A Good Dish

making food simpler

A Botticelli Cocktail for Cooler Evenings

 

Botticelli Cocktail with lemon
Porcelain Tumbler by Silvie Granatelli

When Caffè Storico, the Stephen Starr restaurant in the New York Historical Society, opened some years back, we had a drink there called a Botticelli. It was delicious then and recently, thinking back to it, we were inspired to try to create it ourselves. This is a softer, more citrusy and complex drink than just a whiskey on the rocks although it is also a stiff sipping cocktail like an Old Fashioned or a Manhattan. I don’t know what it has to do with the Italian painter Botticelli except that it contains a little bit of Amaretto and some Cardamaro and all are from Italy. We switched out rye for bourbon but kept the name because it is fun to say.

Porcelain bowl by Silvie Granatelli

We knew the 4 ingredients but had to guess at the amounts and came up pretty close. The only mistake we made in proportions the first attempt was to add too much Amaretto. It is quite a strong almond flavor and the drink only needs a splash. Cardamaro, on the other hand, is a herbaceous wine-like amaro (that comes in an elegant, long necked bottle, by the way, and makes a refreshing spritz) and is more easily added. Use a bourbon (or rye) that you like because it is the main ingredient. After balancing the liquor, we thought adding lots of fresh lemon juice (and a slice of lemon for a garnish) made the flavor even better. Ultimately, you will find the proportions you like, as is true with all recipes. Cin cin!

Botticelli Cocktail

  • 2 oz of bourbon or rye
  • 1/2 oz Cardamaro
  • 1 tsp (or just a small splash) Amaretto
  • Juice from 1/4 lemon (then add the lemon, or a fresh slice, if you like)

Stir well and pour over ice.

Amaretto is widely available and Cardamaro is sold at “better” liquor stores

Try Substituting Salmon For Tuna When You Make A Curried Salad Or Sandwich

Curried Salmon Salad
Porcelain Bowl by Claire Weissberg/Claireware

I like tuna but I don’t eat it. It simply has too much mercury for me. Same goes for swordfish and tilefish but there are plenty of other fish to eat that are healthier. According to the Environmental Defense Fund, mercury is toxic to our nervous systems (which are already under attack from stress) so it is important to avoid ingesting it when we are able. (I have a particularly high mercury level because we used to play with liquid mercury as kids – so much fun and who knew it was dangerous but now we know to keep kids safe from it). Fortunately canned wild salmon is a great substitute for canned tuna.

Canned salmon is easy to buy and store

Some time ago, we had a terrific curried tuna sandwich at the wonderful Flour Bakery (our go-to spot for grabbing something delicious to eat when taking the train at nearby South Station) in the seaport district of Boston (which includes the Institute of Contemporary Art, Society of Arts and Crafts and the fabulous Trillium Brewery). I like curried chicken salad but had never had curried tuna. Recently, browsing through Joanna Chang’s flour cookbook, I came across her curried tuna recipe decided to try re-creating it using salmon. I use canned salmon for salmon burgers and make a salmon salad with it but I had never tried it with curry. It actually tasted great! We don’t use mayo so I moistened it with lime juice (you could use lemon) and kefir (you could use plain yogurt or mayo depending on your preferences) and I added currants where I think the Flour sandwich had raisins. I like a lot of vegetables to lighten the density of most foods I make so I added scallions (you could use red onions), celery and cilantro (or try parsley). Other add-ins could be radish, jicama, green or red pepper, hard boiled eggs, almonds or chilis, all cut in small pieces.

You could serve the curried salmon just like you would tuna – on a bed of greens, stuffed into celery, baked in hollowed out peppers or rolled up in cabbage leaves or in a pita, wrap or bread with grated carrots, sliced tomatoes and arugula, watercress, sunflower sprouts or lettuce for a deliciously different sandwich.

Curried Salmon Sandwich
Painted/Resist Plate from Claireware in Brooklyn

CURRIED SALMON SALAD

Mix together:

  • 1 can salmon (14.75 oz, preferably wild), skin removed if you like, mashed with a fork
  • 2 stalks celery, cut in a tiny dice
  • 2-3 scallions, finely chopped
  • A big handful fresh cilantro or parsley, finely chopped (about 1/2 cup)
  • 1 small apple, halved, cored and cut in a fine dice
  • 2 heaping TBs dried currants
  • 1 generous TBs curry powder
  • 1 tsp ground cumin
  • 2 TBs freshly squeezed lime juice
  • 3 TBs plain kefir or yogurt
  • Pinch salt and pepper

Serves 4. Can be refrigerated for a couple of days in a covered container.

You Don’t Have To Pick A Peck To Pickle Jalapeño Peppers

Sliced pickled jalapeños
Porcelain dish by Charity Davis-Woodard

Hot peppers are having a moment. Among the overflowing bins at the farmers markets, you can find ripe Poblano, Cayenne, Serrano, Banana, Habanero and Jalapeno peppers. All these varieties may be used fresh, chopped into salsa or added to cooking foods for varying degrees of heat. Hot peppers will keep for some weeks refrigerated but to use them through the winter months, they need to be preserved. Small red chilis may be dried and crumbled or ground but Jalapeños, in my opinion, are best pickled.

Fresh Jalapeños at the Columbia Greenmarket

Pickling peppers is about the easiest type of cooking I know. You simply place the washed Jalapeños in clean glass jars, along with some carrot, onion, garlic and spices, pour a cold brine over them, close them tightly, and store in the fridge for a few months until pickled. You can slice and cook the peppers in a brine (also known as escabeche) and then jar them but since the cold brine, in essence, cooks the peppers for you, why bother? The only reason I can think of is if you need to eat the peppers right away. When you put them up in cold brine, you can taste them after a couple of months and see when you think they suit you. There are terrific canned Jalapeño pickles (La Morena is a brand I use when I don’t have any of my own put up) but they are so simple to make – give them a try.

I first found this recipe in Padma Lakshmi’s wrenching memoir with recipes, Love, Loss and What We Ate: A Memoir and adapted it only slightly by adding sliced raw garlic and cumin seeds and adjusting amounts of seasoning to satify my palette. Vary the flavors based on your own preferences. If you hate coriander and cumin, use dill seeds and black pepper, for example. You don’t need special canning jars – any clean glass jar with a clean lid will do. I like to use jars of varying sizes both to accommodate the size of the peppers (small jars for small peppers, etc.) and to have some smaller jars to squeeze into the gaps in my already full refrigerator. 

Jars stuffed and awaiting brine

I didn’t grow up eating spicy food but, living in New York, I have learned to enjoy it. If something savory tastes good, my husband and son think it will taste even better with hot sauce so I try to find ways to add heat. Jalapeños are on the milder side of hot on the Scoville scale, the standard measurement of capsaicin or spiciness. Pickling them adds complexity and allows us to use them all through the winter months. Pickled Jalapeños are delicious added to grain salads, omelets or frittatas or served alongside meat, fish and poultry. Some little slivers can really zip up a deviled egg, tuna salad or taco and the liquid can be used in a salad dressing or marinade to perk it up. If you make a few extra jars, you’ll be able to give them as gifts just when the weather gets colder and friends need a little pick-me-up.

Pickled Peppers ready to refrigerate

PICKLED JALAPEÑOS 

For the brine dissolve 1 teaspoon of kosher salt and 1/2 teaspoon of sugar in 2 1/4 cups of white vinegar.

In a mixing bowl, toss together:

  • 12-14 fresh Jalapeños, washed
  • 1 medium carrot, sliced on an angle
  • 1 tsp. coriander seeds
  • 1/2 tsp. cumin seeds
  • 2 cloves garlic, sliced thinly
  • 1/2 small onion, sliced in thin crescents

Place peppers, along with the carrots, onions, garlic and seasoning in 2-3 jars (depending on the size of the peppers and the jars. 2 pint sized jars of 1 pint and 2 smaller jars usually works well

 

A Peach Of A Salad – Perfect For Hot Weather “Cooking”

Fresh Peaches on an oval plate by Mary Barringer
Although watermelon and feta make a delicious summer salad, I’ve found a combination I like even better – peaches and feta. I discovered it rather haphazardly when visiting a friend who had asked me to bring feta, perhaps to make said watermelon salad, and peaches, since they are in season and available locally. We hadn’t used either by the last night when suddenly it occurred to me that they might go very well together. I added some fresh mint, a handful of fresh cilantro and squeezed in a juicy lime. We ate every bite!
Ready for lime juice and tossing
Yellow peaches at the 97th St Greenmarket
Local peaches are at their best in August until mid-September. White peaches are a less acidic but yellow peaches have a nice tang – both delicious. Mint or cilantro alone would have been sufficient and when I tried it at home with mint and basil, I didn’t like it as much. The basil took over. Somehow the cilantro was more refreshing. If you don’t like cilantro, try mint or parsley. I used a Greek sheep milk feta from a neighborhood market, but the mild domestic cow milk feta that is widely available in grocery stores would work perfectly well. If you want your salad a bit less sweet, add some chopped scallions or red onion. A vegan version could substitute white beans or pine nuts plus green olives for the cheese to create a different but still tasty meal. If you don’t have a lime, try white balsamic vinegar. This peaches and feta salad is perfect for a light meal on a hot day when turning on the stove would be torture. Just add serve it with some crackers or chips and you’ll be have a cool, satisfying dish. I took a test run of this recipe to meet a friend for lunch and, once again, every bite was devoured. Make it and see if the same thing doesn’t happen to you.
Peach and feta salad with cilantro and arugula
Square plate by Mary Barringer
PEACHES & FETA
  • Cut up 4-6 washed peaches into bite sized pieces (about 4 cups)
  • Add a big handful of chopped cilantro or mint (about 3/4 cup)
  • Add about 3 oz. feta cheese, crumbled (about 1 cup)
  • Squeeze in one juicy lime (3-4 Tablespoons) and toss.
If you want some greens, add a couple of cups of arugula and toss or serve atop greens.
Makes 4 servings

Summer Cocktails Are Easy And Light Using St. Germain Elderflower Liqueur

A Refreshing St. Germain Cocktail
Porcelain cup by Andy Shaw

One of my favorite summer drinks is a version of the St. Germain cocktail. It is more sweet than sour but light and refreshing. Summer in New York can feel too hot for either bourbon or red wine, my winter default drinks when I want warm and cozy. When the temperature climbs, I turn to the increasingly popular Aperol Spritz, which I wrote about a couple of years ago, a gin and tonic, sangria, a citrusy IPA (even a shandy) or an elderflower cocktail.

We first tried St. Germain, which is an elderflower liqueur, about 7 or 8 years ago when it was being promoted at our local liquor store and each bottle came with a complementary carafe and recipe cards for drinks using the liqueur. Having just discovered an inexpensive rose Cava that we liked, the St. Germain cocktail immediately appealed to us. Somehow, we seem to make it only during the summer – because it is so fresh tasting, it is particularly well suited to warm weather concoctions. The recipe for this libation is simply a 2-2-1 mix of Prosecco or Cava, bubbly water like seltzer or club soda and St. Germain. The result – a slightly buzzy but pretty light and spritzy drink.

The shapely St. Germain bottle with its old style lettering on the label was well designed to make it appear as if it had been around forever but it was actually first produced in 2007 by the Cooper Spirits Company and then bought up by Bacardi in 2013. The liqueur is sweet but not sugary, floral but not perfume-y and fruity, but in a non-specific way. It is not the only elderflower liqueur out there but clever marketing and packaging, including the faceted bottle and bold graphics, have made it the most well known. The company’s recipe calls for 2-2-1.5 but I think 1 part St. Germain is sufficient and lightens up the drink so you can continue imbibing all evening. If you don’t have or don’t like bubbly wine, just substitute a dry white. You can even mix up a pitcherful before guests arrive and not be bothered bartending. Slices of lemon, lime, grapefruit or peaches add a festive touch.

There are other ways to use St. Germain. To up the ante on a gin and tonic, add 1 part St. Germain to 1 1/2 parts gin to 4 parts tonic and squeeze in a lime. And adding a big splash of elderflower liqueur to a disappointing bottle of wine improves a meh white or rose. Add slices of citrus, peaches or some berries and you’ve rescued your purchase by creating a light style sangria. I don’t mean to sound like an advertisement for St. Germain but it does make delicious summer cocktails.

A Gin and tonic becomes even more summery with a splash of St. Germain
Porcelain tumbler by Andy Shaw

Elderflower Cocktail

Combine and stir:

  • 1 part Elderflower liqueur, such as St. Germain
  • 2 parts Prosecco, Cava or Champagne
  • 2 parts bubbly water like seltzer or club soda
  • Slices of lemon, lime, grapefruit or peach

Serve over ice or chilled.