Cocktail Miscellany

 

Cocktail Miscellany

Coffee Sport

cafe sport

     My Aunt Lena made a few bottles of this  once a year around candlesChristmas time. She always sent some to my elementary school’s convent. The Sisters of Charity loved this stuff. We didn’t get the recipe from my aunt before she died but after some trial and error Bridget & I managed to come up with it.

pot
Espresso

Make double strong espresso (10 heaping teaspoons / 850 milliliters water) and filter twice with paper filters. Heat in double boiler until it’s reduced to half.

Combine:   450 milliliters of 190 proof alcohol with 300 milliliters of syrup and stir.

Add 380 milliliters of coffee concentrate and stir. It’s ready as soon as it cools.

The end result should be about 70 proof


Pomegranate Liquor

pomagranete

Bridget & I made this one up.

pom

Filter the juice of 6 medium pomegranates (about 500 plus milliliters)

Reduce in a double boiler to 475 ML

Add 300 milliliters of 190 proof alcohol and 160 milliliters of simple syrup for about 70 proof.


Scotch Bonnet Infused Tequila

scotch bonnet z

This is meant to be sipped and savored, un-mixed and no ice. It’s very  HOT.

scotch bonnet
Scotch Bonnet by Scott Conary

Pour 1 liter of tequila into a wide mouth bottle or jar. Take 8 Scotch Bonnet peppers and pierce with a knife and add to the jar. Set aside one month and strain into a bottle.


Maraschino Cherries

cherry jar

cherry

Pick through and wash the cherries and put them in a jar. Heat the Luxardo and fill the jar to the brim. Wait two weeks. Done.

* It’s really better with pit but remove them if you’ve got time on your hands.


Simple Syrup

Using syrup makes mixing cocktails much easier.

1 part water / 2 parts sugar

Heat until clear


Pinot Noir Punch

punch bowl

This was adapted from Duffy’s 1956 edition of the Official Mixers Guide

punch

Mix and chill first 5 ingredients and pour into a punch bowl over a *block of ice with citrus fruit slices frozen inside and add chilled Pinot Noir (or Burgundy). Add chilled club soda just before serving.

*Slice some lemons, limes and tangerines and put them into 4 sandwich size zip lock bags. Add water and freeze. When frozen, put the frozen contents of the bags into a large zip-lock, add more water and freeze. This should leave you with a colorful block of ice to keep the punch chilled.

RECIPESd 9-25-14

Summer Drinks

Summer Drinks

Frullato

frulato

My mother made these. Start with 1/2 a cup of fruit (cherries, berries, peaches, etc.) I used blackberries for this one. Put it in a blender with a few ice cubes, a 1/2 cup of milk and a teaspoon of sugar if you like. Blend it until the ice dissolves and it’s done.


Lime Ricky

lime ricky b

This was a candy store specialty only available in Summer. A squirt each of cherry and lemon-lime syrup. Add seltzer, stir and a squeeze of fresh lime.


Egg Cream

Egg Cream

Also a standard in candy stores, it was a couple of ounces of chocolate syrup (U-BET), a couple of ounces of milk, and stir with seltzer. The sum much more than the parts.


Orzata

orzata

You could get this one in cafes, some pastry shops and Italian owned candy stores. A few ounces of Orzata syrup poured over ice and then fill the glass with water or some preferred seltzer. Simple and refreshing. It tastes a bit like marzipan.

Schaller and Weber

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Schaller and Weber

An easy and tasty meal and I got it all from a butcher shop. Schaller and Weber is on 2nd Avenue near 86th Street. They have fresh and smoked meats, goose and venison and all kinds of German wursts. The also make their own salads and other prepared food as well as carrying European imports like preservers, pickles, spätzle, coffee and candy.

I had lunch at the Heidelberg yesterday. I sat at the bar and ordered a Bitburger and steak tartar – light on the onions and heavy on the Tabasco. The barmaid served my beer and then walked out of the front door. She returned a few minutes later and waved a small package wrapped in butcher paper at me.

“Here’s your lunch,” she said as she brought it to the kitchen.

It was the freshly double ground sirloin from Schaller and Weber for my steak tartar. The Heidelberg only serves it during the hours that Schaller and Weber is open and can supply the fresh meat.

store-today

After lunch I went next door and did a little shopping. I got bauernwurst, bratwurst and knockwurst as well a few sides – red cabbage, sauerkraut, German potato salad, cucumber salad and mustard. The only thing that needed to be cooked was the wursts – simple.20150813_185403.20150813_185945

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Caponata

Caponata CaponataI’ll call this caponata for the sake of the search engines but in our dialect it’s gabaladine. It’s a standard component of any good antipasto. This is my Aunt’s recipe which she passed on to my daughter Kristina. My sister Nicki  precisely measured all of the ingredients so I’ll turn it over to her. AuntTootsieLetter


Her given name was Celeste; we called her Aunt Tootsie, Grandma called her “Toots”. Aunt Tootsie lived with Grandma her whole life (even after she married, twice). Living with Grandma had its advantages for her because she cooked just like Grandma, which was excellent. We would go “over the river and through the woods to Grandmother’s house”, which was in Brooklyn for a holiday or special occasion and Aunt Tootsie did all the cooking under Grandma’s supervision. She always had the phonograph on, singing along with Jimmy Roselli and Louis Prima. She would belt out, “Ti voglio bene” at any given moment. Here is her recipe for caponata.

     – Nicki

 

  • 1 eggplant, unpeeled and cubed
  • ¾ cup olive oil
  • 2 red bell peppers, sliced
  • 2 medium onions, sliced
  • 4 stalks celery, cut into 1/4″ pieces
  • 2 tablespoons capers
  • ½ cup pignoli (pine nuts)
  • ¼ cup red wine vinegar
  • ½ pound Kalamata olives (pitted and halved)
  • ¼ cup tomato paste
  • ½ cup water
  • 2 tablespoons Sugar
  1. Fry the eggplant in 1/2 cup of olive oil in a large frying pan. Cook until brown and set pan aside.
  2. Add 2 tablespoons of the remaining oil to another pan and sauté the red peppers until tender then add it to the pan with the eggplant.
  3. Add the remaining olive oil to the pan and sauté the onions and celery until soft.
  4. Add the capers and give it a quick mix with the vegetables.
  5. Add the tomato paste, sugar, water and vinegar. Simmer for 15 minutes. Add to the eggplant and peppers.
  6. Add the pignoli nuts and olives and cook for 5 minutes, stir to blend the flavors.
  7. Note that salt is not included in this recipe. The capers and olives are salty. When it is cooked – TASTE and then add salt and pepper to taste.
  8. Cool before serving. Caponata will keep for 2 weeks in the refrigerator. I’m sure it will not be in the refrig for that long. It is so delicious it will not be left over.