The Lush Chef

Libations used: 1/2 cup bourbon
Libations left over: Make yourself an Old Fashioned while that sauce is simmering...
We may have warm weather pretty much all year around in Southern California, but the summer really motivates us to roll out the grill and fire it up.  Malbec was having another of her pool parties/BBQ's and I almost always bring something bourbon laced.  Last summer, I made Sugar Steaks with Bourbon and Bourbon Glazed Peaches on the Grill, which were both hits.  I had run across Joy the Baker's recipe for a Bourbon Orange Coriander BBQ Sauce and figured I'd just make a batch of it so folks could slather it on chicken, ribs, brats, burgers, whatever.

I always have a big jug of high proof Wild Turkey Bourbon on hand to make my Bitter Revenge Bitters, so I plunked that in.  There are a ton of ingredients in this recipe, but don't be scared off by it — it's insanely easy.  I was going crazy as this sauce simmered because it smelled so freakin' good, and it tastes freakin' good as well.  I love that it's got some texture with the chopped onions too.  I had to remember that the sauce belonged in the jar and not on a spoon in my mouth.  Needless to say, there was barely any sauce left at the BBQ (if you do have leftovers, store in the fridge for up to a week).  I ended up coating some chicken legs with it, while others ladled it on every single meat available. I would have taken a picture of the end results, but we ate everything so fast!

Bourbon Orange Coriander BBQ Sauce - makes 2 1/2 cups
Ingredients:

• 3 Tbs olive oil
• 1 medium yellow onion, diced
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1/2 cup bourbon
• 1/2 cup orange juice
• 1/2 cup cider vinegar
• 1 cup ketchup
• 1/2 cup brown sugar (I used 1/3 cup)
• 1/4 cup molasses
• 2 Tbs Worcestershire sauce
• 1/2 tsp orange zest
• 3/4 tsp ground coriander
• 1 tsp fresh ground black pepper
• 1/2 tsp salt

- Heat the olive oil in a medium saucepan over medium heat.
- Add the onions and sauté until translucent and slightly browned (3-5 minutes).
- Add the garlic and sauté for about 1 minute more.
- Turn down the heat to low and add the bourbon.
- Scrape any browned bits from the bottom of the pan.
- Add the remaining ingredients and bring the mixture to a simmer.
- Let it cook for about 30-45 minutes, until it's reduced and thickened.

I had come home from a long day working at Bean & Thyme at the Santa Monica Farmer's Market and had a bounty of plums in tow from trading with the farmers.  I really needed to take a load off my feet and have a cocktail after a long and "fruitful" morning.  Last summer, The Year In Food had posted a beautiful recipe for a Plum Tarragon Smash and I had been waiting for the right time to make it.  The licorice and mint-like flavor of the tarragon nicely pairs with the sweet tartness of the plums.  For those who aren't big whiskey drinkers, the fruit, herbs and soda water really lighten this drink up.  I made a few modifications to the original recipe — I generally like to put two ounces of liquor in my cocktails and I then included more plum and soda water to balance it out.

Plum Tarragon Smash
Ingredients:

• 1 small plum, quartered
• Juice from 1/4 lime
• Leaves from one sprig of tarragon
• 3/4 oz simple syrup
• 2 oz whiskey
• 1 1/2 oz club soda

- Add the plum, lime juice, tarragon leaves and simple syrup into a mixing glass and muddle.
- Add the whiskey and a few ice cubes and shake.
- Pour into a chilled glass and top with club soda.

Libations used: 3 Tbs of vodka
Libations left over: Make yourself a drink while the crostada are in the oven...
What's the secret to a flaky pie crust?  VODKA.  Yes, the baking gods are on my side.  I started using vodka in my pie dough last fall when I made my mom's signature Dutch Apple Pie (of course, I also added brandy) and it really makes a difference.  Karen Hatfield of Hatfield's Restaurant in Los Angeles, and the new Sycamore Kitchen also uses this same libation in her pastry dough.  I've seen her recipe for Nectarine Crostata posted on KCRW and Los Angeles Magazine's blogs a couple of times, and now that stone fruit is in season, I was ready to give it a try.  I picked up a mixture of yellow and white nectarines—not only do they look pretty together, but they have slightly different flavors that balance each other out nicely, with the white being sweeter and the yellow being tarter.  You'll want to start making this recipe a day ahead so the dough has ample time to chill.  I got a little confused when Karen's recipe said that it served 6 to 8 because the dough made enough for nearly 2 dozen crostatas.  Well, I figured it out when I finally brought these to a Cinespia screening to share with friends.  They're small enough that each person will easily eat 2 or 3 on their own!  Immediately after devouring nearly all of them, they asked me when I'd be making them again.  Soon enough, my friends...soon enough.

Nectarine Crostata - serves 6 to 8
Ingredients for the dough:

• 2 1/2 cups flour (I used pastry dough, but all-purpose is fine)
• 2 1/2 tsp salt
• 2 Tbs sugar
• 6 oz butter, cold and diced
• 3 1/2 oz vegetable shortening, cold and diced
• 3 Tbs cold vodka
• 1/3 cups ice water

Ingredients for the filling:

• 2-3 medium-sized white nectarines
• 2-3 medium-sized yellow nectarines

Ingredients for the egg wash:

• 2 Tbs cream
• 1 egg yolk
• 1/4 cup raw turbinado sugar
• 1/4 cup granulated sugar

To make the dough:
- Measure the shortening and spread the cubes on a dish in the freezer for about 20-30 minutes.
- Combine the vodka and water and place in the freezer to chill for about 10-20 minutes.
- Add the flour, salt and sugar into a stand mixer and combine.
- Add the butter and mix until the butter is roughly in 1/4" pieces.
- Add the shortening and mix until everything's broken up, but don't overmix before you add the liquids.
- Add the vodka and water and mix until the dough is formed and combined.
- Roll into a ball and cover with plastic wrap and let chill overnight.
- Roll the dough out very thin (about 1/8" thick) and cut out 3" circles.
- Place them on a sheet tray and set aside in the freezer.

To make the crostata:
- Preheat the oven to 350.
- Pit and slice the nectarines into little halves.
- Arrange 3-4 slices of nectarine in the middle of each pastry round, alternating the yellow and the white.
- Brush some egg wash on the inside edges of dough for each pastry round.
- Make about five folds around each crostata and press the edges to form around the fruit.
- When all the crostatas are folded, brush some egg wash on the outside and make sure to really press in those folds so they don't come apart in the oven.
- Sprinkle the turbinado sugar on the outside of the tart.
- Generously sprinkle the granulated, white sugar on the fruit slices.
- Bake for about 12-15 minutes, rotating half-way (I had to cook mine twice as long for some reason - could have been the pastry flour I was using!) until the crust is golden-brown.
- Be sure to transfer the crostatas to a baking rack so the bottoms don't get soggy.

The strawberries are at their peak at the market and I can't enough of them, so of course I'll find any opportunity I can get to put them in a cocktail.  Whether it's my Spicy Strawberry Basil Margarita or a Strawberry Mojito, you can't go wrong with muddling this fruit into some libations.  These mojitos are sweet and refreshing, and I love having one or two of these after dinner instead of dessert.  Heck, maybe I should just freeze these into popsicles sometime...

Strawberry Mojito
Ingredients:

• 3 strawberries
• 5 mint leaves
• 1 oz simple syrup
• Juice of 1/2 lime
• 2 oz white rum
• 3 oz soda water

- Put the strawberries, mint leaves and simple syrup into a shaker and muddle.
- Add the lime juice, rum and 3 ice cubes and shake.
- Pour into a glass and top with soda water.
- Add another mint leaf or sliced strawberry for garnish.

Libations used: 1/2 cup whiskey
Libations left over: make yourself a drink while those wheat berries are cooking...
I'll be honest.  I hadn't been eating particularly healthy during the month of June because of the LA Film Fest.  Meals consisted of sliders and crispy tuna scarfed down between events.  Now that I'm finally home and have a chance to cook, I was craving some whole grain salads.  Lo and behold, the lovely folks at 101 Cookbooks figured out a way to incorporate booze into a wheat berry salad.  I now heart them.  This bright salad has a slight sweetness because of the whiskey and sugar soaked raisins, and then is balanced out with some spicy goat cheese sprinkled on top.  Instead of adobo sauce, I used All Spice Cafe's Chipotle Garlic Sauce (I loooove their sauces, and they're made just blocks away in Venice).  Throw in some arugula or spinach to really amp up those power grains and you've got yourself a hearty meal or an awesome side dish to pass around at potlucks and BBQ's.

Whiskey Wheat Berry Salad - serves 6
Ingredients:

• 1 lb wheat berries, cooked
• 3/4 cup golden raisins
• 1/2 cup whiskey
• 1 Tbs cane sugar
• 5 oz goat cheese
• 1 1/2 tsp adobo or chipotle sauce 
• 1/3 cup olive oil
• 1 Tbs lemon juice
• Zest of 1 lemon
• Salt
• 1 cup toasted pine nuts
• 3 big handfuls of butter lettuce, spinach or arugula
• Scant 1 Tbs fresh oregano, cilantro or basil

- Cook the wheat berries (check the side of the package for instructions!) and set aside.
- Place the raisins in a small bowl, add the whiskey and sugar and let them soak for a couple hours or overnight.
- When the raisins are done soaking, drain out the whiskey and save for the dressing.
- Mix the adobo or chipotle sauce into the goat cheese until fully incorporated.
- Whisk the olive oil, lemon juice and zest, 3 Tbs of the whiskey and a couple pinches of salt together.
- Just before serving, gently toss the dressing with the wheat berries, raisins, pine nuts, greens and a few pinches of salt.
- Sprinkle with the goat cheese and herbs, and toss a couple of times.  

July will be here next week and we've already experienced a few hot, beach days.  With 4th of July celebrations and numerous BBQ's peppering your summer, you're going to need some cocktail ideas to whip out when you're manning the grill, by the pool or the beach or soaking in the sun over a boozy brunch.


Micheladas are great throughout the year, but I associate them with Summer Happy Hours with friends at Lula Cocina Mexicana in Santa Monica.  I also like to make a whole pitcher of these to have on hand during pool parties.  It's like a Mexican version of a Bloody Mary and the ingredients are inexpensive. Malbec and I really like ours spicy and load them up with plenty of Tapatío.


I'm not sure why I associate Mexican cocktails with summer, but I do.  The flavors and heat just scream sunshine and beach days for me.  On a particularly lazy Sunday, I decided to play around with making a fruity and spicy margarita.  I had bought a ton of strawberries at the Farmers' Market that day and had some leftover jalapeño-infused tequila, so I created this Spicy Strawberry Basil Margarita.  The addition of basil not only made these cocktails look cool, but gave them a unique, herbal taste.  I snuck a pitcher onto the beach and Malbec, Blue Moon and I polished the whole thing off in no time.

Continuing with our Mexican theme, I bring you a nice, citrusy alternative to the Margarita with the equally classic Paloma.  I like to use fresh grapefruit juice in mine, but you can also use grapefruit soda.  These are also great cocktails to make by the pitcher, so if you're having to host a BBQ, set a few of these out and let guests rim their own glasses with salt.  

Ok, enough with the Mexican "coctels."  Let's switch over to Italian.  On hot summer evenings after work, one of my favorite drinks to make is the classic Negroni.  I love the bitterness of the Campari, and it's extra boozy with the addition of gin and sweet vermouth.  If you can't handle all the liquor in this cocktail, try making an Americano instead.  It's a slight variation that substitutes soda water for the gin.  Both of these are simple, go-to cocktails that everyone should have in their bartending arsenal. Plus, you just feel sophisticated and very Euro drinking them.


The beer cocktail has been having a recent Renaissance.  Last summer, I had a lot of Stella Artois left over from the LA Film Festival and a few baskets of raspberries.  This Raspberry Beer Cocktail reminds me of a Lambic (a Belgian fruit beer), but it amps the booze factor with the addition of vodka.  Good times!

All of these cocktails have used rather minimal ingredients and don't take long to shake or mix up for a party, but if you're looking for something a little more complicated, then this Summer Rye Cocktail is up your alley.  Bust out the champers, add some St. Germain, multiple fruit juices, rye whiskey and you have yourself a fresh-tasting libation that goes down rather quickly.  So shake up your summer and enjoy!

I love my Old Fashioneds and they're still my favorite cocktail.  There are so many tiny variations that you can make to always keep this libation fun and fresh.  I had made some lemon bitters and was itching to use them in an Old Fashioned.  The slightly sweet, floral flavor of St. Germain pairs nicely with the lemon and is a perfect way to update this drink for the summer.

Elder Fashioned
Ingredients:

• 2 oz bourbon
• 1/2 oz St. Germain
• 4 dashes lemon bitters
• Lemon peel or twist

- In a glass, add 1 large ice cube and pour in the bourbon and St. Germain.
- Add the lemon bitters and stir, stir, stir.
- Garnish with a lemon peel or twist.