Cocktails, Schmocktails! Cucumber-Lime-Mint Elixir and Tarragon-Meyer Lemon Syrup

Refreshing Beverage of the Week
Lately, I find more people are looking for non-alcoholic options at cocktail hour. There are many options out there which include alcohol-free spirits as well as vegetable and fruit mixers. Most of them are simply awful, so I started making my own. I work with a client who has to monitor her glucose intake, so most fruit concoctions are out. Which leaves delicious vegetables and citrus! I have 2 recipes to share which are great mixed with tonic, ginger ale, or plain old seltzer. And if you aren't avoiding booze, I suggest hitting them with vodka, tequila, or gin.

  

Cucumber-Lime-Mint Elixir

Ingredients
2 3-inch pieces lemongrass, crushed with a hammer or meat pounder (or a squeeze of lemongrass paste)
2 large English cucumbers, rinsed
2 large bunches mint, leaves only
2 whole limes, rinsed
7-10 large basil leaves
2 cups water
1 cup granulated sugar (or sugar substitute like Swerve)
1/2 teaspoon peppermint extract

Procedure
Cut up cucumber and limes (skin and all) and throw into blender along with everything else. Purée till smooth and then strain. Mix with ginger ale, tonic or lemon lime mixer over ice.

Tarragon-Meyer Lemon Syrup

Ingredients
1/2 cup white sugar
1 cup water
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 tablespoons honey
1 small bunch tarragon, plus some for garnish
1 cup fresh Meyer lemon juice
1 cup sparkling or still water, divided

Procedure
Combine the sugar, water, vanilla, honey, and thyme into a pot and stir over a medium heat until the sugar dissolves. Strain to remove tarragon and allow to cool. Stir in lemon juice. Pour the syrup and lemon mixture into a glass with ice and top with 1/4 cup soda water. Garnish with a sprig of tarragon.

What's your favorite mocktal?

Mint

Excellent Ingredient of the Week
Mint — how can such an invasive weed be so useful in the kitchen? I think it is one of my favorite secret ingredients. I throw it in mixed green salad, I use it to brighten up my pesto, I chop it into my tomato basil salad, I combine it with ginger in Thai cooking. I love to use it in crying tiger beef salad. I throw it into my smoothies. It's great with yogurt and fruit for breakfast. Anyone can grow it — but be careful as it tends to take over. Some of my friends sink a coffee can open at both ends in the ground to contain the root system. Try some in a pot on the porch. It comes back every year. There are millions of varieties — I grow chocolate mint and pineapple mint. Check out your local choices. And of course, you have beverage options from the Mojito to the Julep. This easy Cilantro Mint Chutney is perfect for dipping veggies, spreading on sandwiches, or adding a bright kick.

Cilantro Mint Chutney

Ingredients
1 serrano chile
2 cups cilantro leaves
1 cup large mint leaves
2 Tbsp. vegetable oil
3 Tbsp. water
1/2 tsp. salt

Procedure
Remove stem and seeds from the chile. Whiz chile, cilantro, mint, oil, water, and salt in a blender or food processor until smooth. Taste and add more salt to taste, if you like. Use immediately or cover and chill and use within three days.

Mint

Excellent Ingredient of the Week
This week’s excellent ingredient is plain old mint; it’s practically a weed. It will take over your garden so be careful where you plant it. Then watch it grow. So what about mint — what’s it good for?

Some history: Hippocrates wrote about it and in medieval times it was commonly used to whiten teeth and soothe bites of all kinds. Peppermint, although it was not even recognized until the early 1700's, provides the most widely used essential oil in medicines. Mint is said to stimulate stomach bile thereby aiding in digestion. So that after dinner mint is actually good for more than just a sweet treat.

Japanese mint is the source of menthol, a major essential oil used in flavoring prepared foods. Similar to peppermint yet of lesser quality, Japanese mint oil is sometimes used to stretch the more expensive essential oil of true peppermint. Spearmint and peppermint are the most common mint varieties used in cooking. They offer a sweetly clean, refreshing taste to foods. Peppermint is more often used for candies and teas while spearmint complements savory dishes like lamb, peas and other vegetables as well as fruits and chocolate.

Mint is common to Middle Eastern cooking. Try snipping the leaves into fruit salads and rice pilaf or adding to a marinade for chicken. The classic mint julep is a refreshing bourbon cocktail but you might consider adding mint to punches, iced tea and milk shakes too. The fresh leaves make an attractive garnish to just about any dish. In India, they hang fresh bunches of mint in doorways and open windows allowing the breeze to carry the scent throughout the house.

Mint Pesto

This unusual and delightful dessert pesto is terrific with chocolate. Try it as a filling for sandwich cookies or mix some into chocolate sauce for ice cream or cake.

Ingredients
1/2 cup macadamia nuts
2 cups packed fresh mint leaves
1/3 cup honey
1 Tablespoon vanilla extract

Procedure
In a food processor fitted with the steel blade, briefly chop the nuts before adding the remaining ingredients. Puree until reduced to a paste. If not using right away, transfer to a glass container, lay plastic wrap over the top so it is touching thus keeping air from penetrating the pesto. Store in refrigerator for up to a month. Yield: about 1 cup

Faux Thin Mint Girl Scout Cookies

The Altitude Adjustment Section
Who doesn’t love Girl Scout cookies? But they are available for only a short time so when I saw this recipe for the famous thin mint variety I flipped out. I found this recipe on Instructables.com which is a very cool website with instructions on how to make thousands of strange, unusual, and useful items.

Ingredients for the cookies
1 (18 1/4 ounce) package fudge cake mix (like Duncan Hines)
3 tablespoons butter, melted
1/2 cup cake flour, measured then sifted
1 egg
3 tablespoons water

Ingredients for the coating
3 (12 ounce) bags semi-sweet chocolate chips
3/4 teaspoon peppermint extract
6 tablespoons vegetable shortening

Procedure
Combine chocolate wafer ingredients in a bowl until well mixed. You may need to get your hands in there! On a surface lightly dusted with flour, shape dough into two logs, about 1 1/2 inches in diameter. Wrap in plastic wrap, waxed paper or parchment and freeze for at least 1 to 2 hours, until dough is very firm and can be sliced into wafers.

Preheat oven to 375F. Slice dough into rounds not more than 1/4 inch thick — if they are too thick, they will not be as crisp — and place on a parchment-lined baking sheet. These cookies are firm and will not spread very much, so you can put them quite close together. Bake for 13-15 minutes, until cookies are firm at the edges. While cookies cool completely on a wire rack, prepare the coating.

Combine chocolate chips with peppermint extract and vegetable shortening in the top of a double boiler. Simmer over medium heat and stir until chocolate is melted and smooth.Now use a fork to dip each wafer in the chocolate. Tap the fork on the edge of the bowl so that the excess chocolate runs off, and then place the cookies side-by-side on a wax paper-lined baking sheet. Refrigerate until firm. These taste best after they've been refrigerated for a day, but who can wait? Store these in an airtight container in the fridge for a week or two. Or freeze them for up to a month! They're great right out of the freezer too. Best if you keep them cold.

Pecan-Crusted Rack of Lamb

Seasonal Recipe of the Week
This is an encore recipe for one of my kind listeners who requested it. It was one of the first recipes I did when I started the show, but before the website, so it's not in the archives. I thought I would just do it again. It’s a winner, trust me! I learned this recipe when I was a chef in London.

Ingredients
1 cup Dijon mustard
1/4 cup honey
4 cloves crushed garlic
1/4 cup molasses
1/2 cup chopped pecans
1/2 cup Panko
2 teaspoons dried Marjoram
2 tablespoons olive oil
salt and pepper to taste
3 racks of lamb Frenched (ask your butcher to help) cut into 4 rib portions

Procedure
Combine the Dijon, honey, garlic and molasses in a bowl. Set aside. In the food processor pulse together the pecans, Panko, marjoram, salt, pepper, and olive oil. Pulse just till mixed. Dump this mixture into a bowl. Now pick up the racks by the bones and dip into the Dijon mix, let excess run off and then dip into the pecan mix. Do all racks and place on a sheet pan. Refrigerate for at least 30 minutes, which helps the coating stick on. Now take a nice, thick-bottomed sauté pan and get it real hot with a little oil in it. Sear off the racks so the nuts get a nice color on them. Once all the pieces are done, finish in a 375-degree oven for about 15 minutes, or till an internal read thermometer reads 125. Let rest for 5 minutes before cutting. Serve with some sweet and Yukon gold potato gratin and top with jalapeño mint jelly.

Jalapeno Mint Jelly

Ingredients
2 jalapeno peppers, seeded and chopped
2 green peppers, seeded and chopped
1 1/2 cups cider vinegar
5 cups sugar
2 cups mint leaves
5 teaspoons (2 envelopes) powdered gelatin, dissolved in 1/2 cup cold water

Procedure
Puree jalapenos, green peppers, and mint in the food processor till finely chopped. Transfer to a saucepan and add the sugar and vinegar. Bring mixture to the boil and then simmer ten minutes. Skim off scum that comes to the top, now add the softened gelatin and pour into a container, stirring occasionally till firm. I sometimes add a drop, literally one drop of green food coloring to improve the color, but it's up to you! This will last in your fridge for a long time. You can give it as a hostess gift, really!

Mint Tamarind Iced Sun Tea

Refreshing Beverage of the Week
You know, the beverage of the week doesn’t always have to be alcoholic! This week I want to share a recipe for a great, unusual ice tea form the book entitled Mangoes and Curry Leaves, which is a great big, beautiful cookbook and travel adventure through the great subcontinent.

Ingredients
2 cups fresh mint leaves
1/4 cup Tamarind pulp
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
1 tablespoon honey or sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
8 cups water

Procedure
Place all the ingredients in a large clean glass jar and place in the sun for a few hours. Then strain out the stuff and refrigerate. I serve it over ice and I add more honey, but that’s just me!