Fried Squash Blossoms

I love that you can actually SEE the salt crystals on these little guys. They were SO SO SO SO good.

Oh.

My.

God.

Why do I keep playing the “I wonder what else we could fry” game? It’s becoming a problem. These little buggers are so easy and so delicious. Some would say too easy. And too delicious.

And also surprisingly light?!?

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Ingredients

Makes 24 stuffed squash blossoms

• 24 squash blossoms

• 150 g fresh ricotta

• 50 g heavy cream

• 1 g | 1/2 tsp lemon zest

• 3.5 g kosher salt

• 225 g all purpose flour

• 250 g cold sparkling water

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Recipe

Filling

• 150 g fresh ricotta

• 50 g heavy cream

• 1 g | 1/2 tsp lemon zest

• 1 g kosher salt

Add all ingredients to a bowl and mix throughly. Transfer to a freezer strength Ziploc bag, remove as much air from the bag as possible, and reserve in the refrigerator. Use regular strength bags at your own risk. They may spring a leak when you pipe the filling into the blossoms.

Batter

• 225 g all purpose flour

• 2.5 g kosher salt

• 250 g cold sparkling water

Add flour and salt to a large bowl and mix. Add sparkling water and mix. Reserve in the refrigerator.

To complete

Prepare a tray to hold the filled squash blossoms. I use baking sheets lined with parchment paper.

Snip off one of the corners of the bag containing the ricotta filling. Snip off a smaller part of the corner than you think you need, as removing too much will create too large of an opening which will make sliding the tip into the blossom more difficult.

Pipe one tablespoon of the ricotta filling into each squash blossom. Gently squeeze the base of the blossom to open it. Alternatively, and much less hygienically, you can gently blow into each blossom to open it.

Add a few inches of olive oil to a pan and heat to 375˚F. Use a pan deep enough that the oil doesn’t go over 1/3 the height of the pan, but not SO large that you’re using gallons of oil. I use a 1.5qt sauce pan.

Line a baking sheet or plate with paper towels. This will be where the hot blossoms will go when they’re finished frying.

Dredge each squash blossom through the batter and gently drop into the hot oil. Work in batches, being careful to not overcrowd the pan for two reasons: 1, they’ll stick together and, 2, the oil temp will drop too low. While you’re frying, adjust the burner to keep the oil temperature at 375˚F. Fry until golden brown, about 3 minutes. Use a spider or slotted spoon to carefully remove each blossom to the prepared sheet. Immediately sprinkle with kosher salt.

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Note

This is part of a cookbook proposal that’s out on submission right now. If you’d like to see what a book proposal looks like, click here.

Got a little something on your … blossom… 😐

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Apple Cider "Mimosa"

Cheers

Recipe

• Granulated sugar, as needed

• Ground cinnamon, as needed

• Apple cider, as needed

Mix enough granulated sugar and ground cinnamon to cover a small appetizer plate. Pour a little apple cider on another small appetizer plate, enough to cover the plate with 1/8” of cider. Dip the rim of each wine glass in the cider, then into the sugar and cinnamon mixture.

• 1 quart good apple cider.

• 1 bottle sparkling wine, inexpensive but tasty. DO NOT BUY KORBEL. or Andre. That stuff is California’s finest sparkling whiz. An inexpensive French sparkler—like Delacroix—is perfect. Or a Prosecco. Something in the $10 to $15 range is fine.

• Cinnamon sticks, as needed

Pour one and a half ounces apple cider into each wine glass. Top with four and a half ounces sparkling wine. You can eyeball it if you prefer.

Garnish with a cinnamon stick.

Travel Guide: Hudson, NY

Wiff and I love Hudson because it’s a short drive from the city, it’s got great food and drink, and it’s haunted.

Our first visit was on Halloween. And as we walked back from the restaurant to the hotel we came across the house pictured here. It was rundown, dilapidated. And obviously haunted. There was a black cat in the front yard. I assumed the house was his. After exchanging pleasantries, talking briefly about our dinner and how it nice the weather had changed from summer fall, he followed us the half mile back to our hotel, demanding pets along the way.

Hudson has several great restaurants. The food in the town is awesome. The produce is super tasty, I think, because it comes from local farms. Normally I care zero percent about eating local, but in this case the taste is perceptibly better. I’m still swooning over the baby kale from Swoon’s salads.

Drinks are equally fun too. WM Farmer & Sons has the most interesting cocktail program. Go at 5pm for happy hour—it’s the best in town. Two words: DOLLAR OYSTERS!?!??! They’re always fresh and briny. Two more words: bone marrow. We get it every time. The menu changes every season or so, but they don’t change every item completely. For instance, they always have aa bone marrow, but they change the preparation. During our last visit, they’d changed the preparation to include snails. They were magnifique.

Getting there

Rental car. I love Silvercar. So much more than other rental car companies. Despite my top tier status with Hertz, Silvercar’s experience blows Hertz’ out of the water. Everything is easy with Silvercar. You walk up, scan your car with your phone, get in, and go. All Silvercar cars are fully loaded Audi A4s, Q5s, and Q7s. And they rock. Driving a Q5 for $64/day beats driving a Corolla for $50/day every day.

Pro tip: If you click THIS LINK you and I will both earn $25 toward our next Silvercar rental.

The Train. Hudson is 2 hours north of NYC by train. And the train station is across the street from the two lodging options below. How easy is that!?!

Where to stay

• The Wick.

• WM Farmer & Sons. (UPDATE 11/20/19: we LOVED our stay at WM Farmer & Sons. I definitely recommend if you’re in the mood for more of a B&B feel.)

• That’s about it.

Dining Options

• WM Farmer & Sons. Happy hour is dollar oysters (!). They’re always good. Really fun cocktail program.

• American Glory. I love that name. Ribs and whiskey are the reason to go.

• Swoon Kitchenbar. Two words: Deep Fried artichokes. [I’m counting deep and fried as one.]

• Oak Pizzeria Napoletana. Excellent pizza. Great wine list.

• Fish & Game. We have NOT been here, but everyone says good things so I’m adding it.

Local hikes

• Artist’s Rock, Sunset, and Newman’s Lodge

• Kaaterskill Falls to Inspiration Point

Sun Dried Tomatoes, EVOO, Homemade Ricotta, Toast

Recipe

Coming soon!

Chicken Croquetas

Makes 32-36 balls

150 g, 1 1/2 cups Spanish onion, 1/4" diced
114 g butter, 8 tbsp
375 g, flour, (about 2 1/2 cups)
5 g, 5 tsp kosher salt
1000 g, ~1 L, 4 cups milk
300 g chicken
Flour, as needed (1 1/2 cups)
2 large eggs, beaten
2 cups Panko breadcrumbs
Olive oil, as needed

150 g, 1 1/2 cups Spanish onion, 1/4" diced
114 g butter, 8 tbsp
Melt butter over medium heat. Add onions and sweat until translucent.

375 g, flour, about 2 1/2 cups)
5 g, 5 tsp kosher salt
Slowly add flour, stirring to incorporate fully. Cook over medium heat until the flour taste cooks off. Stick a spoon in there and taste it if you’re not sure what that means.

1000 g, ~1 L, 4 cups milk
Add milk. Bring to simmer. Stir to fully dissolve the flour into the milk.

300 g chicken
Add chicken. Continue cooking over medium heat until the mixture is shapable by hand. Don’t reach in there and grab it! You’re not an idiot. Give it a few minutes. Stir enough so that it doesn’t burn. It’ll get a little tough. That’s okay. Once it’s pretty stiff, reserve to a parchment paper-lined baking sheet until cool.

Flour, as needed (1 1/2 cups)
2 large eggs, beaten
2 cups Panko breadcrumbs
Olive oil, as needed
Place the flour, eggs, and Panko in three separate bowls. Heat 2 inches of olive oil to 375˚F in a heavy bottomed, deep sided pan. Grab small handfuls of the cooled batter and shape into small balls [hehe]. Dredge the little guys in flour, then the egg mixture, then Panko, and then directly into oil. Work in batches of 4-5 balls so the temperature of the oil doesn’t drop. Adjust the heat to keep the temperature as close to 375˚F as possible. Cook until brown. Repeat with remaining balls.

Note

This is part of a cookbook proposal that’s out on submission right now. If you’d like to see what a book proposal looks like, click here.

Fried 🍆

People call me crazy for hating eggplant as much as I do. I can’t blame them, really. With a complete lack of flavor and texture, I’m surprised anyone out there hates it!

I’ve had eggplant cooked dozens of ways, all terrible. In Indian food it taste like mushy tofu. In Ragouts or stews, it tastes like mushy paper towels. Whether it’s grilled, roasted, or pureed, it’s disgusting.

But fried?

Oh man. Now we’re talking.

I ordered a farm box from my grocery delivery service, because that’s step two in “becoming an annoying millennial-hippie”. [Step one? Stop wearing deodorant.]. A “farm box” is fancy term for a box of whatever produce the local farms have just harvested. The produce is generally good—the greens are more flavorful than your typical grocery store greens. The artisan cheese is generally terrible. Last week I had a “Monterey Jack” that tasted like weed smells, if that makes any sense.

This week’s box featured an eggplant. Normally I would have thrown it right out the window. But I wouldn’t wish Death By Eggplant upon my worst enemy, and I was having a hippie dippie moment, so I thought, “let’s see if there’s a way to use this disgusting vegetable that makes it edible.”

Never being one to backdown from a self-imposed challenge, I looked for inspiration—which meant I asked Wiff “any ideas for eggplant recipes that don’t suck?”

She found one from José Andrés that looked simple enough: breaded and fried. I changed it for my tastes and processes, and the final product made me hate eggplant a little less.

And love fried food a lot more.

Seriously, it’s amazing. Go make it.

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Ingredients

• 1 eggplant, 1/4” slices on the bias [fancy term for “at an angle”]

• Kosher salt, as needed

• Whole milk, as needed, about 2 cups

• Extra Virgin Olive Oil (or Canola Oil), as needed, about 4 cups

• Flour, as needed, about 1 cup

• Sea salt, as needed

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Recipe

Arrange the eggplant slices on a baking sheet. Sprinkle liberally with salt. Place another similarly sized baking sheet on top of the salted slices and weigh it down with a pan. Let sit for an hour or two. The longer you let it sit, the more flavorless water you draw out from the eggplant.

Place the eggplant slices in a bowl and cover with milk. Then cover the bowl with plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight or at least a few hours.

Put the flour into a bowl or plate.

Heat an inch of oil to 350˚F in pan with high enough sides so that, in case the oil pops and spits, it won’t make a mess or worse, burn you. I use a Le Creuset Dutch Oven [one of the first items I’d grab if my home were on fire, perhaps from some errant oil that ignited].

Working one eggplant slice a time, remove from the milk—shaking off excess liquid—and dredge in the flour. Flip it over a few times to ensure there are no bare spots. Remove from the flour and carefully place into the hot oil, taking special care not to burn your face off. Cook for about 3 minutes, or until the coating has browned. Use tongs or a spider to remove the eggplant slices from the oil and place on a paper towel-lined plate. Immediately sprinkle sea salt.

Repeat with the remaining slices, adding only a few slices at a time.

NOTE: When you shallow fry like this, take special care to keep the temperature of the oil hot enough. When you add food to hot oil, the temperature of the oil will drop. I suggest heating the oil to 360˚F or so so that it doesn’t drop below 350˚F when you add the eggplant.

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Note

This is part of a cookbook proposal that’s out on submission right now. If you’d like to see what a book proposal looks like, click here.

Arancini with Kalamata Aioli

If someone had told me how easy it was to make arancini, I would have occasionally set aside some risotto for leftovers.

Actually that’s a lie.

I’d still probably eat it all. But I’d cook more specifically for arancini.

These balls are perfect to pass around while your guests arrive. They’re small enough to grab with two fingers and eat in two bites. Make more than you think you’ll need…trust me.

Ingredients

• 500 g leftover risotto

• 50 g kalamata olives, food processed into a paste.

• 50 g good mayonnaise

• 100 g all purpose flour

• 2 eggs, beaten

• 100 g panko

• 60 g mozzarella, broken into 12 small chunks

• olive or canola oil, as much as you need for frying

Recipe

Stir the olive paste and the mayonnaise together in a small bowl until well mixed. Reserve in the refrigerator.

Prepare three bowls, one each for the flour, beaten egg, and panko. Set a large piece of parchment near the bowls. This is where you’ll place the coated balls.

Using your hands, form small balls [tee hee!] of leftover risotto. The balls should be about 35-40g each, a little larger than a golf ball. Stuff each ball with a piece of mozzarella and reform the ball.

Roll the ball in flour, then in the egg, then in the panko. Reserve on a piece of parchment paper.

Heat oil to 325˚F in a deep-sided pot. You’ll need a few inches’ worth, enough to let the balls float freely. Use a spider to carefully lower a few balls into the oil and fry for 3-4 minutes, until the balls are golden brown. Work in small batches, about 3-5 balls, so that the oil temperature doesn’t drop too low.

Serve immediately with the reserved kalamata aioli.

Note

This is part of a cookbook proposal that’s out on submission right now. If you’d like to see what a book proposal looks like, click here.

Whipped Ricotta, Honey, Chives, Pine Nuts

Last updated: February 18, 2026

I love dips. All dips. Cheesy dips, creamy dips, weighted chest dips, Freak Nasty’s “The Dip.”

I love the lightness and freshness of this dip and so do my guests—assuming I haven’t already finished it by the time they arrive. The thyme and chive oils add just a nice zip of flavor that surprises you. Well, not you, since you’re the one putting it in the dish. But your guests will be surprised.

Do yourself a favor run a paper towel around the rim of the bowl to clean it up. It ups your presentation game.

Ingredients

400 g fresh ricotta
2 g kosher salt
Extra virgin olive oil, as needed
20 g chives
20 g honey
20 g pine nuts
5 g chive oil [optional]
5 g thyme oil [optional]

Recipe

Add the pine nuts to a medium skillet over medium-low heat. They’ll start smelling nutty when they’re toasted. That’s your sign that they’re done. Once finished, transfer to a small bowl. Set aside.

Add ricotta, salt, and a few tablespoons of olive oil to a food processor with the blade attachment. Process for a ten to twenty seconds to whip the ricotta. You want the ricotta the texture of gritty toothpaste; depending on the moisture content of your ricotta, you may need another few tablespoons of olive oil.

Transfer the ricotta mixture to a serving bowl. Smoosh it down so it’s flat for a sleeker presentation—or go with a more rustic approach, your call!

Spinkle pine nuts and drizzle honey. Finish with optional oils. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate until ready to serve.

Your First Sous Vide Recipe

Ingredients

Chicken Breast
Extra virgin olive oil

Recipe

Heat a water bath to 65˚C. (I use the Sansaire immersion circulator, but I know a lot of folks who use and love the Anova.)

Put the chicken breast into a Ziploc freezer bag with a few glugs of olive oil. The amount doesn’t matter; you’re just lubing the chicken so it doesn’t stick to the bag.

Cook sous vide for 75 minutes.

If you’re going to eat it immediately, remove the bag from the water, remove the chicken from the bag, pat it dry, then sear in a pan over medium heat for 30 seconds per side. Serve immediately.

If you’re saving it for later, chill the chicken—still in the bag—in an ice bath, and then refrigerate.

See How To Do It!

Note: In the video I cook the chicken at 63˚C, but I’ve since changed my preference to 65˚C.

The Sidecar

The first time I tried cognac the bottom of my mouth went completely numb.

It was late in the evening. I was working [drinking] with a batch of nearly newly minted consultants from around the world at our company's training camp. One of these people was from France. He loved cognac and wanted me to love it too.

I did not.

Until that point I had been cognac free and after that point, I decided, I would remain cognac free.

But then a few years passed.

And the other, more terrible tasting spirits I'd experimented with [grappa] burned off enough taste buds that by the time I accidentally tried cognac again I liked it. A lot.

Not as much as a spring-breaker loves tequila and "gettin' lit" [is that what the young kids call it?], but it was far better than I remembered.

Imagine bourbon didn't taste like licking a charred oak barrel [a fantasy of mine], add the subtlety of good wine, and you'll have cognac.

Add Cointreau and fresh lemon juice, and you’ll have a Sidecar.

Ingredients

• 2 oz good cognac. Don't waste XO in a cocktail, but use decent cognac. If you see the letters VSOP you’re on the right track. Anything mentioned in a rap song is fine.
  

• 1/2 oz Cointreau. Some people prefer Grand Marnier. I do not.
  

• 1/2 oz freshly squeezed lemon juice. Do NOT buy the pre squeezed stuff. This is a real cocktail so use real juice.
  

• 1/4 oz simple syrup

Recipe

1. Extra Credit: Fill your cocktail glass with ice and then fill with water. Alternatively, chill the cocktail glass in the freezer for at least 10 minutes.

2. More Extra Credit: Your cocktail glassware should hold 4-6oz and no more. Any bigger and you look like you're serving drinks at Applebee's [not a dig; I love me some Applebee’s]. Your drinks should also be 3-4oz including dilution. Any bigger and they'll get too warm before you finish.

3. Add all ingredients to a mixing tin or pintglass full of ice. Any container will do. Get something clean that'll hold liquid and put all the ingredients in there. This isn't rocket science.
   

4. Stir for at least 30-60 seconds. Use this time to chat up your dinner guest(s).
   

5. Yes, you can shake the drink, and some idiots will tell you that you HAVE to because it has citrus [you don't, that's why they're idiots], but shaking drinks can make them cloudy, and cloudy drinks are unsexy.
   

6. Strain into a chilled cocktail glass [remember the extra credit from above?].

The Mint Julep

I don't know what a julep is. A flower? A horse? It doesn't matter. You could call this a Mint Cummerbund and I'd have 12, all while hollering "I do declare" in a seersucker suit. It's the official drink of the Kentucky Derby [I think?] and of Kentucky itself [don't fact check that]. Kentuckians [Kentuckites? Kentuckers?!?], by law, are required to learn this recipe on their 4th birthday so they can entertain guests like proper southern belles and beaus. Two ingredients, crushed ice, a sprig of mint, all served in a Glory cup. Try it. Y'all.

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INGREDIENTS

Makes 1 Mint Julep

• 2 oz good bourbon

• 1/2 oz simple syrup [extra credit: mint simple syrup]

• Crushed Ice

• 1 good looking mint sprig, for garnish

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RECIPE

1. Add crushed ice to a fancy cup.

2. Mix bourbon and simple syrup in a separate cup. Then add to the fancy cup.

3. Garnish with mint.

4. Optional: I recommend using a straw as trying to suck this cocktail down through all the ice can get dicey.

The Lombardi: An Italian Mocktail

Last updated: February 18, 2026

There are days when you want a cocktail [they end in y], and other days when you need a break from The Sauce [the day after my birthday]. But what if you still want the ritual of making and sipping a refreshing beverage? Enter the Mocktail, which autocorrect always wants to correct to cocktail.

It knows me better than I think.

Ingredients

1/2 oz toasted fennel syrup (recipe follows)
1/2 oz orgeat (recipe follows)
1/2 fresh lemon juice (ALWAYS fresh squeezed; we're not cro-mags!)
6 oz club sode
fennel front for garnish

Directions

Build in a Collins glass (the tall ones) with ice and mix gently. Gently is the key word here. Don’t scare the bubbles away! I find that pushing the ice down over and over is better at mixing everything than stirring.

Toasted Fennel Simple Syrup

150 g granulated sugar
150 g water
15 g fennel seeds

Add the fennel seeds to a pan and set over medium-low heat. The pan should be large enough that the fennel seeds are in one layer. Toast the fennel seeds until they turn a medium brown. Gently stir or toss the seeds to prevent them from burning. This should take about 5 minutes, but use your nose. Do they smell toasted?

Orgeat

(based on The Aviary’s orgeat recipe*)

100 g blanched sliced almonds
250 g water
250 g sugar
1.5 g kosher salt
10 g orange peel, pith removed

Toast Almonds

Toast almonds in a 350˚F oven until toasted, stirring once or twice to prevent burning. It should take about 15 minutes, but use your nose. Do they smell toasted?

Make Simple Syrup

Add water, sugar, almonds, and salt to a small pan set over medium heat. Remove from heat once it boils. Blend with an immersion blender.

Reserve

Add orange peels, let cool to room temperature, then steep in fridge for 24 hours.

*The Aviary Cocktail Book is one of the most beautiful cookbooks I’ve ever seen. The photography is more art than filler photos. This would make a PERFECT gift for anyone in your life who likes cocktails.

Mint Simple Syrup

I love mint almost as much as I love adding mint to cocktails.

Ingredients

50 g mint leaves (JUST THE LEAVES)
200 g water
200 g sugar

Recipe

Add water and sugar to a saucepan and heat over medium. Or high. It doesn't matter. Once it starts boiling, remove from the heat.

OR

Add water and sugar to a pyrex measuring glass and microwave on high until it starts boiling.

Stir until all the sugar dissolves.

Add mint leaves and let cool.

Strain.

The Daiquiri

“More daiquiris!” sounds like the last thing a bachelorette party screams before they blackout. The daiquiri is a classic cocktail but, just like its cousin the Margarita, it’s been perverted into a frozen concoction very unlike its former self.

2 oz Rum (I LOVE El Dorado 3 year.)
3/4 oz Freshly squeezed lime juice
1/2 oz simple syrup*

*I infused my simple syrup with mint this last go around and it was FANTASTIC in this daiquiri.

Add all ingredients to a mixing glass, jar, cup, or tin filled with ice. Stir for at least 30 seconds. Cold = good in cocktail land. Strain into a cocktail glass and enjoy.

The Martini

Calling cocktails “martinis” is like calling all comedians Lenny Bruce. Sure, we’d all like to be him, but there can be only one.

A Martini contains only gin and dry vermouth (orange bitters is optional) and is garnished with olives or a lemon twist. Never vodka (that’s called a Kangaroo). Never onions (Gibson). And if you like it “bone dry, like Winston Churchill liked it,” you’re really just drinking chilled gin (and I judge you).

That said, if you’re looking for a dirty martini recipe, I’ve got you covered.

Making a Martini can be intimidating. A drink with so few ingredients leaves no room for error. Over-pour, under dilute, stare too long at your guests with your mouth gaping and you’re asking for trouble (and a lot of uncomfortable guests).

Some people will (ridiculously) claim that shaking bruises the gin. They are wrong. Shaking accelerates dilution. Shaking drinks that contain sugary ingredients can lead to cloudy cocktails. They’ll look disgusting, but they won’t taste any different.

Makes 1 martini

Ingredients

2 ounces (70 mL) good gin, such as The Walter Collective (my personal favorite)
3⁄4 ounce (20 mL) dry vermouth, such as Noilly Prat
1 dash of orange bitters (optional), such as Angostura

Directions

Put all ingredients in a glass with ice. Any glass will do. Stir for 60 seconds. Strain into a chilled cocktail glass. I use a julep strainer and think you should too. You could use two forks, as I’ve suggested before. The goal, once again, is to separate ice from the liquid. Garnish with an olive or two. Your other alternative is a lemon twist. Not a slice, a wheel, or wedge. A twist. (See page 10 if you want to know more about why I’m adamant this should be a twist and nothing else.)

Lemon Basil Daiquiri

Ingredients

• 2oz [60ml] Lemon Basil Rum

• 3/4oz Freshly squeezed lime juice [ALWAYS freshly squeezed]

• 1/2oz [15ml] 1:1 Simple Syrup

Recipe

1. Add everything to a mixing tin/glass/jar/container full of ice.

2. Stir. Stir. Stir.

3. Strain into a chilled cocktail glass.

My New Favorite Way To Egg

This past weekend I made dinner for a bunch of friends. The menu was pretty straight forward, whipped & herbed ricotta [which is my favorite kinky Italian dungeon], 24-month aged San Daniele prosciutto, grilled and marinated artichoke hearts, olives, grilled asparagus, and pesto and brie canapés. And then a big salad, modeled after this one.

Like I said, pretty straight forward.

All of this is just one, self-aggrandizing wind up to tell you that I discovered my new favorite way to egg. And it couldn’t be easier.

Here’s the recipe:

1. Heat a water bath to 90˚C (194˚F). I use this immersion circulator and this pan. You can use anything that’ll hold hot water, but I live in a tiny Manhattan apartment, so everything’s gotta pull double duty.

2. Cook the whole eggs in the bath for 8 minutes.

3. If you like a runnier yolk, remove to an ice bath. If you like a more gelatinous yolk, let it sit for 30 minutes.

4. Peel

5. Eat.

That’s it.

Seriously.

If I’m using this on top of breakfast pasta [it’s a thing], I’ll drop those puppies in an ice bath to preserve the runny yolk. If I’m having them alone, in place of hard-boiled eggs, I’ll let ‘em sit. Either way, it’s the perfect combination of textures. Not nearly as mouth-drying as hard boiled eggs. But not as delicate as a poached egg.

Give it a bash and let me know what you think in the comments below!

Oh, and hat tip to the team at ChefSteps.com for the recipe. I can’t find a link on their website for it, but you can find it in their Joule app if you search for “Ultimate Ramen Eggs.”

Put A Pin(terest) In It

The Seelbach Cocktail

I featured this drink in a recent episode of Quarantine Cooking. 

Some days were made for cocktailing [they end in 'y'].

There's a cocktail for every occasion. But what about the "I'm in a mimosa mood but have no oranges" occasion?

Easy, the Seelbach.

It's perfect for that cheap bottle of sparkling wine you've got in your fridge from that time you had the [insert cheap friends' last name] over and they brought Andre. Why are you still friends?

Which is exactly what happened to me. [That's a lie; I have no friends.]

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Ingredients

Makes 1 Cocktail

• 1 oz bourbon
• 1/2 oz Cointreau or triple sec
• 7 dashes Angostura bitters [I used Bob's Abbott bitters.]
• 7 dashes Peychaud's bitters [it's the red one...]
• 4-5oz sparkling wine

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Recipe

Add bourbon, Cointreau, and both bitters to a mixing glass filled with ice. Stir to chill. Strain into a Champagne flute and top with sparkling wine. Feel real fancy.

The Frozen Margarita

I'm not normally a frozen margarita guy [because I still have some self-respect].

But that all changed for me when my mother-in-law suggested we have some out by the pool. When she says "Frozen margaritas?", I digo "¿cuántos?"

Ingredients

Makes 2 Margs

• 2 oz Cointreau

• 3 oz Tequila

• 4 oz Minute Maid Premium Limeade. I don't know if they make a non premium, but if they do, still get the premium.

• Ice

Notes

I recommend Cointreau over triple sec here because it has far less sugar, and you're already getting plenty from the Limeade. You can substitute regular triple sec or curaçao, but lower the amount just a bit.

For the tequila, I used Jose Cuervo Silver. It's not 100% Agave, but the flavor works really well in this drink.

Recipe

1. Add first three ingredients to a blender. Blend to mix.

2. Add enough ice to double the volume in the blender. So if the boozy mix comes up to the 9 ounce line on your blender, add enough ice so that the liquid level comes up to the 18 ounce line [#displacement]. Make sense? It might be easier to look at the milliliter side since those are smaller increments.

3. Blend on high speed. [If you have a Vita-Mix put on a seatbelt first.]

4. Add ice and blend again if it's too slushy. Use your judgement as to what "too slushy" means.

Notes

1. I'll make a large batch of frozen margaritas, without ice, so that I only have to measure the ingredients once [the more frozen margs I have the sloppier my measurements get]. Then, when I need to make a drink, I'll pour in roughly 4 oz of mix per person, add ice, and blend. If you make a batch ahead of time and store it in the freezer, you'll need less ice to achieve the desired consistency. Be aware that this will make the drink more potent.

2. I can't remember what the second note was. [too many frozen margs...]

You know what else from the list of authentically Mexican treats goes well with a frozen margarita? Nachos.

The Margarita

Ahh, the Margarita. Brings out the Mexican in each of us. I'm wearing my sombrero and burro blanket as I type this. [That's what everyone in Mexico wears all the time, right? RIGHT?!?]

A distant relative of the Daiquiri and the Cosmopolitan which both spawned from the Sidecar (trust me), the Margarita is a quintessential warm weather cocktail.

It's also the cocktail that most underage drinkers order when they're smart enough to NOT order a long-island iced tea, but also don't know what to order to not sound 19 (hint to my underage fans, go for a Pinot Grigio or a Manhattan).

Notes:

The tequila doesn't need to be fancy. We're mixing a drink, not taking shots shots shots shots shots with Lil' Jon.

The triple sec doesn't have to be fancy either. Cointreau or Marie Brizzard are fantastic here, but they're more expensive than Hiram Walker or Dekuyper, which are fine too.

Recipe

2 oz Espolón tequila
3/4 oz freshly-squeezed lime juice
1/2 oz triple sec.
Kosher salt. Cumin and/or Ancho Chili Powder if you want to be muy fancy.

Remember that lime you JUST squeezed for this? Save the pressed lime half and rub its still-slightly-juicy wetness on the lip of your glass. [That was a little explicit; must have been reading one of my wife's romance novels today...] Dip the moistened lip [there I go again] of the glass into the salt.

Add the rest of the ingredients and ice to the glass and stir.

Drink.

It's easy, right? Try making these for a group of people after you've had a few yourself. If you do find yourself mixing for several people (or just yourself) make a batch. Just double/triple/x15 the recipe and you'll have a pitcher of margs for everyone/yourself!

Update! 

If you'd like a slightly smokier twist, add the ingredients to a shaker with a coffee bean or two. Shake vigorously, then strain into a double old fashioned glass filled with ice.

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