Nibbles & Sips

Fun with food and beverages: recipes and opinions about what, how, and why we eat.

Convergence of Annoying Naming Conventions

Sips

the iTini cocktail10-6-2011 ETA: In light of the recent passing of Steve Jobs, I’ve decided to postpone the posting of the next cocktail and leave the iTini up for another week.

~~~oOo~~~

As much as I absolutely adore anything that Apple comes out with, I have to admit that the iEverything naming thing is a little much. In fact, it’s almost as annoying as the prevalence of calling anything in a cocktail glass a -tini.

Of course, the -tini appelation is appropriate when the drink is inspired by the original and, well, I suppose the leading lowercase i deserves the same benefit.

The iTini

2 oz Vodka
1 oz Anise-flavored Liqueur

Combine the two alcohols in a shaker over ice and shake like an etch-a-sketch*. Strain into a chilled-but-no-frills cocktail glass and whatever you do, don’t you dare add a garnish.

When I tried to envision what a Mac would taste like (other than plastic and wires and stuff), I envisioned something very clean, streamlined and, yes, an acquired taste. Immediately I thought of anise. Licorice is one of those things you either love or hate, there’s seldom a middle ground. And I think the same is true about the computer we’re paying homage to.

Using what I had on hand meant Galliano so the drink is yellow. Had I been willing to leave the house for the 1,256th errand of the day I would have picked up a clear anise liqueur to keep that sleek white look. But, hey, we all remember the fruity iMacs, right? (I still have a Blueberry G3 at the office!) And iPods come in all sorts of colors. You also want a very clean, crisp vodka so go premium or make something else, like the fabulous Cinco 5-Star I’ve used earlier in the series.

I happen to like both, but I have to be in the mood for licorice. I also use Mac and non-Mac computers–each have their strengths. So while this drink (which only barely qualifies as a true cocktail IF you count the 3rd ingredient as the water that gets mixed-in during shaking) isn’t an everyday drink (figuratively speaking, of course), it has it’s uses.

*Dilbert reference–we’re just name dropping all up in here and, no, neither Apple nor Scott Adams know who I am. But Cinco did send me a bottle of their fabulous vodka to try out and I can’t recommend it enough!

Hasselback Sweet-and-Spicy Potatoes

Nibbles

Faced with yet another batch of sweet potatoes from the farmers market, as I made the menu for last week I wondered what I could do with them that wasn’t the same old same-old. As much as we love sweet potatoes, it’s easy to fall into the baked or mashed rut with them.

Hasselback Sweet Potatoes

Enter the Hasselback.

Hasselback potatoes have been making the blog rounds with a variety of toppings. But they all feature skin-on potatoes cut into fans, crispy edges and lots of flavor. The most enticing I’ve seen include slivers of garlic slipped between some of the potato leaves.

What I hadn’t seen a lot of (though they do exist) are versions using the yam or sweet potato, but I saw no reason to let that stop me.

I did see one potential obstacle: the skin. While eating regular (brown or red) potato skins isn’t a problem, sweet potato skins can get quite leathery and unpleasant when baked–not exactly appetizing. And, yet, the skins help keep the fanned potatoes from falling apart. My solution was to peel 3/4 of each potato, leaving only the bottom of each au naturel. Since sweet potatoes tend towards irregular shaping, finding each’s natural base before peeling helped.

Semi-peeled sweet potatoes

After that, the procedure was the same as any other Hasselback potato:

  1. Slice
  2. Season
  3. Bake

When it comes to slicing, the idea is to slice almost all the way through. The best tip I’ve seen for this calls for using a guide–like a pair of wooden spoons or even chopsticks–to keep you from cutting all the way through the potato. This worked so well, I can’t imagine doing it any other way.

Cutting the sweet potatoes with wooden-spoon guides

For the seasoning, instead of garlic, I placed 3-4 slivers of fresh ginger into each potato, drizzled with some olive oil then mixed up some Demarara sugar, cinnamon, chili powder and salt (just eyeball the proportions) and sprinkled it all over. It doesn’t hurt to spread some of the leaves apart and make sure some of the seasoning makes it way in.

Sliced, stuffed and ready to season sweet potatoes

Finally, an hour at 350° F and the potatoes were ready to eat.

Finished Hasselback Potatoes

After stuffing, one potato didn’t want to sit nice and pretty, so it got a foil cradle but otherwise the rest behaved quite well. The end result was lovely coins of sweet potatoes that peeled away from the remaining skin without too much effort and were definitely the sweet and spicy flavor I was after.

Feelin’ Hot Hot HOT!

Sips

This week’s Alphatini is brought to you by the letter H!

Brainstorming for this week came up with such ideas as Hurricane (oh so done already), Hellfire (Charmed reference or Biblical retribution, take your pick), and Handshake. But, then, the winner appeared: A Hot Tamale!

Not the candy, though I suppose you could go that route if you wanted, I was thinking about the meat-filled, masa-wrapped, steamed-in-a-corn-husk delicacy. A delicacy I’ve never actually tasted. The closest I’ve seen a tamale were those canned ones that I never really understood–they just didn’t look very appetizing!

Hot Tamale Cocktail

Hot Tamale

But the great thing about being pretty proficient in the kitchen is that researching a recipe can give you a pretty good idea of what your aiming for, cocktail-wise. Of course, you’re probably wondering how such a non-liquid item–a savory food, at that–can be replicated in liquid form that isn’t some sort of smoothie-gone-wrong disaster.

Two hints: Pepper Vodka and Beef Stock

Wait! Don’t go! Hear me out!

It’s actually not unheard of to use something like Consomme in a cocktail–I’ve found at least 3 recipes (Horse Feathers, Bloody Bull and Bullshot) that do just that. They range from hangover cures to liquid lunches, but they exist. I will say that you want to use either canned Consomme or beef stock in this recipe–homemade, unless you’ve taken the time to really de-fat it, will yeild rather unpleasant results.

One Hot Tamale

2 oz Beef Stock
1 oz Pepper Vodka (like Absolut Peppar)
3 dashes Angosturra Bitters
Lime Wedges, Cocktail Onions for garnish

Combine over ice 1 squeeze lime wedge (leave the lime in), stock, vodka and bitters in a cocktail shaker. Shake like you’re walking over hot coals and strain into a room-temperature cocktail glass. Garnish with a second lime wedge and a cocktail onion or two.

To really spice this up–because it’s actually a rather mild and pleasant drink–mix up some cumin, chili powder and garlic powder. Slide the slime wedge around the edge of the glass and then dip the moist rim into the spice mixture.

Even though we’re calling this a Hot Tamale, the drink is served cold. The result is very Bloody Mary-like, so it would make an excellent brunch cocktail or even a nice first course for a late-night supper. Don’t be fulled by that measly 1 ounce of vodka, though, even after a full supper it can still pack some punch.

Ode to a Toaster Oven

Nibbles


It started back in college life

Those heady days all on our own

When catching meals was full of strife

And home cooking did we disown

 

But to prep frozen pot pies was less than your due

Though what else could you really produce?

The years without you were not found wanting.

Until, that day, when we were so blue

No response from the range could be seduced

And our dinner plans so needed rescuing.

 

And there you were like a dutiful wife

Your element hot as a missile’s nose-cone

Glowing like the metal on the edge of a knife

Saving us from take-out via phone.

~~~

After two and a half weeks without a working oven, Todd’s little toaster oven that could got us through several dinners. And even though it was small, it was mighty in it’s timely cooking of everything from steaks to hash brown casserole, so I decided it needed a little tribute all it’s own.

[Image via Amazon.com; line 13 of the ode borrowed–with all due respect–from Meat Loaf (which is sorta fitting if you think about it!)]

Have Your Dessert (Cocktail) First!

Sips

Not that I’d know anything about testing out a super-indulgent cocktail recipe before supper. And if I were to do such a thing, it’s only be to take advantage of the light.

Let’s get down to the business of the G-cocktail, shall we? Which just happened to be inspired by a certain special-occasion dessert.

The Groom's Cake Cocktail

The Groom's Cake Cacktail

For those unfamiliar, the groom’s cake is a particularly Southern wedding tradition that is, thankfully, spreading thanks to the global nature of wedding blogs and reality television. An alternative to the (frequently) dry, white wedding cake, the groom’s cake was usually chocolate but, really, these days can be any size, shape or flavor the groom decides (or the bride allows). Often the cake represents a hobby of the groom’s and is one of the few times the groom might have any input into the wedding!

As my mind wandered down this path, I also remembered a cake I did for a friend’s husband that was German Chocolate–the cake itself is only part of the equation; that gooey coconut frosting is another matter entirely! Dreams are made of that nutty, super-sweet stuff.

The Groom’s Cake

1 1/2 oz Vanilla Vodka
1 1/4 oz Godiva Liqueur
1 oz Sweetened Condensed Milk
3/4 oz Buttershots
1/4 oz Frangelico
Flaked coconut and cocoa powder for garnish

Combine vodka, Godiva, butter-schnapps, condensed milk and Frangelico over ice in a shaker and shake while you do a run through of the Electric Slide–just to keep in practice. Strain into a chilled cocktail glass rimmed with cocoa and coconut.

Alternately, skip the rim adornment and mix a little of the coconut and cocoa with more of the condensed milk, maybe a splash of frangelico, too, and top something sturdy with the mixture and float it in the drink. I used a mini rice cake for the raft and it worked quite well (and made a nice treat at the end of the cocktail!).

Even though we just did a chocolate cocktail 4 letters ago, I’m firmly of the belief that you really can’t have too much chocolate in your cocktail repertoire (or, you know, life in general), so we’ll go with it. The idea was to create a velvety-smooth concoction reminiscent of the cake and icing combo (second only to red velvet cake* with cream cheese frosting, I’d a guess) that is clearly a desert cocktail.

How’d we do? You’ll just have to try it yourself and see, won’t you!

And, yes, I’ve made a version of the bleeding-armadillo Groom’s cake before. Not exactly like the one from Steel Magnolias but it did have grey icing (poured fondant, in this case) and its beady little eyes, according to the recipient, followed you around the room. Which is only a good thing considering the person that ordered it meant it as a somewhat twisted joke.