Cover Recipe: Berry Float

I am hoping to start a new feature here on bookcooker, partly as an attempt to get out of my blogging rut!  Every month I will make a cover recipe from some food magazine - first up the cover of Martha Stewart Livings June issue  - a very simple berry float.  It feels a bit like cheating to make this, it is nothing much more than berries, vanilla ice cream and soda thrown together - but it has been impact, both visually and in taste.  It is a great easy treat to throw together when you are in the mood for something special and the color scheme obviously works perfect for July 4th or for chearing on Team USA in the World Cup!  Yum!

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Blackberry-Mint Julep

Until this one, I have never had a mint julep I enjoyed.  That doesn't make sense, since I really love bourbon, but I have not had a tasty mint julep.   As often happens with cocktails, a bad experience once can sometimes put you off a certain drink or type of liquor forever (or at least for a while).   I recall a very bad mint julep my senior year in college, made by a friend from Kentucky (no offense, P!) - a medicine tasting drink that made me shiver a bit after I took a sip.  To some extent, that was all it took for me to pretty much swear off juleps for a while.  I have partaken a bit in recent years, since bourbon has been so in vogue, juleps turn up on a lot of menus.  What I have found is that the crushed ice that is part of the drink is overdone a bit, and so I feel like I am drinking a bourbon snow cone.    A purist will not like this blackberry mint julep, but it is far and away the best julep I have ever had.  I really like the technique too - pureeing the fruit and mint together then straining to a syrup.  This is something I will play with with other fruit and herb combinations - as summer approaches the possibilities are endless.  While I am a late for an derby day party you may have thrown, this drink is a keeper for the spring no matter what the occasion.

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Cocktail Hour: Spicy Pom Bourbon Cocktail

For cocktail hour this week I had the choice to go with Mardi Gras theme or Oscars.  Since I could not find passionate fruit syrup for hurricanes (I have already covered Sazeracs and Gin Fizz here...), the Oscars it was!  You can call this some cute name - red carpet or something like that - for me it is just Spicy Pom Bourbon cocktail.  It follows the trend from last week of spicy paired with fruity.  But a new element is added - smokiness from bourbon.  I love bourbon and know I should drink it neat, but it is a refreshing change to have it in a fruity drink, where tequila or rum would usually live.   This is great for the Oscars (I am sorry for posting too late for you to make this for the show, unless you have jalapeno and pomegranate juice around?) but also great for just a regular night. 

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Margarita Week: Chili Grapefruit Margarita

The internets have told me that this week is National Margarita Week!  The perfect inspiration for me to get back to cocktails on bookcooker.  This little hot ticket is a chili grapefruit margarita. The perfect drink as the dreary winter drags on.  If you are like me and did not plan a tropical vacation to help get you through it (or maybe you live in Southern California or Florida - damn you!), this drink can help dull the pain... for one night at least!

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Happy New Year! Kumquat Champagne Cocktail

 Looking for a festive and slightly special cocktail to ring in the new year?  How about this incredibly easy and refreshing kumquat cocktail?  I picked this cocktail because kumquats are so pretty and cute and in dreary December I am always in the mood for bright citrus flavors.  Little did I know that the kumquat does hold special meaning for the new year  - Chinese New Year that is.  Kumquat represents prosperity and according to tradition (so says the internet), anyone who eats kumquat at the new year will be insured good fortune, prosperity and happiness.  With that in mind, this is the perfect cocktail to ring in 2014!  Happy New Year and I wish you good fortune, prosperity and happiness!

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Watermelon Mojitos

Nothing screams summer like watermelon. Watermelon has never been a real love of mine, I tolerate it, but the big cutting job and the dripping miss never did it for me.  This year, for some reason, I keep finding myself adding watermelon to my grocery cart.  Something just clicked, and I want to eat it all the time now.  Maybe its because the genetic modifying farmers have really found the right formula to make sweet, juicy seedless watermelons?  Who knows.  As we head into July, watermelon serves as the perfect starting ingredient for summer cocktails.  I could have gone a lot of ways mixing this into drinks - margarita, daiquiri, sangria, but decided to go with the mojito, with a healthy dose of mint adding an herbaceous balance to the sweetness of the watermelon and rum.   While this isn't red, white and blue, it will still be a great addition to any Fourth of July soiree, and pink and green is cuter anyway, right?

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Cocktail Hour: Classic Bloody Mary

I have totally abandoned cocktails lately, and now that I finally have a quieter weekend, settling in with a classic brunch cocktail seemed like a good way to spend some downtime.  I love a good Bloody Mary and often order virgin versions of them at brunch.  Why virgin you ask?  Day drinking is definitely not my strong suit, and a shot of vodka at 11AM will likely knock me out for the rest of the day.  To me, the best part of a Bloody Mary is the horseradish that is used to spice the drink up.  Horseradish is one of my favorite condiments and there are not a lot of opportunities to eat copious amounts of it - pretty much only with oysters, or if you are Jewish like me, as a condiment to the once a year gefilte fish at Passover.  The version I put together above is pretty much classic - no wackiness here with pickled beets or tomatillos - just a simple tomato juice, celery salt, and horseradish concoction. 

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Boozy Shamrock Shake

While there is a little bit of mint in this shamrock shake, this is definitely not some healthy "green" version of the traditional, likely toxic, McDonald's version.   No, I updated the shamrock shake of m youth by adding some booze - bright green creme de menthe for the color, and Baileys for some richness.  I blended these with that touch of mint, some milk and some vanilla frozen yogurt.  Yum.  The perfect way to celebrate St. Patrick's day.

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The Paris Wife and Death in the Afternoon

For Paula McLain's The Paris Wife, I went back and forth between whether I wanted to make a cocktail or some food - alcohol is a big part of the book and of course a big part of the Hemingway story.  But, then again, with a book set in Paris, Spain, and the Alps, how could I ignore the food? Food seems to be a big part of the Hemingway story as well.  In classic Hemingway form of indulging in everything life has to offer to the fullest, I am doing two posts for The Paris Wife - this deadly (pun intended) cocktail of absinthe and champagne as well as a trout stuffed with ham and onions.  This cocktail represents the bad side of the relationship of Hadley Richardson and Ernest Hemingway that is depicted in The Paris Wife.  It is the type of thing they would drink when they were fighting, when they were bored, when they wanted to get obliterated and ignore the obvious problems in their relationship.  The trout represents the good side of their relationship - their healthy love of the outdoors, love of each other and the incredible "down to earth"ness of their relationship.  First, a recap of the book and the story of this cocktail, then in the next post a trip to Spain for some trout.

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Almond Milk Cinnamon Hot Cocoa

Ugh, I know I have pretty much abandoned Bookcooker in 2013, and I apologize.  January just ran away from me - work, skiing on the weekends, perhaps a little lack of inspiration.  And then, I was out of town, and out of the country for a trial for work.  The trial went on longer than expected, in fact, after three weeks it still isn't finished (hopefully we will put it to bed this week!)  I thought that when left alone in a strange, cold, snowy Canadian town I would have plenty of time to focus on blogging at night, but alas, the trial was pretty much all consuming mentally.  So I hope with this post I will start to put things back on track, and promise in March to be up and running on a more regular basis.  What we have here is a warm and toasty hot cocoa made with almond milk.  A feature in the January Martha Stewart Living on almond milk inspired me and now I am fairly obsessed with this ingredient, in addition to using it oatmeal and cereal, I also made a yummy, healthier creamed spinach.  While almond milk is rich, it doesn't leave you with that heavy, bloated feeling that real dairy sometimes does.  This is especially true for this hot cocoa, which was wonderful and rich but did not deliver a knock out punch that left me lethargic on the couch!  It is still very snowy and cold in New England, so this drink could be that special treat that gets you through the final dregs of winter.  Enjoy.

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Happy New Year: Pear and Ginger Sparkler

 

One last cocktail for 2012, a simple pear and ginger cocktail with the sparkling wine of your choice 0 champagne, cava, prosecco, sparkling grape juice - whatever works for you.  I went with prosecco.  I love champagne, but when I am mixing it with something else, I think cheaper alternatives make sense, and I think a decent prosecco is way better than a cheap champagne - I am a sucker for the good stuff.  I think pear and ginger are a great combination, and perfectly seasonal for a winter cocktail.  The recipe below makes 1 cup of ginger syrup - more than you will need for a few of these cocktails, but it is very versatile and would be great in other cocktails, drizzled in tea of stirred into yogurt.  However you are celebrating, I wish all of you a happy and healthy new year!

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Cocktail Hour: Coconut Eggnog

One last gasp before Christmas, an easy lighter version of eggnog, made with light coconut milk instead of milk.  I say lighter, cause this version is still full of egg yolks, but I really liked what the coconut milk brought to the party - instant flavoring and a great combo with the dark rum.  This came together quickly and could be a real wow if you are still looking for a wow to serve guests during the holiday.  It also is the perfect treat for just you, even a treat you could indulge in after Christmas, especially as, at least for me here in Boston, a long winter stretches out before you.  For those of you that celebrate Christmas, I hope you have a wonderful holiday.  For those of you that don't, I hope you have restful day off and some delicious Chinese food!

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Cocktail Hour: Crimson Crush

Here is a festive, fun cocktail that would be great for Christmas or New Years or after a long day of work.  I love anything with crushed ice, so when a picture of this cocktail came through on my phone through Flipboard, I was instantly smitten.  My version is a tinsey bit more snow cone than the original version, but the ice paired great with the pomegranate and melted into the alcohol to make the drink pleasantly weaker.  Rather than slowing down because of the holiday, work has been crazy busy as the end of year approaches (and for me a January trial date) so I have been posting a lot less than I had hoped.  I did make a bunch of holiday cookies, but I unfortunately feel it may be too late to share them on the blog.  I also wanted to share my family's latke's, but alas the moment for that has passed as well.  Instead of lots of holiday stuff, from here on out to the end of the year I will focus on blogging about all the books that I have read and have not yet blogged about!  I have a major backlog and will try to remedy that over the next week or so and start the new year fresh!

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Winter Mojito

Holiday season is here, and it is time to start banging out some cocktails, cookies, latkes and other goodies.  I'll kick off the season with a cocktail - a copy of a cocktail a friend recently had at a local bar here in Boston.  It is deadly simple but perfectly seasonal - the winter mojito.  Instead of white rum, dark rum is used (spiced rum would be even better).   Muddled with the mint and sugar are some cranberries, and I made a cranberry simple syrup as well.  This absolutely makes the mojito feel right for the holidays (hello, red and green and can easily be multiplied for a crowd.

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The Marriage Plot and Cocktails with Madeleine, Mitchel and Leonard

I struggled with what to make for Jeffrey Eugenides' The Marriage Plot.  The book is about the difficulty and aimlessness of three Brown seniors upon their graduation.  The food in the book is minimal and not good (cafeteria food, maybe some ramen, some cheap vegetarian food experienced on a trip to India).  In the end what I came up with was an imagined impromptu cocktail hour with the three characters - Madeleine, Leonard and Mitchell.  I made something to represent each character - the classic crisp gin martini for the waspy Madeleine,  Parmesan cheese crisps to represent the depressed but brilliant Leonard and Indian spiced nuts to represent the soul searching Mitchell.  To some extent, each of these ideas was a stretch, nevertheless I think each element brings a little bit of a character to the table.  Eugenides is the author of two previous well known novels - The Virgin Suicides and Middlesex.   These two books and The Marriage Plot are totally distinct from each other - it is actually hard to believe they were written by the same author.  The Virgin Suicides is a dreamy, yet edgy novel about teen desire, while Middlesex is an epic story of a hermaphrodite.  The Marriage Plot is different still, though it is perhaps somewhere between these two - the story is somewhat small - focused on the three characters  - seniors at Brown in 1982 - and their flailing attempts at early adulthood.  The book is a bit autobiographical - Eugenides graduated Brown at the same time and followed a similar path as one of the main characters, the fellow Greek Mitchell Grammaticus.  While the characters are a bit grating in the way smart, precocious Ivy leaguers can be, the book is absorbing and it is easy to identify with their struggles to find themselves and to find themselves on solid ground.

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Applefest: Fall Applejack Cocktail

For my applefest cocktail I knew I wanted to make something with Applejack - an apple brandy than is the base of one my favorite classic cocktails, the Jack Rose.  I wanted something a little richer than that cocktail, which is made with applejack, lemon juice and grenadine.  Rye Whiskey seemed like the perfect thing to mix the brandy with to make a cocktail that had some depth and gave you that warm toasty fall feeling.  I also added some maple syrup and lemon juice, and topped the cocktail off with a little (nonalcoholic) sparkling cider to lighten it up a smidgen.  I was really happy with this concoction and serving it in the champagne coupe made it feel like something special.  This would be great for your fall holiday gatherings.

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Cocktail Hour: Grape Crush

Although I want to cling to summer, there is no denying, on the eve of the first day of autumn, that fall is upon us.  It is my favorite season, but I always have a sense of melancholy when it begins, which is quickly quashed when the leaves start to change, I start to wear my favorite leather boots and tweedy jackets again, apples and apple cider are everywhere, and I contemplate whether I should have a pumpkin spice latte.  I love fall flavors of both the sweet and savory varieties, and am just starting to see beautiful fall produce in the stores.  I was perusing the produce at Trader Joe's recently and one the store employees enthusiastically recommended the ThomCord seedless grapes.  These are some sort of grape hybrid, they are like dark concord grapes but were touted as "seedless."  After trying them, while I enjoyed the rich grape flavor, richer and more intense than the usual grapes I buy, I would argue they were not really seedless.  The seed in the middle was definitely smaller and less dense than the seeds in normal Concord grapes, so they were chewable, but chewing them is not that pleasant an experience.  So I figured I would grind them up and use them in a drink.  I found this cocktail by googling "concord grape cocktail" and found lots of raves for a cocktail from the NYC restaurant Gramercy Tavern.  Oprah.com had a recipe for it and it was the perfect alternative use for these flavorful grapes, since they are pureed and strained before being added to the cocktail, so no chewing seeds! I consider this a slightly cooler, more alternative fall cocktail - everything is all about apples, pears, pumpkins as fall hits, the concord grape is a more under the radar seasonal pick. (Don't worry, I will be going full force into all those "conventional" fall flavors all season).

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Apricot St. Germain Bellini

One problem I have always had with bellinis is that they are too small!  As soon as I start to sip one, whoosh, it is gone.  This week, I really needed a big cocktail.  I spent the last three weeks on a highly stressful project at work which had me jittery during the day and sleepless at night.  The case I was working on ended (for now) yesterday, with a really great result.  So I deserve more than a smidge of champagne, I deserve a jug of champagne.  I was originally going to use fresh peach puree for my bellini, but saw some beautiful fresh apricots at the market and went with those to make this drink a little more esoteric and fancy.  The St. Germain adds a touch more of sweetness (I didn't add any sugar to the apricot puree).  All in all, this was just the kind of girly, bubbly drink I needed.  Now that this project is over I hope to have more room in my brain for blogging!

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Blueberry Basil Granita (with vodka)

This cocktail was inspired by both the heat and what I got in my CSA this week.  I fretted a bit over grinding up such beautiful local blueberries, but this is the third week I received them, so I went for it.  Since I had such an abundance of basil and was too lazy to make pesto, I threw in a handful of basil leaves for a nice green touch.  When it came to the booze I went girly, indulging with vanilla vodka and also some lillet wine.  The result was a sophisticated slushy. It is delicious eaten with a spoon or slurped after it has melted it a bit. 

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Strawberry Lemonade

Cherry Iced Tea, Strawberry Lemonade? It sounds like summer around here!  Another scorcher of a day has made me thirsty.  This strawberry lemonade is a snap to make and can be enjoyed either with vodka or without or still or bubbly.  I went sans vodka and still today, in this heat, the vodka would knock me out!  I am playing around with another editing program that will allow me to insert text into my photos more easily.  I am hoping to add a little feature for the summer concerning what to do with the veggies you may get in your CSA, and want to insert text labeling the veggies into the photos (a suggestion of my brilliant sister).  I have not figured out this other editing program yet, but hopefully will soon, so bear with me.

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