Paper Airplane Cocktail

 

Just about the easiest cocktail ever.  Equal parts of 4 things...

OK, so you do have to buy a couple special ingredients, namely the Aperol and the Amaro. There are dozens of types of Amaro, and technically Aperol is also an Amaro.  Amaro is an Italian bitter-sweet herbal mixture, sometimes sipped on its own, but I like to add it to other cocktails! Be sure to Google Amaro and read up on the many varieties available. 

I'd bought my Aperol when I came through Duty Free a couple years ago, and frankly I hadn't used it that much and it was staring at me in all it's orange glory.  Now I'm sure you're saying "why not an Aperol Spritz?".  Well folks, I am one those people who really do not like my wine mixed with Aperol and topped with soda water. Refreshing?  Yes! Still, it is not my favorite, give me a nice sauvignon blanc or a rose on a hot summer's day and I will be much happier,

My love of this cocktail and Amaro comes from a local Italian place called Amaro Bistro!  At our first happy hour there, I had the good foresight to order "the paper airplane".  This cocktail feels like a classic that's been around for a long time, but apparently invented by a NYC bartender in 2007.

P.S. I am sure you can see that we started this cocktail well before it was 5pm.... like they say, it was 5pm somewhere! It was the perfect Sunday afternoon Covid cocktail!

This recipe makes two small cocktails:

1 jigger amaro di Nonna (dark amaro)

1 jigger Aperol amaro

1 jigger of bourbon or rye

1 jigger of lemon juice

**Now a jigger is about 1.5 oz measure (like in the picture below), where I filled it up 4 times, once with each ingredient above. I added it to a ice filled martini shaker and shake, shake, shake, I added it to our cute little glasses.

*You can use any measuring device... a 1/4 cup measure would work well too and produce two slightly larger martinis (win, win!)

I chose to garnish with a sprig of fresh thyme (but rosemary would work too) and a little curl of lemon zest. Honestly? It doesn't even need a garnish...

Green Salsa with Tomatillos & Avocado

Working from home this year, I have missed many things. One of them is definitely connecting with people at work over food, like potlucks!  My coworker brings the best green salsa and we are all wild about it.  Luckily she shared her recipe, so I was able to make my own.

Note- In a true "Got It Cook It" fashion, I substituted canned pickled jalapenos as I was out of fresh chilies. While this tasted really good, I think that a fresh serrano chili (or two) is best!

Makes about 2 cups

Ingredients

7-8 tomatillos (depending on size)

2 tbsp. of olive oil

1-2 serrano chiles (depending on how spicy you want it)

½ of a small onion, chopped

4 cloves of garlic (depending on size)

1 handful of cilantro

2 avocados

Juice of ½ lime

1 tsp of chicken bouillon seasoning

1 tsp pepper

Salt to taste

Water to cover

Fill a pot with enough water to boil the peeled tomatillos. Boil tomatillos for about 5 min or until soft but don’t let them burst. Drain water and add tomatillos to blender.

Add 1 (of the 2) tbsp. of olive oil to a pan and sauté serrano chiles, onion and garlic on med/med high heat until slightly browned. Add to blender.

Add remaining ingredients to blender. Blend to combine, but don't process too long, you will want to have a very slight texture for best appearance.

Add water to change consistency if too thick, I added about 1/3 cup while blending it Adjust salt to taste. 

Lemon Zucchini Bread

A wonderful moist lemon zucchini bread that is so easy to make!  Original recipe is found here, I made few changes, mainly replacing the sweetened lemon yogurt with regular plain yoghurt instead.

Makes 2 loaves

Ingredients

3/4 cup canola or vegetable oil

1 cup Greek Yogurt, plain

2 Tbsp lemon juice

3 eggs

2 cups sugar

3 cups all purpose flour

1 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp baking powder

2 tsp lemon zest

1 tsp salt

2 cups grated zucchini, about 1 1/2 medium zucchini

1 tsp vanilla extract

Lemon Glaze

1 cup powdered sugar

1-2 Tbsp lemon

2 Tbsp lemon zest

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and coat two 8 1/2" x 4 1/2" bread pans with baking spray.

In a large bowl, cream together oil, Greek yogurt, lemon juice and sugar. Once combined, add in eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition.

In a separate bowl, sift together flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt. Add in lemon zest, and stir together. Add dry ingredients into wet ingredients, and mix just until combined.

Add in zucchini and vanilla extract, and stir.

Once combined, divide batter evenly between the two bread pans.

Bake for 55-60 minutes, or until a cake tester comes out clean.

Allow to cool at least 10-20 minutes before removing from the pan and placing on a cooling rack.

To make the glaze, Mix lemon juice and powdered sugar together until well combined. With the bread on the cooling rack, pour glaze over the bread. Sprinkle zest over the top of the glaze.

Enjoy!

The Devereaux Cocktail

I've had this recipe earmarked forever, and today was totally the day!

While this is called the Devereaux cocktail, we should probably call it the 20/20 cocktail. After quarantine, protests, terrible politics and now thick heavy smoke from terrible fires on the West coast, we could all use a happy little drink.

This.one.is.happy!

Rye whisky is not often pared with elder flower liqueur and bubbly wine, but throw in a little lemon and you have yourself some liquid sunshine!  We both needed that today! My first taste of this cocktail was surprising, I didn't know what to expect, but it was not as sweet as I thought it might be. Almost like sparkly lemonade! Very happy! 

I did adjust the amount of St Germain liqueur in the recipe after the first taste, because I happen to love, love, love it, and frankly the original amount of 1/2 oz wasn't enough to notice it in the cocktail, the original recipe is here.

Makes 1

Ingredients

1 oz bourbon
3/4 oz St Germain liqueur
1/2 oz lemon juice (fresh)
1/2 oz simple syrup
3 oz sparkling wine (I used Prosseco)

Lemon peel, twisted into a curl

A mint leaf garnish would be nice it you have one, or even a basil leaf.

Fill a tall glass with ice and pour in all the booze, lemon and simple syrup, ending with the prosecco or other sparkling wine.

Need another cocktail, check out my others on my cocktail fun page on my blog! 

Spicy Indian Turkey Meatballs

I've been making this recipe for about 6 months, and we are in love.  It's funny because the the inspiration recipe was this one.  The original was a chickpea "meatball" in the sauce, not meat at all. We were at our cabin, and I had limited ingredients, so I made it like this below.

I've made this with combinations of ground turkey, pork or beef and frankly each is very yummy! The sauce is the part that is so flipping delicious.  You could serve it over rice, or cauliflower rice, or even as an appetizer meatball.  You might need some Naan bread to help wipe up every last drop of the sauce. Yum!

A couple of EDITS- 1) Feel free to increase the seasoning if you like it spicier!  2) We ate the leftovers for a late breakfast with a sunnyside up fried egg with a runny yolk. Exceedingly yummy!

Serves 4-5

Ingredients

Meatballs:

20 oz ground turkey (or mixture of pork, turkey or beef)

1 egg

1/4 cup minced cilantro

1 Tbsp minced fresh jalapeno

1 cup chopped spinach (optional)

1/2 Tbsp fresh ground ginger

1 Tbsp minced garlic 

1 tsp salt

Sauce:

2 Tbsp olive oil

2 Tbsp minced shallots, or onions

1 Tbsp minced garlic

1/2 Tbsp fresh ground ginger

1 Tbsp minced fresh jalapeno

1 can petite minced diced tomatoes

1 can 15 oz tomato sauce

1 cup chopped spinach (optional)

1 tsp ground cumin

1 tsp turmeric

1 tsp garam masala, or curry powder

Salt to taste

Yogurt or sour cream for serving (optional)

Mince up the spinach, cilantro, jalapeno, ginger and the garlic, divide into half (1/2 for meatballs, half for sauce).

Mix ground meat well with beaten egg, spinach, cilantro, jalapeno, ginger, garlic and salt.  Set aside.

In a large low saute pan, add olive oil, onions, garlic and jalapeno. Saute until they start to soften, add ginger, cumin, turmeric and garam masala (or curry powder).  Stir to "warm" the spices, then add the tomato sauce, and petite diced tomatoes.  Bring to a soft boil, and taste to check seasoning.  Add more spices if you like it spicier, or just salt to taste.  Reduce to medium heat. Roll meat mixture into balls and drop in the simmering mixture (or even use a small cookie/ice cream scoop to drop the meat mixture into the simmering sauce.  Using a spoon, gently nudge each meatball into the sauce.  Cover and simmer for 15-20 minutes. Right before serving, add the fresh chopped spinach. Serve over rice, over cauliflower rice, or even on it's own.  

You can top with a dollop of yogurt and cilantro, if desired.

Add the egg, the spinach and the seasonings (turmeric, garam masala, salt....XXX)

Mix well. 

Mix half of the ginger, garlic and jalapenos in a saute pan with a bit of olive oil over medium heat until they start to wilt a bit.

Avocado Dressing/Dip

This is my made up recipe for an avocado "green goddess style" dressing.  We were having spicy grilled steaks (using my Cajun spice rub recipe here) and wanted to use up an avocado that I feared was nearing to be over ripe (it wasn't luckily). I thought the dressing would be great to have the spicy grilled steak on a green salad, and it was!  

Makes about 1 cup

Ingredients

1 large avocado, or 2 small (peeled and pitted)

1/2 bunch  of cilantro, washed and bottom 1/3 of stems removed

Juice of 1 large lime, or 2 small

1/4 cup of mayo

1/4 cup of vegetable oil

1 clove fresh garlic

1 tsp salt

Add all ingredients into a blender, and puree until the dressing is smooth. Store covered tightly in the fridge. The avocado dressing remains bright green for about a week.  

We also used this for a sauce on tacos later in the week. Yum!

Blackened Cajun Spice Mix

A pork chop in the blackened seasoning mix, pan fried in a mixture of olive oil & butter, YUM!

Once upon my husband worked at a restaurant for a certified master chef.  The blackened seasoning that they used on fish, sauteed in butter and served over spinach was the bomb. The guy was nice enough to share this with my hubby. 

We've been looking for the recipe for many years now, but could not locate that slip of paper... basically we've been trying to locate it for about 15-20 years!

After years of wondering, we finally located the recipe in a binder of recipes that I had collected to "save" (back before you had the internet... hahaha!).

Here's the recipe that I adapted the measurements so you can make a SANE size recipe at home.  We've been arguing about whether the original has too much salt (which I believe to be true... and my hubby doesn't agree). 

Makes about 2 cups, plenty to share with friends and family!  We use this on fish, chicken, pork and even steak.  It would probably be great on a cauliflower "steak" too.

Ingredients:

1/4 cup kosher salt (use 1/4 cup plus 2 Tbsp if you like things salty...)

1/4 cup onion powder or granulated onion (NOT onion salt!)

1/4 cup white pepper

1/4 cup cayenne pepper (if you are afraid of too spicy, you can reduce this to 1-2 Tbsp...)

1/4 cup paprika

1/4 cup dried thyme

2 Tbsp ground pepper

Mix in a bowl with a whisk to fully mix.  Save in an air tight jar, or jars.  Sprinkle liberally onto meats before grilling or pan frying.  

Easy Weeknight Meaty Chili

I got this recipe from a friend who sells Pampered Chef, and immediately thought, YEP, I need to try that. I didn't have their awesome RockCrok to use for their recipe (link here) but I thought I would try it on the stove top and it worked beautifully. I had both ground pork and ground beef, so I decided to use a combination, but you definitely try all beef if you preferred!  

Don't be worried about the unsweetened coca powder in this recipe, it really gives a complexity and smoothness to the chili.  If you're worried, you could cut the qty in half, but honestly, I think you'll like it.  My hubby wants me to make it again using less cocoa powder and more chili powder, which I promised to do next time. 

We're eating more low carb, so i elected to make this without the canned beans, but it would be good either waya. 

Makes enough for 6-8

Ingredients

1 Tbsp olive oil

1  medium onion, chopped

1 lb lean ground beef

1 lb ground pork 

4-5 garlic cloves, minced

4 Tbsp chili powder

2 Tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder

3 tsp cumin

½  can (3 oz/ tomato paste

2- 10oz cans of Rotel diced tomatoes with chilies, undrained

1 1/4 cup water

2 Knorr Chipotle bouillon cubes, or one minced canned chipotle chili (optional)

1-2 cans (16 oz  each) mild chili beans in sauce, undrained (optional, I did not use)

Salt, to taste

Saute the onions in olive oil until they start to soften, add the minced garlic and cook for another 1-2 minutes.  Add the ground beef and pork, and cook over medium high heat while stirring. Make sure to leave some big chunks that will add to the texture of your chili. Add in the spices, the canned tomatoes and tomato paste, adding the water at the end.  Give it a stir to combine, and turn the heat to medium low heat. 

Cover and simmer for about 30 minutes.  

Add the canned beans (optional) and bring back to a boil. You can serve it over rice, if desired, or just a big bowl of rich chili!

Serve with Sliced green onion, sour cream, shredded cheddar cheese, jalapeno slices 

(optional)

South Korea Adventure- Part 2

Our short 6 night trip to Korea was so packed full of fun and interesting sites and experience, I had to break it into two posts!  The first post was HERE and focused on a lot of the food experiences we had.  This post focuses on our visits to the beautiful palaces and shrines and also to the DMZ, also known as the border between South and North Korea. 

There are many palaces within the city of Seoul to explore.  Check their opening times and days, as they are often closed one day a week, so you may only be able to do a couple a day. Also, they are humongous and you will walk miles and miles in one day!

Changdeokgung Palace on a beautiful sunny 

Gates at Changdeokgung

Everyone on their cell phones at Changdeokgung Palace. Can you say SELFIE?

You can rent the traditional outfits while you are there, and we talked about it, but we were a little self conscious to be a 50 something year old woman in this beautiful dress that so many young girls were wearing. It totally would have been amazing photo opportunity though, so, I sorta wish we had done it.

Wonderful angles and roof lines at Changdeokgung

This place was huge! We kept wandering and wandering and had this back corner of the palace to ourselves

We walked forever on the grounds in a free walking tour.  They don't allow people to wander unattended at this palace. This is the Forbidden Garden at Changdeokgung.

Gyeongbokgung Palace (trying asking the taxi driver to take you here... LOL).

Outside the gates on our first attempt to visit Gyeongbokgung Palace - it's closed on certain days of the week, so plan ahead!  

Jongmyo Shrine- lots of ancestors behind those little doors!

Onto the DMZ, we hired a private car and driver for a tour to the demilitarized zone between South Korea and North Korea.  He picked us up at our hotel at about 8am and we didn't return until well after 6pm. While this was the biggest expense we had on our trip (besides hotel), it was definitely a great investment.  He took us to Seoul's War museum and took us through the important historical background before taking us to the DMZ. We learned so much and had a much more emotional experience because of the care of our tour guide.

Nobody told us the North Korea was going to be beautiful!  This is looking from the observation center across the water towards North Korea. You could use telescopes to view the "fake" cities set up across the water. You could tell they were fake as there was absolutely no people or cars to be seen. We were able to view one lone cyclist riding down the road with our telescope. Very weird.

There were displays of all the countries that came to support South Korea, there were many from around the world honored by showing their uniforms of their armed forces.

I have to say, I cried when I read this quote:

"Our nation honors her sons and daughters who answered the call to defend a country 

they never knew and a people they never met"

What they don't tell you is how much equipment the Russians left in Korea for the North Koreans to use against South Korea.  They were severely at a disadvantage, as this chart shows what each side had on hand at the onset of the war.

Sad to stand in front of the plaque for all the people from Washington that perished in Korea, over 400 soldiers. It was a long corridor of plaques from all the US states, and countries from around the world. Each name honored.

This is the train station built on the railway that travels from South Korea to North Korea. It is the last stop in South Korea, but the train is unable to travel any farther north.. It is virtually new and unused. The map on the wall in the right of the photo shows that if North Korea was open to travel through, then travelers from South Korea could travel to Paris by train. Essentially South Korea is an island until North Korean relations improve.

The guards didn't seem to mind that we stole a little kiss.Okay, so they were mannequins.

After our trip to the DMZ, our wonderful driver took us to a modest neighborhood restaurant for duck BBQ. He told us that nowhere else in South Korea is duck common for grilling in the BBQ style. This tasted so delicious and look at how many little dishes of "stuff" you get" ? If you want more of anything, you just let them know. We had such a great day on this tour and spent over 10 hours with our driver. He was so wonderful with us, we couldn't have been happier with our private tour.

Onto something lighter now... one thing I wanted to do was to visit a Cat Cafe! LOL, go ahead and call me a crazy cat lady, I don't mind!

There was about 14 cats in the cafe, lots of them snoozing, can you imagine that?

You have to remove your shows and wear their cat slippers! How happy was I?

How about we end with a little piece of beautiful cake?  We went into a small chain cafe for a cup of afternoon coffee and how could we not get this to share?  We loved Korea so much, what a wonderful, exotic, friendly and comfortable place to visit. We are already planning our next trip!