Barrel Aged Negronis

When Matt and I first moved to the Boston area, we spent a lot of time at Temple Bar drinking their barrel aged negronis. They simply mixed up a large batch of negronis – equal parts gin, sweet vermouth, and Campari – and aged them for 3 months in whiskey barrels. When Matt’s birthday rolled around, I found smaller barrels on Barrels Online that can be used for aging cocktails. It was the perfect gift! They even personalize them, so I got his initials engraved on the front.

Unlike the whiskey barrels that Temple Bar uses, these barrels are new, so we first filled it with some Rittenhouse Rye and let it flavor the barrel for a couple of months. The rye was also good for drinking afterwards, of course. After emptying the rye, we immediately mixed a two liter batch of negronis and poured it into the top of the barrel with a funnel. We marked it in the back with the date and waited…

For some reason we originally thought that Temple Bar aged their negronis for 3 months, so that’s what we did with ours. We poured our first aged negronis last weekend.

Our negronis definitely tasted more oaky than the ones at Temple Bar, but not in a bad way. I think that Temple Bar actually tops their barrels off with fresh mixed negronis as they serve the aged ones, so they will naturally be less oaky. Overall, they were absolutely delicious. They tasted like a richer version of the classic negroni with a hint of oak. We could also taste a little bit of the rye flavor, making them a lot more interesting than the standard negroni.

Negronis are traditionally served with an orange peel that is put under a flame and squeezed into the drink, but we were too much in a hurry to finally try the final product to even remember that.

Now we just need to pick a next drink to try out in the barrel. We’ll have to decide soon, because I’m pretty sure this batch won’t last very long.

Here are a few links to articles/websites on barrel aged cocktails that we used when trying to figure out how to use our barrel. It has become quite a trend, apparently.

• New York Times: Six-Week-Old Martinis, Anyone?
• Serious Eats: Uncorking the Negroni at Temple Bar in Cambridge, MA
• Jeffrey Morgenthaler: Writes About Bartending and Mixology from Portland, Oregon

And the winner is...

I won the Santa Margherita Great Taste Chicago Challenge! I’ll be heading to NYC in about a month to compete in the Finals.

I’ll try to give a little rundown of how the night went…

When Katie and I arrived at the Signature Room at 5:30, we were turned down and told the event doesn’t start until 6. Katie snappily responded with “no, she’s IN the event.” We called her the soccer mom the rest of the night!

At about 5:45, the other two contestants and I were introduced to the judges (Fabio!) and given a rundown of the logistics. The Signature Room chefs were going to prepare small portions of the dish for the judges and everyone in the audience. We just needed to finish and plate one dish for the demo. They said that John Terlato was going to be the emcee and ask questions throughout each demo.

After that, they showed me my demo station and what had been prepared already. The base of the sauce had been made and the pasta had been cooked; I just had to heat up the sauce, add the marscapone, sear the scallops, and plate the dish.

Demo Station
A couple of glasses of Prosecco later, it was time to be hooked up to a microphone and hit the stage!


Judges:
Colin Crowley (Executive Chef of Terlato Wines)
Susanna Negovan (Editor and Chief of Michigan Avenue Magazine)
Fabio Viviani
Let me tell you – I have a new respect for people who cook on television. My whole demo was kind of a blur. I remember my sauce was boiling over already when I got up on stage, then I dropped my whisk and tongs, and then Fabio had to step in and turn my scallops for me while I dealt with the sauce. During all of this, I was trying to make sure my microphone was staying in place so people could hear me. My friends told me I didn’t look nervous, but I don’t know if I believe them!


I was relieved that I had to go first so I could relax and watch the other two demos. Andrew Ettenhofer went next and made a chicken roulade with goat cheese and roasted red peppers to pair with the Pinot Grigio. I didn’t actually get to try his dish because I think I was busy blabbing to everyone about how nervous I was in my demo, but people said it was delicious.

Next up was Deborah Kurtzke, who made veal meatballs wrapped in eggplant to pair with the Chianti. I did try her dish and it was quite good, especially with the wine. I got a little nervous!

About 10 minutes after the last demo, each judge did a brief critique on each dish. The only critique I got was from Fabio, who said that I should maybe season the arugula before adding it to the top of the dish. Next time I will! He also said that it’s rare for a home cook to use seafood stock, which I’m not sure is a critique or a complement? However, he then said that it was the kind of dish he would actually cook in his restaurant and that he might need to steal the recipe. I felt pretty confident at this point! Shortly after, they announced me as the winner. I took tons of pictures afterwards, but here are some highlights:

Fabio Viviani and John Terlato
Kit, Katie, Me, Fabio, and Kate
Me and Colin Crowley
Me and Fabio…again
Special thanks to Kate for taking most of the pictures!!

Pomegranate Cosmopolitans

My mom and I tried out a refreshing cocktail recipe the other night to help relieve ourselves from the weekend’s persistent 90 degree heat. Pomegranate Cosmopolitans – from Ina Garten’s Back to Basics cookbook – are a great update on the slightly outdated cosmo. They were sweet, tart, and (stretch) maybe even a tiny bit healthy!

Pomegranate Cosmos
2 c. good vodka
1 c. orange liqueur (Cointreau)
1 c. cranberry juice cocktail
½ c. pomegranate juice
½ c. freshly squeezed lime juice (3 limes)
Lime slices, to garnish

Combine the vodka, orange liqueur, pomegranate juice, and lime juice in a pitcher and refrigerate if not serving right away. Pour each portion over ice cubes in a cocktail shaker, shake well, and pour into frozen martini glasses with a slice of lime. Makes six cocktails.

Santa Margherita Great Taste Challenge

I entered the Santa Margherita Great Taste Challenge on a whim last week with my Seared Scallops with Pappardelle and Saffron Sauce recipe that I posted back in March. The contest asked for a recipe that would pair well with one of their three wines: Prosecco, Pinot Grigio, and Chianti. I thought the richness of the sauce and the scallops would pair well with the light, slightly sweet Prosecco.

+

=

Winning Combination?

Well - I got a call today to let me know that I was a semi-finalist! This means I have to present my dish to judges (including Fabio from Top Chef!) next Wednesday at the Signature Room. Wish me luck!!

PS: If you watched Top Chef New York, then you know Fabio's thoughts: “Ees not top scallop!” I hope it will be!

Dinner with Mom

With my parents living in Boston and me living in Chicago, I don’t get home as often as I would like. I grew up watching my parents’ love of food and cooking, so there’s nothing I like more then spending time with them in the kitchen. When I do get home, we always make at least one nice meal together to celebrate. Last Friday, my mom and I had a relaxing night in with some cocktails, wine, and (of course) delicious food.

Let’s start with the pre-dinner cocktail…

Around the same time last year, my mom and I separately tried an Ice Wine martini for the first time. I had never heard of Ice Wine* before, but was feeling adventurous one night at Cru (which has since closed, sadly, but I’m sure that is in no way related to their martini-making skills). Not only did it sound really cool, it was absolutely delicious. When my mom tried it for the first time, she and her friends asked the bartender how to make it.

*Ice Wine can be expensive because it’s apparently very labor-intensive to produce, but my mom found a reasonably priced bottle made from Riesling grapes at Trader Joe’s.

Ice Wine Martini

Ingredients
One part vodka
One part Ice Wine
Frozen grape for garnish

Directions
Shake the vodka and Ice Wine with ice, strain, and drop in a frozen grape.

******************************
Next, we put together a simple Bresaola Platter with arugula, parmigiano-reggiano, and truffle oil. My aunt always puts out a platter of this on Christmas and it gets devoured everytime. The plating of it is similar to how a beef carpaccio is sometimes served: thin layer of beef topped with shavings of parmigiano-reggiano, drizzled with olive oil, and served with arugula. For this appetizer, the only differences are the use of bresaola (a lean, cured beef) instead of raw beef and truffle oil instead of olive oil. I also tossed the arugula in a little bit of lemon juice and olive oil and served it all with sliced baguette.

******************************
Time for the main course: Seared Scallops with Pappardelle and Saffron Sauce

Anyone who knows me well knows that I have an obsession with saffron. I blame this on eating my dad’s ridiculously-delicious Paella growing up. I’d put saffron in everything if I could, but I try to use it sparingly (you know, with it being the most expensive spice in the world and all). But hey, we already broke out the truffle oil – why not add some saffron?

I came up with this sauce awhile ago to put on some lobster ravioli and I think it pairs really well with shellfish, in general. This time, I made it with seared scallops and pappardelle. There’s an incredible fish market right down the street from my parents’ house called the New Deal that sells THE BEST dry sea scallops. When you buy sea scallops, it’s very important that you get *dry* scallops if you want to sear them. Otherwise, you will probably end up with a scallop that’s “plumped up” with water but will shrink and be rubbery when you cook it. Some markets will actually sell these soaked scallops as dry scallops, so you really have to talk to the fish monger and make sure you’re getting what you’re paying for. Believe me – it’s well worth it. Now I just have to find a fish store like New Deal in Chicago…

One more note on this recipe: I usually throw some chopped chives on top of this kind of dish for some color, but I recently had a similar sauce over ravioli at a restaurant and it was topped with some variety of microgreen. It made the dish look beautiful and the greens cut through the richness of the sauce really nicely. I thought it was a brilliant idea, so I stole it :). I’m not sure how difficult microgreens are to find because I had never actually looked for them before last weekend, but I found a pretty big selection of them at the small Whole Foods on Prospect St. in Cambridge. I went with the micro-arugula because it looked the freshest, but I think most varieties would work well.

Ingredients
1 medium-sized shallot, finely chopped
1 clove of garlic, whole
2 tbsp. butter, room temperature
1 tbsp. olive oil
1 tbsp. brandy
1 tbsp. tomato paste
1 ½ c. seafood stock
¾ c. mascarpone cheese
Pinch of saffron
1 lb. dry sea scallops
½ lb. pappardelle
Micro-arugula
Salt and pepper, to taste

Directions
1. Heat ½ tbsp. each of the butter and the olive oil in saucepan over medium-low heat. Add the whole clove of garlic and sauté for a few minutes, but don’t let it burn. Remove the garlic clove so you’re left with a garlicky butter/oil mixture but with no visible garlic.
2. Turn up the heat to medium to medium-high and sauté the shallot until soft.
3. Add the brandy to the saucepan and let it cook for 30 seconds or so.
4. Add the tomato paste, the seafood stock, the saffron, and some salt and pepper (to taste). Let this mixture cook down for about 15 minutes until reduced a little bit.
5. Add the mascarpone cheese to thicken the sauce and make it creamy. I ended up using about ¾ c., but you can adjust the amount depending on how rich you want the sauce to be.
6. Cook the pappardelle according to package directions until al-dente and toss with the sauce.
7. Pat down the scallops with paper towels until they are as dry as you can get them. Season with a little bit of salt and pepper.
8. Heat a cast iron skillet to medium-high heat and add the remaining ½ tbsp. of olive oil and 1 ½ tbsp. of butter. Add the scallops and sear for about one minute on each side. They should be golden brown on the outside, and cooked to about medium on the inside.
9. To plate, I arranged the scallops around the edges of the pasta and put a small handful of the micro-arugula in the middle.

******************************
My mom and I aren’t huge dessert people, but we do like to have a small taste of something sweet at the end of a nice meal. Since we had some strawberries that needed using, I used them to top some vanilla frozen yogurt and made a sweet balsamic-basil syrup to drizzle on top. I’ve seen strawberry-basil desserts at restaurants a lot lately and I’ve seen people make balsamic dessert syrups on tv before, so I combined the two ideas into a simple but elegant dessert. My mom was skeptical about having vinegar in her dessert, but I talked her into trying it and she was very pleasantly surprised.

Vanilla Ice Cream with Strawberries and Balsamic-Basil Syrup

Ingredients
Vanilla ice cream (or frozen yogurt)
½ c. sugar
1 c. balsamic vinegar
5-10 fresh basil leaves
Sliced strawberries

Directions
1. Combine the vinegar and sugar in a saucepan over medium-high heat.
2. When the sugar has dissolved, add 5-10 basil leaves (depending on how strong you want the syrup to be).
3. Reduce the syrup by about half, strain, and cool.


4. Drizzle the syrup over the strawberries and ice cream. Garnish with a basil leaf.

Enjoy!!