Blackberry Mojitos

I get all jealous when I hear people waxing on poetically about the perfect summer drink that they sip relaxingly on lazy Sunday afternoons, on a porch, with their significant other.  For some reason, I want that.  And really, I don’t have anything that has been holding me back from this lazy summer nirvana.  I’ve got the porch, with a cute wrought iron table and chairs set, with French doors that open into my living room and kitchen, with my cute, little herb garden.  I’ve got the boy, and he’s cute too.  What I don’t have is the perfect drink.   So without further ado, may I introduce round one, contender numero uno in the “Let’s find Liz a good summer drink” contest: blackberry mojitos

And what a winner we have already. I was already in love with this drink just from muddling the sugar and mint leaves. The fragrance was delicious and all I could think about was making a sugar scrub out of it and then wanting to bathe in it. So very luck for me, I was able to refrain. And then it gets better. You add the blackberries, rum and lime, crush it up a bit and... really, all I can say is that there should be a mint blackberry lime jam, and I would probably want to bathe in that too. Sure, it might die my skin purple, but I'm thinking it just might be worth it. Alright, we've gotten on a weird tangent here, so let's just put our computers down, whip up a glassful of blackberry mojito and call it a wonderful, sun shine filled, summer day.

Blackberry Mojito
adapted from fork vs. spoon

For 1 serving:
1 Tbsp. Sugar
~10 mint leaves (I used a mix of spearmint & sweet mint)
6-8 blackberries
1 oz. rum (2 Tbsp.)
1/2 lime
3-4 oz. sparkling water

Add sugar and mint leaves to glass. Muddle together to release oils and fragrance from leaves. Add blackberries, rum and juice of lime half. Muddle again to create drink base. Add ice and top off with sparkling water.

Sit on porch, kick back and enjoy!

Chimichurri Steak

 

It was Ben's first weekend in Terre Haute and I wanted to make the boy a special dinner to enjoy after the long drive.  One of the things I was excited about moving to the TH for was the idea that Ben and I wouldn't have to go out so much and we could eat in more.  Not only would I get to cook more often, but I would have another judge on the taste panel and it would cut down on the leftovers left over.  And there would be another set of hands to help with the dishes afterwards.  Win, win, win.  The first welcome to TH meal was chimichurri steak from a recipe I had torn out from the Wednesday's New York Times two Aprils ago.

One of things I like about reading food blogs is that many times they get to make all the mistakes for you first.  So you hopefully don't have to make the same ones yourself.  I thought a lot about this as I was making the steak.  Not that there were huge mistakes made, but there are just all those little things you might forget because they aren't written out in the recipe.

Things like, not spreading the chimichurri sauce all the way to the edge of the butterflied steak, because you have to close and secure it with toothpicks and it's much harder when it's slippery with oil and parsley.  And to dump out some toothpicks on your work surface while you still have clean, non-raw-meat-covered hands so you don't ruin the whole box.  And while you're at it, knowing the number of toothpicks you have stuck in is a useful bit of knowledge too.  Not that any of these are huge impending disasters, but aren't they nice to know before you tackle a recipe?  Would have kept toothpicks off of my next shopping list.

Another thing it would have been nice to remember is that I'm not the biggest parsley fan and neither is the boy.  Which is kinda key to remember before making a steak marinated and slathered in a parsley based sauce.  Ok, that's sort of a lie, I did remember, but I had convinced myself it wouldn't matter.  And to a degree, it didn't, because the steak was good.  Got two stamps of approval, but unfortunately it just might be another one shot recipe, a culinary one night stand.  

Don't fret though, because dessert was a keeper.  Dessert was fantastic.  Dessert is going in the Big Green Cookbook.  And dessert is going to have to wait for another post.  Cliffhanger?  Oh yeah...

Chimichurri Steak 

Adapted from the April 27, 2010 NY Times

As a note, I used curly parsley and 1 1/4 inch thick london broil.  Because, that's what my store had.  I'm guessing hanger (what the recipe called for) or skirt steak may have been even better, but the london broil worked well if you can't find them.  Also, mine was only about 1.3 lbs.

1 c.  packed flat leaf parsley
1/2 jalapeno, seeded
1 garlic clove
2 Tbsp. minced mint leaves
6 Tbsp. extra virgin olive oil
1 Tbsp. red wine vinegar
1/4 tsp. crushed red chili flakes
Salt and pepper, to taste
Cayenne, to taste
3 Tbsp. panko bread crumbs
1 hanger steak, about 2 lbs

Mince parsley, jalapeno and garlic.  Add to a small bowl and mix with mint, oil, vinegar and chili flakes.  Add salt, pepper and cayenne to taste.  Set aside 3 tablespoons.  To remaining mixture, add panko.

Using a sharp knife, butterfly steak so it lies open like a book.  Lightly pound steak to a uniform thickness.  Spread chimichurri mixture evenly on side of steak, leaving a small border around the edge.  Fold steak back over and secure close with toothpicks.  Keep track of how many toothpicks you use.

Place steak on broiler pan.  Coat outside (I took this to mean top and bottom) with reserved sauce.  Cover with plastic wrap and marinate in fridge for 3 hours.

Remove steak from fridge to bring up to room temperature.  Preheat broiler.  Broil on high heat about 6 to 8 minutes per side until medium rare.  Let rest 10 minutes, remove toothpicks and cut into thick slices. 

Mojito Cake-Tails

I have wanted to make this recipe for over two years.

I had a summer internship where I lived in Providence, Rhode Island.  It was here that I got my first taste of living, and eating, independently, in a country where my favorite spice was familiarly called cinnamon, and not “Zimt”.  Not that I didn’t love my summer living in Germany, because I did, and not that I didn’t cook there, because I did, it just wasn’t really the place to sit around in the kitchen and discover things, when I could be out in Germany, discovering things.  Like Biergartens, famous castles, and Weinwanderung--a wine hike.  So it was a lot of chicken breasts and cold cut sandwiches, with amazingly delicious, fresh bread.  And the occasional Ananas Eis from the ice cream cart in the park.

On the other hand, during the Providence Summer, I had a sufficiently stocked kitchen and I cooked often for me, my roommate and her ever present boyfriend.  I tried new things, some of which are already in my green cookbook, and my purple recipe file began to grow exponentially, with the help of a color printer at work. 

This is one of those recipes, Mojito Cake Tails. (Ha, get it?  Like a cocktail, but a cake!)  You start with a pretzel and butter crust, packed tightly into the bottoms of muffin tins and you top it with this creamy, dreamy, lime and mint flecked cream.  Then you freeze it.  No baking, no buttering or dusting tins, you could probably even cheat and just use CoolWhip instead of whipping some cream up yourself.   It is the perfect summer dish, served cold from the freezer; it’s refreshing.  It wasn’t overly minty, not too much lime, if I had to complain I would say that there wasn’t enough rum.

The recipe said it made up 12 servings.  With 3 cups of crushed pretzels, we easily filled the bottoms of 17 muffin tins, and most of those had thick bases.  You could likely stretch this to 18-20 with no harm, because our cream tops were overflowing as well.  And be sure to chop the mint super fine.  Can I say again, they were delicious?  Cold and dreamy, with the salt from the pretzel crust balancing out the sweet cream.  The mint and lime epitomized summer.  The perfect end to a grilled Memorial Day dinner. 

There were rave reviews from aunts and uncles alike, most of whom stuck their fork in the middle and ate it like a popsicle.  A delicious, summer, adult popsicle.  Happy Summer!

Mojito Cake-Tails

adapted from here

2 sticks butter
3 c. salted pretzels, finely crushed 
1 1/4 c. sugar, plus 2 Tbsp. sugar
Two 8 ounce packages, cream cheese, softened
Grated peel of 3 limes
1/2 c. lime juice
2 Tbsp. white rum
3 Tbsp. finely chopped fresh mint
2 c. heavy cream

Over medium-low heat, melt butter in a medium skillet.  Stir in pretzels and 2 tablespoons sugar and cook until lightly toasted, about 3 minutes.  Transfer to bowl and let cool slightly.  Press about 3 tablespoons into bottom of muffin pans.  Freeze for 30 minutes. 

Meanwhile, beat cream cheese on medium speed until fluffy.  Mix in remaining 1 1/4 cups sugar on low speed.  Gradually mix in lime peel, lime juice, rum and chopped mint.  In a separate bowl, beat the cream until stiff peaks form. Fold ito cream cheese mixture.

Divide cream cheese mixture evenly among muffin cups; swirl and smooth the tops.  Cover with plastic wrap and freeze 8 hours, or overnight.   To remove from muffin tins, dip a butter knife in warm water, then run around each cake.  Cake-tail should pop right out, but if it doesn't, invert pan.  Serve with a mint sprig or lime twist for garnish.