Stork Club Cocktail

I made this Stork Club Cocktail to celebrate the opening of the final season of Mad Men, which begins April 5. I've been watching the show since the beginning, and have so enjoyed the historical stories in the background.

The setting is a Madison Avenue advertising agency. The series begins in 1960, and ends in 1969. Many of us "of a certain age" know what pivotal years those were.

For those of you who haven't indulged in watching the show, the themes include drinking at work, alcoholism, smoking, adultery, sexism, and racism. Fun, right? It's actually a pretty amazing period piece.

If you haven't watched the show yet, I highly recommend binge watching it this week in preparation for the final half of the final season.

The Stork Club was described by Walter Winchell as New York's "New Yorkiest" place. Don Draper, the show's main character, visited the Stork Club in Season 2, Episode 7, with his former model wife Betty to celebrate a client's new television show. The relationships in the episode are, as they say, "complicated."

This cocktail was supposedly enjoyed by New York City's rich and famous.

To honor the period, I also made the daiquiri featured in Season 3, Episode 3. Evidently it was President Kennedy's favorite cocktail, and became all the rage. It consists of 1 1/2 ounces of white rum and 2 tsps of limeade concentrate.

The stack of coasters on the right are my mom's crystal horoscope coasters. How 60s is that?

Stork Club Cocktail

Ingredients

Dash of lime juice

Juice of half of an orange 

Dash of triple sec

1 1/2 ounces of gin

Dash of Angostura bitters

Instructions

1. Add all of the ingredients to an ice filled shaker.
2. Shake, and strain into a chilled cocktail glass. 

This cocktail is from The Unofficial Mad Men Cookbook.

The book is filled with retro recipes, including cocktails, appetizers, salads, main courses, and desserts. Besides the great retro cocktails, some of my favorites include deviled eggs, rumaki, the wedge salad, and beef Wellington.

Check out the Mad Men Finale Party for more ideas!

Toasted Oats Sandwich Bread

This granary style loaf is super soft and perfect for sandwiches. The flavor is faintly whole wheat, and slightly sweet. This might be the perfect way to introduce whole wheat to white bread lovers.

Stir-Fried Napa Cabbage with Prosciutto | Wok Wednesdays

This Stir-Fried Napa Cabbage with Prosciutto was so simple to make. Napa cabbage, ginger, chicken broth, corn starch, Chinese rice wine, salt, sugar, and prosciutto. After you've chopped and prepped the ingredients, the dish only takes a couple of minutes to prepare, and the cabbage is "crisp-tender."

The Wok Wednesday group is stir frying this dish from Grace Young's Stir Frying to the Sky's Edge. It is a take on the Chinese American dish made with Smithfield country ham, which is similar to a famous Chinese ham. Grace's mother preferred using prosciutto, because it doesn't require soaking to remove extra salt.

The recipe can be found on page 199 of the book. If you'd like to Wok along, check out our recipe schedule and Facebook page. Grace Young is a regular visitor and advisor to us all.

Potato Leek Pie

Potato Leek Pie! With a puff pastry crust and Gruyere cheese. I had a slice for lunch, but I think it would also be perfect for a Sunday brunch or a meatless dinner.

It's Secret Recipe Club time again, and this time I was assigned Christie's blog, A Kitchen Hoor's Adventures. She has an amazingly extensive collection of recipes on her blog, and I had quite a few picked out to consider for this month's post... until she posted this potato pie recipe just two weeks ago. Thank you Christie. I needed this potato pie in my life!

According to Christie, the kitchen is her zen place, to which I can totally relate. She's also been on Emeril Live!! How cool is that? Please visit her site for lots of tasty looking recipes.

This Potato Leek Pie is really, really good. It's kind of like potatoes au gratin, but with a puff pastry crust and sautéed leeks.... and Gruyere. The best cheese ever.

Leftovers of this pie are also delicious.. in fact, maybe even better than when freshly baked. The crust is extra crispy the second time around. If you are planning a brunch, you can bake this in advance and refrigerate it. Once you are ready to serve the potato pie, slice it and reheat the slices in the oven at 350 degrees F on a foil lined baking sheet, preferably with convection heat.

This pie disappeared pretty quickly in our house.

Potato Leek Pie

Ingredients

One sheet of frozen puff pastry, defrosted, or make your own as I did here

1 tsp butter

1 C thinly sliced leeks

2 pounds of Russet potatoes

3/4 C half and half

1 large egg

1 T chopped fresh thyme

1 heaping tsp garlic salt

1 tsp black pepper

1 C coarsely grated Gruyere cheese

Instructions

1. Line a deep dish pie pan or nine inch springform pan with the puff pastry. Cut off the corners and patch the sides that are missing crust so that you have a round pastry crust. 
2. Saute the leeks in the butter over medium heat for about five minutes. 
3. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
4. Peel the potatoes and slice them very thinly by hand, with a V-slicer,  or with a mandoline. 
5. Whisk the half and half with the egg. 
6. Layer 1/3 of the potato slices in the pie pan. Top with 1/3 of the leeks. Sprinkle with 1/3 of the thyme and 1/3 of the garlic salt and pepper mixture. Top with 1/3 of the cheese.
7. Repeat with the potatoes, leeks, thyme, salt and pepper, and cheese. 
8. Layer with the final third of the potatoes, leeks, thyme, garlic salt, and pepper. Pour the half and half/egg mixture over the potatoes and top with the final third of the cheese. 
9. Bake for 60 to 75 minutes, until the potatoes are tender. 

An InLinkz Link-up

Vanilla, Currant, and White Chocolate Cookies

Can you believe that these Vanilla, Currant, and White Chocolate Cookies are made with bread flour? How cool is that? I'm not sure I understand the chemistry? Maybe it's because the dough is refrigerated for 48 hours before baking? Did you notice that I just ended every sentence with a question mark? So Californian.

Vanilla Bean Ice Cream

This vanilla bean ice cream was made at the request of my oldest grandson. When his birthday was coming up, I asked him to tell me his favorite kind of cake. He immediately figured out my modus operandi, and told me he wanted vanilla ice cream for his birthday.

That I can do!

While vanilla ice cream might be sort of, "vanilla." this ice cream is extra special. It's flecked with vanilla seeds too, which gives it an extra amazing specialness.

It would be delicious on a piece of pie.

It's also awesome with a birthday candle in it.

Vanilla Bean Ice Cream

Ingredients

2 cups whole milk

1 tbsp plus 1 tsp cornstarch

3 tbsp cream cheese, softened

1/8 tsp salt

1 1/4 cups heavy cream

2/3 cups sugar

2 tbsp corn syrup

1 vanilla bean, split with the seeds scraped out and reserved

Instructions

1. Mix about 2 tablespoons of the milk with the cornstarch to make a slurry. 
2. In a medium bowl, whisk the cream cheese and the salt.
3. Fill a very large bowl with ice and water and set aside. 
4. Combine the rest of the milk, cream, sugar, corn syrup, vanilla bean, and vanilla seeds in a four quart saucepan. Bring to a boil, and cook for four minutes. 
5. Remove from the heat and gradually whisk in the cornstarch and milk mixture.
6. Bring the mixture back to a boil, and cook, stirring constantly with a heatproof spatula for one minute, until slightly thickened. Remove from the heat. 
7. Slowly whisk the milk mixture into the cream cheese mixture until thoroughly combined. 
8. Pour the mixture into a one gallon freezer zip lock bag and submerge it into the ice and water mixture. Let stand for 30 minutes. Add more ice if necessary. 
9. Remove the vanilla bean from the mixture, and freeze it in your ice cream freezer according to the manufacturer's instructions. 
10. Once the ice cream has thickened, scrape it into a container and freeze overnight. 

Serve! 

Recipe adapted from Jeni's Splendid Ice Creams at Home

Multigrain and Seed Bread Extraordinaire

This Multigrain and Seed Bread Extraordinaire is a variation of one of my all time favorite breads. The dough is great for rolls, traditional sandwich loaves, and boules. It starts with a cornmeal, oats, wheat bran, flax meal, and flax seed soaker that you mix the day before.