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

Provençal White Bean Dip

I feel like I’ve kind of OD’d on hummus, so the white bean dip recipe on Serious Eats last week caught my eye. The addition of roasted garlic really takes this recipe to a whole new level. I also added a little bit of lemon juice to brighten the flavor a little bit. Aside from the time it took to roast the garlic, it was really fast and easy to put together.

We had it as an appetizer on Sunday with some endive leaves and toasted baguette slices. I think it will also replace hummus as my go-to snack from now on!

Ingredients

1 15-ounce can cannellini beans, drained and rinsed
1 head roasted garlic
2 tablespoons olive oil
Juice of half a lemon
The leaves of 1 stem of fresh rosemary
The leaves of 3 stems of fresh thyme

Instructions

Puree everything and season with salt. I served it with some fresh thyme leaves and a drizzle of olive oil.

Grilled Pizza

Ok, so I know the picture isn’t great, and my first attempt at grilled pizza was far from perfect, but it was still pretty delicious.

We just bought one of those little Weber charcoal kettle grills and I naively thought it would be as easy to use as a gas grill. Turns out I have a lot to learn. Once we finally got the coals lit and the grill going, the heat didn’t last very long. We were able to barely grill this pizza, but didn’t get to make the second pizza I had in the works.

Anyways, I had planned on making this pizza according to the instructions on Serious Eats. I had all of the ingredients prepared in advance – caramelized shallots, sautéed cremini and shitake mushrooms, grated pecorino, and chopped chives. We took a shortcut and used some pizza dough from whole foods that I cut in half, stretched out (in an odd shape as you can see above), and brushed with olive oil. Once we put it on the grill, oiled side down, it just didn’t seem hot enough. Instead of the recommended 1 – 1 ½ minutes on the first side, I had to let it cook for over five minutes. Once I flipped it, I added the mushrooms, onions, and cheese. Since we didn’t use a lot of cheese and the rest of the toppings were still warm, I left the grill uncovered for most of the time.

Thankfully, it eventually did get crisp at the bottom. I added some chopped chives and some flaky sea salt at the end. Despite the hiccups with the grill, it was actually VERY delicious. I plan on making many more attempts this summer.

If anyone is actually reading this, I would love some tips on how to get (and keep) charcoal grills hot!

Quick Update

I know it’s been awhile (again) since I’ve written, so here’s a quick update on what I’ve been up to.

First of all, Matt and I moved to an apartment in Davis Square. We’re just about settled in finally and loving the area so far.

I have also been volunteering on the weekends at Bondir, a new restaurant in Cambridge. In trying to figure out what to do with my life, I thought finding out what working in a kitchen is like would be a good start. Chef Jason Bond, the chef/owner, has been extremely patient with me as I’ve been learning the ropes. Also, his food is absolutely delicious – I highly recommend it!

That’s all for now. Stay tuned for more posts.

Huevos Rancheros

Matt and I randomly had all of the makings of huevos rancheros sitting in the fridge last Sunday and – aside from getting some jalapeno in my eye* - it was one of the best impromptu brunches to ever happen!

We bought this huge bag of masa flour to make tacos with homemade tortillas several months ago and it has seriously come in handy since. To make them, you literally just mix the masa with water, form it into small balls, and press into tortillas. I’ll have to blog about that another time, but they were a great base for the huevos rancheros.

To make the sauce, I roasted the red pepper and jalapeno and pureed them into a tomato based sauce. I topped the tortillas and sauce with some fried eggs and chopped cilantro. Here’s my (rough) recipe:

Ingredients
1 red bell pepper
1 jalapeno pepper
1 can of tomatoes
½ c. chopped onion
1 clove garlic
Pinch of ground chili (not chili powder)
Salt and pepper
4 Corn tortillas
4 Eggs
Cilantro, chopped

Instructions
Roast the bell pepper and the jalapeno over an open flame or under the broiler until they’re nice and charred on the outside. Transfer them to a large bowl and cover tightly with plastic wrap. Let them steam in the covered bowl for 10 minutes or so. When they’re nice and soft, peel the charred skin, take out the seeds, and roughly chop them.

Meanwhile, heat the oil over medium heat and add the onion. When the onion starts to soften, add the garlic and cook for a couple of minutes. Add the ground chili, cook for a few seconds in the oil, and then add the tomatoes. Bring up to simmer and add the red bell and jalapeno peppers. Puree in a blender or using a hand blender. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Add some of the cilantro into the sauce and reserve some for garnish.

Fry a couple of eggs for each portion, making sure the yolks are nice and runny. To assemble, put some sauce over a couple of tortillas and top with the eggs and cilantro.

* If you get some hot pepper in your eye, washing it out with milk helps. I seriously had to do that. Matt tried to not laugh.

Thai Curry Mussels

Thai curry mussels are popping up on menus all over the place these days, but I feel like I’m always disappointed when I order them. They’re never spicy enough! Last weekend I made my own using some panang curry paste and coconut milk. I probably would have normally used red curry paste, but I had a half can of the Panang in the refrigerator that needed to be used. If this weren’t a last minute creation, I also would have topped with some cilantro instead of the chives I already had. It was still delicious though, and plenty spicy :)

Thai Curry Mussels

½ c. onion, chopped
1 small clove of garlic, minced
Vegetable oil
1 ½ tbsp. Thai Panang curry paste
1 ¼ c. light coconut milk
¼ tsp. fish sauce
1 lb. mussels, cleaned
Cilantro, chopped (optional)

Making the sauce was really simple. I just sweat the onions in some vegetable oil and added the garlic when the onions started to soften. Then, I added the curry paste and stir fried for a minute or so until it was very fragrant. Then, I added the coconut milk and fish sauce. After bringing that to a simmer, I added the mussels and cooked until they opened (discarding any that didn’t). They were very saucy, so we ate them with a big hunk of bread for dipping.

Marco Canora Night – Part 2

Marco Canora’s ribolitta is made with a type of kale called cavolo nero (aka black cabbage, or Lacinato) and served with lots of parmesan cheese and crusty bread. The recipe can be either made with a meat stock, or with water to make it vegetarian. It’s so comforting, but extremely healthy as well.


I don’t think I had ever tried cavolo nero before. It’s a sturdy green that’s actually kind of funky smelling when raw. The recipe calls for it to be chopped extremely fine, which is not easy when you’re trying to chop eight cups worth! We read that one of his tricks is to freeze it overnight and then simply crumble it into the soup. Unfortunately, we didn’t think that far in advance. The results, though, were totally worth the effort.

Ribolitta

Ingredients


Olive oil
3 c. each carrots, celery, and onion, finely diced
1 small head (or half a large head) of savoy cabbage, chopped
1/3 c. + 1 Tbsp. tomato paste
8 c. finely cavolo nero, very finely chopped
5 c. cannellini beans, 3 c. pureed and 2 c. whole
10 c. water or meat stock

Instructions


Start by sautéing the carrot, celery, and onion in a couple of tablespoons of olive oil until soft but not browned. Be patient - this takes a little while. The pot should be covered for most of the time.


Next, add the savoy cabbage and cook for just a few minutes until it wilts.


Then add the tomato paste and stir until combined.


Add the cavolo nero.


Cook for about 20 minutes.


Add the water (or stock) the whole beans. When it comes to a boil, add bean puree and simmer away. I’m not sure if there’s an exact simmer time, but we let it go for about an hour.


Top the soup with parmesan cheese, olive oil, and crusty bread or toast points and there you have it: a yummy, comforting bowl of soup perfect for the winter.