A Good Dish

making food simpler

A Light, Breezy Lillet/Campari Cocktail For The End Of An Intense, Stressful Summer

Lillet/Campari cocktail
Soda fired earthenware by Tom Jaszczak

Light, tasty, easy to make, quaffable and refreshing – the description of the perfect summer cocktail. Just as a warming, muscle relaxing concoction does the trick mid-winter, a lighter, not too boozy sipper is what I want on a warm summer evening. Gin lightened and enlivened with tonic, Aperol blended with soda water and Prosecco and cranberry juice spiked with vodka all fit this breezy drinks category. With summertime parameters in mind, I am happy to suggest a different but delightful drink made with Lillet and Campari, soda and tonic water and lime on ice.     

I used lime but lemon or orange would work, too
3 parts Lillet to 1 part Campari

Lillet Blanc is an aromatized or fortified wine, mostly white Bordeaux varietals mixed with fruit liquors in oak casks. It makes a great summer sipper all on its own over ice with a slice of citrus. For some people, it can be too sweet by itself. With that in mind, I tried adding Campari and fresh lime juice for balance and zipped it up with the brightness of soda water and tonic. The resulting drink checks all the required boxes: light, tasty but not overly sweet, easy to make and drink, low ABV and, last but certainly not least, refreshing. It can be varied using different citrus juices (grapefruit might work well) and using all tonic or all soda water by preference. We mixed up a half gallon jar full for an outdoor distanced cocktail hour and we came home with it empty. Now if only we could think of a catchy name….

Lillet/Campari cocktail
Soda fired earthenware by Tom Jaszczak

LILLET/CAMPARI COCKTAIL

  • 3 oz Lillet
  • 1 oz Campari
  • 1 oz Soda Water (or more to taste)
  • 1 oz Tonic Water
  • 1 oz Lime Juice (or Lemon or Orange depending on sweetness desired)

Mix together and pour over ice. Add a slice of lime. 

The Americano Cocktail -Just When We Need An Easy and Refreshing Summer Drink

3 versions of an Americano cocktail
Kurinuki yunomi by Carey Nathanson

It was a long, difficult spring and summer is looking rough. The pandemic is far from over and we can’t let down our guard or our masks yet. We have much work ahead to learn to be more activeIy anti-racist and we must do all we can to push for change in November as a start. I don’t know about you but I need a drink. I actually felt too stressed to do a lot of drinking this spring but as I start to take some deeper breaths, I am craving some slightly buzzy refreshment. I have two requirements for summer cocktails – they need to be lighter than those we drink in cooler weather and they must be easy to make. Summer days get so warm that anything we imbibe needs to be cold and refreshing and when you are trying to stay hydrated, the last thing you need is an alcohol bomb. Save those for longer, colder nights. As for easy, keep it simple; You don’t want a long list of ingredients to measure out when you are already hot and thirsty!

Americano Ingredients
Vermouth heavy Americano
Porcelain yunomi by Carey Nathanson

My favorite summer drinks are heavy on tonic, soda water or some kind of citrus juice, cut with Prosecco or a light amaro and rarely include whiskey (which at other times of the year would be my base liquor of choice). One great summer cocktail is an Americano, equal parts Campari and sweet vermouth with fizzy water and a slice of citrus. The bitterness of the Campari is balanced by the sweetness of the vermouth (and vice versa) and the soda water lightens and brightens up the whole thing. The vermouth you choose will determine the flavor as some are sweeter and more one-dimensional while others are more layered and distinctive. My current faves are all Spanish: Atxa (complex and herbaceous), Priorat Natur (balanced and rose-like) and Vermut Lustau (sherry based and full of botanicals) although good old Martini & Rossi works just fine in a mixed drink, if that is what you have on hand. You can play around with the proportions depending on whether your preference, the classic being a one to one ratio. I tend toward more vermouth while my husband likes more Campari. If you want less bitter altogether, substitute Aperol for the Campari (although just plain Aperol and sparkling water is delicious, especially with a big wedge of orange). You can also vary the amount of soda water from a splash to a generous pour.  And I wouldn’t say no to a sprig of mint for freshness. What could be more American, in a good sense, than an eponymous drink composed from imported ingredients which, when combined, create a whole that is greater than its parts? And if you happened to squeeze the orange, lemon or lime slice/wedge before adding, so much the better. To healthier and cooler days ahead!

Campari heavy Americano
Stoneware yunomi by Carey Nathanson
Aperol and vermouth with soda water
Stoneware yunomi by Carey Nathanson
Americano cocktail
Stoneware yunomi by Carey Nathanson

Need Coffee? Ordering A Coffee Subscription Online Is An Easy Way To Try New Beans From Many Different Roasters

Wood-fired stoneware mug
by Linda Christianson
from St. Croix Valley Pottery Tour

I used to think coffee was bad for me but since quite a lot of recent studies say just the opposite, I drink a cup every morning. I’d like to drink more but then I would be up all night. Now the decision to drink coffee is an easy one but finding coffee beans I like is tougher. In a typical pre-pandemic week, we would buy coffee beans from a local coffee shop like Plowshares and Variety. In a pinch, if I was being lazy, I might pick up a bag at Whole Foods or, if feeling thrifty, a 2 pounder of organic beans at Costco. We had been trying out different roasters across the city (Devocíon, East One, Box Kite with mixed results) to find beans we liked when the stay at home order was issued in March. Since then, we have been ordering beans online. Wow – there is a whole huge world of freshly roasted coffee available to be delivered to your home!

Porcelain espresso cup and saucer
by The Bright Angle
from Philadelphia Museum of Art Craft Show

I am happy we can order consistently good tasting beans from local roasters online instead of actually going to their brick and mortar shops, grateful they still roast and ship. (We are just about to try Partners (in Brooklyn) because they offer 20% off your first order). But when a friend recently turned us on to online coffee subscriptions (thank you, Melea), we realized what endless possibilities we have. Now our eyes have been opened to Bean Box (so far we’ve enjoyed 1 out of 3 of their selections), Trade Coffee (2 for 2), Misto Box (0 for 1), companies who will send coffees from different roasters all over the country. Sites like Condé Nast Traveler and Roasty Coffee have descriptions of the various companies but I thought Homegrounds was the most helpful because they actually compare the various subscription services to help you choose. Homegrounds is one of many coffee focused sites (such as The Coffee Compass, Coffee Geek and Perfect Daily Grind) that discuss all aspects of coffee from sourcing to storing to brewing. And, of course, there are many opinionated threads on Reddit that argue the merits and faults of different coffees and subscriptions.

Earthenware mug by Maggie Jaszczak
from Northern Clay Center

A subscription where you leave the choice up to someone else is always a gamble and a coffee service is no different. You might like what they choose and you might not. The first bag of beans I got from Misto Box (from a roaster in Kentucky) brewed up watery and flavorless, even though the beans had been roasted that week. But that may be true with any beans you buy at a store or order yourself solely based on a description without having tasted them. I said that I liked a medium roast with full body and caramel flavor but that didn’t guarantee that I would like the beans they said tasted that way. Some companies (like Trade) will send a different bag of beans if you don’t like the first selection. Disappointingly, the “coffee curator” at Misto was so slow to respond to my emails requesting a replacement that I debated canceling and trying a different service but, after a week of emailing, he finally agreed to send another bag of beans.

Kurinuki (carved from a block of clay)
earthenware mug by Joe Pintz
from Worcester Craft Center

Like beer and wine, choosing a coffee involves knowing the terminology. Coffee is described by its roast level (with, strangely, light having the most caffeine and dark the least) as well as by adjectives like smoky, mellow, fruity, rich and toasty. According to JavaLush, another coffee lover’s site, there are 172 words to describe coffee, even more than to describe wine! I’ve been drinking coffee for decades and am only now beginning to learn a vocabulary to use to explain what I like. Unfortunately, knowing some words doesn’t guarantee I will get something I like. The only real way I know to do that is to taste. And like with beer and wine, I may or may not like someone else’s recommendation. So I take a chance trying new beans, both single origin and blends, and brew and taste them until I find the ones I like. Part of the fun of a subscription is getting new coffees to try that we wouldn’t have chosen ourselves. Sometimes they please us and when they don’t, we try combining different roasts or brewing them a different way (drip or aeropress or cold brew) or changing the grind size or varying the amount we use. If all else fails, they go in the compost. So far that has only happened twice. I continue to look forward to the next bag to arrive, ever hopeful that it will be my new favorite.

Peonies

Ready For A Different Summer Cocktail? Try A White Manhattan

White Manhattans ready to serve
Tray/Plate by Bandana Pottery

I had never heard of a White Manhattan cocktail until we saw one on a restaurant menu. Nor had I even heard of white whiskey. Where had I been? With a little digging, I found it was invented in the early 2000’s by a creative San Francisco based bartender named Neyah White. The white whiskey used in our version, High West Silver, is clear and smooth tasting. It keeps the Manhattan “white”, as does using blanc (sweet white) vermouth. A traditional Manhattan is made with “regular” rye or bourbon, red (or sweet) vermouth and a cherry, generally thought of as a warming or winter drink. A white version just seemed wacky so we had to try it. It was delicious.

White whiskey from High West Distillery

On a tour of the Van Brunt Stillhouse in Red Hook, Brooklyn last spring (a fun outing with a barroom for before or after), we learned that most whiskey is completely clear when distilled and gets its amber tone from months or years of aging in charred wood barrels. High West Silver is an oat-based spirit (85% oats, 15% barley) and, so they joke, aged for about 5 minutes in oak. Some quick research turned up some other clear or “white dog” whiskeys (which seem to be making a comeback after brief fame a decade ago). Hudson, the New York distiller specializing in smooth drinking whiskeys, makes one from corn and Buffalo Trace uses the same mash of corn, rye and malted barley as it does for its aged bourbon but leaves it clear. Death’s Door, a company we knew for its gin. makes a white whiskey that is 80% wheat and 20% barley, “rested” in stainless steel and finished briefly in oak. I can see we have a lot of tasting ahead of us.

A selection of blanc/bianco vermouth
I chose Dolin to keep the drink clear

What makes the White Manhattan unique is not just white whiskey. It is also the use of a particular variety of white vermouth – blanc or bianco (the drink we had used Dolin blanc -it is French, after all) with a Benedictine soaked cherry. We tried it first with Little City white vermouth (a small batch, local New York vermouth made with New York State ingredients) and, although it makes a great martini, we found it too dry for a Manhattan. The Dolin blanc works perfectly. To give depth and more complexity, we added Salers, a gentian based French aperitif recommended by a knowledgeable salesperson at Astor Wines. I think Cocchi Americano or Benedictine (which was in the original recipe) would work, too, but would be sweeter. For the garnish, you could soak some dried cherries in Benedictine or use Amarena cherries (I told you about them a few posts ago) straight out of the jar – just rinse first so as not to color the liquor. Or; if you aren’t a cherry person, try an orange or lemon peel. A splash of bitters adds a little more dimension. If you like your drink a bit sweeter, juggle the proportions or use the Benedictine instead of Salers. To make your own White Manhattan, just follow this simple recipe and sip with pleasure.

Salers Aperitif kept the Manhattan pretty clear
and added complexity

WHITE MANHATTAN (with credit to Neyah White)

Shake together in a cocktail mixer over ice:

  • 1 1/2 oz white bourbon
  • 1/2 oz white vermouth
  • 1/2 oz Salers Aperitif or Benedictine
  • A couple of dashes of citrus bitters (I used orange)

Strain into a coupé, martini glass or your favorite ceramic tumbler and add a cocktail cherry, plain or soaked in liquor or a rinsed Amareno cherry or a curl of lemon rind. 

Exuberant peonies
Ceramic vase by Roberta Massuch

Green Tea May Be Great For Us But Can We Learn To Love It? It’s Not Easy Going Green…

Sencha Green Tea
Wood Ash Glazed Stoneware by Richard Aerni

Green tea sounds almost magical in its widely researched medicinal qualities. It is thought to fight both cardiovascular disease and cancer. It contains polyphenols and antioxidants that may reduce inflammation and catechins that may kill bacteria. Although some doubters question the medical data, I am willing to drink it just in case any of those benefits pan out. It also gives me the opportunity to use the many lovely teacups, tea bowls and tumblers I have collected over the years. My problem with green tea is that I don’t love the taste.

There is a wide range of loose and bagged green teas and prices!

Some people, my husband and son included, really like the taste of green tea. Unfortunately, I don’t. Until I find an organic green tea I like (and I am determined), my solution is to use one green tea bag and one teabag of a fruity herbal tea. What I end up with is a fruity, tasty brew which I find pleasing. If I make a potful, I add ice to the second cup and enjoy it cold. Because green tea has caffeine (although about 1/3 that of coffee), for an afternoon cup I make sure to use a decaf green.

Kalustyan’s carries many varieties of green tea

There are so many types of green tea and such a huge range of flavorings that I might just spend many years trying different ones. My son likes sencha (basic and grassy) and genmaicha (made with toasted rice) while my sister prefers matcha, the powdered version used in tea ceremonies and in baking. So far, I find I enjoy an organic passion fruit green but I’ve barely scratched the surface. I’m hoping it is an acquired taste and that I will soon start to like it more as I drink more of it. Fighting off potential illness with a few cups of green tea a day? Why not try?

Passion Fruit Green Tea
Wood Ash Glazed Stoneware by Richard Aerni