Tuscan Tommaso Collins

As you read in an earlier post, every week during the summer, I plan to post the recipe for a refreshing beverage – sometimes the drink will involve spirits, sometimes not.

The following beverage is made with spirits…it’s Foodie’s very own brew. This drink is the Tuscan twist of an all-American standard, the Tom Collins, which is made with gin, lemon juice and sugar syrup. The Tom Collins is a variation of the original Collins Cocktail made with a Dutch malt wine called Geneva, lemon juice and a more potent version sugar syrup.





Tuscan Tommaso Collins
1 tsp Super Fine Sugar (Dominos) or Simple Syrup
½ cup lemon juice
1 ½ shot of gin (I like Bluecoat)
2 caps full of Stirrings Orange Bitters (I ordered mine from stirrings.com)
Sprig of rosemary

Add ice to a cocktail shaker and add all the ingredients. Shake very well. Pour into a tall Collins glass filled with ice. I used one from a set my daughter gave me for Christmas. Top the mixture off with sparkling water and a sprig of rosemary...molto rinfrescante!

To re-cap the summer beverage GIVEAWAY…

If you are already a follower of KOPO, make a comment to this or any post through June 30th OR if you are not a follower, become a follower by June 30th and make a comment…either way you will be entered to win this handy-dandy “Recipe Cocktail Shaker” from the Martha Stewart Collection. This stainless steel shaker has a built in “dial a recipe” that includes the recipe ingredients, preparation method and serving suggestion….a great addition to any home bar!

The Reunion

Remember reading about my Italy trip? If not, you can read all about it here .

During the trip, I enjoyed the company of four other chaperones and three of the four got together today for a reunion brunch before one of our crew moved to Florida (don’t worry….we’ll visit!). We missed our cohort...but he will, no doubt, read all about our antics!

Our hostess graciously welcomed us into her absolutely lovely home and we had a blast reviewing photos, reminiscing about the trip and fantasizing about going back …it was a very pleasant mid-morning.

The delightfully set table, complete with freshly cut hydrangeas, welcomed a delicious Tomato Quiche (perfect for the Italian reunion), fruit salad and Creamy Berry Scones.

Aren’t friends wonderful?

Best of Show Tomato Quiche
(from tasteofhome.com)

Crust Ingredients
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup cornmeal
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon pepper
1/3 cup shortening
4 to 5 tablespoons cold water


FILLING:
2 cups chopped plum tomatoes
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon dried basil
1/8 teaspoon pepper
1/2 cup chopped green onions
1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese
1/2 cup shredded Swiss cheese
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
2 eggs
1 cup evaporated milk

Directions
In a small bowl, combine the first four ingredients. Cut in shortening until crumbly. Add water, tossing with a fork until dough forms a ball. Refrigerate for 30 minutes.

On a lightly floured surface, roll out dough to fit a 9-in. pie plate; transfer pastry to plate. Trim to 1/2 in. beyond edge of plate; flute edges. Bake at 375° for 10 minutes. Cool completely.

Place tomatoes in the crust; sprinkle with salt, basil, pepper, onions and cheeses. In a small bowl, whisk the flour, eggs and milk until smooth. Pour over filling.

Bake at 375° for 40-45 minutes or until a knife inserted near the center comes out clean. Let stand for 10 minutes before cutting.

Creamy Berry Scones
2 cups flour
1/3 cup sugar
1 Tablespoon baking powder
½ teaspoon of salt
½ cup raspberries or blueberries or blackberries or cherries, etc…
1 Tablespoon of zest - lemon, lime, orange, grapefruit, etc…
1½ cup heavy cream
Sugar to sprinkle

Mix dry ingredients, fruit (or fruits) and zest (or zests) of choice together. Add 1¼ cup of heavy cream (a bit at a time) and stir with a fork until a biscuit-like dough forms. RESIST the urge to add more cream! Knead the dough a few times and press it into a ball. Break on into golf-ball size pieces of dough and flatten each onto a cookie sheet with bit of space between them for baking. You should get about 12 scones, depending on size. Brush the top of each scone with a bit of the leftover cream and sprinkle with sugar. Bake at 350° for 15-17 minutes. Cool on a wire rack. Enjoy!

Sausage Scallopini

It was my turn to cook this past Tuesday and I made (my version of) Sausage Scallopini. This is a quick and easy dish packed with lots of peppers and onions…it reminds me of my grandmother.

First, I diagonally sliced and browned spicy Italian chicken sausage from Trader Joe’s. Then I cut three kinds of peppers – red, orange and yellow into strips and added them to the pan with a few cloves of garlic and sautéed for about 10 minutes, until the peppers softened a little. Next, I added sliced onions, and cooked the mixture for additional 8-10 minutes. I finished by adding a can of plum tomatoes, roughly diced, and simmered for another 10 minutes. I served this with brown rice and a yummy summer salad served in the lovely traveling salad bowl that Architect brought and a nice red wine that Foodie selected. I wanted to have the leftover Scallopini the next day, but daughter spotted it first!

Don’t you just love leftovers?

My Tuesday dinner mates and I have decided to mix things up a little this summer….instead of meeting at each other’s houses, we’ll decide on a spot, either locally or in downtown Philadelphia (we can take the train…very convenient), to have a quick bite, a cup of coffee, a scoop of gelato, or a refreshing summer cocktail…which brings me to a summer giveaway!

Every week in the summer, I plan to post the recipe for a refreshing beverage – sometimes it will involve spirits, sometimes not. Hopefully, you’ve already enjoyed the Lemon Drop Martini and Mojito recipe I posted. So, here’s the deal…if you are already a follower of KOPO, make a comment to this or any post through June 30th OR if you are not a follower, become a follower by June 30th and make a comment…either way you will be entered to win this handy-dandy “Recipe Cocktail Shaker” from the Martha Stewart Collection. This stainless steel shaker has a built in “dial a recipe” that includes the recipe ingredients, preparation method and serving suggestion….a great addition to any home bar!

Stay tuned!

Candy Mortarboards

Remember “The Cook in the Kitchen with a Bag of Peanut Butter Cups” post? Well, here is what I made with those seemingly disparate ingredients. How adorable are these? I saw the original inspiration in the May/June edition of “Semi-Homemade” and I improvised a bit. The button M&M’s and the shoestring licorice were my idea, but I cannot take credit for the peanut butter cups and chocolate squares.

Very easy to assemble...place a small peanut butter cup, wide side down, on a prepared cupcake, put a dab of icing in the center, and place the chocolate square on top. Add a dab of icing in the center of the chocolate square and add two pieces of 2" cut licorice for the tassle. Top with a button M&M - and there you have it...an edible graduation cap! These were a big hit at the graduation party I hosted this weekend…especially with the kids! I did not make the lovely cake but it was absolutely delicious!

The traditional graduation cap is called a mortarboard because it looks like the hawk tool used by bricklayers to hold the mortar while they're laying bricks. I don't exactly get the connection, but was curious about the name of this strange little hat.

Congratulations to all graduates...what an accomplishment!

Mortar hawk image from Google images.

I Call the Chicken to the Stand

After a brief hiatus (for various and sundry reasons, not the least of which is this globe-trotting blogger) our Tuesday evening dinners have resumed. Now, the weather in the northeast has been unusually hot – downright toasty – and such temperatures are just not conducive to cooking. Enter the perfect solution, GRILL….Architect grilled a whole damn chicken! She has this little contraption on which the chicken sits and is grilled upright.

Intriguing.

So I embarked on a hunt to find this little item. I typed “chicken grill stand” into an Amazon.com search and, there it was…in all its grilling glory

and BONUS I can have it by this Saturday if I order within the next 21 hours and choose next day shipping.

Done.

That was easy.

I was just as curious about the beer-can chicken recipe book for $8.51 but I passed on that.

This little piece of equipment produces the best roasted chicken ever…moist on the inside and fight-for-the-crispy-part on the outside. Delicious indeed. Architect also grilled asparagus and I contributed a zesty green salad with raspberries, goat cheese and sunflower seeds. Foodie made a quinoa salad. What, you ask? Quinoa (keen-wah) is a low carb grain with a taste and texture that is a cross between brown rice and oatmeal….tasty indeed. We also had a tiramisu cake that was left over from a weekend soiree.


Oh, mojitos…had those too. Might explain my sluggishness the next morning.

Mojito
Crush mint and sugar to taste in a little bowl, add a shot of clear rum and 1/4 cup of fresh lime juice. Fill a tall glass with ice, add the rum mixture and top off with sparkling water. Garnish with a few sprigs of mint...yummy.

Youngest daughter’s Senior Ball is this weekend…they grow up so quickly!