Epic Bloody Mary Mixers

For my uncle Mike... who went ape over this, and asked for the recipe:

*** Note: This is PER DRINK. ***

The Equipment:
+ Drinking glasses.
+ Extra long toothpicks or small skewers; preferably as long as the glass. Usually found in the spices isle or paper plates isle at the grocery store.
+ 2 Shallow bowls for salt/pepper - for the Rim Job and rolled mozzarella balls

The Drink:
1 small handful of cubed ice in drink, if preferred.
1 to 2 shots Vodka - the good stuff, like Smirnoff or Grey Goose.
1 to 5 splashes of Tobasco sauce, to taste preference
1 dash of Worcestershire sauce
1 pinch of celery salt
1/2 clove of garlic, minced/pressed
1 good squeeze of fresh lemon juice
1 squeeze of lime juice
1 splash of soy
3 to 5 turns of freshly ground black pepper, to taste preference
Enough v8 to fill the rest of the (normal 12-16oz) glass

Garnishes (Yes, I use ALL of these):
Celery stalk
radishes
cocktail onions
cherry tomato
Garlic-filled green olives
pickled jalapeno
cooked cocktail shrimp
Fresh green bean
Baby banquet pickles, halved lengthwise
marinated asparagus (avocado oil, garlic, salt, fresh dill, basil, & lemon juice; overnight)
Mozzarella balls
Quartered lime

I like to prepare all the garnish stuff first for multiple drinks, so I can just quickly plop them in as I complete each one.

1) First skewer: In one of the shallow bowls, combine a little bit of regular iodized salt and pepper together. Roll the mozzarella balls in the mixture, and stick a skewer through it. Add a cherry tomato. Top it with a shrimp.

2) Second skewer: Add the cocktail onion, radish, and garlic olive on top.

3) Wash &/or prepare your other garnishes so they're ready to go. I usually quarter cut the celery so they're long and skinny, and I cut off the tips of the green beans. Place all on a platter for easy access.

4) On each glass, rub a halved lime over the rim. Turn the glass upside down and dip the rim in the sea salt, rotating slightly to get them to stick. Place glass back upright.


Now, onto the drink!...
1) If you like ice, add a few cubes to the glass. Otherwise, mix the ice with all the ingredients in a separate glass or shaker first, then pour into a prepared glass.

2) Add your shot(s). Then add most of the other ingredients: Tobasco, Worcestershire, celery salt, lemon juice, lime juice, minced garlic, black pepper. Stir.

3) Add enough v8 to fill the glass. Stir/shake well. If you don't want the ice, this would be when you transfer all but the ice into your prepared glass. If you DO want ice, only fill the glass about 3/4 full. Otherwise, it will overflow when you go to put the garnishes in.

4) Starting with the loose stuff first (a jalapeno, celery, pickle, asparagus) begin adding your garnishes! Crisscross the two skewers on the top. Finish with a quartered lime on the rim.

Enjoy!!!

Brie en Croute

I'm a little late in getting this post out. I did promise, though, so here it is...

If you are looking for something warm, gooey, and delicious to make for a cocktail party, you've come to the right blog. I made both of these for a friend's party recently, and they were a hit! These melted mounds of glory are full of sophisticated flavors and textures that are sure to compliment most wines and/or beer.

But first, a little about the brie used:
The one used in the Spiced Fruit version is sweet and very creamy, which both calmed the fires of the jelly, and complimented the fruit beautifully. The one used in the Onion Fig version is buttery, slightly nutty, and smooth. I thought it would compliment the caramelized onions well, and it did.

Generally speaking, I'm not a brie fan. I tend to find most brie rather moldy tasting, bitter, and chalky. But these two are high quality, very creamy, and quite mouth watering. Both types from this brand have won many cheese awards, so I knew I couldn't go wrong.


Spiced Fruit Brie en Croute
1 round Rouge et Noir, "Triple Crème" Brie
1 package of puff pastry (the 17" wide ones - there should be two sheets in it; only use one)
4 tbsp. of hot jalapeno pepper preserves
1/2 small Golden Delicious apple, diced
1/3 Bartlett pear, diced
1 small package of chopped pecans, toasted
1 dash of cinnamon
1 beaten egg


Onion Fig Brie en Croute
1 round Rouge et Noir "Original" Brie
1 package of puff pastry (the 17" wide ones - there should be two sheets in it; only use one)
2 tbsp. of mission fig preserves
2 tbsp. of homemade sweet pineapple chutney (I had some leftover from a previous dish - you can also use finely diced pineapple chunks with a little bit of ginger & sugar)
1 small sweet Maui onion, thinly sliced & caramelized
1 small package of chopped walnuts, toasted
1 beaten egg


It might seem like there are a lot of steps, but this is really very easy to make - I just broke it down into a lot of baby steps. You can make just one, do what I did and make both at the same time, or make two of the same if you're not 'feeling' one over the other...


1. Unless you made the puff pastry yourself (which, normally, I would have done. However, I was on a time crunch) your packaged stuff is going to be frozen. Take it out, and out it on a floured sheet of baking paper. Set aside. As it thaws, you can unfold it more, and massage the creases away. The pastry will become extremely sticky, so don't forget to flour! Otherwise, you won't be able to lift it up to cover your cheesy innards later.

2. Preheat your oven to 400 degrees F. Throw your nuts onto a cookie sheet and toast them as it begins to heat. If you're doing both versions, just put the pecans on one side, and the walnuts on the other. You can do step three while you wait.

3. Prepare your ingredients. Regardless of which recipe you do, you're going to need to dice/slice your fruits/vegetables. For the apples and pears: Place in a small bowl. Sprinkle in your dash of cinnamon, and lightly mix. For the caramelized onions: Cook your thinly sliced pieces with 2 tsp. butter, covered, over medium/low heat for about 10 to 15 minutes, or until golden and tender. Stir occasionally.

4. Take your nuts out of the oven. Your pastry (or pastries) should be pretty well thawed out by this point. Unfold completely, and cut a large circle. I cheated and used a large salad bowl that was the same diameter as the sheet of dough to cut around. Save the excess if you wish - you can use them to decorate your creation(s).

5. Spread your preserves over the pastry rounds like you would with a pizza, leaving only the edges bare. If you're doing the one with chutney/pineapple bits, spread in the same manner right on top of the fig.

6. Add your diced or sliced/caramelized plant toppings. Again, just like a pizza. Leave the edges alone! Then add your toasted nuts.

7. Place your brie (yes, the whole thing) in the center of each pastry round, on top of the weird looking pizza mess. Now's the fun part: Begin to bring the edges of the pastry up and over the cheese rounds. You might be thinking 'This is NEVER going to work! It's not big enough." Relax, the beauty about pastry is that it stretches! Gently pull, pleat, and pinch your way around in small increments to seal, and you'll eventually get it.

8. Gently flip and place the completely sealed rounds smooth side up. This is why I put it on floured baking paper. You can either bake it on this (on a cookie sheet), or if you prefer to use a nice oven-safe serving piece, that works too. I ultimately served mine on a large wooden platter, so I needed something transferrable.

9. If you wish, decorate the tops with your left-over pastry bits from earlier. I cut out pieces for the words "Jalapeno" and "Onion Fig" for mine. Brush your beaten egg over the top and sides of the round. This will help it brown. Cut small slits or poke a few holes for steam to escape.

10. Bake for about a half hour or until the pastry is a deep golden brown color. These will both smell divine. Once done, let stand for about 10-20 minutes before serving (which was the perfect amount of time needed to drive to said party). Serve with the remaining fruit, sliced, and/or your favorite crackers. Don't forget your cheese knife! Enjoy :-)

Yummy Vegan "Plant Loaf"

I know what you're thinking. Plant loaf?? That sounds.. Er.. Interesting. And not nearly as savory sounding as "Meat Loaf". I assure you, however, this dish tastes about a 100 times better and is completely vegan!

I got the original recipe from OhHowSheGlows blog, and tested my own modifications. You know it's a great recipe when you can add or omit ingredients and it still turns out like a champ.

Ready?...

To start, you're going to need a few ingredients. These can all be found at your local grocery store.

Main Ingredients:
3 tbsp - ground flax seed
1/2 cup - warm water

1 cup - Dry lentils
3 cups- vegetable broth
1 splash - olive oil (for broth)
1/2 cup - oat flour
3 cloves - garlic, minced
1/2 of a sweet onion, finely diced
1 celery stalk, finely diced
1 large carrot, finely diced
1/3 cup - green onion, diced
2 or 3 mushrooms, finely diced (optional)
1/2 of a peeled/shredded apple
1/4 cup - raisins (optional)
1 cup(~3 slices) - breadcrumbs, toasted
1 small bag - chopped/toasted walnuts
1/2 tsp - salt
1/2 tsp - pepper (or to taste)
1/2 tsp - thyme
1/2 tsp - dill
1/4 tsp - fennel (optional)

The Glaze:
1 tbsp - balsamic vinegar
1 tbsp - REAL maple syrup
1 tbsp - vegan butter (I use Earth Balance)
1 tbsp - tomato paste
1 large splash of good rum. Because we all love rum and it tastes yummy. Please don't ruin this with cheap-a$$ Bacardi...

Ok, let's get started!

Directions:
1) In a medium saucepan, bring the veggie broth to a boil. Dump in your lentils. Add a splash of extra virgin olive oil so the pan doesn't boil over. Cover, reduce heat, and simmer until all the broth has been soaked up and the lentils are nice and mushy (about 40 minutes or so). Stir occasionally during this time. Once done, remove from heat and set aside to cool a bit.

TIP: Everything else, you should be able to prepare while the lentils are cooking, so read on...

2) Pre-heat your oven to 350*(f).

3) While waiting for the oven to heat, dice up the bread to make crumbs. I use Udi's gluten-free bread cause their little loaves are awesome and yummy. 3 slices usually do the trick. Toast the crumbs in a baking sheet! When done, put in a bowl and set aside to cool.

4) Make your glaze. There's really no rhyme or reason to this one; just combine all the glaze ingredients together and stir.

5) Using same baking sheet as before for the bread crumbs, put some parchment paper in it, and dump your chopped walnuts in. Spread evenly around, and bake in oven for about 5-8 minutes. When done, put in same bowl as breadcrumbs and let cool.

6) While waiting for all that toasted mess, prepare the flax mixture. This is a great baking substitute for eggs!

Place the flax in a small bowl. Warm up the 1/2 cup water, and pour over the ground flax. STIR WELL. Then, push it aside and let it sit for about 5-10 min to gel up.

7) Prepare your vegetables! In a large skillet, sauté your onion and garlic with vegan butter on med/low heat for about 2-3 min. DO NOT BURN THEM! we just want 'em translucent.

When the onions are finally tender, toss in the carrot. When the carrot starts to get tender, throw in the apples, celery, chives, raisins, mushrooms, and sauté for another few minutes.

Add all your spices, and mix together. Remove from heat and set aside to cool. Despite there being apple and raisins in this, it's going to start smelling quite savory.

8) The lentils should be ready by this point. Dump into a large mixing bowl. Mash the crap out of them with your toes.

I'm just kidding, don't use your toes. That would be gross. Use a potato masher. Like the attached picture, see? This will help everything stick together.

9) Add your sautéd vegetable mixture and flax gelatin mixture (yes, ALL of it) to the mess, and stir.

Next, add your oat flour! Stir in. Add the toasted breadcrumbs and walnuts. Mix it all together with your hands! (yes, just like regular meat loaf).

You can adjust the seasonings at this point if you wish. Yeah, you can taste it 'cause there isn't anything bad that will poison you if you eat it raw!

9) Press the mixture firmly into a loaf pan (I like to use parchment paper in it for easy removal). If you're tactile like I am, this is going to feel awesome on your hands, and you may not want to stop smoothing it out! Lol...

Attack it with the rummy, I mean yummy chilled glaze, and bake in the oven for about 45 minutes. Once it's done, let cool for about 10 minutes. This is important as it needs to set (and it will, don't worry) and you're all done!

Serves about 8 thick slices, and you can pair it with your favorite side. :-)

Kristina's Beef Wellington

As the holidays are approaching, I thought I’d share one of my favorite dishes. It is fairly time-consuming (but not hard) to make, so as a result, I usually limit it to special occasions. This is a real crowd pleaser, sure to induce praise around the table and envy over your mad cooking skills. This dish is also fabulous with garlic mashed potatoes.

Prep: about 1 hour, 15 min
Cooking time: about 1 hour
Baking time: 25 minutes
Serves: 6 (warning: people will want seconds!)

Ingredients:
3 ¼ pounds of beef tenderloin (you may have to tie a few strips together)
½ cup olive oil
1 carrot, finely chopped
1 small onion, finely chopped
1 leek, finely chopped
½ cup of sherry or Madeira
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
3 cups beef stock
3 tablespoons sweet, unsalted butter
2 shallots, finely chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
10 shitake or button mushrooms, finely chopped
1 small can diced black olives
3 sheets packaged puff pastry (found in frozen isle at grocery store) thawed
A dozen thin slices of prosciutto
1 egg, well beaten
A few tablespoons-worth of butter

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F.

Step 1) the Gravy Sauce:
1. Finely chop the carrot, onion, leek, and shallots (or use food processer – I don’t have one).
2. Heat a tablespoon or two of butter in skillet and add all the chopped veggies, sautéing until slightly browned.
3. Stir in the Sherry and Worcestershire sauce, scraping any of the sticky chunks from the bottom of the skillet, and simmer for about 10 minutes until reduced to a syrupy sauce.
4. Stir in the beef stock. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and leave simmering for an hour or so while you’re preparing the actual beef wellington.

Step 2) the Meat:
5. Season the beef well with seasonings of choice. (I like to use a mixture of finely chopped basil, garlic salt, fresh pepper, paprika, fennel, thyme, oregano, and a very light dash of cinnamon. I put a dash or two of each into a small bowl and then stir them together.)
6. In a large pan, heat the olive oil on high. Once thoroughly heated, add the beef and quickly brown all sides. Be careful not to overcook; we’re mainly just browning to lock the meat juices in. Transfer to a baking dish and cook in oven for about 5 minutes. Remove from oven and set aside to completely cool.

Step 3) Prepare the Pastry:
7. On a sheet of baking (or wax) paper, unfold the sheets of pastry puff and pinch together until measuring out a rectangle about 16” x 24” – lightly roll flat, transfer the whole thing (paper included) to a baking sheet. Layer pastry with another piece of baking paper, and chill in the refrigerator for about 15 minutes.

Step 4) Encasement Mixture:
8. In a small saucepan, melt a tablespoon or two and gently cook the shallots for a few minutes until softened but not browned. Add the garlic, mushrooms, and olives; cook gently until the mixture is barely moist, and then set aside.

9. Check the gravy sauce, and stir. Run a metal strainer through the mixture; collect about half of the finely chopped pieces. Add these pieces to the mushroom mixture, and lightly stir together. Let the gravy sauce continue to simmer. If it’s thickening too quickly, you can add some Madeira or even a little bit of red wine if needed.

Step 5) Putting it all together:
10. Take the pastry out of the fridge and transfer to the work surface. To prevent excess pastry overlap, cut away each corner, while leaving room in the center portion for the beef; basically, once cut, the pastry will kind of look like a large cross. Save all the pastry trimmings for later use in this recipe.

11. Lay the prosciutto slices all over the pastry and thinly spread half of the mushroom mixture on top of that. If you tied the beef for the browning, carefully untie (so it stays together) and place in the center of the pastry. Spread the remaining mushroom mixture on the beef, and bring the flaps of prosciutto over the beef.

12. Brush the pastry edges with some of the beaten egg and fold them over each other to completely encase the beef.

13. Turn onto a lightly buttered baking sheet, seam-side down. Remember those pastry trimmings? Cut them into strips and crisscross a lattice pattern over the top. Brush with the rest of the beaten egg, and pierce a small slit in the center at the top for a nice finishing look.

14. Place in the oven for 5 minutes to set, then lower the heat for 400 degrees F and bake for 20 minutes or until the pastry is a nice golden brown. Turn off the oven and open the door to cool while preparing the finishing touches on the gravy.

15. Give the sauce one last stir, and strain it into a gravy boat. Throw away the remaining chunks that were strained out. Remove the Beef Wellington and slice. Serve at once with the gravy. Enjoy!