Drink Up!

Summertime is the perfect time to get together with friends, cook up some yummy recipes on the BBQ, and incorporate some of your favorite herbs into some fabulous and refreshing cocktails.  You can create some creative and complex flavors using just a few simple and fresh ingredients.

Fresh Picked Strawberry Spritzer

Macerate fresh strawberries with sugar until berries become soft.  In a shaker, combine with Gin or Vodka and ice, shake.  Add seltzer or lemon soda, and garnish with a sprig of fresh mint.

 Raspberry Mojito

One of my summertime favorites.  In a shaker, combine Rum, ice, simple syrup, fresh mint, the juice from half a lime, and fresh or frozen raspberries.  Shake.  Add seltzer or lemon soda and garnish with a lime slice.

Blueberry Limoncello Martini

Combine one part vodka, two parts Limoncello, Wild Maine or regular Blueberries, and ice in a shaker. 
Add a splash of seltzer or lemon soda.  Garnish with fresh blueberries, a lemon slice, and a sprig of lemon verbena.

Bloody Mary

One of my favorite pre-dinner cocktails this summer, the brunch favorite, the Bloody Mary.  I use fresh celery stalks from my garden and accompany with fresh sugar snap peas as a tasty snack.

Combine one part vodka or gin with two parts bloody mary mix with ice, olive juice, a celery stalk, salt, pepper, tabasco, and worcestershire sauce in a shaker.  Garnish with celery, an olive, and freshly ground pepper. 

Lemon Verbena Martini

Using a mortar and pestle, combine one tablespoon sugar and a sprig of fresh lemon verbena until a paste forms.  In a shaker, combine sugar mixture, one part vodka, one part limoncello, and ice.  Shake.  Add lemon soda, and garnish with a sprig of lemon verbena.

Salute, Cheers, and Enjoy!

Snack Time! Grilled Baby Artichokes with Lemon/ Lime Garlic Dipping Sauce

One of my favorite vegetables...the artichoke!  Or carciofi in Italian.  I first had this dish as an appetizer at one of my favorite restaurants and loved it so much that I had to try to recreate it at home.  Baby artichokes usually make an appearance in the wintertime, and come in both green and purple varieties.  I always look for the freshest looking ones at the grocery store with little or no brown on the leaves.

These tender mini versions of the prickly and time consuming larger artichokes, are much easier to prepare, as they usually haven't developed their choke yet.  You will still need to remove a few outer layers of leaves before eating because they can get tough and difficult to chew.  In the wintertime, I use my grill pan to grill the artichokes so they come out smokey and full of flavor.

To prepare them, I first trim off the stems to the base and remove the outer, tough leaves.  Then, I trim off the tops, and cut each one in half.  Sometimes I will scoop out the area where the choke is, depending on the size of the artichoke.

While heating my grill pan, I toss the halves with olive oil, sea salt, black pepper, and a touch of lemon juice to prevent them from turning brown.
  

Next, I grill the artichoke halves using the lid for pressure and to lightly steam them, until they have grill marks and become lightly browned and tender.

In the meantime, I make a lemon/lime garlic dipping sauce, using mayonnaise, lemon or lime juice, capers with a little caper juice, a chopped garlic clove, chopped parsley, salt, pepper, and a dash of smoked spanish paprika.

Once the artichokes are grilled, I remove them from the heat, sprinkle them with salt, and serve alongside the dipping sauce.  

And then I eat them!  Yumm!

These artichokes will save in the refrigerator, and make a great little snack.