Bloody Maries, Bloody Well Done!

This week I decided to mix things up a bit and try a variation of Bittman's Bloody Mary recipe on page 802 of the softcover variety.  Some friends of mine have been on a vodka infusion kick for the last year or so and have made garlic and hot pepper infused vodkas a staple of their highly regarded bloodies.  I asked them for some advice and took it upon myself to infuse some flavors of my own!

 

 

 

Definitely Grey Goose

I started with a bottle of the very cheapest vodka available at Dinkytown Liquors (not sure if I should be impressed or offended by their wide selection of sub $10 litres of vodka).  I was told to split the bottle and go half and half, dividing the hot pepper and garlic flavors so they could be combined and tweaked in the final making of the bloody.  For the hot variety, I put 2 crushed dried thai chilies in a tea bag, then added 3 canned chipotle peppers in adobo sauce.  They really add a nice, deep smokey flavor that supports the heat nicely.   For the garlic, I added about 4 tablespoons chopped garlic and maybe 4 sprigs of fresh oregano that I have growing in the kitchen.  This was done Friday afternoon for a party on Saturday, so all in all they sat for about 30 hours.

 Having let the ingredients party sufficiently, the final production was begun.  Lacking Worcestershire sauce like Bittman recommends, I was reduced to using soy sauce and fish sauce instead.  I also added lemon juice, some salt and pepper and a spot of cumin along with the V8 juice.

Working with a ratio of about 1 part hot vodka:1 part garlic vodka:3 or 4 parts V8 juice, the Bloody was damn hot with a nice addition of smoke and garlic.  The lack of Worcestershire was a bummer as I think it would have added just the right touch; while powerfully flavored, these Bloodies ended up lacking the complexity of flavor I've enjoyed in others. 

I'm calling this whole operation a success, and I'll have to go back to the drawing board and improve the juice and flavor side of things but the infused vodkas will be a staple of my bloodies from now on.

Roasted Shrimp with Tomatoes

On Friday's during Lent, I am not supposed to eat meat, so lately I have been experiencing on cooking fish and other seafood instead. I love seafood, and shrimp is my all time favorite! I thought this was a unique recipe(found on page 325, soft cover) with the tomatoes. The bread crumbs were a little crispy in the end, but it still was tasty!

I added fresh lemon to the dish, something a little extra and goes well with shrimp. My boyfriend, who is not a huge seafood lover, tried it, but ate more homemade mashed potatoes and salad for dinner. More shrimp for me :)

Blueberry Muffins

Saturday was one of my best friend's 21'st birthdays. I knew I wanted to make him something, but wasn't sure what. It had to be easy to travel with because we went to Chicago this weekend for the Hockey City Classic so I figured a cake wouldn't make the cut. I instead remembered a bet I once lost to him and realized I still owed him Blueberry Muffins!

 I followed the recipe on page 832 and made the specified modifications for blueberry muffins. These were to add cinnamon and double the sugar. I definitely could have added another quarter cup of sugar, as these muffins did not turn out very sweet at all.

 The blueberries were added just before the final mixing.

For the most part, they turned out really well. They could have just been a bit sweeter!

Rice with Fresh Herbs

This week, since I am short on money, I wanted to cook something that is inexpensive. What's better than rice? This bag of rice was $1.82. I have tons of extra I can use to add to other dishes this week and in the future. This recipe is found on page 206 (soft cover). I decided to use fresh parsley, basil and a little bit of cilantro for the leafy herbs. For the long grain rice, I chose to use brown rice, since it is something that is sorta new to me. I am more familiar with white rice; I wanted to try something new with a really simple dish. It took a lot longer to cook than the recipe says, but it was worth the wait! I cannot wait to add it to my dinners this week!!

Crab Cakes

This week I decided to make crab cakes. Honestly, I should be called a pescatarian, not a vegetarian, because I will not give up my seafood! In addition, there is tuna, garlic, basil, cilantro, and - of course- honeyyy. The recipe allowed to add extra vegetables, so I put fresh red peppers along with the last of my mushrooms and green peppers. To top it off, I squeezed lemons and handed the finishing crab cakes to my grandmother, to thank her for all the cooking techniques and recipes she has taught me in .

Crab Cakes pg633

Sushi

This week I made sushi. This feels a little bit like cheating, since my friends and I have made sushi before, but we spiced things up significantly this time. Bittman offers a handful of recommendations for sushi contents and I explored as many of them as possible.

Unfortunately, Coastal Seafoods was out of everything but salmon in terms of sushi-grade fish on Saturday (and reviews seem to recommend them to the exclusion of all others). I'm no expert on what makes fish sushi-grade, but I think it has something to do with how the fish is killed. It can also only apply to species of fish which are not prone to getting parasites.

Knowing that all of the fish would be salmon I was particularly diligent in finding other ingredients for the rolls. I ended up with avocado, cucumber, sesame seeds, green onion, carrots, grated radish, sautéed asparagus, mango slices, and cream cheese. These were combined per the proclivities of each person as they took their turn rolling. In total we made twenty different rolls, plus a fair amount of nigiri -- just fish on a pad of rice. My favorite ended up being salmon rolls with avocado and mango.

Sushi requires a lot of slicing
I unfortunately got no good pictures of the rolling process, and it's hard to describe without seeing it. But in essence you take rice, mix it with rice vinegar, salt, and sugar. Spread that flat on a square of nori (roasted seaweed) then lay a strip of filling on top of the rice. Roll everything around the filling then, once it's tight, carefully cut it into inch-thick slices.

Rice preparation
To eat sushi, you put some soy sauce in a small dish or saucer and add a little bit of wasabi (in the USA, it's usually actually horseradish). Then, using chopsticks, you pick up a roll, dip it in the sauce, and eat it in one bite! Pickled ginger, if you have it, is the traditional palette cleanser.

We were rate-limited by the capacity of the rice cooker so we would work in batches, eating the sushi we just made while the next round of rice cooked. Here are some pictures of our finishes products.

Round one


Round two


Round three

Cheesecake and Chocolate Ganache

This weekend I decided to make cheesecake from scratch. I found the recipe on page 916 for the cheesecake and 920 for the chocolate ganache frosting. I always make my tattoo artist a baked good of some sort when I go in, this time I asked for requests. I ended up making two so my roommates and I could enjoy one as well. I made a few adaptations to the original recipe; added some butter to the frosting to make it richer and added a layer of chocolate chips in between the graham cracker pie crust and the cheesecake.
I was surprised at the outcome of the cake. I know how to cook but I always end up messing up on the baking. I was so proud of my cheesecake and everyone loved it.

I didn't have a cake pan so my pizza pan worked great for the added chocolate =)

I would definitely recommend it for a weekend, made the house smell great for a few days.