Two Shortbread Recipes, Perfect for Any Time of Year

Shortbread Fingers with Lavender and Cocoa Shortbread with Chiles. The buttery crumb can’t be beat.

Shortbread with a little nightcap can set the stage for a lovely holiday gathering or the perfect way to end a dinner party. The “short” in shortbread derives from shortening, and anyone familiar with these delicate confections knows that butter plays a prominent role in its flavor and crumb. Culinary scholars like to attribute its 16th-century invention to Mary, Queen of Scots, but many believe the confection is derived from medieval times, when yeasty biscuits were baked twice, hardened into rusks, and sprinkled with sugar and other spices. Today, we eliminate the yeast and only use four basic kitchen staples to create this centuries-old cookie: butter, sugar, salt, and flour. Mix them all up, and form the doughy mass less than a half-inch thick on a baking sheet, and bake.

While “plain” shortbread is fine for your party, we like to add a few ingredients to create a more flavorful crumb. The lavender shortbread is a perfect partner for a Rusty Nail. The floral notes in the buds lend old-world lightness to the sweet and peaty punch in this classic drink. It also pairs exceedingly well with our newest drink, courtesy of Jerry Sheets (Steve’s mom’s husband), called Scotch Aggravation [SEE RECIPE BELOW]. This mix of your favorite blended scotch, with milk and coffee liqueur, will remove any lingering irritations you have carried over into your evening. It tastes a bit like smoked chocolate milk. And if you’re a fan of chiles and chocolate, our Cocoa Shortbread with Chiles will brighten up your taste buds as you sip a creamy, cooling cocktail, such as a Maltese. If the Queen of Scotland had hot peppers and chocolate at her disposal, we’re certain she would have made these her go-to snacks while relaxing at the end of a long workday with a flagon of scotch.

Use cookie cutters to create fun shapes with your shortbread dough.

Shortbread Fingers with Lavender
(adapted by Cocktail Buzz)

Ingredients

1 stick (8 tablespoons) unsalted butter, room temperature
1/4 cup superfine sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon dried lavender buds, slightly ground or rubbed between the fingers, plus 1 pinch
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup all-purpose flour

Cocoa Shortbread with Chiles
(adapted by Cocktail Buzz)

Ingredients
1 stick (8 tablespoons) unsalted butter, room temperature
1/4 cup superfine sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon dried hot chiles, ground (or chile powder), plus 1 pinch
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

Total Time: 50 minutes

Method

Mix butter, sugar, salt, lavender or ground chiles, and vanilla in a bowl until blended well. Add flour (and cocoa, if using) 1/4 cup at a time to the mixture and, using a fork, mix well until the dough comes together. Chill for a half hour. Meanwhile, center the rack in the oven and preheat to 375ºF. Place dough on a naked cookie sheet and, using your hands, form into a rectangle about 12 inches by 3 inches. Sprinkle with a pinch of either rubbed lavender buds or chile powder, depending on the style of shortbread you chose. Prick the dough with the fork over the entire surface. Using a butter knife, score the dough crosswise so that there will be 12 pieces. Bake for about 15–20 minutes, or until the edges are golden. Cool on a rack for 10 minutes (the shortbread will still be warm), then slice through the scoring using a sharp knife. Transfer to a flat surface and cool thoroughly

Tips & Tricks

• You can shape the shortbread dough into a circle and score it so that you will have wedge-shaped cookies. If simple shapes aren’t floating your boat, and you’re making the lavender shortbread, why not use your favorite cookie cutters to create fun shapes. Just shorten baking time by five minutes.
• If you want your cocoa shortbread spicier, add up to a quarter teaspoon more of the ground chiles or chile powder.

Scotch Aggravation
(adapted by Cocktail Buzz from a recipe by Jerry Sheets)

Ingredients
1 1/2 ounces blended scotch
1 1/2 ounces Kahlúa (or other coffee liqueur)
milk
ice

Method
In an ice-filled rocks glass, add the scotch and Kahlúa, then as much or as little milk as you desire. Stir.

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More Cocktails to Pair with Shortbread

Rusty Nail (scotch, Drambuie)

The Maltese (Catdaddy spiced moonshine, coffee, cream, egg white, molasses, spiced chocolate shavings)
Farrah Fawcett (light rum, advocate, banana liqueur, coconut, blueberries)
Jack Twist (walnut-infused Jack Daniels, walnut liqueur, dark brown sugar, lemon twist)
White Russian (vodka, coffee liqueur, milk or cream)
Sombrero (coffee liqueur, milk or cream)
Marianne at Midnight (scotch, Tuaca, crème de violette)

photos © Steve Schul and Paul Zablocki, Cocktail Buzz

Now Is the Time to Imbibe a Daiquiri

The luminescence of a classic Daiquiri will light up your night.  

Ask anyone from the North Pole to Tierra del Fuego about the Daiquiri, and she will probably say, “I love Daiquiris. I drink them all the time.” Chances are the version she’s drinking is a frozen Daiquiri, and perhaps one with strawberry, banana, or some fruit other than just lime tossed into the blender. This is fine if you like slushy drinks. (Slushy drinks are enjoying a cocktail renaissance at the moment and, during these dog days of summer, may be just what the doctor ordered!) But we’re here to proffer a less noisy interpretation of the original Daiquiri, one that doesn’t involve worrying about having enough ice in the freezer, or a blender that is sturdy enough to grind it to fine crystals; one that goes back to its roots as one of “six basic cocktails” according to David A. Embury is his seminal mid-20th-century classic The Fine Art of Mixing Drinks.

In his recipe, he mixes two ounces of rum with a half ounce of lime juice, and a quarter ounce of simple syrup, making the finished product a little tart to the uninitiated. No offense to Mr. Embury and his mandate for imbibing pre-prandial drinks on the drier side, but the palate has changed thanks to the disco era’s swirl of cavity-inducing cocktails, and as a result, we crave drinks a little sweeter. But don’t worry, we only use a tablespoon of sugar per drink, which is double the amount Mr. Embury decrees. (And if you wish to keep with tradition and invoke his recipe to the letter, by all means do. It is your drink, after all, and we won’t mind one iota.)

What we discovered when trying to come up with the perfect recipe for the Daiquiri, one that would work with a variety of party food, isn’t really the amount of sugar or light rum in the drink, but the quality of the lime. Pick the freshest one you can find, one so fresh that, when you cut it in half, the oils from the peel mix with the pulpy juice and instantly hit your nose with the smell of its fresh limy essence. After you toss some wedges into a mixing glass along with the white sugar crystals and muddle the heck out of the pair, you will be left with the most delicious juice possible. The oils are released from the sugar crystals abrading the lime peel, and they dissolve in the chartreuse-colored juice.

But what about the strangely spelled name daiquiri? Where does it come from? A little Web-sleuthing reveals that the name derives from Daiquirí (die-key-REE), a beach and an iron mine in Santiago, Cuba, where it was putatively invented by American mining engineer Jennings Cox, who happened to be in Cuba at the time of the Spanish-American War. As the twentieth century progressed, and relations with Latin American countries, such as Cuba, prospered, rum consumption grew, and the Daiquiri, as well as all things Latin American, spiked in popularity.

Although perfect for any time of year, summer feels rather appropriate for a Daiquiri. The commingling of juice and oil from the limes lends itself to rather remarkable food pairings, especially Guacamole with Chips, and Shrimp Cocktail. ¡Salud!

Daiquiri

(adapted by Cocktail Buzz)

Ingredients
2 ounces light rum
1/2 lime
1/2–1 tablespoon sugar (depending on how sweet you like them)

Method
Cut the lime into wedges and add to a shaker. Sprinkle sugar on top. Muddle vigorously, extracting all the juice from the lime, allowing the sugar to dissolve. Add rum and ice. Shake for 15 seconds and strain (or double-strain if you do not want any tiny stray bits of lime pulp – although, if serving with party food, the little lime pulp bits may add flavor nuances) into a chilled cocktail glass or coupe.

Pairing Suggestions
Guacamole and Chips
Shrimp Cocktail

photo © Steve Schul, Cocktail Buzz

The Simplicity of Preparing Warmed Olives, Paired with Vesper Cocktails

Warmed olives, seasoned with herbs and spices, pair well with dry gin and vodka cocktails.

Steve was inspired to reinvestigate Alice Waters’s renowned “warm olives with thyme” recipe in The Art of Simple Food when he sipped his first Vesper cocktail. So after taste-testing her recipe side-by-side with this classic drink, he decided to toss in a few more ingredients to her mix, and lower the Vesper’s alcohol content by using less gin.

His additions worked magic. Warmed ever so gently in a bath of herbs and spices, these olives deliver a punch of flavor thanks to the interplay of thyme, cumin, and red pepper flakes. They’re addictive on their own. But paired with a cocktail like the Vesper [SEE RECIPE BELOW], or a Martini if you feel so inclined, the hint of citrus infused in the warmed olive oil brings all the flavors together and makes for a piquant pairing with strong drinks.

And the most beautiful thing about this recipe is its ease. In the minutes it takes to meld all the flavors, you can stir up some trouble at the bar and mix some ice-cold cocktails. The olives will be ready as your guests raise a toast.

Warmed Olives
(adapted by Cocktail Buzz)

Ingredients
1 1/2 cups mixed olives
2 teaspoons olive oil
1 garlic clove, quartered
3 sprigs thyme
1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
1/2 teaspoon cumin seeds
1/2 teaspoon mustard seeds
citrus peel (lemon or orange, or both)

Method
Rinse olives thoroughly, drain, and let dry. Meanwhile, heat olive oil in a skillet over medium–low heat. Add all the ingredients and mix until coated with oil. Warm for about 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. Serve warm or at room temperature.

Pairings
Pairing Warmed Olives with cocktails seems easy at the outset, but olives have a way of making sweet cocktails taste, well, not so good. Our advice: Stick with savory cocktails, and those employing gin or vodka as their base. Our favorite is the Vesper, made famous by Ian Fleming in Casino Royale, his first James Bond 007 book. Gin is the main ingredient, followed by vodka, then Lillet blanc, a winy, lightly herbal quinquina (an aperitif that has quinine as an ingredient). If you use a variety of olives, you’ll notice that each one brings out a different flavor note in the cocktail. Your taste buds will thank you.

Meet the Vesper, James Bond’s preferred cocktail in Casino Royale.

Vesper
(adapted by Cocktail Buzz)

Ingredients
2 ounces gin (Plymouth is a good gin to start with)
1 ounce vodka
1/2 ounce Lillet blanc
orange peel, for garnish

Method
Stir in ice for 30 seconds. Strain into well chilled cocktail glass. Add orange peel.

A Note on the Twist
For the Vesper, we like to take a firm orange and use a standard vegetable peeler to get a nice wide garnish for the cocktail. Make sure to peel the orange over the Vesper to impart the oils from its rind. Lemon works just as well if you don’t have any oranges handy.

VIDEO DEMONSTRATION

To read more and watch our video pairing Warmed Olives with the Vesper cocktail, click here.

photos © Steve Schul, Cocktail Buzz

Cocktail Buzz Takes You to Rhode Island: Drinking and Dining in Providence and Newport

A morel mushroom bruschetta at La Laiterie, in Providence.

Several years back, we planned a New England Trip that would culminate in Rhode Island. For some reason we were hellbent on spending a night or two in Providence, and perhaps touring some mansions in Newport, but those plans came to a crashing halt when we were dining in Boston and ran into a friend Paul hadn’t seen in almost twenty years. And this was after Paul just finished saying, “Wouldn’t it be funny if we ran into my friend Jim? I haven’t seen him in twenty years.” Well, there Jim was, dining right behind us in the restaurant. We never made it to Providence; Jim invited us to his and his partner’s house on the North Shore of Boston, and we’ve been visiting every summer since.

Old School Diners, like the Seaplane, are good bets in Providence and its neighboring towns.

So, it was time to reconsider Rhode Island: we decided on two nights in Providence and one night in Newport, and then we’d visit Jim on the North Shore.

What a trip it proved to be. Providence and Newport welcomed us with wide-open arms, loaded with superb cocktails, delicious and creative food, and spectacularly curated museums and mansions. While in Providence, we bar-hopped with new friends Matthew Lawrence and Jason Tranchida, partners who edit the spectacularly curated gay art periodical Headmaster [NSFW], and toured the RISD and Culinary Museums. And in Newport, after gazing at rich people’s furniture in insanely decorated mansions, we were thirsty and hungry. So we searched for a restaurant that offered fresh seafood prepared à la New American with a New York City–style cocktail menu, in a tranquil setting, and found exactly that.

Paul and Steve at Doris Duke’s Rough Point, in Newport.

Click here to experience our trip, with photos and write-ups of our favorite bars, restaurants, and museums.

Campari Presents the James Beard Awards Chef’s Night Out 2012

Recently we attended Chef’s Night Out, a Campari-sponsored evening of tasty cocktails and tempting nibbles, which acts as a prelude before the final day of the James Beard Foundation Awards at which chefs and restaurants are rewarded for their excellence. Check out the slide show below, as well as a few Campari recipes that are perfect as the temperature starts to rise.

Bar chef Tad Carducci hit us up with some Plymouth Gin Negronis upon entering, and he shared with us a few tips when making Negronis with this one-of-a-kind slightly lighter gin: use a big ice cube for slow dilution, and bump up the proportion of gin to the amount of Campari and sweet vermouth (Negronis are typically 1:1:1) for a more balanced experience. As the ice slowly melted, we commented on how smooth this Negroni was, a little atypical for such a boldly flavored cocktail, but delicious.

Plymouth Gin Negroni
(adapted by Tad Carducci)

Ingredients
1 1/2 ounces Plymouth gin
1 ounce Campari
1 ounce Martini & Rossi sweet vermouth
orange peel, as garnish

Method
Stir in ice and strain into a glass with one large ice cube. (We’re sure Tad wouldn’t mind if you substituted two or three regular ice cubes if that is all that’s available :) Garnish with a swath of orange peel.

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We then moseyed down the corridor through the Chelsea Market, deciding which bites to pair with our Negroni. We stumbled upon some folks serving up Dehesa Cordobesa 100% acorn-fed Ibérica ham. It melted on our tongues like butter. You can actually taste the nuttiness of the acorns. Behind them, Dickson’s Farmstand Meats was serving up the best deviled ham you never thought you needed to have, along with some lardon spread and some of the savoriest red chili–braised beef, with a finishing topper of cilantro leaf that contrasted nicely with the spiciness of the braise.

While in the Campari Red Lounge, we saw one of our favorite bartenders, Damon Dyer, who runs the bar program at The Rum House, pouring some simple Campari and tonics for those who needed a quick jolt of bittersweet bliss. That encounter was followed by a chat with another one of our favorite people behind the stick, Death & Co.’s Joaquin Simo, always friendly and always informative. He was offering Negroni Sbagliatos, equal parts Campari, sweet vermouth, and sparkling wine (sbagliato means incorrect). What a delight. This should be the opening drink at your next cocktail party. Make sure to have some strong cheeses on hand to pair with this effervescent, bittersweet libation.

Negroni Sbagliato
(adapted by Joaquin Simo)

Ingredients
1 1/2 ounces Campari
1 1/2 ounces Cinzano sweet vermouth
1 1/2 ounces Mionetto prosecco

Method
Stir Campari and sweet vermouth in ice. Strain into champagne flute. Top with prosecco.

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It was also a pleasure to see writers Bruce Watson and Laren Spirer, chatting it up with bartender Pamela Wiznitzer of the recently opened Bishops & Barons on East 14th Street. We all realized that we hadn’t yet experienced dessert, so we went in search for some sweetness to bring wider Campari-laced grins to our beaming faces.

Jane Danger, from Jane’s Sweet Buns, offered three bite-sized desserts that all had Campari as an ingredient. As we stood around her table, we debated with other pastry lovers what our favorite was: The shortbread cookie topped with Campari lemon rose buttercream? The strawberry sticky bun with rhubarb bitters? Or the bitter mai tai macaroon? Actually, they were all amazing.

Thanks to Bon Appétit and Hanna Lee Communications for letting us experience the versatility of Campari, and congratulations to all the 2012 James Beard Foundation Award Winners.

photos © Steve Schul, Cocktail Buzz

Catdaddy Spiced Moonshine Puts Us in the Catbird Seat. Plus, Rediscovering the Kitty Carlisle Cocktail

The Catbird Seat Cocktail, made with Catdaddy Spiced Moonshine, is a close relative of the Sidecar.

A few years back, we were approached by Piedmont Distillers to come up with a bunch of cocktails featuring their unique brand of moonshine. Dubbed Catdaddy, this 80-proof tipple appealed to our decadent side: it’s sweet and spicy—very southern—and teems with the flavors of vanilla, with whiffs of cinnamon and nutmeg, like frosting on a cake, or better yet, icing on a sticky bun (we did say it was sweet, after all). We had two goals: Our first was to come up with some cocktails to pair with courses for a New Orleans luncheon; our second was to create additional cocktails that would be able to stand on their own.

One such cocktail that fell into the latter category was our Catdaddy version of the famous Sidecar. If you’ve never had a Sidecar, you simply must. It’s a perfect blend of cognac (or brandy), lemon juice, and triple sec, plus a sugared rim for some textural sweetness and a lemon twist for the added citrus oil and aroma. For our version, we swapped out the triple sec for Catdaddy and ditched the lemon twist. And instead of a traditional white-sugar rim, we opted for darker, sexier demerara sugar, like we do in our Sidecar recipe. It adds deeper nuances of sweetness, almost like brown sugar or molasses would.

In naming the new drink, we wished to keep with the vehicular nomenclature of the Sidecar, along with evoking “Catdaddy,” so we racked our brains to find a befitting name—a name that would make you feel a little special while sipping on it, as if you were the main attraction of a parade. Perhaps a parade charging down Bourbon Street, with you waving to all the parade-goers from your enviable position in the high back seat of an old luxury auto. The name Catbird Seat popped into Paul’s head. It’s from a James Thurber story called “The Catbird Seat,” and seemed utterly befitting for several reasons. In said story, one of the characters, Mrs. Barrows, spouts cryptic phrases, such as “Are you in the catbird seat?” at the lead character Mr. Martin, who subsequently learns they are of Southern origin. The phrase, which is synonymous with “sitting pretty,” was then used by P.G. Wodehouse in a novel he wrote called—get ready for it—Cocktail Time. Too perfect.

Whenever we imbibe a Catbird Seat, we feel pretty special, because cognac, no matter what brand you use, seems to elevate a cocktail to a lofty level. (It’s French, after all.) And Catdaddy is pretty darn special too, especially since it’s gone through a makeover: Piedmont Distillers now only uses natural ingredients in the flavoring process, and has changed the name of the product from Catdaddy Carolina Moonshine to Catdaddy Spiced Moonshine, but you can just call it Catdaddy, plain and simple.

Catbird Seat
(created by Cocktail Buzz)

Ingredients
1 1/2 ounces cognac or brandy
1 1/2 ounces Catdaddy Spiced Moonshine
1/2 ounce lemon juice
demerara sugar, for rimming

Method
Shake in ice for 15 seconds. Strain into a chilled cocktail glass or coupe, rimmed (or half-rimmed) with demerara sugar.

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A Kitty Carlisle cocktail.

We tried some of the new version of Catdaddy just the other night at The Way Station, an old-school Steampunk-themed bar in our neighborhood in Brooklyn, where our friend, the sultry burlesque chanteuse Rosie 151 performs with the outstanding Red Hook Ramblers the first Thursday of every month. We were honored by Rosie and proprietor Anders Heidel, who featured our very own Kitty Carlisle cocktail, one of the creations we came up with for that New Orleans luncheon. Ah, the Kitty Carlisle. Named after the New Orleans–born legend, this sweet-and-sour sipper is a blend of equal parts Catdaddy, bourbon, crème de cacao, and lemon juice. Imbibing some took us right back to New Orleans, especially with the strains of dixieland jazz and the naughty serenading of Rosie’s lyrical double entendre whipping the crowd into a frenzy of southern decadence. And if that wasn’t all, free shots of Catdaddy were passed out by one Foxy Vermouth so everyone could get a taste of the new all-natural recipe. Let’s hope they keep it on the menu the next time Rosie performs with the Red Hook Ramblers so you too can get a taste of southern hospitality, burlesque style.

Come to think of it, we’d love for the Kitty Carlisle to become a new New Orleans cocktail, much like the Sazerac, the Absinthe Suisse, or the Vieux Carré. Make one and let us know what you think.

Kitty Carlisle
(created by Cocktail Buzz)

Ingredients
3/4 ounce Catdaddy Spiced Moonshine
3/4 ounce bourbon
3/4 ounce white crème de cacao
3/4 ounce lemon juice

Method
Shake in ice for 15 seconds. Strain into a chilled cocktail glass or coupe.

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Food Pairing Ideas
If you’d like to pair some grub with either of these cocktails, we recommend pork barbecue or anything with andouille sausage. We make pierogi that combines the spiciness of andouille with the sweetness of prunes (and a little Catdaddy thrown in for good measure). You’ll be booking your tickets for New Orleans after just a few sips and nibbles.

Gussy Up Zucchini with This Easy Spring-Through-Summer Cocktail Party Recipe

Silken firm tofu is the secret ingredient in these vegetarian hors d’oeuvres.

Have you ever opened the crisper in your fridge looking for something in particular but finding something unexpected, something you can’t quite make out because it has shriveled to the point of unearthliness? That just happened to us. The unidentified lying object? Zucchini, and a small one at that. We had every good intention of using it—we even discussed how cute it was at the grocery store—but as we unpacked, we unceremoniously relegated it to the nether reaches of the bottom drawer. Forgotten, until now.

We’d like to tell you that we transformed this limp courgette into something magical, but alas, we did not. It ended up in the garbage. We haaaate throwing away food. As penance, we decided to buy more of these green, mildly flavored squashes with the sole purpose of creating a cocktail party hors d’oeuvre so good, we would never ever allow another zucchini to transmogrify in the crisper.

And that we did. Our goal was to create something relatively healthy, keeping it 100% vegetarian. The warm weather teased us with the prospects of an early summer, so we had summer on the brain when concocting this recipe. Rifling through the fridge, we came across a box of firm silken tofu and various cheeses, and some leftover basil and mint we had used for another dish. Steve’s culinary lightbulb went off and he said, “Let’s grill the zucchini and make a stuffing.” Bingo. Grilling really is the best way to prepare zucchini if your main goal is to accentuate the squash’s inherently subtle flavors. (Next time you want to create a side dish to burgers, just slather some olive oil onto 1/8-inch thick slices (sliced the long way) of zucchini and grill both sides over low heat, flipping only when subtle grill marks have formed. Add some salt and pepper. Devour.)

The Gin Stevie Cocktail

After playing around with the ratios of these items and adding some toasted pine nuts, we decided that these stuffed grilled zucchini bites would be the perfect one-bite party-food accompaniments to a fizzy gin drink. (The herbal, floral flavors in gin pair so well with a variety of spring and summer vegetables.) We had some leftover watermelon–sake ice cubes from the Gin Stevies we made in the fall, so we decided Gin Stevies it would be. And how serendipitous that we had basil and mint leftover too, not only for the stuffed grilled zucchini bites, but for the Gin Stevies as well.

The pairing was blissful. Perfect, really. The way the watermelon in the drink intermingled with the Romano and provolone cheeses in the zucchini bites reminded us why we do this. Who can resist a really good cocktail–party food pairing? And as the weather continues to get warmer, you can serve these zucchini bites al fresco, with perhaps a Tom Collins, a French 75, a Brandy Old-Fashioned, or a Langdon’s Folly, made with pomegranate juice, or even a Clear, a vodka–gin combo fizzy drink with elder flower liqueur and subtle hints of ginger and celery. Enjoy zucchini as you’re meant to enjoy it. Grilled, full of flavor, and with a cocktail companion.

Grilling your zucchini will create dozens of new, bold flavors

Stuffed Grilled Zucchini Bites
(created by Cocktail Buzz)

Ingredients
3 small zucchini (about 6 inches long and 1–1/2 inches thick)

3/4 package silken firm tofu (9–10 ounces)
1/8 cup grated pecorino Romano
1/4 cup grated provolone
1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
1/4–1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 teaspoon garlic powder
juice of half lemon (reserve other half for drizzling)
1/4 cup pine nuts
small handful basil leaves (18 large leaves)
sugar (optional)
tiny mint leaves (optional)

Method
Heat grill over medium heat. Wash zucchini and set aside. Meanwhile, toast pine nuts on medium-low heat in a saute or fry pan until fragrant and slightly browned. Mix with remainder of ingredients (except sugar and mint leaves, if using) in a food processor until completely incorporated, but not overly smooth. You want to see bits of basil leaf in the stuffing. If you are mixing by hand, make sure to chop the basil leaves and pine nuts into small pieces first.

Cut zucchini into 1/3-inch thick pieces. Hollow out center with a tablespoon, leaving flesh on the bottom so the mixture will sit in it without going all the way through. Place pieces on grill, hollowed side down, and grill for 5 to 7 minutes, until grill marks form. Sprinkle bottoms with sugar if you are using (this creates a more blistered look and gives the zucchini a slightly more caramelized flavor and texture). Flip the pieces and grill for another 5 to 7 minutes.

Remove from heat when grill marks have formed and the zucchini flesh and the outer green skin has softened. Add dollops of the stuffing to each piece. Top with a squeeze of lemon juice and a tiny mint leaf (if using).

Variations

• The stuffing can also be served with raw zucchini, thinly sliced.
• Feel free to use yellow zucchini, also known as summer squash.

Craving a Tom Collins to accompany your stuffed grilled zucchini bites? 

photos © Steve Schul and Paul Zablocki, Cocktail Buzz