Fresh Tart

Last week I shared green juice and flatbread pizza recipes that are perfect for using up farmers market or CSA box produce. This week, same goal, just add booze!

In honor of Earth Day (April 22), I used Prairie Vodka, carefully made in right here in Minnesota from organic corn (gluten-free!). It's a beautiful collaboration, among farmers and distiller, absolutely check out their bucolic website to prove it. The vodka has a decidedly fruity bouquet, so I thought it would be fun to play with CSA box stalwarts mint, honey, and cucumbers - topped with bubbles of course - for a summer cooler.

Why am I writing about summer? Because I predict we will go from horizontal April snow straight to 90-degree May days, with nary a balmy 72 degrees in between, and I want you to be ready to press a cold bubbly tipple against your sweaty forehead. Also, I'm tired of complaining and am ready to just will this winter to be gone. So make this drink to hurry things up! And to celebrate locally-made, organic vodka, and the promise of summer so tantalizingly near.

And then tuck the recipe away for when you're swimming in cukes, and mint has overrun your garden, and you're blissfully complaining about damn Minnesota humidity. Because that's how we do in the land where everyone is above average.

Cheers to Earth Day!

Recipe for Summer Promise Bubbles at TC Taste/Minnesota Monthly Magazine.

I have the delightful privilege of running around town with a pack of broads who know a thing or two about cocktails. Like girlfriends everywhere, we meet up to celebrate victories and soothe defeats, although we have the bonus of calling our cackling "work." We thoroughly enjoyed a recent laugh (or three) at the sparkly new Borough/Parlour, the most recent iteration of the Minneapolis upstairs/downstairs restaurant/bar trend.

To date I've shared just small plates at Borough's bar, with large groups of snackers, which is rather perfect in my book because that's how I like to eat. The Scotch egg with a runny yolk is not to be missed, if you're a pork-n-eggs sort of girl, which I most certainly am. In fact everything that flashed by and made its way onto my fork was nicely done: bites of bison tartare, crispy fries with fried eggs, a rosy-pink burger, and roasted Brussels sprouts were all highlights. But chefs Nick O'Leary and Tyler Shipton are sending out more than just small plates; in fact they've organized the menu around seasonal small, medium, and large offerings, and I will most certainly be back to taste my way through it.

Owners Brent Frederick and Jacob Toledo have seen Borough's interior done right, in essence a North Loop-loft chic enough to match the hand-crafted cocktails, with homey touches like box grater-sconced lights and a burnished nickel bar to keep the flannel-clad among us feeling fine.

As lovely as Borough is, I can tell that the real hang is going to be downstairs at Parlour. Not that the drinks upstairs aren't fabulous, because they are. It's more the giddiness, I think, of cradling Jesse Held-designed cocktails while nibbling on something other than Cheetos. It blew my mind a little bit, or a lesser bit, given actual food in my stomach to soften the kablam of Parlour's killericious sips. But even more than the snacks, I fell hard for the luscious seating, sexy lighting, polished concrete floors, and of course those superstar cocktails. Held, president of the North Star Bartenders' Guild, is The Man behind Parlour, which is a very good thing given he's been making and serving all of our favorite drinks all over town for years. Despite the soft light, this is his moment to shine.

Here's what we all love about great bartenders: they remember what we like. The first drink I ever requested from Held was back when he was at The Inn, and I distinctly remember saying, "I love none-too-sweet gin sippiness, mister." Perhaps not the most exact request, but enough to inspire a gorgeous gin something, whatever the heck it was. I was not one bit surprised that when I asked him for a cool cocktail recipe to share with you all, he whipped up an Aviation, a bracingly fresh blast of gin, with just a hint of floral sweetness, to chase away a frigid Minnesota eve. Pair this cocktail with bites of salty ham atop crusty bread and be very glad.

Jesse Held's recipe for The Aviation at TC Taste/Minnesota Monthly Magazine.

Happy New Year! Bubbles aren't just for New Year's Eve of course, in fact in my book they're for every day (bit of an obsession), especially when topping a fabulous cocktail. When I had the idea to conjure a cocktail recipe to open 2012, I immediately tweeted my minxstress friend Molly McNeil, she of the sangria recipe I posted in October. We are both big, BIG fans of gin cocktails, especially with bubbles, and she came through in spades with this lovely sparkling tipple.

Molly notes that the cocktail has its roots in WWI, with two theories on the French 75 name. The first holds that French soldiers would drink the concoction before heading into battle, where they used their weapon of choice, the French 75mm field gun. The second, which sounds spot on to me after testing a few rounds of the recipe - kablam! - holds that the combination had such a kick that it felt like being shelled with the powerful French 75mm field gun, also called a "75 Cocktail," or "Soixante Quinze" in French (via Wikipedia).

My husband John preferred a bit of sugar in the mix, so I've made note of that option in the recipe. I liked it both ways, but I prefer cocktails on the drier side. You decide which version you like best. Be prepared to giggle your answer.

Molly incorporated Bittercube Lemontree bitters, noting that "Bitters are the new black." Indeed!

Recipe for the French 75 aka Mollytav Cocktail at Dara & Co./Minnesota Monthly Magazine.

You might think of sangria as a summer drink - which it is - but this autumn version just might be the best I've ever had. The pretty jug in the photo was stirred together by my friend Molly McNeil, a cocktail minxtress if ever I've met one, based on a version by the talented Leslee Miller of Amusee.

I tell you, the number of ladies out there with interesting, adventurous palates is just endless!

Thank goodness.

Recipe for Autumn Sangria at Dara & Co./Minnesota Monthly Magazine.

John and I love to sip sangria on a warm evening, despite the fact that it goes down like dangerously icy buttah.  Beware the smooth deliciousness - there's alcohol in that glass even if it doesn't taste like it.

John in particular is a fan of Masa's sangrias, one sparkling, one white, and one red.  I made up a prosecco sangria last week and with every glass he reminded me, "Good, but not as good as Masa's."  Grrrr.

So I had to laugh yesterday when I opened the Star Tribune and saw a feature on sangrias, led off by no less than Masa's three beauties.  Sangria serendipity?  Apparently so...

I made the Sangria Tinta (the red version) and I have to admit, it's pretty damn fantastic.  And yeah, it's better than the prosecco version I made up.  Grrr.

Masa's Sangria Tinta
From www.startribune.com

Stephanie's note: I cut the recipe by 2/3 (adjusted for one bottle of wine; worked nicely).  Recipe for simple syrup is here.  I made this sangria in the afternoon and it was delicious by evening.

3 (750 ml) bottles Rioja (Spanish red) wine
1 1/2 c. brandy
1 1/2 c. orange juice
3/4 c. simple syrup
2 oranges, quartered
Sparkling water
Lemon-lime soda
Orange slices for garnish

Combine wine, brandy, orange juice, simple syrup and orange quarters. Refrigerate, covered, for 2 days. Remove oranges.

Add ice to a glass and pour in half wine mixture, and 1/4 each sparkling water and lemon-lime soda. Garnish with an orange slice.

If mint over-runneth your garden - chives too, for that matter - then this pesto is for you.  It's surprisingly mild, luscious with toasted almonds and olive oil (no cheese).  It makes a quick, lovely dinner, especially tossed with fresh tomatoes (as written) or a handful or two of your favorite lightly sauteed vegetables.  (My tomatoes were just meh, so I added English peas, asparagus, and spinach instead.  Very un-meh, as in tasty.)

This recipe hails from Lynn Rosetto Kasper's The Italian Country Table, one of my favorite cookbooks.  She suggests a combination of toasted almonds, pistachios, and pine nuts for maximum nuttiness.  But if you're pinched for time (and ingredients), almonds alone are fabulous too.  I used garlic scapes in place of garlic, because I had them, but I'll print the original recipe below and you can riff away.  Seriously, if you do have tons of chives, throw some in.  And if you like, add more olive oil than called for.  This pesto is less oily than others, which works because you toss it into the pasta with plenty of pasta cooking water (a great trick for getting by with less oil).  But if you like an oilier pesto, then add it.  That's the cool thing about pesto (other than being completely delicious) - it's pretty hard to screw up.

While you contemplate your pesto ingredients and wait for your water to boil, crush several mint leaves in a glass with a wooden spoon, then fill the glass with ice, add a shot of gin (or vodka), and a shot of grapefruit juice.  Top it all off with tonic water and give a little stir.

So pretty, right?  Pure summer.

Ahhhh...

Linguine with Pistachio-Almond Pesto
Adapted from The Italian Country Table by Lynne Rosetto Kasper
Serves 8 as a first course; 4-6 as a main dish

Note: I added 1/2 c. of shelled peas, 1/2 c. of chopped asparagus, and 1 c. of chopped spinach to the version in the photo.  While the pasta cooks, saute the vegetables in 1 Tbsp. of olive oil, with a sprinkle of salt, for a few minutes until spinach is wilted and peas and asparagus are just tender-crisp.  Add to the serving bowl along with the pesto, tomatoes, and olive oil, per below.

1/2 c. unblanched whole almonds, toasted
1/2 c. shelled salted pistachio nuts, toasted
1/3 c. pine nuts, toasted
1 large clove garlic
pinch of hot red pepper flakes
1/4 c. fruity extra-virgin olive oil, or more to taste, plus extra for drizzling
40 large mint leaves
salt & freshly ground black pepper
1 lb. linguine, spaghetti, bucatini, or other string pasta
1 lb. good cherry tomatoes, quartered

Mix the cooled toasted nuts.  Coarsely chop about one quarter of them and set aside.  Add the garlic, hot pepper flakes, olive oil, remaining whole nuts, and 2/3 of the mint leaves to the bowl of a food processor.  Process until the mixture looks like very coarse meal.  Season to taste with salt and pepper.  Tear up the remaining mint leaves.

Cook the pasta in fiercely boiling water, stirring often, until tender yet firm to the bite.

As the pasta cooks, gently blend the pesto, tomatoes, and a drizzle of the oil in a deep pasta bowl.  Skim off 1/2 to 3/4 c. of the pasta cooking water just before draining, and drain the pasta in a colander.  Add the pasta water to the bowl.  Add the sauce, pasta, chopped nuts, and salt and pepper to taste and toss.  Then toss in the reserved torn mint.  Taste for seasoning, adding extra oil, mint, salt, and/or pepper if needed.  Serve hot or warm.  No cheese is used here.