Food Lush

A champagne toast with a twist

Editor's note: For our last week at Food Lush, I've asked the writers to share both a favorite post by another writer, from over the last three years, and a favorite post of their own. You'll see these posts linked to at the top of their new post for the week. Enjoy a stroll down Lush memory lane!

by Katie

I was hard-pressed to choose a favorite post, but this granola from Elissa has become a staple in our house, and from me I'll link to these perfect cupcakes, because they are so delicious and I think everyone should have an easy, reliable cupcake recipe in their repertoire.

***

Oh, it is a poignant thing, this writing of my last FoodLush post. I feel so fortunate to have been part of this great group, and so grateful to Jennie for putting it together and nurturing it for the past two years. So I figured it was only fitting to make my last post a toast – with champagne, of course. (Could it be anything else, with Jennie involved?)

I am a big fan of champagne cocktails. Festive, a little different, fun for a DIY bar at a party. I love a good kir royale, and my affection for a French 75 is well-known. For a FoodLush sendoff, I wanted to do a classic with a twist. And so, I give you a riff on a French 75 featuring one of my favorite liqueurs: St. Germain. Floral and subtle and with a gorgeous bottle that looks great on a bar, St. Germain is definitely worth having around. It plays particularly nicely with gin and citrus, making a French 75 a natural choice.

(Photo: cooking4theweek.blogspot.com)

St. Germain 75

• 1 oz gin
• ½ oz st germain
• ½ oz fresh lemon juice
• 3 oz champagne
• lemon twist

Combine gin, St. Germain, and lemon in a glass with ice and shake well. Strain into a glass; top with champagne and garnish with a lemon peel. Raise a glass to 2 great years.

Interview with Top Chef's Spike Mendelsohn

By Jennie

I was fortunate for the recent opportunity to interview Spike Mendelsohn--of Top Chef, Top Chef All-Stars, Life After Top Chef, and The Next Iron Chef fame and head chef at D.C.'s Good Stuff Eatery, We the Pizza, and (the soon-to-be opened) Bearnaise (a steak and frites restaurant). He was a serious delight to talk to, and if I wasn't already a big fan, I would have become one.

I thought I’d start by asking what you had for Thanksgiving last week (editor's note: I spoke to him the Tuesday after Thanksgiving)—did you have a traditional meal or was there anything out of the ordinary on your menu?

I was in Florida this year, with a big group. We had a more traditional meal but with two kinds of turkeys, fried and roasted. You gotta have both! 

One thing I’ve noticed about you, as I’ve followed your career, is how you manage to stay calm in high-stress situations. Do you have any tricks for not letting the pressure get to you?

Not caring what people think of you! That's not to say I don't care about my job, but I just don't take things too seriously. I try to have fun with what I do because at the end of the day, I love cooking, and the other stuff won't make or break me.

What do you think people would be surprised to know about being a “celebrity chef”?

How many people it takes to make it work. I've got a great group of people who are there for me, and they're just as important to my success as I am.  

So, I have to share, I actually work for the publisher of the cookbook Made With Love, that you contributed “Uncle D’s Chili” recipe to this fall. We were thrilled to have your recipe. What’s another go-to comfort dish of yours?

I'm Greek, so roast chicken and potatoes. I make the potatoes following the SPOOL rule (salt, pepper, oregano, olive oil, lemon) and then maybe a Greek salad on the side.

What’s your favorite burger on the Good Stuff Eatery menu?

That would have to be the Obama brurger – it has salty bacon, tangy red onion marmalade. It just has a really delicious smoky flavor.

(Photo from goodstuffeatery.com)

Your family is a lot of fun to watch on Life After Top Chef—is it harder to run a restaurant together or film a tv show together?

You know, I think I'd say running a restaurant because my family has been running restaurants forever, so I have to prove myself a little more there, as the youngest in the family. They're so good at what they do on the restaurant side of things, and I probably have more experience with the filming and TV side of things. 

Do you still tune in to Top Chef these days?

A little bit. I really love the show and all it gave me, but it's hard to watch anything every week because of my schedule.

I know you’ve teamed up with Captain Morgan for holiday-inspired recipes. Can you tell us a little bit about that and what recipe we should try first?

I was really excited about teaming up with Captain Morgan because I'm always looking for something new to challenge me and for new adventures. I'm obviously used to working with food, so basing a recipe around alcohol was new for me. I made it fun, though. I invited a bunch of friends over and drew some inspiration from the group. I think the Black Apple Harvest (recipe below) because it's perfect for the holiday season. It has apple sauce, which sounds like it wouldn't be good, but after muddling and straining it, it gave the drink such a bold, full-body flavor. 

You mentioned your friends as a source of inspiration, where else do you get inspiration?

It might sound cliche but just by looking outside. What's the weather, the season, etc., and then I try to cook seasonally. I made a punch for Captain Morgan called "Morgan’s Mistress” and it would be the perfect drink for summer, having friends over, being outside. If you're keeping the season and the occasion in mind, then you can be really adventurous and try all sorts of combinations.

What are your holiday plans?

I've started a tradition of having a Christmas brunch at my house, decorated in a retro style, with a big spread. My family spent a long time iall in different cities but now that we're all together in DC, it'll be nice to get together and enjoy some time together.

What new things can we expect from you in 2013?

I'm always working on a few things. In February Bearnaise will open and there might be a few more shows in the works, too.

***

BLACK APPLE HARVEST

Ingredients:

• ¾ cup apple sauce
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1 dash allspice
• 1 dash nutmeg
• 1 tablespoon crushed ginger
• Juice from one lemon (save the rind)
• .25 ounces apricot liquor
• 1.25 ounces Captain Morgan® Black Spiced Rum

Directions:

In a shaker, add ice and shake it like your momma taught you. Fill a rocks glass with ice, take a lemon rind and rim the glass. Next, take a thin slice of ginger and rim the glass and then put both garnishes in the glass. Pour cocktail through holes of the shaker. Cocktail should still have some apple sauce texture, but shouldn’t be thick. Lastly, drizzle with honey.

Note: If you don’t have apricot liquor on-hand or don’t want to make a run to the store, feel free to try without it.

Citrus Champagne Punch: The Perfect Holiday Cocktail

By Erica H.

Last night was my moms group's annual cookie exchange, which was delightful in a cookie-sense but dare I say revolutionary in the beverage-accompaniment-sense. (I definitely dare! What are you going to do, COMMENT AT ME? I'd like to see you try!)

Ahem, as I was saying. Cookies are great! Look at them!

Seasonal and buttery and delicious. But around halfway through a giant plate full of cookies, you start to cast about for something to cut through all the sugar-lumps. I can't say I wasn't wary approaching a bowl full of "champagne punch," as it conjured up visions of the very syrupy sweetness I was looking to counteract. But I was impressed...nay...overjoyed at what I encountered.

This Citrus Champagne Punch from Emeril Lagasse (brilliantly mixed by party hostess Lori) tastes like lemons and bubbles and sparkly dresses and twinkling lights. It is also, you should know, quite strong. HOLIDAY-LEVEL strong. I absolutely recommend it for Christmas, New Year's, and next Tuesday night.

Herbsaint: the key to New Orleans-style cocktails

by Katie

Like many other Food Lush and Style Lush writers, I was fortunate enough to spend the past weekend hanging out in New Orleans. And one of my favorite things to do in New Orleans is drink.

Wait. That sounds bad. Well whatever, it's true. If you can see beyond the neon-colored jello shots and the hurricaines-from-a-mix from Bourbon Street, New Orleans has a great and storied cocktail culture, and I always like to take advantage while I'm in town.

I could go on and on about my favorite cocktail bars, and what I drink at each, but instead I thought I'd highlight a common element in many classic New Orleans cocktails: Herbsaint.

(picture from: wormwoodsociety.org)

Herbsaint is a green, anise-flavored spirit that was actually created in New Orleans. It was originally used as a substitute for absinthe, which for nearly 100 years was banned in the United States and Europe for its supposed hallucenogenic properties. Absinthe has had a renaissance and is widely available again, but most absinthes are from artisan producers and can be quite expensive, so Herbsaint is still often used as a substitute.

Arguably the most famous New Orleans cocktail, the Sazerac, uses a rinse of Herbsaint in the glass that gets poured out before the rest of the booze is poured in- infusing the whole drink with a subtle herbal flavor that's really delicious. I drank several Herbsaint-using sazeracs this weekend, and give them an enthusiastic thumbs up.

A slightly lesser-known but also delicious New Orleans cocktail that features Herbsaint is the corpse reviver. There are as many recipes for corpse revivers as there are bartenders, but here's one very close to the one I drank at the Carousel Bar this weekend. It was delicious.

Corpse Reviver No. 2

1 oz. gin
1 oz. Cointreau
1 oz. Lillet Blanc (a french aperetif wine flavored with citrus peels- a worth addition to any bar)
1 oz. fresh lemon juice
1 dash Herbsaint

Shake all ingredients over ice; strain into a cocktail glass

My Top Ten Bloody Mary Garnishes

By Erica H.

I've posted about okra in this space before, but neglected to include it in its most appealing form: pickled and floating in an icy bath of tomato juice and liquor. In honor of my recent trip to New Orleans, a city that truly appreciates the restorative qualities of this spicy red hair of the dog, here (in no particular order) are ten tasty extras that are welcome in my next Bloody Mary.

1. Celery
2. Olive
3. Hot sauce
4. Pickled green bean
5. Pickled okra
6. Pickled tiny corn-on-the-cob, if there is such a thing
7. Pickle
8. Ginormous straw (hello, Hash House!)
9. Cracked pepper
10. Extra shot of vodka

What is your favorite Bloody Mary garnish?

Mulled Cider. In the Crockpot!

By Nora

I am fairly obsessed with apple cider from about October 1st through the end of November. We have it in the fridge almost constantly. I love it cold, I love it hot, and I especially love it mulled and spiked on a chilly night in front of the fireplace. But, I think to get the very best mulled cider, you really need to let it cook for a good long while in order for all of the spices and flavors to steep into the apple-y goodness.  This requires a bit of planning and attention, and who wants to do that, especially when it comes to cocktails?  This is where the crockpot comes to play. Mix the following ingredients in the crockpot, set it on low in the early afternoon, and by happy hour, you've got yourself some pretty tasty mulled cider (you can leave out the Calvados, if you want the whole family to be able to enjoy it).

Crockpot Mulled Cider

2 quarts apple cider

3-4 pieces of orange peel (about 3 inches long each)

1.5 cups of Calvados (apple brandy)

6 cinammon sticks

12 whole cloves

1 tsp freshly grated nutmeg

1/4 cup brown sugar (if you like it sweet)

1/8 tsp ground ginger

 

 Another benefit of mulling cider in a crockpot is that it makes the whole house smell absolutely delicious while it's heating. And once it's ready to serve, I like to garnish with a cinammon stick and an orange slice (I know, apples and oranges? But it works.) 

 

(photo from myrecipes.com)

It's Political Convention Time! Let's Booze Up, Shall We?

By Dani

We're 10 weeks out from the election, and whether you're Team Red or Team Blue, it can all get a little old, right? After a while, even political junkies like yours truly start watching the convention coverage for pure stereotype-spotting and mockery.

But, I was thumbing through Garden and Gun (a lovely magazine that I discovered through our sister-site, Style Lush, and have loved ever since) and I discovered the solution to my politically-charged angst.

RED AND BLUE COCKTAILS!

Inspired by these beautiful drinks from Garden and Gun, I went in search of some more booze to unite all political leanings.

Blue:

• Little Italy (Chow.com)
• Pacific Breeze (Food and Wine magazine)
• Moody Blue (Food Network)

Red:

• Gina's Red Carpet Cocktail (Food Network)
• Ruby Sangria (Chow.com)
• Holland Red Light (Bon Appetit magazine)

And, finally, to bring us together, like the good ol' Star Spangled Banner:

• Blackberry and Cabernet Capairihna (Chow.com)
• Rose, Bourbon and Blue (Bon Appetit magazine)
• Fourth of July Cocktail (Food Network)

Personally, I don't know how I'll make through the next few months of political huffing and puffing without a healthy imbibing of booze - and I'm excited to bring a little levity to this whole thing by making some red, white and blue drinks.

So, let's raise a glass to America, and our messy, awesome, and sometimes awful democratic process. Salute!

(Photo credit: Garden and Gun magazine, which you should totally subscribe to, by the way.)

Lots of Watermelon? Juice it!

by Elissa

My kids love watermelon and can eat a lot of it, but even so, the four of us have a hard time getting through a full-sized watermelon by ourselves. I recently discovered the perfect use for leftover watermelon:

It doesn't take much time or effort--crush up cubed watermelon in a bowl or cocktail shaker (using a muddler, a large spoon, a potato masher--whatever!)  Strain the resulting watermelon slush through a mesh strainer. Voila! My son enjoyed his juice straight up, while my husband and I added a squeeze of lime and a shot of cachaca (a Brazilian spirit made from sugar cane--I bet vodka or rum would also be excellent). A perfect late-summer drink!

Uses for garden basil part 3: basil gimlet

by Katie

Well, Elissa from last week's post is prescient: today, I want to talk about one of my new favorite uses for the basil tree that's taking over my backyard: basil cocktails.

Our basil plant (husband shown for scale)

Basil has a nice green herbal note, which in my book makes it a perfect match for a nice herbal spirit like gin. My favorite basil cocktail is as follows:

Basil gimlet

5-6 medium basil leaves

1 Tbsp granulated sugar

1 1/2 ounces gin

1 ounce fresh lime juice

Muddle the basil leaves and the granulated sugar together in a shaker until the sugar starts to dissolve. Squeeze the lime juice into the bottom of the shaker and stir/muddle until the sugar is dissolved. Add the gin, plus ice, and shake. Strain into a glass and garnish with another basil leaf.

Reader Help: How do I make a good shaken cocktail without a shaker?

By Dani

Who doesn't want booze with fruit in it this time of year? (Don't answer that, beer people.) No, but seriously: a chilled martini glass with some tastfully placed rasperry and mint garnish, fun colors in a clear glass, something that tastes like a fancy restaurant cocktail but is simple enough for a backyard BBQ ... it all sounds perfect to me, but I've been trying without success to create my dream cocktail at home.

My trouble: No shaker. And, although I muddle and stir until my forearms are sore, the cocktails just don't taste quite right, and I'm pretty sure it's because the shaker has magical powers.

Even though I love kitchen gadgets and could just go buy a real cocktail shaker, my tiny kitchen is starting to overflow with one-use items, and I'm hoping all of you can help me find a way around this problem.

So ... what else can I use besides buying a real-live cocktail shaker? Or should I admit that this is one gadget I can't live without and just get one already?

(Photo credit: CHOW.com. WANT.)