This is where I go to share new recipe ideas, talk about my experiments in the kitchen and tell stories about all the crazy and colorful characters who have broken bread with me. I'm from New Orleans, where we live to eat and we do it well.
Friday, July 15, 2011
Friday!
Americano Cocktail
It’s Friday evening and the end of my first week in training for the new job.It’s been fun and challenging, but right now my brain is saturated with computerese.Derek is busy in the kitchen making minestrone while I’m enjoying an Americano Cocktail.According to Google, “The Americano is a cocktail composed of Campari, sweet vermouth, and club soda. The cocktail was first served in creator Gaspare Campari's bar, Caffè Campari, in the 1860s. It was originally known as the "Milano-Torino" because of its ingredients: Campari, the bitter liqueur, is from Milan and Cinzano, the vermouth, is from Turin (Torino). In the early 1900s, the Italians noticed a surge of Americans who enjoyed the cocktail. As a compliment to the Americans, the cocktail later became known as the "Americano." It is the first drink ordered by James Bond in the first novel in Ian Fleming's series, Casino Royale.” I love the movie starring Daniel Craig, though I haven’t read the book.We make it with a muddled chunk of orange in the bottom of a tall glass, two parts Sweet Vermouth to one part Campari and a good amount of chilled club soda.When made right, it’s absolutely delicious and refreshing.You have to be careful, though; it goes down like Kool-Aid!
Minestrone
The Americano is an appropriate apéritif for our light Mediterranean supper.Derek is using a rich chicken stock as the base of the minestrone, with some of our garden’s tomatoes, basil, parsley and burgundy beans.He throws a rind of Parmiggiano Reggiano in the soup and adds some Cannelini beans as well as whole wheat pasta shells, onion, garlic and zucchini.His chicken stock, made from the carcass of the chicken he roasted earlier this week, was simmering in the crock pot all through the night and part of this morning.The aroma was so mouth-watering it actually woke me up during the night – I might have even been drooling on my pillow. To make it even tastier and healthier, he made his own fresh organic tomato juice and added some of that to the stock. Now that would cure anything that ails you.
When making stock, I always throw in some vegetable scraps, such as the less desirable parts of onion and garlic, carrot peels, celery leaves, stems from herbs, etc.Never add salt, though.You can always add that later, but if you simmer it for a long time it will be too salty.I usually put all of the skin and fat in, too, because it gives a lot of flavor and you can remove the fat later.We love our gravy separator for that, among many other reasons.If you’re going to freeze the stock, I’d suggest you leave the fat, as it will protect the stock from freezer burn and unwanted smells.When you’re ready to use the stock, it’s easy to scrape off the fat.We’re going to have some hearty Italian whole grain bread and a first course.He’s being very secretive about that, so I’m going to have to do a little detective work; I can’t wait!
Tabouleh
P.S.The first course was tabouleh: a Middle Eastern vegetarian salad made with bulgur wheat and with tomatoes, cucumber, parsley and mint from our garden.I could feel my brain cells humming as I ate it.Thanks, Derek, for the beautiful healthy meal and for all your help with the photos. I'm still learning. Have a great weekend, y'all.
Derek made it. I know he used homemade chicken broth (we almost always have it in the freezer), whole wheat pasta shells, a can of cannelini beans, zucchini, tomatoes, onions, parsley, fresh basil and garlic. I think he actually made fresh tomatoe juice because we had SO many freakishly large tomatoes and he likes it in his Bloody Marys, but you could certainly use canned tomato juice. I'm guessing he sautes the onion and garlic in olive oil and then adds all the other stuff and lets it cook for an hour or so. I know he said that next time he's not going to put the pasta in until he's ready to serve it because it gets overcooked. I'm sure it would be fine with canned chicken broth, too, and I think some folks use beef broth.
Oh my goodness, these sound incredible. Can you post a simple recipe of the minestrone?
ReplyDeleteDerek made it. I know he used homemade chicken broth (we almost always have it in the freezer), whole wheat pasta shells, a can of cannelini beans, zucchini, tomatoes, onions, parsley, fresh basil and garlic. I think he actually made fresh tomatoe juice because we had SO many freakishly large tomatoes and he likes it in his Bloody Marys, but you could certainly use canned tomato juice. I'm guessing he sautes the onion and garlic in olive oil and then adds all the other stuff and lets it cook for an hour or so. I know he said that next time he's not going to put the pasta in until he's ready to serve it because it gets overcooked. I'm sure it would be fine with canned chicken broth, too, and I think some folks use beef broth.
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