Mint Iced Tea

INGREDIENTS:

Fresh mint leaves
Lemon wedge
Champagne
A dash of Angostura Bitters

DIRECTIONS:

Mix chilled champagne with bitters; add lemon wedge and chocolate mint for garnish.

Flute is the courtesy of Mary Elizabeth Arts

 

Corned Beef and Cabbage

Thoughts from a Garlic Holic!

I love garlic! If you were to peek into my refrigerator, you'd find what's left of a large container of garlic, peeled, separated into cloves and freezable. I keep small baggies of garlic, labeled in the freezer; so I can use it when I am cooking in someone else's kitchen. Speed things up! Great for soup bases, pasta sauces, salad dressings.

The winter is almost over and the weather is being unpredictable; garlic helps strenghten your immune system and pass any cold.

I eat garlic everyday ( still have friends... always carry breath mints - just in case); one of my favorite ways using this vegetable is in corned beef and cabbage recipe. Good practice for St. Patrick's Day.



Corned Beef and Cabbage

Ingredients:
3-pound corned beef brisket in brine (uncooked)
16 cups of cold water
Spice packet that comes with corned beef
1/2 large head green cabbage, cut into thick wedges
8 small potatoes, halved
16 baby carrots
2 large onions, quartered into wedges
4 garlic cloves, crushed
Freshly ground black pepper to taste

Directions:
Place corned beef in a large pot, add the water. Bring to a boil, uncovered, and skim off any scum that rises to the surface. Add spice packet and taste of black pepper. Cover and simmer for about 3 hours. Add potatoes, cabbage, baby carrots, onions and garlic and simmer for another 20 to 30 minutes, covered.

Remove corned beef to a cutting board. Slice the corned beef across the grain of the meat into thin slices. Place on a large platter. Add potatoes, cabbage, carrots, onions, garlic surrounding the meat. Ladle some of  the hot coking liquid over the corned beef and season with pepper. Serve with mustard or horseradish sauce.

Holiday Nippers and Gift Ideas.

Lime Marmalade

Ingredients:
2 lbs of fresh limes
7 cups of water
3 lbs of sugar
1/2 teasp of ground cloves
Directions:
Clean and cut limes removing as much pith as you can. Put sliced limes into a processor and mix until chunky. Place mixture in to the pot; add water and bring to boil; simmer on the medium heat for about 30 to 45 minutes or until rind is tender. It is important to cook fruit gently at this stage. Reduce heat to low and add sugar and ground cloves to the mix; stir until sugar is dissolved completely. Bring marmalade to the boil, boil rapidly uncovered. After marmalade has been boiling for about 15 minutes, remove from the heat; allow bubbles to subside; then drop a teaspoon on to a cold saucer and put in to the freezer for a few minutes to cool. If marmalade is not jelled enough, return to the heat and cook further for about 5 minutes, then test again. Marmalade should be jelled within 20 minutes. Let marmalade stand for about 5 minutes to allow fruit to settle. Pour into hot sterilized jars. Store in cool dark place.

Holiday Nippers

Ingredients:

Crackers

1 tblsp of cream cheese

1 teasp of blue cheese

1 1/2 teasp of orange marmalade

1/2 teasp of pistachios

1 minced chive

Directions:

Mix cream cheese and blue cheese together well. Add 1 teasp of orange marmalade and pistachios to the mix and 1/2 of minced chive; blend well. Spread on to 4 crackers and garnish with the rest of marmalade and chives. Enjoy!

Happy Hour Baby Shower & 2-Step Margarita

Summer hadn't even started and the temperatures were in the high 90s for our surprise Happy Hour Baby Shower catering in Durham. The heat made it difficult to arrange our hydrangea, daisy and assorted herb centerpieces around the pool, but whenever the weather doesn't cooperate you have to be prepared to shift gears quickly! We made it work indoors for our crowd of 35 until the sun hid behind the clouds long enough for everyone to venture poolside.

It's always fun keeping a happy secret and we had a blast surprising the mom-to-be, Lauren, with her custom Happy Hour Baby Shower. The event was held at Lauren's mother's home, and it was particularly difficult for her to keep the secret since Lauren lives right next door! Long-time family friend, Emalyn, planned the surprise party and flew in all the way from Key West. We wanted to bring her bright tropical personality into the party theme, so in addition to crunchy coconut shrimp with a tangy peach-orange marmalade, we mixed up a simple two-step grapefruit margarita. Try it at home with the recipe below!


Two-Step Grapefruit Margarita Recipe

Servings: 4

1 wedge of lime
2 teaspoons coarse margarita salt
1 pint grapefruit juice
1 ounce lime juice
8 ounces tequila
4 ounces triple sec
4 wedges of grapefruit

1. Rub the lime wedge around the rims of four margarita glasses and dip into salt.

2. Combine grapefruit juice, lime juice, tequila and triple sec in a blender (several ice cubes optional). Blend until well mixed and serve in salt-rimmed margarita glasses with a slice of grapefruit.

A Picnic to Remember: John Beerman’s Art Class

Hillsborough is ever the collective edge of talent from our prolific writers
to artists. On the new scene is landscapist John Beerman who has taken a break from teaching art in college and now offers private classes in Hillsborough, where he now resides. His classes are held in a dilapidated old blue and white filling station next to Walker's Funeral Home on the main drag.

On other days, we had the privilege of hanging out at Joe Rowand's fabulous home on old Highway 86. A recent Saturday at Joe's was an absolutely perfect setting for outdoor oil painting.

In addition to classes, our wonderful communal lunch was time
spent exchanging verbiage and sharing food. It was during one of these moments that we discovered one student raised bees. He brought us fresh honey, fig jam. We also savored chocolates from Matthew’s Chocolate Shop in Hillsborough; decadent and delicious.

Our final day together was beautiful fall weather. We concluded our paintings and celebrated with a fabulous feast. As a private chef and having been inspired by impressionist's painting of picnics, this was a special lunch to conclude our six weeks of study with John.

I would like to take this opportunity to share a recipe from a fellow student.
"Thank you Susan!"

Susan Nelson's fabulous Molasses Sugar Cookies

¾ cup shortening (2 ¼ sticks when doubling)

1 cup sugar

¼ cup molasses

1 egg

2 teaspoon baking soda

2 cups flour

½ teaspoon cloves

½ teaspoon ginger

1 teaspoon cinnamon

½ teaspoon salt

Melt shortening in a saucepan. Cool. Add sugar, molasses and egg. Beat well. Add dry ingredients. Chill. Form dough into balls. Bake on greased cookie sheet for 8-10 minutes at 375 degrees.

Even as an art major, I never learned as much about grids (yes, even “painting by numbers"), values and hues. John helped us to see colors and shapes as never before. He had us squint to view different interpretations of the scene we were creating. We all experienced “aha” moments very much as a preacher’s sermon touches our soul.

Our group had different and even eclectic backgrounds; a NYC cabernet singer, engineer to a mental health specialist. From other places, backgrounds all found common ground. We learned to interpret the beauty that surrounds us from our eye to the palette to the canvas.

Thank you John for your shared vision and experience.

For more information about classes with John Beerman: johnb280@aol.com

Christmas in LA …and a Taste of Algiers

Sister Karen, husband Bob Ireland and I ventured to Playa Del Rey to celebrate Christmas with Nephew Jonathan, wife Lu Lu and baby Owen. Our joy, of course was having a new baby in our small family, who occupied most of our attention and amazement. Owen got the most pressies and has a wardrobe to last him a year…and from Auntie Z, lots of Carolina blue from bib to toes.

From left to right: Owen in Christmas Lights; Nephew JP, his son Owen and wife Lu Lu at Playa Del Rey; Lu's Couscoussiere & Steaming Stew

Lu’s father, Claude Mesrour is Algierian and passed onto his daughter the love of this healthy Mediterranean cuisine. She has a beautiful copper couscoussiere and the night before Christmas Eve began the arduous task of preparing the couscous. I am including a recipe from Claude and adapted it so that you do not need a couscoussiere nor hours of prepping.

A Couscous Feast

2 T. Olive Oil
I large Onion, diced
1 T. minced Garlic
6 pieces of dark and white meat Chicken
*2 cups Chicken Stock
1- 9 oz. can Tomato Paste
3 - 28 oz. cans of diced Tomatoes
1 t. Cumin Powder
1 T. Salt
1 T. fresh Black Pepper
5 Bay Leaves
½ lbs. fresh Green Beans, cut into 1inch pieces
½ lbs. diced Carrots
½ lbs. diced Celery
½ lbs. diced Cabbage
1 can Garbanzo Beans, drained
Mild Peppers in Vinegar
Box of Couscous
Water or Chicken Stock
4 oz. Butter
Salt and Pepper to taste

Heat Olive Oil in skillet and sautéed Onions, Garlic. Add and sautéed Chicken pieces. Remove from heat.

In large stock pot, heat the Chicken Stock, Tomato Paste, diced Tomatoes, Cumin, Salt, Black Pepper. Bring to boil. Add Onions, Garlic, Chicken, Green Beans, Carrots, Celery, Bay Leaves. Simmer covered about 30 minutes. Add Cabbage and Garbanzo Beans and simmer about 30 minutes more.

Prepare Couscous as on Package.

*Chicken Stock: Take the carcass of a chicken. Place in stock pot with enough water to cover. Add a couple of chopped celery stalks, a cut up carrot, onion, garlic, salt and pepper to taste…and anything leftover for flavor, such as parsley, scallions and other savory herbs and spices. Homemade stock can be put into baggies and frozen. This is so easy to make and much better choice than canned stock and a money saver…and no MSG.

In large Soup plates, ladle first hot Couscous, then add the remaining ingredients. Offer pickled Peppers.

This is a meal unto itself, as good the next day for leftovers…and with very few calories.

Bon Appetit,

Zacki

Southern Peach-tini Recipe

Just in time for the 4th of July, The Merry Martini (our very own Kelly) has shared her original recipe for the Southern Peach-tini. Kelly's recipe was a top three finalist on The Food Network's Cocktail Showdown, featured on foodnetwork.com and nearly made it onto the TGI Friday's Summer Menu. Perfect when paired with BBQ on a hot summer night.

Southern Peach-tini recipe
1 oz vodka
1 oz lemonade
1 oz Iced Tea
½ oz Peach Schnapps

Mix and Enjoy!

Visit The Merry Martini for great gifts, accessories and entertaining items.

Trifle Tiramisu Recipe

Tiramisu Trifle

Serves 20

Ingredients
6 - 8oz packages cream cheese
2 cups confectioners’ sugar
2 cups heavy cream
1.5 cups coffee liquor
1.5 cups espresso
2 cups chocolate cake, crumbled
2 cups pound cake, crumbled
1 package Lady Fingers
Cocoa powder for decoration
Optional: Chocolate flakes for decoration

Directions
Whip together the cream cheese and 1.5 cups of confectioners’ sugar until smooth. In a separate bowl, whip cream and ½ cup confectioners’ sugar until stiff peaks form.
In a small sauce pan, bring the coffee liquor and espresso to a boil and then remove from heat.
In a trifle dish, layer chocolate cake, cream cheese, espresso sauce, and then repeat with pound cake. Add a layer of Lady Fingers, either horizontally or along the sides, and top or fill with additional layers. Continue layering until dish is full. Top with the whipped cream and dust with sifted cocoa powder. Optional: sprinkle chocolate flakes on top in addition to the cocoa.