Feisty old lady

This cocktail was devised by Maya Divack and Sarah Zarrow on the Cape in August. One of the motivations is that Sarah is allergic to juniper and cannot drink gin, often the strong spirit paired with sparkling wine in this kind of cocktail.  See for example, the Sybil, a Downton Abbey cocktail.  I associate gin and champagne-based cocktails with aristocratic young ladies with too much time on their hands.  With bourbon and a less expensive sparkler, I think it becomes a Feisty Old Lady instead.

There was some dispute about the name.  Maya wanted the Weasel, for reasons which need not be enumerated here.  The crowd consensus, however, was Feisty Old Lady.  In addition to the associations mentioned above,  Amy's cousin Cynthia recently published a mystery novel called Feisty Old Ladies.  So, this cocktail is a tribute to Cynthia as well.

Regarding the ingredients, use a bourbon that you like to drink, though it need not be a super expensive one.  St. Germain is a French elderflower liqueur. It requires a bit of an investment, but is worth it if you have any taste for aromatic cocktails.  Lavender syrup is simple to make, and lavender can be found in many spice and health food stores.  For sparkling wine, we usually use a dry cava or Prosecco;  you could use a French or Californian as well.  Unless your resources are infinite, drink Champagne straight.

I will give three variations:  one for a single drink, to be served in a Champagne flute that can easily be multiplied to serve two.  The other two will be for crowds of about 10 --  one to be served in individual flutes, the other as a pitcher drink, less elegant but far easier, and what is pictured here. 

Feisty Old Lady

For a single serving:

Stir with ice in a cocktail shaker for about 30 seconds (stirring rather than shaking has nothing to do with not bruising the spirits;  it results in less dilution, which is important when the cocktail will be cut with relatively low-alcohol sparkling wine):

• 1.5 ounces bourbon
• 1 ounce St Germain
• 1.5  tablespoon  (=.75 ounce) lavender syrup
• 2 dashes aromatic bitters (like Angostura or something better.

Strain into a champagne flute and top off with well-chilled sparkling wine, about 3-4 ounces depending on the size of your flute. A nice, but not essential touch, is to chill the flute in the freezer first.

For about 10 servings:

To serve in flutes:

Stir with ice in a large cocktail shaker or 1/2 gallon pitcher for about 1 minute:

• 15 ounces bourbon
• 10 ounces St Germain
• 1 cup lavender syrup
• 20 dashes bitters

Strain into another pitcher, and then distribute roughly equally between 10 champagne flutes.  Top off with well-chilled dry sparkling wine.  You will use about 1.5 bottles.

To serve as a pitcher drink:

In a large pitcher, about 1 gallon, stir the first 4 ingredients with plenty of ice for about 30 seconds.  Add 1.5 bottles of sparkling wine. Serve in rocks glasses over more ice.

To make lavender syrup:  Boil 1 cup of water in a small saucepan.  Add 3 tablespoons dried lavender.  Turn heat down and simmer, covered, for about 5 minutes.  Add 1 cup sugar and still until completely dissolved.  Turn off the heat and let cool.  Strain into a jar or bottle before using.  This will keep a few weeks, but will eventually get moldy.

A question of proportion:  This will make a floral, slightly sweet drink.  If it is too intense, add a little more wine.  If you want something stiffer, more bourbon.  If you want more sweetness and flowers, St Germain and/or lavender syrup.  If you are a laid back host, you will have the ingredients available and let the guests make any adjustments they want. 

Silk Road Smash

A smash is a julep-like drink, and this is very much like a mint julep, only tastier.  There is no better libation to use to console yourself at the end of summer than a Silk Road Smash.

I got this recipe from Robin Gross, a San-Francisco based intellectual property lawyer and ED of IP Justice, an NGO which works for a more balanced international IP regime.  We met at the Internet Governance Forum in Rio in 2008, and are Facebook friends.  It is funny how many of my contacts come from a brief period of work on IP reform a number of years ago.

Robin posted a picture of this cocktail with ingredients, and when I saw it I had to make it. I was glad that I did.   It is tart, juicy refreshing, beautiful to look at, and quite potent.  Below is Robin's recipe for a single serving, which I have adapted, and following that a pitcher drink version that I served on the Cape to 10 people.

Silk Road Smash

For a few drinks (this quantity serves one;  you can multiply to serve up to four(:

• 8-12 blackberries
• 12 leaves mint, torn with a few more for garnish
• 2-3  teaspoons cardamom syrup (see below)
• 1 teaspoon lemon juice
• 2 ounces bourbon
• 2 dashes aromatic bitters, like Angostura (or cardamom bitters if you have)
• ice
• soda water (optional)

Method

• Muddle the blackberries and mint in a cocktail shaker. Add lemon juice and syrup and muddle a bit more.
• Add bourbon and bitters and stir. 
• Fill the shaker with ice, and shake for about 30 second.
• Fill an old-fashioned glass with more ice, and strain the smash into the glass.  garnish each with two blackberries and a few mint leaves. 
• Serve and enjoy.  If anyone finds the drink too strong you can serve it in a high ball glass and top it off with some soda.

Pitcher drink version for a crowd:

• 1  pint blackberries
• 1 bunch mint, most of the leaves torn and about 20 reserved for garnish 
• 1/2 cup cardamom syrup (see below)
• 3 tablespoons  lemon juice
• 20 ounces bourbon
• 20 dashes aromatic bitters, like Angostura (or cardamom bitters if you have)
• ice
• soda water (optional)

Method 

1. In a two quart pitcher, mash blackberries and mint together.  
2. Add syrup and lemon juice and mash a bit more.
3. Add bourbon and bitters, stir, and leave aside for about 1/2 hour.  (It is more difficult to muddle a large quantity of berries and this will allow the flavors to permeate the whiskey.)
4. Prepare the glasses:  fill 10 old-fashioned (8 ounce short) glasses, ideally pre-chilled in the freezer, with ice.  Garnish each with 2-3 blackberries and a few mint leaves. 
5. Add ice to the pitcher with the smash ingredients and stir for 30 seconds.
6. Strain the smash into another large pitcher filled with ice.
7. To serve, pour the smash into the cocktail glasses, trying not to disturb the garnish.  Don't worry too much because after a sip no one will care. Serve with soda water for those who find it too stiff.

Cardamom syrup:  In a small pot, boil 1 cup of water and add 25 cardamom pods, smashed. Simmer for about 15 minutes on low heat, covered to prevent evaporation.  Add 1 cup sugar, raise heat to medium and cook until the sugar is dissolved.  Let stand until cool, and then strain into a clean jar and store in the refrigerator. If you don't have time to make it in advance, you can chill it by setting the pot in a pan of ice and stirring until the syrup is cold.  This syrup can be used in lots of cocktails and is worth having on hand.  It is even good over vanilla ice cream or drizzles on a dish of orange segments or sliced peaches or nectarines.

The Tony Blair: a pink drink

How do you reckon the accomplishments in your life? It is really difficult. Some people will do this as part of an annual heshbon nefesh, the accounting of the soul, that is done as during the Yamim Noraim (Jewish High Holidays). But for most people who do it, the accounting is more of an individual version of collective self criticism.

Sometimes I try and think of what my accomplishments are and usually come up with two. The first was having Columbia's Contemporary Civilization Course switch the assigned edition of Augustine's City of God. Until the mid 1980s they had been using the translation by Doubleday, which was Catholic and very abridged. I argued for the Penguin, which was complete and included all the naughty bits which the Catholic printing eliminated and which I maintained were essential to understand the connection between sin, lust and political power. (They also make for a more fun read. Undergraduates don't mind being assigned more reading if it is sufficiently salacious.) My other great accomplishment was a Moroccan meal I prepared at Susan Paris' house in Brookline on New Year's Eve 1989-90. We had 6 salads, bisteeya, a  fish with charmoula, chicken with preserved lemons and olives, and a sweet lamb tagine. 

I think that I now have another accomplishment to be proud of: spreading the appreciation of Campari among the students of Cornell College in Mount Vernon, Iowa. If the increased demand for Campari leads a local store to carry it, I will be prouder still. 

To explain: I originally posted this in June when I was experimenting with cocktails for our summer vacation and called it Gin-or-gin, because it was made with gin, a bitter orange aperitif, and ginger beer.  Gin-orange-ginger -> Gin-or-gin.  Lame, I admit but the drink itself proved particularly popular with my son Harry's friends who came to visit, especially Steve Smith, who has turned out to be this particular cocktail's biggest fan. Harry made it at a party to mark block break (don't ask) at Cornell. Although it is impossible to obtain Campari in Mount Vernon IA, an enthusiastic mixologist in the student body apparently had a bottle of his own. The drink was a hit, which has helped to elevate the level of sophistication of the Cornell student body. The increase in demand may even entice local stores to stock it.  But, if you go to visit, I would bring along a bottle just in case.

Though they all loved the drink, they thought the name was "meh," and suggested calling it the Tony Blair. Why? Because he was a world leader who didn't have a cocktail named for him.(I am not that familiar with the world of world leader cocktails, and can't imagine what a Bibi Netanyahu or Angela Merkel might be, though one could think of some interesting combinations.) However, I thought that this name sort of fit: slightly pink, but leaves a bitter taste in your mouth. So try it.

ORIGINAL POST: Even though I have mostly been posting about cocktails recently, please don't get the wrong idea. However, the vacation at the Cape is rapidly approaching and I need to come up with things to serve on the dock. My alcohol consumption has actually declined (except while in Austin.)

This is a rough adaptation and mashup of some cocktails which were written about in the NY Times cocktail issue a few weeks ago. I don't love the name (something like Pink Lady might work better and describes the color if not the taste) but this is a terrific and refreshing combination of the flavors of ginger, gin, bitter orange (from the Campari), and mint, if you so wish it. Given the current Spanish obsession with gin and tonics and related cocktails, this would go nicely with a tapas spread. A tortilla, some fish salad, some cheeses, maybe some mushrooms sauteed in garlic. Who needs dinner?

The Tony Blair

Ingredients

• Lots of ice
• 1 ounce Campari
• 2 ounces gin (less if you like a less strong drink)
• 1 ounce freshly squeezed lime juice
• 1 teaspoon simple syrup (optional, but I like it)
• Ginger beer to fill glass, about 4 ounces
• Fresh mint (spearmint, not peppermint please) or lime wedges to garnish

Method

1. Fill an 8 to 12 ounce glass with ice. The larger glass has more room for ginger beer and means a weaker drink. 
2. Add the Campari, gin, lime juice and simple syrup and stir for about 20 seconds.
3. Top off with ginger beer and garnish with lime or mint. (If you want a stronger mint flavor, muddle a few leaves in the glass, but I prefer it just as a garnish.)
4. Increase the ingredients proportionately to make for a crowd. Mix the Campari, gin, juice and syrup in a shaker or pitcher. Pour over ice in individual glasses and top with the ginger beer.

Elletaria cocktail

On thing that I have noticed about natural and human disasters is that you can't get into restaurants after they pass.  Living in our Upper West Side bubble, the greatest hardship that we faced after Hurricane Sandy were the crowds in the restaurants.  I mean, expecting NewYorkers to stay at home and cook for 3 days in a row is probably unreasonable, so people flooded into the restaurants once the re-opened.  It was exacerbated by people coming from neighborhoods without power.

Something similar happened in Boston after the lockdown following the marathon bombing.  You couldn't get into a restaurant the weekend after it was lifted.  We were in the South End and waits at several places were one hour and up.  We wandered away from the hubbub and came to Masa for what turned out to be a pretty excellent nouvelle Mexican meal.  (The place has lots of vegetarian and fish options and a good brunch and it is worth checking out it you are in town.)

One of the highlights for me was their Elletaria cocktail, which combines two of my favorite flavors, pear and cardamom.  (Elletaria is the botanical name of the genus of some of the common varieties of cardamom.)  They made the cocktail with crushed cardamom seeds, which although it gave it  a strong spice flavor, also made it unpleasantly gritty.

So here is my adaptation made with a cardamom syrup.  It requires a little advance prep, but don't be put off, since it is really very easy.  It is also flexible.  The quantities of ginger, lime and cardamom are to my taste, but you can adjust them however you want.  I make it with white tequila, but you could also use white rum. I am not sure why anyone would use vodka in anything. For teetotalers, it can be made without alcohol, just mix the base with some club soda.  I like to make sure that the pear base is well chilled and the liquor is frozen.  This keeps the drink nice and cold and leads to less dilution when the ice melts. We served it before Shabbat dinner this week and it was a big hit, with teetotalers and others.  This is best made as a pitcher drink:

The Elletaria

For cardamom syrup

• 3/4 cup water
• 1/8 cup green cardamom pods
• 1/4 cup white sugar

For pear base:

• 1 quart pear nectar, well chilled
• 6 limes
• 2-3 inch knob of ginger
• cardamom syrup

To complete drink

• 2 ounces of white tequila (or rum) per serving;  or 4-6 ounces of club soda
• 1-2 limes cut into wedges or slices
• ice cubes

Method

1. The syrup is best made a few days in advance, but can be made the same day if you don't have time.  Just allow time for it too cool.
2. Bring the water to the boil in a small pot.  Add the cardamom pods and boil vigorously 5 minutes.  The water will reduce quite a bit.
3. Add the sugar and boil 5 minutes more.  
4. Shut the heat, let it cool a bit, and then transfer it into a clean jar with the pods and chill until ready to use.
5. Put the pear nectar in a large pitcher, about 2 quarts or bigger.
6. Squeeze 6 limes and add the juice to the pear nectar.
7. Rince the ginger (no need to peel) and grate it either on a box grater, microplane, or in a mini food processor.  It you use the processor, you will need to slice it first.  You will be left with a coarse, wet ginger pulp.
8. If you are fussy, put the ginger in a sieve and press it over the pitcher into the pear nectar.  If you are not, take the ginger by the small handful and squeeze the juice into the nectar.  The second way is much more fun.  
9. Strain the cardamom syrup into the pear mixture, and chill until ready to serve.
10. Add ice to the pitcher until it is nearly full.
11. To serve, put ice is 8-10 ounce rocks glasses.  Pour about 1/2 cup of the pear base into each, add 2 ounces of tequila (more or less to taste) or club soda to fill the glass and stir to mix.  Garnish each class with a wedge or slice of lime.  If everyone is drinking alcohol, you can also use a slightly larger pitcher and mix the tequila with all of the pear base.

El Papa: A cocktail

I had wanted to devise a cocktail to drink while awaiting the results of the conclave, but the College of Cardinals beat me to it, surprising everyone with Jorge Mario Bergoglio the first Jesuit, first Latin American pope who will be known as Pope Francis I, in Italian, Il Papa, but in Spanish, El Papa.  (La papa in Spanish is the potato.)  Fool that I am, I tend to be an optimist about these things.  Even though he said that same sex marriage is the work of the devil, as my wife said, he is the pope, what do you expect.  The Jesuit angle is intriguing, as is the choice of Francis as his regnal name, the first pope to choose a completely new name in a millennium.  As to the eternal and central question of whether it is good for the Jews or bad for the Jews, "Who knows?"  I will wait for the Forward to weigh in on this one since JTA is somewhat disappointing.  At least he did not choose Pius.

While pondering the consequences of this momentous choice, you can enjoy this cocktail.  An Argentine is said to be an Italian (like Bergoglio) who speaks Spanish and thinks he is French.  (As some have remarked, if you are going to go outside of Europe for your pope, Argentina is a pretty safe choice.)  This combines grappa and maraschino liqueur (both Italian), and adds some creme de cassis for the French touch.  If you pour it carefully, the cassis will pool on the bottom.  After two of these you won't know which side is up and you can  pretend that the red/purple on the bottom is like one of those cute yarmulkes that cardinals and popes wear.  What is Spanish about it?  The name alone.  I know all of this is a stretch, but it makes a tasty and potent drink.

El Papa

Stir 2 ounces of grappa and 1/2 half ounce of maraschino over ice in a large glass for about 45 seconds until well chilled.  Strain into a martini or wine glass.  Use up to 1 ounce of maraschino if you like it sweet.  Carefully pour about 1 tablespoon of creme de cassis  into the cocktail so that it sinks to the bottom.

The NAFTA: a cocktail

I thought that the North American Free Trade Agreement was supposed to lower or eliminate tariff barriers between Mexico, the US and Canada. Not so simple. (Mostly it seems to have undermined the livelihood of small Mexican corn producers.) I am thinking of starting a business to import some of Quebec's wonderful artisanal beverages (especially creme de cassis, brandy des pommes and cidre du glace) and feel like I need a tax accountant to help me figure out the import taxes.  Since it is tax season and my father is very busy, this will have to wait until April.  However, this is still a good time to experiment with the beverages and since I have Mexican, American and Canadian liquor in my cabinet, the NAFTA sort of emerged on its own accord.

This is an easy cocktail, based on something I once had at Ginny's the music club downstairs from the Red Rooster, and is largely intended to help me use up almost empty liquor bottles before Pesach.  Ginny's cocktail was made with a super-smokey single malt scotch and, frankly was better than mine.  But I don't have any single malt left in the house and this is a not a bad drink at all.  It combines tequila reposado (representing Mexico) with its herbaceous and smoky notes, the bourbon (representing the USA) for depth, and the creme de cassis (representing Canada) for its intense fruitiness.

The NAFTA

Ingredients

1. 1 ounce tequila reposado (I used 100 anos)
2. 1 ounce bourbon (I used Corner Creek)
3. 1 teaspoon lemon juice
4. 2 dashed Angostura bitters
5. 1/2 ounce creme de cassis (I used the incomparable and irreplaceable Bernard Monna, not yet available in the US -- use whatever you can get, and use more if you like it sweeter)

Method

1. Put a rocks class in the freezer to chill.
2. Fill a drinking glass or cocktail shaker with ice.
3. Add all the ingredients and stir (see below on stirring vs. shaking) for about 30 seconds.
4. Fill the rocks glass with ice, strain in the stirred liquid, and add the creme de cassis.  If you are very lucky it will sink to the bottom, but if not, it will still be quite good.   
5. Serves one. You can double, triple or quadruple, just use a larger shaker.

Stirring and shaking:  Pace James Bond, shaking does not bruise the delicate bouquet of the liquor.  It  chills somewhat more effectively, but in the process, dilutes the cocktail somewhat more.  It tends to be used when cocktails will be served without ice.  Since I think the NAFTA is best served over ice, stirring is recommended.  You could just skip this step and pour everything over ice and serve, but it is less fun, and less cold that way.

When bad things happen to good cider

Drink it anyway.  Be brave.  Just because the sides of your apple cider container are bulging doesn't mean that it isn't good to drink.  In fact, it is better.  Some of the alcohol has been converted to sugar through fermentation, so it isn't as sweet, and it probably contains some beneficial microorganisms.  You can pay significantly more for hard cider in the store, but this fresh, fermented, unfiltered hard cider is too good to throw away.  

It also goes very nicely in this cocktail, which is based on something said to be well known that I read about somewhere about a month ago.  The herbal notes in the tequila and cider reinforce each other nicely.  If you don't have Gelinotte, use a half tablespoon maple syrup and increase the tequila to an ounce and a half.   If you only have unfermented cider, use that, but increase the amounts of spirits slightly. If you prefer, you can add some seltzer and/or serve it on the rocks.  I generally prefer a stiffer drink, so this is diluted enough for me, but suit yourself. You can increase proportionately up to the capacity of your shaker.

This recipe is really a set of loose guidelines for making cocktails with hard cider.  Basically, you want it to be about for parts juicy stuff, two to three parts hard stuff, one part or less sweet stuff, and some bitters to bring it all together.  (The proportions in my recipe are slightly different since  I use Gelinotte, which is sweet and alcoholic, rather than a syrup.)

The cocktail that remains to be named:

Ingredients

• 2 ounces cider, gone hard
• 1 ounce tequila reposado
• 1 ounce Gelinotte (a fermented maple syrup liquor from Quebec)
• 2 dashes Angostura bitters
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• large pinch mace

Method

1. Mix the sugar and mace on put on a plate.
2. Moisten the rim of a cocktail (or wine) glass with a cut lemon.  Dip in the sugar and mace mixture and set aside.
3. Put ice in a cocktail shaker.  Add cider, tequila, Gelinotte and bitters and shake 30 seconds.
4. Strain into glass and serve. 

Some variations:  Instead of the tequila, use bourbon, rye, applejack or Calvados.  Instead of the Gelinotte, a sweet liqueur such as cassis or creme de Yvette for fruitiness, or Benedictine for strong herbal notes, would be nice.  You can also use a simple or flavored syrup , about a teaspoon or two, and increase the amount of the base spirit a bit.  To make  a simple syrup, boil equal parts or water and sugar for about 5 minutes until combined and then cool before mixing into the drink.  For flavored syrup as some spice, such as two cinnamon sticks (I would use the soft true cinnamon rather than the hard cassia here, but that is my own preference) , a slice or two of fresh ginger,  two or three cloves, or about a quarter of a cracked nutmeg.  Strain these out.  You can save simple syrup in the fridge for a while, but label it so you know what you have.  You can also vary the bitters.  Angostura is the go to one here.  I would avoid Peychaud's which is too fennel-y, but feel free to experiment if you want to invest in bitters.  Finally, you can rim the glass with sugar and cinnamon (again, use the soft and citrusy "true" Ceylon cinnamon here rather than the cassia that we call cinnamon, which will take over the drink) or skip that step altogether.  No firm rules here, let your taste be your guide, and have fun.

Almond rum punch

This is a very easy cocktail that can be thrown together quickly with stuff that you have in the house, provided that you have a well-stocked bar (with bitters, dark rum and maraschino liqueur) , someone on a low-carb diet (unsweetened almond milk) and like to cook Indian food (cardamom) .  With these things on hand, it is a cinch.

We were approaching the end of our Cape rental and were left with half a container of diet almond milk and a bit of rum. The cocktail for that night was an Aperol spritz, and some of the people with less mature palates did not take to its slightly bitter orange flavor.  So this served as a backup and it also enabled us to follow the categorical imperative (for some -- or does this violate the meaning of the term?) of not wasting or throwing out food. Cardamom syrup is very easy to cook up if you don't have any on hand. The punch tastes extremely creamy, but has no cream, only lowfat nut milk.  It is also pareve, a nice bonus.

Almond Rum Punch

Ingredients and method

Mix the following ingredients in a pitcher that holds six cups or more:

• 2 cups unsweetened almond milk (I used Blue Diamond Vanilla; if you use p lain, add 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 cup dark rum, like Gosling's
• 1/3 to 1/2 cup cardamom syrup
• 1/4 cup maraschino liqueur (optional but highly desirable)
• 4 dashes Angostura bitters

 Add ice to fill the pitcher and stir for another minute.  Taste it, and if you would like it sweeter, add more cardamom syrup (if you want it sweeter and more fragrant) or maraschino (if tyou want it sweeter and boozier).  Pour into glasses with more ice if desired and enjoy.

Serves 4-6.

Cardamom syrup: Combine 1 cup white sugar, 1.5 cups water and 15 cardamom pods, lightly crushed. Bring to a boil, and cook or about 10 minutes on medium until you have a thick syrup. Let cool, and then strain into a clean jar and store in the refrigerator. Makes about 1 cup. 
  

The Short Beach Sling aka Malay Madness

We have been renting on the same house on Short Beach Road in Centerville on Cape Cod for the past five years or so.  We have been renting with the same friends and cousins albeit in different locations on the Cape for the past 20 years or so, skipping a year here and there and always being sorry when we do.

When we started, a bottle of wine might do it for much of the week.  Now we do a case or two of wine and an indeterminate quantity of beer.  This happens as one ages.  We recently added a cocktails.  We worked our way up from Palomas introduced by my brother-in-law a few years ago and now have what a restaurant might call a cocktail program -- a different cocktail each night usually paired with an appropriate snack and ideally in harmony with the main dish.

Tonight's main dish was a farkashert version of Fatty Crab's Chili Crab on Toast, made with chicken instead of crab or lobster and light coconut milk instead of butter  I will post this recipe shortly.  As a cocktail beforehand,  I thought about a Singapore Sling but I don't care much for pineapple juice, so I put this together, based on mango/peach/orange juice.  It is moderately strong, but you could always add more gin if you want it stiffer.  This is probably as close as I will get to a girlie drink, though it is not overly sweet because of the gin and lime juice.  The cardamom syrup is provides a fragrant accent.  You could cut it down or leave it out if it seems to sweet for you, or try it with cardamom bitters instead.  Quite nice, especially with chili coconut peanuts and fried tempeh with 3 sambals (sweet chili, peanut, and tamarind), but you don't have to wait for a neocolonial pseudo Southeast Asian meal to make this.  I called it Malay Madness, but the others in a house had different ideas, so the consensus was Short Beach sling:

Short Beach Sling, aka Malay Madness  (serves 4 to 6)

Ingredients

• 4 cups mango/peach/orange juice
• 1 cup gin
• 3 ounces maraschino liqueur
• 3 ounces Benedictine
• 1 ounce creme de cassis,  Cherry Heering, or other dark cherry brandy
• 3 ounces lime juice
• 1/4 cup cardamom syrup (see below)
• 8 shakes each Angostura and orange bitters

Method

1. Mix everything together in a large 3 quart pitcher.  Chill well in the refrigerator or freezer.
2. Add enough ice to the pitcher to come almost to the top.  Stir for 1 minute.
3. Serve in whatever kind of glass you want (we are in a rental and use whatever is available) with some of the ice from the pitcher.  If you have little umbrellas or maraschino cherries you can garnish it with that, but you really don't have to.  You can easily double or halve the recipe. 

Cardamom syrup:  Combine 1 cup white sugar, 1 cup water and 15 cardamom pods, lightly crushed. Bring to a boil, and cook or about 15 minutes on medium until you have a thick syrup.  Let cool, and then strain into a clean jar and store in the refrigerator.  Makes about 1 cup.

Educational cocktails: the Bikkur fizz and the Minim-tini

I have been going through a number of significant spiritual transformations of late.  Not least of these is my shift to cocktail consumption. For most of my life, I freely impugned the masculinity of both male and female friends who consumed mixed drinks.  My standards were very stringent. In my mind the difference between a single malt scotch straight up and a scotch on the rocks was far greater than what I saw as the minimal distance between scotch on the rocks and the girliest of girlie drinks.  Well, I have had to drink crow, and over the past year or so have come to enjoy cocktails as much as anyone.  Which brings me to Parshat Eikev.

Last week was Shabbat Eikev, and the weekly Torah reading includes the statement "God your Lord is bringing you to a good land - a land with flowing streams and underground springs gushing out in valley and mountain.  It is a land of wheat, barley, grapes, figs and pomegranates, a land of oil-olive and honey.  (Deuteronomy 8:7-8.  Because the products on the list are all from plants, the honey is traditionally interpreted as date honey rather than bee honey.)   These seven items are known as the shivat ha-minim or the seven species of plants characteristic of the land of Israel.  This was the produce deemed suitable for presentation as first fruits, or Bikkurim, in Temple times.  

To me, this sounded like the list of ingredients for some interesting cocktails.  I created two, the Bikkur fizz and the Minim-tini.   (Particular thanks to Rabbi Kara Tav for helping to come up with the names.) They are both good, if rather strong, and excellent conversation starters.  They are most suitable for serving on Tu BeShevat, the New Year of Trees when it is customary to eat produce from Israel; Yom Ha-atzma'ut, Israeli Independence Day; Shavuot, when the first fruits were customarily brought to the Temple (though the prayer for the presentation of the Bikkurim has become the core of the Passover Haggadah, though that is another story); Shabbat Eikev, when the list of shivat ha-minim  is read, or whenever you want a tasty, somewhat fruity drink with a story to go with it.  Try to make thes with at least some Israeli or Palestinian products if you can find them -- it is good for a cocktail celebrating the land to include some fruits of the land.

Bikkur Fizz  (1 serving)

Ingredients

• 1 teaspoon date honey (Silan)
• 1 chopped green olive or 1/2 teaspoon brine from the jar
• 1 tablespoon fig jam
• 1/2 ounce scotch (barley)
• 1 ounce fig brandy (popular among Tunisian Jews --a good product is available from France called Boukha Bokobsa and easy to find around Pesach;  there is also a product from Yonkers call Mahia that you can use; if you cannot find either, proportionately increase the scotch and brandy)
• 1/2 ounce grape brandy
• dash Angostura bitters
• 2-3 ounces pomegranate juice (well-chilled, OK to use more if you want a less alcoholic drink)
• 2-4 ounces wheat beer (well chilled)
• twist of orange rind

Method

1. Muddle together the date honey,, olive and fig jam in a cocktail shaker. 
2. Stir in the scotch and brandies until well mixed.
3. Add the bitters and pomegranate juice.
4. Add ice to the shaker and shake for 15-30 seconds until the mixture is very cold.
5. Rub the orange twist around an 8 ounce or larger  drinking or wine glass.
6. Strain in the mixture from the shaker.
7. Top off with beer and serve.

Making this drink for a crowd:  Depending on the size of your shaker, you can make up to 3 serings with relative ease.   A different strategy is needed for a larger crowd.  Prepare everything through the bitters in a shaker, holding back on the pomegranate juice and the beer.  After shaking, strain into a large pitcher with some ice in it, add the pomegranate juice and stir.  Put orange twists in each glass, distribute the mixture from the pitcher, and top off with beer.

Minim-tini  (1 serving)

Ingredients

• 1/2 teaspoon each pomegranate molasses, date honey (silan), and brine from a green olive jar or can
• 1/2 oz scotch
• 1/2 oz fig brandy
• 1/2 oz white vermouth
• 1 oz gin (citrus-y new Amsterdam gin worked very well here;  most gins are made with wheat)
• lemon twist

Method

1. Rinse a martini or similar glass with water and put in the freezer to chill while you prepare the drink.
2. Mix pomegranate molasses, date honey and the bring in a large glass or small cocktail shaker until smooth.  
3. Stir int he Scotch, brandy, vermouth and gin, making sure that the other ingredients are dissolved well.  Fill the glass or shaker with ice and stir for 60 seconds.
4. Scrunch the twist, rub along the inside of the martini glass, and strain the contents of the
5. mixing utensil into the martini glass and serve.

Why the brine?  While it adds a savory note to the cocktail that offsets the sweetness of the other ingredients, the primary reason is visual.  Due to the pomegranate and date, the drink takes on an amber color.  The sight of an olive resting in the bottom of this cocktail is not as appealing as that of a green olive in clear spirits.  If you don't believe it, try it for yourself. 

Celebrating Purim and Nowruz with Americanized Falooda

Mixed faloods with rose syrup

This year saw the fortuitous almost coincidence of Purim (Jewish Mardi Gras cum Halloween) celebrating the deliverance of Jews from their enemy du jour (so what else is new) during the ancient Persian empire and the Iranian New Year, Nowruz, which, although it has Zoroastrian roots, is, or was widely celebrated in Iran by Muslims, Christians and Jews as well as Zoroastrians.  Purim usually comes in late February or early March, while Nowruz is tied to the Vernal Equinox in later March so they rarely come out together.  However, this year is a Jewish leap year where we add not just an additional day, but an additional month, all the Jewish holidays are late (they are never on time) and Purim and Nowruz almost coincide. Interestingly, some historians argue that Purim is actually the Jewish Nowruz, and that the Book of Esther (clearly written as a diaspora novella rather than as "scripture") was written to explain why the Jews of ancient Persia were celebrating this particular holiday. 

This opens up endless gastronomic possibilities, so for Shabbat dinner last week, we marked the occasion with food that was mostly Persian, Parsi, and Irani. The Parsis are a Zoroastrian community that emigrated to India millennia ago to escape persecution, the Iranis one that left in the nineteenth century. It seemed particularly appropriate to  acknowledge the Persian roots of Purim with foods of communities that originated in Persia but fled to escape religious persecution.  (BTW, and speaking of escaping or ending religious persecution, you haven't lived until you have seen the St Petersburg Hillel Purim video.)

The main dish was a salmon baked with green coconut chutney, which we served with crusty Persian rice, Indian cauliflower and a dish of black-eyed peas with spinach, dill, curry leaves and dried lime, a very typical Persian spice that smells like an old cathedral. (This is a good thing.)  For dessert, we had falooda (also spelled faluda) using the recipe from Niloufer Ichaporia King's My Bombay Kitchen .   It is a milk shake with creamy milk, falooda sev (noodles softened and soaked in syrup), basil seeds, ice cream and rose syrup.  Amy and I had something similar once in a Pakistani sweet shop in Jackson Heights whose name we forget but which we remember as the Al-Qaeda Cafe, since it was dominated by a huge replica of some mosque or other and Amy and our friend Marilyn were the only women there who were not veiled.

Falooda is sort of a weird dessert, and I was probably the only one who liked it, at least with the original rose syrup.  But one of our guests last week was our friend Nancy, who is a maple syrup fanatic -- she and her husband Gary have even tapped maple sap from the trees near their house in the Adirondacks.  Just so you believe this, here is a picture which they sent me of how they do it:

a bucket on a tree with tap

a bucket of sap

We had some cans of maple syrup in the cabinet from our last trip to Montreal, so we tried it and it was far more popular with most of our guests than the rose syrup. And voila, American Falooda.  Try it both ways and see what you prefer.

The dish really defies recipes, and is nice made at the table with everyone mixing it to their own taste but here is how you make it.  It is sort of like making really weird sundaes.


Falooda, Irani and American style

Shake 2 tablespoons basil seed (sold in Indian groceries as takmuriya -- I have no idea if these are related to regular basil) in a sieve to remove any debris.  They are nondescript, small, hard black brown seeds. Soak them in between 1 and 2 cups of cold water for about 15 minutes.  They will swell and become gelatinous, squeaky and crunchy at the same time.   I prefer the lesser amount of water which I find preserves the crunch and squeak of the seeds and what little aroma there is. They can be a great conversation starter, as people discuss whether they look more like insect larvae, fish roe, or fish eyes.  (If you cannot find basil seeds, you can try to substitute chia seeds which are vaguely similar.) After they are soaked, this is what they look like:




Soaked basil seed.

 Soak a packages of falooda sev (falooda noodles, available in Indian and Pakistani groceries) in very hot water for about 5 minutes until soft.    I If you like them Drain, cut into shorter lengths and cover with a cooled simple syrup, equal parts sugar and water zapped in a microwave until it boils.  Both the noodles and the seeds can be made in advance and kept well covered in the fridge, but I find that the seeds absorb other odors, so make sure they are well-covered.

If you cannot find falooda sev, you can substitute cellophane noodles:  take a small package, soak in warm water about 1/2 hour. If you like them chewy, you can use them now.  If you like them slithery, boil them in water for no more than one mine, and drain and rinse immediately.  Cut into 1 or 2 inch lengths before using.  You will of course no longer be eating falooda, rather cellophanoodla, but it will still be fun.  (This of course depends on your definition of fun.)

When you are ready to serve, assemble each serving as follows:

• Put a few noodles in a large wine glass.
• Top with a large spoon of basil seeds, to preference. (I would say to taste but there really isn't any.  It is more about texture.)
• Top with about 1/2 cup whole milk, half and half, or a combination of the two.
• Pour the syrup carefully, and it will sink to the bottom as in the picture below.  It is hard to give exact quantities and depends largely on the sweetness of the syrup and your own taste.  We found that 1-2 tablespoons of the rose syrup that we had was good, but that closer to 3 tablespoons of maple was needed.  
• Top with ice cream.  This is what they will look like if you have done it right:   

With maple syrup on left, rose syrup on right.

When you eat it you will mix it, and the rose syrup version turns an attractive or shocking pink, depending on your perspective.

Shout out to Sarah, and brandied plums

I never do this (just link to someone else s recipe when I have never made it) but I promised Sarah that I would.  She really wanted to be acknowledged on this blog.  I guess I should be flattered. In ways that I mystify people in my generation, who want very much to control their presentation in the public, the Web 2.0 generation want it all to hang out in public.  My kids, niece, younger cousins and many of their friends all seem to want to be called out (is that the right expression?) in this space.  I like to be the center of attention as much as any pre-Copernican, but I think that us 50-somethings (and 40-somethings) like a bit more control over how we appear on the web. 

Anyway, last night on our way to Purple Yam one of our favorite restaurants, we stopped at Sarah's house before dinner. She and her friends (both of whom I had independent connections to:  one knows someone I know from shul, the other works for one of my best friends!) were eating ice cream with boozy plums.   We didn't want to eat ice cream before dinner (not on principle but because we wanted to save room)  so she just gave us each a glass of the brandy from the plums,  sweetened and with plenty of vanilla and cinnamon, and it was great.  Just click on the link above for the recipe.  It is very simple -- 10 minutes to prepare, 6 weeks to sit.

Our meal at Purple Yam was not to shabby either.  There were many highlights, but I would single out the carp head soup with guava and lemon grass, delicate and almost creamy, with the heads and necks served on a separate platter with chilies and cilantro, the grilled dourade, the mung bean pancakes (with lots of bean texture, better than I have had in any Korean restaurant recently) and the bread pudding with apple and persimmon.  Great wines too.  I only regret not having taken a picture of the carp heads to post.

Palomas

"Geez, are you guys all turning into lushes? What's the story?"

Thus says Carl, Belinda and Alex's 23-year old, from one of his usual positions this week, horizontal on the couch in the living room of the Cape rental. This was in response to our commission to find tequila and grapefruit soda, so that we could make Palomas, which we had had at my wife's brother's a few nights before.

"As you get older and your kids get older, you worry about them a little less and you can drink a cocktail before dinner" I replied.

Carl's surprise is understandable. We have been sharing on the Cape with his parents for almost 20 years, and we have progressed slowly from consuming a few bottles of wine and beer during the week, to a case of wine (Alex's nephew works in a liquor store and choose some good and relatively inexpensive wines that we have never heard of, like Tannat a red from Uruguay and Albet i Noya, a white Penedes) and more, to mixed drinks. Who knows what the future holds?

Anyway, Palomas are good and easy. Here is how my brother-in-law makes them. He even brought down some grapefruit soda when they came to visit on their way to Truro.

Palomas -- for each drink (you can also make it in a pitcher, as in the photo, taken from the dock of our rental, and just multiply the ingredients proportionately)

Ingredients

• Kosher salt (optional but desirable, though we did not have any in the rental house)
• ice cubes
• 1 lime, plus 1/4 or 1/8 lime
• 1-2 ounces gold tequila
• grapefruit soda (Trader Joe's carries this, and Gus Soda [my daughter's summer employer for the summer] makes a nice pink grapefruit. Israeli Eshkoliot would be good to, and is available in some kosher markets)

Method

1. Moisten the rim of an 8 to 12 ounce glass, dip in kosher salt if desired, and fill with ice cubes.
2. Squeeze the lime into the glass.
3. Add tequila.
4. Add grapefruit soda.
5. Stir lightly and garnish with the piece of lime.