Irish Redhead

My wife, Laura, had been going through some stressful times and she needed a drink. She tends to drink very slowly, so it had to be strong, but not taste strong. I searched my kitchen for some inspiration, and came up with this. All the ingredients in this recipe are by volume (the imperial system is confusing).

Ingredients:

2 strawberries washed and trimmed
.5 oz of demerara sugar
1 oz of Ribena* or blackcurrant juice concentrate
2 oz of Irish whiskey**

Directions:

In a cocktail shaker, muddle together the strawberries and sugar until the sugar is dissolved. Add the Ribena and whiskey. Fill the shaker with ice and shake thoroughly to combine and aerate. Pour through a cocktail or hawthorn strainer into a lowball or rocks glass filled with ice. Garnish with a strawberry and enjoy!

*Ribena is a British blackcurrant juice concentrate and is pretty much the only brand of the stuff I have been able to find in stores. I was first exposed to it when my family went on vacation to the UK and I fell in love with it, and I was so glad when I saw it in my local grocery store. If you can find a different variation, I am sure it will work just as well.

**If you replace the Irish whiskey with American rye, you have a cocktail I call a Strawberry Blonde, also named for my wife.

Summer Fruit Punch Beer

So awhile ago I saw a recipe for this that was really not well thought out and I decided that I needed to rectify it, because I like the concept. This is a really great drink for some last parties at the end of summer or for tailgating through the fall. It's sweet and fruity so some people will inevitably call it girly, but something that is refreshing and easy to drink is something we all should be able to enjoy.

I've called this a summer recipe since it focuses on summer fruits, but plenty of other fruits would work great and could go into plenty of seasonal varieties.

Ingredients:

2 C sliced strawberries
2 C blueberries
3 peaches, skinned and cut into bite sized pieces
⅔ C sugar
Summer Shandy*

Directions:

Combine the berries, peaches, and sugar in a large container and stir to coat everything evenly with the sugar. Store, covered, in the fridge for about an hour so the sugar can build a heavy syrup.

Scoop ¼ cup of the fruit and syrup into the bottom of a pint glass or tulip glass and carefully pour on the summer shandy. Store any leftovers in the freezer, makes a great way to keep your beer cold without diluting it.

*I think a summer shandy works best with this recipe, but a great alternative would be a Belgian style white beer (witbier) like Blue Moon. It also works really well with an Agave IPA. A light lager or pilsner would do, but you'll miss out on some of the more fruity flavors.

Scotch Sour

One of my goals in life is to know a few cocktails that I can whip out whenever company is over or I feel like a drink. I've always enjoyed sour cocktails, especially whiskey sours, but I was out of bourbon so I decided to try Scotch instead. It was delicious. I added a bit of my own flair by making a simple syrup with demerara sugar and created this simple, refreshing, easy drinking cocktail.

Ingredients:

Ice
1 part demerara simple syrup*
1 part fresh lemon juice
2 parts Scotch
Lemon peel (optional)
Maraschino cherry (optional)

Directions:

Fill the bottom of a cocktail shaker with ice and add your simple syrup, lemon juice, and Scotch. Shake for 10 seconds to thoroughly combine the ingredients and lightly aerate it. Strain it into an ice-filled lowball glass or tumbler or straight up (no ice) into a cocktail glass and garnish with a lemon peel and maraschino cherry.

Raise your glass, toast your friends, and enjoy!

*Simple syrup is made by bringing equal parts water and sugar to a boil and stirring until the sugar is completely dissolved. Let it cool and store in a squirt bottle in the fridge for up to a month. Simple syrup is better than sugar in cocktails because it dissolves in cold water. I like demerara sugar in this application because it adds a great depth of flavor to cocktails.

Maple Old Fashioned

Recently I got to go on vacation and spent a few days with some friends having a blast in Vermont. While we were there, we went for a whisky tasting at Saxton River Distillery where they have amazing maple infused whiskeys and some great gin. I'd been wanting to use my bourbon maple syrup in a cocktail and I think I found a great match in this maple old fashioned.

Because this is a sweeter old fashioned it's not much of an aperitif (before dinner), I'd recommend it as a great after dinner cocktail.

Ingredients:

1 tsp bourbon maple syrup
4 dashes angostura bitters
2 oz maple bourbon
Ice
Maraschino cherry

Directions:

In a lowball glass combine the syrup, bitters, and bourbon and stir well. Add several large ice cubes and garnish with a maraschino cherry.

Sit back, relax, and enjoy!

Dark Side Shot

Yesterday was Star Wars Day, but today is the Revenge of the 5th. I wanted to make a drink in celebration. My Dark Side Shot is nearly black with just a hint of red. It goes down easy, just like succumbing to the Dark Side of the Force.

Ingredients:
½ oz kahlua
1 oz raspberry schnapps

Directions:
Pour the kahlua and schnapps into a shot glass and enjoy!

Steamed Mussels in a Spicy Broth

Ok, straight talk, this is the actual meal I served on Valentine's Day. There is minimal prep, and very little cook time, but tons of flavor. Plus, since this is a meal you mostly eat with your hands, it stays very light-hearted and casual, which I think is the perfect tone for an intimate evening alone.

Warning: though I do add a bit of spice to many recipes, even I think this one is actually spicy. It tastes amazing, but if you don't like spicy food, don't make this.

Prep time: 10 minutes
Cook time: 10 minutes
Serves: 2-4

Ingredients:

3 cups of vegetable stock
1 red bell pepper, diced
2 cloves of garlic, sliced
¼ cup of white wine*
2 tbsp dried parsley
½ lb of andouille sausage cut into bite size pieces**
2 lbs of live mussels

Directions:

In a stock pot or dutch oven, pour in the stock and add the pepper, garlic, wine, parsley, and sausage. Cover and bring to a boil.

As you bring your broth to a boil, do a thorough inspection of your mussels. Assuming you kept your mussels in the fridge, when you take them out of the cold, they might start to open. This is perfectly fine, you should only worry about mussels that won't close back up. If you tap on an open one and it starts to close, it's good. Alternatively if you hold it closed and it doesn't open back up very much, you're good. If there are any that are cracked, or were open in the fridge, throw them away. Do not cook them.

Once your broth has reached a boil, add the mussels, return the broth to a simmer, and then re-cover. Cook the mussels for 4-5 minutes or until they are open. If there are any that didn't open, throw those away.

Serve your mussels in a bowl with a good helping of broth, a glass of the white wine you used in the broth, and some nice crusty bread to soak up all that deliciousness. I highly recommend serving the crusty bread with my roasted garlic and tomato spread since the tang of the sundried tomatoes goes great with the spicy broth.

*I would recommend a riesling for this recipe. If you want it spicy, use a dry or semi dry variety. Use a semi sweet or sweet riesling if you want it to be less spicy.
*If you want this to be less spicy, or want to make it pescaterian, leave out the sausage, it will still taste great.

St. Patty's Day Shake

A few years ago I got to try a Guinness shake and I decided I was going to serve that at every St. Patrick's Day party I would ever have from then on. But, I decided I wanted to make them green so I took the opportunity to add a little more flavor, and a little more alcohol, by adding creme de menthe. Thus was born one of my favorite cocktails, a light green dessert, perfect for St Patrick's Day parties.

Ingredients:

2 C of vanilla ice cream*

⅔ C of Irish stout

1.5 fluid oz of creme de menthe

Directions:

Add all ice cream, Guinness, and creme de menthe into your blender, and blend until smooth. Pour into your favorite glass and enjoy with a Guinness.

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

*You can use any vanilla ice cream you want, but I would suggest a premium vanilla because the higher fat content and higher density makes for a smoother, tastier shake.

Lager Gravy Mashed Potato Bowl

I was attempting to make a pasta sauce, but it wasn't really coming together. The flavor was good, but I couldn't quite get the consistency to what I wanted. So, I scraped it, well, I ate it, but I'm not going to share it. I decided to take some of the things I learned from that experience, learn from my mistakes, and make something new. It turned out really well, and I hope you enjoy it. One of the things I really like about this recipe is that the gravy is made in 1 skillet.

Ingredients:

Gravy:

2 thick sliced of bacon, diced
1 medium onion, diced fine
1lb of cheese steak steaks, cut into bite sized pieces
2 T of flour
2 12oz bottles of lager
Salt and pepper to taste

Mashed potatoes:

2lb of butter potatoes, cut into chunks
1 C of heavy cream

½ C of butter

Salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

In a 10 inch skillet, render the fat out of the bacon, and remove the cooked bacon bits. Saute the onions in the bacon grease until soft and translucent, then remove. Finally, brown the beef in the remaining bacon grease, and once the beef is well cooked, add the flour. Stir the beef and the flour until well combined and then add the onions and the bacon back in and pour in the beer. Allow the gravy to come to a simmer and then reduce the heat and simmer until the desired consistency is reached, about 45 minutes. Salt and pepper to taste before serving.

When the gravy is about 25 minutes out, place the potatoes in a saucepan and cover with water by about 2 inches. Bring to a boil, and boil the potatoes for 15-20 minutes until the pieces are easily pierced with  a fork or crushed with tongs. Drain the potatoes and place them in the bowl of your mixer, with the whisk attachment, add the butter and cream and whip until creamy. Salt and pepper to taste and serve.

I recommend serving the mashed potatoes topped with the gravy and then garnished with some shredded cheddar cheese, and maybe some sour cream.

Hot Toddy

My wife and I have been feeling a bit under the weather recently and with it finally getting a little colder outside, I decided to make up my favorite cold weather punch, the hot toddy. It's light lemon and cinnamon flavor help clear sinuses, the added sugar soothes the throat, and the spirits help you get a good night's sleep.

Ingredients:

1 qt of water
1 lemon, sliced
2 long sticks of cinnamon
1 t of whole cloves

½ C of demerara sugar

2.5 C of bourbon
Nutmeg

Directions:

In a crock pot set to high, combine the water, lemon, cinnamon, cloves, and sugar and steep for 30 min. Stir occasionally to make sure the sugar dissolves. After 30 min add the bourbon and stir to combine. Let the mixture get back up to temp, usually about 30 more minutes.

To serve, place a lemon slice in a cup, pour on the toddy and garnish with freshly grated nutmeg. Enjoy!