舞乙女 (Maiotome): Dreaming of Dancers

The Kate received a bottle of 紅乙女 (Beniotome, "young lady in crimson") sesame shōchū from her colleagues for her recent birthday. We debated what to make, starting with simple cocktails. Then I found this recipe for 舞乙女 (Maiotome, "dancing young lady"), a winning cocktail in 1984 Hotel Barmen's Association, Japan Competition:

• 20 mL Beniotome (Gold is what was specified)
• 15 mL Crème de Framboise
• 10 mL Cointreau (Probably can use other white Curaçao)
• 10 mL Grenadine Syrup
• 1 tsp Lemon Juice

Wet the lip of the cocktail glass with a lemon. Place the rest of the ingredients into a shaker, add some ice, and shake vigorously until the shaker is too cold to handle. Strain into the prepped glass. It's a short drink, and the aromatics of the Beniotome seems to have a short shelf life, so enjoy relatively quickly after pouring.

Despite its name, the shōchū itself is quite clear, so the crème de framboise and grenadine syrup add a fantastic red colour, and the shaken Cointreau turns cloudy, turning the ruby-red drink into something less transparent.

I didn't quite like the presentation in the cocktail glass, so into an ice wine glass it went for this shot, with some of its ingredients in the background:

I spent a bit of time before making the drink to set up this shot, as to not make the drink wait too long.

So I have a cold this weekend

This will be a quick entry, but I wanted to get these written down before the alcohol kicked in. I took it upon myself to make a couple of hot toddies. I don't know if they had any actual medical benefit, but it was nice to put a warm drink in my insulated travel mug (the one that reads, "This Might Be Vodka") and sip.

Recipe 1

• 1 oz rum (I used Plantation 5 year, which is from Barbados)
• 1 oz lemon juice
• 1 oz simple syrup OR 1 T honey (I actually used lemon syrup, but I don't expect everyone to have leftovers from making candied lemon peel)
• 8 oz hot water

Recipe 2

• 1 oz gin (Boodles was what I have in the house. I'm fond of Travis McGee)
• 1 oz lime juice
• 1 T + 1 t honey
• 8 oz hot water or lime tea (Numi makes a delicious one, but it's not easy to find in stores)

Recipe 3

• 1 oz brandy
• 1 T sugar (I used Sugar in the Raw)
• 8 oz black tea (I had an assam)

I'm pondering something with lemon ginger tea. Watch this space for more ideas. 

A rustic take on vodka sauce

I game on a lot of Saturdays. Sometimes it's D&D, sometimes it's board games. Of late, we've been working on putting Shadowrun characters together. If Austin doesn't fire up the grill or make chili, we usually send out to the pizza place. 

Not usually for pizza, though. Salads, calzone, sandwiches, wings. Most recently, a couple of us got penne vodka. It was merely okay. I thought I could do better, so I mulled it over for a week and this is what I came up with.

1 Cup diced yellow onion
2 T unsalted butter
4 oz diced pancetta
1/2 cup sun-dried tomatoes in olive oil
6 oz can of tomato paste. I use Contadina. The ingredients read: Tomatoes. Nothing else.
1.5 cups of your favorite vodka (I used Chopin. Nexx thinks I should have used a grain vodka instead of potato)
Juice of half a lemon
1 t black pepper
1 pound of your favorite pasta. Penne is traditional, but honestly, I find it boring. And if I'm putting this much effort into a sauce, I want something that holds on to it. I used fusilli, but as you wish.
approx 1 cup heavy cream
grated parmesan (optional)

Melt the butter in a skillet on medium-low heat. Stir in the onions, and keep stirring until they are your favorite shade of brown and well caramelized. Set aside.

Cut the sundried tomatoes into strips. Place in a bowl, a mortar & pestle, a food processer and smush them into a chunky paste. Set aside.

 In a sauté pan, cook the pancetta until crisp. Remove the pancetta, but leave about 1T of the fat in the pan. Deglaze the pan with 3/4 cup of the vodka and keep the heat down low. Scrape up all the brown bits.

When brown bits are all incorporated into the liquid, gradually add the tomato paste, the sun-dried tomatoes, the lemon juice, the onion and the pancetta. Stir well to combine, goose the heat up a little bit.

Start your pasta water boiling. Continue to stir the sauce. Add in the pepper and bring to a slow boil. Gradually add the rest of the vodka. Keep the temperature to where you have tiny bubbles, but not a rolling boil.

Cook pasta to your idea of doneness. Drain. Slowly stir in the cream until you think it's the proper color and taste. Return pasta to pot. Pour sauce over. Gently stir so you don't break the pasta and serve. Top with parmesan. Completely forget about the salad you were going to make.

I loved how this came out. The tomato wasn't too sweet, the chunky texture I'll experiment with a grain vodka. I tend to prefer potato because I find it to have a softer taste, and Chopin because it's Polish. 

What pasta would you put this over? Inquiring minds want to know.

Berry Season!

Strawberries are a beautiful things. Once, when I was waiting tables at a reception, they had strawberries on the buffet table. Nearby, I was operating the champagne fountain. A few glasses disappeared, to be placed under the table with strawberries in them. One of my co-workers caught me and before she could finish saying, "What the expletive are you doing?" I popped one in her mouth. Thus began my lifelong affair with strawberries and booze together.

Austin the former housemate has a patch in his garden that he diligently guards from the local wildlife. Sometimes the deer figure out ways around the netting. Sometimes he gets a nice crop. You can't do better than just-picked, you really can't. Even if it means fighting the deer and the bunnies.

The berries my sweetie and I ate last night were fresh, plump and juicy, though they were not from Austin's garden. While they're delicious just washed and munched on, I like to gild the lily a bit:

• 1 pint strawberries
• 1 teaspoon sugar (I used organic. Brown sugar also lovely here, especially with rum)
• 1.5 Tablespoons good dark rum (I used Plantation,which is made in Barbados. The best rums I've ever had have been in the Caribbean)

Hull the the strawberries and slice them into a medium-sized bowl. Sprinkle the sugar over the sliced berries and stir well with a rubber scraper. Add the rum and stir again. The rubber scraper will help pick up the liquid and spread the flavors around.

Let sit for a bit--I usually make this an hour or two ahead. Stir a few times every fifteen minutes or so. You'll notice liquid beginning to form in the bowl. Not quite syrup, not quite juice, just a luscious marriage of flavors.

Spoon into serving dishes. Add fresh cream if you wish or simply enjoy with a spoon.

I've been making this and variations thereof for at least fifteen years, using several different liqueurs--Chambord, Kahlua, Gran Mariner. The last adds a slightly earthy feel to it that I love. If you like a lighter flavor but still orangey, I recommend Cointreau. If I were to use champagne, I wouldn't add the sugar or cream. I just found a mini-bottle of Limoncello in my gaming bag, so that may be up next, if the berries are still fresh next week.

Questions? Comments? Death threats? I'd love to hear from you!