Saturday, January 12, 2008

A Bite and a Cocktail




So. Yeah, after that article, I'm trying to up the amount of alcohol I drink to moderate. Well, not exactly. It's a Blog Party! Wheee! I'm participating in Blog Party #30 over at Dispensing Happiness. The rules are simple. I have to prepare one cocktail and one appetizer. There's one teensy little catch. It has to be vegetarian. Dairy is ok though.

Piece of cake. Well not really a piece of cake. The Brain's favorite cocktail is a Maker's Mark on the rocks. That is also what all the brother-in-laws drink, and what my mom and Grandma drink. And I usually pass on the cocktail. So today I got all fancy and girly. I was at the local grocery (not the big chain store that's closing) and they had some beautiful pink grapefruits. Unable to remember exactly how to make the martini I used to indulge in, that I raked up a $114 bar bill at the Knickerbocker hotel in Chicago drinking, I decided to improvise.


For my cocktail, first I mixed 1 tsp grapefruit zest to 2 tsp sugar and dipped the rim of my glass in grapefruit juice and then in the sugar/zest mixture. Then I pureed the pulp and juice of the grapefruit to make a grapefruit puree. And what the heck, I gave it a cute cute name.

Little Mary Sunshine

1 oz. vodka
2 oz. grapefruit puree
sparkling mineral water (San Pellagrino)

First pour the vodka into the bottom of the sugar rimmed glass. Then add the grapefruit puree. Stir. Pour sparkling mineral water to fill the glass.

Now on to my appetizer...

This was really good. Really. I even had a good time roasting the peppers and I didn't catch the oven on fire. I did however manage to melt my tongs a teeny bit.

This is again out of my Vegetables Every Day cookbook by Jack Bishop. There's very good instructions on how to roast red peppers and that's what I did, but I'm sure you could go out and get a jar of roasted red peppers and it would work just as good. And I'm sure leftovers would be great on sandwiches. If you have leftovers.

Roasted Pepper Spread with Goat Cheese and Herbs
from Vegetables Every Day by Jack Bishop

3 medium colored bell peppers (I used a red, an orange, and a yellow) roasted, steamed, peeled, cored and seeded
3 oz. goat cheese
3 small garlic cloves
6 large basil leaves
Salt
Freshly ground pepper

Puree the peppers and their juices along with the cheese, garlic, and basil in a food processor until smooth. Add salt and pepper to taste. This spread can be refrigerated in an airtight container for several days.

8 comments:

glamah16 said...

Was that just your portion of the bill? Everything looks so good and yummy.Im one of those canape hogs. I'm not the type of lady to pass on them as I see so many do at parties.

Peabody said...

I can always eat my veggies when there is goat cheese involved! Looks great.

Deborah said...

Now, this is how I like my vegetables!!!

Pixie said...

MMmm Yes, roast peppers with goat's cheese sounds perfect! And love the coctail; especially the name.

Katy said...

YUM! Both the cocktail and the canape look amazing! I should learn not to look at food blogs at lunchtime. :-)

Valerie Harrison (bellini) said...

This spread has to be at my next party. It looks so good!!

LisaRene said...

Your cocktail is very glamorous! Is there anyone who doesn't love goat cheese? Delicious!

Ivy said...

Must definitely try this with the Cypriot goat cheese called halloumi. Your cocktail looks amazing. Cheers.