Don Silvers

If you are, or were ever a bartender, or if you are just someone who likes a cocktail, you have probably heard of angostura bitters but I bet you probably don't know where they originated from.

They were originally formulated by German surgeon Johann Gottlieb Benjamin Siegert, who served under Marshall von Blucher at the battle of Waterloo. Angostura bitters are the most widely known bitters today. Dr. Siegert created the bitter elixer (based on angostura bark, gentian root, rum and other ingredients) as a tonic to stimulate the troops' lagging appetites, and improve their health. Although angostura bitters are still taken as a digestif, angostura bitters are often used today as a flavoring in foods and drinks, and are essential in many cocktails such as the Manhattan and Old Fashioned. At 90 proof, angostora bitters are the most potent among this genre.

Chilled Melon Soup with Jalapenos

2 teaspoons olive oil

1 jalapeno chile, seeded and minced

1 ripe cantaloupe or honeydew melon (about 2 1/2 pounds) halved and seeded

1 cup buttermilk

1/4 cup seasoned rice wine vinegar, plus more to taste

1 cup loosely packed fresh mint leaves, plus a few sprigs for garnish

2 teaspoons kosher salt

About 1/4 cup creme fraiche for serving

In a small skillet, heat the oil over medium-high heat. Add the jalapeno and cook, stirring for 1 minute. Remove from heat and set aside.

Scoop out the flesh of the melon and cut it into small chunks. Working in batches if necessary, put the melon chunks in a blender with the buttermilk, the 1/4 cup rice wine vinegar, the mint, and salt. Puree until smooth. Add the jalapeno and pulse to mix. Taste and add more vinegar as desired (up to 1/4 cup, depending on the sweetness of the melon).

Refrigerate for at least 1 hour or up to 24 hours; whisk to recombine before serving. To serve, ladle into shallow bowls and dollop with the creme fraiche. Makes 4 first-course servings.

Wine Pairing: Alexander Valley or Dry Creek Valley Sauvignon Blanc.

Spicy Watermelon Gazpacho

1 teaspoon pasilla chile powder

1 teaspoon pimenton(Spanish smoked paprika)

1 teaspoon New Mexico chile powder

1/2 cup sugar

1/2 cup water

1 small seedless watermelon(about 3 1/2 pounds), peeled and cut into chunks

1/2 red onion, finely chopped

1 red bell pepper, seeded, deribbed, and finely chopped

1 yellow bell pepper, seeded, deribbed, and finely chopped

1/4 cup finely chopped fresh cilantro, plus springs for garnish

2 limes, plus 1 more if needed

Salt and freshly ground pepper to taste

1 ripe avocado, peeled, pitted, and sliced for garnish

In a small dry skillet, combine the chile powder, pimenton, and New Mexico chile powder. Stir over medium heat until lightly toasted and fragrant, 1 to 2 minutes.

In a small pan, combine the sugar and water. Stir over medium heat until the sugar has dissolved; bring to a boil. Remove from the heat and let cool.

Put half of the watermelon in a blender and add 1/4 cup of the sugar syrup. Blend until smooth. Set aside. Finely chop the remaining watermelon and put in a medium bowl with the onion, peppers, cilantro, and toasted spices. Grate in the zest of 1 lime. Add the watermelon puree and the juice of 2 limes; taste and add more if needed to balance the flavors. Season with salt and pepper. Refrigerate for at least 1 hour or up to 24 hours.

To serve, spoon into small bowls or glasses. Garnish each serving with cilantro sprigs, avocado slices, and a slice of lime and serve. Makes 6 first-course servings.

Wine Pairing: Chilled dry rose of Syrah or Grenache, or Pinot Noir.

2lbs. beef

1 tablespoon flour

2 tablespoons butter

2 cups beef stock

2 tablespoons heavy sour cream

2 tablespoons tomato juice or paste

3 tablespoons grated onion

Cut beef into thin strips, sprinkle freely with salt and pepper, and let stand for 2 hours in cool place. Make a roux by blending flour with butter over gentle heat until mixture bubbles and is smooth. Gradually stir in beef stock, and cook until mixture begins to thicken. Add sour cream and tomato juice or paste, stirring constantly, simmer gently. Brown the beef in 3 tablespoons butter and the grated onion. Pour the meat, onion, and butter into the sauce. Taste for seasoning. Simmer gently or cook in a double broiler over hot water for 20 minutes. (6 servings)

Sea-Foam cream is made of whipped cream and whipped gelatine, and it cannot be a success unless both will whip perfectly. The cream must be stiff, and the gelatine a solid froth before they are put together. Put one cupful of ice-cold cream and two teaspoonfuls of caramel into a cold bowl set in another of cracked ice and salt. Whip until stiff then add three tablespoonfuls of confectioners sugar, a few drops of extract of vanilla, and a few grains of salt. Soak four level teaspoonfuls of gelatine in twenty teaspoonfuls of cold water ten minutes. Then melt over the teakettle, and when a little cool, whip until it is a solid froth which will take about ten minutes. Add this to the cream, and whip all together thoroughly; turn into cold mould, and pack in ice and salt for three hours.

When ready to serve, turn out on a cold dish, and serve with any seasonable fruit, such as berries, or oranges, cut in slices. Ripe peaches may be peeled and halved, the stone-cavities filled with cracked ice, and covered with sugar; half a fine peach is a portion. The fruit should be chilled. Care should be taken to have all utensils perfectly dry and clean as gelatine will not whip to a froth if salt, cream, white of egg, or any foreign substance touches it before frothing.

Cream sold in half-pint glass jars is reliable for whipping.

Makes 8 Scones

You can use all apricots, all cranberries or even currants if you like.

1 1/4 cups rolled oats (not instant)

1 1/4 cups all purpose flour

1/3 cup packed light brown sugar

1 1/4 teaspoons baking powder

3/4 teaspoon baking soda

3/4 teaspoon table salt

16 tablespoons (2 sticks) chilled unsalted butter, cut into 1/2 inch cubes

1/3 cup roughly chopped dried apricots

1/4 cup dried sweetened cranberries

1/3 cup buttermilk

1 large egg

Adjust an oven rack to the center position and heat the oven to 375 degrees. Spread the oats in an even layer onto a jelly roll pan or cookie sheet. Place in the oven and toast until golden brown and fragrant, 8 to 10 minutes. Remove from the oven, transfer the oats to a bowl, and cool completely. Wipe the pan, line it with parchment paper, and increase the oven temperature to 400 degrees.

Place the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt in the bowl of a food processor fitted with a steel blade. Blend briefly to combine. Evenly distribute the butter over the dry ingredients and process for six 1-second pulses. Add the oats and fruit and pulse an additional 6 times or until the largest piece of butter is about the size of a pea. Transfer to a large bowl.

Stir the buttermilk and egg together in a small bowl or large measuring cup until well combined. Add the mixture to the dry ingredients and mix with a fork or rubber spatula until the dough begins to form large wet clumps. Turn onto a counter top and knead by hand, incorporating any dry floury bits, until it comes together into a rough sticky ball. Pat the dough into a 6 to 7 inch disk and cut into 8 wedges. Transfer the scones onto the prepared baking sheet and bake until dark golden brown, about 15 minutes. Cool on a rack for at least 10 minutes before serving.

This recipe is from Salvador Dali's cookbook, who at age 6 wanted to be a cook. If you ever have a chance to pick up this cookbook, you will be fascinated by the artwork as well as the ingredients that Dali has sometimes chosen to cook with.

12 oysters

6 medium size crabs

1 cup dry white wine

1 onion

2 whole cloves

1 tablespoon of wine vinegar

2 crushed cloves of garlic

1 pinch of saffron

12 large white mushrooms

3 tablespoons of breadcrumbs

2 egg yolks

3 tablespoons of heavy cream - 1 cup of rice

3 egg yolks

3 tablespoons of heavy cream

Open the oysters over a pot so you can save their liquid. Pull them out of their shells. Into this liquid add the white wine, the onion studded with cloves, vinegar, crushed garlic and saffron. Add a moderate amount of salt and a liberal quantity of pepper. When the broth starts boiling, put the crabs into the pot. Since all of the crabs will not be able to cook at the same time, the operation will have to be repeated several times. (Cooking time is about 35 minutes for 2lbs. of crab.) Once the crabs are cooked, take the trunk in one hand and the bottom of the legs in the other; pull to get the legs loose. Scrape the trunk and the inside of the crab carefully to get the meat and the coral. Measure 2 1/2 cups of broth and bring it back to a boil before throwing the rice into it. Cook covered over low flame. When all of the liquid has been absorbed and the rice has cooked, mix it with the coral and crab meat. Then add 2 egg yolks, chopped mushroom stems and cream. Put this mixture inside the trunks of the crabs, adding tow oysters per shell. Then put the legs back into place - each crab is whole again. With breadcrumbs, 3 egg yolks and 3 tablespoons of cream, as well as some of the salt and pepper, prepare a paste which will be used to stuff the underside of the mushroom caps. Put the mushroom caps on the bottom of a baking dish, filled side up. In another dish, put the stuffed crabs. Broil for 10 minutes. Then, put the dish of mushrooms nearer to the flame for another 10 minutes. Each crab will be served with 2 mushrooms. Of course, it is easy to enjoy these crabs since they can be eaten with a small spoon. I would advise though, to put a nut-cracker on the table since there may be some connoisseurs among your guests. Why deprive them of the pleasure of cracking and sucking the legs.

Crepes:

1 cup mashed avocado pulp (about 1 large avocado)

8 eggs

1 cup flour

1/2 teaspoon salt

3/4 cup milk

3/4 cup water

2 Tablespoons butter

Filling:

1/4 cup butter

6 Tablespoons flour

2 1/2 cups hot milk

1/2 cup hot light cream

1 cup diced swiss cheese

1 teaspoon worcestershire sauce

Salt & Pepper to taste

2 pounds lump crabmeat

Topping:

1 1/2 cups coarsely grated swiss cheese

1/2 cup butter

Preheat oven to 400-degrees

Crepes

To the avocado add eggs, flour and salt. Beat with a whisk until smooth. Slowly stir in milk and water. Melt a little butter in a 7-inch crepe pan. Pour in a scant 1/4 cup of better, tilting the pan to spread batter evenly. Cook the crepe until lightly browned (about 1 minute). Turn and cook the other side. Continue until all batter is used. Makes about 24 crepes.

Filling

Melt butter in a saucepan and add the flour, stirring constantly until smooth. Gradually add the hot milk and cream, stirring constantly until the mixture begins to thicken. Add the cheese and cook until very thick. Remove from heat and add Worcestershire and seasonings. Fold in the crabmeat. Spread this filling on 1/2 of each crepe and roll them up. Place, seam side down in well-buttered baking dish or dishes.

Topping

Sprinkle the crepes with the cheese and dot with the butter. Bake in a 400 degree oven for 10-15 minutes, or until crepes are hot and cheese is melted. Serves 12

This is a really inventive and very pretty dish. It freezes well, so why not make at least double the recipe and freeze it for another occasion. (To freeze, put in crepes as instructed in the recipe. Fold foil over to cover the crepes completely. Freeze. When frozen, lift out crepes in their foil and store in the freezer. When ready to cook, thaw package in refrigerator for 2-3 hours, then place in a baking dish and heat in a 400 degree oven 15 minutes, still wrapped in foil. Fold back foil and bake for an additional 15 minutes.)

Much like the quinoa grain that I wrote about in an earlier posting, the Acai Berry, pronounced ah-SAH-ee, is gaining a lot of attention. I just saw that a popular brand of frozen fruit bars has come out with a new Acai Blueberry flavor.

Native to the tropical areas of Central and South America, the Acai berry is being touted as the new superfood and is known by some as the "power berry". That's because it's exceedingly rich in nutrients including antioxidants, vitamins, minerals, oleic acid and potassium, to name a few. The dark purple grape-sized fruit grows on the acai palm, which is also called the cabbage palm because natives eat its young, tender leaf buds as one would cabbage. Hearts of palm is another food source harvested from this tall palm. The acai berry contains only a small portion of pulp-about 90 percent of it is an inedible nut. The pulp, which has a flavor reminiscent of berries with a hint of chocolate, is quite delicious and deteriorates quickly. That's why consumers in North America on have access to acai in juice form (primarily as a concentrate), which can be found in the refrigerated or freezer section of natural food stores. It's also available as frozen pulp, or in a powdered form. Because of its ascribed health benefits, acai has become a favorite addition to smoothies.

1 1/2 pounds beets

1 cup soft fresh goat cheese

Salt and freshly ground black pepper

1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil

2 tablespoons sherry vinegar

1/2 cup chopped beet greens

Preheat the oven to 350. Wash the beets. Leaving them wet, wrap them individually in foil. Place them in a roasting pan or on a baking sheet and bake for about 1 1/2 hours, or until they're nice and tender (poke a thin-bladed knife right through the foil to test). Let cool in the foil.

Peel the beets and cut them into big chunks; arrange on a platter. Break up the goat cheese and scatter it on top of the beets. Sprinkle with salt and pepper, then drizzle with the olive oil and vinegar. Garnish with the beet greens and serve.

Note: Baking beets is by far the best way to cook them-they don't become waterlogged, they're less messy to prepare, and their sweetness is intensified rather than leached out. Once you try it, you'll never go back to boiling. For the beet greens, you can substitute almost any herb, like parsley, chervil or basil.

2 1/2 cups coarsely chopped fresh chives

1/2 cup coarsely chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley

1 medium garlic clove crushed

1/4 cup pine nuts

1/2teaspoon table salt

1/2 cup best quality extra virgin olive oil

1/2 cup freshly grated Parmigiano Reggiano, plus more for serving

Freshly ground pepper

Place all of the ingredients except the cheese in the food processor. Process until very finely chopped (sort of like a grainy paste) but not pureed. Scrape the mixture into a bowl and stir in the cheese. Serve over hot pasta with freshly ground pepper and additional Parmesan.

Makes enough sauce for 1 pound of pasta. In addition to making a great pasta sauce, this pesto is wonderful over steamed red potatoes.