Saturday, April 10 - The Spicy Inaugural Blog

Our first post. Very exciting. After a week of unseasonably warm and sunny weather (oh wait, this is LA), we're back to slightly cool and overcast. Mike started our herb garden early this year so we're rooting for some warmer days ahead.

On this lazy Saturday afternoon, we decided to warm up with a cocktail. This gives us the opportunity to tackle one of our favorite drink recipes we've picked up in recent travels. Mike travels often to Austin, TX for work. Laura joins him for the occasional long weekend. We discovered a local bar named Peche that makes amazing old school cocktails. We take a few liberties, such as substituting Maker's Mark for rye (who has rye in their home bar?)...and Laura is very excited to have a use for the Absinthe she picked up in Paris a few years ago (but now is legal again). So, this our our spin on Peche's recipe for a Sazerac, which happens to be one of the first cocktails invented in America, pre-Civil War! I know, we'd never heard of this drink either. It's delicious, but strong!

BROBES' SAZERAC (for 2)

4 oz. bourbon
2 tbsp. simple syrup (cheap at Trader Joe's!)
4 dashes of Angostura bitters
1 splash Absinthe
2 small pieces of orange rind

Chill 2 highball glasses. (We put ice & a little water in them for 2 minutes.) Empty & line each glass with a splash of Absinthe.

Pour bourbon, simple syrup & bitters into cocktail shaker with ice. Shake.

Pour mixture into absinthe-lined glasses. Cut a small section of orange peel. Light it with a lighter, squeeze (be careful--it will give off a flame!), and drop into glass.

For fun, we like to throw in a brandied cherry. (All we did was buy a few dried cherries at Whole Foods and throw them into a bottle of old brandy for 2 weeks, until the cherries soaked up the brandy.)

YUM!

NOW ONTO THE MAIN COURSE...

OK, here's a confession. We like spicy food. So if spicy food does not agree with you, alter the recipe accordingly to suit your tastes. (That would mean never coming into contact with a habenero pepper.)

This is the first dish Laura ever cooked for Mike when we were still dating, and it's still one of our faves to this day.

However, since we started making this dish, Mike started making our own pasta. It's remarkably simple, and once you start, you never want to eat pasta out of a box again.

MIKE'S PASTA DOUGH FOR 2:

2 cups all-purpose flour

1 pinch salt

2 large eggs

a little water, as needed

Add flour and salt and form into a pile with a well in the center. Add eggs into well, beat with a fork and slowly blend together with the flour. Mix as completely as possible without actually working or kneading the dough. Add a splash of water and knead for 15 minutes. Cover and let rest for an hour. Roll and cut into linguine strips.

PASTA & SHRIMP EN FUEGO

1/2 lb. large shrimp, peeled and deveined

1/4 cup fresh lime juice

2 tbsp sea salt

2 tbsp olive oil

1 tbsp minced garlic

1 medium bell pepper, cut into short slivers

2 bay leaves

pinch dried oregano

1 tbsp crushed red pepper

1 small habanero pepper, minced (optional ... this is for real heat!)

2 tbsp capers

1 28 0z can whole tomatoes

fresh linguine

fresh parsley & basil

Marinate the shrimp in lime juice with a dash of sea salt (our new favorite is Pink Himalayan salt) for 10 minutes.

Heat a large pasta pot with water & bring to boil.

Heat olive oil in a deep skillet, add garlic & sautee. Add red bell pepper until it softens. Add the bay leaves, oregano, thyme, (habenero pepper if you are so inclined), crushed red pepper & capers. Simmer for 5 minutes.

Mash the canned tomatoes in a bowl with a potato masher. Add the crushed tomatoes to the skillet & cook for an additional 5 minutes. Make sure all the tomatoes are broken up.

Once the sauce begins to reduce, the pasta water should be boiling.

Add the pasta to the water & the shrimp to the sauce. Cook for about 4 minutes until done.

Add the parsley & basil to the sauce about a minute before serving.

Drain the pasta from its water. Put in a large bowl & toss with the sauce.

A NOTE ABOUT OUR WINE SELECTION FOR THE EVENING...

Since our pasta sauce is both tomato-based and spicy, we chose a red wine, but one that's fruity and light, almost sweet. This should complement the pasta in red sauce and balance the heat. We pulled a 2007 Cambria Clone 2A Pinot Noir out of our rack. It's a top-notch reserve Pinot from Laura's favorite central coast winery. We've visited Cambria many times for tastings and events and believe their reserve Pinot Noirs are some of the best in the state and are well worth the $40 or $50 price tags. This particular wine goes for about $48 a bottle.