Matcha Green Dragon Vodka Martini

Have you ever had a cocktail that was that was actually good for you?  AND delicious?  Well, good for you in moderation, of course.  Today’s post is all about a cocktail I’ve been making that is chock full of good-for-you stuff - antioxidants, amino acids, chlorophyll and even fiber.  Don't turn up your nose, I SAID it was yummy!  What’s the secret to this healthy cocktail?  Matcha.  What the heck is matcha?  Here are the facts, Jack.

Matcha is the same finely ground Japanese green tea used in the beautiful and traditional Japanese tea ceremony.  One cup of matcha is nutritionally equal to 10 cups of brewed green tea because you’re consuming the dissolved powder, not just flavoring hot water and removing the leaves after brewing. The finely ground tea leaves actually become part of the beverage. 

L-theanine, one of the key amino acids in matcha, is believed to relax one’s mind.  Imagine how relaxed it will be after a combo of matcha and vodka!  Ahhhhhhhhhhhh. 

I came up with this cocktail early in the year for one of the Annapolis foodie weekends as a complement to the Asian portion of the menu – I wanted something light and refreshing.  I started with a Buddha’s Hand vodka infusion.  (Okay…I see even more explanation is needed.)

Buddha’s Hand is a citrus fruit.  You don’t eat it like an orange, only the skin of the fruit is used and there is no pulp at all.  Slightly bitter and intensely citrusy, it’s sort of lime-y, lemony, tangerine-y and grapefruit-y all mixed together, but even more exotic in flavor.  Wonder where it got its name?  Take a look at this.

Buddha's Hand - Approx. 7" high

And this.

Comedy shot!

Where did I ever find Buddha's Hand?  Giant Eagle Market District in Pittsburgh.  It's a seasonal fruit, like oranges, so look for it at better produce stores in fall and winter months.  Of course, you can always substitute your favorite citrusy vodka for the Buddha’s Hand infusion…Absolut Citron is perfect or lemon, orange or lime vodka. 

Where do you find the matcha?  Any fine coffee and tea emporium carries it - Nicholas Coffee in Market Square or Prestogeorge in the Strip (both in Pittsburgh, but any city will have it somewhere).  It might sound pricey ($5-6 an ounce), but it’s light as a feather and a quarter ounce will last you a while.  
 

Give it a try....do you think it will be the amino acids or the vodka that relaxes you most?  The Matcha Green Dragon Martini really is a nice soothing, relaxing and healthful way to enjoy cocktail time.  And it's pretty, too.  Cheers.

Matcha Green Dragon Vodka Martini

• 1 teaspoon matcha
• 1 ounce hot water
• 2 ounces St. Germain
• 1 ounce Buddha's Hand Infused Vodka
• 1/2 lemon, juiced
• 1/2 ounce ginger simple syrup

Completely dissolve the matcha in the hot water using a small whisk.  Add to the tin of a cocktail shaker.
 

Add the rest of the ingredients to the shaker, fill 3/4 up with ice.  Cap tightly and shake until the tin frosts.
 

Strain into a martini glass and garnish with a slice of starfruit.

Grilled Peach Vodka Basil Sweet Tea with Friends!

Crabby friends make for really good company!  No, not disgruntled and unpleasant acquaintances…who wants to be friends with grumps?!  I mean good friends with whom you can share a day of hauling up beautiful blue crabs from the Severn River in Annapolis, hiking them up what must have been 100 stairs to the top of the cliff, steaming them in a giant pot outside on the grill and then sitting down together to enjoy the rewards of the effort.  

 

Crabby friends got to share not just succulent, sweet white meat pried from bright red shells, we also shared good stories, memories of Maryland and Baltimore and created more than a few great new memories, too.  
 



What goes with crabs around the Baltimore and Annapolis area?  Beer.  Specifically, the locally brewed National Bohemian beer affectionately nicknamed Natty Boh.  It ain’t crabs & beer if you’re not drinkin' a Natty Boh!  

What brought these fortunate friends and (unfortunate) crabs together this bright, sunny and HOT July day?  Another fabulous Food With Friends get together at Donna & Tommy’s!  Crabs were just a small part of the excitement!


The theme was "Bounty of the Chesapeake"…which was (very) loosely interpreted.  Besides the aforementioned hard crabs that Tommy and Donna caught at their dock AND the pretty, almost lacy, soft shell crabs that Donna sauteed up, Greg grilled rockfish with his own Georgia-style peach pecan chutney (Greg came all the way from GA!), Ben and his wife, Emily (who made the trek from New Jersey!), brought crabs, too.  Only these crabs were red jam-filled linzer crab cookies!  Beautiful. I wish I had gotten pictures of them!

Brian whipped up a perfectly made shrimp risotto with brie (I told you the theme was loosely interpreted - I'm not aware of any shrimp in the Chesapeake), homemade Kosher dill pickles and a Chesapeake coleslaw he created using his very own salt-free version of Old Bay.  He outdoes himself EVERY time!

Brian's pickles.

Brian proudly showing off his pickle.

Remember Greg back there with the rockfish?  He's a very creative caterer who apparently has friends in high places down south...or maybe it's more like that Garth Brooks song, "I've Got Friends In Low Places."?  He brought Donna a very "special" present!  Any guesses?  Anyone who knows NASCAR and how it started may have guessed what it is already - but I'm not telling!  (Hint: Jimmy Johnson makes it.)  

Donna & Greg & the "Special" Present

There were other surprises and special guests!  Chef Duane Keller and his lovely wife, Jen came by with food in hand!  Chef Duane - aw heck, it's just Duane now that we've met - made a gorgeous smoked salmon cheesecake and Jen made one of the best potato salads I've ever had....accompanied by a dish of black truffle salt.  And Jen isn't a chef!  Duane was invited to cook (and, in fact, did!) at the James Beard House and also cooked for Julia Childs' 90th birthday party.  Needless to say, we were very honored to have them both join us.

The Kellers

A professional food photographer joined us, too!  Sherron not only took pictures that look like they came straight from Bon Appetit or Food & Wine, she cooks!  She brought crab dip and homemade bread.  A woman of many talents!

One other surprise.  Our little foodie group made an appearance on Grilliant Ideas, an online radio show!  Various members of the group were interviewed live by phone as our event went on.  Here are Donna and Ben while they were LIVE on radio! 

Were we making too much noise for Ben?!

What does Donna have in her hand?  And I don't mean the phone.

Back to the food...and drink!  It looks like Donna is holding the cocktail I made....a Grilled Peach Basil Sweet Tea.  And, yes, there's a little(?) liquor involved.  The peach part is my own grilled peach infused vodka!  Instead of mixing up individual cocktails, I made it easy and did it up in a big batch for a crowd.  I'll share the recipe at the end of this post, but here's what it looked like.

Grilled Peach (Vodka) Basil Sweet Tea

Besides crab cookies, Ben brought some outrageously good Bloody Marys!  Wine was provided by Brian and Marti.  The weather was hot, folks, we had to stay hydrated!

Let me see if I can remember all the other dishes....Marti's Caesar Salad was more than classically delicious; Iris - who claims she doesn't cook - brought beautiful deviled eggs; Bonnie brought a smoked trout dip made with trout her sons caught!; Sherron made smooth, delicious, creamy crab dip and that aforesaid homemade bread; there was pasta salad, but I don't remember who brought it!  Sorry.  And of course there was some of that sweet, sweet Maryland white corn...it wouldn't be "bounty" of the Chesapeake without sugary summer MD corn. 

And then there was dessert.  Cat, who couldn't join us this time because of her busy schedule, still dropped off whoopie pies and brownies and almond cookies and all sorts of sweet delights ahead of time.  Thank you!!!!!!

Maria, our authentic Austrian pastry chef, brought an array of sweet treats, too!  Her peach cobbler and sour cherry cake were to die for, but the star of the show?  The Black Forest cake she brought to celebrate Greg's birthday!  Wow!

Happy Birthday, Greg!

What a fabulous day with a group of fabulous cooks whom I feel blessed to call friends.  We are Food With Friends...or is that friends with food?  Here we all are...well, except for me because I'm taking the picture!

Food With Friends - on the deck.

One more thing...the promised recipe!

 Grilled Peach Vodka Basil Sweet Tea

Serves 48-60

• 3 liters vodka, grilled peach infused vodka - see below (I used Clique vodka - if you can find it by you, buy it!  VERY good vodka at a very good price!)
• 1 gallon tea, brewed - see below
• 3 cups basil simple syrup - see below
• 24 lemons, juiced

Vodka:  A week before you want to serve this, make the grilled peach vodka.  Grill 4 1/2 pounds of peaches that have been split in half, stones removed.  In a LARGE glass container, place the peaches and vodka, cover the container and let sit for several days in a cool, dark place.  Stir once or twice a day, gently.  Strain into glass bottles and store until needed.  You can made this in smaller batches instead of one big one.
 
Basil simple syrup: In a large saucepan, mix together 3 cups sugar and 3 cups water, stir over high heat to dissolve and bring to a boil.  Add 3-4 cups of loosely packed basil leaves and turn off heat immediately.  Cool.  Then pour into a clean glass bottle.
 
Tea:  Bring a gallon of water to a boil.  Turn off heat and add 16 Salada British Blend (find it in your grocery store) tea bags.  After 5 minutes, remove the tea bags, but DO NOT squeeze them.  Cool tea.
 
Now you're read to make the cocktail!  Finally. 
 
In a punch bowl, combine the tea, vodka (yes, all of it!), basil simple syrup, lemon juice and stir.  That's it.  Serve over ice.
 
To make this pretty, what I did was:  I froze 6 clean, fresh peaches and floated them (to keep the punch cool instead of an ice ring - the ice ring would have melted and diluted the cocktail!) and a few clean, whole, fresh basil leaves to make it pretty.  Just by looking you know what's in it!  Peach and basil. 

The infusion begins...

Look at the color on the finished infusion! 

Don't want to make enough for an army?  Here's the recipe for a single serving.

 Grilled Peach Vodka Basil Sweet Tea

Serves 1

• 2 1/2 ounces grilled peach vodka (again, find Clique vodka!)
• 2 ounces basil simple syrup
• 1/2 lemon
• tea, double strength (as above)
• basil, fresh, a nice sprig
• ice

In the glass of a shaker, mix vodka, basil simple syrup, juice of half a lemon.  Add ice 3/4 of the way up & add tea to within 1" of the top of the glass.  Cap and shake until tin is frosty.
 
Pour contents into a Mason jar and garnish with a basil sprig.  Enjoy!

NOTE: Don't have time to do an infusion?  Muddle peaches in the bottom of the cocktail shaker along with some fresh basil - add plain simple syrup and proceed as above, being sure to strain well. 

Sweet Tea Applewood Smoked Chicken Thighs

Pittsburgh used to be known as Steel Town.  With the bumper crop of meat-centric establishments popping up all over the 'Burgh these days, it might more accurately be called Meat Town!  

With the likes of Cure - known for Justin Severino's succulent charcuterie; Meat & Potatoes - featuring the dichotomy of mammoth, macho marrow bones and smooth, delicate pates by Richard DeShantz; The Crested Duck -  focusing on not just meats, but fowl...hence the DUCK part of the name...from Kevin Costa and crew; and an old favorite, Parma Sausage in the Strip with their silken prosciutto...we are a meat-blessed town indeed.
 
Another of our former nicknames was the Smoky City....well, we might be able to reclaim that one!  These days, instead of noxious fumes hanging heavy in the air, we raise our noses to the scent of hickory, mesquite, apple, cherry, pecan....and the lush aromas of pork and beef, fish and shrimp, chicken, turkey and duck tickle our fortunate nostrils.  Snnnniiffffffff.  Ahhhhhhhhhh.  Drool.  Repeat. 

BBQ joints have opened their doors all over town recently. Union Pig & Chicken in East Liberty, Oakland BBQ in - duh, Oakland, Pittsburgh BBQ, Smoke BBQ Taqueria - smoked meats AND tacos, score!  We may not be in the BBQ Belt, but we're doing a pretty damned good approximation of it now.
 
Mark and I got the backyard smoking bug about 4 years ago.  We started out with a stack-style electric smoker. Electric may be easy to use, but owning an older home with an apparently inadequate bank of electric circuits made the constant checking of inconveniently flipped-off breakers a pain.  Mind you, it didn't stop us!  

Last year we switched to a charcoal version, but we didn't get off Scot free in the smoker tending department.  We are constantly checking to be sure the temp is maintained and doesn't go above or below the ideal smoking zone.  We traded off the convenience of accurately controlled electric heat for the far superior (but demanding!) flavor of charcoal.  Hey, that's a win!  I'll take exceptional flavor over convenience any time!  

Electric OR charcoal, there's nothing like an excuse to sit outside with a drink in one hand, tending the smoker with the other.  To my mind, that's why God made backyards.  I'm sure cavemen - and women, following the invention of fire, sat outside their cave openings (with whatever the precursor to a beer was) happily poking and prodding the flames and the evening's dinner with a stick.

Here's what we be poked and prodded on Sunday.

Sweet Tea Applewood Smoked Chicken Thighs

• 8 bone-in, skin on chicken thighs

• 6 tea bags
• 1 quart water
• 3/4 cup sugar
• juice of 1 lemon
• 1/4 cup salt
• 1 T. freshly ground black pepper 

Start this the night before to allow the chicken to marinate in the brine for at least 12 hours and up to 24.  

In a saucepan, combine the water and sugar; bring to a boil and simmer until sugar is completely dissolved.  Add tea bags, remove from heat.

While the mixture is still hot, stir in the salt until dissolved.  Add lemon juice and pepper; let cool to room temperature.  

Put the chicken into a large zip top bag and add enough of the brine to completely submerge chicken, but still are able to close the bag securely.  Put the bag into a large bowl - if the bag leaks, it won't get all over your fridge!  Refrigerate the chicken overnight.

The next day, remove the chicken from the fridge and let it come to room temp. Prepare your smoker using your favorite wood chunks - we like apple for this recipe.  You can use water in the smoker bowl or get wild and use apple cider, white wine or beer!  Come to think of it, next time I think I'll try throwing some tea leaves and lemon slices into the water bowl! 

While the smoker comes up to temp, remove the chicken from the brine; discard the brine.  Dry each piece of chicken and arrange skin side up on the smoker rack.  Cover and smoke until the chicken is cooked through, but tender and juicy.  Slice through the biggest thigh right next to the bone to check for doneness.  When there's no pink next to the bone, they're done!    

NOTE:  The sugar in the brine helps to give a gorgeous mahogany color to the chicken!