 2 dozen cookies

SAMSUNG1 stick unsalted butter, melted and cooled to room temperature
1 envelope (~ 1 1/2 teaspoon) finely ground Chai-spiced Tea
1 cup plus 2 tablespoons unbleached all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons granulated sugar
1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons packed brown sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 large egg
1 cup white chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 375F. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.

Gently melt the butter. I like to use a 2-cup Pyrex cup in the microwave: 30 seconds @ 50% power, swirl, 20 seconds @ 40% power, another round at 40% power if needed, remove. Add the chai. Allow to cool to room temperature.

Whisk together the flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt in a medium bowl. Set aside.

Pour the butter/chai over the sugars in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Beat on low for about a minute. Scrape the paddle and sides, then let the butter and sugar hang out for about five minutes to better dissolve. Then, beat on medium-low for a couple of minutes until fully mixed. Add the egg, mix until fully incorporated. Add the vanilla, mix until fully incorporated.

Add the dry ingredients slowly with mixer on low (I added in three increments), scraping frequently. Don’t overmix! Add the chocolate chips. Mix with the mixer about 3 rotations of the bowl — then stop and finish by hand.

Refrigerate the dough for about 20 minutes. Use a cookie scoop (mine is a generous tablespoon — probably about four teaspoons) to place eight scoops on a parchment- or silpat-lined cookie sheet. You need some room for spread. Put ONE cookie sheet in the oven, cook 6 minutes (set the timer!), rotate the pan, and cook for another 3 to 4 minutes. Remove to wax paper to cool.

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Chocolate Earl Grey Cookies
Makes about 2 1/2 dozen cookies

SAMSUNG1 stick unsalted butter, melted and cooled to room temperature
2 envelopes (~ 1 tablespoon) finely ground Earl Grey Tea
1 tablespoon gin
1 cup plus 2 tablespoons unbleached all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup unsweetened baking cocoa
1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons granulated sugar
1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons packed brown sugar
1 large egg
1 cup bittersweet chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 375F. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.

Gently melt the butter. I like to use a 2-cup Pyrex cup in the microwave: 30 seconds @ 50% power, swirl, 20 seconds @ 40% power, another round at 40% power if needed, remove. Allow to cool to room temperature.

Mix the tea and the gin together in a small bowl. Set aside.

Whisk together the flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, and cocoa in a medium bowl. Set aside.

Pour the butter over the sugars in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Beat on low for about a minute. Scrape the paddle and sides, then let the butter and sugar hang out for about five minutes to better dissolve. Then, beat on medium-low for a couple of minutes until fully mixed. Add the egg, mix until fully incorporated. Add the gin-chai and mix until fully incorporated.

Add the dry ingredients slowly with mixer on low (I added in three increments), scraping frequently. Don’t overmix! Add the chocolate chips. Mix with the mixer about 3 rotations of the bowl — then stop and finish by hand.

Refrigerate the dough for about an hour. Use a cookie scoop (mine is a generous tablespoon — probably about four teaspoons) to place eight scoops on a parchment- or silpat-lined cookie sheet. You need some room for spread. Put ONE cookie sheet in the oven, cook 6 minutes (set the timer!), rotate the pan, and cook for another 3 to 4 minutes. Remove to wax paper to cool.

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Fried okra with an Indian twist

So the following post is edited (slightly) from a comment I made on my friend Beverly’s blog, OneWeekCloser. Bev has been posting weekly about what she’s doing with her CSA box. Unlike wimpy me, Bev subscribes to a full-share in a more traditional CSA — The Lancaster Farm Fresh Cooperative. So she has a bounty of vegetables to deal with every week — whether eating, freezing, or giving away. I’m quite impressed with her industriousness! I’m reposting here because after I read the whole thing, I realized I had gotten carried away and it was standalone post on its own!

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Growing up in a Southern home (not always physically located in the South, but always there from a culinary perspective), fried okra was my absolute favorite vegetable. Ever. I still love it. When I visit my folks in the Ozarks of Mo, I try to get my fill and request Mom to cook hers and if we’re eating out, I noodge us towards restaurants that might serve it. No Shame.

I can find fresh okra occasionally in the grocer’s produce bin, but the quality can be a bit iffy (oversized and tough or dried out). I can find it reliably in the frozen section – which is fine for gumbo … not so good for the fried stuff of my childhood. So Bev’s offer of some fresh organic red okra got me drooling.

So what did I do with it? My own crazy delicious riff on bhindi masala, which is India’s take on fried okra. It had the texture of my childhood okra — some crisp some tender some slippery — but the flavors were Indian.  Here’s what I did:

  • Wash the okra. Watch out for the hairs that can be rather prickly!
  • Trim and discard the stem. Slice thru vertically from the pointy end, leaving the stem end attached. Kinda like a V shape. If you cut a couple all the way thru — no worries — just cook ‘em anyway.
  • Heat a wide skillet (mine is 10″) over medium heat and add a glug or two (2 – 3 tablespoons?) of oil. I used a blended vegetable oil.
  • Add the okra. Let it cook down, stirring occasionally. You will NOT get super crisp okra with this method (you have to deep fry it), but you will have some crispiness. When it is cooked to your desired tenderness, remove it to a heatproof plate or bowl.

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  • Finely slice a large shallot into rounds. Add it to the remaining oil in the skillet — you may need to add a teaspoon or two more oil. Fry it until it starts to brown a bit.
  • Add a pinch of salt, some freshly ground black pepper, ground chipotle powder (or other chile-only powder) to taste, and a couple tablespoons of your favorite curry. I used a madras curry powder that had cumin, coriander, garlic, turmeric, cinnamon, cloves, and about 10 other things. Use a curry blend that you like! Cook the onions a couple more minutes with spices — they need the oil and the heat to fully bloom.

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  • Put the okra and any accumulated oil back in the skillet. Turn off the heat and stir everything together gently — just until the okra is warmed back up. Serve as a side to just about anything!

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As it was date night, I served it with a panko-crusted plaice (skinny white fish labelled origin SE Asia) and some prosecco. And Top Chef. I also bought more okra the next day so I can make it again RSN!

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