The Spirit World

We are right in the middle or prime growing season and it’s time to make sure we use the bounty that is available all around us! I originally made these daiquiris last weekend with raspberries I had leftover after making jam. At that time I thought the recipe needed a little adjustment but I still had most of the batch left, so I decided to try a little experiment. And it worked. It worked really well!

This time I floated just a bit of Chambord over top which really stepped up the raspberry taste and balanced out the lime. There is one change I would make to the original recipe, too. I’ve decided it would be best if the puree is strained. I drank this one while it was still pretty frozen and the raspberry seeds did get a bit crunchy. I’ve updated that in this recipe.

Frozen Raspberry Daiquiris

• 1 heaping pint of fresh raspberries
• 4 oz of fresh lime juice
• 4 oz of simple syrup
• 5 oz of rum (I prefer golden but use what you like)
• 1 oz of Chambord plus extra for finishing
• 2 trays of ice
• Fresh raspberries or sprigs of mint for garnish

Puree the raspberries in a blender and then push through a sieve to remove most or all of the seeds. After straining there should be 1 cup of puree.

Put the strained puree back into the blender and add the lime juice, simple syrup, rum, 1 oz of Chambord, and ice. Process until completely smooth. Serve immediately or store in freezer until ready to use.

To serve immediately pour/scoop into stemmed glasses. Drizzle with Chambord and garnish. If mixture has been stored in the freezer it will be frozen but soft enough to scoop into glasses. Let thaw a few minutes before serving.

We also want to take advantage of summer’s bounty for our appetizer.

In this case we’ll use the sweet onions showing up in farmers’ markets everywhere. This recipe is nice because the topping can be made early in the day and then the final assembly done just before serving.

Roasted Sweet Onions with Cabrales Blue Cheese

• 4 large sweet onions, cut into 1-inch-thick slices
• 1/4 cup olive oil

• 4 ounces Cabrales or other strong blue cheese, crumbled
• 1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
• 2 tablespoons Sherry wine vinegar
• 1/2 cup sliced almonds, lightly toasted
• 1/3 cup chopped fresh chives

Preheat oven to 400°F. Arrange onions in single layer on rimmed baking sheet; drizzle 1/4 cup olive oil over; turn onions to coat. Sprinkle with salt. Roast until soft and brown on edges, turning every 15 minutes, about 1 hour. Transfer to platter. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Cool. (Can be made 4 hours ahead. Cover; let stand at room temperature.)

Sprinkle cheese over onions. Drizzle 1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil, then vinegar over cheese and onions. Sprinkle with almonds, then chives and serve.

Bon Appétit - January 2004

To make crostini: Slice a baguette into 1/4″ slices, brush with olive oil, then rub with a clove of garlic. Broil until lightly toasted. Serve with the onion and blue cheese mixture.