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sexy food & drink
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We recently visited the Union Square farmer's market, which features the freshest fruits and veggies from local farmers and producers. Holding onto the last moments of summer with some succulent heirloom tomatoes we snapped up is this delightful salad with fresh mozzarella and some of our locally grown heirloom tomatoes.
It's a super simple recipe so we'll let these gorgeous colors and images do the talking, but as for ingredients:
You'll Need
-Tomatoes (taste is best at room temp)
-Arugula or a variety of salad greens
-Mozzarella (the freshest you can get!)
-Olive Oil & Balsamic vinegar
-Fresh cracked pepper and salt
-crusty bread to fill it out and for mopping up all the tasty juices left over!
Enjoy!!
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Nothing says summer like a sweet and tangy salad. Here we took the season's ripest watermelon and paired it with sweet cooked/chopped beets for a colorful plate that is as much a feast for the eyes as for your palette.
You'll need:
-1 cup watermelon
-1/2 cup arugula
-1 beet sliced or diced
-baquette or some other crusty bread
-sea salt and pepper for seasoning
-olive oil
-lime or lemon juice
Slice/Dice and plate your watermelon and beet, season with sea salt and fresh cracked pepper. You'd be surprised at how amazing the sweetness of watermelon is when brought out by the tanginess of salt and spice of pepper! Garnish with slices of fresh bread (baguette here)
Add arugla or a green of your choice, we also chopped green onions but you can leave those out if you like.
We squeezed lime juice for a tangy summer taste, but you could easily substitute lemon.
Finally drizzle with some EVOO for that final touch of buttery sweetness
Bon Appetit!
photog: josh verleun copyright: between the sheets inc.
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Nothings sweeter on a hot day than a refreshingly cold drink, so what's a caffeine addict to do for breakfast in bed on those dog days of summer? Ice it.
Here's some more of our tips and tricks on getting the PERFECT iced cappucino, if you're don't have a frother you can always make an iced latte sans foam- equally delicious!
You'll need:
-Cappucino or espresso machine (you can also make espresso with a stovetop espresso pot)
-milk- you choose 1%, 2%, non-fat, skim, whole!
-espresso ground coffee (this is finer than normal coffee grinds, and most places can set their grind to accomodate you!)
-sugar optional
-cinnamon or whipped cream optional
The key to getting a good shot of espresso is the crema, that tangy light brown foam carries a lot of flavor. One element to that is how tightly packed the grinds are, so use a tamper to push them down and make sure you pull a nice shot.
Make sure to clean off the rim of before re-inserting into the machine, this ensures a tight seal and the pressure needed to create crema.
Meanwhile you can add sugar to your glass or cup.
When your machine is heated up properly the steam or water will push through the tightly packed grounds, extruding the concentrated coffee that is espresso. Super hot water, tightly packed grounds, and pressure create crema shown above. Skilled baristas we are not, but if you go to a good coffee shop they can make designs by how they pour milk into the crema- very sexy!
Add ice and after your shot has cooled a little (so it doesn't crack the glass), you can pour in the espresso.
Next add milk, and how much you add is to your taste, but I prefer equal amounts milk to espresso. If you want a milder flavor you might want to try more milk than espresso.
Stop at the step above and top with whipped cream and cinnamon if you prefer, and that's your iced latte. If you happen to have a frother on your espresso machine you can go a step further and add the foam that makes it an iced cappucino. Make sure the machine is super hot and to get the best foam always make sure the milk is cold.
Add your foam by scooping it out with a utensil or spoon, this makes sure none of the hot milk in the container will make its way into your iced drink. Top off with cinnamon and serve it to your lover in bed for a frosty way to start your morning off right.
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One of my favorite cool summer snacks is Salsa verde, and I'm not sure where I picked up how to make it but I've been making it since I lived in Cali. I love the freshness of tomatillos, cilantro, and lime on a hot summer day. It's super easy to make, and hopefully you'll be able to find these at your local supermarket or farmer's market this summer. You won't see "green tomatoes" though as much as the crispy leaves that hide these little green guys from view. When you clean them off their skin on the inside can be sticky, that combined with blending = likelihood for green goopy mess so dress accordingly (trust me, I've had my blender accident with this recipe and you don't want to be picking bits of cilantro out of your favorite cashmere sweater- yes, it was a disaster)
You'll need:
- blender or food processor (either will work)
- stockpot filled with boiling water
- 1-2 lbs green tomatillos
- 1 small onion
- 1 bunch cilantro
- 1 fresh lime for zest & juice
- 2-3 cloves of garlic
- 1 jalapeno
- salt & pepper to taste
- a bag of your favorite chips (our favorite is "Hint of Lime")
First you're going to peel and clean the tomatillos. To get the stickiness of the inner skin just rinse under warm water.
peel and clean you garlic cloves, and clean and dice the jalapeno really finely. You don't want to leave it up to your blender/processor to break this into managable bits.
When your pot of water has come to a boil, put all but one or two of the tomatillos and onion (quartered) into the pot until the tomatillo starts to turn a little chartreuse/brown like the one in the top right of the picture. Once there remove and transfer to your blender/processor
Add the remaining tomatillos quartered as well as those that just finished boiling, garlic, jalapenos, and a dash of the water from the pot as liquid.
Grate the zest of lime into the mixture
Next juice the lime
Lightly chop your cleaned cilantro and add to the the already blended mixture.
Blend until you get a nice puree. If you like a chunkier texture you can save some of the onion and tomatillos for the last round and blend or pulse once or twice to incorporate without pureeing.
Garnish with a little salsa and pop open a little beer, maybe a micro-brew from Fire Island and you've got a backyard, balcony, rooftop, or beach worthy summer treat!
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For coffee lovers summer time forces you to make that decision of hot or cold- and so many times even the best coffee houses don't do a great job of icing down their brews. If you're frustrated by the unmelted sugar that makes those last couple of sips way too sweet and leaves the rest of the glass unsweetened, or if you're a slow sipper and hate how watered down your drink tastes after only half an hour in the summer meltdown, try some of these tips and we promise you'll get the most amazing cup of iced coffee perfection you've ever had!
Trick #1 liquid sugar
It sounds complicated, but it's as easy as boiling water!
Add sugar to a heat safe vessel (we photographer sugar in this container, but if you put boiling hot water into a glass like this sometimes it will cause cracks - we learned from personal experience!) So add 1 cup sugar to equal parts boiling water in a separate bowl. Let it cool to room temp and transfer it to a gravy or syrup server you have lying around.
Have your favorite coffee brewed in advance and chilled in the fridge.
Tip #2 Coffee Ice Cubes
It's seems like a duh moment when you think about this, but it just takes a little extra planning. When you are brewing the coffee and setting it aside to chill that's when this should happen. If you have a couple of ice cube trays you can fill them all up, and "harvest" your coffee cubes later so they don't hold your ice cube tray hostage for a month! We make a large ziplock bag full and leave that in the freezer.
Fill a glass with your coffee ice cubes, pour over your chilled coffee, and then pour in your sugar syrup to taste.
If you like milk, top it off with your choice and VOILA!
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So I think we know what we're serving at our next trunk show or market week, last week we posted about the pink prosecco we got as a housewarming present- well here's what we made, and it was as easy as dropping three blackberries in! Cheers!
Find out more about Riondo's Pink here
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We recently had a housewarming for our new apt/studio and one of my friends brought this lovely bubbly as a sweet gift to welcome us to our new space. We'll post some of our drink recipes/how to's and hopefully find some time to tidy up and take pics of our new studio and apt soon! For now, I'd love to recommend this sparkler for your next entertaining shindig. It's pretty, pink, and has a lovely fruity flavor. I checked and it retails for around $10 so it won't break the bank either! I certainly have my go-to drinks and I think this will be one of them!
Next I want to try mixing it with lemonade and other mixers to see how it will do as a bellini/ mimosa style drink!
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We recently posted a recipe for tomatoe, basil, & mozzarela and broccoli rabe & riccota crostini and today we're bringing you two more tasty crostini dishes! Visit that post for instructions on how to prepare the bread.
You'll need:
Bruschetta Crostini
2-3 tomatoes
2 green onions
1/2 cloves of garlic
olive oil
salt/pepper to taste
Portobella & Cream Cheese Crostini
cream cheese
1lb / 16oz of baby bella or portobello mushrooms
2 green onions
2 tbsps olive oil/butter to sautee
salt/pepper to taste
Clean and slice the mushrooms (here we had just regular white mushrooms, which are fine for this, but portobello or baby bella are my faves)
Sautee in a skillet/pan with olive oil or butter. Add salt and cook until they lose their water, taste and add salt if needed.
Coat the crostini with a layer of cream cheese, and then layer the sauteed mushroom slices on top. You'll top with chives or green onions as a garnish
Dice tomatoes (best with seeds removed) and sliced green onions. Toss with salt, pepper, and extra virgin olive oil
Top the rest of your crostini with the tomatoe and scallions, garnish your portobello crostini and you've got another perfect summer plater for entertaining or lounging around on a lazy weekend!
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, because there is no better place to enjoy a cocktail with your best friends than while shopping for luxurious loungewear and jewlery! So Save the Date and send a little note to your best girlfriends!
Date: Sat., July 10th, 2010
Time: 1pm-6pm
Place: Southampton Historical Museum
17 Meeting House Ln. (Main St. & Jobs Lane)
Your ticket gets you:
-The famous Shecky's Goodie Bag!
-Entry to the private event
-Access to exclusive discounts on designer duds and studs like ours!
-Drinks including delish cocktails and beer
For a limited time the tickets are only $20- regularly $30 to this event
So what are you waiting for?! We'll see you there!
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One of my favorite sights of summer is all the colorful produce that comes to your grocery store and local market. We discovered these mixed bags of small colorful potatoes and they added the most amazing look to one of my favorite things, potatoes sauteed with herbs. You can use whatever herb you love the most, I have used oregano, dill, rosemary, thyme, and more. This is one of my favorite mid-day snacks, but would make the perfect side dish to summer picnic or barbecue fair. I think with the lemon garnish it would go great with salmon (but in case you haven't noticed from our lack of dishes with meat posted so far, both BTS guy and I are vegetarians!)
You'll need:
- 1-2 lbs of small potatoes cut in half or larger potatoes cut into 1" cubes (it's really important that they're all very close in size so they cook evenly)
- 1-2 tblspoons olive oil
- salt to taste
- pepper to taste
- herb of choice (in this case fresh dill)
- lemon to garnish
Evenly cut potatoes, skin still on.
Olive oil (or another substitute) You can test to make sure it's ready by placing the end of a wooden spoon in the oil. Here you can see ours has been used for this a lot!
This makes sure your food doesn't soak up oil but that the oil is so hot it will sear whatever hits it creating a seal that helps steam later on.
You're going to leave it on high or med-high the whole time, halfway through you'll add just a tablespoon or two of water and re-cover with the lid.
Potatoes sizzle when they hit the hot oil, add them slowly so you don't reduce the oil's temp too much.
When they're all in, salt and cover with a lid. Leave them alone while you get the herbs ready.
If you're using fresh herbs you can take this moment to chop them, but wait to add them until the potatoes are off the heat. You want fresh herbs to keep their color and not get burnt in the hot pan.
If you're using dry herbs wait about 5 mins and then add them directly to the hot potatoes in the pot. The heat will re-animate the flavor in your dry spices/herbs.
Now would also be a good time to add the tablespoons of water mentioned before, when you replace the lid this will work to steam cook the potatoes the rest of the way through.
Make sure to remove the lid when they're almost done, this will keep them crispy.
We've tasted the potatoes to make sure they're cooked, depending on the type of potatoe used some take longer to cook than others so you really have to keep an eye on it.
Turn off the heat and add salt and pepper to taste when they're done.
Add the fresh herbs in the bowl and garnish with slices of lemon.
Let us know what you think, if you get a chance to try your hand at this! Bon Appetit
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