Sunday Dinner, Sunday Drinks

As I'm writing this post, I'm watching the snow coming down outside my window.  My roommate's pup is curled up on the chair next to me, and I'm drinking a ginormous cup of hot coffee.  All perfect things to do when it's cold outside.  Other perfect things to do when it's cold outside?  Start a slow-cooked, stick-to-your-bones Sunday dinner, watch football, and enjoy a smooth, spicy cocktail!

Yesterday, I started the day with an Irish coffee made with cinnamon and vanilla infused whiskey.  This spice blend made the whiskey taste completely appropriate for the season, and I think it would be great served on the rocks, but it will also lend itself to plenty of delicious wintry cocktails, which I will explore at a later time.  For now, I'll give you the recipe for the whiskey, and recommend throwing a splash of it in your coffee. 

Last night's dinner consisted of a Bacon-wrapped Pork Roast, and Polenta with Gorgonzola and Sage.  A meal like this is best enjoyed when it's chilly outside.  I seasoned both the roast and the polenta with sage, fennel, garlic, and black pepper.  This spice combination compliments heavier foods extrremelly well, as the fennel and sage cut some of the richness to create a perfet balance of flavors.  The flavorful pork and the creamy polenta pair well with a cocktail made with scotch and Cardamaro, a spicy, bitter Italian liqueur similar to Amaro, but distilled from cardoons and artichokes.  Similar to a Godfather (my favorite drink) in that this is made from smoky scotch and an Italian liqueur, I appropriately named this new drink "The Consigliere."  Toast to Tom Hagen if you try one. 

Cinnamon and Vanilla Infused Whiskey

1 pint bottle Irish Whiskey (I prefer Jameson)
2 cinnamon sticks, cracked
1 vanilla bean, split down the middle

Start by removing about 1 shot from the bottle (a/k/a, do a shot).  Next, add the cinnamon pieces and vanilla bean to the bottle.  Close tightly, and shake for about 30 seconds.  Let sit for at least 24 hours, shaking occasionally. 

It is ready to go after 24 hours.  If you keep the vanilla and cinnamon in the bottle, it will continue to develop flavor.  If you like the seasoning to be subtle, remove them from the bottle (you  may have to strain it and re-bottle). 


Bacon-wrapped Pork Roast

1.5 pound pork loin roast
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 T. minced sage
2 t. rushed fennel seeds
generous amount of cracked black pepper
splash olive oil
4-6 slices center-cut bacon

Combine all the ingredients except the bacon in a large bowl.  Allow the pork roast to marinate for about 2 hours, turning it occasionally and rubbing the spices in with your hands. 

Preheat the oven to 500.  After the pork has marinated, lay the strips of bacon side-by-side on a small plate.  Place the pork roast in the center of the bacon strips.  Now, carefully pick up the plate and the roast, and invert it, placing the pork roast in a shallow baking dish so that the bacon-side is facing up (as shown). 

Use string or roast ties (they look like rubber bands but are oven-safe and heatproof), secure the bacon to the pork.  Now, place the baking dish on the center rack of the oven, and bake for 15 minutes at 500. 

Once this is done, reduce the heat to 275.  Do not open the oven door.  Cook for 1 hour to 1 hour 20 minutes (if you are using a meat thermometer, you want the center to register at about 155 degrees)

When the pork is done cooking, remove it from the oven and let it rest for about 10 minutes.  Remove the string or ties, and carve into slices with a sharp knife.  Serve alone, or make a gravy out of the pan drippings (I like mine plain). 


Polenta with Gorgonzola and Sage

2.5 cups water
2 t. cracked fennel
1/2 cup instant polenta (I prefer Pastene brand)
3 T. chopped sage
2 T. butter
2 oz. mountain gorgonzola (also called "gorgonzola piccante")
salt and pepper to taste

In a heavy-bottomed saucepan, combine the water and cracked fennel.  Bring the water to a rolling boil.  Add the polenta in a slow stream, stirring constantly.  Continue stirring.  The polenta will start to thicken up; at this point, add the sage, butter, gorgonzola, salt and pepper (you may want to go easy on the salt; gorgonzola tends to be salty).  Continue to stir - do not stop stirring, or the polenta will become lumpy and stick to the pan. 

Once the polenta is thickened, pour it into a shallow baking dish.  Spread it with a spatula so that it is about 1/2" thick.  Let the polenta "set" for a few minutes, and serve in slices along with the pork roast. 


The Consigliere

1.5 oz. smoky Scotch (I like Islay single-malts, such as Ardbeg)
1.5 oz. Cardamaro
1 oz. Limoncello

Combine in a tumbler over 2 ice cubes.  Stir, sip, and stay off the road. 


The Wartime Consigliere

This version adds Grappa, a fiery, potent liqueur made in Italy from the remnants of wine grapes. 

Follow the recipe above, using only 1/2 oz. limoncello.  Add 1/2 oz. grappa.

Around the World in Eighty Bites - Ireland

Playing off a popular stereotype about the Irish, a popular (and somewhat offensive) joke goes, “What do you call a six-pack and a boiled potato?  An Irish seven-course meal.”  Yeah, yeah, the Irish are known for their love for potatoes, but the sadly ironic fact is that potatoes became a staple in Irish cooking mainly because Catholics who were denied property rights needed to be able to feed their families cheaply and without grazing land for livestock.  Ladies and gentlemen, meet the nutritionally-dense potato, which was introduced to the Emerald Isle by traders and explorers and which originated in South America (specifically Peru, as my Peruvian friend informed me last night). 

Trust me, friends – there’s more to Irish cuisine than potatoes.  With its extensive seashore, fish and shellfish are very popular in Irish cooking, and a St. Patty’s Day feast would be incomplete without a loaf of crusty soda bread (with or without currants).  Kale and cabbage are turned into beautiful dishes, and the superb quality of Irish dairy and beef is appreciated worldwide.  Accents notwithstanding, my favorite thing to come out of Ireland is its delicious whiskey!

For my latest installment of “Around the World in Eighty Bites,” I decided to use traditional Irish ingredients – salmon, potatoes, and kale – cooked individually, but brought together with a delicious, decadently rich sauce based on Irish Whiskey and butter.  I picked up a pound of salmon and some oysters from Mercato del Mare last night, along with some curly kale at Alba’s Produce.  Sure, both of these spots are a little out of my way on a work night, but when you’re cooking with very few ingredients, each needs to stand out and not get lost on the plate.  This is especially true when you are entertaining – don’t subject your guests to garbage! 

To time this meal correctly, put the potatoes in the oven first, then put the salmon in the oven about 15 minutes later, and start the kale right after you close the oven door on the salmon.  Make the whiskey butter while the potatoes are broiling.  And - last but not least - go ahead and sip a little whiskey while you're cooking.  It builds character. 

Baked Salmon with Whiskey and Thyme

6 sprigs fresh thyme

1 pound salmon fillet, cut into 4 oz. strips

About ¼ cup Irish whiskey, such as Jameson

5 pats butter

Preheat the oven to 375.  Place the thyme sprigs crosswise in a rectangular baking dish, spaced about an inch apart.  Then, place the salmon strips, skin side up, across the thyme lengthwise, so the salmon and thyme are criss-crossed.  Splash the whiskey in the baking dish so that it evenly coats the bottom of the dish, and then place a pat of butter between each salmon strip (including between the end pieces and the walls of the dish). 

Place in the oven and bake for approximately 13-15 minutes, or until the salmon is cooked through.  Serve with Whiskey Butter Sauce.

Whiskey-Braised Kale

1 pound kale, ribs removed

Splash Irish whiskey

¼ c. chicken broth

Salt and pepper to taste

4 sprigs fresh thyme

4 pats butter

Combine all ingredients in a heavy bottomed saucepan with a lid.  Cook over low heat until the kale is wilted.

Whiskey Butter Sauce

½ stick butter

Leaves from 2 sprigs fresh thyme

¼ cup Irish Whiskey

Pinch finely ground black pepper

Melt the butter and let it begin to brown slightly.  Now, add the thyme, whiskey, and pepper.  The butter will froth when the whiskey is added.  Cook over high heat until you can no longer detect a strong alcohol scent and the sauce has reduced slightly.  Whisk a few times with a fork or small whisk, and spoon over your salmon, potatoes, and kale. 

Red Potatoes with Whiskey and Thyme

1 pound red potatoes, halved lengthwise and cut into 1/3” slices

Splash whiskey

Leaves from 4 sprigs fresh thyme

Salt & pepper to taste

4 pats butter

Preheat the oven to 375.  Combine all ingredients except the butter in a baking dish, toss to coat the potatoes with the whiskey and spice mixture, then add the butter. 

Place in the oven and bake for approximately 30 minutes, stirring once or twice. 

Now, once the potatoes have cooked and the salmon is done, place the dish under the broiler and broil for about 5 minutes, or until the edges of the potatoes begin to turn golden.  Remove from the oven and serve with Whiskey Butter Sauce.

Coffee and Cookies

I love coffee. No, I need coffee. I have an intervention-worthy dependence on the stuff. If, for some reason, I die under suspicious circumstances and an autopsy is performed, the medical examiner will find espresso in my veins. But unlike a drug addict floating inches above rock bottom, I actually enjoy my addiction. I’m not going to bother with the, “I can quit anytime I want,” schpiel, because I neither can, nor want, to give up my coffee. I’m not in it for the caffeine; I drink decaf late in the day simply because I love the flavor. The first sip of a perfectly brewed cup of Italian roast does for me what a blanket and a pacifier do for a screaming baby.

That being said, I’ve never really strayed from my small group of favorite brands and roasts. Like my past insistence on drinking only Italian wine, my coffee philosophy has been, “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.” French or Italian roast, Starbucks or Equal Exchange Fair Trade, sometimes sweetened, sometimes not, sometimes adding cream, sometimes drinking it black, but always grinding my own beans and making it stronger than most humans would find necessary or even palatable; the first thing I do in the morning is start my pot of coffee. I grind my beans and add water to the machine the night before, turn it on in the morning and let it brew while I shower, and then I enjoy a cup or two while I make myself presentable to the corporate world.

I recently discovered via Yelp that Boston’s North End is home to a shop called Polcari's Coffee that sells over a dozen varieties of coffee, roasts its own beans, and is conveniently located next to Mercato del Mare, my fish market (which, by the way, now sells incredible sushi). Walking into the store, I felt like a kid in a candy store - large glass jars and barrels filled with coffee beans lined the back wall of the shop, and the service counter was complete with a gilt old-fashioned scale that looked like it was plucked from the market where Vito Corleone worked in the early scenes of Godfather II. Polcari's also sell teas, spices, grains, legumes, and flours, including the chestnut flour I needed to bake a batch of Chestnut and Raisin cookies (featured in November’s issue of La Cucina Italiana and written below). I chose the Espresso Blend and the House Blend, and then asked for a recommendation, explaining that I favor dark roasts. The store clerk suggested Vienna Roast, and he packaged all of my beans in small bags - quarter pounds of each. I wanted to go home and try them right away, but I decided that brewing espressos and testing them after dark would probably not make for the best night’s sleep, I decided to wait until today to test my new coffees. Polcari’s gets an A+ on customer service - I didn’t feel like they were selling me coffee, I felt like they were giving me presents.

Before getting on the train and heading back to my ’hood, I randomly walked into a small produce market on Parmenter Street after seeing some small pumpkins in the window. I needed a pumpkin to make my biscotti, but being two weeks away from Halloween, the only pumpkins I’ve seen are larger than basketballs and weigh more than I do - hardly a wise purchase when my recipe requires only 1 cup of pumpkin! I picked out my pumpkin and thanked the man in the store for having the only non-Barry Bonds-sized pumpkins in Boston, and then I got distracted - “Ooh! You guys have Italian eggplant?!?” He smiled. I quickly surveyed the rest of the tiny shop - “Oh nice, oil-cured olives!” “Fresh borlotti beans? Wow!” “Ohhh, look at all the peppers!” “Sweet, fresh ravioli!” The way my eyes widened at the sight of his gorgeous produce must have led him to believe I hadn’t eaten for a month, and finally, I said, “Wait a minute, what store is this?” after realizing that I’d walked in without even looking at their sign. “Alba Produce,” he replied. Well, Alba Produce, you’ve got a fan in me. Those shiny amethyst-colored eggplants are going to make a great caponata one of these days.

This morning, I busted out my Moka pot and tried each one of my coffee blends. For those who aren’t coffee fiends like yours truly, a Moka pot is a special kind of coffee pot used for brewing espresso on the stovetop. It produces great results without having to spend $1500 on one of those machines that does everything to your coffee except drink it.

The Vienna roast was very rich and deep flavored, and very straightforward - I couldn’t pick out a “hint” of anything except pure caffienated bliss. Their Espresso roast is my new go-to coffee - rich and deep, with the subtle flavor of bitter dark chocolate, and an earthy flavor that reminded me of the smell of the ground after it rains. The House Blend was very similar to the Espresso roast (makes sense, since the Espresso roast beans make up a portion of the blend), but without the complexity. Earlier I stated that Polcari’s gets an A+ for customer service, but that Espresso roast is so fabulous that they could have called me dumb and ugly, given me the finger, and insulted my cooking and my mother, and I’d still go back to buy the Espresso roast.

Below are two recipes for cookies that pair extremely well with hot coffee, and because I can’t write about coffee without including an “I like my coffee like I like my men“ joke, I‘ve included recipes for my two favorite coffee drinks - tall, hot, and Irish or Italian!

Irish Coffee

1 large cup hot coffee
1 shot espresso
1 oz. Irish whiskey
¼ cup whipped cream (best if you use heavy cream and whip it yourself with a whisk or an immersion blender

Combine the coffee, espresso, and whiskey in your favorite tall coffee mug. Top with whipped cream and serve very hot.


Caffe Corretto

“Corretto” means corrected in Italian - literally, the translation is “corrected coffee.” Your brew is corrected with a shot of liquor, most likely grappa, sambuca, or amaretto. I prefer sambuca.

Follow the above recipe for Irish coffee, substituting sambuc

a for the whiskey and omitting the whipped cream.



Pumpkin Pecan Biscotti

3 ½ c. unbleached all-purpose flour
2 ½ t. baking powder
½ t. salt
¼ cup melted butter
1 ¼ c. sugar
2 large eggs
2 large egg whites
1 cup grated raw pumpkin
1 cup toasted and chopped pecans
1 t. vanilla extract

Preheat the oven to 375. Combine the first three ingredients in a mixing bowl; set aside.

In a separate bowl, beat all remaining ingredients with a mixer until well-blended. Stir in the flour mixture until flour is fully incorporated and a moist dough is formed.

Lightly dust a countertop and your hands with flour. Divide the dough in half, shape each half into a log shape (about 11 x 1.5 inches). Place both logs on a cookie sheet lightly greased with butter and flatten them slightly. Bake for 25 minutes. When done, set aside to cool enough to handle.

Once logs are cool, transfer them to a cutting board and slice them crosswise into half-inch thick slides. Return the slices, cut side down, to the baking sheet. Bake for 10 minutes. Remove the baking sheets from the oven, turn the slices over, and bake for 10 more minutes or until they begin to turn golden-brown.

Let cool, serve dunked in hot coffee.
　

　
Chestnut and Raisin Cookies with Pignoli

9 T. butter, softened
¾ c. sugar
Pinch salt
1 egg
1 cup unbleached all-purpose flour
2/3 c. chestnut flour
½ c. pignoli
¼ c. raisins

Preheat oven to 350.

In a large bowl, mix butter, sugar, and salt, then mix in egg. Next, add the all-porpose flour, chestnut flour, pignoli, and raisins. Mix with your hands until blended.

Lightly flour your hands, then roll the dough into balls about 1 ½ inches in diameter. Place them about an inch apart on a greased baking sheet, and press each into a 2 ½ inch round.

Bake for 8-10 minutes, then rotate pan and bake 8-10 more minutes, or until the edges of the cookies turn golden. Then, transfer cookies to a wire rack to cool, and serve dunked in hot coffee. 

Eating vs. Refueling, Putting Food On Your Family, Salad and Cocktail Recipes

Time certainly flies when you’re having fun!  I spent this weekend in Portsmouth, NH visiting my mom, and – as always – we spent a majority of the time shopping for food, cooking food, and eating food, with a quick trip to the gym, a visit to the flower gardens at Strawberry Banke, and a few movies and I Love Lucy reruns thrown into the mix.  Compare sprawling out on my mom’s couch in my pajamas, eating a bowl of homemade cream of mushroom soup, and drinking a glass of wine at 3:00 in the afternoon to today’s eating experience – shoving a few Fig Newtons in my mouth between sips of mediocre pre-ground coffee and pesky phone calls, taking in small spoonfuls of Au Bon Pain soup and keeping my fingers crossed that nobody speaks to me while I’m on my lunch break, and hoping I have time to microwave a package of Top Ramen to snack on this afternoon.  There’s eating, and there’s refueling via introducing edible substances to one’s digestive tract.  I much prefer eating.

Remember when George W. remarked, "I know how hard it is for you to put food on your family?"  Although eloquence escaped him, he didn't reference putting food on the table or in the refrigerator.  There is a connection between food and family, and the thought that food and family are separate entities is completely foreign to me.  The way I was raised, where there’s food, there’s family, and where there’s family, there’s food.  I know that this isn’t necessarily common anymore, especially among non-Italian families.  I have to wonder if eating together as a family makes a difference in how one approaches food.  Did sharing meals with my mom throughout my childhood cause me to view food as a social tool and not a function of survival?  I don’t dare to explain it; I just sit back and feel thankful that something necessary for my survival happens to be my life’s greatest joy.

So what did my mom and I eat this weekend? Cream of mushroom soup made with homemade chicken stock, bacon-topped stuffed peppers, real mashed potatoes, steamed carrots, pancakes, breakfast sausage, fruit salad, maple nut ice cream, fried green tomatoes, egg salad sandwich rolls, beef tenderloin tips, sautéed broccoli rabe, creamy polenta, mixed green salads, and a fun new whiskey drink – the Gaelic Bellini.

Here are the recipes for two of the above-referenced dishes:

Individual Mixed Green Salads

2 cups shredded green leaf lettuce
1 cup chopped dandelion greens
1 t. finely minced red onion
1 T. grated parmigiano-reggiano
Splash olive oil
Splash wine vinegar *
A few drops chile oil, or a pinch of crushed red chile flakes
Salt & pepper to taste

Combine all ingredients in a large salad bowl and toss until well-mixed.

*  Red and white wine vinegar are generally interchangeable. To spruce them up, try adding combinations of herbs and spices. Some of my favorites are: rosemary and de Arbol chiles in red wine vinegar; lavender, crushed fennel seeds, and basil in white wine vinegar; tarragon, crushed green or black peppercorns, and a splash of dry vermouth in white wine vinegar. To make these, simply add 1-2 T. of your selected seasonings to a 12oz. bottle of wine vinegar, shake well every day for about a week, at which time they are ready for use.  I like to combine them in pretty, decorative bottles that would make Martha Stewart proud!



Gaelic Bellini

1 oz. Irish whiskey (I prefer Jameson)
3 oz. peach nectar
3 oz. ginger ale

Combine in a highball glass, stir, and serve.

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:

Oysters Camelot, Baked Salmon, and Truffle Fries

If the dinner I had last night sounds like something you'd see served up on a fine restaurant menu, good - that's exactly what I was going for.  However, fancy as it may sound, my meal took only 15 minutes to prepare, cost very little (although I admittedly had some of the ingredients in stock and didn't factor these into the price), and the results were delicious! 

The Island Creek oysters were $1 each.  Considering that a half-dozen oysters generally costs between $10-20 at a restaurant, that oyster shucking lesson I had last weekend paid for itself!  Oh wait - it was free.  Even better!  Any oyster lover should learn to shuck (shall I insert "go shuck yourself" joke here?).

So what is "Oysters Camelot," you may ask?  Here's the story behind the dish - while watching an episode of "Top Chef D.C." in which the contestants' challenge was to create a cold dish and serve it to the judges on the Presidential Yacht ("Think of the Kennedys," Judge Gail Simmons instructed the cheftestants), I decided that if I was a contestant, I'd serve oysters on the half shell.  But how would I make it interesting and relevant?  By serving them with an out-of-the-ordinary sauce based on our most famous political family, the Kennedys.  I used a little malt vinegar and Jameson whiskey to add a taste of Ireland and to honor Joe Kennedy's days as a bootlegger, seasoned  with finely minced shallot.

I combined the vinegar, whiskey, and shallot in a small bowl and spooned a few drops over each opened oyster, and voila!  Not only did I discover a delicious way to serve oysters, I had enough left over to use as a marinade for my salmon, which I simply baked at 425 for 10 minutes alongside my truffle fries.

Truffle fries - delicious, decadent, demystified.  A small bottle of black truffle oil and a jar of truffle salt is all you need to create these tasty treats at home.  Truffle oil usually costs between $5-15 per bottle, but since each drop contains massive blasts of flavor, you don't need much.  It will pay for itself over time, as it keeps well.  A jar of truffle salt will probably cost between $5-10, and the same principle applies.  The flavor-to-volume ratio is stacked in your favor.  The real way to make truffle fries is to slice a few russet potatoes lengthwise into thick strips, toss them with olive oil, and bake for 40 minutes in a 450-degree oven. As soon as you take them out of the oven, sprinkle them with a few drops of truffle oil and a few pinches of truffle salt, shake them up in a basket or bowl to distribute the seasonings, and serve piping hot. The time-saving way is to buy a premium brand of frozen French fries (Alexia Foods is my favorite brand - no trans fats, no artificial flavors, and no preservatives), bake according to instructions, and then season with the truffle oil and truffle salt as instructed above.

So there you have it - Dom Perignon flavors on a Franzia budget.

Croí follain agus gob fliuch!