Prosciutto Wrapped Dates

This is a powerfully savory appetizer with a great balance of sweetness, saltiness, and sharpness. For bonus points, serve them as part of Mediterranean appetizer plate with kalamata olives, tomatoes, hummus, feta cheese, etc.

These can be served cold, but warming them in the oven really brings out the flavors and lets them mingle. If serving warm, bacon can be substituted for the prosciutto, in which case you'll probably want to let them cook for a while.

Dried dates (pitted)
prosciutto, very thinly sliced.
blue cheese. I prefer a Danish style blue, which is soft and milder than, say, a Roquefort. Gorgonzola is probably fine, especially if you're going too serve them warm. In general, softer is better.

Cut the dates open length wise and stuff them with the cheese. Close and wrap each date in prosciutto.

The Snackster Cocktail

Summer is almost gone, but while the warm weather lingers try this fruity cocktail:

1 part Triple Sec
2 parts Gin
4 parts Blood Orange Italian Soda
splash of lime juice

shake with ice and strain into a cocktail glass

The Greek Muffuletta

I recently had The Greek Muffuletta while over at a friend's house for dinner. This sandwich has become a tradition of theirs ever since his dad told his Ya-ya (his dad's mother in law) that he was going to make the "greek muffuletta", as a joke, but realized he had to come up with something after the excitement she showed for the idea. This recipe is great for summer - you get to fire up the grill and the feta, kalamata olives, and tzatziki sauce are fresh and cool, perfect for a hot day. The pork with the marinade would stand on its own and this is THE recipe for tzatziki.

We had our Muffuletta as individually made sandwiches, although you certainly could get a big round loaf of bread, make the sandwich all at once and serve in wedges, like a traditional Muffuletta. Make sure to toast the bread on the grill and do not skimp on the olive salad or the Snaxy Sauce! It goes great with a greek style cucumber salad and a dry white wine or a hoppy beer like a pale ale or IPA. Enjoy.

Ingredients:

2 lbs pork tenderloin (serves 4-6)
ciabatta bread

Marinade:
1 lemon
1 cup dry white wine
fresh thyme
fresh parsley
olive oil
salt
pepper

Olive salad:
kalamata olives
fresh feta
roasted red peppers (from a jar is fine)

Snacky Sauce (Tzatziki):
1 large container of Greek yogurt (2% fat content or more)
2 small cucumbers
2 large cloves of garlic
fresh dill

To make the marinade, use the juice of the lemon and some of the zest with the rest of the ingredients. My friend's family uses Penzey's Lemon Pepper spice mix, but that's mostly just salt, lemon zest, and pepper. Go easy on the salt, because the olives and feta are inherently salty. Marinate for up to two days.

To make the olive salad, simply pit the olives if needed, chop them with the roasted red peppers and add crumbled feta and a little olive oil.

Perhaps the most important part is the tzatziki, or as we like to call it, Snacky Sauce. The sandwich would probably still be good with out it, but it certainly adds to the Greekness. If you can't get Greek yogurt (or something similarly thick), don't even bother with it. I've tried making it with American style yogurt and it just ends up runny. The second most important thing about the Snacky Sauce is to drain the cucumbers. Slice them, put them on a paper towel and sprinkle salt on them. This will draw out some of the water in the cucumbers and you can rinse the salt off after they have drained. Finely blend the garlic in a food processor or blender until there aren't any discernable chunks, then add the cucumbers and process some more, until they are finely chopped. Stir it all into a bowl with the yogurt and dill. Yum.

The Jack Kerouac and Hurricane Andrea

Here is another summer drink, a go-to of mine at this time of year if I'm not drinking beer. This may be a first, putting the Jack Kerouac recipe online. I've searched for it for years, but never been able to find it. Nobody outside of Madison seems to have heard of it, and it is only reliably made at Genna's. You can use other types of whiskey: bourbon will make it sweeter, rye is a good choice as well (Sazerac or Bulleit Rye). I do not suggest using scotch or other Irish whiskeys, you need something close to the caramel taste in Jameson.

Genna's Jack Kerouac

Jameson Whiskey
Ginger Beer (not ale)
Angostura Bitters
Lime Wedge

Fill a short tumbler with ice. Add a stiff pour of Jameson, 3-5 dashes of bitters and fill with ginger beer. Stir and garnish with lime, best if squeezed into the drink.

Some seasoned drinkers (or sailors) will notice the similarity of the Jack Kerouac to a Dark and Stormy. This is also a great summertime drink. While no Jack Kerouac, the best dark and stomy-like drink I ever had was made at the Sugarcane Raw Bar in Miami, FL. Since they had Cruzan rum, which I had never had before and which Newman always talks about, I wanted to try a Dark and Stormy. The bartender, Andrea, said that while they didn't have ginger beer, she would be happy to improvise. What resulted was a wonderous concoction I dubbed the "Hurricane Andrea", since 1) Dark and Stormy is actually a trademark of Gosling's rum, and must be made with their ginger beer 2) we were in South Florida, which had been hit by Hurricane Andrew years ago, which, before Katrina, had been the most destructive storm to ever hit the United States. Yeah, I was pretty proud of that one. The ingredients are a bit specific; I've never had one any other way, but you could probably substitute dark rum for the whiskey in the Jack Kerouac and get something close, but this is how it's done with class:

The Hurricane Andrea
Sapporo beer
ginger
simple syrup
lime
Cruzan dark rum

muddle a splash of beer, simple syrup, and ginger in a tall glass. Add rum, ice and a little more beer. Stir and garnish with lime. Drink several, and run train on the city of Miami.

Kir with Ginger-Infused Cognac

From Adam:

Here's a cool drink I've been serving a bit pre-summer dinner. I admit that I saw it on tv, but it's delicious and not that hard if you are willing to keep a bit of a bar. Basically my girlfriend got me a bottle of Hennessy for some reason that I can't figure out what to do with, and this has worked out pretty well. It's a twist on a Kir.

Kir w/ Ginger-Infused Cognac

Pinot Grigio
Creme de Cassis
Cognac
Ginger
Honey
Lemon Twist

Make the Ginger-Infused Cognac in advance:
Peel the ginger and cut into 15-20 thin slices. Place them in a large glass or small bowl and add a good amount of honey over the top. Add cognac (10ish oz) and leave out to infuse for 24-48 hours (depending on how gingery you want it). Strain and keep to use anytime.

The Kir itself:
Ideally you make this is a shaker and strain the ice out, but you can build over ice also. Add ice, 1 oz (a little less than a shot) of creme de cassis, 1oz of the ginger-infused cognac., about a glass (6ish oz) of the wine, and a bit more honey. Shake and strain into a wine glass, or, if making over ice, stir directly in your collins (tall) glass. Add the lemon twist and drink up.

Carne Asada de Borquez

I recently got Borquez's famed carne asada recipe. Actually, it was more like an ingredient list, but the key one is light beer. My assumption is any one will do, but feel free to experiment, I used Coors Light and the marinade turned out great. I served this to 4 other people with tortillas and some other things to put in there, but this steak could easily be served by itself. Especially if you have something like black beans to go along with it, serving with tortillas can take care of any problems you might otherwise have with a large group of people that might include vegetarians.

Ingredients:
1.5-2 lbs flank steak
2 limes
1 orange
1 can of light beer
2-5 cloves garlic
chile peppers to taste
a little salt

optional: cilantro, cumin

Juice the fruit, mince the garlic and slice the peppers. Add all ingredients to a pan or ziplock bag and marinate the meat - overnight if possible. Grill the flank steaks, no more than 5-7 minutes on a side. Let steak cool for 10-15 minutes and slice thinly; serve with tortillas, cilantro, guacamole, salsa, sauteed peppers and onions, beans, etc. This amount of meat serves 4-6 people.

Asian Marinade

This is a great marinade for the grill this summer. The combination of ingredients isn't groundbreaking, but the balance between them is perfect. I've tried it on beef, lamb, and pork - all three are amazing with it.

protip (courtesy of my friend's Taiwanese mom)- for a glazier marinade, add some honey

8 T soy sauce
2 T oil
dash sesame oil (optional)
2 T sugar (cane or brown)
juice of 1 lime
5-6 cloves garlic, sliced
1 green onion, sliced
2 small hot peppers (I use seranno), sliced with seeds and membrane removed
2 inches ginger, grated