Artichoke Cocktails

There was a time in my life when Campari and soda was the drink of choice. I am one of the lunatics that loves a nice bitter drink, such as extremely black coffee, Campari, matcha green tea, you name it. It is so interesting to observe the types of flavors people gravitate toward.

When I worked in nutrition research, I would do 24-hour recalls, where I would ask people what they ate the day prior, and then analyze the nutrients. There was always the category of people who tended toward sweet. They would have a sweetened latte or coffee in the morning with a sweet cereal. And then snack on candy or granola bars or fruit throughout the day. They were the ones who drank a lot of fruit juice or soda.

Then there were the people who tended toward savory and tangy. They would eat a savory breakfast like white rice with kimchi or vegetables. They would normally not snack, and eat meat and vegetables for lunch and dinner. They usually drank tea, or coffee, or water throughout the day.

I was always intrigued by this, which made me reflect on my own preferences. I realized that I tend more toward the savory foods, and bitter drinks, aside from red wine. Although, my wine flavor of choice is a heavy red with an extremely dry finish, which is not very easy to come across.

As a person continually on the search for new dimensions, I was quite pleased to learn of a liqueur that is bitter and is made from artichoke hearts. Artichoke hearts and cauliflower have some sort of mystical power over me. I always have some form of artichoke hearts in stock, whether it is canned, marinated, and/or frozen. So to find out a liqueur made from the lovely vegetable, I raised my hand and bought two tickets. Sold! It actually doesn't taste like artichokes at all, but the essence is there.

For awhile, I was on a mission to find it at every bar or Italian restaurant I set foot in. I am a girl who loves a challenge. There was a light sprinkling of places. But then I finally realized it is most likely sold at the liquor store. Long story short, it now has a place on my liquor shelf next to the Campari and Ouzo.


Artichoke Cocktails
2 small cocktails

This recipe makes two 4-ounce drinks. They are intended for a pre-meal drink and go quite nicely with a small bowl of olives.

1 1/2 fluid ounces Cynar (bitter Italian liqueur made from artichokes)
1 fluid ounce freshly squeezed lemon juice
1 teaspoon honey
6 mint leaves, minced
4 to 6 fluid ounces sparkling water

Prepare two small cocktail glasses with ice. Pour 3/4 fluid ounce Cynar, 1/2 fluid ounce lemon juice, 1/2 teaspoon honey, 3 minced mint leaves into each glass. Top with sparkling water. Stir and consume.

Zucchini and Goat Cheese Rolls

As spring slowly approaches, the overwhelming need to clean and clear out rolls in. I never understood the concept of spring cleaning until about two years ago, with this year being the strongest of all. Last year I discovered 'Clear Your Clutter with Feng Shui' and have read it at least twice.

This year it is more of a habit. What an interesting concept when suddenly you see a layer of dust on the floorboard behind a door. A sixth sense for dust magically develops once the flowers and trees start to bloom. I embrace these bizarre urges...especially because they don't present themselves very often. I find myself scrambling in the morning before work to scrub that 'new' stain on the stove top, or dust underneath the dresser, or recycle the entire apartment building's collection of junk mail underneath the mailboxes.

With that said, I also have the urge to have more house guests. So M of ATM and her little guy, W, came over last Saturday for a little happy hour. It was a perfect opportunity to use a stack of zucchini, and a bag of tri-colored quinoa. I cooked up the idea of rolled zucchini while reviewing some recipes at work last week. And a quinoa salad with artichoke hearts and black olives was a vehicle for three lemons hoping to be zested and juiced. M had the same thought. She brought over tapenade, goat cheese, and some lovely crackers. We of course hydrated ourselves with red wine. Spring is in the air!


Zucchini and Goat Cheese Rolls
Yields 2 to 4 servings

Use a mandoline to slice your zucchini into very thin pieces if you have one. It is one of the greatest kitchen inventions. If you don't have one, then carefully slice your zucchini as thinly as possible. Feel free to use any variety of cheese and herbs for your flavoring. These just happened to be on my mind.

2 zucchini, thinly sliced lengthwise
1-2 tablespoons olive oil
4 tablespoons goat cheese, or more if needed
Dried dill to taste
Dried thyme to taste
Salt and pepper

Preheat oven to 425 degrees and line a baking sheet with parchment paper or Silpat. Arrange thinly sliced zucchini on the baking sheet and brush with olive oil. Bake in oven for about 5 minutes. Remove from oven and flip; bake until zucchini are tender and can be easily rolled, about 5 more minutes.

Remove pan from oven and spoon small amounts of goat cheese onto each zucchini slice. Spread as evenly as possible with the back of a spoon. Sprinkle a generous amount of dill and thyme onto the goat cheese. Season with salt and pepper.

Carefully roll each zucchini slice and secure with toothpicks if you have them. I only had a few. But they should be fine as long as you put the open end on the bottom. Return the pan to the oven and bake until the cheese is softened and zucchini are lightly browned, 6 to 10 minutes.

Spicy Teriyaki Stir Fry

Tonight was one of those Seattle spring evenings where the sun came out and everyone was outside enjoying the freshness. It was nice feeling the warm sun on my back while gliding up the hill. What with the sun out, I didn't consider the dinner menu until opening the refrigerator to take inventory.

I had a lot of rich food this past weekend. Happy hour #1 on Friday was Caesar salad and sweet potato fries while sitting outside, followed by happy hour #2 with truffle popcorn, Triscuits layered with raspberry jam and brie, olives, and marinated artichoke hearts. Saturday was kale and mushroom frittata and multiple cups of coffee for breakfast, and then a piece of pizza and sauteed kale for lunch. I took a trip to Ikea in the afternoon and had to fuel up with frozen yogurt before shopping. Then dinner was roasted vegetable pizza appetizer, pan-fried chicken, mashed potatoes and roasted Brussels sprouts. Sunday I pulled some frozen rice from the freezer, to slowly realize, while making fried rice, that it was actually barley. So I had fried barley with carrots and mushrooms for breakfast. Roasted cauliflower and eggplant were lunch. And dinner was Mad Men party food with celery stuffed with cream cheese and nuts, deviled eggs, olives coated in garlic powder, and avocado 'dunk'. There was a dash of red wine here and there, a few swear words while assembling Ikea furniture, pacing, deep breaths, and a plethora of Soda Stream water.

It is quite interesting to see my entire weekend's food typed out like this. It also explains the fullness factor today. So a light vegetable stir fry for dinner was in order for balancing things out.

Spicy Teriyaki Stir Fry
Yields 1-2 servings

You can use any variety of vegetables for the stir fry. The great aspect of stir frying is using vegetables already existing in the refrigerator or freezer. I happen to have a lot of zucchini and frozen Asian-style vegetables today, so I used those. But feel free to use what you have.

1 clove garlic, minced
1 tablespoon low-sodium soy sauce
1 tablespoon water
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
1 teaspoon sweet chili sauce
1 teaspoon hoisin sauce
1/8 teaspoon ground ginger
Red pepper flakes to taste
2 teaspoons olive oil
2 cups vegetables

Whisk garlic, soy sauce, water, mustard, chili sauce, hoisin sauce, ground ginger, and red pepper flakes together in a small bowl to make the sauce. Heat olive oil in a skillet over medium heat. Saute the vegetables until tender. Pour the sauce over the vegetables and stir until coated. Heat for 1 to 2 minutes to slightly evaporate the liquid. Remove from heat. Eat!

Minty Champagne Shooters

It is recipe swap time again. As you can see, it is Wednesday, not the usual day of the swap. We have divided our group in two. Half are still posting the first Sunday of the month, and the other half of us are posting on the second Wednesday of the month...so here we are! Christianna of Burwell General Store has given us an assignment of 'Orange Snowflake Salad' as pictured below.

While it does sound like a pretty interesting experiment, I just couldn't bring myself to buy Jell-O with the bright orange food coloring and cottage cheese. Cottage cheese is on the top of my 'unconsumed food list'. There are a few food items that give me twitches even thinking about, cottage cheese and any seafood are two of them. 

So this week I strapped on the thinking cap to figure out a plan. I knew from the start there is a partially consumed bottle of champagne in the fridge and wanted to somehow incorporate it into the recipe. Jell-O shots were a natural direction to take. But how would I get around the artificially flavored and colored Jell-O? 

A little research proved very educational. I could simply buy unflavored gelatin and use fruit juice to sweeten the shots. A clear-ish juice would be ideal. So maintaining the pineapple component of the recipe, pineapple juice and pineapple chunks would appear. There needed to be a refreshing aspect as well. Mint would do.

So I gathered all the necessary suspects at the grocery and trekked home with a full backpack. And what a trip down memory lane this recipe provoked. The powdery scent of warm liquid stirred into gelatin brought back childhood memories. I was immediately transported to the kitchen table, helping my mom stir the hot water into the bright green Jell-O. Jell-O was such a fun treat as a kid. Watching the liquid turn into a gel was magical. The worse part about it was waiting for it to set. I remember wondering how I would get through the hour(s) it took to set. Barbies, Scooby Doo, bike-riding, and mini trampoline jumping were mild distractions. Somehow I got through. Speaking of which, I need to go check on the flutes...a taste test is probably in order.

Minty Champagne Shooters

Makes 4 champagne flutes

You can take creative liberties regarding the fruit juice and alcohol flavors. Mangoes and mango juice  with fresh basil would be quite nice. Or berries and mint would be refreshing. Whatever you choose will make you happy as you scoop it from the glass.

1 cup pineapple juice
1 cup cold champagne (or sparkling wine)
2 envelopes Knox Unflavored Gelatin
1 tablespoon honey
4 tablespoons pineapple chunks (canned or fresh)
10 mint leaves, finely minced

Heat pineapple juice in a small saucepan over medium-high heat until boiling. Take off heat. Pour cold champagne into a medium bowl. Stir gelatin into champagne and let sit for 1 minute. Pour hot pineapple juice over champagne mixture. Stir in honey. Continuously stir until gelatin is dissolved, 3 to 5 minutes. Sprinkle mint leaves into champagne mixture. Pour into 4 champagne flutes. Stir 1 tablespoon pineapple chunks into each flute. Refrigerate until solid, 1 to 2 hours.

Simple Black Olive Tapenade

Do you ever have that one item in your refrigerator that elicits an 'Ugh' every time you open it? You know you need to use it in some form or another, but other items have somehow pushed themselves to the front. The lowly item that you purposely scan over is pushed to be back left corner behind the two week old cranberry juice? That such item of mine was a mostly-full jar of Kalamata olives. I have been avoiding them for a good three weeks. There is no really good explanation for it either. I actually really like Kalamata olives.

Somehow they have forced a deep groan out of me ever time I see them. I even think about them on my walk to work sometimes. I think up all these great ideas of what to do with them: slice them on top of pizza, sprinkle into an omelet, or finally today, make tapenade. What a simple solution to an unnecessarily nagging problem. Puree them with parsley, capers, garlic, balsamic vinegar and you have yourself lunch for a few days. So if you too have that jar of olives longingly scooting itself closer to the front of your refrigerator, pull it out and  puree it with other said ingredients for an ridiculously easy spread.


Simple Black Olive Tapenade
Makes about 1 cup

This spread is so easy and you likely have most ingredients on hand. Simply puree. Serve with crackers, as a sandwich spread, or an omelet filling.

1 cup Kalamata (or any variety of black) olives
1 cup roughly chopped fresh parsley
2 tablespoons drained capers
1 clove garlic, roughly chopped
2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
Salt and pepper to taste

Drop all ingredients into a food processor or blender and puree until smooth. You may need to occasionally scrape the sides and puree again to ensure a uniform texture.

With daylight saving today, it was a luxury to come home after a trip to Ikea, and be able to shoot pictures outside at 7pm. It makes a world of a difference to take food outside and use natural light.