recipe

Pear Martini

goobermaster — Sun, 02 Nov 2008 22:48:31 -0600

Seems like there're as many pear martini recipes as there are types of pears. I played around for a good part of the week trying various ways of consuming Absolut Pear vodka and here's my final cut:

4 oz Pear Vodka - Absolut makes a fine one.
1 oz Disaronno - don't even pretend that there's a different kind of amaretto
splash of grapefruit juice
juice from 1/2 a lime

Shake all ingredients with ice in a shaker until it sweats and strain into martini glasses. Garnish with a pear slice if you've got it, else a lime slice works fine.

I like these kinds of experiments, I'll have to come up with some other martini recipes so I can perfect them and drink all the "mistakes". ;) In other drink/Manfort related news: I taught some of the girls how to play Mexican Train dominoes with my new set that Laura gave me. We sipped pear martinis and discussed other possible drink names. A few that I remember:

God's Vagina
Dusty Scrotum

I can't imagine what ingredients either might call for, but neither sound all that appetizing to me. ;P

Potato Gnocchi with Fresh Pesto

goobermaster — Wed, 08 Oct 2008 12:20:55 -0500

After depleting the Manfort of everything except beer, drink additives, and a few hard boiled eggs, it was time to grocery shop and replenish the pantry. The first thing I made with all my new yummy ingredients was gnocchi and pesto all from scratch. Always my preferred method -- I get a kick out of cooking from the basics. Recipe after the jump...

Potato Gnocchi

2 large potatoes
1 egg
1 cup flour

Bake the potatoes at 350° for 60 minutes.
Peel the skin of the potatoes and flake with a fork. Use a ricer if you have one. Don't mash the potatoes. The idea is to have a fluffy and dry result.
Spread the potatoes out to cool so that the egg won't cook when added.
Add the egg and fold into the potatoes.
Add 3/4 of the flour and fold into the mixture to form a dough.
Gently knead the dough to incorporate the ingredients. Add flour if needed to prevent sticking.
Divide the dough into 8 parts and roll each part into a log about thumb thickness.
Cut each log into 3/4 inch lengths. form each gnocchi by pressing against a fork. The fork leaves ridges on one side and your thumb leaves a small dimple of the other. These features help hold sauce in the dish.
Boil a pot of salted water. Add the gnocchi about twenty at a time.
The gnocchi are done about 10-15 seconds after they float to the surface. Remove with a slotted spoon as they cook.

Fresh Basil Pesto

1 large bunch fresh basil leaves
3 cloves garlic
1/2 cup pine nuts
3/4 cup fresh grated parmesan
Extra virgin olive oil

In order to get the best results, don't use a food processor, the leaves and pine nuts will break down into a paste that has no substance. Nothing beats the consistency of hand-chopped pesto. Similarly, don't use any dried ingredients. The fresher and smaller the basil, the better. Don't use the Kraft brand parmesan in the can. Shave it off a fresh block. And use whole garlic cloves please.

Slice the garlic cloves into sections and chop with the basil.
Once the leaves are coarsely chopped, add the pine nuts and keep chopping to a fine consistency.
Add the parmesan and continue chopping until a fine mince is achieved. You should be able to pack the pesto in a firm ball that holds its shape.
Press the pesto into a glass bowl and pour on enough olive oil to cover (about 2 tablespoons). You may have to add a bit of oil depending on how much is soaked up by the pesto.
Store in the refrigerator. When ready to serve, add oil if necessary and give a quick stir. Pesto should be eaten immediately as the flavors break down in the oil overnight.

My Martini Recipe - the Goobertini

goobermaster — Tue, 15 Apr 2008 23:01:12 -0500

Art by Keith Weesner

Speaking of martinis, here's how I like mine: (Dirty of course.)

the Goobertini

3 oz Vodka (Ketel One, Skyy, Grey Goose) -- or Bombay Sapphire. Depends on my mood, but I find the vodka is a bit smoother.
1/2 oz Dry Vermouth -- Noilly Prat please
1/2 oz Olive Juice -- especially the fine squeeze from olives marked as "martini olives".

Before-hand, stick the martini glass in the freezer to chill it. Fill your shaker half full of cracked ice. This is important as the ice serves two purposes: to chill the ingredients (obviously), but also to add enough melt water to the drink to soften the alcohol's bite. Add the above ingredients and shake vigorously for half a minute. Cheers, Mr. Bond. strain into your frozen glass and toss in a few olives on a spear.

Tasty business there. Remember, although a good martini is stiff, don't sip and nurse it. Nothing ruins a martini faster than letting it get too warm. I also think they taste better whilst wearing a silk robe Heffner-style. :) And for your Fleming fans, here's the excerpt from the novel that details what we now know as the Vesper martini thanks to Daniel Craig:

Bond insisted on ordering Leither's Haig-and-Haig on the rocks and then he looked carefully at the barman. "A dry martini," he said. "One. In a deep champagne goblet." "Oui, monsieur." "Just a moment. Three measures of Gordon's, one of vodka, half a measure of Kina Lillet. Shake it very well until it's ice-cold, then add a large thin slice of lemon peel. Got it?" "Certainly, monsieur." The barman seemed pleasant with the idea. "Gosh that's certainly a drink," said Leiter. Bond laughed. "When I'm... er... concentrating." he explained, "I never have more than one drink before dinner. But I do like that one to be large and very strong and very cold and very well-made. I hate small portions of anything, particularly when they taste bad. This drink's my own invention. I'm going to patent it when I can think of a good name." He watched carefully as the deep glass became frosted with the pale golden drink, slightly aerated by the bruising of the shaker. He reached for it and took a long sip. "Excellent," he said to the barman, "but if you can get a vodka made with grain instead of potatoes, you will find it still better."

Amish Friendship Bread

goobermaster — Fri, 21 Mar 2008 13:02:08 -0500

Someone gave me a bag of goop the other day with a set of instructions. "Um, thanks?" I thought at the time. But I was willing to give it a shot.

Amish Friendship Bread straight from the oven.

The bag was the starter mixture for a fermented bread called Amish Friendship Bread, something akin to sourdough. The instructions indicated mushing up the bag each day for 10 days and then adding the rest of the ingredients before baking. Alrighty then -- I'll give it a go. I faithfully mushed my bag each day and added ingredients to quadruple the mixture half way through as indicated. Later research confirmed that you can skip this step if you don't want to end up with three more bags of starter at the end of the process.

The notorious bag of goop.

All mixed up and ready for the oven.

Each day that passed, the bag filled with carbon dioxide as the yeast fermented the sugar. I let out the air and mushed the bag. The strong aroma of bread/beer filled the air. On the 10th day, I gathered the ingredients and mixed up my dough. I ended up with two bags of starter that I put in the freezer. (I also learned from the internet that you can delay the making of another 10 day process by freezing it, just let it thaw for 3 hours and the game will continue.) I didn't have bread pans, so I used a couple of small casserole dishes greased with butter. After baking, the results were surprisingly good. Quite cakey and more like banana bread than sourdough. Sid likes it too as I shared my crusts with him. I have to admit, I was more than a little leery of letting something with milk in it sit out on the shelf for a week fermenting, but the directions are easy and the bread makes itself. So be daring and give it a go. Here's how to make your own:

Ingredients

1 cup Amish Friendship Bread starter
2/3 cup vegetable oil
3 eggs
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup white sugar
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 1/4 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease 2 bread pans.
In a large bowl, combine the Amish bread starter with oil, eggs, 2 cups flour, 1 cup sugar, 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon, 1/2 teaspoon salt, 1/2 teaspoon baking soda, 1 1/4 teaspoons baking powder, and 1 teaspoon vanilla. Mix well. Pour into prepared loaf pans.
Bake in preheated oven for 50 to 60 minutes.

If you don't have the starter, no worries -- make your own. Directions can be found here. (The rumor is only the Amish can make it so you have to have a friend give it to you.) Those sneaky Amish -- never sharing their secret recipes!

Albino Chili Recipe

goobermaster — Tue, 05 Feb 2008 18:55:29 -0600

Betsy and Angelo have a great tradition of hosting an annual Super Bowl Party that includes lots of food and adult beverages. Part of the fun is there's always a few chili varieties and guests are invited to bring their own to share. I've done this a couple of times and although Angelo's standard steak chili is always sublime, and Stacy has her award winning vegetarian chili -- I like to try weird styles that usually turn out to be a bit of an experiment. Two years ago I brought green chili (with tomatillos and lots of green chilis). This year I went with white chili, or as I've appropriately dubbed it: Albino Chili. :) I found the recipe online and adjusted to what I thought might be better. It still turned out kinda soupy, so I've adjusted the following recipe. (The original called for almost twice as much stock.) I learned it's important to add the cheese just before serving, too -- it keeps it from burning. And it's a lot of cheese! And even more beans -- if your tummy is inclined to do gastro-intestinal somersaults over legumes, you'd better steer clear of this one. Recipe after the jump...

Albino Chili

More photos here.

1 tablespoon olive oil
2 medium onions, chopped
4 garlic cloves, minced
3 anaheim peppers, chopped
6 jalapeño peppers, chopped
2 teaspoons ground cumin
1 1/2 teaspoons dried oregano, crumbled
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
6 cups dried great northern beans
4 cups chicken stock
2 chicken breasts, cubed
3 cups grated monterey jack cheese (about 12 oz.)

Soak the beans in enough water to cover overnight.
Heat oil in large pot over medium high heat.
Add onions and saute until translucent, about 10 minutes.
Stir in garlic, then chilies, cumin, oregano, and cayenne and saute 2 minutes.
Add the drained beans and chicken stock and bring to a boil.
While the pot is heating, fry the chicken with a small amount of oil.
Reduce heat and add chicken and cheese to chili and stir until cheese melts.
Season to taste with salt and pepper and ladle into bowls.

Zojirushi makes happy rice and more!

goobermaster — Fri, 07 Dec 2007 19:49:18 -0600

I'm lovin' my new rice maker. I eat a lot of it, so it's more than handy to have a little machine in the corner that does all the work for me while I prepare other edibles. The first job I gave it didn't even involve rice -- instead couscous was on the menu and I thought I'd see how it would fair with the wee pasta. While stew was brewing in the crockpot, I set up the new cooker with the following:

1/2 small onion (finely chopped)
1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
2 rice maker cups of couscous
1 1/2 cups chicken broth
1 1/2 cups water
1 tsp salt
1/2 tbsp dried parsley or 2 basil leaves

Fry the onion in the oil until translucent.
Add the dry couscous and fry with the onion for a couple of minutes.
Add all the ingredients into the rice cooker and use the "white rice" or "basic" setting. The cooker should set itself for about 20 minutes.
When the cooker is done, stir the couscous with a rice paddle and serve.

And it turned out great! Perfectly done in fact. And by then my Moroccan beef stew had been bubbling away for about 8 hours. It melted on the fork and was delicious. Partnering the stew with the couscous made for a great hearty Saturday evening meal. Yum. Now back to the rice cooker... After loading everything into its belly, I pushed the cook button. It responded with a little robot version of "Twinkle, twinkle, little star". :) How very cool -- my rice cooker sings when it starts and plays another little ditty when it's done. So much nicer than the dryer's buzz or the microwave's piercing beep. Those machines could take a lesson from this new Japanese addition to the kitchen.

Best Mojito Recipe

goobermaster — Thu, 05 Jul 2007 20:37:18 -0500

I was recently put on the spot for my version of a Mojito. Given my, ahem, experience with this delight -- I was horrified to find I couldn't spout off the drink recipe instantly. Of course this must be fixed, so here's the behind the curtains look at the drink. A mojito is generically rum, soda, mint and lime. People add various sugars to liven it up a bit or make it their own. Here's mine:

Mojito Recipe

2-3 oz White Rum - (or light rum.) Any good quality rum will do, just don't used the Bacardi flavored crap. Save that for mixing with coke.
2 oz Soda Water
Mint Leaves - fresh, please. Get it from the produce section of your favorite supermarket.
Cane Sugar - comes in both stick form and cubes. It's basically "raw" sugar from Hawaii. Supermarkets carry it. (Just use the white stuff in a pinch)
1 Lime - again, fresh only. Your can't say you've got a bar setup without limes and lemons on hand.

Using a morter and pestle (or spoon back and small bowl), crush a teaspoon of sugar and 2 or 3 sprigs of mint. Squeeze the juice from one lime into the bowl to facilitate transferring the entire mix to a drink shaker. Add the rum and shake with ice into a high-ball glass with a few fresh cubes. (I like the crushed mint in my glass so I use a very rough strain or simply hold back the shaker cubes with a spoon.) Top with soda water and garnish with mint or a cane sugar stem.

And damn that stuff is good. We used to keep a pitcher of it in the fridge during the summer and always served at parties. Case in point: