COCKTAILS AND COMFORT FOOD

ON ELECTION NIGHT

With election night coming up, what is the perfect menu? Who knows, but it might involve macaroni and cheese. The French chef kind where the 90% cooked macaroni is soaked in cream overnight and the cream then used to make the white (Bechamel) sauce.

But whatever the choice, drinks and comfort food for celebration or commiserating, comfort will be important for all.

And please don’t bring up the old rag about cocktails before having a meal destroying one’s palate.

So does toothpaste, but a Negroni is a lot more fun.

Jeremiah: Gin & Tonic

You might wonder why rive a recipe for a drink that everyone knows. I give it here because the difference between an unthinking pour and the right way is enormous if defined by pleasure.

When I look back at more personal favorites, at passions that have happened by accident, I remember the terrace of the Oliver Messel suite at the Dorchester Hotel in London one pink and blue evening in 1958, and a cocktail party given by English friends before my return to America the next day. That is when I discovered the perfect gin and tonic. To this day, on a hot evening of a harried day, a tall Waterford crystal glass filled to the brim with ice, a full measure of dry gin, pulp or thin slice of lemon, cold Schweppes tonic water can bring, for a while, perfect peace.

For maximum refreshment it is important to keep the drink as bitter as possible, so as dry a gin as possible (I like Gibson’s or Beefeater), and as non-sweet as possible a tonic (I recommend Schweppes)

Put a small bouquet of fresh violets in the top of the glass and drink through the flowers and it will be a lasting peace.

Yield: 1 Cocktail

Ingredients:

2 ounces                Dry Gin

4 to 6 ounces         Tonic water depending on taste and the size of the glass

½ lemon                 Pulp only

Preparation

Prep time 2 minutes

Fill a tall, chilled glass to the top with ice. Add the gin, then the tonic and lemon.

Variation: You can also add a few dashes of Angostura bitters for flavor, color, and aroma.

 Jeremiah: Classic Margarita

After my first year at Chez Panisse, I went to recuperate in Yelapa, a little fishing village south of Puerto Vallarta. There I would lie in a hammock and watch through a bougainvillea hedge the day tourist boat arrive and leave, a process that consumed about six margaritas. The cocktails were perfection: freshly squeezed lime juice, ordinary white tequila, and sugar syrup, no salt on the glass, and very, very cold. The salt was supplied by the occasional dip in the turquoise ocean. Coming back to the hammock with the salty tropical water still dripping down my face, I’d be handed a fresh cold margarita, and a minute portion of the seawater on my lips became incorporated in the cocktail.

Years later when I sold San Francisco restaurant Stars I ended in Baja’s luxurious Las Ventanas al Paraiso for more recuperation. Minutes after my arrival I was at the empty pool bar ordering a margarita. I watched the bartender make it – bottled lime juice, a Mexican version of Triple Sec, and very expensive anejo tequila. I asked if I could teach him my version. When the answer was yes, I showed him ripe limes squeezed into the glass, Triple Sec he found in storage, and normal white tequila like Sauza. We both drank five. No one else was there or watching.

Yields 1 cocktail

10 minutes

Ingredients:

2 ounces                White tequila 

 1ounce                  Triple Sec

1/2 ounce              Freshly squeezed lime juice

Fill a chilled cocktail shaker with ice. Add the tequila, Triple Sec, and lime juice. Shake for 10-15 seconds and pour into an “up martini glass taken from the freezer. With or without salt on the rim of the glass is entirely up to you.

Curtis: Grapefruit and Jalapeno Margarita

It is usually boiling hot in Sacramento in the summer, and tired of a failing air conditioner, my best friend and I took refuge on the front porch for the cocktail hour. We were both working as bartenders at one of the local Hillstone restaurants, so an obvious point of conversation was how to improvise one the classic margaritas we were sipping.

A tree off to the side of the house laden with grapefruit gave us the idea and some chilies in the kitchen did the rest. We served them in chilled champagne “coupe” glasses because after all the testing of the recipe we were in a festive mood.

Yields 1 cocktail

Ingredients:

                              Sea salt

2 ounces                silver tequila

2 1/2 ounces          fresh grapefruit juice

1ounce                   fresh lime juice

1 tablespoon          agave syrup

1-3 slices                fresh jalapeno chili (depending on how spicy you want your drink)

Instructions:

Prep time: 5 minutes  

Moisten the rim of your glass with lime juice, and dip all or half of the rim in the salt. Keep the glasses chilled. Combine all the ingredients in a cocktail shaker and fill with ice. Shake until combined and then strain into a chilled glass filled with fresh ice. The longer you shake the drink, the spicier it will be come. Add a slice of jalapeño for garnish.

Curtis: Mezcal Old Fashioned

Jeremiah and I were enjoying the evening sunset by the pool at our ocean-side apartment on the south coast of Puerto Vallarta. We were struck by thirst. ‘Let’s make Old Fashions.’ Then I realized we’d ran out Bourbon, their main component. But we did have Mezcal, so I thought hmmm…. Why not give it a try? The result was a smokier and delicious version on the classic Old Fashioned. It’s been one of our favorite cocktails ever since.

A few days later we were dinning at Joe Jack’s Fish Shack in the center of town, and the bartender asked what we’d like. We ordered Mezcal Old Fashions. I walked him through how we had made them. His were perfect and delicious and so much so that Jack, the owner, stopped by and wanted to try one as well. Then for a long time after it was on the menu “JT’s Mezcal Old Fashioned.” 

Yields 1 cocktail

Ingredients:

1 teaspoon             Agave or simple syrup

2 dashes                 Angostura bitters

2 ounces                Mezcal

Orange twist

Instructions:

Prep time: 2 minutes

Put the agave or simple syrup, Angostura bitters and mezcal into a chilled “bucket” glass and stir. Fill with ice cubes. Garnish with an orange twist. 

Curtis: Black Velvet     

Ten years ago, when I was working as a bartender at the Auberge du Soleil in the Napa Valley there were often many celebrities and often some, by Sunday morning, were in need of some hair of the dog.

One, the daughter of a legendary American singer arrived glamorously with entourage by helicopter. They spent the afternoon at the bar, and at dinner she was headfirst into the soup. At the end of the night in the by then empty restaurant, we bartenders poured ourselves Cristal champagne mimosas. At the time Auberge Cristal for $100 a glass, but any left over at the end of our shift would have been flat by morning. Out came the paper cups and orange juice for all the staff. A fine way at two in the morning to look forward to being back at work behind the bar by eleven to be nurses for the famous. Scheduled for the next morning, I knew we would have to have some serious next-morning remedies to get the celebrities vertical again. I decided on Black Velvets to get them through brunch.

Advance Time: 30 minutes chilling time                                    

Preparation Time:  5 mins

Serves 2

1 bottle                  Champagne or dry sparkling wine

1 12-ounce can      Draught Guinness

To chill the Guinness and champagne at least half an hour before you want to make the Black Velvets and to get the most visual effect making them, fill an ice bucket half-full of ice and then add enough cold water to come up within 8 inches or so from the rim of the bucket. Put the wine bottle and the can of Guinness in the ice bucket, drape a large, white, starched and iron napkin or hand towel over the top of the bucket and, but for the most effect possible, bring to the table or kitchen counter – wherever.

Take the wine out of the bucket, wrap it in the napkin, and open the bottle. Pour half the Guinness very slowly into each chilled glass. Let it settle one minute, and then very slowly pour 2 ounces of the wine in the stout, leaving an inch from the surface of the now Black Velvet and the rim of the glass. 

Safety Net:  If you pour too fast and the Black Velvet starts to froth over the rim of the glass, pour the mixture into larger glasses and add a very little of the stout and then the wine

Curtis: Carajillo

An Affogato is one of the world’s most simple and superb desserts. Rich vanilla ice cream with hot espresso, but another jolt of pleasure after a long lunch is a cocktail without the ice cream. Mexico’s Carajillo.

There are a lot of “farm to table” restaurants now, and some of them even have farms. One of the most inspiring, with ingredients for both the food and drinks menus grown in a huge garden below the terraced open-air restaurant and bar is Los Tamarindos, just outside San Jose del Cabo in Baja California Sur. Enrique Silva, the owner, gave us Carajillos after lunch, the Licor 43 to add to an already mellow afternoon, and the coffee to get us back safely along the dirt road to town.

You need only two ingredients, and the preparation couldn’t be simpler. If you can’t find Licor 43 at your local market or wine store, it’s readily available online. You will need 8-ounce glasses.

Yield: 1 cocktail

Ingredients:

2oz              Espresso or very strong coffee

2 oz              Licor 43, a sweet Spanish liqueur

Instructions:

Prep time: 5 minutes

The usual method is to prepare 2 ounces of espresso or strong coffee and let cool for a few minutes. Add 4 large ice cubes to your glass. Pour 2 ounces of liquor 43 into the glass. Then slowly add the espresso or coffee. The espresso or coffee will float to the top of the glass, and you can mix it in or just drink it all through the coffee. I personally prefer to add the ingredients into a cold shaker filled with ice, shake for 1 minute and then strain the cocktail over fresh ice or in a ‘martini up” glass.

NEW ORLEANS CRAB GRATIN

Simple to make and will wow your friends. It will take thirty minutes to prepare the white sauce (Béchamel), but that can be done the day before and kept refrigerated.

The whole thing can be cooked and reheated hours later or the next day, and it’s almost better that way. Some rinsed and soaked capers are a nice touch. Use the best quality cheeses you can find.

Serve it with sliced baguette for dipping, or even with potato chips.

Yields 4-6 as an appetizer.

Ingredients:

1/2 cup bechamel

1/2 cup heavy cream

1/2 cup grated gruyere cheese

1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese

1/4 cup grated mozzarella cheese

1 lb (pound) fresh jumbo lump crab meat

1 cup fresh white bread crumbs, no crusts preferably fresh from white bread. no crusts

1 stick unsalted butter

kosher salt

fresh ground black pepper

Instructions:

Heat the oven to 400°F. Put the béchamel, heavy cream, and the cheeses in a small saucepan and heat only until the cheeses begin to melt, stirring until they are completely mixed. Remove from heat.

Put the crab meat in a mixing bowl, pour over the white sauce mix and fold in thoroughly but gently, not breaking up the crab meat. Season with salt and pepper. The cheeses may have enough salt by themselves.

Put the breadcrumbs in a little bowl, melt the butter, pour over the crumbs. Mix thoroughly and salt lightly.

Put the crab into the gratin dish and spoon the breadcrumbs evenly over the top.

Put the gratin dish in the oven, and bake for about 15 minutes until the white sauce begins to bubble and the breadcrumbs turn golden. Remove from the oven. Let cool for a few minutes, then serve!

MUSHROOM SOUP

A puree of white and cepe mushrooms, lightly creamed, and served with a dollop of the cardamom and chipotle chili flavored whipped cream on top.

Equipment needed: Food processor, mixing bowls, spice grinder, whisk.

Ingredients:

2 pints                    chicken stock

2 pounds                white ‘button’ mushrooms

½ cup                     dried cepes/porcini soaked in water 4 hours

6 cloves                 peeled fresh garlic

1 cup                     half and half

1 tsp                       ground cardamom from whole seeds

½ tsp                      chipotle chili paste

1 cup           `         whipping cream

                              salt, freshly ground black pepper

Put the mushrooms, the cepe water, and the garlic in the chicken stock, bring to a boil, add a little salt, and simmer for 20 minutes.  Strain, reserving the liquid.

Puree the mushrooms with half the liquid, adding more to get the consistency of heavy cream. Add the half and half and heat again, but do not boil. Season.

Meanwhile add the cardamom and chipotle to the whipping cream and whisk until the cream has stiff peaks.

POBLANO CHILI STUFFED EGGS

Few dishes can claim to show all the influences in the cooking of the American continent as well as stuffed eggs! 

In Spanish and French New Orleans  stuff them with smoked oysters; in Southwestern Tex-Mex and the Gulf of Mexico with Ancho chili puree mayonnaise or with red and green Poblano chilies; in Italian and Portuguese New England with lobster scraps (and its liver tomalley, and any fat that lines the shell) after buying lobster for a main course at another meal; in Mediterranean African Florida with cumin, mint, salt preserved lemons, pistachios or with grilled spicy sausages, almonds and mint; and in Cuban Florida: stuffed eggs with smoked marlin and almonds.

The stuffed eggs below are delicious by themselves, but served with smoked sturgeon, smoked eel, or smoked salmon and hot buttered garlic toasts, they are celestial.  Stuffed with a puree of black truffles added to the mashed yolks and they need no accompaniment.

If you want less heat in the following recipe, use the closely related Mulato.  Here I have garnished the eggs with Ancho chile powder since the Ancho is a dried Poblano and adds another level of flavor.

Serves 4-6

Ingredients:

16 large                  eggs

2 large                   fresh poblano chilies

½ cup                     sour cream

2 tablespoons         Hellman’s mayonnaise

1 teaspoon             ground cumin

pinch                     ground cardamom

2 tablespoons         fresh mint leaves, finely chopped

pinch                     salt

                              Ancho chili powder

Instructions:

Put the eggs in a heavy pan and cover them with cold water by one inch.  Then bring to the point just before a boil, remove from the heat, cover, and let stand 10 minutes. Then run cold water over them, adding ice if you are in a hurry, until they are cool enough to peel. 

Roast the chilies over a fire on over a gas stove until the skin is charred all over.  Put them in a plastic bag just large enough to hold them, twist the top closed, and leave the chilies for 30 minutes.  Take them out, cut off the top and bottom, flatten out the chilies:  on the inside scrap off the ribs and seeds and on the outside scrape off the skin.  Save any juices and strain.

Peel the eggs, cut in half lengthwise, remove and mash up the egg yolks with the sour cream, mayonnaise, cumin, cardamom, mint, and chili juices.  Add half the salt, mix, and taste.  Add more salt if desired. 

Stuff the whites with the yolk puree, and sprinkle with the chili powder.