Liquids Posts
Pecan Scotch Compound Butter
You know how when you go to a fancy steakhouse and your steak comes with a sumptuous hunk of cold, creamy butter on it? And it’s just starting to melt and mingle with the meat’s perfectly charred crust to make a mouthwatering, on-the-spot sauce? Compound butter is like that, but better.
3 Warm & Toasty Fall Cocktails
With fall well underway, Cocktail Season is in full effect here at The Mouse House. Here are three of our favorite fall drinks—guaranteed to knock that seasonal chill right off.
Apple Pie in a Glass
I’d like to introduce you to my new favorite milkshake. I can’t take credit for this idea. It’s my version of the Apple Cider Milkshake I had at the Ben & Jerry’s in Salem the other day, while I was waiting for The Angry Chef to pick me up on a rainy day.
Bacon & Potato Leek Soup
Ah, soup weather in New England. The air in Salem is finally turning a little colder, at least in the evenings. There are few things I love more on a nippy night than having a steaming pot of soup bubbling merrily away on the stove. For this soup, I started with Julia Child’s famous Potato [...]
Blooming Champagne Cocktail with Wild Hibiscus
This is one of the prettiest cocktails you can imagine. Drop a hibiscus flower that’s been preserved in syrup into the bottom of a champagne flute. Fill with your favorite bubbly. As the champagne happily fizzes away, the hibiscus flower will open up and bloom in your glass. The cocktail is ridiculously delightful and a [...]
Orange Melba Sauce
Escoffier’s original sauce is a heady mixture of raspberries, current jelly, sugar, and cornstarch. In this version, I’ve done away with the current jelly and the cornstarch (a generous amount of sugar helps thicken the sauce as it reduces), and added a little orange juice. It’s my favorite thing to drizzle over cheesecake. I’m also totally guilty of eating it straight, with a spoon.
Spicy Guacamole
I’m totally guilty of having guacamole for dinner. Not the most well-balanced meal, I know, but I don’t do it that often. (And hey, I do usually dip veggies and rice crackers in it, as well as chips!) When we’re in a pinch and don’t feel like cooking, chances are I’ll grab a few avocados and go to town.
Homemade Garlic Mayonnaise (a.k.a. Aioli)
I have another confession to make. When I was a little mouse, one of my absolute favorite treats was a mayonnaise sandwich. Yep, you heard right. A big dollop of Hellmann’s spread on a slice of white bread, then folded in half. (Jam sandwiches, a la Paddington Bear, were a close second.) These days, I still love my mayo. Here are step-by-step instructions for how to make my version of aioli, Miss. Mayonnaise’s sophisticated French cousin.
Garlic Scape Pesto from The Garlic Farm in West Granby
Recently, my mom and I took a little road trip around the countryside in Northern Connecticut. When we happened across The Garlic Farm in West Granby, we knew we had to pull in and investigate. Here’s a photo tour of the farm, a bunch of info on garlic scapes (including how to cook them), plus a super simple recipe for some of the most garlicky, mouthwatering pesto you’ve ever had.
Basic Homemade Chicken Stock
There are a lot of methods for making chicken stock. Some folks make it in the slow cooker. Some folks make it in the oven. This is one of the ways that I make mine on top of the stove. It’s a good, basic method and yields a richly flavored, golden chicken stock that’s a [...]
