Muy Sabrosas Margaritas

My Uncle David makes the best margaritas.  I always loved visiting his farm in Tennessee, where he and my aunt had cocktail hour at 6:00 every evening.  At least once during our visits, David would make a pitcher of his infamous margaritas.

His recipe is like a family heirloom.  Once at a wedding shower for one of my friends, the guests were asked to bring their favorite recipe written on a recipe card for the bride-to-be. My mom, who was not known to be a great cook, brought the margarita recipe.  No one was surprised.

When I asked Uncle David for the recipe a couple years ago, this is what he sent:

Start with a larger container than you think you'll need.
Add 1 unit of good tequila.
Add 1/2 unit of triple sec.
Whatever amount you then have, add half that amount of orange juice.
Whatever amount you then have, add an equal amount of good margarita mix (Cuervo, for example; the cheap shit is a sugary mess).
Add one small bottle club soda.
Adjust strength by adding more than 1 unit of tequila; above is the minimum tequila for more sedate gatherings.
Rub rims with lemon, lime, or orange wedges.
Salt rims.  (People who request "no salt" for health reasons should be asked to leave.)
Fill glass as full as possible with ice.
Squeeze in three lemon, lime, or orange wedges over the ice, leaving one of those squoozed wedges in the glass.
Shake the margaritas until you get foam.
Pour over the ice.
Drink.

The most difficult part of following David’s recipe is the mathematics involved in figuring out units and half units. Here are the actual measurements I used for a pitcherful:

3 cups good tequila (reduce to 2 cups for a sedate gathering)
1 cup of triple sec
1 ½ cups orange juice (freshly squeeze is preferable)
4 ½ cups margarita mix * (see recipe below)
1 cup club soda

* The key to a really good margarita is homemade sweet & sour mix.  The margarita mixes you can buy are made with high fructose corn syrup, artificial flavorings, and preservative chemicals.  It’s easy--and tastier--to make your own.

To make enough margarita mix for one pitcher, you’ll need 1 cup sugar, 1 cup water, 1 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice, and 1 ½ cups freshly squeezed lime juice. Make a simple syrup by heating the sugar and water together in a saucepan over medium heat just until the sugar melts.  Turn off the heat and let cool to room temperature.  Then add the lemon & lime juices.

Tree Trimming & Egg Nogging

My family used to cut down a fresh tree every year for Christmas. We'd pick one out at the tree farm near my grandparents' house the day after Thanksgiving. A couple weeks later, we'd traipse back out to the tree farm with a saw to cut it down.

The holidays weren't complete without the whole family fighting over the tree decorating. The first problem was that my mom insisted on a HUGE tree, one that was over 15 feet tall, since our living room had a towering cathedral ceiling. Of course, trees always look smaller out in the field. Inside, however, they barely fit.

My dad would struggle with getting the tree home in our pea green station wagon (think Christmas Vacation). Once, the tree flew off the top of the car on the highway. My dad ended up laying in the wayback with the tree, holding on to it so it wouldn't fly out of the car. Then, he'd struggle with getting the tree inside. We always had to bring it in the back sliding glass door. We usually had to tie it up so it would stay straight. One year, he busted the ceiling fan with the ladder. Eventually, we'd begin decorating with multi-colored lights (the kind with the big bulbs), bubble lights, family ornaments, silver tinsel (strand by strand, as mom insisted), and candy canes.

Even though there was always drama, I miss that time so much. My dad hasn't put up a tree since my mom died almost 14 years ago.

Unfortunately, my ex-husband wasn't too keen on getting real trees. He (and his family) always put up a pre-lit, artificial tree. It made me sad. Luckily, Jerad's family always got a real tree...one they even cut down themselves! A couple years ago, I was supposed to go out to the tree farm with Jerad and his mom. It was a cold, rainy day--and I wasn't feeling well--so I told them I'd just meet at Jerad's parents' house to help decorate later that day. About an hour later, they showed up at my house with a gorgeous 12-foot Douglas Fir, lights, and ornaments.

I can't really explain how much that meant to me. It made me realize that I'd found my "home."


Today, after searching around two different fields, we cut down the biggest Christmas tree I've ever seen! Seriously, it takes up almost the entire room. It's crazy big! I'm still waiting for a squirrel to jump out.


Of course, every tree trimming party needs a cocktail. This is the one I made tonight, after we'd finished decorating and were enjoying the lights & strong fragrance of pine.

Homemade Egg Nog
from Kitchen Conservatory

Makes 1 gallon

12 eggs, separated
3/4 cup sugar
2 cups bourbon (or brandy)
4 cups heavy cream
nutmeg, to taste

• In a stand mixer, beat the egg yolks and sugar together with a pinch of salt until pale yellow and fluffy.
  
• Continue whipping and, very slowly, pour in the bourbon.
  
• In a separate bowl, whip the egg whites until they hold peaks.
  
• In a separate bowl, whip the cream until it holds peaks.
  
• Fold together the egg yolks, egg whites, and whipped cream. Garnish with lots of freshly-grated nutmeg.

Note: This will keep for a week in the refrigerator.

Jerad worshipping at the altar of The Tree.
He's a little like Clark Griswold.

Foodbuzz 24, 24, 24: A Moveable Feast

Foodbuzz sponsors a monthly event that features 24 bloggers from 24 cities around the world who prepare unique meals during the same 24 hours. Earlier this month, I submitted a proposal for a meal inspired by Ernest Hemingway's memoir of 1920's Paris, A Moveable Feast...and my proposal was chosen!

"If you are lucky enough to have lived in Paris as a young man, then wherever you go for the rest of your life, it stays with you, for Paris is a moveable feast."

-Ernest Hemingway, to a friend, 1950

A Moveable Feast is Hemingway's story of living as an expatriate writer--part of what fellow writer Gertrude Stein termed "Une Generation Perdue," The Lost Generation.

"That's what you are. That's what you all are," Miss Stein said. "All of you young people who served in the war. You are a lost generation."

"Really," I said.

"You are," she insisted. "You have no respect for anything. You drink yourselves to death. . . ."

Though not a cookbook or food memoir, Hemingway's narrative includes many descriptions of the things he drank and ate in friends' homes and in various French cafes.


Though I originally planned to have dinner outside to emulate a Paris cafe, the heat index in St. Louis was over 100 that day, so I moved the meal inside. I tried to create a cafe feel with red plates, mismatched wine glasses, & an Eiffel Tower lamp on the buffet!

I invited fellow food & literature enthusiasts (from left): Jerad, Andy, Ellie, Bill, me, Stephanie, & Maggie (who took this pic).

M E N U

(recipes follow)

Aperitif:
Eau-de-vie
(strawberry-infused vodka)

My wife and I had called on Miss Stein, and she and the friend who lived with her had been very cordial and friendly and we had loved the big studio with the great paintings. It was like one of the best rooms in the finest museum except there was a big fireplace and it was warm and comfortable and they gave you good things to eat and tea and natural distilled liqueurs made from purple plums, yellow plums or wild raspberries. These were fragrant, colorless alcohols served from cut-glass carafes in small glasses and whether they were quetsche, mirabelle or framboise they all tasted like the fruts they came from, converted into a controlled fire on your tongue that warmed and loosened it.

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Hor d'oeuvre:
Les Huîtres Crues avec Mignonette
(raw oysters with Mignonette sauce)

-->I closed up the story in the notebook and put it in my inside pocket and I asked the waiter for a dozen portugaises and a half-carafe of the dry white wine they had there. After writing a story I was always empty and both sad and happy, as though I had made love, and I was sure this was a very good story although I would not know truly how good until I read it over the next day.

As I ate the oysters with their strong taste of the sea and their faint metallic taste that the cold white wine washed away, leaving only the sea taste and the succulent texture, and as I drank their cold liquid from each shell and washed it down with the crisp taste of the wine, I lost the empty feeling and began to be happy and to make plans.

Maggie reading the oysters passage.


Maggie eating her first raw oyster!
(Bill is in the background, twittering about how we made him drink Barefoot Bubbly.)

Premier Cours:
Cervelas Remoulade, Pommes a l'huile
(sausages with mustard sauce, marinated potato salad)

It was a quick talk to Lipp’s and every place I passed that my stomach noticed as quickly as my eyes or my nose made the walk an added pleasure. There were few people in the brasserie and when I sat down on the bench against the wall with the mirror in back and a table in front and the waiter asked if I wanted a beer I asked for a distingué, the big glass mug that held a liter, and for potato salad. The beer was very cold and wonderful to drink. The pommes a l’huile were firm and marinated and the olive oil delicious. I ground black pepper over the potatoes and moistened the bread in the olive oil. After the first heavy draft of beer I drank and ate very slowly. When the pommes a l’huile were gone I ordered another serving and a cervelas. This was a sausage like a heavy, wide frankfurter split in two and covered with a special mustard sauce. I mopped up all the oil and all of the sauce with bread and drank the beer slowly until it began to lose its coldness and then I finished it and ordered a demi and watched it drawn. It seemed colder than the distingué and I drank half of it.

Stephanie & Ellie reading the sausages & potatoes passage (my typos & all).

Deuxième Cours:
Truffé de Poulet Rôti, Radis et de Salade d'endives
(truffled roast chicken, radish & endive salad)

[Disclaimer: The chicken, our third course, was served at nearly 10:00 pm. By that time I had consumed much vodka, champagne & wine and therefore forgot to photographically document the dishes. My apologies.]

-->We were halted by rain about an hour north of Lyon. In that day we were halted by rain possibly ten times. They were passing showers and some of them were longer than others. If we had waterproof coats it would have been pleasant enough to drive in that spring rain. As it was we sought the shelter of trees or halted at cafés alongside the road. We had a marvelous lunch from the hotel at Lyon, an excellent truffled roast chicken, delicious bread and white Macon wine and Scott was very happy when we drank the white Maconnais at each of our stops.

* * *

“We’ll come home and eat here and we’ll have a lovely meal and drink Beaune from the co-operative you can see right out of the window there with the price of the Beaune on the window. And afterwards we’ll read and then go to bed and make love.”

“And we’ll never love anyone else but each other.”

“No. Never.”

“What a lovely afternoon and evening. Now we’d better have lunch.”

“I’m very hungry,” I said. “I worked at the café on a café crème.”

“How did it go, Tatie?”

“I think all right. I hope so. What do we have for lunch?”

“Little radishes, and a good foie de veau with mashed potatoes and an endive salad. Apple tart.”

Dessert:
Tarte aux Pommes, Café au Lait
(apple tart, coffee with milk)

-->It was a pleasant café, warm and clean and friendly, and I hung up my old waterproof on the coat rack to dry and put my worn and weathered felt hat on the rack above the bench and ordered a café au lait. The waiter brought it and I took out a notebook from the pocket of the coat and a pencil and started to write.

My favorite pic of the night!

R E C I P E S

Strawberry-Infused Vodka:

An eau-de-vie, which Gertrude Stein served to Hemingway on numerous occasions, is actually a clear, colorless fruit brandy. However, I decided to make my own fruited liquor by infusing vodka with fresh strawberries.

This is so delicious yet so easy! Simply cut up a large container of strawberries (de-stemmed) into quarters. Pile into a pitcher and top with an entire bottle of vodka. Let sit at room temperature for a few hours (or in the fridge overnight), then strain back into the vodka bottle (or another decorative vessel). The result is sweet enough to sip straight from danty stemmed glasses.

NOTE: Do NOT store the finished vodka in the freezer. It will freeze solid (I learned that lesson this morning)!

Mignonette Sauce:

This is my favorite accompaniment to serve with raw or lightly steamed oysters.

Mix 1/2 cup champagne vinegar with 2 tablespoons finely shopped shallots, 1/2 teaspoon coarsely ground black pepper, & the zest of one lemon. Spoon over raw oysters before eating.

Sausages with Mustard Sauce & Marinated Potato Salad:

I sauteed Italian sausages in a bit of olive oil until they were brown and cooked through. I turned off the heat and let them sit in the pan while I made the mustard sauce & potatoes. When I was ready to serve, I quartered the sausages.

For the mustard sauce: mix 1 cup of mayonnaise with 1 tablespoon (or more to taste) Dijon mustard, 1 minced garlic clove, juice of half a lemon, a pinch of salt & freshly ground black pepper. Serve on the side.

For the potato salad: boil whole red new potatoes until just tender on the inside. You wante them to be retain a little firmness. Drain. While still warm, but cool enough to handle, thinly slice the potatoes and transfer to a bowl. Add a finely chopped shallot (or green onions) & a handful of chopped parsley. Sprinkle with salt & pepper, then drizzle with extra-virgin olive oil & red wine vinegar. Serve warm or at room temperature.

Truffled Roast Chicken with Radish & Endive Salad:

For the chicken: Wash & dry a roasting chicken. Rub olive oil all over the skin & sprinkle liberally with truffle salt. Roast at 425 degrees for about an hour (for a 4.5 pound bird), or until the skin is browned & crispy and the juices run clear (meat should register 160 at the thickest part of the leg). Remove from oven and let rest while you prepare the salad. Serve with a small carafe of black truffle oil that your guests can drizzle over their chicken.

For the salad: Slice endive heads & radishes thinly. Season with salt & pepper and dress with a simple vinaigrette. I used the leftover Mignonette sauce whisked with some olive oil.

Apple Tart:
(recipe from The Pioneer Woman)

This was my favorite dish of the night, partly because it was so easy to make & partly because if was pretty tasty!

Thaw a puff pastry sheet, unfold it, cut it in half, then roll each half to form two larger rectangles.

Cut 2-3 apples in quarters & cut the core out. Thinly slice the apples & transfer to a bowl. Add 1/4 teaspoon of salt & 1 cup of brown sugar. Mix well to coat. Layer the apples, in one over-lapping line down the center of each pastry. Bake at 415 degrees for 18-20 minutes, or until the pastry is puffed & browned. Remove from oven & transfer the tarts to a cooling rack. Serve warm or at room temperature, sprinkle with powdered sugar just before cutting.

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Sour Cherry Limonade Cocktail

Last week, Annie (aka The Cheesemonger's Wife) twittered about having great cocktail recipes, including one made with sour cherries. Since I'm always looking for new things to do with cherries (Jerad's parents have a tree in their front yard), I asked Annie to please pass along her recipes, which she posted this week.


I played around with the sour cherry cocktail a bit. Here's my version:

Sour Cherry Limonade Cocktail

• Using a shot glass to measure, combine 3 parts sour cherries with 1 teaspoon of sugar & the juice of one lime in a cocktail shaker. Muddle until the cherries are mushy & juicy.
• Add three parts vodka, a splash of Cointreau, and a few ice cubes. Shake.
• Strain the mixture into two martini glasses, filling about 3/4 of the way full. (I placed a small strainer over each glass to ensure that no bits of cherries were left floating around.)
  
• Top off each glass with some sparkling French limonade. (If you don't have this, get some! Or just use a sweeter sparkling wine.)

Sparkling French Limonade Cocktails

Each summer, Kitchen Conservatory stocks large swing-top bottles of Lorina Sparkling French Limonade ($5.50 for 750 ml).

This summer, I added booze to it.

First, I mixed the limonade with Absolut Pear vodka.

Then, I muddled some mint with a wedge of lime in the bottom of a glass. I added a shot of white rum, filled the glass with ice, then topped it off with some of the limonade.

I am going to stock up on this stuff. It's all I plan to drink this summer.

Just don't shake any of it in a cocktail shaker. The fizziness of the limonade makes the top of the shaker kinda explode off. Trust me. Learn from my mistakes.

Now, get yourself to KC for some of this and make your own tasty drinks!

Chef for a Day at Monarch

My friend and Kitchen Conservatory co-worker Ruth won a silent auction during the Slow Food trivia night recently to be "chef for a day" with Executive Chef Josh Galliano at Monarch. And since Ruth is such a nice person, she invited me and Teresa Sweeney to come along with her.


First, I have to say that Chef Galliano was so nice to us. I was a bit worried about being in the way, but he put us to work (nicely, though I did ask him to yell at me in a British accent to complete my fantasy) and seemed to trust that we were doing everything correctly. We worked for four hours & between the three of us we scaled trout; blanched, peeled, cut & de-seeded tomatoes; cleaned 10 pounds of morel mushrooms; trimmed what seemed like a hundred artichokes; cut homemade marshmallows; rolled dinner rolls; pickled beans; cleaned scallops; and shelled raw fava beans.

10 pounds of fresh morels & only a few crawly critters to be found!

I don't think Teresa wants to cut another tomato for a LONG time.

I didn't hear Chef say I only had to trim HALF of those artichokes, so I did them all...happily.

While that might not sound like a lot of fun to most people, I had a blast! I find that cooking, even prepping, is very therapeutic. I also enjoyed seeing how a restaurant kitchen like that operates. It was a quiet, laid-back kind of atmosphere...at least from 12-4. Everyone was nice and patient with us.

The kitchen at Monarch is huge. And, I was impressed to find out that everything on the menu--charcuterie, desserts, stocks, breads, liqueurs, etc--are made in-house. I was also impressed to see Chef Galliano doing his share in the kitchen (as well as running finished plates to tables in the dining room)...and not just delegating tasks as I imagine several executive chefs do.

Afterward, we had a few cocktails & a snack in the bar. Teresa asked us to stay for dinner with her and her family & friends. Thus began a 6-hour orgy of food and drinks. I loved seeing how the ingredients we prepped were prepared & presented in the final dishes.

Limoncello Mojito.

Monarch martinis: Orangecello & Tea-infused.

The infamous Chicken Confit Nugget with Salsa Verde.

Such beautifully rolled breads!

Apple of my Rye.

Stinging nettle & ricotta gnocchi with asparagus, mushrooms & bacon.

Diver scallop with olive oil mashed potatoes, fava beans, tomato confit, preserved lemon, & thyme foam.

Soft chocolate fudge with avocado ice cream, chocolate & vanilla soils, & candied pepitas.

Many thanks to Josh, Ruth, and Teresa for a fabulous day!

Eating & Drinking Our Way Across Missouri

Here's a quick recap of my two-day trip to Kansas City.

On the way to KC on Monday, we stopped in Columbia, MO, for some Shakespeare's Pizza...pepperoni, artichoke hearts, and pepper cheese...my favorite Shake's pie!


We also had a beer at Sycamore, where we were enticed by their sign out front proclaiming they had the "best/largest craft beer list in town." We had a nice chat with Sanford, one of the owners, and decided to come in for dinner on Wednesday. I was anxious to try the food after noticing that their chef, Mike Odette, was recently a semifinalist nominee for a James Beard award.


(On Wednesday, after a beer and some "chokes & cheese" at Flatbranch Brewing, we went back to Sycamore for dinner. We tried a few of their small plates...the country-style pate, mussels, fried oysters, and gnocchi with roasted squash. And a few glasses of a delish dry rose. Oh, and the chocolate graham torte with toasted house-made marshmallows & two shots of espresso for dessert.)

Once we got to Kansas City, we checked into our room at Chateau Avalon, a huge bed & breakfast with themed rooms. We stayed in the Presidential Suite...the bedroom (with a large, sunk-in jacuzzi tub) is hidden behind a secret door in the bookshelves.


Monday night, we checked out McCoy's Public House for dinner (mac-n-cheese with peas & bacon!) and micro-brews, followed by a few beers at The Foundry & Kelly's Westport Inn.

On Tuesday, we began the day with coffee at Broadway Roasting Company, then smoothies & free wifi at Westport Coffeehouse as we planned the rest of our day.


We decided to have BBQ at LC's, a placed described as "the best of the best". The smell of smoked meat hits you as soon as you open the door...that's because they pull meat out of the smoker right after you order. Amazing. We tried the burnt ends, ribs, and house-cut french fries (which, I'm told, are fried in lard). It was fabulous food.





With our bellies full and trying not to give into a meat coma, we spent the afternoon at Boulevard Brewing, our whole reason for going to KC in the first place. John Bryan, one of the bigwigs, showed us around the brewery and let us sample some of the Smokestack Series beers.




On John's recommendation, we headed to Harry's Country Club next to check out the beer list. While there, we struck up a conversation with the couple sitting next to us, Charlie and Betty. Nice people.


Our final beer joint stop was Grinder's, a place we'd heard great things about. I was impressed that, for the most part, their kitchen is right behind the bar. It consists of a flattop grill, a few pizza oven, and a small work area...where they were hand-rolling pizza dough.


Jerad ordered some of the "f'ing hot death sauce" wings, and the bartender was all, "Are you sure? Would you like to try the sauce first?" She brought over a small cup of the sauce with a toothpick in it. Instead of using the pick, though, Jerad stuck his finger into the sauce and then into his mouth. This is the result, tears & all:



It was, apparently, pretty f'ing hot.

All in all, we had a good time eating & drinking our way across Missouri.

Grand Opening at The Stable

I was surprised at how crowded it was Saturday night for the grand opening of The Stable. It was literally PACKED, even with the patio open.

The beers were flowing; in fact, three kegs tapped out while I was there.

Disclaimer: Forgive the not-so-good pics. It was dark and I was trying to take quick pics without being conspicuous.

I ate the charcuterie & cheese plates, bacon-wrapped dates, fava bean & artichoke brulee, and a steak grinder. While everything was good, the dates were by far the best thing I tried.

The dates were smoky & sweet...so good!

The charcuterie plate was also very good, something I'll order again for sure. It featured a selection of sausages and cured meats like proscuitto & coppa served with banana peppers, bread, and a mustard ale sauce.

I should have taken a pic when the meat & cheese plates first arrived, but everyone started in as soon as they were set down.

The brulee is a creamy baked dip, a sort of more sophisticated version of the standard artichoke dip (though it needs to be served with more bread, since it's such a generous portion of dip).

The grinder was made up of tender, marinated, grilled steak topped with mozzarella. Nothing too fancy, but tasty. It hit the spot after a few brews.

Next time, I'll try the Sicilian Gumbo (with salsiccia, shrimp, fava beans, roasted red peppers, & ground veal topped with risotto), pizza (so many of them sound so good!), butternut squash ravioli (with white bean ragout & age butter), and one of the dinner specials like "slow cooked pork Osso Buco with gorgonzola and cheddar macaroni" (available on Thursdays).