Quick meals - quick and easy recipes - page 143

Classic, elegant, and stiff, the martini is a simple fusion of gin and dry vermouth, stirred together with ice, and strained into a chilled glass. The main variables are the proportion of gin to vermouth, and what you choose to garnish with. This recipe uses a 2-to-1 for the former, though 4-to-1, even 5-to-1, is popular. For some, washing the martini glass with dry vermouth, then dumping the vermouth in the sink before stirring straight gin with ice, is just right.

Except for the gin and tonic, no other cocktail is as quintessentially English as pink gin, also known as gin and bitters. A few drops of aromatic, sweetly spice-scented angostura bitters are a gentle enhancement for the bracing, juniper-driven taste of London Dry–style gin. We give you two options: a simple version (just chilled gin and bitters), and the same thing served over ice, topped off with a splash of soda water.

According to Rob Chirico, author of the Field Guide to Cocktails, this iconic New Orleans cocktail dates to the 1850s, when it was served at the Sazerac Coffee House. American whiskey eventually replaced the brandy of the original. Rinsing the glass with absinthe gives the cocktail the right touch of herbal perfume without upsetting the balance—you can always substitute Pernod if you don’t happen to have a bottle of absinthe.

Drop biscuits are the fastest and easiest biscuits you can make—all you do is whisk together the dry ingredients, stir in the liquids, and drop lumps of dough onto a baking sheet. The secret to getting these drop biscuits light and tender: beer. If beer isn’t your thing, substitute the same volume of buttermilk. We recommend serving with a hearty dish, like the best chili recipe ever.

In this update on a Colonial favorite, rum meets the old-fashioned fruit-and-vinegar infusion known as a shrub. There’s no added sugar in this cocktail—we like its tangy edge, but if you prefer something a little sweeter, you can add 1 teaspoon of simple syrup to the cocktail shaker. What to buy: A richly flavored dark rum works best here. Try Cruzan Estate Dark or Barbancourt 3 Star.

Shrubs, a.k.a. drinking vinegars, were popular in Colonial America. At their most basic, shrubs are infusions of fruit in vinegar, sweetened to soften the tart edges. This one combines two quintessentially autumnal fruits—apples and cranberries—in a shrub that can be used as the base for various celebratory drinks. Game plan: Use this to make a refreshing, nonalcoholic Cranberry Shrub Spritz. For something stiffer, try a Rum-Cranberry Shrub Cocktail.

A hot toddy is the perfect comfort drink for cool nights. In this honey-sweetened rum and cider version, a touch of Fernet-Branca—herbal and bracing—keeps things interesting. What to buy: A richly flavored dark rum, such as Cruzan Estate Dark or Barbancourt 3 Star, works best.

Food writer and cooking teacher Nadine Abensur introduced us to this superpunchy pestolike sauce from North Africa in her book The Cranks Bible: A Timeless Collection of Vegetarian Recipes. Chermoula is delicious with grilled fish and grilled or steamed vegetables, a secret flavor weapon for making healthy stuff taste great. Game plan: Chermoula is best right out of the food processor, but it will keep for up to 1 week in the fridge.

Tender on the inside and craggy with baked cheese on top, these ham and cheese scones are rich and savory, ideal for brunch or to serve alongside bowls of Basic Vegetable Soup for lunch or supper. What to buy: Black Forest ham is dry-cured and smoked—you can substitute another kind of smoked ham.

The G and T has become the dominant warm-weather gin cocktail, maybe because it’s one of the simplest: just gin, tonic water, and an aromatic boost from a lime wedge. Variations on the gin and tonic include taking it Barcelona style. And if you want to try making your own spiced tonic water, go for it.

A simple, refreshing mix of vodka and freshly squeezed grapefruit juice (add a touch of simple syrup if your grapefruits are a bit too tart). To turn it into a Salty Dog, moisten the rim of the glass and dip in salt.

The Tom Collins is a fine old drink—cocktail writer David Wondrich notes how it turns up (in a slightly different form) in Jerry Thomas’s seminal Bon Vivant’s Companion of 1877. Wondrich cites the drink’s “simple elegance”: just gin, lemon juice, and sugar, topped off with fizzy water. What to buy: Finely milled superfine sugar dissolves rapidly, avoiding any risk of graininess in the finished drink.

The ultimate hangover cocktail, a good Bloody Mary makes everything better. We’ve switched it up with tequila, pickled jalapeños, and an eye-opening dose of cayenne pepper. What to buy: Buy whole pickled jalapeños from a well-stocked market or Latin grocery, or make your own.

This handy Vietnamese sauce does double duty as a dip for fried foods and a dressing for cold salads, such as this one with grilled shrimp. The sauce is a perfect balance of tangy and sweet, with fish-sauce umami and a little spike of heat. To tone down the fire, seed the chiles before mincing. For more intensity, double the amount of fish sauce and omit the water.

Famed New Orleans barman Henry C. Ramos is said to have invented this rich, potent, and frothy egg white and cream cocktail in the 1880s. Orange flower water gives it a lovely aroma.

This is a classic, refreshing sparkler made with sloe gin, regular gin, and lemon juice, shaken and topped off with club soda. What to buy: Sloe gin is a red liqueur made from gin infused with sloes (also called blackthorn), a relative of plums.