Bootlegging

Posted on October 28, 2014 by melsmosaic

Was at the Navy Football game the other day, with of course some great tailgating, and was introduced to a distillery put together by some former Midshipmen. Go Navy! It’s Prohibition Distillery, based out of New York. We had the chance to enjoy some of their Vodka and Gin (not mixed together), both named Bootlegger 21. The vodka was used to make some amazing Bloody Marys, which were strategically blended and poured back into a Vodka bottle.

For the Gin, I heard that it makes a very nice G&T but I enjoyed a sample of a lime, lemon, mint and some other (non-alcoholic) stuff. Unique and quite good. I would not want more than one of them, though.

I would recommend giving this stuff a try. Hopefully you can find it in your area if you’re so inclined to do so.

Avocado Salad with Peaches

Posted on October 5, 2014 by melsmosaic

Was looking for something fun, super fresh and relatively easy to make for dinner. I remembered this salad from Bon Appetit that I found a few years ago. Avocados, peaches and arugula…some of my favorites. It was the perfect thing to make and pretty simple.

Avocado Salad with Peaches
4-6 Servings

Ingredients

1/2 red bell pepper, cored and seeded
2 tbsp red wine vinegar
1/2 vanilla bean, seeds scraped (I got SUPER lazy and used liquid vanilla)
1/2 tsp sugar
1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
2 almost-ripe avocados
8 cups arugula or sorrel
2 peaches, diced and peeled

Preparation

-Roast bell pepper (I do it on my gas stove – so easy).

-Peel and chop pepper; puree with red wine vinegar, vanilla and sugar in blender (I used the mini-prep) until smooth.

-With machine running, gradually add olive oil. Season with salt & pepper.

-Halve and pit avocados and season with salt and pepper. Drizzle with olive oil and place cut side down on and medium-hot grill until nicely charred, about 5 minutes (ok, so I don’t/can’t have a grill. So, I put foil over a burner on my gas stove and made it work. Creativity in the kitchen). Peel and thickly slice.

-Toss with arugula or sorrel and peaches. Drizzle dressing over top (I just toss all of it together — dressing and everything).

I served this with shrimp. Delicious!!!

Testing…7,8,9…Fail

Posted on April 21, 2013 by melsmosaic

I was at a horse race yesterday that required tailgating which means bringing/cooking great food. I wanted to make something creative, so during the week starting thinking about some new dish I could make. Out of nowhere I thought of combining these ingredients:

-cauliflower
-prosciutto
-caraway seeds
-shallots
-garlic

I opted to blanch the cauliflower then toast the caraway seeds. Next step was making a mouth-watering aroma spread around my apartment by sauteing the shallots and garlic. After that I added the caraway seeds and the prosciutto that I’d cut into 1/2″ pieces to the pan. Sauteed everything for a few minutes then added the cauliflower and some S&P.

End result, hmmm, not what I was hoping for or expecting. It wasn’t bad, but absolutely nothing to write home about. After tasting and tasting it more, I kept trying to figure out what I was truly hoping for.

I still took it to the tailgate and nobody complained about it, but did not rave about it. And there was more than enough left. There was a large amount of other better stuff to eat (that I also leaned towards).

I was hoping it would taste better today. Not so much. I’m just picking the prosciutto out and enjoying that. If anybody has suggestions, would love them. But, I think this was just a good attempt and trial and error.