KFW Test Kitchen

I tested a few recipes recently that I plan on making many more times.

First up: Moroccan Carrot Soup courtesy of Bon Appetit. It was scrumptious and easy. Can't wait to try it with the farm market's multi-colored carrots.

Next was Chocolate Raspberry Clafoutis, also from Bon Appetit. Sooo chocolatey. I recommend topping it with chunks of Ghirardelli's Dark Chocolate with Raspberry candy squares. These boost the raspberry element and they're not too sweet. FYI: A clafoutis is a French dessert of cherries (typically) suspended in a pancake-like batter. I'd like to try it with strawberries.

Finally, I tried out what I'm calling the Effervescent Greyhound - a cocktail consisting of the usual Greyhound recipe (except with gin instead of vodka) topped with a bit of ginger liqueur and sparkling wine. Here's the recipe:

1 1/2 oz gin
5 oz fresh-squeezed grapefruit juice (or high-quality bottled)
1/2 oz Domaine de Canton
Sparkling wine or champagne to top-off

Add first three ingredients to cocktail shaker filled with ice and shake. Pour into chilled champagne or wine glass. Top with sparkling wine or champagne. Garnish with twist of grapefruit rind.

Feel free to play with this. I've added lime and orange in different quantities and I've even toyed with agave.

Couple more things of note:

I'm a huge fan of this article. It gave me a lot of ideas, which I've been putting into practice. The most successful so far was roasted salmon with Thai flavors served with blanched asparagus. Drool...

We were back in Philly recently for a quick visit. We hit Koo Zee Doo, a new-ish Portuguese BYOB in NoLibs. Deleitoso! It made us long for Portugal. Has it really been nearly three years since we were there? Think it's time to return.