A Cocktail Party with a Twist

Sydnor and Bill are getting married in July and moving to Philadelphia soon after. When planning the engagement party, friends Lisa and Daniel wanted to do something that would both celebrate the coming marriage and relocation.

The solution: a cocktail party with a twist, all gifts had to be about cocktails, thereby stocking up Bill and Sydnor's bar at their new home.

Naturally, cocktails were at the center of the party. The makings for gin gimlets and rye and gingers lined Daniel's counter top. Homemade lavender shortbread, chocolate cake, cheese, hummus and bread provided sustenance to counter the cocktails.













Gifts included bottles of St. Germain and gin, the most versatile corkscrew I've ever seen, and lemon bitters. Daniel gave all the makings for a quality Sazerac, from the absinthe to the Sazerac rye whiskey to the Peychaud's bitters to the highball glasses. With the permission of the guests-of-honor, we opened the St. Germain and toasted the event with St. Germain and champagne.

Lisa also asked Sydnor and Bill's friends to send Lisa a recipe for their favorite cocktail. Recipes for drinks like Sazerac, French 75, and the Arnold Palmer Firefly were lovingly handwritten by Lisa in a tiny notebook and presented to the bride and groom-to-be at the party.

And it didn't go unnoticed that this is the gift that gives back; now we can all look forward to well-stocked cocktail parties at Bill and Syd's new apartment in Philly!

Sazerac
From Daniel & Aaron for Bill & Sydnor

Ingredients
Ice cubes
1 sugar cube or teaspoon sugar
3 dashes Peychaud's bitters
1 teaspoon water
1/4 cup rye whiskey
2 teaspoons absinthe
1 lemon peel twist

Preparation
Fill an old-fashioned glass with ice, set aside. Place sugar cube in another old-fashioned glass. Pour bitters, followed by water, over the sugar cube. Muddle with spoon until sugar dissolves. Add ice to fill glass, add whiskey. Let stand, stirring often, about a minute. Discard ice from first glass, add absinthe. Swirl to coat inside of glass, then pour out absinthe. Strain whiskey mixture into glass. Twist lemon peel over cocktail (releases lemon oil in the drink) and run along lip of glass. Discard lemon.

Bitter Whiskey Hot Fudge

Whiskey is delicious. Hot fudge is delicious. So why not put them together when given the opportunity, an opportunity like, say, the birthday of one of your best friends?

Sarah's birthday was last week. I'm all about handmade gifts, but May isn't the best time of year for knitting a pair of fingerless gloves. So I opted to make her a hot fudge sauce. I found a recipe suitable for refrigerator storage on The Wednesday Chef. The only change I made was to substitute Jack Daniels for the more refined brandy or cognac suggested in the recipe.

Nancy Silverton's Hot Fudge Sauce from The Wednesday Chef
Makes 2 cups

7 1/2 ounces bittersweet chocolate, cut into 2-inch pieces
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup light corn syrup
1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons water
3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
3/4 tablespoon instant coffee granules
3 tablespoons Cognac or brandy

1. Melt chocolate pieces in large stainless steel mixing bowl (or top of double boiler) over saucepan of gently simmering water. Be sure water does not touch bottom of mixing bowl to prevent chocolate from burning. Turn off heat and keep warm over warm water until ready to use.

2. Bring sugar, corn syrup, water, cocoa powder and instant coffee to boil in large saucepan over medium-high heat. Reduce heat to medium-low and simmer 1 to 2 minutes, stirring constantly to dissolve cocoa powder and sugar and to prevent burning on bottom of pan.

3. Whisk in melted chocolate. Boil hot fudge for few minutes to reduce to consistency you desire. It should be quite viscous and surface should have glossy shine. Cool slightly and beat in Cognac or brandy.

The steps for sterilizing glass jars can be found here.

Sarah hosted a potluck on her porch in West Philly and good eats abounded. Everything was vegetarian and options included a Gorgonzola and mushroom quiche, Mediterranean platter and garlic and herb cheese spread (all from Di Bruno Bros.); a salad of quinoa, sunchokes and strawberries; and even gelato from, my favorite, Capogiro.

We even stumbled upon one of the rogue miscapped bottles of Yards. That's a Washington Porter bottle cap on a bottle of Brawler.

Impromptu Dinner Parties

My friend Daniel and I hosted an impromptu dinner party before leaving Texas, the purpose of which was multi fold: we like cooking, we like cooking for others and we had a lot of food in our pantries that needed to be used before our departure. Daniel made his Gorgonzola pasta dish and baked shrimp, while I made-up an appetizer I dubbed Chickpea Mash. We collaborated on a salad of kale, beets and oranges. Friends brought wine, homemade pesto for dipping, desserts... I also got a bottle of Dripping Springs, which made for some smooth and sweet vodka tonics. For dessert we put out warm apple scones from Central Market, Central Market orange honey butter, fresh berries and black raspberry jam from Stonewall Kitchen. The good food plus some opera talk and a few naughty jokes translated into a successful dinner party overall.

Chickpea Mash
1 can chickpeas, some liquid reserved
olive oil
fresh lemon juice
1 garlic clove, minced
red pepper flakes
salt

Mix together all ingredients. Mash chickpeas with a fork. Serve with tortilla chips or pita bread.

Daniel's Gorgonzola Pasta
Saute broccoli crowns in olive oil (they will suck it up so you may need to add more). Add 1-2 cloves of garlic, crushed, and 1 1/2 c grape tomatoes, halved. When tomatoes begin to soften, add Gorgonzola cheese...maybe....1 1/2 c? Stir until melted. Stir into prepared spiral tricolored pasta. Add freshly cracked pepper and salt. Fresh parsley is nice too.

Chili Lime Shrimp
Big ass awesome prawns. Unshelled. Brine for 10 minutes in solution of water, sugar and salt. Drain. Mix together olive oil, sugar, salt, pepper, crushed dried chilies, lime juice and lime zest. Toss well. Let sit 15 mins. Place on foil lined broiler pan, broil 2-3 mins each side until pink. Squirt with fresh lime juice, serve immediately.

Roasted Beet and Orange Salad
Beets, peeled and diced into quarters or eighths
Roasting onions, peeled and sliced
1 Navel orange
Olive oil
Kale
Sprigs of fresh mint, chopped
Salt and pepper

Roast beets and onions separately in foil. Let cool till just warm. Section half the orange and add slices to salad. Add kale, which should just wilt from the warm beets and onions. Dress salad to taste using juice from the other half of orange and olive oil. Add mint, salt and pepper to taste.

The Happy Homemaker

I really love throwing theme parties... whether it be Halloween, the state of Ohio, the state of Texas, or my own recent foray into domesticity, I love a good party with fun food potential.

So this week is my housewarming party, co-hosted by my two housemates. They are responsible for the beverage portion of the evening; I am taking control of the food. In honor of the new house, I am building a menu around popular foods of the fifties/sixties, a time associated with the savvy American homemaker. The menu shall include:

Cola Cake

Apple Cake

Spinach Dip

Ranch Dip

Lil' Smokey Cheeseball

Lil' Sweetie Cheeseball (I'm making this up. Wish me luck!)

Pigs in a Blanket

Deviled Eggs

Jello

Any suggestions? Recipes and photos forthcoming.

In the meantime, check out this video from blip.tv, 1958. It's awash in the hues, sounds and modern conveniences of the fifties!

Cocktail Hour!

Last night was the second meeting of SPEC- the Society for the Promotion of Extraordinary Cocktails, hosted by my lovely friends Ru, Sarah, and Shonni. SPEC appeals to the dorky lush in me, as each meeting* focuses on three vintage cocktails. So while getting tipsy, you are also getting a historical perspective into the world of libations. (It's also a great excuse for drinking it up in cute outfits!)

Photo from SPEC Meeting 1

The menu included an amuse bouche of mulled cider, the Clover Club, and Sazerac Cocktail. Both the Clover Club and Sazerac used Peychaud's bitters, which Sarah had to order from New Orleans as they are not readily found in our area. The Sazerac was a bit too strong for me, but the Clover Club was fun and fruity, with the good aspects of a Cosmopolitan but lacking the Sex in the City overtones.

The Clover Club turns out to be a home-grown phenomenon, created by The Clover Club of Philadelphia in the early 20th century. My only other experience with the drink, however, was in Michigan, at Zingerman's Roadhouse. Zingerman's specializes in classic cocktails (SPEC fieldtrip, anyone?) and their CC was pretty amazing. Though I can't imagine anything with gin and fresh raspberries leading me astray. It is also commonly frothed with egg white!

Speaking of cocktails, this week I finally dug into my homemade Christmas cordial, a kumquat clementine liqueur. Inspired by this NYT article -http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9903E4DE1F3DF931A25751C1A9619C8B63&scp=8&sq=cordial&st=nyt - I made three batches of cordial- two were Christmas gifts and one was for me. Aside from looking beautiful, with slivers of kumquats and clementine floating in a mason jar, the gin based liqueur tastes amazing. I've been drinking it on the rocks with a generous portion of seltzer. The citrus and clove combination is an immediate reminder of the holidays. It's sweet but not syrupy.

Below is my slight adaptation of the NYT recipe. My main change was in the spices used, since I didn't have certain ones that the recipe called for, while I thought others would also work well. Also, mine did sit for about 5 weeks.

Kumquat-Clementine Cordial

adapted from "Haste Makes Cordial" by Melissa Clark, New York Times, December 12, 2007
Time: 10 minutes, plus one week's macerating**

1/4 cup sugar, preferably superfine
3 tablespoons clementine juice (from 1 or 2 clementines) plus 1 clementine, thinly sliced
6 kumquats, thinly sliced and seeded
1 3/4 cups gin (375 milliliters)
3 peppercorns
2 cloves
2 cardamom pods

1. Have a glass bottle with a cork or a jar with a lid ready. Place sugar in a large glass measuring cup or bowl. Stir in 1 tablespoon boiling water for 1 minute. Add clementine juice, and continue stirring until sugar dissolves, about a minute longer.
2. If using a jar, place clementine and kumquat slices inside. If using a bottle, you might have to curl slices into cylinders to fit them through neck. Add sugar syrup and remaining ingredients; break star anise in half if necessary to fit into bottle. Close jar lid or cork bottle; keep at room temperature. Shake once a day for one week before serving.

From kp: If keeping it for longer than one week, I would remove the majority of the spices after one week. Personally, I think the clove and cardamom flavors would get too strong.
3. Serve as is or over ice, or with a splash of seltzer, or topped with chilled white wine or sparkling wine, or as a hot toddy topped with boiling water. Or drizzle over ice cream.

Yield: About 2 cups.


*party

** isn't that a great word?