The Hot Nantucket Night is generally made with Don Julio Blanco Tequila, agave nectar and lime juice.
However, I’ve never really been a fan of using agave nectar for anything that I could be using honey for. It has the same amount of calories as honey and the neutral flavor doesn’t really appeal to me.
If you’re a vegan, just know that if we don’t take the honey from bees, they end up in trouble because the hive becomes honey bound and the bees swarm and the hive ends up getting split because there aren’t enough empty combs to lay eggs for the new queen…
To make a much better drink, I created a cranberry simple syrup. As an addition to the tequila, the simple syrup gives the drink a smooth and more refined taste.
It’s national whipped cream day, and we put together a delightful dessert to showcase it! Popular in the UK, the Eton Mess is a traditional dessert which got it’s start at Eton College in the late 19th century. It’s made with whipped cream, meringue pieces and fresh fruit.
We prepared ours with home made whipped cream, vanilla meringues and fresh raspberries, blueberries and strawberries. We also made a purée with the berries.
The Eton Mess is prepared like a parfait, but instead of defined layers, they are gently mixed together.
Try your hand at this simple dessert and let us know what flavor combinations you tried!
Cacio e Pepe is a deliciously creamy and cheesy pasta dish from Roman cuisine that despite it’s rich creamy texture, involves no cream at all. The name literally means cheese and pepper, and the only ingredients are black pepper, pecorino romano cheese and pasta.
For my cacio e pepe, I toasted my black pepper in butter first to give the pepper a more extenuated flavor. Toasting spices is a well known method for bringing out even more flavor, and my cacio e pepe is very peppery.
And although it is never mentioned, you should ALWAYS salt your pasta water. Not just a little bit, at least several TBSP. This adds flavor and will definitely elevate the pasta dish you’re making.
This month, we are reviewing a fantastic cookbook that I actually use on a regular basis. Soframiz is a book full of vibrant Middle Eastern recipes from the Sofra Bakery & Cafe in Boston. We’re so excited to review this cookbook and to show you some amazing food.
Our first review is Flower Pogaca Rolls. They are a common breakfast item in Turkey. While not usually made in the style of roses or flowers, these rolls are just as good formed as a regular roll.
Zoe’s Take: 10/10 I might be obsessed with these rolls. I have a deep love of feta cheese, but also of bread and the soft buttery texture of the rolls, combined with the salty feta is absolute perfection in my mind. I have nothing bad to say because there is nothing bad about them.
Eric’s Take: 9.5/10 I really loved these rolls. The recipe was easy to follow, the ingredients were easy to find and work with. This was by far my most successful bake on a bread, which makes me believe they’re “fool-proof.” The bread was soft and flakey, and remained so for about two days. This was a big surprise as the recipe called for no butter and only one egg. The only reason I dropped the recipe a half point is that there was nothing in the cheese mixture to cut the saltiness from the feta. Otherwise this was perfect!
This was not an easy project to start, but it was so sweet when it was finally done (intentional pun). A crouqembouche is a tower of cream puffs, decorated with a caramel-like spun sugar.
Now, cream puffs themselves are not so hard to make, it’s just the time and effort that gets rough. The first step is to make the pate a choux pastry. This is the most versatile pastry, i think. You can use it for crouquembouche (obviously), profiteroles, eclairs, beignets, dumplings, gougeres, craquelins and churros. There are more wonderful things you can make, but you don’t need to know all of them right now. To get our delicious pate a choux recipe, subscribe to our mailing list for the exclusive recipe!
Each puff is then formed and baked until dry on the inside and then filled with a light and luscious pastry cream. Finally, you make your spun sugar (which I cooked a little bit too long), and stick them either to a mold or free build your own out of puffs by sticking them together with the sugar. A word of warning: The sugar is HOT and will definitely burn you if you get it on your fingers.
Your last, and unnecessary step, unless you’re going for that real fancy look, is to wait until the sugar reaches a honey-esque texture. Using a silpat and a spoon (or fork), drizzle the cooled sugar into cool shapes and lines. If you’re using a silpat, the sugar will come right off and you can drape it around your croquembouche. The sugar will harden, and stay put, but will be brittle.
Unless you are well schooled in croquembouche and pastry, this will be an all day project for you. It’s daunting, but entirely possible.
It’s national Bloody Mary day, or as I like to call it…national hangover day! We whipped together an “almost” classic recipe and garnished with some fun ingredients. There’s celery stalks, bacon, shrimp, pickles, vienna sausage, and a pepperoncini. We also hollowed out a sausage stick with a skewer for a straw.
Try our Bloody Mary HERE! And tell us how you like to garnish yours below!
Happy New Year’s Eve! It’s National Champagne Day! Instead of a simple mimosa recipe or toast, we wanted to do something fun and different. Today we made a champagne poached salmon. Eric isn’t a huge seafood, but he even enjoyed this dish.
For this recipe we used a Brute Blush Champagne, however any type will do. Micro Herbs/Greens come in all different varieties, but we chose one with Amaranth because of the deep purple color.
That’s slightly a lie, I sometimes drink. Mostly I drink when I make these drinks for all of you out there, because I have to know what I’m making. Since we’re past Christmas now, but New Year’s is only a few days away, we’ve brought you a drink you can serve at your New Year’s Party… if you’re having one.
It’s kind of a thrill to infuse your own vodka. Actually, infusing anything is a pretty good time. (I do it a lot and not just with alcohol). But don’t take my word for it, make it yourself here.
Well, 2018 has come and gone. If you’re like us, we like to ring the New Year in right. Finding a party might be a bit daunting though. Here’s three easy tips to have a great New Year’s!
Look at Your Favorite Bar/Restaurant
Most bars and restaurants host some sort of party on New Year’s Eve. These may be ticketed, or first-come-first-serve. This year, Eric’s favorite bar is closing on New Year’s Day. So that decision was easy. They’re having a prix fixe menu and seating is limited, requiring a reservation. This is certainly a great way to guarantee your drink/meal will be good. Check with your favorite place and see what they’re doing!
Google It!
If you don’t have a favorite place, or you like spontaneity, we recommend our friend Google! No matter the city, a quick search of “New Year’s Events” will yield some good results. Eventbrite is a great source of events as well. You may even be able to find some events on Groupon.
Just Wing It!
Some of the best parties we’ve attended were spontaneous. Often we’ll pick the city first, and then just wander around until we find something fun. Eric’s done this in Provincetown, MA; Portland, ME; and Worcester, MA. Most events will charge a cover. These can range from $20-$100. Be prepared to walk around in the cold and you may find a great new place to celebrate.
No matter what you do, always have a good time. We like to have two common denominators to our New Year’s: Friends and Champagne!
Tell us below what your New Year’s traditions are!
So I love chocolate, and ganache and, well, bars. What I am not a huge fan of is peppermint. I think having the peppermint extract and the peppermint on the top of the bars is too much for one cookie. Plus, the candycanes on top were a little bit chewy after sitting on top of the white sugary layer all night. The crust is good, the chocolate ganache layer is good and the cream cheese layer is good but there’s way too much peppermint in this. I think that just the peppermint extract is enough. If you’re really into candy canes though…this dessert is definitely for you.
Eric’s Take:
9/10
These were delicious. I love “oreo” crust and chocolate ganache. The top is similar to a cheesecake. I thought there was just enough peppermint in these bars. But I like a lot of peppermint flavor. The problem with these are they don’t keep well and they are a bit messy. That might be due to me not pressing the cookie layer down enough. The shortcuts here were using a cookie bottom and folding in cool whip into the cream cheese layer.
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