Sangria: Booze that Beats the Heat!

In the words of Cole Porter, "it's too darn hot!"  Here in New Jersey we have had excessive heat warnings for the last two days, with temperatures nearing 100 degrees and stifling humidity.  Though I love a bottle of red wine, it just does not fit the bill on a hot summer day.  But mix it with some booze and a whole lot of fruit and pour it over ice, and you've got drink that will cure all y'alls ills. 

Sangria is essentially the Spanish version of punch, commonly served at informal gatherings in the summer months.  Typically, it consists of an inexpensive red wine, a variety of sliced fruit, sugar (or some other sweetener), and a small amount of brandy, triple sec or other liquors.  So if you have a bottle of wine that is just...eh...drinkable.....take a few minutes to whip up a batch and you'll be mightily pleased with the results.  

 

Red Wine Sangria

Ingredients:

1 750-ml bottle of Red Wine

1/4 cup brandy

1/4 cup triple sec or grand marnier

1/4 cup sugar

2 tbs lime juice

1 orange, thinly sliced

1 apple, thinly sliced

1/2 lemon, thinly sliced

Combine all the ingredients in a large pitcher and stir.  Cover and chill for 1 to 2 hours or, if in a hurry, serve over ice.  This keeps well in the fridge over a couple of days - we made a pitcher two days ago and have been sipping glasses of it in the evenings after dinner!  Easily doubled for company - of if you (like us) just can't have too much of a good thing!

Garden Fresh: Pesto Pasta Salad with Tomatoes and Fresh Mozzarella

As soon as the weather started warming in April, I fled from the kitchen and into the garden.  During the weeks leading up to Mother's Day, we raked and hoed, shoveled and shredded, weeded and watered, furiously in anticipation of planting day.  We expanded our garden from last year - a small, overcrowded 3x3 raised bed - to three 4x6 wooden raised beds that my husband painstakingly built.

After all was said and done, the lumber, 2.5 cubic yards of compost, plants and seeds probably equaled (if not exceeded) the cost of just buying our vegetables from the store.  But SO WHAT if that tomato is going to cost me $50 - it sure is going to taste awesome! One month later, our garden is making remarkable progress.  For now, all we can harvest are herbs.  But, the tomatoes are flowering, and where there are flowers, soon there will be fruit!

Here, you can see one of our three raised beds - there are four types of tomato plants and basil planted as companions.  I always found it interesting that two plants that thrive so well when planted together also happen to taste delicious when eaten together.  Funny, how smart nature is....

So, our two weeks of Spring in New Jersey are over and we are in full on summer mode.  After our fourth day of 90+ degree weather, we cranked up the AC and contemplated eating popsicles for dinner.  No one wants to cook or even look at an oven when it is that hot.  For days like that, I look for light recipes that require minimum cooking and can be served room temperature.  This pasta salad recipe is perfect because the pesto can easily be made in advance and the only "cooking" required is boiling water.  Enjoy!


Pesto Pasta Salad with Tomatoes and Fresh Mozzarella

1 lb pasta - I like De Cecco's Spinach Fusili
1- 1 1/2 cups pesto, recipe below
1/2 lb fresh mozzarella, diced
1/2 lb tomatoes, diced.  Alternatively, you can halve cherry or grape tomatoes
1/2 lb green beans, washed and cut into 1-inch long bites (optional)
Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese, for serving

In a large pot with a steamer basket, boil as much water as you can without the water touching the basket.  Add the green beans and steam until just tender, but still a bit crunchy.  Immediately remove the steam basket from the pot and run cold water over the beans to stop them from cooking.  Set aside.

Add the pasta to the boiling water and cook as per the directions on the package.  Drain and return to the now empty pot.  Add the pesto and toss the pasta to evenly coat.  Add the tomatoes, mozzarella, and green beans and gently toss.   Season with salt and pepper to taste.  Sprinkle each bowl with fresh parmigiano cheese and serve. 


Lemon Basil Pesto

This is a light, lemony variation on a classic pesto that uses both basil and parsley.  While its great on pasta, there are just about a million different ways you could use this stuff - drizzle it on pizza, spoon it over grilled fish or chicken, slather it over some bread, it is all delicious!  To toast the pine nuts, you can either bake them in a 350 degree oven for 8-10 minutes, or lightly toast them in a skillet over medium low heat until golden brown.  Watch them carefully, they burn quickly and easily if left unattended!

Ingredients:

2 cloves garlic
3 tbs toasted pine nuts
1 1/2 cups loosely packed basil leaves
1/2 cup loosely packed Italian parsley leaves
1/4 cup Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese
1 tsp grated lemon zest
1 tbs lemon juice
1 - 1 1/2 cups olive oil
Salt and Pepper to taste

In a large food processor, combine the garlic, pine nuts, basil, parsley, cheese, lemon zest and lemon juice.  Pulse until it becomes a thick paste.  Then, with the food processor running, slowly pour in the olive oil.  Season with salt and pepper and dig in!!

Mother's Day Brunch: A Day of Not Cooking!

My husband lovingly refers to me as a "tyrant" in the kitchen.  It is a small space - room enough for one to comfortably cook a meal without knocking elbows - and apparently I do not delegate well.  When I'm in the kitchen, I feel like the master of a small universe.  Too many people crowding my access to the refrigerator and you might just get a pairing knife in your gullet.  Just saying.

My Mother-in-Law is visiting us from California this week and, naturally, I had planned to prepare a special Mother's Day brunch for her.  You can imagine my surprise when my husband - who has cooked at most two meals in the last year - announced that for Mother's Day that I was banned from the kitchen!!  The meal was planned in strict secrecy.  He snuck out to the grocery store and hid food items in the fridge so I wouldn't notice them.  I was forbidden to enter the kitchen while he prepped and cooked the meal and was not told upon what we would be feasting until I was seated at the dining room table.

Well, feast we did!  What was on the menu?  Oysters (long island blue) on the half-shell, shrimp cocktail, smoked salmon crostini, an assortment of AMAZING cheeses, seriously fluffy buttermilk pancakes, fresh fruit and mimosas!  More impressive is that the poor guy spent an ungodly amount of time shucking those oysters by hand and whipped the pancakes up without a recipe to follow.  Perhaps I should hang up my apron and let him be the full time chef in the house?  Thanks Pete - it was a very special meal and a fabulous day!


Pete's Seriously Delicious Buttermilk Pancakes

My husband is not one for following recipes.  Sadly, I cannot give you the precise recipe for his delicious pancakes because he never measures anything (yet it magically always turns out!).  What we ate was "inspired" by this recipe from the July 2000 edition of Bon Appetite, which is delicious!

Ingredients:

2 cups all-purpose flour
3 tablespoons sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 cups buttermilk
3 large eggs
1 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

assortment of fresh berries
butter and maple syrup

Directions:  In a large bowl, sift together the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt and set aside.  In another bowl, lightly beat the eggs, buttermilk and vanilla.  Pour the wet ingredients into the flour mixture and whisk until there are no large lumps remaining.  The batter will be thick!


Heat a griddle or large skillet on medium-low heat.  I have a non-stick griddle, which I never have to butter, but if you want to, feel free to butter your skillet or griddle.  Pour batter by 1/4 cupfuls onto the griddle.  When bubbles begin to rise in the pancakes and the bottoms have turned golden brown, flip the pancakes.  Cook another minute or so on the other side.  Transfer to a plate or serving platter and serve immediately with fresh berries, maple syrup and butter (if desired).  Enjoy!