Busy Weekend! Pina Claddagh, Recipe Basics

Whew!  I am exhausted, but not too exhausted to post.  I made some delicious food this weekend - Black Pasta with Roasted Garlic and Orange Sauce, Roasted Garlic Focaccia, Roasted Red Pepper Bruschetta, Ranch Pizza, and a wonderful cocktail called a "Pina Claddagh" (as you may have noticed, I love putting a Celtic spin on recipes that originated far from Ireland and the U.K.!).  Below are the recipes for the Pina Claddagh and for the building blocks of my recipes - Roasted Garlic, Roasted Red Peppers, and Black Pasta.  I will post the full dinner recipes tomorrow.  Yes, this is a cop-out because I'm too tired to write, but think about it this way - before you take the cool class with the cool professor, you've gotta sit through the required intro class before you get your hands dirty with the fun stuff!

Before I get to the recipes, I would like to share my experience with the ranch pizza, which came dangerously close to being an epic fail and frustrated me to the point where I almost burst into tears - after all, my roommate's sister, her husband, and their children were over for dinner, and I would have been humiliated if I'd served a pizza that was simultaneously undercooked and burnt while saying, "By the way, I'm writing a food/recipe blog!"  Had I not been able to salvage the pizza, I would have felt like my credibility had just been flushed down the crapper, but I managed to rescue the pizza and it turned out OK.  I felt like one of the Top Chef contestants who just barely escapes being voted off the show!  Anyway, now that I've done a test run on the Ranch Pizza I can tweak the recipe so it turns out the way I intended, and once that happens I'll share the recipe.  P.S.- it contains bacon! 

As promised, here is the cocktail recipe and the three basic building blocks of the recipes that worked: 

Pina Claddagh
I must warn you - the Pina Claddagh is what I call a "Danger Drink," meaning that you may not be completely able to taste the alcohol in your drink.  Helpful hint - it's there!

1 17.6oz can Goya Toasted Coconut Water*
1 cup fresh cubed pineapple
3oz. Irish whiskey
splash maraschino cherry juice
several ice cubes
maraschino cherries, to garnish

In a blender, puree the coconut water and pineapple.  Pour the puree through a fine sieve, then pour the strained liquid into a cocktail shaker with the whiskey, cherry juice and ice cubes; shake for 20 seconds.  Pour into two stemless martini glasses and add a maraschino cherry to each.  Enjoy responsibly. 

Variation - To make into a frozen drink, divide the can of coconut water.  Make half into ice cubes; reserve the other half.  Puree the coconut ice cubes, remaining coconut water, and remaining ingredients except cherries in blender.  Pour into two glasses and garnish with cherries. 

*  You can use plain coconut water, but the toasted has a sweeter flavor.  Find in the Hispanic/Latino section of most major supermarkets. 

Roasted Garlic:
1 head garlic
1-2t. olive oil
1t. white wine

Preheat the oven to 350.  Peel away the garlic's papery skin so all that remains is the skin sticking to the individual cloves.  Once this is done, trim off the top of the head so that the tips of the cloves are exposed (as seen in the picture).  Place on a sheet of aluminum foil. 

Next, pour the olive oil and white wine on the exposed cloves.  Bring up the ends of the tinfoil to make a little package - it should be shaped like a Hershey's Kiss.  Place this in the oven and bake for about an hour.  Once it is cool to touch, you can easily remove the individual cloves from their skin and use them for recipes.  Any cloves that you do not use for recipes can be stored in a jar covered in olive oil.  If you choose to store them, add a pinch of salt and make sure that the cloves are completely immersed in the oil and none are exposed - exposure to air could cause them to spoil and become unsafe for consumption. 





Roasted Red Peppers
red peppers, cored and sliced lengthwise at natural rib

Preheat the broiler on high.  Arrange the peppers on a baking sheet covered in foil (this makes clean-up much easier).  Pop these under the broiler for 5-10 minutes, or until the peppers' skins have turned black and charred. 

Remove the baking sheet from the oven.  Using tongs, a fork, or some other kind of tool so you don't burn yourself, place the roasted peppers in a bowl.  Cover the bowl and let the peppers cool. 

Once peppers have cooled, you can remove their skins.  Gently peel off the charred skin and discard skin.  The peppers are now ready to use for recipes, and, like the roasted garlic, any unused peppers can be stored in a jar covered in olive oil.







Black Pasta
2c. flour
2 eggs
2t. squid ink
1t. salt
1T. olive oil

In all honesty, the hardest part of this recipe is tracking down a retailer who sells squid ink!  Once you do that, the rest is a piece of cake.  Simply follow the same steps I listed in my tagliatelle recipe, adding the squid ink at the same time as the eggs, olive oil, and salt.  The squid ink will make the pasta dough a little stickier, so be sure to dust with extra flour.  Here are some photos from the process: