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My decision on what to make for my first NICSA was largely influenced by my air conditioner breaking in July in Florida. It's over 90 degrees outside right now and the last thing I want to do is any cooking that involves my oven or stove. So my entry is about avoiding the kitchen heat and hopefully consuming enough tequila to forget about how much a broken AC sucks. The first dish is a salad of macerated grapefruit and avocado(adapted from http://www.tastingtable.com/entry_detail/chefs_recipes/11997). Here's a picture of the ingredients.  First I zested a bit of the lime; I didn't add much because I hate how things taste when too much citrus zest is added.  Add that to the container along with juice of a quarter lime, 2 TBSP tequila, 1 TBSP Cointreau, 2 TBSP tangerine juice, and a squeeze of agave syrup. Then I cut the peel and pith from a grapefruit.   I tried to remove the grapefruit sections from the membranes but they started falling apart so I decided I didn't mind the membranes. I placed the grapefruit sections in the tequila mixture and refrigerated it for about 30 minutes.  While I waited for the grapefruits to macerate I started on the gazpacho. Here's a picture of the gazpacho ingredients.  Earlier in the day I made a serrano infused tequila. It's easy, all I did was slice the serrano in half, deseed and derib it, put it in a mason jar and pour a cup of tequila over it. Throughout the day I shake it and let it infuse for about four hours. Usually when I infuse things I leave it for much longer but peppers are a quick infusion.  I roughly chopped the tomatoes, half a cucumber, red pepper, half a red onion, a serrano pepper, and 2 large cloves of garlic.  Toss them in a bowl with 3 TBSP of sherry vinegar, a couple slices of torn up bread, 1/3 cup EVOO, 1/3 cup serrano tequila. Blend.   A real blender would prob be better but the stick blender was good enough for me. Add salt and pepper to taste and place it in the refrigerator. At this point I took a break because it was still super hot in my kitchen even without using any appliances and I was sweating like crazy. Once I felt like getting up again I sliced up 3/4 of an avocado for the salad, placed them on the plate, and squeezed some lime juice on them.  (Please excuse the lovely manicure) I removed the grapefruits from the fridge and placed the least ugly, least broken segments on the avocados. For the dressing I mixed 2 TBSP of the tequila mixture with some olive oil and salt. I cut up some mint leaves, placed them on the salad, and then added the dressing.  I poured the gazpacho into a bowl and diced up some avocado and cucumber for garnish. It probably would have looked prettier in a different colored bowl.  At this point I was getting kinda cranky and in need of a cocktail so I stopped measuring or taking any pictures of the process. Basically I filled the cup with ice, added some tequila, the tequila mixture from the grapefruit, mint leaves, sparkling water, agave nectar, and a couple dashes of grapefruit bitters. Usually I would use simple syrup but I didn't have any on hand and I didn't want to make any more at the time. I also don't have appropriate glassware.  Everything all together:  Thoughts: The grapefruit was really good prepared this way, I'd def recommend it. My avocado was too ripe for slicing though; I'm wondering if a Florida avocado would be better than a Hass? This was my first time making gazpacho and it came out better then I was expecting but I'm not sure how much the tequila added to the recipe. I'll probably add more vinegar next time instead because I really love vinegar. I wish I had more lighting in my kitchen so the pictures would have been nicer but I had to move my living room lamps to get even that much light. I hope my landlord fixes the AC tomorrow.
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Jul 21, 2014 03:57
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This is an excellent entry. Alcohol in the soup, the salad, and a cocktail? I was stoked. Using 100% blue agave tequila? All class. The nails, well, I'm a bartender- Nothing gold can stay. Florida? drat shame, that.
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Jul 21, 2014 22:29
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And a cat!
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Aug 2, 2014 23:46
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TychoCelchuuu posted:And a cat! I had to go back and look. Kitty  Also some fine looking salad.
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Aug 3, 2014 02:11
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Vegetable Melange posted:This is an excellent entry. Alcohol in the soup, the salad, and a cocktail? I was stoked. Using 100% blue agave tequila? All class. The nails, well, I'm a bartender- Nothing gold can stay. Thanks! It was challenging because every time I've cooked with alcohol it was stew or chili or some other heavy dish and it was interesting to try to think of summer appropriate recipes with alcohol. TychoCelchuuu posted:And a cat! Yay, I'm glad someone noticed I snuck her in there. Here's a ridiculous picture of her. She was exhausted from annoying me while I was trying to work from home.  Cranberry Jam posted:Also some fine looking salad. Thank you! The salad was def the best discovery from this.
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Aug 3, 2014 04:32
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