Behold the Teeny-tini and The Chick’s Peas, a Healthy Cocktail and Party Food Pairing

The Teeny-tini was featured on The Joy Fit Club segment of Kathie Lee and Hoda’s fourth hour of The Today Show.

Cocktail Party fun doesn’t always mean calories. Our pairing of a ginger-laced Teeny-tini, accompanied by the crunchy limy Chick’s Peas, will surely bring a smile to your waist.

Our friend Kate Chapman just reminded us of a cocktail-and-snack-food pairing we came up for her a year or so ago, when we were all searching for ways to eat healthier, but still wanting to have a little fun. Kate, a Broadway musical actress, currently practicing her new vocation as a health coach, requested a low-calorie cocktail she could have anywhere.

This proved challenging. After all, “anywhere” implies anywhere that serves alcohol. What could we possibly come up with that would be easy enough for any bartender to make, but be full of remarkable flavor? One good enough for our beloved broadway belter?

Kate did give us a few parameters to keep us grounded. “I adore bubbles, but not too sweet,” was one of her earliest pronouncements, followed by “I love love LOVE chick peas.”

Andre Gide, the famed French novelist and activist, famously said that art thrives when working with constraints, and having Kate nudge us in a direction her taste buds were telling her to take made life so much easier in the test kitchen. We immediately thought champagne. Its bubbles, as well as its ubiquity, are legendary. And to accompany the champagne, we thought gin (what bar doesn’t have gin?) would be just the thing to make this baby shine like it was opening night.

The drink definitely needed more that a little gin and some fizz; it was screaming for a more pronounced flavor enhancer that would give the two spirits some sex appeal.

And that’s where we turned to fresh ginger. Talk about potency! It packs a punch in such small amounts that a quarter of a teaspoon is all that was needed to breathe some kapow into the cocktail, along with the same amount of low-glycemic-index maple syrup to add just a hint of sweetness.

But how could we guarantee that any bar Kate moseyed on up to had fresh ginger juice and maple syrup? That’s where a dropper comes into play. Pick one up at a container store and fill it with equal parts ginger juice and maple syrup. Just two squirts into your champagne flute will bring you low-cal high-flavor bliss. As for the name, Kate decided that Teeny-tini would fit the bill nicely. We couldn’t agree more.

With the cocktail now completed, it was time to turn our attention to the beans. Chick peas are packed full of protein. You see them offered as little bar snacks, baked to a delicate crunchiness and bathed in various seasonings. We decided after several attempts at finding the perfect pairing that cinnamon and cumin, blended with a little salt and grape-seed oil, brought out a balanced savoriness to the beans. When they came out of the oven smelling of toasted spices, we squirted some lime juice and dusted the chick peas with lime zest and more salt. One nibble confirmed what we already knew: These will pair remarkably with Kate’s cocktail.

The calorie count for this pairing is such that if you would like to indulge in more that one drink, two would not be sinful. (They rack up about 113 a pop, and the chick peas, about 80 calories a handful.)

Teeny-tini
(created by Cocktail Buzz for Kate Chapman)

Serves 2

Ingredients
1 ounce gin
1/2 teaspoon fresh ginger juice*
1/2 teaspoon maple syrup
8 ounces champagne

Method
At home:
Shake the first three ingredients in ice for 15 seconds. Strain into two champagne flutes. Top with 4 ounces champagne each.

On the go:
Mix quadruple (or more) the amount of ginger juice and maple syrup with a few drops of water and store in a glass dropper. When you are out and about, request champagne and 1/2 ounce gin (or a splash) from the bartender. Squirt one full stopper amount into the champagne and gin, and give it a little stir (you may have to request a stirrer from the bartender). Imbibe. Enjoy with chick pea snack.

* Ginger juice is easy to make if you have a ginger grater or a juicer. Just make sure to peel it first.

The Chick’s Peas
(created by Cocktail Buzz for Kate Chapman)

Ingredients
1 16-ounce can chick peas, rinsed and patted dry
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 1/2 tablespoons grapeseed oil
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cumin
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon (Saigon cinnamon)
1 teaspoon kosher salt, plus more for finishing
1 lime (for zest, then juice)

Method
Spread chick peas on a paper towel–covered rimmed baking sheet to dry (preferably for 60–90 minutes, but if you are in a rush, make sure to pat them dry thoroughly).

Preheat oven to 400ºF.

Mix oil, garlic, salt, and spices in a bowl. Add chick peas to bowl and stir, coating evenly. Spread the chick peas on a parchment-lined rimmed baking sheet. Bake for 30–35 minutes, stirring the chick peas, or shaking the pan, every ten minutes. The chick peas should be browned and crisp-looking. Remove from oven and top with a generous amount of lime zest and the juice from half the lime. Transfer to a serving bowl and a add a pinch of salt to taste. Mix and serve warm with a Teeny-tini. (If you are taking them on the go, allow them to cool completely and transfer to a sealable plastic bag.)

Note: Some chick peas will be crunchy, others may have a soft interior. We like the textural combination of the two.

Take some with you for an on-the-go protein boost.

photos © Steve Schul, Cocktail Buzz

tini-tini tinitini tini tini

An Onion and Fig Tart To Start Off Your Next Dinner Party, with Cocktails, Of Course

More from Cocktail Buzz’s Cookbook Challenge . . .

The seductive aroma and complex flavors of Ras el Hanout, a North African spice blend, are the secret to this tart’s success.

If architectural terms, puff pastry is the foundation that keeps your tart structurally sound. This cocktail party workhorse is just about the easiest thing in the world to create with. All you need to do is let it thaw and unfold. Your imagination then takes over as you decide on the sweet and savory toppings. Most anything in your crisper or on top of your kitchen counter will work well with the flaky, layered dough. The one thing puff pastry doesn’t like, however, is bland. That’s why caramelized onions are the perfect “main floor” of your tart. Little else, save salt and pepper, are needed. We found a basic caramelized onion tart recipe in a very helpful, instructional book called Knives Cooks Love, one of the books we chose this month as part of our ongoing Cookbook Challenge. In our version, we wanted to ramp up sweetness and spiciness with some fresh mission figs, cut into halves or quarters, and a sprinkling of the 30-plus-spice Moroccan blend known as ras el hanout.

Mission figs are starting to appear in markets right now and should be available through the end of September. Chose ones that are plump, dark, and give a little when you squeeze them. You don’t want them greenish, or they will taste slightly astringent. When fully ripe, they should taste more like newton filling. Adding ras el hanout works magically with figs. Figs were originally brought to the Americas by the Spanish conquistadors, so choosing a spice blend from generally the same part of the world seemed to us like a good fit. Besides having the usual mixture of ground cardamom, cinnamon, coriander, and cumin, the ras el hangout we used had some rosebuds ground in the mix as well, offsetting the spiciness with a slight floral taste and aroma.

Caramelized Onion Tart with Figs 
(inspired by and adapted from Sur la Table’s Knives Cooks Love, by Sarah Joy)

Ingredients
4 yellow onions
3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
1 sheet frozen puff pastry, 10"×10", thawed
5 fresh black mission figs, quartered or halved¹
1 tablespoon ras el hanout (Moroccan spice blend)²
orange zest (optional)

Method
Preheat oven to 400ºF. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Cut the onions in half from pole to pole. Then take each half and cut from pole to pole into 1/4-inch-thick slices. (To achieve this, you will have to cut obliquely into the onion, by angling the knife a little. Start slicing from the bottom, then move your way to to the top. Readjust, then slice the remaining onion.)

Heat the oil over medium heat in a skillet. Add onions and salt, and cook for about 30 minutes, stirring every so often. The onions can brown a little, but you do not want them to burn. If they seem to be sticking too much to the pan, add a little water to loosen them up. After they are done cooking, remove them from the pan to a plate to allow them to cool completely.

Next, unfold a sheet of puff pastry onto the parchment-lined baking sheet. Flatten a little with a rolling pin, to roughly 11"×11". Prick the dough all over with a fork, but avoiding close to the perimeter. Keep the dough refrigerated if you are not ready to assemble the tart.

Spread the caramelized onions evenly over the dough, leaving a little room at the edges. Arrange the sliced figs on top in a way that every slice will allow at least one bite of fig. Sprinkle the ras el hanout (and orange zest, if using) from about a foot above the tart, so that it disperses evenly over its entirety. Bake until the crust is golden on top and also underneath (you can check the bottom by lifting the tart with a spatula), about 25–30 minutes. Transfer to a cutting board. Cut into bite-sized squares or rectangles if for a cocktail party; if for dinner, cut into nine even squares. Serve warm.

¹  You can substitute any fresh figs. If you only have dried figs, add them to a small pot, fill with water so that it covers the figs completely, bring to a boil, remove from heat, and cover. Let sit for at least 2 hours. Remove from water and use. Instead of dumping the remaining liquid, you can add some sugar to it (about 1/4 cup), bring to a simmer, and reduce for about 10 minutes, or until desired thickness. You can use this fig simple syrup as a sweetener substitute in one of the cocktails below. If thicker, you can pour over vanilla ice cream.

²  You can get prepared ras el hanout from spice purveyors such as Kalustyan’s in NYC. No two are exactly alike, and some can use over 30 different spices and herbs.

Pairing Suggestions

Accompany your onion tart
with a cocktail and a side salad.

Brandy Old-Fashioned
Champagne Cocktail
Sidecar
Jack Rose
Slivovitz Sour
Gin and Tonic
Tom Collins
French 75
Pimm’s Cup

photos © Steve Schul, Cocktail Buzz

Two Cucumber Side Dishes for Spring, plus a Pimm’s Cup Recipe

Cocktail Buzz’s Cookbook Challenge Continues . . . 

Our Cookbook Challenge has yielded tasty results, including Stuffed Cucumbers with Green Mayonnaise, above.

Last month we challenged you to pour through your cookbooks, both dog-eared and pristine, every time you needed inspiration for ingredients you had lying around. Throughout the month of April, we continued to be inspired by Culinary Artistry and The Alice B. Toklas Cook Book when we had some cucumbers that were in desperate need of a makeover. We present you the following results.

Stuffed Cucumbers with Green Mayonnaise

(adapted from The Alice B. Toklas Cook Book)

Serves 2–4

Cucumbers are low in calories, have a goodly amount of antioxidants, and are very high in vitamin K, which has been found to increase bone strength. They are also quite tasty in this side dish that celebrates the greenness of spring, incorporating peas, string beans, and a host of fresh greens and herbs. It takes a little time to make, but is well worth the effort, especially if you want to double up the recipe for a spring dinner party or brunch.

Ingredients
2 long cucumbers
4–6 ounces frozen or fresh peas
4–6 ounces (handful) string beans, stems removed
chives, minutely cut
large handful cress (any kind), stems removed
large handful spinach (not baby), stems removed
large handful fresh chervil, stems removed
large handful fresh tarragon, stems removed
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
6–8 ounces mayonnaise
juice 1/2 lemon

Method
Cut unpeeled cucumbers in half lengthwise. Boil for 2 minutes. Remove from heat and place cucumbers in an ice bath until cooled. Dry thoroughly and chill. With water still boiling, add string beans and cook until desired tenderness. Remove from heat and place beans in an ice bath until cooled. Dry and chill. In the same water, boil peas until desired tenderness. Remove from heat and place peas in an ice bath until cooled. Dry and chill. Boil cress, spinach, tarragon, and chervil for 2 minutes. Remove from heat and place herbs in an ice bath until cooled. Drain using a colander, pressing as much liquid out as you can. Then wrap herbs in cheese cloth and squeeze out the remaining liquid. Chop finely and mix in mayonnaise with the juice of half a lemon. Set aside.

Remove vegetables from refrigerator. Take cucumbers and hollow out by removing seeds with a 1/2 teaspoon or other rounded spoon, within 1/4 inch of the skin. Set aside on a tray. Dice beans. Fill cucumbers with beans and peas. Dollop with green mayonnaise. Sprinkle with chives.

Notes
Sometimes fresh chervil, a lightly green-flavored and delicate herb, can be difficult to find (it’s notoriously difficult to grow, as well). You can use some curly parsley instead, or eliminate altogether.

Quick Pickled Cucumber Slices
(inspired by Culinary Artistry by Andrew Dornenburg and Karen Page)

Paul looked up “Cucumbers” in Culinary Artistry for some flavor-pairing inspiration for a quick pickle. The results will keep you stealing them from the jar. They are perfect as a sweet and tart side dish, or as a topper for sandwiches.

Ingredients
1 long cucumber, peeled and sliced thinly into circles (a mandoline at 1.5 or 2.0 makes this easy)
1/3 cup rice vinegar
2/3 cup white vinegar
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon dried spearmint
1 1/2 teaspoons dried dill
1 teaspoon dried urfa pepper flakes, or some other smoky slightly hot dried pepper, such as aleppo
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 large shallot, thinly sliced

Method
Place cucumbers in a bowl. Meanwhile, dissolve sugar in both vinegars in a small saucepan over low heat, stirring occasionally. Add the remaining ingredients. Remove from heat. Allow to cool uncovered.  Pour over cucumber slices. Transfer to a sterile jar and refrigerate.

Pimm’s Cup
(adapted by Cocktail Buzz from the traditional recipe)

Nothing says “It’s warm enough to have a drink outdoors” like a Pimm’s Cup, a bittersweet elixir that originated in England as a gin-based, herbal-infused digestive aid, and is now a traditional seasonal drink for many American tipplers who enjoy yachting, horseshoes, and an excuse to have a cocktail before Happy Hour. We also use Pimm’s in our Zul Mule, another tasty concoction that lets the one-of-a-kind flavor of Pimm’s shine.

Ingredients
1 1/2 ounces Pimm’s No. 1
3 ounces lemon-lime soda (you can substitute ginger ale)
cucumber and lemon slices, as garnish
ice

Method
Fill a highball or collins glass with ice. Add Pimm’s and top with soda. Stir until slightly chilled. Garnish with slices of cucumber and lemon.

Notes

Borage flowers

If you have some borage growing in your garden, do add a bloom to the glass as you would a mint spring. Borage was originally used, along with the leaves, as a Pimm’s Cup garnish. The blooms are edible and taste a little like cucumbers.

Our next Cookbook Challenge

Follow us as we channel creative vibes from our next three cookbooks, picked totally at random: Knives Cook Love from Sur la Table, Feast by Nigella Lawson, and Nigella Bites by Nigella Lawson (yes, two Nigella books!).

photos © Steve Schul, Cocktail Buzz

May We Present You The Most Esoteric Cocktail You Will Never Make

MxMo LLXXII: Drink Your Vegetables
Hosted by Fogged In Lounge

The Logan 5: Parsnips and Carrots in a way you’ve never seen them before.

Cocktails, like fashion, follow trends. One day you’re sipping classics, like a Daiquiri or Manhattan, while sporting steampunk regalia; the next, you’ve back-closeted these for something trendier, perhaps a barrel-aged mastic-infused brandy cocktail that looks great on you along with your latest flight of sartorial fancy. This month, for Mixology Monday, a monthly online cocktail challenge that has been known to follow such trends, we are invited to create a new, or extol the virtues of an extant, drink that shines because of its vegetable matter.

Parsnips infusing in moonshine

A year or so ago we started infusing spirits like crazy, and many of our mad scientist experiments have paid off. One cocktail that we have not yet shared with our readers for obvious reasons involves three infused spirits. This one-off would be ideal for a bar or restaurant that can highlight this on its menu, but for home? Who, besides a total cocktail geek, is going to wait a week or so for all these infusions to reach their peak flavor profiles? Patience, one of the most difficult virtues for us 21-centurists to follow, is needed.

Parsnips in moonshine
 (closeup)

We had infused some Korean soju over a year ago with carrots for a Korean barbecue fest, and also some clean moonshine with parsnips for God knows what reason. Combined with some ginger tincture we had brewing, along with some Quebecois maple liqueur and Vermont maple syrup, this seemingly ill-conceived concoction actually tasted great. Especially with the addition of some organic egg white to give the libation a silky mouthfeel. The entire affair tasted like springtime, so we started riffing and free-associating on this fact to come up with a name we liked. Spring’s Bounty led to Spring Meadow, which made us think of Easter, and then the godawful Renewal. But it was Renewal that led us to Logan 5. Science fiction aficionados will get the reference, but for those of you who do not remember the 1976 film Logan’s Run (we will not discuss the remake), the lead character’s name is Logan 5. He is a Sandman, or rather, an officer of the futuristic domed city, charged with preventing people who are 30 years old from trying to escape their fate: Carrousel. You see, Carrousel is a bullshit event whereby 30-year-olds are destined to achieve Renewal, i.e., the afterlife. Just watch the movie with one of these. It will all make sense.

Logan 5
(created by Cocktail Buzz)

Ingredients
1 1/2 ounces parsnip-infused moonshine*
1 ounce carrot-infused soju**
1/2 ounce maple liqueur (such as Sortilège)
1/2 egg white
1/2–1 teaspoon ginger tincture***
1/2–1 teaspoon maple syrup

* Infuse 1/4 cup shredded parsnip in 1 1/2 cups clear moonshine (you can substitute vodka) for up to a week, shaking once or twice every day. Strain into a clean jar or bottle. Label.

** Infuse 3 to 4 carrots, cut into pieces, in 2 cups soju (at about 20% abv) for up to a month, shaking once or twice every day. Strain into a clean jar or bottle. Label.

* Infuse 1 large knob of ginger, peeled and cut into pieces, in 1 cup clear moonshine (you can substitute vodka) for up to 2 weeks, shaking once or twice every day. Strain into a clean jar or bottle. Label.

Method
In a Boston shaker, add all the ingredients except ice and shake vigorously for about 30seconds. Then add ice and shake vigorously for another 15–30 seconds. Double-strain into a chilled cocktail glass.

Variations
If you don’t want to use egg white, you can shake all the other ingredients in ice, strain into an ice-filled highball glass, and top with soda. Add a brandied cherry, or something akin to that, cupped in a half-moon orange slice, and speared with a pick. We’ll call this one the Jessica 6.

Further Exploration 
And, if you’ve caught the creativity bug, start your own infusions. Just walk around the produce aisle of your local grocery store for some inspiration. Then make a beeline to the liquor store for the perfect vehicle for whatever produce you just bought. Soju or some clear moonshine are a good start.

❤ ❤ ❤

Now, the next time you have a Manhattan, you’ll hit your forehead with the palm of your hand and exclaim, “Wow, I could’ve had a Logan 5.”


Other cocktails that use veggies:
Adam and Srirachacha (tomatoes)
Gibson (onions)
Ruby (beets)
Zul Mule (cucumbers)
Clear and The Wink (celery)
Martini (olives)

Put Your Cookbooks to Good Use with This Fun Challenge

Time to dust off your old cookbooks and find inspiration from their time-weathered pages. You may even surprise yourself.

Challenges transform. They zap life into stagnant energy, shake up the status quo, and make us look at the world a little bit differently. Take Sunday morning. The rousing aroma of coffee and early light streaming through the turquoise curtains woke us up. We were ready to embrace the day. As Paul sipped, he stared quietly at the cookbook-lined shelves and thought, “Geez, when was the last time I looked at that one.” So he turned to Steve and said, “Hey, we should implement some kind of challenge whereby, every time we need to turn to a recipe this month, we have to peruse one or more of these books to come up with something.” “Sounds great,” was Steve’s reply. So Paul geekily scribbled down the names of each book on a piece of notecard, spread them out and offered them up to Steve to choose one. Then another. Then a third. The three books that would inspire us for the rest of the month were as follows:

Culinary Artistry by Andrew Dornenburg and Karen Page (Wiley 1996). The precursor to The Flavor Bible, their wildly popular compendium of flavor pairings, Culinary Artistry is also chockablock full of great advice on how to pair flavors. You look up an ingredient, say artichokes, and discover, in varying degrees of compatibility, what other foods and flavors go well with these springtime veggies (the best ones are anchovies, garlic, hollandaise sauce, lemon, and vinaigrette). It also offers favorite recipes culled by top chefs from that era.

Cooking for Company by the Food Editors of Farm Journal (Doubleday 1968). These are simple recipes you’d expect from that era. Lots of margarine, shortening, and other processed foods ramp up the nostalgia. It’s for the housewife who wants little fuss so she can still get all her morning and afternoon chores done before the kids get home from school and daddy parks his tractor. On one page you’ll be tempted to make Lima Beans with Cheese (“Try Gruyère instead of the Cheddar or Swiss for a flavor change”). On another, Party Pork Rolls, made with both fresh and smoked ham.

The Alice B. Toklas Cook Book (1954). Recipes told as stories; stories told with recipes. What exactly is this book by Gertrude Stein’s lover, best known for her hash brownie (“Haschich Fudge”) recipe? Whatever you decide, its entertaining, filled with little tips to help you produce the most gastronomically appealing dish possible, whether you’re whipping up a sauce mousseline for some seasonal asparagus, or baking your recent catch of shad, with mushrooms and parsley, in a winy, butter cream sauce. But getting back to the Haschich Fudge, who doesn’t love a recipe that includes the following headnote:

Euphoria and brilliant storms of laughter; ecstatic reveries and extensions of one’s personality on several simultaneous planes are to be complacently expected.

Tuna salad can be so boring, but not with the addition of the Best-Ever Salad Dressing.

Steve took to the challenge immediately, combining inspiration from the TUNA entry in Culinary Artistry with Cooking for Company’s recipe for Best-Ever Salad Dressing. The mashup goes something like this:

Best-Ever Salad Dressing
(adapted from Cooking for Company by the Food Editors of Farm Journal (Doubleday 1968))

Ingredients
2 cups mayonnaise

1 1/2 teaspoon anchovy paste, or mashed anchovies

8 ounces honey french dressing (recipe below from Cooking for Company)

Method
Combine a little mayonnaise with anchovy paste to blend thoroughly. Stir in remaining mayonnaise and other ingredients.

Makes 2 3/4 cups.

Honey French Dressing
(adapted from Cooking for Company by the Food Editors of Farm Journal (Doubleday 1968))

Ingredients
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1 teaspoon dry mustard
1/2 cup cider vinegar
2 tablespoons honey
1 cup canola oil

Method
In a small bowl, mix salt, pepper and dry mustard; stir in vinegar and honey. Slowly add the salad oil while beating with a mixer. I used an immersion blender. makes about 1 1/3 cups.

Best-Ever Tuna Salad
(created by Steve Schul, Cocktail Buzz)

Ingredients
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1 teaspoon thyme
1 can tuna, drained
1/2 pound dry pasta, cooked and drained
3 carrots, thinly sliced
2 slices bacon, cooked and crumbled
1 cup peas (cook, if fresh or thaw, if frozen)
3/4–1 cup of Best-Bever Salad Dressing (recipe above from Cooking for Company)

Method
Combine ingredients and adjust seasoning to taste. Serve over a bed of lettuces.

❤ ❤ ❤

With a lone sweet potato waiting patiently to be transformed, Paul opted for a recipe for Sweet Potato Biscuits in Cooking for Company to go with the leftover Spiced Pork Loin that had been the inspiration for the last few evenings’ dinners. They came out the color of sunflowers, and were a little fluffy, a little crumbly, and, when drizzled with a little honey and lightly swiped with creamy butter, more than perked up the spiced pork.

Sweet Potato Biscuits
(adapted from Cooking for Company by the Food Editors of Farm Journal (Doubleday 1968))

Ingredients
2 cups unbleached flour
4 tablespoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
2/3 cup shortening
1 cup cooked, mashed sweet potatoes (1 regular-sized potato should do the trick)
up to 3 tablespoons whole milk

Method
Preheat oven to 400˚F. Sift together dry ingredients. Cut in shortening. Blend in sweet potatoes. Add enough milk to make a soft dough (this will depend on moisture in potatoes, so add one tablespoon at a time). Knead lightly, folding it several times to create layers (do not overwork dough). Roll 3/4" thick on lightly floured surface. Cut with floured 2" cutter. Place on ungreased baking sheet and bake in hot oven for 20 minutes, or until the biscuits have browned.

Makes about 15–20 biscuits, depending on diameter of cutter.

❤ ❤ ❤

We’re still reading the Toklas book and are finding fun recipes on every page. Now it’s your turn. Dust off those cookbooks and find inspiration now.

photo © Steve Schul, Cocktail Buzz

The Gooey and the Retro: Hot Brie Dip Makes a Comeback

Cutting into a hunk of baked Brie is almost as satisfying as eating it.

Do you remember when Brie was exotic? It was the early 80s. Preppies and their imitators were throwing lavish cocktail parties. Making a beeline for the buffet table, you saw trays lined with bready canapés and wheels of white-encased soft cheese. “It’s called Brie. It’s French and delicious,” you heard your mom, the hostess, declare. “Try some before the guests arrive. Then scoot.” So you loaded up your small plate with these pretty hors d’oeuvres, and, when she wasn’t looking, you tipped a little champagne into a cup and hightailed it back to your bedroom.

But when you got to your teen sanctuary, you looked down at the canapé plate and noticed that your slice of Brie was encased in a rind that seemed a little unfriendly. Do you eat the rind or try to extract the creamy center? You try both, and realize it’s much easier to shove the whole thing, rind and all, into your mouth. Buttery mixed with tangy. Not bad.

As time went on, you started noticing something called baked Brie at your TGI Fridays. It came to the table hot and perhaps coated in a jamlike spread with some herbs. You cut into it and out flowed its creaminess. You devoured it, emitting a few occasional grunts of satisfaction.

But had Brie really ever left, or was it marginalized to the realm of nostalgia, desperately looking for a way back into the world of acceptance? When we visited Steve’s sister this New Year’s Eve, she served a simple hors d’oeuvre of baked Brie with a generous glaze of butter, brown sugar, fresh parsley, and garlic. It’s not the prettiest dish to arrive at the table, but what it has going for it makes it survive the decades: flavor, simplicity, and, well, it’s melted cheese. Because Hot Brie Dip is so simple to make, it’s the perfect thing to bring out of the oven when most of your guests have arrived. Serve with airy, buttery crackers or toast points. Try it with other chopped fresh herbs, such as tarragon or chervil, if you prefer. And mellower roasted garlic in lieu of the pungent zing of raw might be a substitution you’re willing to try if you have the time.

Pair with something that reminds you of sitting at a bistro. A French 75 or a Kir Royale may be just what the médecin ordered.

About the alternate “aka” name you see below: Carol later confessed to Paul that she got the recipe from her sister-in-law, so we colloquially refer to it as Sister-in-law Brie, or Brie à la Belle-sœur, if you want to sound poshly gourmet.

Hot Brie Dip, aka Brie à la Belle-sœur
(adapted by Cocktail Buzz)

Ingredients
1 Brie wheel
3 tablespoons butter
3 tablespoons brown sugar (dark brown sugar will be richer tasting, with more molasses notes)
3 tablespoons chopped parsley, plus a few fresh leaves set aside
1 tablespoon minced garlic (you can substitute roasted garlic,* which is much less assertive)

Method
Preheat oven to 350ºF. Place Brie wheel in a baking or pie dish and set aside. Melt the butter in a saucepan. Add the brown sugar, parsley, and garlic to the butter and mix together. Pour over Brie wheel. Bake in oven for about 20 minutes, or until the Brie is soft to the touch (it will give when you press on it). Cut into Brie as if you were cutting a slice of pie. It will ooze its creamy center, which will mix with the other ingredients. Sprinkle with fresh parsley leaves. Serve with crackers or toast points.

* Roasted Garlic
If you have a garlic roaster, great. If not, get out the aluminum foil. Cut the top off the garlic bulb, exposing the cloves. Place garlic on roaster or aluminum foil. Drizzle about a tablespoon of olive oil and coat evenly. Cover or wrap. Place in center rack of cold oven and turn to 400ºF. Bake for about an hour. Turn off heat and remove from oven. Remove garlic bulb, and place roaster and lid back in oven, if you’re using a terra cotta roaster, to prevent cracking. You can now extract the cloves from the bulb.

Pairing Suggestions
French 75
Kir Royale
The Gondolier
a glass of sherry

photo © Steve Schul, Cocktail Buzz

Lavender Cocktails for Any Time of Day

Lavender imparts a one-of-a-kind taste sensation to cocktails, like the Bloody Lavender, above.

Got the winter blues? Here’s an exercise that may help. Imagine a field of lavender in bloom. Waves and waves of delicate purple buds, clustered atop frosted green leaves. You hear the wind gently rustle the leaves. Inhale and you can catch a whiff of its sweet, clean redolence. Nothing else in the world smells quite like it.

Or tastes quite like it, for that matter. When used in appropriate amounts, and mixed with just the right partner, lavender takes on a flavor that’s gently warming, filling your palate with a roundness that should remind you of a confection dissolving in your mouth. It should not taste soapy. If it does, you’ve either used too much in your recipe, or your taste buds just won’t tolerate the flavor, and never will. We’d like to think your aversion, if you have one, stems from the former. You want lavender to taste mildly floral and sweet, never harsh or bitter.

Grow lavender in the summer, when it’s in season, or, if you have good light, indoors throughout the year. Use the dried leaves and buds as you would any herb. During nongrowing seasons, you can find lavender buds in spice jars at higher-end grocery stores and specialty shops. If you don’t see it at your grocery store, and you don’t feel like traipsing across town, ask your vendor to stock it.

We use lavender in many expressions, especially in infusions and syrups. Infusing vodka or reposado tequila with lavender allows you to be extra-creative at your home bar, and using lavender-infused simple syrup can bring all the ingredients of a drink together for that special one-of-a-kind flavor. If you’re lucky, you may find artisinal lavender syrup at your purveyor of exotic foods. If so, buy some to see how you like it compared to the stuff you’re about to make.

Lavender-Infused Vodka*

Ingredients
1 750ml bottle vodka
3 tablespoons dried lavender buds or leaves

Method
In an airtight container, add vodka and lavender. (Rinse bottle and set aside, making sure not to throw away the cap.) Let infuse for up to 5 days, shaking it up every day and tasting it to see if it’s done enough for your taste buds. It should not taste too concentrated. Strain, through cheesecloth, back into original bottle and label “lavender vodka.”

* You can use another neutral spirit, such as unflavored moonshine, but if you really want to wake up your palate, the inherent depth and spiciness of reposado tequila pairs beautifully with lavender. Just substitute the same amount.

Lavender Simple Syrup

Ingredients
1 cup water
1 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup dried lavender buds or leaves

Method
Add water and sugar to a small saucepan. Gently crush lavender with a mortar and pestle (your fingers will do in a pinch) and add to saucepan. Simmer for about 10 minutes, stirring occasionally so that sugar fully dissolves. Allow to cool for several hours, or overnight. Strain through cheesecloth into a sterile jar with a lid. May be kept in the refrigerator for up to a month.

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Now it’s time to make some cocktails. For something simple, put about a teaspoon of lavender syrup in a champagne flute, then top with about 5 ounces of champagne. That will give you an idea of how lavender flavors alcohol. It’s an elegant way to start a cocktail or dinner party. But, if you’re more adventurous, we have a few drinks we think you’ll make a permanent part of your cocktail repertoire.

Lavender Blue Dilly Dilly
(created by Cocktail Buzz)

The lavender Blue Dilly Dilly is a take on the classic Manhattan Cocktail with a flamed orange peel bringing all the flavors together.

Ingredients
2 ounces bourbon
1 scant ounce Dubonnet rouge
1 teaspoon lavender syrup
dash Angostura bitters
orange peel

Method
Stir in ice for 30 seconds. Strain into chilled cocktail glass or coupe. Express orange peel through a match flame by holding the match over the drink and, with your other hand, in one quick, sharp squeeze, pinch the peel (outside of peel facing the match) so the oils spurt through the flame, causing a gentle flare-up. Then gently rub the outside of the peel around the rim and drop into the glass. (Feel free to try this drink on the rocks in a rocks glass.)

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Lavendel (aka Hermione Wallflower)
(created by Cocktail Buzz)

The Lavendel (German for lavender) may be the perfect brunch cocktail. It’s a riff on the classic Harvey Wallbanger.

Ingredients
1/2 ounce honey liqueur (Bärenjäger, a German honey liqueur, works perfectly here)
1 1/2 ounces lavender-infused vodka*
5 ounces fresh-squeezed tangelo juice, strained (you can use orange or tangerine juice, as well)

Method
In a highball glass, add the lavender-infused vodka and tangelo juice. Fill 2/3 with ice. Stir for 30 seconds. Float Bärenjäger Honey Liqueur on top. Add straw, if you so desire, but sipping is preferred as you will end your imbibing with a nice honey kiss.

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Bloody Lavender
(created by Cocktail Buzz)

After dinner, you may want to serve some shortbread [CLICK THE LINK FOR OUR LAVENDER SHORTBREAD RECIPE], or a cheese plate. That’s where the Bloody Lavender comes into play. The scotch rinse adds depth, as do the drops of Peychaud’s bitters that float at the top, giving the cocktail its name. If you want a Bloody Lavender before dinner, just double the recipe (except for the scotch).

Ingredients
1 ounce lavender-infused vodka
1/4–1/2 ounce Licor 43, or other vanilla liqueur
4–6 drops Peychaud’s bitters
1/4 ounce single-malt scotch

Method
Rinse a chilled cocktail glass or coupe with scotch, swirling a few times, then discarding. (There should be a small amount left at the bottom of the glass.) Stir lavender-infused vodka and vanilla liqueur in ice for 30 seconds. Strain into the glass. Add bitters one drop at a time.

photo © Steve Schul, Cocktail Buzz