The Mojito: Proof of a benevolent deity?

On a summer (ok yes, technically it's still spring, but as I'm writing to you from Atlanta, GA, home of humidity and 85+ degree days starting in April, I reserve the right to call it summer) evening, nothing hits the spot quite like a mojito.

Mojitos are hands-down my favorite summer drink, though the Vodka-Thyme Lemonade
has lately been giving it a run for its money. But still, a mojito, with its refreshing combination of mint, lime and rum, just screams "summer!" to me.

But mojitos are a little more complex than say, a vodka tonic, which is probably why lots of people consider them a restaurant-or-bar cocktail rather than one to make at home.

I like mojitos too much to only drink them when I'm out. So I've been making them, and kids, you heard it here first: They're not really so tricky. True story.

Confession time: I don't use a recipe. Try to contain your shock, since I fail to use recipes for most of my drinking endeavors. I add a little of this, a little of that, and somehow it always works out!

There are some guidelines I'd suggest though, if you want to enjoy a mojito at home, rather than shelling out $9 bucks for one.

Ingredients: limes, mint, club soda, simple syrup*

Muddle mint, lime and simple syrup in the glass. Your mileage may very, I like a very minty, limey mojito. I usually use two thick wedges of lime and at least five medium-size mint leaves. I start with a tablespoon of simple syrup.

So use your muddler - or, if you aren't mooching off your parents like me, a fork - to mash those ingredients and mix them as much as possible. Add ice till the glass is about 3/4 full, then 1 1/2 ounces of rum. We used gold rum most recently, but white is traditional. Your taste preferences may vary. I quite like the gold rum in a mojito. Give it a stir with a long spoon, and have a taste.

You may want to add another half-spoonful of your simple syrup. Then top off with club soda, another squeezed lime wedge, add another few cubes of ice if you want, and enjoy!
* I've had mojitos made with regular sugar. I've even made them. It's not worth it. Simple syrup is aptly named. It is SO SIMPLE. One part sugar to one part water, at amounts to suite your needs. 1/2 cup sugar to 1/2 cup water if you don't want ten different styles of simple syrups in your fridge. They take up space. I speak from experience.

In a medium saucepan combine sugar and water. Bring to a boil, stirring, until sugar has dissolved. Allow to cool.

Plus then you can have fun infusing them with anything that strikes your fancy. Infusing stuff is cool.

Swang Can Cook! (Part 2)

(Sincere apologies for my prolonged absence. I've been cooking, just not documenting it. Because I am lazy. And because I get hungry and if it's a choice between eating the food or taking vaguely artistic pictures of it, eating almost always wins.)


I liked ratatouille long before a cartoon mouse made it fashionable. It's the perfect food in many ways - delicious, full of vitamins, low fat and oh yes, easy. If you can chop vegetables, you can make ratatouille. Which is why this recipe for monkfish and ratatouille is the second installment in the "Swang Can Cook!" series.

After the man at the fish counter told me (with undisguised scorn) that no, they didn't have any monkfish and no, there was no close relative that might make for an easy substitution, I chose orange ruffy, for no reason other than that I like the name.

But I sure showed scornful grocery store man, because the ruffy was a completely foolproof substitution. I'm gonna throw this out there - this dish is pretty hard to mess up. Any white fish will work as long as the fillet isn't too thin and you keep an eye on it. So pick your favorite fish and have at it!


(recipe from epicurious)

Monkfish with Ratatouille

1 pound eggplant, cut into 1-inch cubes
1 medium-large zucchini, cut into 1-inch pieces
1 large red bell pepper, cut into 1-inch pieces
1 yellow onion, cut into 1-inch pieces
4 teaspoons olive oil, divided
2 tablespoon minced fresh thyme
Vegetable oil cooking spray
1 tablespoon minced garlic
1 jar (14 ounces) marinara sauce
4 monkfish fillets (or white fish of your choice/availability)
3 tablespoon finely chopped fresh basil (plus leaves for garnish)
2 tablespoon drained capers

Pre-heat oven to 450°F. Toss eggplant, zucchini, bell pepper and onion with 2 teaspoon olive oil in a large bowl. Add thyme; season with salt and pepper and toss again. Coat a shallow baking pan with cooking spray. Arrange vegetables in pan and roast until tender, about 20 min. Stir in garlic and marinara. Cover loosely with foil and roast 10 minutes more. Remove pan from oven. Stir in chopped basil. Rub fillets with remaining 2 teaspoon oil; season with salt and pepper. Nestle fish in vegetables; cover loosely with foil. Bake until fish is just cooked through, about 10 minutes. Top with basil leaves and capers.

Sayonara, food blog, and I promise to be back soon! No more month long absences...unless I get hungry.

I like your insides

I’ve recently acquired a fascination for all things internal – gizzards, livers, giblets, and other strangely named, squishy red things. They simultaneously repulse and attract me, I think because of their squishy red-ness.

Helpless as I am, in the grips of this fascination, when Alice Waters told me I could make pasta from scratch without a pasta press, I believed her and set out to make pasta with chicken livers and sage.

Friends, learn from my mistakes. You cannot make pasta without a pasta press. I should have known; should have remembered my brother’s hilarious (to me, at least) attempt to make ravioli, but I was excited and wanted my chicken livers.

That experiment is lost to the depths of time, or at least until I make a post about epic kitchen failures. Moral: Alice Waters is wise, but not always correct. And buy a pasta press.

So, I had about a pound of chicken livers in my fridge calling out to me, saying: “Come look at how squishy we are! Aren’t we a delightful shade of blood-purple? Please be repulsed but fascinated again!”


See what I mean? They are strange yet alluring.

I cannot resist the call, so yesterday I made chicken liver and bourbon pâté. Believe me when I say that anything with bourbon in the name automatically has my vote. Plus it let me look at my chicken livers and then puree them into something unrecognizable as innards but still delicious.


Yes, okay, pâté is generally considered more of a party food, or whatever, but the chicken livers! They wouldn’t let me be.

And now I have enough pâté to feed a chicken-liver-hungry army.


Bourbon Chicken Liver Pâté
(recipe from Gourmet)

1 1/2 sticks (3/4 cup) unsalted butter
1 cup finely chopped onion
1 large garlic clove, minced
1 teaspoon minced fresh thyme or 1/4 teaspoon dried
1 teaspoon minced fresh marjoram or 1/4 teaspoon dried
1 teaspoon minced fresh sage or 1/4 teaspoon dried
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1/8 teaspoon ground allspice
1 lb chicken livers, trimmed
2 tablespoons bourbon

Melt 1 stick butter in a large nonstick skillet over moderately low heat, then cook onion and garlic, stirring, until softened, about 5 minutes. Add herbs, salt, pepper, allspice, and livers and cook, stirring, until livers are cooked outside but still pink when cut open, about 8 minutes. Stir in bourbon and remove from heat. Purée mixture in a food processor until smooth, then transfer pâté to crock and smooth top.

Melt remaining 1/2 stick butter in a very small heavy saucepan over low heat, then remove pan from heat and let butter stand 3 minutes. If using herb garnish, put sprig on top of pâté. Skim froth from butter, then spoon enough clarified butter over pâté to cover its surface, leaving milky solids in bottom of pan.

Chill pâté until butter is firm, about 30 minutes, then cover with plastic wrap and chill at least 2 hours more.

Then eat pâté until your tummy hurts.

Swang Can Cook!

I can’t count the times I’ve called my mom, usually at a relatively late hour (as I’m two hours behind and all) and demanded her help with my latest kitchen experiment, usually in one breath and possibly with the addition of the phrase: “Tell me quick because I think it’s about to burn!”

Luckily for me, she’s always happy to help, or enlist her friends to help. I called her two nights ago when I was planning to make pizza for some friends, and basically said: “They’ll be here in ten minutes! How do I cook pizza?!” Her response was to look in a cookbook, and thankfully she’d given me the perfect one for Christmas.

Alice Water’s The Art of Simple Food has an excellent pizza recipe, which I used in conjunction with dough from Whole Foods. Hey, I like to bake. But let’s just say I really don’t have six+ hours to watch dough rise.

If you buy the dough (and Whole Foods has excellent pizza dough) this daylong recipe becomes as simple as a rolling pin and a baking sheet.



Which is why it’s the first ever recipe in my series Swang Can Cook!

A few weeks ago my friend Sarah visited me, and we discussed in detail the fact that she almost never cooks in her tiny New York kitchen. It’s understandable – her kitchen is essentially the size of my kitchen table. But, as I told her, cooking is enjoyable and rewarding and a heck of a lot more interesting than eating mac ‘n cheese from a box.

So I promised to suggest easy recipes that didn’t require hours of preparation, and thus this series was born!

Back to the pizza. This recipe could not be simpler. You can make any variety of pizza you might like, from prosciutto and goat cheese to ham and pineapple. (For the record, ham and pineapple grosses me out. But to each their own)

Some ingredient suggestions:

Tomato sauce (I’m partial to roasted red pepper sauce on pizza)
Mozzarella cheese
Goat cheese
Blue cheese
Black olives
Green olives
Garlic
Roasted red peppers
Caramelized onions
Spinach
Prosciutto
Pepperoni
Italian sausage
… basically you can see that the options are endless. Anything you throw at this will be delicious, in my opinion.



Personal favorite combinations of mine include Italian sausage and green olives, prosciutto and goat cheese and roasted red peppers and black olives.

The store bought dough I use makes two medium-size pizzas, though tonight I made multiple small ones. It entertained me. Also if you like a crunchy, thin crust, you might want to make multiple smaller pizzas. The baking time is roughly the same - I cooked mine for about 8 minutes instead of 10.



Easy as Pie Pizza

(adapted from Alice Water’s recipe in The Art of Simple Food)

Preheat oven to 500 degrees Fahrenheit and place an oven rack on the lowest level
Sprinkle a baking sheet with cornmeal
Roll the dough into a circle roughly ten inches in diameter
Brush with olive oil
Turn over onto baking sheet
Top with favorite toppings: sauce, cheese, etc.
Bake until crust is brown, about ten minutes

Et voila, dinner! (And tomorrow's lunch, and tomorrow's dinner, etc)

Thai salad

True confession time: I love peanut sauce. As in, really love it. If someone offered me a peanut sauce IV, I would gladly accept. Ironically, I hate peanuts. Yeah, I don't know.

Anyways, given my love of peanut sauce and the current lack of a peanut sauce IV, I'm always searching for vehicles for peanut sauce.

And thus this simple Thai salad was born. It makes a great side dish for any type of satay, or to Tandoori Sliders, and is awesome in a pita with falafel as well.


Thai Salad

1 English cucumber, cut into straws
1 carrot, cut into straws
1 red bell pepper, thinly sliced
1 Thai red chili pepper, thinly sliced
bean sprouts
1 tbs cilantro

1 tbs sesame oil
1 tbs white wine vinegar
1 tbs soy sauce
1 tsp roasted red chili paste

Mix sesame oil, vinegar, soy sauce and chili paste in a bowl and add salt and pepper to taste. Add sliced vegetables and toss to mix. Cover and refrigerate for at least one hour to allow flavors to blend. Serve chilled with your favorite peanut sauce. (I like House of Tsang's Bangkok Padang Peanut Sauce)

I could not stop eating this. It disappeared in less than 24 hours. Just to warn y'all.

Blood Orange Martinis

Those who know me will express no surprise that the first recipe I'm posting is for a cocktail. What can I say, I'm a wasp who's barely out of college!

Blood oranges are in season now, and while they may not look like anything special at the grocery store, cut them open and you'll see one of the reasons why winter is my favorite season. (Another reason is skiing. But that's a different story.)



Blood oranges are completely gorgeous, and make a delicious and attractive addition to salads or smoothies. But my favorite use for them is in a blood orange martini.





Blood Orange Martini

3 ounces fresh blood orange juice
2 ounces citron vodka (I used Absolut Citron)
1/2 ounce of triple sec
splash of lime juice
ice

Shake ingredients in a cocktail shaker and strain into a martini glass. Garnish with a slice of blood orange. (Makes one)

What's your favorite recipe using blood oranges?

Inaugural post

Welcome to my cooking blog, All I Ask of Food (Is That it Not Harm Me)! I recently graduated from college so am cooking on my own for the first time, with the help of my mama, cookbooks, the internet and my own (sometimes treacherous) intuition.

I grew up in Atlanta, so have a strong affection for Southern food, but I also love cooking Mexican, Indian, Thai, Chinese, Welsh (the list goes on) food, as well as many types of fusion.

I'll be posting recipes I've created, or just ones I've enjoyed and think y'all might too. I'll also be posting a weekly feature (revealed tonight!) that should be fun.

So I hope you'll enjoy the recipes and pictures, and maybe find some inspiration. Questions, comments, and pictures of your own attempts are always welcome!