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Bloodymary Gazpacho

May13

Happy Mother’s day to all the Momma’s, the Grandmothers, the Doggie Momma’s, the Single Dad Moms, the Stepmoms and the Soon to be Mommies out there!    I live about 7 hours away from my Mom, so we wont be spending the day together, but she knows I am thinking about her.  The last time we were together on Mother’s Day was about 8 years ago and we celebrated by going to a fabulous brunch.  I think the meal of brunch belongs to Mother’s Day, and I love it because it is where absolutely anything goes!  

Happy Mother’s Day Queenie!

I’ve mentioned my mother, Queenie, not being the most skillful in the kitchen, but I haven’t given her credit to the Bloodmary’s that flow from her pitchers (my Dad may argue that he makes them, but I know she drinks them…).  In fact, she likes them well enough to have taken Bloodymary’s as her Fantasy Football team name as well as her email address.

Thinking about my mom, and what I thought she might like, and what she could actually make I landed on Bloodymary Gazpachos.  The vegetables in the gardens are hitting their stride, the cucumbers are fully grown, the tomatoes are ready, we have peppers we don’t know what to do with, and corn is hitting the bins….spells out gazpacho to me. 

Mise en place, mostly from the garden!

When you have a Mother’s Day brunch to bring something to why not make it Bloodymary Gazpacho.  Serve it in a rocks glass over ice, or if drinking at brunch doesn’t fit the crowd, just put it in a soup cup and watch the guests relax!

Bloodymary Gazpacho

  • 3/4 cup diced green tomatoes
  • 1/2 cup, peeled, seeded and diced cucumber
  • 2 Tbsp diced red onion
  • 2 Tbsp chopped cilantro
  • 1/2 Tbsp diced jalapeno
  • 4 Tbsp corn kernels, raw
  • 1/2 lime, zest and juice
  • 10 oz bloodymary mix
  • 8 oz vodka
  • Kosher Salt
  • Granulated Sugar

Method

In a food processor or blender add the tomatoes, cucumbers, onion, cilantro, jalapeno, corn and lime zest and juice.  Give only a few pulses, keeping a “gazpacho consistency”.  Add in your favorite bloodymary mix and preferred vodka and quickly mix.  Adjust flavor with salt and sugar; all bloodymary mixes are different so only add a pinch at a time.  Refridgerate until ready to serve, overnight will allow the flavors to meld.  Pour over ice in a rocks glass or as a soup shooter.  Garnish with your favorite pickled vegetable, a stalk of celery, a stuffed olive,  or a spicy pepper.  This recipe also makes a fantastic shrimp cocktail dip!

Makes 4 cocktails

Summer Garden Vegetables

Cheers to all the Momma’s- may your day be filled with love, memories and celebration!

Happy Mother’s Day Queenie! Love you!

Cocktails and Dinner with #digiNow12 at Disney’s Living Seas

Apr29

We have been busy at work the last week with 3 different Press Events, a 1000 or so Cheerleaders, and a technical driven event that we look forward to all year.  The digitalNow Conference was held at Walt Disney World this week; which gave us a chance to push our creative minds.  While the group spent most of their time at the Contemporary Resort, they did venture to the Parks for a night.  The Living Seas at Epcot turned into a futuristic, creative, interactive dining room, where Entertainment, Bartenders, and Chefs spent the evening getting the chance to create magic. 

This is the type of event that keep us motivated in Catering and always searching for what is next.  The Front of the House provided such an innovative setup, from the gorgeous glowing highboys to the serpentine roman tables to the fantastic buffet sets. 

The set up was definetly something to tweet about #digiNow12

The Entertainment and Florist jumped right into the theming of the night.

The Bars were amazing- so cool!  The specialty drinks were a hit, not just because of the awesome presentation, but the flavors as well.  I attached the recipes below, these were all developed by our Front of the House team!

Sangria de Patron

  • 2 oz Patron Silver
  • 2 1/2 oz Monin Hibiscus
  • 3/4 oz Lemonade
  • 1/2 oz Lime Juice 

Pour all ingredients into a mixing glass with ice.  Shake and strain over ice in a rocks glass.

Black Cherry Cooler

  • 1 1/4 oz Red Stag Black Cherry Bourbon
  • 1/2 oz  Triple Sec
  • 2 oz Pineapple Juice
  • 1 oz Orange Juice
  • 1/2 oz Cruzan Black Strap Rum

Pour all ingredients into a mixing glass with ice. Shake and strain over ice in a rocks glass.  Top with Black Strap Rum as a floater.

Ginger Snap

  • 1 1/4 oz Skyy Citrus Vodka
  • 1 oz Canton Ginger Liquor
  • 3 oz Lemonade
  • Splash of Ginger Ale

Pour all ingredients into a mixing glass with ice. Shake and strain over ice in a rocks glass. Top with Ginger Ale.

The food for the event was equally inventive, we had fresh grown organic produce from The Land at Epcot, Chef Damon and his team were distilling with the RotoVap,  live herbs were growing from their roots on the salad station, and Chef Matt and his pastry team created artisan gelatos and lollipops in the middle of the World View Plaza before the fireworks started.

The dinner was creative, tasty and fresh with a focus on local, sustainable and taste that hit all notes!

Events like this not only surprise and delight our guests, they keep our cast engaged and driven to deliver the most excellent service possible.  These event keep our passion flowing :) !

jgkfg

Preserved Cherries- Small Effort, Huge WOW!

Jun29

Preserving Cherries

Seems like I couldn’t get away from cherries last weekend we dined at a restaurant with a great fresh cherry cheesecake it had a chocolate almond crust Sir Wes kept saying, LORD this is good!  Then I read a blog over at A Cook Walks Into A Bar, who was making homemade Maraschino cherries!!  What???  Who knew??  Not sure why I never thought about fresh made…. just goes to show you, there is always something new to discover!

And then there were Acerola Cherries at the farmers market the next day- Awesome!  Because we were leaving for a family vacation this week, I was a bit limited on time, could not get to the liquor store for the traditional liquor needed for the maraschinos, next time!!  So I used what I had in the pantry- no need to get caught up in recipes, we just make it work!!

Acerola Cherries

  • 1 pound cherries, seeded (up to you if you want to or not, but I plan to serve them in drinks, and I don’t want to have to worry about seed spitting)
  • ½ cup water
  • ½ cup sugar
  • 1 cup cherry brandy
  • 1 cup brandy
  • 1 tablespoon whole coriander
  • 1 tablespoon whole black pepper
  • Juice of ½ a lemon
  • Couple slices of orange peel
  • Couple slices of lemon peel
  • 2 stems of oregano (had some in the garden, thyme would be nice too, just to add that earthy flavor)

I put all the ingredients together in a leak proof container and turned end over end to mix everything up.  They will need about two weeks before we dive in to them, and will last 6 months.  Just be sure to stir them up every few days.  This is a GREAT treat for your cocktail parties coming thru the summer and into the fall- ummm, I can see tailgate parties with these fancy schmancy treats….Awesome!  Small effort, Huge WOW!

Preserving Cherries

Ginger and Ghost Pepper Peach Sangria

Jun21

Summer started today,  although here in Florida, summer feels like it starts much earlier!  What is even more fun about June 21st, is that it is the unofficial start date of sangria season!  The perfect answer to the humid, sweaty days of Florida summers!  My favorite girl, @sweetsbymaggie is here for the week, and we love to enjoy sangria together, it is just what we do :)

A friend gave me a bit of homemade ghost pepper honey a few weeks ago, which is the hottest pepper out there blended into honey.  I also had a bit of ginger left in the cooler, so I made a ginger simple syrup to use it up before it spoiled.  I saw a bottle of white wine on the pantry shelf and I knew what direction we were heading. It is so fun to play with sangria flavors, once you have the general idea of how to make a traditional white or red sangria, I highly recommend getting creative with the flavors.  I love muddling herbs in ours, basil and cilantro are great.

Here is the recipe I used, it made about 5 quarts and took me about 20 minutes to do.  We left it overnight and the next day it was nicely blended, all of the flavors had time to hang out together and bond :)

Ginger Simple Syrup

  • 1 cup sugar
  • 1 cup water
  • 1 tablespoon chopped ginger

Put all ingredients into a heavy sauce pan and bring to a simmer for 5 minutes. and cool.  The flavor will develop as it sits, so don’t be afraid to let it rest before you use it.

Simmer down Ginger!!!!!

Ghost Pepper Honey

  • 1 pinch ghost pepper flakes*
  • 3 teaspoons honey

Mix pepper flakes and honey together well, the longer the honey has to sit the stronger the heat will get.  A perfect item to have in your cabinet.

*You can use any pepper here, dry them slowly in the oven and then put in a coffee grinder to grind, you could even red pepper flakes if you would prefer.

Ginger and Ghost Pepper Peach Sangria

  • 2- 12 oz cans peach nectar
  • 1.5 liter Pinot grigio
  • 1 cup peach schnapps
  • 1 cup brandy
  • 2 peaches, cut in small bites 1 lemon, sliced
  • 1 pint blueberries, muddled
  • 3 teaspoons ghost pepper honey
  • 2 cups ginger simple syrup

Sangria Fruit

Mix all ingredients together in pitchers (I used two which allowed room for stirring, and just split everything in half, for each pitcher).  Refrigerate for a few hours before serving.  If you let it sit longer then 12 hours check that the peaches haven’t been “overcooked”, they can become rancid over time.

Ginger and Ghost Pepper Honey Peach Sangria