Two Rosy Cocktails with Fresh Citrus, Gin, and Campari

 

So, citrus and Campari (a red bitters) is a pretty delicious combination. Before I even knew what Campari was, I knew it was a perfect match with grapefruit; we have for a long time loved a sorbet flavor called Grapefruit Campari made by Blue Moon Sorbet in Vermont.

When we were cashing in on a gift certificate to a fancy restaurant this summer we went all out by having a drink at the bar beforehand and Gordie ordered off the menu a Buona Vita-- grapefruit juice, Campari, gin, and elderflower cordial. We both, but he especially, thought it was a great cocktail and soon had to look around online for proportions in order to make it at home. Thus was the Buona Vita (what a name, huh?) introduced to us.  

Then this Christmas I received Alice Waters's The Art of Simple Food II which is where I found the second drink recipe that I think I personally enjoy even more. The recipe was in the section at the end of the book about citrus and with recipes for using citrus in its prime. It was called a Cara Cara Campari Cocktail. Besides the alluring alliteration of the name, I knew I loved Cara Cara oranges since sometime last winter when I tasted various types of oranges at our Co-Op Food Store and learned that they were the most beautiful and most delicious, and as we are thrillingly on the cusp of citrus season again I happened to have a few of them in the house. 

 

Fruity, but not too fruity, the Campari and gin balance out and make more complex the fruitiness of the citrus. Both drinks are way too refreshing and drinkable for how strong they actually are. So, put your kid(s) to bed tonight, stir up one of these fancy cocktails, and make a toast to the beginning of citrus season and to a few more days off in the coming week!

 
Buona Vita

from online somewhere and inspired by the Falcon Bar at the Equinox Hotel

2 oz. gin

2 oz. grapefruit juice

1 oz. elderflower cordial (St. Germain)

1/2 oz. campari

optional: orange-peel garnish

Combine all, stir, add ice.

and

Cara Cara Campari Cocktail

from The Art of Simple Food II, by Alice Waters

2 oz. Cara Cara orange juice (or any orange juice I'm sure)

2 oz. sparkling wine OR 1 oz. gin (we used gin because we didn't have sparkling wine and recalled the other recipe above that this was similar to)

1 oz. Campari

optional: orange-rind garnish

Combine all, stir, add ice.

Sandwiches for Supper: Reubens

One of the ways I have found to manage to "make dinner" every night, is to plan tasty sandwiches when time will be short. I find a good sandwich really satisfying, and it feels like a treat because we don't generally pack sandwiches for lunches (we eat leftovers for lunch). We like caprese sandwiches, BLTs or a winter version of BLTs with roasted canned tomatoes, various paninis (panino?), Gill's-delicatessen-inspired grinders (Gill's trademark is piles of shredded cabbage instead of lettuce on their sandwiches, but they are just really great and have a cult-like following among Vermonters), tuna melts, and fancy or not-so-fancy grilled cheese. But this week we had Reubens. Made with good bread and with some vegetables on the side, it's a meal I don't feel half bad about.  

Reubens

small can sauerkraut
~1/6 lb. corned beef per sandwich (1/2 lb. for 3 sandwiches)
2 slices Swiss cheese per sandwich
1/2 C mayo mixed with 2 T ketchup to make Russian dressing (makes enough for more than 3 sandwiches)
rye bread, sourdough, or your choice

Butter both slices of bread for each sandwich. Place one butter down in a pan. Smear with dressing. Top with: one slice cheese, meat, lots of sauerkraut, the other slice of cheese, and last piece of bread also spread with dressing. Heat over medium-low heat, covered, until cheese melts and toasted, 3 - 5 minutes per side.

My Little Black Book

In July of 2012, inspired by the premise of a book I read, I started keeping a dinner diary. 

Several people I know plan meals for their family for a week at a time. I had done that occasionally over the years. But the idea in Jenny Rosenstrach's Dinner: A Love Story: It all Begins at the Family Table that was new and intriguing was that of not just making a plan for the week, but actually writing down each of those dinners and keeping a record of them in one place. I immediately thought it would be cool to look back at something like that over time to notice patterns in what we ate, and to remember good dishes we'd had that would have been forgotten otherwise. The idea of having such a structure to make cooking good dinners more manageable and consistent, really appealed to me-- just like a good classroom schedule and lesson plans help me stay on track in teaching. So I bought a blank lined book last summer and have used it ever since.

Over the weekend I glance at the upcoming week and take note of anything going on. Then I start a list of penciled-in dinner plans for each night of the week, taking into account those givens (e.g., late meeting Tuesday=something really simple, eating out on Saturday=no need to plan a meal). The process I like best is to leave the "diary" open on a counter over the course of a day or so and jot dinners down as I think of them to fill in the coming week-- finding inspiration from something I read, a photo in a magazine, a glimpse of a coworker's lunch, a memory of a favorite something we haven't had in a while. 

I've also started shopping once a week only, usually Mondays, with list in hand based on the dinner plans. I used to shop whenever we were running out of stuff or when I realized I needed ingredients for something, meaning I would be in the store sometimes three or four times a week. For a person who doesn't like errands, this wasn't a happy fact. It's now blessedly rare that I need to stop at the store more than once a week. 

Each morning I glance at the dinner plans to remember what's up that night. I sometimes do a step or two of prep before leaving for work. It is simple to take meat out early in the morning, or quick pickle some onions, or make pizza dough, or wash veggies. When I walk in the door at the end of the day I have a game plan and know what tasks still need to happen. 

Obviously this dinner-diary approach isn't for everyone...

• It might seem a bit anal retentive. You may not want to tell people you do this.   
• It hinders spontaneity a bit, since there is already a plan written down for the day's meal. 
• What we eat for the week is a direct result of how motivated and creative-- or not-- I'm feeling several days beforehand when I planned the meals. 

But I really like it...

• I have a three-year-old I get just a couple hours of time with on weekdays. It is because I want to make that little chunk of time count that I value this way of approaching cooking. I don't have to piddle away time staring blankly into the fridge at 5:45 wondering what to cook. Instead, I usually know what we're having, and know when I can spend some time before dinner sitting and doing a floor puzzle with him. It also better prepares me to allow him to help me cook, which is also quality time. 
• When I think of dinners in week-long chunks, I have better perspective on what we are eating overall (i.e. I'll consciously not plan more than one meal with chicken in a week). It causes me to vary the types of meals we have more in general. 
• The diary has helped me to fall into some helpful routines. We somewhat regularly have pizza on Friday nights. So it's just a matter of thinking of a couple of yummy topping combinations and jotting those down. We sometimes like to save a sort of nicer dinner for Saturday nights if we're at home. I know I can let those meals be something that can take some rising or marinating time or prep time. With these general routines already in place, planning meals is more of filling in a framework rather than starting at square one for every day. 
• When I randomly think of something yummy midweek ("Let's have fondue sometime soon!"), I jot it down on a sticky note and put it in the front of the book. When I open the book to plan for the next week a good handful of recent ideas are right there and just could be plugged into an appropriate day. (A "fondue" sticky note has been in there a while, I have to admit.)
• When I am at a loss for what to cook, I can browse the book backwards and review what I have cooked in the last several months and just repeat things after it's been a while. Or, in August 2013 I could look back at August 2012 to see what we were eating when these same things were in season last summer.
• If someone is coming to dinner I can glance back to what we had the last time they were over (I haven't actually done this much yet, but it seems like a good idea).
• The book would be a logical place to note somewhere in the back any allergies, likes, or dislikes of friends or family in order to remember those when planning what to cook for them. 
• In the summer the menu planning is even easier because I start with the items in our weekly CSA box and in the garden and plan meals around those, just adding whatever additional items I'll need to the grocery list. 
• What we eat on Tuesday is not dependent on how stressed I am after a staff meeting because the thinking has already been done from a better state of mind. 
• And because the thinking has already been done, all I have to do on those weeknight evenings is come home and follow the plan and try to enjoy the process of cooking. This is maybe the most amazing thing of all to me: when I'm driving home and thinking ahead to dinner, I find myself looking forward to it, almost as if someone else is going to make it for me. The work of conceiving dinner is apparently, to me, the bulk of the effort in cooking. 
• When one or both of us has evening commitments, the meals I plan in the book are decidedly simple-- grilled cheese with pesto/tuna melts/simple pasta-- or they are made ahead and stored in the fridge or freezer-- soup/quiche/casserole-- or they are occasionally take-out. Because I deliberately choose certain meals for nights we'll be shorter on time, they end up still being decent and tasty meals that I am happy to eat.

When I look back through the diary of the past year, it serves as a barometer of what our life was like at any given time. There is stretch of time in August 2012 that is a mess in the diary of different colored pens, words crossed out, and arrows; my family was struck with tragedy in mid August and because my husband and I live near the hospital, we had a lot of family members staying at our house for a couple of weeks. While there was a lot of grieving, there was also a lot of special family time, including a lot of big meals together. Like everything else at that time, my week of dinner plans were forgotten completely. But after the fact, I went back and crossed out my original plans and wrote in the meals I had made instead that more easily fed a crowd, as well as my uncle's clam chowder he made one night, the goulash my aunt brought, the chili my cousin made, and the lasagne a friend dropped off, because I like to be able to remember all that. Even when the meal does change at the last minute from what I had planned, I sort of like keeping the record accurate.

With cooking dinner, as with many things, I think it's helpful to be proactive. The dinner diary feels like a boon to our cooking and eating and I expect to keep it up. I'm curious if others do anything like this-- or if you just think I'm crazy-- and/or what other routines you use to help you enjoy cooking and dinnertime more in your house.

Fall!

I took a sourdough-bread-making class at King Arthur.

Willem and I checked out Windy Ridge Orchard (and of course, their doughnuts) on one of our last summer days together.

Willem following Tai's lead and learning to balance on his balance bike

We were lucky enough to get to participate in a cake tasting with Meg and Matt before their wedding.

Cousins

Willem started preschool! It seems to be a good fit for him.

Garlic harvest!

We went on a last-hurrah-of-summer Labor-Day-weekend trip to Mount Washington.

A nice German couple was willing to take our picture at the highest point in the northeast. Unfortunately, Willem is displaying his charming new habit of hiding from the camera.

We resorted to tickling to keep him awake while on the road on vacation.

This was Willem's very favorite part of Story Land.

Meg and Matt got married!

We went to an apple orchard with a petting zoo and Willem was obsessed with trying to pet the bunnies (no easy task).

Rock jumping

Willem was pretty grumpy about having to put on a tie, on top of being woken from his nap early, to go to Steve and Winnie's wedding.

Thankfully, melon and proscuitto were served at cocktail hour.

Making a bird house with my dad

Playing at "his stump," one of his favorite walk destinations

Practicing his police-officer get up for Halloween

Chicken Curry with Boys

I bought this serving piece in 2007 when we were on our honeymoon in St. Lucia. We were in a market and the woman selling them mistook my quiet looking as a bargaining technique. I was literally just standing there looking at the pretty wooden pieces and thinking about if I could use one for anything and she pounced on me, announcing rapidly lower and lower prices, me not playing a role in this conversation and just wishing I could browse in peace, until I pretty much couldn't pass up the price she worked herself down to and felt the need to buy it just to get away. But I am glad I was such a savvy bargainer because I am actually quite fond of it. The only thing I have ever used the piece for is to serve the "boys" along with curry and rice. I'm not much for one-use kitchen acquisitions but when it is this pretty, and this perfect for its one use, I make exceptions. 

I first heard of the idea of curry with boys when my mother in law made it for me years ago. (I am told that calling the side dishes "boys" comes from the fact that many boys were needed to serve the different condiments for the curry.) I immediately loved it-- so colorful with so many different flavors and textures. I'm a big food mixer. Even when I have a meal made up of separate components (steak, potatoes, vegetable), I combine every bite with a bit of something else. So this, a meal all about combinations, is perfect for me. Also, I love one-dish meals, as you can probably tell from the count of 20 such recipes with that label on this blog. It's sort of funny to call a recipe featuring nine little dishes in the above photo alone "one-dish." Apparently for me, the dish count of a meal has to do with the number of things I have to dream up/plan for, vs. actual number of dishes. So, curry with boys: one dish.

I'm not deeply attached to any curry recipe itself, and am certainly not experienced in making curries at all. But this (cheating, not authentic at all) one that I found on a blog was good and easy. (Feel free to share with me if you have a favorite that's better!) But I mostly wanted to share the colorful idea of the boys because it's a meal that makes you smile.   

 

Chicken Curry with Boys

Chicken Curry

slightly adapted from savour-fare.com

~2 T butter

1 1/2 apples, finely chopped

1/2 an onion, finely chopped

1 clove garlic, finely chopped

2 T flour

3 t curry powder

1 t+ salt

1 C milk

1 C chicken broth

~1 lb cooked, chopped chicken

Melt butter in a large saute pan. Add apple, onion, and garlic, and cook over medium low heat, covered, till onions are translucent, ~10 minutes.

Add flour, curry powder, and salt. Cook and stir a couple minutes. 

Add milk and chicken broth. Cook, stirring occasionally, until sauce has thickened, about 15 minutes. 

Add chicken and heat through. Serve over rice with boys at the table to mix and match as you please.

Boys 

Serve any number of the following in individual little dishes:

• diced celery
• diced carrot
• chopped tomatoes
• raisins
• hard-boiled egg whites, chopped
• hard-boiled egg yolks, chopped
• chutney
• peanuts
• grated coconut
• sunflower seeds
• chopped parsley

Butternut Squash Lasagne

There's nothing like the occasional pleasure of having a lasagne made ahead and just sticking it in the oven and doing something else for an hour while dinner readies itself. This is very very tasty with the earthy deep flavor of butter and sage. I've harvested no fewer than a dozen butternut squash from my garden, so it's a key meal in the rotation this fall, along with butternut squash risotto and roasted vegetable pizza, two of our other favorite ways to use squash.

Butternut Squash Lasagne 
from marthastewart.com

~3 1/2 lbs. butternut squash, peeled, seeded, and cut into 1-inch pieces
2 T extra-virgin olive oil
Coarse salt and freshly ground pepper
1 lb. whole-milk ricotta cheese
1/2 C heavy cream
2 large egg yolks
1/2 lb. mozzarella, grated (2 cups)
Freshly grated nutmeg
2 T unsalted butter
1/3 C loosely packed fresh sage leaves, coarsely chopped
1 1/4 C chicken or vegetable stock

lasagne noodles, cooked
4 oz. finely grated Parmesan (1 1/4 cups)

Preheat oven to 425. Toss squash, oil, and 1 teaspoon salt on a baking sheet. Season with pepper. Roast until light gold and tender, 25 to 30 minutes. Let cool.

Reduce oven to 375. Combine ricotta, cream, yolks, mozzarella, and a pinch of nutmeg in a medium bowl. Season with salt.

Melt butter in a small saute pan over medium-high heat. As soon as it starts to sizzle, add sage, and cook until light gold and slightly crisp at edges, 3 to 4 minutes.

Place squash in a medium bowl, and mash 1/2 of it with the back of a wooden spoon, leaving the other 1/2 in whole pieces. Gently stir in sage-butter mixture and stock. Season with salt and pepper.

Layer in a 9-cup baking dish in this order:

3/4 cup of ricotta mixture

a layer of noodles. 

1/2 of the butternut squash mixture

a layer of noodles

1 cup of ricotta mixture

Repeat layering once more (noodles, squash, noodles, ricotta)

Sprinkle Parmesan over top

Place baking dish on a rimmed baking sheet, and bake until cheese is golden and bubbling, 30 to 35 minutes. Let stand for 15 minutes before slicing and serving.