Shrubs, not just for your garden anymore!

Refreshing Beverage of the Week
I love the way words and terms define us. I used to erase, now I delete. I used to call someone, now I ping them. I used to say "I'm not in the mood to talk about that," now I say "let's circle back to that and take it offline." (Just kidding, I never say that shit but I learned it when I worked in corporate kitchens in NYC.) I used to eat everything, I was a "good" eater and exercised whenever, now I am a senior citizen obsessed with micronutrients and strengthening my core. Currently we are obsessed with probiotics, kombucha, apple cider gummies, actually all kinds of gummies, and kraut. Life goes on.

My clients (I am a private chef) have decided to limit their alcohol intake and have asked me to make mocktails. These drinks mirror actual cocktails using non-alcoholic booze substitutes — which, frankly, taste awful and are terribly expensive. So I searched the internet for recipes and, so far, not too many were drinkable. They are unhealthy and usually full of high-sugar fruit juice.

The non-alcoholic beverage market is booming and I have tried about 5 different brands and I would say the best-tasting ones are the gin alternatives. Juniper berries are very distinctive and even in a weird herbal base that flavor reminds you of gin. I tried a non-alcoholic tequila beverage made with apple. I accidentally spilled some, and it was so vile I had to scrub down my counter with lemon juice to kill the odor. So I started looking for other options.

This brings me to the subject of shrubs. I first had a shrub at Russ & Daughters Cafe, and it was love at first sip! A shrub is a drink made with fruit- and herb-infused vinegars (usually apple cider vinegar), a sweetener, and some club soda or anything sparkly. You'll find tons of recipes out there to make the vinegar. I am going to share a great all-around method and then some recipes. There are two ways to make a shrub: cold and hot. Hot is faster, cold is better.

Basic recipe for any fruit shrub · Food52

Ingredients
1 pound chopped fruit
2 cups sugar
2 cups vinegar (usually apple cider, I also like using rice wine vinegar, coconut, or white balsamic)
optional: ginger; rosemary; thyme; cardamon; bay leaves; etc.

Procedure
Assemble your fruit (sliced or gently mashed) in a bowl, and toss it with the sugar. Let this mixture sit, covered securely with a dishtowel, on your kitchen counter for about 2 days. Stir once a day. It should start to look very juicy. After 2 days, strain the mixture into a measuring cup, discard the fruit, then combine the syrup with approximately an equal amount of vinegar (again, your choice, but apple cider vinegar is a good place to start). Do this slowly, tasting as you go, so that you get a shrub that is sharp but tasty.

That's it! Pour it into a jar and stick it in the fridge. Here are two recipes with great combo of flavors.

Mixed berry shrub · Bon Appetit

Ingredients
12 ounces berries (such as raspberries, blackberries, blueberries, or strawberries), sliced or quartered if large
1 1/2 cups (or more) granulated sugar
1 cup (or more) vinegar (such as red wine, white wine, apple cider, white balsamic, or unseasoned rice)

Procedure
Gently mash berries in a medium bowl with a fork. Transfer to jar, add sugar, and stir to combine. Seal jar and let fruit mixture sit at room temperature, shaking a couple of times, until berries are very soft and falling apart and sugar is at least mostly dissolved, about 1 day (mixture should look very juicy).

Strain fruit mixture through a fine-mesh sieve into a medium bowl. Line sieve with a layer of cheesecloth if you want to catch every bit of seed and fruit pulp, discard fruit. Scrape any undissolved sugar left in jar into bowl. Add vinegar to syrup and stir to combine. Taste shrub and adjust of necessary. Pour shrub into a clean jar; cover with lid and chill until flavors come together and mellow, at least 1 week.

Shrub can be made 6 months ahead. Keep chilled.

To make a drink, pour 2 Tbsp. shrub into a glass filled with ice and top off with club soda; stir gently to combine. Garnish with berries and/or herbs. Thai basil is a good choice!

Butternut Sage shrub · The Spruce Eats

Ingredients
2 cups good-quality apple cider vinegar
2 cups granulated sugar
2 cups cubed butternut squash
1/2 cup fresh sage leaves, from about 8 sprigs
Cold seltzer, ginger ale, or still water, for serving

Procedure
Place the apple cider vinegar in a medium saucepan over medium heat, then stir in the sugar. Lower the heat to a simmer and continue to cook, stirring, until the sugar dissolves.

Add the butternut squash and sage. Cover and simmer, stirring occasionally, until the squash is softened and easily pierced with a fork, 10 to 15 minutes. Remove from the heat. Lightly smash the softened squash with a potato masher or wooden spoon in the saucepan to release more flavor. Cover and steep for 3 hours.

Strain the squash and sage from the liquid using a fine-mesh strainer. Bottle the shrub, seal, and refrigerate for 3 to 4 days before using.

To make a drink, pour 1 1/2 ounces (3 tablespoons) of the butternut-sage shrub into a glass (over ice, if you like). Top with about 6 ounces (3/4 cup) of cold seltzer, ginger ale, or water, pouring more or less to taste. Stir well.

Vegetable Galettes and Herbal Infusions

 

Seasonal Recipe of the Week
As my summer garden's harvest dwindles down to the stuff the rabbits and squirrels didn't think was good enough, it's time to access the usable bits and try to make them last through the winter. I have a few tomatoes, some eggplant, lemongrass, shiso, basil and lots of green herbs. So here is a recipe for a veggie galette, a whole wheat crust folded over a bed of vegetables cheese and fresh herbs — perfect vegetarian main dish with a salad. The other fun thing to do to save summer is infuse vinegars and make herbal simple syrup.

Vegetable Galette

Ingredients for whole wheat crust
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup whole wheat flour
1 teaspoon kosher salt
3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) chilled unsalted butter, cut into pieces
1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
1/4 cup ice water

Procedure for crust
Pulse all-purpose flour, whole wheat flour, and salt in a food processor to combine. Add butter and pulse until mixture resembles coarse meal with a few pea-size pieces of butter remaining.
Dump mixture to a large bowl; drizzle with vinegar and ¼ cup ice water. Mix with a fork, adding more ice water by the tablespoonful if needed, just until a shaggy dough comes together; lightly knead until no dry spots remain (do not overwork). Form a disk and wrap in plastic. Chill at least 2 hours or overnight.

Ingredients for galette filling
1 cup cheese (Ricotta, Gruyere, Asiago, or whatever)
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
3 tablespoons olive oil, divided
4 ounces sautéed mushrooms, thinly sliced (maitake, crimini, shitake, etc.)
1 garlic clove, finely chopped
1 bunch large Swiss chard, or spinach ribs and stems removed, leaves cut into bite-size pieces
1 large egg, beaten to blend to brush crust
1 cup mixed fresh tender herbs (such as flat-leaf parsley, cilantro, dill, and/or chives)
1 teaspoon finely grated lemon zest
1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice
Sea salt

Procedure for galette
Preheat oven to 400°. Shred up your cheese and set aside. Sauté your greens or vegetables and season with fresh herbs. Squeeze out extra liquid from greens, and set aside. Roll out dough on a lightly floured sheet of parchment to a 14” round about 1/8-inch thick. Transfer on parchment to a baking sheet. Brush crust with egg wash leaving a 2 inch border dry and sprinkle with Panko to help absorb extra moisture. Then layer in your ingredients. Bring edges of dough up and over filling, overlapping as needed, to create a 1 1/2-inch border; brush with egg and sprinkle with sea salt and fresh herbs. Bake galette, rotating once, until crust is golden brown and cooked through, 35 to 40 minutes. Let cool slightly on baking sheet. Serve warm or at room temperature.
 

Infused vinegars

To make flavored vinegars, start with good quality organic apple cider vinegar and some clean glass bottles with tops. Stuff bottles with an assortment of herbs then fill with vinegar. I made four bottles of Salad Burnett infused vinegar (which tastes like celery) and one bottle of lemongrass vinegar using the long beautiful leaves. You just need to store it in a dark, cool place for 3 weeks, shaking it up occasionally. Then you can remove herbs or leave them in place.

Herbal simple syrups

As you all know, a simple syrup is made of equal parts of sugar and water boiled for 3 to 5 minutes until it is clear. Then you remove the syrup from the heat, add the herb and let it sit in syrup 30 minutes, strain out, and refrigerate. Great with seltzer, or in a cocktail. Some of my favorites syrups are bay leaf, rosemary, lemon verbena, tarragon (great in limeade).

New Favorite Stuff

Discoveries and things I have learned lately I would like to share with you some of my new favorite food things. Since returning to the kitchens of NYC, I have encountered many new ingredients to add to my bag of tricks.

Elderflower presse

Elderflower Presse is something I originally tried in London. It’s a popular children’s drink, usually diluted with water, sometimes with seltzer. It is very refreshing and fragrant. It is made with Carbonated Spring Water, Sugar, Fresh Elderflowers, Fresh Lemon Juice, and Citric Acid. I like to mix it into my Lilet or some vodka. Or sometimes I just take a swig from the bottle. You can also reduce it and use it in a sauce for grilled peaches or pears. If you want the same flavor in an alcoholic base, try Saint Germain liqueur. The liqueur is made from the same elderflower, which blooms through the spring and summer. Still produced in an artisanal manner, the liqueur is made from flowers that are gathered from the hillsides in the French Alps during a short four- to-six-week period in spring. According to the company's website, the picked flowers are bicycled to a collection depot (really?) where they are immediately macerated to preserve the fresh flavors of the bloom. Extracting the flavors of this flower is not an easy process, and the Saint Germain company keeps theirs a family secret. Each bottle of Saint Germain ($33.09 for 25 oz) is individually numbered which says classy to me!

Chianti Vinegar

This is a much more flavorful and a less overused choice than Balsamic. The benefit of creating a wine vinegar from a single grape variety, is that the character of the grape is retained in the final vinegar. That means that Chianti’s rosy-purple hue and bright flavor shines through. This elegantly crisp, robust, and well balanced vinegar (taken from their advertisement) is the culmination of a centuries old Italian winemaking tradition. It reminds me of cherry and plum. Use it anywhere you want to add the flavor of Chianti. It can add complexity to marinades and pasta sauces, or reduce it to make a killer glaze for grilled meats.

Aleppo Pepper

This beautiful pepper is also known as the Halaby pepper. It starts as pods which ripen to a burgundy color and is then semi-dried, de-seeded, then crushed or coarsely ground. The pepper is named after Aleppo, a long-inhabited city along the Silk Road in northern Syria, and is grown in Syria and Turkey. It is excellent at added a little heat to meat, chicken and fish. Great on some nice homemade pizza. Kind of reminds me of Ancho chile, but more interesting.

Xanthan Gum

My first encounter with Xanthan gum was when I was experimenting with Gluten-free baking. It is often added to improve texture and make a better crumb. You must use it very sparingly, about 1/8 of a teaspoon to about 3 cups of batter but it does do the trick. It is an ingredient which has been on the industrial market forever. It is commonly used as a food thickening agent and a stabilizer (in cosmetic products, for example, to prevent ingredients from separating). All weird science to me! But now I have discovered it is the bomb when it comes to emulsifying sauces. I always used dijon to keep my salad dressings in suspension but it adds a flavor I don’t always want. Using Xanthan gum I can achieve a perfect texture and it never separates! Home made ice cream also benefits from a pinch (but do your research first to see the most effective way to incorporate it).

Vadouvan Curry

Vadouvan is a ready-to-use blend of spices that is a French derivative of a masala. It is an Indian curry blend with added aromatics such as shallots and garlic. The spice blend is thought to have originated from French colonial influence in the Puducherry region of India. Indian recipes for Vandovan blends vary but most contain at minimum, pounded onion, garlic, fennel seeds, cumin seeds, mustard seeds and fenugreek. The mixture is dried in the sun and then crushed, but still has large bits in it. (thanks Wiki). Vadouvan is sweet and just a tad smoky and is not heavy on cumin which I think can be overpowering. Great on roasted veggies like butternut squash, or in grains. Chicken loves it! Blend it into some butter to spread on your French radishes.

Malt Vinegar powder

This ingredient could change your world. One of the problems I have when trying to up the acidity in a mayo or aioli is it gets too thin. In catering, that can be an issue because when making elegant little hors d’oeuvres we try to put our sauces in squeeze bottles or pasty bags for fast delivery at on site events, so viscosity is an issue. Malt powder does the job and actually acts as a thickening agent. Besides sauces, it can add a nice tangy, vinegary flavor to your snacks and dishes. Use it on vegetables, salad dressings, chicken wings, pork, fish, popcorn & potato chips! Use it for to add a salt & vinegar flavor to your fish & chips. Add to your fish prior to breading to infuse the flavor into the fish without making it soggy. Careful when opening the package as the powder will go right up your nose like Wasabi!

Calamondin Marmalade

I first had Calamondin jam when my parents brought home small jars of it from their adventures on the Jewish Riviera, Miami Beach. It was like orange marmalade but better and more interesting. Then I never saw it again. Recently my friends were in Florida and asked if I wanted anything and it hit me! Bring me the jam. Calamondin oranges originated as a cross between a tangerine and a kumquat and they grow in the South. They smell sweet, but are surprisingly tart. Despite its outer appearance and its aroma, the taste of the fruit itself is quite sour, although the peel is sweet. Calamondin marmalade can be made in the same way as orange marmalade. Like other citrus fruits, the calamondin is high in vitamin C. The fruit can be frozen whole and used as ice cubes in beverages such as tea, soft drinks, water, and cocktails. The juice can be used in place of lemon juice. It makes a fantastic glaze for ham, and is excellent on duck. You can buy it online. My friends brought me all natural calamondin marmalade made by Pelican Bay Ltd. And of course it’s excellent on toast.

So, what's new with you?

Nasturtium Vinegar, Rosemary and Lavender Vinegar, and Green Peppercorn Mustard

Seasonal Recipe of the Week
Flavored vinegars, homemade syrups, unusual condiments: these are all things I love. Great host gifts, great ways to make ordinary foods extraordinary, great way to feel superior to Martha Stewart. Here are three recipes to ponder:

Nasturtium Vinegar

Ingredients
8 ounces nasturtium blossoms
2 pints Malt vinegar
3 whole cloves
4 whole black peppercorns
2 cloves garlic halved
2 chopped shallots

Procedure
Sterilize 2 small bottles. Evenly distribute ingredients in bottles and top with vinegar. Cork or seal bottle securely and store in a dark cool place for 2 months before using. Shake occasionally. Some people strain out the ingredients and transfer to a clean jar before using, that’s optional. Makes 2 pints.

Lavender and Rosemary vinegar

Ingredients
2 pints apple cider vinegar
2 fresh sprigs rosemary
1 teaspoon lavender blossoms

Procedure
Procedure is same as above but the flavor in this will come out faster so it should be ready to go after sitting in a dark cool place for 3 weeks. Also makes 2 pints.

Green Peppercorn Mustard

Ingredients
3 tablespoons mustard seeds
1/3 cup Coleman’s Dry mustard powder
1/2 cup hot tap water
1/2 cup dry white wine vinegar
1/2 cup dry white vermouth
Big pinch of ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon dried tarragon
1/2 teaspoon dill seed
2 teaspoons kosher salt
Big pinch dried cloves
1 teaspoon honey
1 tablespoon canned green peppercorns drained
1 teaspoon slightly crushed green peppercorns (add at the end)

Procedure
Combine the mustard seeds, dry mustard powder, hot water and vinegar in a bowl and let sit for at least 3 hours. In a small saucepan, bring to a boil the vermouth, cinnamon, tarragon, dill seed salt and cloves. Strain this into the mustard mixture and stir to combine. Now add the honey and the green peppercorns. Scrape this whole mess into the bowl of your food processor fitted with a steel blade. Whirl to puree. Finally put this mixture into the top of a double boiler and over simmering water. Cook for about 10 minutes, stirring often. Add the remaining 1 teaspoon of green peppercorns slightly crushed. This mixture will thicken as it cools. Put into small jars and refrigerate. This will keep indefinitely.