Beverage

“Rickard’s White” Lemon Chicken

Posted on: June 26th, 2012 by Carla Johnson No Comments

Molsons was really supportive at the Kitchener Food & Drink Show this spring and I am very pleased to share one of their recipes here on Cooking With Sin. Great for the BBQ!

“Rickard’s White” Lemon Chicken

Serves Four ● 3 minutes prep ● 15 minutes cook time

INGREDIENTS

  • 4 chicken breast halves, skinned and boned
  • Juice of one lemon
  • 2 oz Rickard’s White (to taste)
  • 1 clove garlic
  • 1 tsp olive oil
  • ½ tsp of dried oregano
  • Pinch of cayenne pepper

THE MOVES

Combine all the ingredients; let them mingle for a while in a glass dish or heavy-duty re-sealable bag. Take chicken breast halves and place in bag. Let marinade at room temperature for 20 minutes. Preheat barbecue on HIGH. Place chicken on the grill, reduce heat to MEDIUM, and cook for 12 minutes, turning once halfway through cooking.

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Absinthe Appreciation

Posted on: June 23rd, 2012 by Carla Johnson No Comments

Carla Johnson Cooking With SinSometime ago I bought a bottle of Taboo Absinthe. The name had a nice fit with the “Sin” theme and I was curious about Absinthe. Last night good friends came over, so we finally openned our bottle.

What an interesting drink. Absinthe is an herbal spirit distilled from anise seed & fennel seed along with the flowers & leaves of the wormwood tree. A lot of exaggerated rumours have spread about it for many years, so it was fun to dispel all the myths and give it a try.

Absinthe has a very high alcohol content, so you can not drink it neat – without diluting it with water. The bottle in our bar is 60%. As you add water, the rich clear green liquid makes an interesting transition becoming much lighter and cloudy. You can purchase slotted spoons designed specifically for this purpose.

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I like black licorice and the anise flavours were nicely dominant in the drink, but I will admit I didn’t fall in love with my first taste of it last night. I am sure I will try it again sometime, but I definitely prefer it with sugar.

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Today I found this really helpful video “Are You Absinthe Curious?” It explains the history of all the rumours and shows a special Absinthe water dispenser. If you are an Absinthe fan, I’d love to hear your thoughts & opinions.

 

Best Bites Promo on ‘daytime’

Posted on: June 4th, 2012 by Carla Johnson No Comments

“The trouble with jogging is that the ice falls out of your glass.” ~ Martin Mull

Today at noon I had great fun on Rogers TV promoting Cambridge Memorial Hospital’s Best Bites gourmet garden party fundraiser.

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Here are the 5 cocktail recipes I shared. You can see them in the photo form left to right.

A. Bellini

2 parts Villa Sandi Prosecco
1 part peach puree

Pour the puree in the glass first, then add the Prosecco so it bubbles up peachy coloured bubbles.

Optional: Add fresh peach slices

B. Prosecco with Cassis

Pour a small drizzle of Cassis in the bottom of the glass then top with Prosecco. The bubbles will be purple coloured.

I added a leechee fruit for a fun bite at the end.

C. Prosecco Sangria

1 part peach puree
1 part mango puree
2 parts Villa Sandi Prosecco
1 leechee fruit
lemon & lime slices

1. Pour the purees into the bottom of the glass then add the Prosecco.

2. Add the fruit to the glass, then serve.

Sparkling Wine Tip – Whenever you are mixing something with sparkling wine, add the wine last. If you add the other ingredients after the sparkling wine has been poured, they will inhibit the bubbling.

D. Quick Sangria

Follow the same instructions as the Prosecco Sangria above, but substitute Tilia Cabernet-Sauvignon for the Prosecco.

Tips – If you pour the red wine in slowly, the colours of the purees and the wine will marble until it is stirred.

E. Riesling Cocktail

2 parts Strewn’s Two Vines 2010 Riesling/Gewurztraminer
1 part ginger ale. I used Vernors, a stronger ginger ale.
Lemon slices
Fresh sage leaves, ripped into pieces

1. Pour the riesling into a glass and top up with the ginger ale.

2. Squeeze the lemon slices into the glass, then drop the lemon slices in.

3. Add the sage leaves, stir gently and serve.

Cheers!

I Am The World’s Last Barman Poet

 
I see America drinking the fabulous cocktails I make.
America’s getting stinky on something I stir or shake.
The Sex on the Beach.
The schnapps made from peach.
The Velvet Hammer.
The Alabama Slammer.
I make things with juice and froth,
The Pink Squirrel, the Three-toed Sloth.
I make drinks so sweet and snazzy,
The Iced Tea, the Kamakazi.
The Orgasm.
The Death Spasm.
The Singapore Sling.
The Dingaling.
America you’re just devoted to every flavor I got.
But if you want to got loaded, why don’t you just order a shot?

“Cocktail” (the movie) – The Last Barman Poet

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“Una Della Famiglia” Limoncello

Posted on: April 10th, 2012 by Carla Johnson No Comments
Lemon zest

Photo courtesy of Anita Iaconangelo

“For mad scientists who keep brains in jars, here’s a tip: why not add a slice of lemon to each jar, for freshness?”

~ Jack Handy, Saturday Night Live “Deep Thoughts” comedy sketch

Did you know? Italy grows more lemons than any other country in the world. Did you know? Lemons in Italy along the Amalfi coast are ginormous! I know. I’ve been lucky to see them.

Two years ago my family and I took a tour of Italy and Greece. It was my first time in Europe and I just loved it. Because the tour was fast-paced I promised myself I would return and spend more time in some of the places. One of those places was the island of Capri. It was on Capri that we bought several bottles of limoncello.

Limoncello is sold in all kinds of small, interesting shaped bottles and it is delicious!

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My friend Connie Campbell, from the post “Good Neighbour” Gluten-Free Beer Braised Beef, recently introduced me to Anita Iaconangelo. Anita is from Washington D.C., but now lives in Italy and owns “Italian Connection” tour company. She specializes in walking and culinary tours, taking people to special places most tours speed right on by. She calls herself, “an Italian free spirit trapped in an American businesswoman’s body.”

Of her life in Italy, Anita says,

Life in Italy is a love-hate thing. I admit to being seduced by Tuscany’s magical golden light, besotted by the Renaissance, tantalized by Sicily’s sensuous pastry shops, charmed by the Italian language and then quickly disenchanted by the brutal reality of getting almost anything done. I’ve suffered heartless years of waiting for an insurance claim, submitted to diabolical rules for getting a driving license, and wept broken-hearted sobs when the plumber never called back. The tempting dream to live in Italy may sound like a romantic endeavor, but it helps to be nuts.

If I am ever lucky enough to return to Italy, I hope to connect with Anita. She promises to take her guests off the beaten track to discover the Italy of the Italians and share the best of Italian food and wine. She treat her guests like una della famiglia—one of the family.

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Photo courtesy of Anita Iaconangelo

Anita has a blog “Anita’s Italy” where she posts her favourite Italian recipes and food tips. She has several lemon recipes: Limoncello, Lemon Cake from Sicily and Lemon Granita.

Limoncello is a very simple recipe. It is just lemon peel soaked in alcohol and sweetened with sugar syrup, but take note of the details so it is clear and tastes wonderful.

“Una Della Famiglia” Limoncello

10-12 lemons

1L (4 cups) pure ethyl alcohol (95%)

600 grams (3 cups) sugar

2L water (8.5 cups) water

 

  1. Rinse, wipe & dry the lemons so no residual dirt and wax remain on them.
  2. Zest the lemons peel being sure to only use the yellow peel. The white part will make the flavour bitter.
  3. In a large glass container, with a lid that seals well, put the lemon zest and cover with the alcohol. Put the lid on tightly.
  4. Place the container in a cool dark place for a month. Occasionally check it and swirl the zest and alcohol together. The alcohol will start to turn yellow in only a few days. After a month of sitting you are ready for the final steps.
  5. Bring the water to a simmer in a large pot then pour in the sugar and stir until it completely dissolves. Set it aside to cool.
  6. Using a fine sieve, strain the alcohol and zest mix, then strain it again through a paper towel or filter. *Tip – Anita lines her strainer with dampened paper towel or several layers of cheesecloth and places it over a wide mouth jar or funnel.
  7. Place the strained alcohol back in the large glass container and mix in the cool sugar/water syrup.
  8. Seal the jar and put it back in the cool, dark place for at least a week or another month.
  9. If it is cloudy, you will need to filter it again.
  10. Taste your limoncello. You can add more sugar/water syrup if it needs to be sweetened. Bottle it when you like the taste. If you use small bottles, it makes a nice gift.
  11. Limoncello often mellows with time, so the longer you keep it, the nicer it tastes. Mmm…

*Tips

a) If you can’t get 95% ethyl alcohol, get the closest thing and adjust the water content.

b) The left over lemons can be juiced. Fresh lemon juice is great for iced tea or cocktails. It can also be frozen until needed.

 

Inspired by Anita’s post://blog.italian-connection.com/living-in-italy/limoncello-recipe-make-homemade-limoncello

 

“2nd Half” Icewine & Tequila Martini

Posted on: March 13th, 2012 by Carla Johnson No Comments
"Carla Johnson" "Cooking With Sin"Good wine makes good blood;
Good blood causeth good humors;
Good humors cause good thoughts;
Good thoughts bring forth good works;
Good works carry a man to heaven.
Ergo: Good wine carrieth a man to heaven.
~ James Howell

On a recent trip to Niagara Falls with friends, we spontaneously stopped at two wineries on our way home. While I enjoyed tasting the beautiful wines, my eyes were opened wide about Icewine.

Icewine is a specialty of our Canadian wineries. We often drink it for dessert, but at Harbour Estates they pulled out a carafe of Icewine with hot peppers and we finished it off. The mix had been “steeping” for about a week. It was amazing. The sweet-hot took the edge off each other and blended beautifully.

At Cave Spring Cellars we had a lot of fun with Sue Andersen. She is very passionate about what she does and she enjoys sharing her knowledge and passion with each person who comes in for wine tasting.

Pulling out some of the nicest bottles, Sue taught us some key ways to really enjoy wine. She let us taste wine before and then after being aerated. What a difference! Then she showed us the impact of the glass. Wine in the standard tasting glass tastes completely different in the glass designed for it. When she gave us a taste of Icewine, she told us to let it linger on our tongues and imagine it with a mushroom risotto. Yes. Icewine works wonderfully with an appetizer. The sweetness balances so nicely with savoury.

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Sue Andersen has always loved wine and she became an expert on it in her retirement. After working for two decades at a paper company she celebrated her retirement with a nice trip to her birthplace, Copenhagen, Denmark. Returning home, she realized quiet, domestic life was not for her, so she took a Smart Serve course. She had always loved drinking wine and thought it would be easy to sell.

Hired at a grocery store wine boutique, she started with the tastings, but her sales really soared when she asked the store manager to let her pair some of their food specials with her wines. Customers were drawn to her booth by the food aromas and walked away happy, arms laden with wine and food products. It was a winning combination.

The next step in her training was a Wine Council test. Fearing she had been out of school too long to manage a test, Sue was certain she would not get the 85% needed to pass. In fact, she was so certain she failed she went to work and said her good-byes. She hadn’t realized her passion and knowledge were better than most, because she actually passed.

Continuing to work at the boutique she got the attention of a winery who asked her to do to tastings and tours and that lead to working at the Niagara Grape and Wine Festival. Recently she told me,

I am now in my 9th year of working in one of the greatest jobs I could possibly find. My past experiences have taken me to Chateau des Charmes, Jackson Triggs/Inniskillin, Reif Estate and Twenty Valley. I am currently working for Cave Spring Cellars in Jordan where I get to meet people like you and your friends on that cool Sunday afternoon.

Sue says if you live near Niagara, or any other wine region, wineries are the greatest attractions. Get out and visit just 2 or 3 at a time. You will get to taste some of the most exquisite wines that are unavailable at your local wine or liquor store. Be sure to look at the winery websites first so you know if tours or other special events are available.

Wine tastings & tours can cost up to $5 per person, but if you buy a bottle you often get your money back. It’s a great way to get a special bottle of wine for a discount.

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“2nd Half” Icewine & Tequila Martini

Always a lover of tequila, Sue knew it would work well with Icewine. She makes them each individually, rather than a pitcher, so you get the swirl on your tongue of the sweetness of Icewine meeting the tequila.

1. Rim a champagne flute with melted chocolate.

2. Add 3/4 oz. of tequila

3. Add 3/4 oz. of Riesling Icewine

4. Enjoy!

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Here’s to mine and here’s to thine!
Now’s the time to clink it!
Here’s a bottle of fine old wine,
And we’re all here to drink it.

"Carla Johnson" "Cooking With Sin"

If you a fan of tequila, you might like the Margarita recipe on “Working Past Midnight” French Toast.

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