Tag Archives: booze

Uncle Frank’s Dry Martini

2 oz Bombay Sapphire gin
Lemon rind
Dry vermouth

Freeze glass and gin. Cut wedge from lemon rind. Mist glass with dry vermouth. Pour in gin. Twist lemon rind, drop into gin. Enjoy.

Penne with Vodka and Tomato Cream Sauce

1 T butter
1 T olive oil
1 small onion, chopped
1 20 oz can plum tomatoes, drained, seeded, and chopped
1 cup whipping cream
¼ c vodka
¼ t dried crushed red pepper
1 pound penne pasta
Freshly grated parmesan cheese
Minced fresh chives

Melt butter with oil in heavy large saucepan over medium heat. Add onin and sauté until translucent, about eight minutes. Add tomatoes and cook until almost no liquod remains in pan, stirring frequently, about 25 minutes. Add cream, vodka, and red pepper, and boil until thickened to sauce consistency, about two minutes. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

Cook pasta in a large pot of boiling salted water until just tender, but firm to bite, stirring occasionally to prevent sticking. Drain well. Transfer to a large bowl. Bring sauce to simmer. Pour over pasta and toss well. Sprinkle with parmesan cheese and chives, and serve.

Notes: (From Shannon) This one was originally from Bon Appetit, and has been a regular in the houses of Tom and Rita, Allan and Linda, and Michael and me. I prefer to use tomato puree so it’s saucier, ignoring the part about cooking “until almost no liquid remains”…but here’s the recipe as it appeared in the magazine.

Chocolate Mint Dessert Drinks

4 oz vanilla ice cream
1 ½ oz chocolate mint liqueur (Hiram Walker)
Blend in blender, add one ice cube for a very cold drink. Serve in brandy snifter.

Tom Harper’s Trailer Meal 1973

On June 13, 1973, I moved home to Mom and Dad’s with Allan and Shannon, and Tom moved to a trailer in “Whipple’s Mobile Home Estates” in Fairfax, Virginia, where he worked in a K-Mart all day and on his MBA at George Washington University at night. Following is the meal he ate almost every night for about five months.

2 hamburgers, fried
1 can Pringle Potato Chips, opened
2 beers, cold

Mulled Wine

Combine in pan, boil ten minutes, strain:

1 lemon, sliced
2/3 c sugar
2 c water
1 t cloves
½ t whole allspice
2 3” sticks of cinnamon

Add 1 fifth Burgandy or other red wine. Heat but do not boil. Top with sliced lemon.

Irish Coffee Pie

3 ½ oz package whipped dessert mix like chocolate or vanilla Soft Swirl
2 t instant coffee (not freeze dried)
½ c cold milk
1/3 c cold water
3 T whiskey
½ c whipping cream
1 8” baked pie shell

In small mixer bowl, combine dessert mix and coffee. Add milk and beat at high speed for one minute. Blend in water and whiskey; beat at high speed for two more minutes until fluffy. Whip cream and carefully fold in. Pour into pie shell and chill for 3-4 hours. Garnish with whipped cream and chocolate shavings.

Drambouie

Your guests will never know the difference between this homemade liquor and the expensive Drambouie.  This recipe comes from the “Martyn S. Thomas distillary”.

1 fifth 86 proof scotch (cheap kind)
¾ lb rock candie (white or clear)

Put candy in scotch and let sit until candy dissolves (2 to 4 weeks).  Shaking bottle hastens melting of candy.  Strain out strings if necessary.  Makes ½ gallon.

Brandy Alexander Pie

Pie shell – make vanilla wafer crust as recipe on box or graham cracker crust for 9” pie.

1 envelope unflavored gelatin
½ c cold water
2/3 c sugar
1/8 tsp salt
3 eggs, separated
¼ c cognac
¼ c crème de cocoa
2 c heavy cream, whipped
chocolate curls

Sprinkle gelatin over cold water in saucepan.  Add 1/3 c sugar, salt, and egg yolks.  Stir to blend.  Heat over low heat while stirring until gelatin dissolves and mixture thickens.  Do not boil.  Remove from heat and stir in cognac and crème de cocoa.  Chill until mixture starts to mound slightly.  Beat egg whites until stiff.  Gradually beat into remaining sugar and fold into thickened mixture.  Fold in 1 c whipped cream.  Turn into crust.  Chill several hours or overnight.  Garnish with remaining cream and chocolate curls.

Velvet Hammers

The Avon Lake dessert drink sensation.

1 pt vanilla ice cream, spooned into chunks
2 oz (¼ c) brandy or cognac
1 oz (2 Tbsp) Cointreau or other orange flavored liquer
1 oz (2 Tbsp) Crème de Cocoa
Blend in blender until creamy.  Serve with or without spoons.  For four drinks, do 1 ½ times.

Brandy Alexanders

A Christmas tradition.

In blender combine :
1 part brandy
1 part coffee cream
1 part crème de cocoa
crushed ice
Whirl in blender and serve.