Monday, November 16, 2009

What is the plural of daiquiri?

For our Blue Crush party, the house drink was the frozen daiquiri, adapted very loosely from Mark Bittman, but with less rum (to accommodate our guests who had to work the next day), and frozen limeade from concentrate substituting for fresh-squeezed lime juice and sugar.  We made pretty good work of a full pitcher.

Ingredients:
4 cups frozen strawberries
1 12 oz. container frozen limeade from concentrate
1 cup rum (Bacardi dark rum works well, but it probably doesn't matter)
Recipe:
Place ingredients in cuisinart or blender.  Puree.  Pour (carefully) into pitcher.  Drink.  Little paper umbrellas optional.

Sunday, November 15, 2009

The Devil's Lunch

I returned to the Lee Bros. cookbook today (I really hope somebody gets me this cookbook for Christmas when I have to give it back to the Miami Dade library) for deviled eggs.  Simple, but I'd been craving them.  And a little satisfying:  when I waved the platter into the living room, my wife said, "you made that!?"

Ingredients:
6 Eggs
3 Tbsp mayonnaise (the Lee Bros. recommend Duke's which deserves a post of its own)
1 Tbsp dijon mustard
1 tsp something spicy (they recommend hot sauce or pepper vinegar; I used jarred cherry peppers from Cento, because it's what I had)
dash salt
1/4 tsp garam masala
Chili powder (I used New Mexico Chili Powder from Rancho Grande)

Recipe: 
Boil the eggs in simmering water for 12-14 minutes.  (The water should be simmering rather than boiling super-rapidly to avoid cracking the eggs.)  Cool them in running water.  Take the shells off the eggs, cut them in half, and scoop out the yolks into a bowl.  Put the hollowed whites in the fridge or freezer to cool.
Add all the other ingredients except for the chili powder, and beat the yolk mixture into a smooth paste with a fork or a whisk.  Spoon them into the hollows in the whites. Dust with chili powder.  Eat!  (They're yummy, but remember, they're rich, so don't make yourself sick.  I made 6 so that others could sit in the fridge for snacks or lunch supplements throughout the week.

[In addition to the eggs, I had couscous salad-- leftover couscous and a few handfuls of chopped celery, radish, and jalapeno, tossed with an olive-oil-lime dressing.  They only key is to dress while the couscous is straight out of the microwave, to maximize absorption of the dressing.]