Fruit and Cheese Platter

By Somer

Sometimes, particularly in the warmer months, the last thing that I want to do is heat my house to unbearable temperatures by cooking a hot meal.  Sometimes you just want something cool and light.  Tonight we had something that my husband and I used to have regularly for weekend brunches before our son was born.  I made a fruit and cheese platter and white wine spritzers.  It’s light, delicious, crisp, and very fulfilling.

Here is a picture of the finished product and we’ll break it down from there:

On this platter is sliced watermelon, sliced Bartlett pears, sliced green apples, strawberries, sliced salami, toasted French bread, Roquefort (blue) cheese, Chevre (goat cheese), and a gorgeous French Brie.

When you are indulging in heavier tasting cheeses, it is important to accompany these cheeses with palate-cleansing fruits.  Grapes are usually the generic fruit for this, but I really prefer green apples and pears.  And there’s no better pairing in the food world than strawberries and Brie.  (Brie is one of my favorite cheeses to schmeer on some bread.  It’s like butter, but with some FUNK mixed in.  And people, FUNK is a good thing where cheese is concerned.)

I don’t like to put crackers on a gorgeous platter like this.  I just go to my local grocer and buy a loaf of French bread.  There’s more body to it and it stands up better to some of the strong cheeses.

Just slice the bread, drizzle with Extra Virgin Olive Oil, and toast in a 400 degree F. oven for 10 minutes.

I also really love the pairing of this platter with white wine spritzers.  I know most spritzers will be served with seltzer water or sparkling water, but I use lemon lime soda.  I buy a HUGE bottle of an inexpensive, fruity wine and a 2 litre bottle of lemon lime soda.  Just put ice in your glass and do half and half of the wine and soda.  It’s a light and sweet drink that goes great with the cheese and fruit.  Also, I buy the big bottle of wine because I will drink these babies until the bottle is empty.  They are spectacular.

Of course if you choose to make a fruit and cheese platter, I would expect that you use your favorite fruits and cheeses.  This is just my personal pick for favorites.  It’s a great dinner, brunch, picnic, cocktail party serving, appetizer, etc. meal.  Enjoy!

Cinco de Mayo Feast

By Somer

Happy Cinco de Mayo everybody!  As you know, today is a day to celebrate Mexican heritage.  Since I love Mexican food, I always like to celebrate the fifth of May every year by making a Mexican feast.  Sometimes it is a simple plate of tacos and tortilla chips with salsa and other times it is a more complicated feast.  I went for something a little more complicated this year and it was delicious.  Ok kids, brace yourselves.  This is going to be a long one……

I wanted to make fajitas with a marinated skirt or flank steak.  Alas, my grocer was not carrying those cuts of meat (weird…) so I ended up buying a brisket.  I made a marinade for the brisket and let it marinate overnight.  I then slow roasted the brisket in a 250 degree F oven for 5 hours to ensure tenderness.  Here’s how to do it:

Marinade:

zest and juice of 1 lime

1 Tblsp. garlic powder

1 Tblsp. onion powder

2 tsp. dried oregano

1 tsp. dried chili powder

1/2 Tblsp. salt

1/4 Tblsp. black pepper

4 chipotle peppers, finely chopped (I use the canned ones in adobo sauce)

1 Tblsp. adobo sauce (from the can)

1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil

Just mix it all together (it will be a thick paste) and cover both sides of the meat and store in an airtight container overnight.  Cook the meat on a sheet pan and when it has finished cooking, cover it in aluminum foil for 45 minutes before cutting.  After you cut the meat, saute lightly in a skillet with sliced onions and then serve with tortillas.

I also decided to make guacamole and pico de gallo as condiments for the fajitas.  These are super easy dishes and are very fresh tasting in contrast with the savory meat.

I prefer a creamy guacamole over a coarse one.  Simply throw 1 avacado (peeled, and roughly chopped), 3 cloves of garlic (also peeled and roughly chopped), and the zest and juice of 1 lime into a food processor and process until smooth.  Easy easy.

For the Pico de Gallo, dice and deseed one large tomato, place it in a bowl.  Finely chop one jalapeno pepper, 1/3 cup of onion (minced) and 1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro.  Zest and juice 1 lime and toss with the tomato mixture.  Bam,  Pico de Gallo.  Easy easy.

Simply spread the guacamole on your tortilla, add your meat and onions, then top with the Pico de Gallo and roll.  It’s very delicious and fresh tasting.  The perfect way to celebrate Cinco de Mayo.

I would be remiss if I neglected a wonderful drink to go with this festive meal.  I’m not much of a beer drinker, so my next option was a Lime Margarita.  I love a fresh margarita, i.e. it doesn’t come in a pre-mixed form.  I saw Ina Garten (Food Network Barefoot Contessa….my favorite FN cook!) make a fresh margarita once and wrote down the recipe.  I’ve been dying to make this drink and was happy that I finally had an excuse.  Here’s the recipe:

Margarita

Ina Garten

1 lime, halved

kosher salt

1/2 cup freshly squeezed lime juice

the juice of 1 lemon

1 cup Triple Sec

1 cup White Tequila

3 cups ice

I made my mix ahead of time in a cocktail pitcher and put it in the refrigerator to chill before blending with ice.

Simply mix the lime juice, lemon juice, Triple Sec and Tequila together.  When ready to blend, put the 3 cups of ice in your blender and blend with the mix until frothy.  Use the halved lime to rum along the rims of your cocktail glasses and dip into a shallow dish containing the kosher salt.  This is a fresh tasting and delicious margarita.  I’ll be making this for my mom this summer and we’ll drink it pool-side.

Oh yeah, I promised a finished picture of my Key Lime Pie:

I let my whipped cream sit out a little too long so it was deflated when I piped it onto my pie.  It still looks nice.  It was a very good Key Lime Pie, especially with that pretzel crust.  Please try that recipe.  It doesn’t get any easier and it is very good.

Happy Cinco de Mayo everybody!  I hope you enjoyed it as much as my family and I did!  Enjoy!

The Skinny Bitch

By Somer

I’m not much of a drinker, to be honest.  I have maybe one drink a month and that includes beer and wine.  Actually, I’m not much for beer or wine.  What I love is a good cocktail and for me, the best cocktail out there is a Skinny Bitch.

It’s insanely simple.  Diet cola and vodka in a rock glass and blammo!  You’ve got a great drink that doesn’t have that alcohol burn.  I guess maybe I’m a big baby where the alcohol burn is concerned.  I hate it when people try to get me to try a new drink and the tell me “You can’ taste the alcohol at all!”  That’s never true.  I can always taste the alcohol and I always flinch after that first swallow because I can taste the alcohol A LOT.

With the Skinny Bitch, there is a little bit of a burn, but it’s warm and I don’t make a smooshy face after swallowing.  Vodka is such a clean taste.

The recipe is simple.  4 ice cubes, a shot of vodka (some people like BIG shots and some people like tiny shots.  I don’t judge.  Go with what you like), and half a can of diet cola.  There you go.  A Skinny Bitch.  Drink with enthusiasm, preferrably while playing cards with your special someone and dominating the game.

I also like to add vanilla vodka to this.  It’s smooth and crazy good.  I don’t think anybody should be hesitant about making drinks at home.  Going to a bar is expensive and depending on the bar tender, the quality of your drink can be a little dicey.  Get yourself a small bar set, some rock glasses and martini glasses and you’ve got all you need.

Iced Tea Doesn’t Come From a Can

By Somer

I am horrified to see people popping open aluminum cans of “Iced Tea” or even worse, making cans of powdered “Iced Tea.”  And those fancy brand names who serve their teas in bottles are just robbing you.  You can easily make a gallon of iced tea….proper iced tea,  for pennies.  Just buy yourself a box of plain tea bags (100 tea bags).  I also like to buy a smaller box of flavored tea (my two favorites are chai tea and peach-flavored tea) so that you can lightly flavor your iced tea.

You want 10 tea bags for this recipe.  If you choose to add a flavored tea, it’s 9 regular tea bags and 1 flavored tea bag.  The flavoring will be really light and sweet and people will sit and sip the tea asking what that flavor is.

Take the tea bags out of their outer wrappers and throw the bags into a large bowl.  Pour 8 cups of boiling water over the tea bags and make sure all of them are steeping.  Let the tea steep for 10 minutes.

The liquid will be very dark and will have a pleasant aroma.  Remove the tea bags with a spoon, making sure to squeeze any liquid out of them.

Now for this to be Iced Tea, it has to be served cold.  You can certainly just pour this into your pitcher now and dillute it with cold water and have cold iced tea in 2 hours OR you can fill your 1 gallon pitcher 3/4 of the way full with ice and then add the undilluted liquid, melting the ice and cooling the liquid.  Stir to melt the ice thoroughly and then add enough water to reach the 1 gallon mark on your pitcher.

You’ll notice at this point that I have not mentioned any sort of sweeteners.  I know you can add like a bajillion cups of sugar and then you’ll have Southern Sweet Tea (and no teeth) or you can leave the liquid in the pitcher unsweetened.  I buy those little yellow packets of artificial sweetener and add 1 packet to my glass and it sweetens the tea just enough without making the brew taste like syrup.  If you like Southern Sweet Tea, then by all means add a bajillion cups of sugar.  Me?  I’ll stick with the one packet.

The end product is a truly refreshing drink that my husband and I both love to drink in the warmer months.  It’s real Iced Tea and it’s cheaper and better than that other stuff.  Give it a try, thank me later.