"Bloody Olivia"

 ~ Welcome to a Progressive Party ~
 I know, right now most of you are saying "what?", but let me explain. It is actually the fantastic brainchild of Casey over at TasteStopping. It boils down to 6 different bloggers, 6 different assigned dinner courses, 1 product, kitchen tool, or ingredient, equaling one fun, unique internet party like no other. You can find more info about all of this over at Kitchen Play since Casey has a much better way of explaining than I do, but think of it kind of like Iron Chef meets Chopped.

This month the ingredient is sponsored by Lindsay Olives who happen to produce a fantastic array of different olives for any occasion. My assignment: A cocktail. The mission: Create a signature cocktail using Lindsay Olives that is NOT a martini. Sounds easy enough? Well, yes and no. Let's just say my husband had a glorious time sampling different drinks. In all honesty, those that know me are aware of the fact that I'm not an olive kind of girl and my drink of choice is usually on the sweeter side. My husband on the other hand had absolutely no problems helping me out, and in the end I was surprised that I liked the finished cocktail as much as I did.

I was trying to figure out which direction to take this drink and then it hit me. What better way to create something that also represents my geographical living area than coming up with a Southwest inspired cocktail? And what better way to achieve this than with Lindsay's Spicy Jalapeno Queen Olives. After experimenting with a few different drinks, I decided to intertwine one of my favorite drinks (the Margarita) with one of my husbands favorite drinks (the Bloody Mary) and born was the "Bloody Olivia"!

The main ingredient of a Margarita is tequila and a Bloody Mary is made with tomato juice and vodka. Trying to figure out how to combine these two drinks into one was fairly easy, but how could I showcase these great supplied olives? After a few trials and errors it came to me that I could infuse the most flavor by not just using the olive brine from inside the jar, but also by taking one of the Spicy Jalapeno Queen Olives and adding it to the drink. To do just that, I decided to break out my blender, and it worked like a charm. The drink gets additional flavor from a few spices, horseradish, Worcestershire sauce and last but not least, another traditional margarita ingredient, lime juice. After blending the tomato/olive base together, all that was left to do was stir in the tequila and enjoy.

I served the drink in a Chili-Lime Salt (which I found at a liquor store with the specialty salts) rimmed glass over ice and as a garnish I added a pickled jalapeno along with another stuffed Lindsay Spicy Jalapeno Queen Olive. This made for a tasty cocktail that had quite a kick to it. With all of the holidays and get-togethers coming up, I'm happy to have another great cocktail in my repertoire so I guess I better stock up on a few more Lindsay Olives!

"Bloody Olivia"
(Makes 1 drink)
(Printable Recipe)

Ingredients:

8 oz. vegetable juice
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
1/8 teaspoon ground pepper
1/8 teaspoon celery salt
1 pinch of cayenne pepper
1/2 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
1/4 teaspoon prepared horseradish
1 teaspoon lime juice
1 tablespoon Lindsay Spicy Jalapeno Olive brine (the liquid from inside the jar)
1 Lindsay Spicy Jalapeno Olive
1 1/2 oz. Tequila
Ice
Chili-Lime Salt to rim the glass (for garnish)
Pickled Jalapeno (for garnish)
1 Lindsay Spicy Jalapeno Olive (for garnish)

Preparation:

In a blender add vegetable juice, salt, pepper, celery salt, cayenne, Worcestershire sauce, horseradish, lime juice, olive brine and 1 jalapeno olive. Blend until mixture is combined and smooth. Stir in tequila. Carefully pour over ice into a salt rimmed glass. Add the pickled jalapeno and olive for garnish. Serve immediately!

Last, but certainly not least, these progressive parties have a great way to get all of you, my wonderful readers, involved. You have the chance to win $100  cold, hard cash and all you have to do is either make my signature cocktail and blog about it, or pick any of the other party recipes to make and blog about it. You can also make all 6 courses for 6 entries to increase your chances of winning. To find out more info and all the the rules that come along with this contest, hop on over to Kitchen Play. This is a great opportunity for some easy money and who couldn't use that  right before the holidays?  Don't wait though, you have only until November 30th, 2010 to enter.

Candy Corn Cordial and Swamp Juice. Say what?

Halloween is without a doubt one of my husband's favorite holidays. Of course my kids love it as well, but that is a given considering the bags of candy they always drag home. I, on the other hand didn't know about Halloween until I met my husband. It wasn't celebrated in Germany, even though I've come to find out that it is starting to become a custom for many people there as well. Over the years, and probably in part because of my kids and husbands enthusiasm, I have come to love this holiday just as much. Join me this week as I'm featuring "howl-worthy" recipes for kids and adults alike. Maybe you are still looking for a few ideas to put the finishing touches on your own Halloween party or maybe you are just looking for fun. In any instance, I'm hoping you enjoy some of these holiday treats!

I'm kicking my Halloween week off with a couple of drinks. One is for all the adults and the other is for the kids, designated drivers, or those that like a good swamp juice. Either way, they are a great way to get your party started. First up a candy corn inspired cordial that is certainly beautiful to look at and even better to sip. Vodka is infused with candy corn for a few hours which imparts the great color scheme. Your vodka won't be tasting exactly like candy corn, but it will add a good amount of sweetness. The colored liquor is then mixed with Grand Marnier, lemon juice and a splash of lemon-lime soda for a bit of fizz.

Next up is the green tinted swamp juice. This drink is a hit with kids and adults alike. Lime jello is dissolved in hot water before being mixed with pineapple juice, orange juice concentrate and lastly a splash of ginger ale. Yellow and blue food coloring assure the perfect color and while I usually don't advocate artificially colored food, Halloween is one of the few exceptions I make. Decorate these drinks with gummy worms or go ahead and freeze little gummy critters in an ice cube tray and drop them into your swamp juice for a "gross" affect.

Both of these drinks are easy to make ahead. Making a big pitcher or punch bowl will free up your hands and makes it easy to mingle instead of playing bartender. All that's left to do when your guests arrive is the splash of soda. Even if you are not planning a party this year, you might be able to surprise your loved ones with one of these drinks and get everyone involved into a ghoulish mood!

Candy Corn Cordial

~Makes 4 drinks~

(Print this Recipe)

Ingredients:

For the infused vodka:

1/2 cup candy corn

1 1/2 cup vodka

For the cordials:

Infused vodka

2 tablespoons Grand Marnier

Juice of 1 Lemon

Lemon-Lime Soda

Candy Corn, for garnish

Directions:

Infuse the vodka: Combine the candy corn and vodka in an airtight container; set aside for at least 3 hours, then strain.

Make the cordials: Combine the infused vodka, orange liquor and lemon juice in a large measuring cup, add a splash of lemon-lime soda and stir. Pour into chilled martini glasses and garnish with candy corn.

Adapted from: Foodnetwork.com

Swamp Juice

~makes 20 servings~

(Printable Recipe)

Ingredients:

2 (3 ounce) packages lime flavored gelatin mix

1 quart hot water

1 (46 fluid ounce) can pineapple juice

2 (12 fluid ounce) can frozen orange juice concentrate, thawed

4 cups cold water

yellow and blue food coloring, optional

2 liters ginger ale

gummy worms, for garnish

Directions:

Dissolve gelatin in 1 quart of hot water. Allow to cool.

When gelatin is cool, pour into a large punch bowl. Stir in pineapple juice, orange juice concentrate and cold water. Add food coloring (if desired) until preferred color is reached (start with a couple of drops of each). Pour in ginger ale just before serving. Garnish with gummy worms.

Adapted from: AllRecipes.com

Toasted Coconut Custard Tart

This is the story of the  Tart that was almost not meant to be. It certainly cost me a few more gray hairs, that's for sure. I wanted to make this Coconut Custard Tart for our 18th wedding anniversary since my husband loves desserts with coconut (hence the Perfect Party Cake he chose for his birthday). I picked this dessert out of Dorie Greenspan's book; Baking: From My Home to Yours since none of her recipes have disappointed me so far. Plus, when I saw sweet tart crust filled with a smooth coconut studded pastry cream and topped with a rum infused whipped cream I was pretty much in love.

The day started out well and I was cruising along with my sweet tart dough. It's practically flour, powdered sugar, butter and one egg yolk, pulsed in a food processor until it all comes together. The dough is then pressed into a tart pan with a removable bottom, which is then put in the freezer for a bit before baking. Once my dough went into the freezer I started on the custard. It is pretty much a standard custard with milk, egg yolks, sugar and cornstarch with the only exception being a pinch of coriander. The mix gets cooked until thick, then you add butter, dark rum and vanilla. Toasted coconut gets folded in and the custard gets chilled until ready for filling.

This is when my perfect baking process started to go awry. I put the pastry lined tart pan in the oven and set my timer for 25 minutes. I guess I had forgotten to press start after I had set my timer and didn't realize my mistake until I smelled something burning. Yes, you guessed it, the sweet tart dough was a loss.

Since I was determined to make my husband this dessert I set out to re-make my tart crust. Everything came together perfect, just like the first time. This time though I didn't mess up my timer and the crust was baked to perfection. I took it out and set it on a rack to cool. After about half an hour when I returned to un-mold the crust, the sides came out off the tart pan great but when I tried to slide it off the removable bottom tray the whole crust crumbled apart on me. There was no saving this one. At this point I was ready to just call it a day and admit defeat when my middle child told me that I could get it done and "3rd times a charm".

So for the third time in one day I made the sweet tart dough. From now on I can most certainly bake this tart dough in my sleep. Finally I had reached success. Everything came together at last. The crust was beautiful, the filling delicious and the topping of whipped cream along with a little more rum, vanilla and powdered sugar plus more toasted coconut turned this into anything but your grandma's coconut cream pie. Success after all and at least my husband is certainly worth the effort after 18 years. Happy Anniversary Honey!!!