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Showing posts with label sharon's sorbet. Show all posts
Showing posts with label sharon's sorbet. Show all posts

Tuesday, September 10, 2024

BOOK/A TABLE - Champagne & Sorbet



As far as I’m concerned, the shorts stay on until mid-October, at least. And why not? The seasons have gone haywire—Memorial Day weekend weather doesn’t really start until sometime in June now and I prefer to think of September as the new August.

With that in mind, it’s still a fine time to knock back an effervescent Sgroppino! A video from Nigella Lawson popped up on Instagram and I was immediately intrigued as she mixed together lemon sorbet, champagne, and vodka for a last-gasp-of-summer cocktail.

It happened to be a bit of a coincidence then that I also came across a mention of champagne sorbet when reading Doctor No by Ian Fleming. While trapped in the madman’s “mink-lined prison” our favorite undercover agent James Bond is handed two huge menus: “They might have been from the Savoy Grill or the ‘21’ or the Tour d’Argent. Bond ran his eye down one of them. It began with Caviar double de Beluga and ended with Sorbet à la Champagne.”

Champagne Sorbet may certainly serve as a tasty dessert, but a Sgroppino is easier to make and yields quicker results without having to wait around for the whole thing to freeze. Cheers then—and say “yes” to the rest of summer!


Nigella Lawson’s Sgroppino Recipe
(My booze-free suggestions in italics)

Ingredients
100g Lemon Sorbet (about 2/3 cup)
25ml chilled vodka (1 shot) or herbally Ritual gin
25ml chilled prosecco (1 shot) or Giesen New Zealand Sparkling Brut

Method
Get a small coupe or martini glass and a small wide-ish jug. Scoop the lemon sorbet into the jug.
Pour over the vodka, followed by the prosecco. Mix swiftly but gently with a couple of forks, pulling the sorbet apart and into the liquid rather than beating the ingredients together.
When you have a lump-free cohesive mixture resembling a cloud of frosty froth, pour into the prepared glass.
Raise to your lips and prepare to be transported!

TIP: Chill your glasses to keep your cocktail cold – put them in the freezer for at least 30 mins, or up to 2 hrs before serving. (Avoid freezing crystal and delicate glass.)

This recipe was created by Nigella for Ocado.

 

 

 


Monday, December 19, 2011

Tonight's Menu - Seared Sea Scallops with Buerre Blanc

Saveur has enthralled me yet again with their last two issues. I was duly moved to make seared scallops in a buerre blanc sauce with finger limes from the November issue--but after a little research, there aren't any such limes in the city and ordering them would have set me back $200 for six pints (I only needed four limes) plus $50 shipping to send them here from L.A. Taking a cue from the restaurant Crispo in our relative neighborhood and how they remarkably pair fresh grapefruit with skate, I sought out pink grapefruit. I supremed one palish orb and enveloped the richly pink interior in the buerre blanc sauce while plucking out the little pearls of another for garnish with the scallops. Divine!

As tarragon was part of the sauce, I wanted something similarly resonant to serve alongside and voila, popovers with chopped rosemary emerged from the December pages of Saveur. I didn't have time to seek out goose fat or render my own as the recipe suggests, so I used bacon fat that we already had in the fridge. These I made early and just before it was time to eat, I popped them back into the oven to warm up. Here's how they started out:

I was so engaged with the evening I never had the chance to take more pictures but the menu is below of course and the recipes are linked below just the same where applicable. Thyme, by the way, completed the herbal threaded trinity of this meal when lacing our lemon sorbet. Do enjoy!

Tonight's Menu
Rosemary Popovers
Brussels Sprouts with Pearl Onions & Herb Butter (microwavable, courtesy of Fresh Direct) with Fire-Roasted Tomatoes and Chopped Prosciutto
Scallops with Grapefruit and Buerre Blanc
Lemon Sorbet (courtesy of Sharon's) with Thyme

Wednesday, August 10, 2011

Tonight's Menu - Saffron Risotto with Sea Urchin

It all started because Baby brought home a cunning container of sea urchin with saffron spread from O & Co. one day. As he was soon to have a birthday, I decided to start a pre-celebration incorporating the unique, subtly briny, caramel colored paste into a pasta dish using Todd English's sea urchin sauce as a road map. He even tosses in lobster! Choosing not to venture outside and not having lobster on hand I went a simpler route. I looked to the cupboard and found a packet of Knorr risotto with saffron looking back at me--if you cannot find this prepackaged, just toss in a few crumbled saffron threads yourself. Risotto is not as difficult to make as you might imagine and these packets make it even easier when following the ready-made directions on the back. Simmer this arborio rice in the appropriate amount of water required to cook and do look after it but once the rice is al dente (or tender according to your preference) it is ready to be served.

I needed to use a cucumber that was lurking in the fridge and as I love the crunchy cucumber summer salad addressed below, I thought that would be a good starter; incorporating ingredients such as ginger, rice wine vinegar, and sesame oil that are used in seaweed salads seemed an ideal preface to the sea urchin risotto. The idea of such exotica led me to concoct an old world Bamboo Cocktail first created in Japan to get the party underway--and we continued on to celebrate Baby's birthday for an entire week!

Bamboo Cocktail
Adapted from Saveur magazine
Makes 1
"This elegant drink was created in the 1890s by Louis Eppinger, the manager of the Grand Hotel in Yokohama, Japan, to slake the thirst of visiting dignitaries. Two kinds of bitters, orange and Angostura, add an aromatic dimension to the sherry."
1 1⁄2 oz. dry amontillado sherry
1 1⁄2 oz. Noilly Prat dry vermouth
2 dashes orange bitters
1 dash Angostura bitters
Twist of lemon
1. In a mixing glass, combine sherry, vermouth, bitters, and cracked ice. Stir ingredients for 20–30 seconds until well chilled and strain into a chilled cocktail glass. Add a twist of lemon and serve.

Smashed Cucumbers with Ginger
Adapted from Saveur magazine
Serves 4
Ingredients
4 kirby cucumbers
Kosher salt
1 1" piece fresh ginger, peeled
1 tbsp. sugar
1 1⁄2 tbsp. rice wine vinegar
1 tsp. sesame oil
2 garlic cloves, roughly chopped

Method
Cut cucumbers into irregular chunks about 2" long and 1⁄4" thick. Transfer cucumber slices to a medium bowl, sprinkle with 2 tsp. of kosher salt, mix, and set aside at room temperature to extract excess liquid and let them soften, about 1 hour. Meanwhile, julienne ginger; transfer to a medium bowl and set aside. Drain and gently squeeze cucumbers to extract more liquid, then pat dry with a towel. Add cucumbers to the bowl of ginger along with sugar, vinegar, sesame oil, and garlic. Toss to combine and season with kosher salt, to taste. Let rest at room temperature for at least 15 minutes before serving to allow the flavors to come together.

Sea Urchin Sauce
Recipe Courtesy of Todd English; translated into English by me
Ingredients
2 tablespoons shallots, minced (about 2)
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/4 teaspoon (pinch) crushed hot pepper flakes
1 teaspoon of dry oregano
1 tablespoon olive oil
1/2 cup of sweet vermouth (a perky white wine is preferable)
1/2 cup chicken stock
4 ounces sea urchin (12 to 18 whole urchins)
1/2 cup butter, cut into chunks
1 tablespoon chopped parsley
Salt and ground black pepper to taste
1/2 pound shucked and cooked lobster meat

Method
In a 9-inch saute pan over medium-high heat sweat shallots, garlic, hot pepper and oregano in the olive oil. About 2 minutes, until limp. Add vermouth and chicken stock, reduce this by half. Add sea urchin, cooking for 30 seconds. Whisk in butter, chunk at a time, breaking up urchins as you mix. Add parsley. Season with salt and pepper. Add lobster at the last minute. Toss in sauce, and the pour over spaghetti. Toss with spaghetti.

I used this recipe, making adjustments here and there for what was already in the house. So: Make risotto, add saffron if need be--follow sauce recipe, adding in two or three TBS of the surprisingly sweet sea urchin spread in the sauce instead of actual sea urchins listed. At end, add sauce to risotto a few minutes before risotto is done and let it all get acquainted, throw in an extra pinch of pepper flakes and 1 TB of spread and blend just before serving for a really good balance of flavors.

Scoops of Sharon's Mango Sorbet followed for dessert.

Thanks to dereila.ca for the image!

Soundtrack: Charles Mingus, Mingus Ah Um; Frances Faye, The Capitol Years; Lennie Tristano Collection, disc three