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I have to close my eyes when I go to the craft store, because I’m in no mood for scarecrows. I want Sangria, Frose, and all the summer drinks I can manage, but there are a few cocktails that you could drink all year and a few that ease us into the Fall and Winter gracefully.

Summer Cocktails that Work All Year include the Gin Basil Smash with Lemon Simple Syrup

More reasons to grow your own basil. If you  find lemon basil, even better! Lemon Thyme would be another great garnish. Gin Basil Smash Recipe Here.

Summer Cocktails with Multi-Purposes: Elderflower Gin Cocktail

The color comes from Concord grapes which always make me think of Autumn. So good! This might be considered a girlie drink, so be sure to bookmark this for your next shower or Galentine’s party. Elderflower Gin Cocktail here.

Summer Cocktails often have fruit like this Blueberry Old Fashioned 

Light Enough for Summer, substantial enough for Fall. When winter rolls around, make this Cara Cara Orange Old Fashioned.

Blueberry Old Fashioned Recipe Here

Rose Summer Cocktails like Frosé Works All Year, Especially at Holiday Brunches

Frosé is a cocktail you can make all year long using frozen strawberries and you’ll want to have at your holiday brunches. I have these coupe glasses from Libby (Amazon).

Summer Cocktails that Roll into Autumn with Ease

Roasted Butternut Squash Infused Vodka with Sage Garnish

You will need to make your vodka in advance by a week, but trust me, this is so good and especially nice passed around at a holiday dinner in small glasses like these.

Summer Cocktails that Roll into Winter Festivities

When the watermelon is gone, the pomegranates arrive and you can make this Pomegranate Vodka Cocktail drink or this Cranberry Cocktail.

Cheers to the Cocktail Hour. What’s your favorite Summer into Fall/Winter cocktail?

More Cocktails from Spinach Tiger

This sight contains affiliate links, most items I own and use frequently. Spinach Tiger shares these ideas with you and earns a small commission, but your price does not change. Much appreciated. 

The post Five Summer Cocktails that Will Take You into Fall appeared first on Spinach Tiger.

The strawberry martini recipe is perfect for any holiday or fun time.

We came home with so many I almost didn’t know what to do. Almost. Quickly, I made a strawberry sauce, perfect for this recent post for strawberry sundaes.  I then made this strawberry simple syrup, thinking cocktails. These fresh berries made a deep, flavorful strawberry syrup.

How to Make the Perfect Strawberry Martini Recipe

I experimented at 10:00 in the morning, and this is the strawberry martini recipe that won the day. I tried adding lemon juice and we didn’t like that. We tried regular vodka and mandarin vodka, and opted for the Mandarin. If you only have regular vodka, add a tiny squeeze of orange (not much or skip it). We used even amounts of vodka and simple syrup and a splash of dry vermouth. I wanted to add fresh basil, but it’s too newly planted, so keep that in mind.

You could use the strawberry simple syrup to make all sorts of fun cocktails, including this strawberry sangria.

More Cocktails from Spinach Tiger

Elderberry Pink Cocktail

Strawberry Sangria

Cranberry Vodka Cocktail

Tira Misu Martini

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Strawberry Martini Recipe

Strawberry martini is the perfect spring and summer cocktail, using freshly made strawberry syrup.

Course Cocktail

Cuisine American

Cook Time 5 minutes minutes

Total Time 5 minutes minutes

Servings 1

Author Angela Roberts

Ingredients

• 2 ounces vodka Mandarin Vodka or regular
• 2 ounces strawberry simple syrup
• splash of dry vermouth
• ice
• fresh strawberries and basil for garnish

Instructions

• Put vodka, strawberry simple syrup, dry vermouth and ice into shaker.
• Serve iced cold.
• Garnish with strawberry and basil leaf.

The post Strawberry Martini Recipe appeared first on Spinach Tiger.

The holiday season started today, and while this is so not like me, our house was fully decorated for Christmas before Thanksgiving. This put me in the mood for a cocktail to match my already Christmas mood without being too heavy.

We also think every party should have a signature house cocktail of the moment, which needs to please guests that don’t like a heavy dose of booze and please those who do! I always think of a few of my girlfriends and my husband. If they both like it (having very different tastes) it’s a win for a party. As for me, I want a festive look, and that’s where unsweetened cranberry juice comes in.

Simple Cocktail Recipe for the Holidays with Dixie Vodka

That calls for a vodka cocktail. I was recently sent a bottle of  Dixie Vodka, which had me smiling the minute I opened the package because the inside of the bottle is an artwork display.

Mr. Spinach Tiger is the mixologist around here and he’s really good at it. When I received a bottle of Dixie Vodka in the mail, I asked him to make me a cocktail that had Christmas flavors, although you could make this cocktail for anytime.

Only distributed in the southeast, Dixie Vodka is distilled six times from non-GMO American corn and packaged using 100% American materials. They utilize an innovative process called TerrePURE to strip out additional impurities post-distillation. It makes for a smoother vodka, perfect for sipping neat or on the rocks.

This Holiday Cocktail is Gluten Free

Dixie Vodka is completely gluten free and that is not true of all vodkas. You will need to check for the orange liqueur you use. Grand Marnier says they are gluten free.

It took a few tries to get the balance we were both looking for. We didn’t want the drink too sweet. The vodka doesn’t deserve it, and we like the sweet to be subtle.

We both don’t typically drink juice with our vodka, and this drink had to still have an earthy beat to it and a holiday feel. We added a cinnamon stick and orange to create the perfect holiday cheer.

More Cocktails from Spinach Tiger

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Simple Cocktail Recipe for the Holidays, Dixie Black Pepper Vodka

Cranberry Orange Vodka Cocktail

Course Cocktail

Cuisine American

Prep Time 2 minutes minutes

Total Time 2 minutes minutes

Servings 1

Author Angela Roberts

Ingredients

• 2 ounces Dixie Vodka or Vodka of your choice
• 1 tablespoon simple syrup
• 1 ounce unsweetened cranberry juice
• 1/2 ounce orange liqueur prefer Grand Marnier
• Orange Peel
• ice
• Cinnamon stick for garnish
• Cranberries for garnish

Instructions

• Add vodka, simple syrup, cranberry juice, orange liqueur in shaker. Mix well.
• Pour into glass.
• Warm an orange peel with a lighter and put into the drink.
• Add cinnamon stick and cranberries for garnish.

The post Cranberry Orange Vodka Christmas Cocktail appeared first on Spinach Tiger.

It’s till being debated on how this recipe was developed, as there are both Italians and Americans who stake claim to the recipe. The Williams Sonoma cookbook states that it was created by an Italian chef in Rome who made it for a vodka company wishing to promote vodka in Italy. That makes the most sense to me, as the onion and short cooking time reminds me of another famous Italian red sauce that Rome is known for.

It may be hard to believe that this is my first time making vodka sauce yet it’s been on my 2013 white board all year. I have a board with dishes I want to feature on Spinach Tiger, and I wanted to make vodka sauce. It has fallen out of favor in today’s culinary world but I have a thing for retro food, and it’s time to breathe some life back into it, in case you weren’t around in the 80’s when it was on every Italian menu in the States.

Amanda of Dancing Veggies  has vodka sauce on her blog, and I was reinspired to give it a go when I was assigned her blog to choose a dish to cook from for the Secret Recipe Club. Each month, we are assigned to select a recipe from a another food blogger and then we all reveal on the same day. If you see the links below you will see all the participants.

Amanda is a young newlywed who admirably taught herself to cook when her mother told her if she wanted something different, she’d have to cook it herself. She was a teen then, and set out to make food taste good for her own taste buds. My kind of girl, and maybe more moms should do this or whatever it takes to get children and teens to cook in the kitchen. You all know how passionate I am about that.

I didn’t follow her recipe exactly. Amanda used fresh tomatoes because she had far too many in her garden. She uses yogurt and , while I think that’s a brilliant idea, as there area few good Indian dishes that combine yogurt with tomato sauces, I chose heavy cream and added in a bit of butter in addition to the olive oil. While you’ll probably never see me eat a krispy kream donut, I’m a bit old school when it comes to butter and cream as both can smooth out a tomato sauce. I admit to also being a little heavy handed with the vodka both in and out of the sauce. Shhhh.

Penne Pasta is the typical pasta used to hold the thick creamy sauce, but I had vodka sauce on pizza last year in Memphis,  and it was quite memorable.  I still come from the camp that believes butter and cream are good ingredients to cook with and much healthier than anything jarred, canned, or processed. Of course, the tomatoes were San Marzano certified, as that is where I do my budget splurging. I hope you can find the irony in that I used it for some spaghetti squash for a light dinner last week and I do encourage you to use your creativity. Penne pasta is just the start of the places vodka sauce can travel.

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Penne Alla Vodka

Vodka Tomato cream sauce with penne pasta 1 tsp fresh parsley 1 tbsp fresh basil 2 tbsp greek yogurt (coconut or cow – soy tends to give a bad aftertaste)

Cuisine Italian

Prep Time 10 minutes minutes

Cook Time 40 minutes minutes

Total Time 50 minutes minutes

Servings 6

Author Angela Roberts

Ingredients

• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 2 tablespoons butter
• 2 cloves garlic minced
• 1 onion diced
• 2 32 ounce cans whole San Marzano tomatoes
• 1/2 cup vodka
• handful fresh parsley
• few fresh basil leaves if you have it, don’t use dried
• 1 cup heavy cream
• 1 cup parmesan cheese freshly grated
• 1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper
• 1 pound of penne pasta

Instructions

• Heat olive oil in sauce pan. Put in onion and garlic until onion is softened, but don’t let garlic burn.
• Chop tomatoes and add tomatoes and juice into pot.
• Add in fresh herbs such as parsley and basil (remove later)
• Cook for twenty minutes.
• Add in vodka and cream.
• Stir, simmering on low for twenty more minutes.
• Stir in a 1/4 cup freshly grated parmesan cheese
• Add in crushed red pepper
• Cook pasta to a few minutes before pasta is done.
• Drain pasta reserving 1/3 cup of pasta water.
• Add pasta to sauce. You might also add in pasta water if needed.
• Finish cooking pasta in the sauce.
• Serve with more parmesan cheese

The post Penne alla Vodka appeared first on Spinach Tiger.

I’m on an Autumn Roll. If I was a magazine, I would probably be preparing for Valentine’s Day, but I’m a blog, and I’m in real time making boozy, spicy, Autumn Risotto with Butternut Squash.

You may remember Autumn Salad, and the inspiration for this dish, Autumn Cocktail. Well, one good idea just flows into the next and when I had butternut-infused vodka left over, I thought about risotto.

I’m not sure what Marcella Hazan might say if she could see me throwing in mustard seeds, green chilies, red chilies, and tumeric, along with the customary onion and butter. Just to make it more interesting, I added in the butternut squash-infused vodka, which sweetened the dish a little and layered nicely with the butternut squash.

I kept the dish hot and spicy, but added in toasted pumpkin seeds and dried cranberries to add that Autumn touch.

This is not the typical butternut squash risotto with parmesan cheese.

Boozy, spicy, Autumn Risotto with Butternut squash is a great side dish, especially on the holiday table.

More Spinach Tiger Recipes

Risotto 101 – Everything You Need to Know about Risott and Three Mistakes to Avoid

My Most Recent Autumn Dishes

Autumn Potluck Kale Salad

Autumn Cocktail

Autumn Brunch

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Boozy Spicy Autumn Risotto with Butternut Squash

Autumn Butternut Squash Risotto fused with Fall flavors, Indian spices.

Course Side Dish

Cuisine American

Prep Time 15 minutes minutes

Cook Time 30 minutes minutes

Total Time 45 minutes minutes

Servings 6

Author Angela Roberts

Ingredients

• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 small butternut squash cubed
• 1 medium onion diced
• 1/4 cup butternut infused-squash vodka optional, can use white wine or no alcohol
• large dash nutmeg
• 1 green chili sliced
• 1 red chili broken in half
• 2 teaspoons turmeric
• 2 1/2 cups arborio rice
• 5 cups chicken or vegetable broth
• 1 teaspoon sea salt
• 1 teaspoon white pepper
• tablespoon of dried cranberries
• toasted pumpkin seeds for garnish

Instructions

• Saute butternut squash in olive oil.
• Add in onion and 1 tablespoon butter. Add in green chili sliced and red chili.
• Once onion is translucent, add arborio rice and stir until moistened.
• Immediately add in 1/2 cup broth. Once that evaporates add in another 1/2 cup broth. Move rice to side of pan. Add remaining tablespoon butter and vodka. Stir and stir through rice. Once evaporated, add in another 1/2 cup broth and dried cranberries.
• Add in salt, white pepper.
• Continue to add 1/2 cup broth at a time until five cups are used.
• Season again with salt, pepper and dash nutmeg and garnish with toasted pumpkin seeds.

The post Spicy Autumn Risotto with Butternut Squash appeared first on Spinach Tiger.

An Autumn Cocktail made with butternut squash-infused vodka is just the thing to help us gleefully put the summer sandals away, get out our warm sweaters and turn on our ovens to roast butternut squash. The squash is not for soup which warms the tummy; it’s for vodka which warms the spirit.

While this might sound a little bit out of the ordinary, I have two sets of party guests to tell you that the Winter Squash Cocktail from the Savory Cocktails cookbook is such a charmer for all types of drinkers, and will become our Fall tradition, and our Thanksgiving signature cocktail.

When asked to review a copy of Savory Cocktails, I jumped on it, not because I needed a free cookbook, but because, the author, Greg Henry, is my friend and a fellow food blogger. I’ve eaten his food and his cocktails.

The book, Savory Cocktails, follows his success with his first book, Savory Pies, but I think this is so much more him.

While I know he’s good at what he does, he’s even better at what he writes. He’s whimsical, sophisticated, understands that it’s 2013, but has a great respect for retro food, vintage cocktails and where his good taste comes from. He’s also a food and beverage geek, passionately researching ingredients, recipes and culinary history. He not only knows how a cocktail should taste, he knows how it should look, which is presented through his exquisite photography.

Savory Cocktails is right in step with the cocktail movement of the last few years which has resurrected many old time cocktails and has found new uses for  various bitters in combination with fresh ingredients and artisan salts. Greg will walk you through the basics of bar tools and proper glassware, and then will stroll you through cocktails by his chosen savory categories. Take your pick.

SAVORY COCKTAILS:   Sour. Spicy. Herbal. Umami. Bitter. Smoky. Rich. Strong.

He pays attention to what people are drinking, but he also nudges us all along in the book by introducing us to some very unique cocktails, and the Winter Squash was one such drink.

I needed something fun for a party and this was a much bigger hit than I had expected.  While Greg doesn’t include a sweet category, this particular cocktail has some sweetness from simple syrup, but not so much that the vodka and spices can’t be enjoyed for what they are.

The vodka is infused with roasted squash for five days, and then mixed with lemon, lime, simple syrup.  and the Autumn spices we love….cinnamon and nutmeg. Even the non-cocktail lovers loved this drink, and several people asked for the recipe.  I used Putinka vodka, which is a very decent Russian vodka at a good price. Go ahead and infuse the whole bottle. Maybe two bottles. Halloween and Thanksgiving are perfect opportunities to treat your guests to a special cocktail.

Greg used a sage leaf as a garnish.  It’s a nice touch for an Autumn Cocktail made with butternut squash-infused vodka.

The next cocktail I want to try is the Beetle Juice, which uses beet-infused vodka or gin, and the Smoke Jumper, if I find some lampsang souchgong tea, which will be mixed with some Chartreuse that I already have on hand. The tea is a black tea (smoked) as it dries over a burning pinewood. That recipe tells you just how interesting the cocktails are.

So tell me, do you like to serve cocktails during the Fall holidays and have you ever infused your own vodka?

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Autumn Cocktail with Roasted Butternut Squash and Book Review for Savory Cocktails by Greg Henry

Roasted butternut squash-infused vodka creates the Winter Squash Cocktail adapted from Savory Cocktails by Greg Henry, where it was adapted from Phoebe Wilson of the Dogwood Cocktail Cabin.

Course Cocktail

Cuisine American

Prep Time 10 minutes minutes

Total Time 10 minutes minutes

Servings 8

Author Angela Roberts

Ingredients

Simple Syrup

• 1 cup sugar
• 1 cup water

Butternut Squash-Infused Vodka

• 1 small butternut squash about 1 pound
• 1 750 ml bottle vodka

Autumn Cocktail

• 1/2 cup squash-infused vodka
• 2 tablespoons/ 1 fl. ounce simple syrup
• 1 tablespoon / 1/2 fl. ounce freshly squeezed lemon juice
• 1 tablespoon / 1/2 fl. ounce freshly squeezed lime juice
• 1 big pinch ground cinnamon
• 1 big pinch freshly grated nutmeg
• 1 sage leaf as garnish

Instructions

Simple Syrup

• Bring sugar and water to boil together in saucepan, stirring occasionally.
• Reduce heat to low until a syrup is reached, about 4 minutes.
• Allow to cool for 30 minutes.
• Store in a airtight container in refrigerator, up to 30 days.

Butternut Squash-Infused Vodka

• Roast squash at 400 degrees for 30-40 minutes, until the skin blisters.
• Allow to cool. Peel skin off, remove seeds, cut into chunks.
• Place in a mason jar or glass container with a bottle of vodka.
• Set in a cool place for five days.
• Remove the squash from the vodka. Strain with mesh strainer into a clean jar.

Autumn Cocktail

• In a cocktail shaker combine vodka, simple syrup, ice cubes, lemon juice, lime juice, cinnamon and nutmeg. Shake vigorously until well chilled.
• Strain into cocktail or martini glass.
• Garnish with more cinnamon if desired and a sage leaf.
• The original recipe calls for cinnamon and nutmeg to be used as a garnish only, but I liked mixing it all together. This makes one serving, but the entire recipe will make 8 or more.

Disclosure: An advance copy of Savory Cocktails was sent to me for review from the publisher.

The post Autumn Cocktail with Roasted Butternut Squash-Infused Vodka appeared first on Spinach Tiger.

What makes a Bloody Mary best? They need to taste like food and jump a little. I got this recipe from a very sharp bartender who knew how to balance the briny,  salty, spicy elements with just enough citrus  to pull it all together.

Bloody Mary’s are most often enjoyed in the day time, maybe even the early morning.   Some years ago, Jason, the bartender at the lobby bar at the Sir Francis Drake Hotel helped  me to pass some rainy day time, while I was waiting for Mr. ST to return from his conference. We both just happen to have events that took us from Nashville to San Francisco on the exact same weekend, and I sat at the lobby bar waiting for him on a Sunday afternoon. I was intrigued that he wasn’t using a Bloody Mary mix. I watched him muddle together the tomato and jalapeno, add in real tomato juice, and horseradish, Tabasco and lemon, and I knew I had to have one. He was nice enough to make me second one, slowly showing me his step by step method. Then he wrote it all down for me.

Somehow I’ve managed to hold onto that paper for the past three years, and I’m finally sharing it today.

I don’t can food, and I rarely make anything pickled, but in recent years I’m discovering that pickling is a hot new trend and you don’t have to can the old fashioned way if you are going to eat the pickled food in the next few weeks.

I tend to like pickles a lot, especially if they are spicy, so I threw a good dash of cayenne pepper in the mix. I think this garnish is especially nice for a Bloody Mary and not everyone likes the typical celery.

The asparagus in this recipe makes a great appetizer, as well as a drink garnish. I used an interesting pickling spice that has cinnamon, mustard seed, dill seed and tumeric among other things, but any pickling spice will do.

The result is a very flavorful Bloody Mary. I was so excited to make this, I went and bought a muddler, which is used to muddle the  jalapenos and tomatoes.

Tell me, have you ever asked a bartender or a server for a  special recipe? Do you feel awkward doing that?

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Sir Francis Drake Hotel Bar Bloody Mary by Jason

Lucky enough to snatch the recipe for the best Bloody Mary from San Franciso's Sir Francis Drake Hotel Lobby Bar, starting with a key ingredient, olive juice.

Course Cocktails

Cuisine American

Servings 1

Author Angela Roberts

Ingredients

• 3-4 grape tomatoes
• 3-4 slices jalapeno
• 1/2 teaspoon horseradish
• 1/4 teaspoon pepper
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 2-3 dashes of Tabasco sauce
• juice of 1/2 lemon
• 2 oz. vodka
• 2 oz. tomato juice
• FOR GARNISH
• 1 olive
• 1 grape tomato
• squeeze lime
• celery stick
• pickled asparagus optional

Pickled Asparagus

• 10 asparagus spears or as many as fit into the jar
• 2 pint mason jar
• 2 cups apple cider vinegar
• 2 cups water
• 2 tablespoons pickling spice
• 1 teaspoon dill seed or fresh dill
• 2 teaspoons pepper corns
• 1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper
• 2 cloves garlic

Instructions

• Muddle the grape tomatoes and jalapeno and add ice.
• Add horseradish, pepper, salt, Tabasco sauce, lemon juice, vodka, tomato juice.
• Shake.
• Pour in pint glass, garnish as desired with garnishes

Pickled Asparagus

• Trim woody bottoms of asparagus and make sure it will fit into the height of the jar.
• Blanch asparagus in boiling water for one minute.
• Remove to ice bath
• Bring vinegar and water, pickling spice to a boil. Boil for two minutes
• Put asparagus into jar and pour pickling liquid over asparagus.Add remaining ingredients. Give a good shake.
• Cool. Put on lid tightly and refrigerate for a few days before serving.
• Pickled asparagus will keep in refrigerator for a few weeks.

The post Best Bloody Mary with Pickled Asparagus, Recipe from a Bartender appeared first on Spinach Tiger.

It’s almost 100 degrees and company is coming. Dessert will not come from an oven. But, I know watermelon is welcome and I’m sharing two recipes with you.

You cannot fail with watermelon in the hot summer. It’s the fruit I crave the most when the heat rises. It’s so juicy and sweet and is the perfect dessert simply sliced and plated. However…..

However, if you are having a special dinner guest in the middle of the week, you want to make something just to show your love.

Shane was my very first friend in Nashville 11 years ago, and I hadn’t seen him in a long time. He reached for his star and he’s living his dream as a successful song writer. I can say I knew him when. On his way to success, he helped me faux finish, even working with me on the Opryland Hotel. And, he is so down to earth and genuine that he still offered to help me faux finish my kitchen……because he hates it.

It didn’t seem unusual at all for him to come in, take a look around and tell me the green is all wrong. Well that very morning, I had decided the green had to go. We think alike and in 9 years, my kitchen is soon to see it’s 5th faux finish. We both agreed that icey blue is where it needed to go. I wonder if our decision is based on our reaction to the heat.

Of course, my husband is just shaking his head. “Here we go again.” Shane said he would help me do it. This is what I love about old friends. You don’t see each other for a long time and you just pick back up as if no time had passed. And, you give your opinion freely.

These kind of friendships aren’t built upon music business success or life status. These are the friendships that connect instantly and stand the test of time because they are based on something that’s hard to describe, but I’m sure you can think of a few people in your life that you have this with.

And, these kind of friends can come into your house and offer their opinion without offense because they see your place as their place. I love it because I did the exact same thing to him recently at his new condo. He wants a silver leaf ceiling, but I’m seeing medallion gold lusterstone. I ought to just pack my paint deck at all times, because I love to pick paint colors for other people. And, I also, like to tell people what to eat. But, it’s not my fault. It’s my Italian genes. Art and food are our life. Couple this with a mild case of assertive opinion, and you can see why we must find others like ourself to hang out with.

The Sorbet
The color alone is nearly enough for me. It’s really the true color of a ripe watermelon, not pale pinky quiet, but loud and juicy.

This is now my favorite sorbet out of my kitchen to date. The texture was unusual. It quickly melts in your mouth, but I loved it, and was so disappointed the next day when I went to the freezer and it was gone.

Sorbet Becomes a Cocktail
I pointed a finger at Mr. Spinach Tiger and he said it was still there, but way in the back. I took it out and thought “it’s cocktail hour” somewhere, and I had extra watermelon juice. I like vodka cocktails in the summertime, either with lemonade or with fresh juice, and as cold as I can get them.

I mixed the sorbet with some watermelon juice, vodka and splash of lime and had a nice moment. Is it wrong to drink a cocktail in the kitchen all alone pre-shower? Of course, not. I have to test my recipes, right?

Don’t ask me for exact measurements.

The ratio is somewhere around

• 3-1 sorbet to watermelon juice,
• 4-1 (that)juice to vodka or more if you like.

You could be more daring and exchange the vodka with tequila, but I can’t drink tequila alone. Mr. Spinach Tiger always salts his watermelon, so I salted the rim of the glass and it nicely balances the “sweet” of the drink. But, feel free to sugar the rim if you like it sweet.

Doesn’t this deep watermelon color refresh you instantly? Tell me, how are you keeping cool these days?

Sorbet Recipe
Adapted from The Perfect Scoop by David Lebovitz. Makes 1 litre (1 quart).

• 3 pound watermelon (large to make extra watermelon juice for cocktails)
• 1/2 cup sugar
• big pinch salt
• 1 tablespoon freshly squeezed lime juice
• 1 tablespoon tequila (original was vodka)

Make watermelon juice

1. Trim off rind, take off as many seeds as you can. Chop and put in blender. I used an immersion blender.
2. Strain through a mesh sieve to yield watermelon juice that has no seeds, no pulp.

Make simple syrup

1. Use 1 cup of watermelon juice with sugar.and salt. Heat in small saucepan until sugar is melted.
2. Add lime juice, remaining watermelon juice, and tequila. Chill thoroughly.
3. Process with ice cream maker.

The post Watermelon Sorbet and Watermelon Vodka Cocktail appeared first on Spinach Tiger.

Sweet, savory, pretty.  

I selected satsuma (or any form of orange), shallots and edible flowers. I was inspired a few weeks ago by delicious organic satsumas at Whole Foods, but realizing not everyone has such access to satsumas, I settled on any kind of orange citrus. I chose edible flowers to chase away the winter blues, and shallots so all the entries wouldn’t be dessert, although I’m sure some creative cook could incorporate all three ingredients into a sweet treat.

I didn’t have a dish in mind when I picked the ingredients, thinking that the ingredients would pick the dish and they did. Handmade, orange, tarragon pasta in two different shapes topped with seared scallops, dripping in orange vodka butter sauce, caramelized shallots, all dressed up for spring with marigolds and pansies.

This dish is a mouthful of flavors, not big bold flavors, but distinct, elegant flavors. You can taste the tarragon, the shallots, certainly the orange and the vodka, and together they bring the scallops and pasta to life. I used only a pinch of salt and pepper, which is unusual for me, but speaks a lot for the flavors working just right.

Orange Tarragon Bow Ties.
Contest Key Ingredient: Tangelo
By the time I was ready to make this, I couldn’t get satsuma, so I decided to use tangelos, a hybrid citrus, a cross between a tangerine and pomelo grapefruit. They contain seeds, are very sweet, and very juicy.

The Pasta
A new favorite pasta flour is semolina pasta from Hodgson Mill. Testing it against other flours, this has good body to it.

I added fresh tarragon, zest and the juice of the tangelos to create a beautiful and flavorful pasta. I used to be unsure of myself making pasta because I make it by hand and then crank through an Atlas. But, I’ve discovered there is no exact recipe for pasta. You have to feel it to know if you need to add more flour, and I’ve come to “know” when it’s enough. I usually start with 1 cup flour and 2 eggs. Then depending on how the pasta is behaving, I gradually add more flour. When I am adding liquid, I use one less egg. There is more juice in a tangelo than a typical orange, so that will be adjusted with flour.

I used two shapes, triangles that hold the scallops, bowties surrounding scallops. The bowties hold the sauce well.

Contest Key Ingredient: Shallots
I used shallots into 2 different ways. Caramelized in sauce, and fried in panko breakcrumbs for the topping. If you don’t have shallots, you can use a sweet onion, chopped very fine.

The Sauce
Not only was this delicious, the whole house smelled wonderful. I started with butter, a sprig of tarragon and finely chopped shallots, cooking just until soft, adding the citrus. and added Grey Goose L’Orange vodka.

Contest Key Ingredient: Edible Flowers
I thought it would be easy to get flowers, but I wasn’t thinking about the time of year for most people. My pansies got scared off by the sudden cold of Nashville, and on a whim I drove to Whole Foods, and to my absolute delight, they were demonstrating edible flowers by Jacobs Farms. Vui was nice to tell me a food things about edible flowers:
Each flower tastes a bit differently, and she had me sample a few. Cut the flower from the stem. Many people ask “can you really eat these” and DC asked the same question, so when you serve flowers to guests, you need to reassure them that the flowers are more than garnish. They are a bit mustardy, spicy, and need a pungent, citrus flavoring to balance out the dish.

Citrus Vodka Shallot Butter Sauce

• 6 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 4 large shallots, finely chopped
• juice of 2 tangelos or 1 3/4 C orange juice
• 4 -6 tarragon leaves
• 1/4 cup orange or mandarin vodka (I used Grey Goose L’Orange)
• zest of two tangelos or oranges

1. Heat butter, medium low heat, in saute pan. Add shallots just until done. Add orange juice. Cook for 5 minutes. Add vodka.
2. Reduce down until shallots are caramelized, about 20-30 minutes. Remove tarragon.

Shallot Crispy Topping

• 2 large shallots, coarsely chopped
• 1/4 cup buttermilk (or milk)
• 1/3 cup panko breadcrumbs
• 1 teaspoon olive oil
• Cover shallots with milk, dip into breadcrumbs and fry until crispy.

Scallops

• 2 pounds large wild scallops (you can use smaller, and adjust cooking time)
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 tablespoon butter
• Sea Salt, Pepper

1. Clean scallops, removing muscle. Dry in paper towels. Season with salt and pepper.
2. Heat olive oil on medium high in large frying pan. Add Butter. When very hot, add scallop, cooking a 5 minutes on each side, until just cooked. If using an all-clad pan, only turn the heat to medium.

Edible Flowers
Make sure you use flowers that have not been treated with pesticides and are safe for eating.
I used marigolds and pansies, purchased in a package that specifically said “edible flowers” from

Assemble
Make pasta. Freeze flat, not touching.
Make Sauce. While sauce is reducing, cook pasta and scallops.
Cook pasta until al dente, 3-5 minutes in large pot salted water.

Once sauce is cooked, pour out half of it into another bowl.
Gently toss pasta through sauce in pan. Gently toss scallops though sauce.
Arrange on plate. Add flowers. Add crispy shallots.

Notes:
Seafood: Shrimp were not the main part of the dish, just thrown in as extra. Cook for just a few minutes in same pan as scallops, once scallops are done.

Adding herbs and zest: Add chopped herbs to the flour and mix thoroughly BEFORE adding egg, so that the herb is equally distributed. It’s much harder to add to dough than to flour.

Pasta that is cut into shapes, designs is best frozen first so it holds its shapes. Freeze on cookie sheet or plastic cutting board lined with parchment paper. Once frozen, place in ziplock bags. Cook frozen. Pasta can be made several days in advance

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Homemade Citrus Tarragon Pasta

Homemade citrus tarragon pasta is great with a seafood dish such as scallops.

Servings 4

Ingredients

• Pasta
• 1 cup flour plus extra to adjust
• 1 egg
• Juice of one Tangelo or orange
• 2 tablespoons finely chopped tarragon can use basil also
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 - 2 tablespoons orange zest

Instructions

• Put flour in a mound on clean pasta table. Distribute salt, zest, herbs throughout flour. Make a hole in center, add egg and beat with fork, incorporating flour. If it’s too sticky, add more flour until you can work easily with your hands. Semolina will feel a little tougher than a all purpose flour. Cover, let set for 30 minutes.
• Cut pasta into 4 sections. Roll with rolling pin to rectangular shape, thin enough to start taking through the machine. Roll through machine to number 8, one number at a time. You may need to flour in between If the pasta gets jagged from the herbs, just start over. (I never waste any pasta).
• To make triangles:
• Roll out long rectangles 3-4 inches wide. Cut into 3 inch squares, and cut into triangles. I use a pasta cutter.
• To make bow ties: Cut rectangle shape 2 inch by 3 inch and pinch the middle.
• Prepare a cookie sheet with parchment paper that will fit into freezer. Place individually cut pasta on sheet, freeze, then place in ziplock bags. Cook frozen. Pasta will not stick together, and will maintain shape.
• To cook, bring large pot of salted water to boil. Cook for 4 to 6 minutes.

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