Dry Vermouth for Summer Sipping

The first good dry vermouth I tasted was Dolin Dry Vermouth. With a healthy squeeze of lemon wedge into a smallish tumbler on the rocks it was just what the doctor ordered for a hot summer day. At around 17% alcohol, it drinks like a potent wine. You will want to refrigerate this and all vermouth once opened. They oxidize like wine.
Another dry vermouth worth mentioning is Imbue Bittersweet Vermouth from Oregon. It is pretty wonderful, though a tad spendy. You can go with Martini or Noilly Prat to dip your toe in the pond.

So go on, give it a try. "Be Somebody!". 

Best Damn Grilled Chicken Wings

These wings are great and simple. Brine, dust, and grill. That's it. Smart Chicken produces good wings already separated drummies from wings which saves some time. Cooks country recipe was my starting point. It helps if you know in advance where to set your grill's burners to achieve a steady 350 degree temp. For appetizers, figure about 1/4 pound per person (5-6 pieces for hungry folks). I've seen some eat 1/2 pound. If spiciness is a concern, omit the cayenne pepper.
Music choice: Dixie Chicken by Little Feat.

Ingredients
2 lb wings (separated and tips discarded if not already separated)
1/2 cup salt
1 tsp black pepper
1 tsp chili powder
1 tsp paprika
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp dried oregano
1/2 tsp sugar
1 1/2 tsp corn starch
1/2 tsp cayenne pepper

Directions

1. Make a brine by dissolving the salt into 2 quarts of cold water. Prick the skin of the wings and drummies (through the middle of the wings is easiest) and drop into the brine. Place the bowl with brine and wings into refrigerator for 30 minutes.
2. While the chicken is brining, make your dust (dry rub). Mix the remaining ingredients into a small bowl. Omit the cayenne if heat is a concern. 
3. Remove the brined chicken and strain out the brine. Place chicken onto a sheet pan lined with a clean dish towel. Cover with paper towels and blot dry. Start gas grill and turn all burners to high. Clean as needed. Coat grate with oil if desired. 
4. Rinse and dry out brining bowl and return dried chicken. Add the dust and toss till covered. Do this right before you put them on the grill.  
5. Place chicken skin side up onto grill and lower lid. Adjust burners to maintain 350 degrees. 
6. After 15 minutes, check that they have some char on the bottom and turn all pieces over. Close lid and grill for an additional 10 minutes. 
7. Remove pieces from grill and set aside. You can cover with some foil for about 10 minutes to let the cool and settle down a bit. 
8. Serve with celery sticks and your preferred creamy dressing. 

Pot Roast with Vegetables (Pressure Cooker)

I recently acquired a pressure cooker. Looking for something relatively simple I went with Pot Roast as my first effort. Turned out very well in my opinion.

Ingredients

• 2 to 3 pound beef chuck roast, patted dry with paper towels
• 3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• Salt and pepper
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 teaspoon beef base such as Better than Bouillon dissolved in 2 cups of water. 
• 2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
• 1 tablespoon minced or pressed garlic
• 1 teaspoon dried thyme
• 2 bay leaves
• 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 6-10 red skin potatoes scrubbed and halved (or quartered depending on size)
• 1 yellow onion, peeled and quartered
• 2 cups baby carrots
• 4 ribs celery, cut into 1 inch lengths
• 1 tablespoon cornstarch mixed with 2 tablespoons of water
• 1-2 tablespoons butter

Directions

1. Season roast with salt and pepper, then sprinkle with flour.
2. Add oil to cooker and heat to almost smoking over high heat.
3. Lower temp to medium and brown roast on both sides.
4. Once browned add beef broth, vinegar, thyme, bay leaves, and pepper.
5. Cover, bring to pressure and cook for 75 minutes or 85 minutes if the roast is thicker than 2.5 inches.
6. Perform quick pressure release and add the vegetables. Cover, bring to pressure, and cook for 5-7 minutes.
7. Off heat for 10 minutes or until cooker looses enough pressure to open safely. Do a quick release to be safe.
8. Transfer all solids from the cooker to a platter, and discard about 1/4 cup of the liquid. Raise heat to medium high. 
9. Whisk in corn starch and stir until thickened (2-3 minutes).
10. Whisk in the butter to finish the sauce. .
11. Serve and pass the gravy. 

Next up.. Corned Beef and Cabbage with Root Vegetables

Potato, Cabbage, and Chorizo Soup

Found this in the Wall Street Journal. I modified it just a bit and I like it. Short prep and cook time.

Ingredients

• 3 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 large yellow onion, halved and thinly sliced
• 2 large garlic cloves, minced
• 6 or 7 ounces Spanish chorizo, sliced 1/4-inch thick
• 2 bay leaves
• 2 pounds (Yukon) Gold potatoes, peeled and cut into bite-size pieces
• 1/2 medium green cabbage, cored, halved (so two quarters) and thinly sliced
• Salt and pepper
• 8 cups water
• 2-3 teaspoons Better than Bouillon Roasted Chicken or Low Sodium Chicken base

Directions

1. Heat oil in a medium pot over medium heat. Add chorizo and cook till lightly browned about 5 minutes.  Add onions, garlic and bay leaves and sweat until softened and chorizo colors the onions, about 7 minutes. 
2. Add potatoes and sauté until beginning to soften on the outside, about 5 minutes. Add cabbage and season with salt and pepper.
3. Pour in enough water to just cover vegetables. Add the bouillon base, stir, and increase heat to high. Once stock comes to a boil, reduce heat to medium-high and simmer until potatoes are fork-tender but not mushy, about 20 minutes. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

Lavender Margarita (Tequila Sour)

I recently had a Lavender Margarita at Sovereign Kitchen and Bar. They make it with lavender infused tequila, agave honey, lime, salted rim served on the rocks. Was very good. I wanted to recreate this at home, but did not want to invest time or money into lavender infused tequila...enter lavender infused simple syrup. I'm very happy with the results and encourage anyone interested to try this.

Lavender Simple Syrup

• 1 cup water
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 1 tbsp lavender buds (usually in baking section or with spices)

1. Heat water to boiling in a small saucepan.
2. Add sugar and lavender. Stir till sugar dissolves and bubbles form on bottom of pan,
3. Off heat, cover and let steep for about 10 minutes.
4. Strain into container and store in refrigerator. I like squeeze bottles with caps. 

Lavender Margarita

• 2 oz blanco tequila
• 1/2 oz fresh lime juice
• 1/2 oz lavender simple syrup
• Kosher salt

1. Add all ingredients to a shaker filled with ice. 
2. Rim your glass with the spent lime and dip in Kosher salt.
3. Shake till your hands are almost frozen.
4. Strain into a cocktail or rocks glass.  If using rocks glass, pour ice from shaker into glass till "full".

Enjoy responsibly.

Waffle Batter #2

This is my third attempt at making great waffles after receiving a new Belgian waffle maker. This one employs yeast to provide lift to the waffles AND you make it the day before which is a plus in my book. The batter was VERY thick. Almost like a dough. I am going to try upping the milk or something to thin it out so it can spread over the waffle iron more easily. As is, have a spatula handy to spread it over the whole surface of the waffle iron. Also, be sure you have INSTANT yeast.
This batter contains one full stick of butter and made about four Belgian waffles. Do the math.

Ingredients

• 1 ¾ cups whole milk, or low-fat milk, or skim milk
• 8 tbsp unsalted butter, cut into 8 pieces
• 2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
• 1 tbsp sugar
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 ½ tsp instant yeast
• 2 large eggs
• 1 tsp vanilla 

Directions

1. Heat milk and butter in saucepan over medium-low heat until butter is melted, 3 to 5 minutes. Cool milk/butter mixture until warm to touch. 
2. While melting butter, whisk flour, sugar, salt, and instant yeast in large bowl. Gradually whisk warm milk/butter mixture into flour mixture; continue to whisk until batter is smooth. 
3. In small bowl, whisk eggs and vanilla until combined.  Add egg mixture to batter and whisk until incorporated. 
4. Scrape down sides of bowl with rubber spatula, cover bowl with plastic wrap, and refrigerate 12 to 24 hours.
5. Pre-heat waffle iron and oven to 250 F. Set cooling rack in a baking pan in the oven. 
6. Remove waffle batter from refrigerator when waffle iron is hot.
7. Whisk batter to recombine (batter will deflate). Cook waffles as you normally do adding your usual amount of batter. Smooth across surface using a spatula. My Belgian iron takes between 3/4 and 1 cup. 
8. Once cooked, transfer waffles onto rack in the oven. Let "crisp" for about 5-10 minutes. Cook more waffles during this time and you can serve everyone at the same time.

Hope you enjoy these as much as we did. 

Waffle Batter #1

After receiving a Belgian-waffle maker as a gift, I am on a quest for a great batter to make great waffles. This is the first one that showed promise. Still looking for more lift in my waffles. For non-Belgian waffles this batter would probably knock it outta the park. Up next: Waffle Batter with Yeast

Ingredients

• 2 cups (10 ounces) unbleached all-purpose flour
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• ¾ teaspoon table salt
• ½ cup dried buttermilk powder
• ½ teaspoon baking soda
• ½ (120 g) cup sour cream
• 2 large eggs
• ¼ teaspoon vanilla extract
• ¼ cup vegetable oil
• 1 ¼ cups unflavored seltzer water (or club soda with just carbonated water as ingredient)

Directions

1. Pre-heat the waffle iron at a point that will have it ready once the batter is ready.
2. Pre-heat an oven to 250 degrees F with a wire rack  Whisk flour, sugar, salt, buttermilk powder, and baking soda in large, upright bowl to combine. Sifting the ingredients together is another option.
3. Whisk sour cream, eggs, vanilla, and oil in medium bowl to combine. 
4. Gently stir the seltzer into wet ingredients. 
5. Make a well in the center of dry ingredients and pour in wet ingredients. Gently stir until just combined. Batter should be slightly lumpy.
6. Heat waffle iron and cook waffles according to manufacturer’s instructions. Transfer waffles to rack in warm oven and hold for up to 10 minutes before serving with butter and maple syrup. They do crisp up a bit if you do this.