Master mixologist Gary Reagan has come up with a list of 10 drinks that you absolutely must learn how to make if you want to hold your head high in this world of cocktail mavens, and also offers some good advice:
I have one more thing to add, and it’s a tidbit of information that all good bartenders know: Making drinks is easy. Don’t be intimidated. It’s a piece of cake. Honest.
I’m back on the Atkins diet. In 2000 I weighed in at 223 lbs, and a year later I was down to 170. I managed to keep it off by sticking to the “Ongoing Maintenance” portion of the diet until 2006, when I went off the diet completely (it was a busy year for me career-wise, and proper eating just didn’t fit into the schedule of working on a gubernatorial campaign). The weight slowly came back on, ounce by ounce, over the course of the last three years. On New years Day I clocked back in at 193.5 lbs, and decided it was time to take action, so I went back on the Atkins Diet. I’ve lost 4.5 lbs in five days thus far.
I found a recipe similar to the one below on another website and tried it out just to prove the diet isn’t all Meat-Eggs-n-Cheese. A very tasty dinner indeed, despite my modifications. :)
Serving Size : 4
2 lbs of chicken legs, skin removed.
1 c coconut milk
3 tsp Thai red curry powder
2 tsp lime juice
1/4 c coconut oil or peanut oil
1/4 c green onion — chopped
salt and pepper — to taste
Saute chopped onion in coconut oil and saute until the white parts of the onions are nearly transparent.
Add curry and cook 30 seconds more.
Add chicken and cook until chicken is approximately half done; turning
chicken over.
Add coconut milk and lime juice and cook until chicken is cooked through.
Then leave it on for a while longer to thicken up the coconut milk.
Add salt and pepper to taste.
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Estimated 4.4 g carbohydrates
You could always serve this with riced cauliflower for a more “traditional” style Asian meal.
This recipe, from Guadalope, is adapted from Angela Spenceley’s “A Taste of the Caribbean” cookbook. The original recipe called for 4 six ounce center cut loin pork chops, but I used 24 ounces of pork tenderloin medallions instead.
1/2 cup sweetened coconut flakes
1 small serrano chili pepper, seeded and finely chopped (for sissies, substitute a milder chili such as poblano, or really wimp out by using a dash of ground red pepper.)
1/4 teaspoon cumin
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
1/2 teaspoon dried rosemary
1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
1/2 teaspoon salt
freshly ground black pepper
24 ounces pork tenderloin medallions (1 1/2″ or so thick makes them nice and tender)
1 tablespoon olive oil
Preheat the oven to 450 degrees.
Combine all the ingredients except ground pepper, oil, and pork in a large zip top plastic bag. Seal bag and shake vigorously.
Coat the meat lightly with the olive oil and brush remainder on broiler pan. Place meat in the bag with coconut mixture and shake until meat is completely covered.
Bake for 15 minutes (my medallions took 18), turning once until done. Season with black pepper to taste.
Jamaican Curry Chicken Recipe
A popular Jamaican chicken recipe in Kingston blended with curry powder.
Ingredients
2 tbsps. vegetable oil
2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
1 tsp. curry powder
3/4 cup chicken breast cubed,
1/4 cup onion, chopped
1/2 cup potato diced
1/2 cup water
2 tbsps. Chicken stock
1/4 cup grated ginger
1/4 cup coconut milk
Preparation
1. In a frying pan, heat the oil and fry the garlic until golden brown.
2. Add the curry powder, stir to mix thoroughly, and cook for 1 minute.
3. Add the chicken and stir well to coat the meat in the curry mixture.
4. Add the onion, potato and a quarter-cup stock, and stir-fry over medium heat
until the potato is just cooked.
5. Stir in the chicken stock, ginger and coconut milk, and simmer gently until the sauce thickens.
6. Turn into a bowl and serve.
Tonight I prepared what became the best fish dinner I’ve ever made.
Start with:
1 pound tilapia fillets (mine happened to be a frozen package I purchased from Meijer’s on sale a few weeks ago)
1/2 cup olive oil
1/2 cup apple cider vinegar
1 tablespoon of The Spice House’s “Trinidad Lemon Garlic Mix”
Thaw the fillets to about three quarters of the fish is thawed. Place the fish in a shallow container. Mix remaining ingredients well and pour over the fish. Marinate for an hour.
After marinating place the fish into a pan and pour the sauce over top of the fish. Cook until the fish is done, then remove the fish. Crank the heat up to full whack (that would be high) and cook down the sauce a bit. Keep mixing while it is cooking down.
Plate the fish, and using a spoon pour a little of the sauce over top, and serve. If the oil in the sauce separates, use a spoon to skim off the non-oil and use that on the fish.
I served this fish with roasted potatoes, carrots, sweet potatoes, and parsnips, which where cut into 1 centimeter sized pieces and pan roasted with full cloves of garlic.
There’s much more to Jamaica than beautiful beaches and great rum. The food is delicious as well, and one of our favorite treats from the Caribbean Island is jerk chicken. But to get just the right flavor, you’ll need the sort of authentic instruction that can only come from chef John Bull’s Reggae Kitchen.
The best part…John Bull’s restaurant is in Sweden.
In a past post entitled Trinidad Rum Punch we stressed using a gold rum due to it’s flavor. Today we sail up to St. Croix where we make a rum punch featuring the local white rum, Cruzan.
Splash of lemon juice
2 Cups Cruzan light rum
2 liters ginger ale
1 qt. fruit punch
1 qt. orange juice or pineapple juice
ice cubes
The cool thing is that recipe itself is surprisingly easy, and can be remembered by memorizing a little poem:
One of Sour, Two of Sweet. Three of Strong, Four of Weak.Translated, this means:
One part “sour,” which means freshly squeezed lime juice (do NOT use bottled lime juice — only fresh lime juice will do!);
Two parts “sweet,” which refers to a simple syrup (sugar + water);
Three parts “strong” — rum (only golden rum, NOT white rum);
Four parts “weak” — served over ice.
Get it?
Okay, to break it down into recipe form: the following would be how you’d make a gallon of Trinidadian rum punch:
What lemonade is to Americans, ginger beer is to folks in the Caribbean. While many carbonated brands are available in Stateside supermarkets (choose those that list ginger as the first ingredient, not capsicum, which adds heat but no flavor), it’s easy to whip up a batch of the spicy and exotic brew at home.
2 four-inch pieces of fresh ginger, peeled and grated on the largest side of the grater.
8 cups water.
1/3 cup brown sugar.
2 tablespoons fresh lime juice.
2 drops vanilla extract.
A pinch of mace or nutmeg.
Mint sprigs for garnish.
Combine 4 cups water, ginger, and sugar in a large saucepan and bring to a boil. Lower to a simmer and stir with a wooden spoon until the sugar dissolves. Remove from heat. Add lime juice, then set aside to cool. Fill a large glass half full with ice and add 4 cups of cold water. Pour in ginger mixture and mix well. Serve in tall glasses garnished with mint sprigs. Add a shot of dark rum or vodka to each glass, if desires. Makes one quart.
From Aug/Sept 2008 edition of Caribbean Travel and Life.
At the Swizzle Inn in Bermuda they only sell these by the pitcher. The idea is you’re going to sit all afternoon (yes, daytime drinking…the only respectable kind of drinking) and drink the stuff in bulk. “Swizzle Inn/Swagger Out” is their slogan, if that gives you a clue… Here’s a single serving recipe, which is a little different than the original, but is faithful to it, courtesy of the Reagans.
In a 11 or 12 oz hi-ball glass squeeze two wedges of lime and one lemon wedge 2 dashes of Angustora bitters
fill glass with ice (yeah, just plain old ice)
1 oz gold rum
1 oz of Gosling’s Black Seal rum
3/4 oz of Falernum (preferably Gosling’s)
1oz pineapple juice
1oz orange juice
splash grapefruit juice
drop a couple of cubes on top to combat that hated “settling” of the ice problem and…
Don’t make the drink in a shaker, shake it and then pour it over ice. Why not? Because it’s called a swizzle and therefore the drink should be made in the glass and “swizzled” with, yup you guessed it, a swizzle stick.