Cold-Brewed Iced Coffee (Hot, too)

Photo courtesy of Kanko'

One of my favorite summer drinks is iced coffee. A jolt of caffeine and a hit of sugar, mellowed by a bit of cream is the best way to start the day.

The thing is that, if I buy iced coffee – from Starbucks or Dunkin Donuts or even the coffee bar at Wegmans – I’m out about $3 each day, which, if you remember your multiplication tables, can add up to $21 a week.

That’s a lot of cash for a beverage, especially when it’s watered down, overly bitter and not alcoholic. (Plus, I could use that money to buy something at deep discount from Anthropologie.)

So I’ve started making my iced coffee at home, using the cold brew method. It’s very simple: mix ground coffee with water, let it sit for 12 hours, filter out the grounds, then mix the coffee concentrate with water and ice for a delicious iced coffee. If you’re in the mood for hot coffee, mix the concentrate with water in a mug and nuke it in the microwave and –-bam-- hot cold-brewed coffee.

It’s easy, it’s fun, it tastes good. What are you waiting for?

Cold-Brewed Iced Coffee (source)

1/3 cup ground coffee (medium-coarse grind is best)
1 1/2 cups water
Milk & sugar (optional)

In a pint jar, stir together coffee and water. Cover and let rest at room temperature overnight or 12 hours.

Strain twice through a coffee filter, a fine-mesh sieve or a sieve lined with cheesecloth. In a tall glass filled with ice, mix equal parts coffee concentrate and water, or to taste. If desired, add milk and sugar.

NOTE: To make hot coffee, dilute concentrate one-to-one with water and heat in the microwave.

Yield: Two servings.

Pomegranate Martinis

You know who I don't like? Oprah.

I mean, I like that she's at the top of a field that normally rejects women, African-Americans, and people who have a BMI higher than 18. And I like that she's made a zillion dollars doing what she loves and chooses to spend a lot of her cash on people who need it more than she does.

But, she also thinks she's God.

There. I've said it. Oprah has a God complex. And much like God, Oprah is everywhere. I've had enough. (Of Oprah, not necessarily God.)

However, she does like a damn fine martini. Nancy made Oprah's Pomegranate martinis for the party and we drank many, many, many of them. They're beyond delicious.

So maybe, maybe, Oprah is the god of cocktails. (Opracchus?)

Pomegranate Martinis (adapted)
1 1/2 cups pomegranate juice
2 oz. Patron Silver tequila
1 oz. Cointreau liquor
Cup of ice

Shake ingredients in a shaker and put in chilled martini glasses. Put pomegranate fruit into glass as garnish. Serves 2.

UPDATED! From Retro, With Love: Retro Recipe Challenge No. 7 Round-Up

Let's take trip 'round the world, retro style, shall we?

Haalo from Cook (almost) Anything at Least Once offers a delicious "uber retro, Swiss-classic, fondue" perfect for any well-heeled jet-setter.

The recipe hails from Graham Kerr's classic 1973 cookbook, The Complete Galloping Gourmet Cookbook.

Retro pro Emily at Appetitive Behavior visited France via Hungary (read her post for the details) to create "Flaky, uberbuttery, layer-y, crisp on the outside and soft inside, and all told pretty darn awesome [croissants]." They look fabulously French (yet make me hungry for Hungary).

The recipe comes from the Illustrated Good Housekeeping Encyclopedic Cookbook, 1965, Vol. 3.



Theresa at Vintage Style Files (a woman & blog after my own heart) took a tour of the orient with her gorgeous Tokyo Salad. It's a "spicy Asian shrimp and noodle" salad hailing from Kitchen Fare, International Menus Cookbook, just the kind of book that inspired the RRC No. 7's theme.

Tara at the hilariously named Should You Eat That? (have you been looking in my fridge, Tara?) tantalizes the taste buds with Sweet and Sour Pork. She found a classic irony in retro recipes: turning something healthy into food that could take down an elephant.

"I found it amusing," Tara writes, "that [the recipe] required lean pork, which was then deep fried, but I suppose it is better than the alternative of 'fat' pork being deep fried."

Rachel at Coconut and Lime whets the palate and wets the tongue with her fizzy Moscow Mule, which is "credited with having popularized vodka in the United States" during the 1950s.

Having recently been to Russia, I can definitively say the Moscow Mule is vast improvement over the traditional Russian summertime drink, квас (kvas).

The Expat Chef in The Expatriate's Kitchen takes a turn updating a classic favorite, Spinach Artichoke Dip, with her Spinach Artichoke Tart in Puff Pastry.

She writes, "You can actually taste the vegetables now that your taste buds aren’t doing the backstroke in butterfat."

Last but not least, Gillian at Food History provides dessert with her Dundee Cake. Gillian writes, "This is another of those 1950s recipes from my grandmother. We used to make Dundee Cake a great deal in the late sixties, but I haven’t seen it anywhere recently. I think it’s time it was revived!"

And that's the tour of the globe! Thank you to all who participated! (If I've neglected to include a submission, please email me right away. Except you, porn site. We don't feature that kind of eating on this blog.)

If you're interested in hosting the next round of the Retro Recipe Challenge, please drop me a line!

Effortless Hot Cocoa

Our house.

Looking down the street.

My car in the driveway, buried in a snowdrift.

Outside, there is 16 inches of snow on the ground. It's getting deeper each hour. The sky is grey, the wind is cold, and the snowflakes keep falling.

It's the perfect day to cuddle up with a good book and a cup of hot cocoa.

To me, cocoa is the mellower cousin of hot chocolate. Both are delicious, but hot chocolate is more of a dessert: a deep, dark, sometimes syrupy, special occasion beverage. Hot cocoa, on the other hand, isn't as rich or intense; it's an every-winter-day drink. Especially as it's so easy to make. It only requires a little more effort than those from a mix, but it's infinitely more delicious. You can play with it a bit, too: I like to add a smidge of cinnamon, but you might leave that and the vanilla out and drop in some peppermint extract instead.

Or leave out the cinnamon or mint, and serve with a good, fluffy marshmallow.

Effortless Hot Cocoa

1 to 1 1/2 Tbsp. cocoa powder (I like Ghirardelli or Hershey)
1 to 2 Tbsp. sugar
pinch of salt
1/8 tsp. cinnamon (optional)
1 cup milk
1/4 tsp. vanilla extract.

In a mug, blend cocoa, sugar, salt, and cinnamon. In another cup, microwave milk until hot, about 1 1/2 minutes. Add about 1/3 of the milk to the dry ingredients, stirring to dissolve the sugar and blend the cocoa. Add the vanilla and the rest of the milk, stirring to combine.

Serves one.

Grade: A

Peppermint Cacao Cocktail

Well, it's not a retro drink recipe, but it's a lovely little cocktail, chock-full of holiday cheer. Plus, what's more festive than a drink served in a martini glass?

For a prettier (but just as tasty) drink, use white creme de cacao.


Peppermint Cacao cocktail

¼ oz (1 ½ tsp) peppermint schnapps
½ oz (1 Tbsp) vodka
1 ¼ oz (2 ½ Tbsp) crème de cacao
1 small peppermint hard candy

Fill shaker with ice cubes and add cocktail ingredients. Shake until icy cold, then strain into a martini glass. Garnish with peppermint candy.

Grade: A

Bombay Sapphire Martini by Guest Blogger Shane

This post is abbreviated from the original, found here.


The Reverend Horton Heat once said, "I live my life on a layer of ice" and indeed, in my estimation, this is the key to a good martini of any sort, but most especially the Bombay Sapphire.

The key ingredient is unsurprisingly Bombay Sapphire Gin (or to the politically correct, Mumbai Sapphire Gin, hehe). Also, it is well worth noting that a fine martini glass is required for maximum enjoyment. A very thin rim is preferred.

First off, fill your cocktail shaker with crushed ice.

Second, place two jiggers of Bombay Sapphire Gin into the shaker.

Third, shake vigorously, until frost forms on the shaker. This breaks up the ice creating a somewhat slushy mixture which is your first key, and also fully releases the botanicals, which is your second key.

Fourth, put a pony of Martini & Rossi Extra Dry Vermouth into the gin glass. Gently swirl the martini glass to coat the entire inside of the glass with vermouth (much like you would with wine to see its "legs").

Fifth, give the gin a few more good shakes, then using the filter, pour it into the martini glass, it should come to about 1-2 mm below the rim. A pleasant release of botanicals, smelling somewhat like fresh pine needles, should fill your senses. After a few seconds a layer of ice should form on the surface of the martini.

Sixth, if so inclined, drop a couple of Spanish Queen Olives into the martini. For Christmas time, dropping two or three Peppermint Starlight Mints is a very enjoyable holiday alternative to the olives.

Voila! Enjoy!

Grade: A

Dr. Kevorkian

"In My Bar" is a feature on The Webtender. You select the ingredients on hand in your bar and Webtender spits out all the drinks you can make.

One of the drinks it suggested was the Dr. Kevorkian -- probably because you could be dead before you realize you're drunk.

According to the description, the Dr. Kevorkian was invented by a college student. Very, very apt.

Dr. Kevorkian

Icy cold Dr Pepper
1 to 2 shots of icy cold Absolut Vodka

Fill a highball glass with ice. Pour in vodka, then Dr Pepper, and stir with a hula girl swizzle stick. Serve where the imbiber may pass out comfortably.

Grade: B+ to A-

Tags: recipe, mixed drinks, Dr Pepper

Basil Lemonade

Perhaps I hadn't been paying attention. But it suddenly seems that -- all at once -- every foodie magazine and television show has a Basil Lemonade recipe.

It seems like an odd combination. While I like both, this isn't a "you got chocolate in my peanut butter" home-run fusion.

But the hype got to me. The result is ... meh. Essentially, it tastes like you're drinking lemonade near a frangrant basil plant. The basil flavor isn't really there, just the scent. Other than novelty, I'm not sure I see the point.

My favorite lemonade recipe uses ReaLemon (a splash of vodka doesn't hurt either).

Basil Lemonade (from Slowgrownproduce.com )

(Note: I doubled the amount of sugar and lemon juice in the recipe below; before that, I felt the drink was too bland --LR)

1/2 cup rinsed, lightly packed fresh basil leaves
3 Tbsp sugar
4 cups water
1/2 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice

In a 1 1/2 to 2-quart measure or bowl, combine 1/2 cup rinsed, lightly packed fresh basil leaves and 3 T. sugar. With a wooden spoon, crush leaves with sugar until thoroughly bruised. Add 4 cups water and 1/2 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice. Stir until sugar is dissolved, l to 2 minutes. Taste and add more sugar if desired. Pour through fine strainer into ice-filled glasses. Garnish with springs of fresh basil.

You can make the lemonade up to a day ahead; cover and chill. Makes: 4 1/2 cups, about 4 servings.

Grade: C+