The Doubting Doug

For one drink

Fever Tree developed their Mediterranean Tonic specifically for vodka, and it shows. It turns what many gin drinkers (Douglas among them) consider a suspect drink into a spectacular one. He may not be entirely convinced, but the rest of us are.

Squeeze half a lime into an old-fashioned glass. Fill the glass with ice, then pour one shot of vodka (we use Grey Goose) over the ice. Top with chilled Fever Tree Mediterranean Tonic. Stir with a bar spoon and plop the spent lime half into the drink.

The Doubting Doug - Our Summer House Cocktail

Douglas on Thanksgiving in his clan tartan

Pasta Sorta Norma

Adapted from Slightly Different on the Rachel Eats blog by Rachel Roddy

This recipe for pasta with eggplant, tomato, basil, and cheese is inspired by—but not exactly—Pasta alla Norma, a dish typical to Catania in Sicily. 

Serves 2 (with 8 ounces of pasta)

1 eggplant (I use 1 small Italian, not Japanese, eggplant weighing about 8 ounces)
Extra virgin olive oil
2 cloves garlic, peeled and cut into thick slices
400g tinned plum tomatoes, put through a food mill
Salt
Fresh basil (If you don’t have fresh basil, just leave it out—don’t substitute dried)
Pecorino Romano, or Parmesan, or ricotta salata (I prefer the Pecorino Romano)
Short pasta – penne works well

Wash the eggplant but do not peel it.

How to cut the eggplant into 1/4-inch cubes:

1. Cut off both ends of the eggplant.

2. Slice the eggplant crosswise (the short way) into 1/4-inch-thick rounds.

3. Stack the rounds in piles, about 6 slices high.

4. Cut each stack into strips, then rotate the stack and cut across the strips perpendicularly to make cubes.

Cover the bottom of a sauté pan with 1/4 inch of olive oil and warm over a medium-high flame. Once the oil is quite hot, add a single layer of eggplant and cook until tender and golden, then remove with a slotted spoon onto a plate. If all your eggplant doesn’t fit in your pan, cook it in batches.

When the eggplant is done, you should still have some olive oil in the pan; if not, add some more. You want about 4 tablespoons of oil in the pan before adding the garlic. Once the olive oil has cooled a little, add the garlic and cook until lightly gold and fragrant—do not let it burn, or it will be bitter.

Add the tomatoes and cook, stirring often and pressing gently with the back of a wooden spoon, until thick and saucy but not dry. Add salt to taste. Add the eggplant cubes to the tomatoes, cook for another minute or so, then pull from the heat—and still off the heat, stir in a handful of fresh torn basil leaves.

Note: Rachel Roddy, an Englishwoman, has lived in Italy for over twenty years. She, her partner, and their son divide their time between Rome and Sicily. She has written three superb cookbooks, Five Quarters, A Kitchen in Rome, and An A - Z of Pasta.

Things I Like

 From Gustiamo

As of today, 9/27/24, Gustiamo has a maximum shipping cost of a little under $20 no matter the weight. They usually have a sale the Monday after Thanksgiving with free shipping as a promotion, which they alert customers to in advance, so I order whatever I need at that time and send some Christmas presents.

These tomatoes and

These tomatoes

Porcini Mushrooms They pack them in a smaller amount, but since I make this Rigatoni with White Bolognese regularly, I like to have them on hand. 

Faella pasta, specificaly bucatini, penne, linguine trenette, all of which I buy in 5.5-pound bags, and toffe, which I buy in a 1.1-pound bag and which I use for a particular Marcella Hazan recipe, Pasta Shells with Sausage. The Faella penne is not penne rigate - the penne with ridges.

From Buon'Italia

This is where I get the rest of my pasta,  Pastaficio Setario, specifically spaghetti chitarra, penne rigati, rigatoni, mezi rigatoni, vermicelli, spaghettini (it's very thin) and a little shape called nodi marini (marine knot), which stays delightfully chewy. 

I learned about Pastaficio Setaro from Luisa, The Wednesday Chef. At the time, like she, I was able to go to Buonitalia to buy it myself at Chelsea Market. If you check out that link of hers, read it to the bottom and find the hidden recipe for spaghetti with ricotta. It's a gem.

From Anchored Shrimp

I order IQF shrimp 21-25 per pound and always keep them in my freezer. They are wild Georgia shrimp. This is a family owned and operated company. The shrimp are delicious, but the shipping can be expensive because you should get the red (two-day) shipping if you are in a zone for it. It's worth it. Having these in the freezer is like money in the bank. These are shrimp - no salt, no preservatives, nothing but shrimp - delicious shrimp.

From Kalustyan's

From here I get real Hungarian Sweet Paprika, house brand sweet mango chutney, house brand hot mango chutney (not really hot), and basmati rice in 10-pound bags.

From Amazon

Casina Rossa Fennel & Salt I always have this in the house. It is coarse, basically a finishing salt, but I blitz half of it in an electric coffee grinder and keep it in a spice bottle to sprinkle and leave the rest coarse. I use it in many things but most often with pork - especially on ribs, and on pork loin roast. I love it and often gift it.

Better than Bouillon Organic Vegetable Base - This is readily available in my market. I use it if I don't have my own chicken stock and lots of times add a dot of it to things for its umami flavor.

Shrimp & Scallions

Adapted from Myers & Chang at Home by Joanne Chang (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2017)
Serves 4

When I make this for two, I use ¾ pound of shrimp—9 shrimp per person—and don’t decrease the sauce.

1½ pounds large shrimp (21 to 25 per pound)
2 tablespoons peeled and finely chopped fresh ginger (about a 2-inch knob)
2 to 3 medium garlic cloves, thinly sliced
2 large egg whites
A pinch of red pepper flakes*
2 teaspoons cornstarch
½ cup ketchup
½ cup stock, chicken or vegetable (I use Better Than Bouillon Vegetable Base)
1 tablespoon sugar (I use Domino Golden)
½ teaspoon Diamond Crystal Kosher Salt
Tiny splash of light soy sauce
Black pepper to taste
⅓ cup vegetable oil (I use grapeseed)
4 or 5 scallions, white and green parts, chopped

*The original recipe calls for 1½ teaspoons of red pepper flakes, so adjust to your taste.

You can cook this in a wok or a large, heavy flat-bottomed skillet.

Combine the shrimp, ginger, garlic, egg whites, red pepper flakes, and 1 teaspoon of the cornstarch in a large bowl and mix well. In a small bowl, whisk together the ketchup, stock, sugar, salt, soy sauce, black pepper, and the remaining 1 teaspoon cornstarch until smooth.

Heat the vegetable oil over high heat until it shimmers. Add the shrimp and cook, stirring continuously with a wooden spoon, until the shrimp start to turn pink and get a little crispy around the edges. If your heat is high enough, this will take about 1 minute.

Add the ketchup mixture and simmer until the shrimp are just cooked through, about 3 to 4 minutes.

Turn off the heat, stir in the scallions, and serve immediately with rice. I use basmati.

Note: I always keep IQF wild Georgia shrimp—jumbo (21 to 25 per pound)—in my freezer. They’re shipped to me from Anchored Shrimp Company, a family-owned seafood company in Brunswick, GA. These are shrimp—no preservatives, no salt, no anything but shrimp. Having them on hand is like having money in the bank.