Aroma Cucina

New Year's: Let's Drink Punch!

People are coming over, or you’re going to a house party. What’s an appropriate libation? Something that doesn’t require precision, can be made in batches, and won’t knock you or your guests on their fannys would be a good start.

Punch to the rescue! Yes, punch. Back in style, thanks to David Wondrich’s lovely book, “Punch”.

Punch, that communal libation, needs a new image.  It makes me think of 1950’s high school dances where someone snuck booze into the party. No, I’m not that old, I’ve only watched old movies. Our generation smoked pot. Hence my nostalgia for big crystal bowls with silly matching tea cups hanging on hooks on the rim of the bowl.

When did the idea of putting a delicious Champagne punch in a too small tea cup seem like a good idea?

Time for a make-over!

Here are two festive Bubbly Punch recipes, one a classic and one so modern it’s almost, nearly good for you.

*A note about the Champagne. These recipes date back to a time when Champagne wasn’t so expensive and you couldn’t find good alternatives like Prosecco or Cava. For these recipes, you only need to use a dry, sparkling, white wine.   But, we’ll keep calling it a Champagne punch because it sounds so ritzy.

The Ritz Champagne Punch
1 bottle sparkling white wine
1 1/2 cups lemon juice
3/4  cup simple syrup
1/2 cup Maraschino liqueur
1/2  cup Triple Sec
16 oz. Brandy
16 oz. Club Soda

Approx 16 servings.

Mix the lemon juice and simple syrup together and taste. If it is super sour, add more simple syrup until the mix is pleasantly tart.

Combine the lemon juice mixture, Maraschino, Triple Sec Brandy into a chilled pitcher and keep cold.

If you are juicing your own lemons, and of course you are, you may want to save 1 or 2 of the lemon skins to make the garnish. Cut the top and bottom off of the lemon and then core out the flesh of the lemon. Slit the lemon skin open and lay it on a flat cutting surface. Trim off any of the white pith, so you just have the lemon skin. It’s a little tricky, don’t get too crazy with this, just get as much of the white off as possible. Now roll the skin into a tight ball, and secure it with toothpicks. When it comes time to serve the cocktail, thinly slice the skin, and unroll the now-curly strips, placing one end over the edge of the glass and letting the unfurled skin dangle inside the glass.

In a champagne flute, add a small shot of soda water, a small shot of the booze and lemon juice mixture, and top with the sparkling wine.

If you don’t want to fuss at all, at the last possible moment, combine all of the ingredients in a large, chilled punch bowl and let the guests help themselves.

This punch could be called the double whammy: it’s very drinkable but very strong! Be warned.

And now, for our nearly healthy punch!

Midnight in Mumbai
2 bottles of sparkling white wine
4 oz. brandy
4 oz. cointreau
1 bag of frozen cranberries
2 thinly slice oranges
1-2 boxes of raspberries frozen into a block of ice

First, everyone must dress like an extra from a dance scene in a Bollywood movie. It totally sets the mood.

Clean the raspberries and place in a square plastic container. Fill the container with water and freeze.

When it is party time, add all of the ingredients into a large chilled punch bowl, float the raspberry block in the punch and start dancing!

 Happy New Year from Jude, Jeff, Raffaello and Dante!

New Year’s Resolution: Craft Cocktails at Home or Why Cocktails are Like Sex

It’s time to take the plunge and start making some creative cocktails at home. Discovering cocktails leads you down the same path as learning about sex:

*Infatuation:  you throw vodka and rum into everything, pretend your are Capt. Morgan and drink with wild abandon.

*Experimentation: oh, gin is good; scotch is interesting, what happens when I add some bitters to the mix!  

*Regrets: I went home with who?? I’ll never drink tequila again.

*Getting selective: no more dark Latin rums after 10:00 pm

*You are a Player: you know what you like, you control the situation. Your cocktails are complex, interesting and you know when to walk away.

And just like sex, you build up your repertoire of satisfying moves. Adding a garnish, finessing with bitters, whiffs of exotic flavors, all make for an enhanced cocktail experience.  You fall in love with the classics and understand why you can keep going back and never get tired of them; just like your mate.

Ease into the home bar slowly as you learn what you like and don’t like. Start grasping the fundamentals of balance: sour to sweet, sweet to bitter, strong to weak. Learn when to shake (anything with citrus), and when to stir, and when to break the rules. Make room in your freezer and clear a shelf in the cabinet, because it’s exactly like when your significant other started staying over all the time..they need some dedicated space of their own. Bottles, tools, ice, and nice cold glasses all need to be treated with respect.

To get you started, here are a seleciton of gin cocktails that will fast forward you into Player status in no time.
Do not make that “I don’t like gin” face! Gin is vodka infused with flavors. Get out of your rut and go taste some gin. Some of our fav’s are Hendricks that has a whiff of cucumber crispness, or a newcomer Death’s Door, or Bulldog. Each one has a unique botanical flavor. Vodka is like drinking water, nice, but why not go bigger?

I’ve talked about these cocktails before, but these are go-to cocktails around our house so I know they are tried, true, and delicious libations.

And what makes a cocktail a ‘craft’ cocktail, you ask? Attention to ingredients, just like you do with your cooking.  

There are a few cocktails tips that you need to know before you start shaking.
1) Cold is your friend. Our recommended method, is to agitate by shake or stir, rest for 45-60 seconds, and agitate again. Keep your glasses, your bar tools, your hootch in the freezer, if you can.
2) Measure, don’t eyeball. Even if you don’t have a nifty jigger, use one small glass as your unit of measure.
3) More than 2 cocktails and you will be useless the next day. You are responsible for your actions.

Start with the Italian national cocktail: Negroni.

Negroni
1 part gin
1 part Campari
1 part Sweet Vermouth
Stir, serve on the rocks and garnish with an orange wedge.

The Americano variation: replace the gin with sparkling water. Lighter, still delicious.
The Sbagliato: (it means mistake in Italian) replace the gin with Prosecco. Perfect in the summer, actually perfect anytime you have some open Prosecco around. 

Now watch what happens when you swap out the Campari for Sweet Vermouth, you have a Martinez. The bitter element is gone, the vermouth turns the drink a whiskey color, and the palate embraces the complexity.

Martinez
2 oz gin
1 oz Sweet Red Vermouth
1/4 oz Triple Sec or Cointreau
Dash Orange Bitters

Stir, serve with a slice of orange.



The Avatrix is a variation on a classic Aviation...light, lemony, with an elderflower sweetness. The Aviatrix comes directly from the talented mixologist Katie Loeb in Philadelphia.  In fact, I'll credit Katie with being the person who made me realize that there is more to life than a good glass of wine.

Avatrix
2 oz gin
1/2 oz Maraschino Liqueur
1/4 oz Lemon Juice
1/4 oz St. Germaine
Shake, rest, shake, serve

Maraschino Liqueur is not the cherry juice from those dyed, icky cherries! It’s a rich, profound liqueur made from the marasca cherry.
St. Germaine is an elderflower liqueur that is sweet and marvelous.

A classic Aviation has Creme de Violette liqueur instead of the St. Germain, but to be honest, that violette stuff is a lot like chewing on a bag of old Sen-Sen that your grandmother kept in her  pocketbook.

Then there is the French Pearl, created by Audrey Saunders. With it's tasty cousin, the Italian Pearl, invented by us in Montone, because limes are nearly impossible to come by and it's OK to substitute. Substitution is the love child of desire and necessity.

French Pearl
2 parts gin (Plymouth Gin is preferred)
3/4 part freshly squeezed lime juice
3/4 part simple syrup
Pernod rinse
1 mint sprig, lightly muddled
Shake, rest, shake and pour.

Simple syrup is equal parts sugar and water. We make it up in batches and keep it in the fridge. 
Muddling means lightly crushing the fresh mint in the bottom of the cocktail shaker. The classic beginner mistake: muddling the hell out of the mint. This causes two problems: the mint becomes bitter and you wind up with little tiny green bits of mint stuck your teeth. Then you spend the next few minutes compulsively licking your teeth because  you’re sipping partner has green bits stuck to his teeth and you don’t want to mention it because it will totally ruin the mood, so you keep wiping your teeth hoping he’ll get the hint.

The Italian pearl uses lemon juice and Pastis or Sambuca in place of the Pernod.

Pomeranian is a true craft-tail because you need to make your own grenadine syrup. Relax, it’s equal parts unsweetened pomegranate juice and simple syrup with a little dash of vodka or gin to keep it from going fermented.

Pomeranian
2 oz gin
1/2 oz lime juice, fresh squeezed, but you know that
1/2 oz St. Germaine
1/2 oz fresh grenadine syrup

Shake, rest, serve. It’s a beautiful color; just the right shade for cocktails around holiday time!  In fact, Jeff invented this lovely crowd pleaser one Christmas night a few years back.

And speaking of holidays, our next post well be some good New Year’s Eve libations. Merry & a Happy, indeed!

Crackling Prosciutto Wrapped Potatoes: Perfect for a Party

“What can I bring?”
 It is the holiday season after all!  As the words are coming out of your mouth, your brain is flipping thorough your stockpile of recipes.
What can I make that is awesome and quick because you know your ToDo list is more frightening than the thought of a fat man in a red suit stuck in your chimney. Seriously, who came up with that story? An overweight guy squeezing down a filthy dirty chimney?

Crackling Prosciutto Wrapped Roasted Potatoes to the rescue. Tasty, simple to make, pretty and transportable. What more could you ask for?

Ingredients
Scrubbed potatoes cut into bite size wedges
Strips of prosciutto to cover each potato wedge (an average slide of prosciutto will cover  3 to 4 potato wedges)
Grated parmigiano cheese
Sliced shallots
Olive oil

Bring a pot of water to a boil, large enough to hold all the cut potato wedges, and lightly salt the water.
Boil the potatoes until they are just about soft. Usually no more than 10 minutes.

Drain and run cold water over the potatoes. This stops the cooking process and it’s so much easier to work with cool potatoes instead of scalding hot ones.
Cut or tear the prosciutto into small strips and wrap a strip around each potato wedge.

If you are transporting: wrap the potatoes, and lay them into a plastic container with a cover. The less loose space in the container, the better, but don’t crush the potatoes.

I use the ‘caterer wrap’ to make sure nothing spills or leaks. Using plastic wrap, don’t just cover the top of the container, but literally wrap it around the container. Just like they do with suitcases at the airport. Nothing leaks out and nothing seeps in.

Peel and thinly slice 1 or 2 shallots. Mix with the grated cheese. You want a generous coating of cheese, enough to form a crust. Sprinkle a little salt and a generous amount of pepper into the cheese and mix thoroughly.
If you are transporting: put this cheese mixture into a plastic bag and seal it tight.

Ready to Bake:
Coat the bottom of your baking dish with a thin film of olive oil.
Arrange the prosciutto-potato wedges in a single layer in the baking dish. Use a pretty baking dish that can also be used to serve the potatoes.

Sprinkle the cheese mixture over the potato wedges and bake in a 375F/190C oven for approximately 15 minutes. You’ll know the dish is ready when the cheese is brown and crispy and the potatoes are hot.

Finish with a drizzle of good extra virgin olive oil.
Buon’appetito and enjoy your holidays!

Eating the NE Corridor: We gave thanks!

From New York City to Philadelphia to Baltimore to Washington NJ, we gave thanks. Thanks for family, thanks for friends who are extended family, and thanks for the memories to those who were not with us this weekend. Make no mistake, we ate and drank extremely well, but it was all about sharing.

Pre-Thanksgiving dinner at my cousin’s house has turned into a semi-annual event that is not to be missed. We all gather with choice wines in hand, and Jim and Zona turn out a 5 star meal.  One of the big hits of the evening: grilled pork tenderloin stuffed with figs and a Spanish blue cheese, served with a guava habenero sauce. Oh yeah!  The sauce was thick, rich and weighty, with a bracing kick of spice.

They have kindly shared the sauce recipe with us:
Ingredients:
                  12- 15 oz guava juice
                   2 heavy tsp. blackberry preserves or jelly
                   1 large shallot minced
                   1" piece of fresh ginger peeled and grated
                   1/4 cup honey
                   1/4 cup soy
                   1 good size habenero minced finely
 
Gently sauté the minced shallot in butter taking care not to brown the shallot.
Add the remaining ingredients and bring to a boil,  then reduce to low simmer.  
Add a butter/flour roux to thicken and cook for about an hour.
Refrigerate overnight and heat back up near a boil and and then strain the solids.

Our Baltimore Thanksgiving day tradition always starts off with a massive Oyster Rockefeller fiesta.  I see your face...”Oysters Rockefeller? That is so 1950's!” Which of course you are saying in your best "Honey Badger" voice.

If more people made this classic dish the way it should be made, you wouldn’t be making that face. Barely warmed oysters, topped with spinach, nuts and garlic, and sprinkled with grated cheese. The oysters are pulled out of the oven the instant the cheese bubbles.  The kind of perfection that people fight over! Serve with a cool glass of something sparkling.

We made our way back to Philadelphia on Friday where I had a taste epiphany: beer!


I’m one of the last holdouts in this craft beer craze that’s been going on, but I have seen the light at the fun and funky KraftWork Bar. Marvelously complex beers that are just crying out to be part of a cocktail, a dessert, or a little roast meat glaze. The idea flood gate has opened!

One last hurrah before the weekend was out: the annual Post-Thanksgiving Lobster fest featuring the best ceviche ever. Because, after all, there is always room for lobster, right?


Thank you to everyone who shared meals, laughter, wine, food and love with us this weekend!