Today’s Mixology Monday is hosted by Michael at A Dash of Bitters and the theme is (surprise, surprise!) bitters.I considered buying some Cynar, but spending money on a liqueur made out of artichokes that I just know will be disgusting is frivolous.
Jonas is a huge bitters fan. He particularly loves Campari and Montenegro even more so.
A classic Italian digestive: run an orange wedge around the rim of a glass, throw in some ice, top up with a nip of Montenegro, squeeze in the orange juice then drop the empty orange wedge in. Eccolo! Un digestivo buonissimo!
For my cocktail I decided to explore the idea of a dash of bitters using the Angostura bitters I had in my liquor cabinet. I wanted to see whether the ingredients we use as cocktail flavour enhancers could become more prominent elements in their own right.After doing a little research on Angostura bitters, which is headquartered in Trinidad and Tobago, I learnt the recipe was created back in 1824 by a German surgeon Johann Gottlieb Benjamin Siegert. He was fighting with Simon Bolivar in Venezuela and developed the concoction as a tonic and digestive aid for the soldiers.
Other producers often add the bark of an angostura tree (cusparia febrifuga) so they can legally call their product Angostura, but the original does not include this.
One trademark of the original Angostura bitters is that the label is oversized for the bottle. Rumour has it this was the result of the relaxed Caribbean culture and when someone ordered the wrong size label for the bottle they just made do.
Angostura bitters are pretty versatile. They are included in a huge number of cocktails and are also used in a lot of Caribbean cooking. Stories on the internet claim some people even use it as insect repellent.Be warned though, when using Angostura bitters you’ll find that it stains easily and if given a chance to dry it will be near to impossible to remove.
My cocktail is based on an idea I saw on the Angostura website, but I’ve changed it quite a bit to suit my palate and the ingredients available in Sydney.
Coco Baby BittersAnna’s recipe. Makes 1.
Ingredients:
5 tablespoons coconut milk
1 tablespoon condensed milk
1 tablespoon gin
1 tablespoon coconut rum
1 teaspoon Angostura bitters
Ice
Method:
1. Mix coconut milk and condensed milk
2. Add gin, coconut rum and bitters
3. Add ice and shake.
4. Serve with more ice.
Check out the Mixology Monday recap for more bitters cocktail recipes.
Tags: food and drink australia sydney recipe cocktail alcohol gin malibu coconut rum coconut milk condensed milk bitters angostura bitters mixology monday mxmo mxmoix
The Hunter Valley is about a two hour drive from Sydney and is famous for it’s semillon. I’m not a big fan of semillon (I find it too mild and almost sour), but I adore botrytis semillon! The Hunter is also known for production of verdelho, chardonnay, chambourcin, shiraz and cabernet sauvignon.
After a visit to each of these cheese shops the five of us had bought enough preserves, breads and cheeses for a picnic in the vineyard next to our hotel room. With a few bottles of the Bimbadgen Sparkling Semillion it was all pure bliss!!! Only problem was picking the burrs off the rug later on.
We stayed at the 
Misty Glen was also the site of our cooking lesson, led by Barry Meiklejohn who is the chef at Club Azzurri in Highfields. He was a strange man: kind-hearted, very absent-minded and yet knowledgeable about food and flavours. He turned out to be very inventive with simple ingredients.
Gnocchi
Baby Gnocchi & King Prawns with Curry Butter
Lemon Risotto Cake
So, with a spotlight on potatoes, this gnocchi fest is my contribution to Weekend Herb Blogging. And why not throw in a cake for good measure.
Filo Baked Mars Bar
What seemed to have been a log cabin was converted into an elegant space with candle light and tiny colourful bulbs sprinkled across the gable ceiling like a multi-coloured planetarium. Tables were vast reclaimed wood surfaces and chairs were cushioned and covered with bright, solid colours. Sideboards housed bottles of wine and a huge candelabra at the entrance was encrusted with years of candle wax, adding rustic, cathedral-like charm.
An amushe bouche of clear tomato jelly was tiny with a salad of baby green leaves and a button of delightful basil sorbet. This was delish. We also received some cheesy tomato scrolls, which were substantial but a little dry.
Our mains were wonderful ($36). Vicky and Jo ordered the slow roasted Wagyu brisket, a perfect cut for the lengthy cooking. It was as a soft as butter and the flavour was certainly impressive. This came crowned with a bone marrow dumpling, sticky and pleasantly sweet. Caramelised onion and witlof and a steamed baby leek were placed upon a pool of celeriac puree and the whole dish was topped off with jus from the slow roasting process.
Shelley ordered the rainbow trout, which came rolled around green beans and its crispy skin on display. It balanced upon three garlic potato croquettes and the whole plate was encircled with toasted flaked almonds, caramelised onions (or it could have been leeks) and fresh chives. This was both decorative and delicious, adding flavour and crunchy texture to the meal. A burnt lemon butter sauce completed this dish.
The pigeon was stuffed with rich black pudding and sweet prunes then wrapped in bacon. The flavour of the prunes and pudding had seeped through the inner flesh while the bacon had braised the outer surfaces. This tight bundle of pigeon was placed upon two elegant cabbage parcels that were filled with fine breadcrumbs soaked in butter. A red wine jus surrounded the plate.
Three light, crispy tuille cigars were filled with whisky and almond praline cream. On top of this a chequerboard terrine of caramelised oatmeal and honey ice cream merged square by square with intense raspberry sorbet. We were all stunned with the wonderful flavour and I couldn’t get enough. I adored this terrine.
In 2001, I worked at an English language college. I recruited students, held conversational English lessons and organised social activities.
Afterwards we bought ingredients for a feast and then came home to cook up a storm. It was a team effort with Taka chopping and peeling while I hammered through the recipes.
Sopa de Almejas (Clam Soup)
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First, Roberto came back from Mexico with Jonas’ drug of choice – Valentina sauce. He also brought the smoky flavours of chipotle in the form of Mexico’s famous Lucero sauce. I was not forgotten with a tetra pak of salsa verde, my favourite sauce because of the tangy, sourness of the tomatillos and the fiery chilli.
Next arrival was Vicky’s magnifique assortment of goodies from her month in Lyon: orange blossom lozenges, Dijon mustard flavoured with currants, a dainty bottle of Poire William eau di vie, Versinthe and raspberry infused dark chocolate and a small tin of Valrhona chocolates. Little did Vicky know of my obsession with violet flavoured candy and so the surprise pièce de résistance were the hard violet bonbons.
Last but not least was the final restocking of our extensive sauce cabinet courtesy of my father and stepmother. They hauled back bottles of sauces from the US which are impossible to find in Sydney: Jack Daniel’s BBQ sauce, Liquid Smoke to add flavour to Jonas’ veggie burgers, smoky chipotle flavoured Tabasco and my all time favourite chilli sauce, Louisiana Hot Sauce (flavoured with cayenne and vinegar).