Gatsby's Cocktail Party

When thinking of the Roaring Twenties, what does one imagine? Flapper dresses, prohibition, jazz, gangsters and magnificently extravagant and glamourous drinking parties that are all the more exciting because they could be broken up by police at any moment. When you have to use secret passwords and hidden doors, that's a party I want to be invited to! For me, it seems so romantic and fun, I wish I could go back in time (and jump into the realm of fiction) and experience just one of Jay Gatsby's amazing parties. But alas, I can't, so instead I will just try to make some Prohibition style drinks at home...sans flapper dress!

As most everyone knows, The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald is a novel that follows a cast of characters living on Long Island in the summer of 1922. The story revolves around Jay Gatsby, a mysterious millionaire who has extravagant parties at his mansion and who has a passion for Daisy Buchanan (who happens to be married to Tom Buchanan, a man having his own affair). I assume that you all know this classic novel so I don't even need to go there. You did read this in high school like I did, right??

The The Great Gatsby is literally drenched in alcohol (perfect for a blog about cocktails!). There are "floating rounds of cocktails" for the guests at all the glitzy parties, and Gatsby himself is alleged to have made his fortune by bootlegging. The sugary drinks featured in the book and during Prohibition were likely meant to disguise the bathtub gin and bootleg bourbon - so glad that we can use "proper" alcohol nowadays. Below are two drinks featured in the novel and two more that are inspired by it.  So lets go make a cocktail!

The Gin Rickey is one of two cocktails that are actually named in The Great Gatsby and is said to have been a favourite of Fitzgerald.  The drink appears on a summer day when Daisy tells her husband Tom to "make us a cold drink" so that she can let Gatsby know of her love for him without her husband around. Tom returns with "four gin rickeys that clicked with ice".  It was a staple during prohibition and consists of gin, lime and soda. Refreshing and delicious! 

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Put three or four ice cubes in a highball glass, and squeeze in the juice of half a lime. Add around 60 ml of gin and top with soda. Rub the lime wedge around the rim, then drop in the glass.

Mint Julep

This is the second drink that is mentioned in the novel, when Daisy, Tom and Gatsby are having an argument in the hotel. "'l'll make you a mint julep," she tells her husband. "Then you won't sound so stupid to yourself". Wow. I wish I was so ballsy. This is a sugary drink (to cut the bourbon) and is officially a pre-Prohibition drink that likely started in the southern United States and slowly trickled northward. It survived Prohibition and became the official drink of The Kentucky Derby.

Mix a teaspoon of sugar (you can adjust the taste) with a splash of water in a highball glass until dissolved. Add a handful of mint leaves (around 10) and gently bruise with a muddler or wooden spoon. Fill the glass with crushed ice, then pur 60-90 ml of bourbon  depending on the size of your glass. Stir, top up with more crushed ice, and garnish with a few more mint leaves.

Between the Sheets

This cheeky drink is a version of the classic sidecar. It has rum, cognac and triple sec, with a good dose of lemon. This was supposedly a staple for Fitzgerald and friends and will certainly get you in the Roaring Twenties mood!

Mix 30 ml each of brandy, white rum and triple sec with 15 ml of fresh lemon juice in a shaker with ice. Shake, strain into a cocktail glass and garnish with a lemon twist.

Last but not least, the Champagne Cocktail, everyone's (including mine) fizzy favourite. This adds glitz and glam to any party. So pop that cork and let the bubbly flow! The Champagne Cocktail is sophisticated and glamourous and how I envision Daisy and Gatsby.

Place a sugar cub in a chilled champagne glass, add 2 or 3 dashes of bitters, fill the glass with champagne and squeeze a lemon twist on top.

Chin chin!

Popeye's Spanakopita

Popeye the Sailor, again not a literary character (although a comic strip one!) was good inspiration for the following recipe. When thinking of the characters of this iconic comic in terms of food, you have not only spinach loving Popeye, but girlfriend Olive Oyl, and her old beau Ham Gravy and Popeye's ward, Swee' Pea. And who can forget J. Wellington Wimpy the hamburger-loving moocher (a topic for a different blog!)? What a set of characters!! And why not create a recipe with one of those characters in mind?!

As most of us know, strong-arm comic strip character, Popeye the Sailor, has always toted that spinach makes you big and strong...which, as a child, I could even see that parents used this excuse to make me eat spinach, (mom and dad, you never had me fooled!), but as an adult, I love spinach. And I'm not the only one...as it happens, Popeye's popularity actually increased the sale of spinach in the U.S., needless to say, many a farmer became a Popeye fan! 

Although one would likely not consider Popeye Greek, I thought that preparing Spanakopita would be a good homage to this spinach lover. I have always enjoyed Spanakopita, but have never made it before...that phyllo pastry seems so daunting! But, alas, I discovered that it doesn't have to be so scary...its actually fun and simple to prepare. 

As many of you know, Spanakopita is a Greek pastry. It has a filling of chopped spinach and feta cheese, onions (or scallions) and some eggs...that sounds just about perfect to me!!! The filling is wrapped in the shape of a triangle in phyllo pastry. It is mostly eaten as a snack in Greece, but I think that a person could spread it out into a meal if they were so inclined. 

Here is a recipe that I found to be simple and tasty. I hope you enjoy as much as I did!

Ingredients:

1/2 cup vegetable oil
2 large onions, chopped
2 pkg frozen chopped spinach - thawed, drained and squeezed dry (10 ounce)
2 tbsp chopped fresh dill
2 tbsp all - purpose flour
2 pkg feta cheese, crumbled (4 ounce)
4 eggs, lightly beaten
salt and pepper to taste
1 1/2 pkg phyllo dough (16 ounce)
3/4 lb butter, melted

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).

2. Heat vegetable oil in a large saucepan over medium heat. Slowly cook and stir onions until softened. Mix in spinach, dill and flour. Cook approximately 10 minutes, or until most of the moisture has been absorbed. Remove from heat. Mix in feta cheese, eggs, salt and pepper.

3. Separate one sheet of phyllo from the stack and evenly brush with a light coating of butter. Place another sheet of phyllo over the butter and press the two sheets together. Cut the layered phyllo dough into long strips about 3 inches wide. Keep the remaining phyllo covered with plastic wrap to keep it from drying out.

4. Lay out one strip of phyllo at a time on your work surface with one of the narrow ends close to you. Place a heaping tablespoon of filling 1 inch from the end closest to you. Fold the bottom right corner over the filling to the left edge to form a triangle. Fold the triangle up, bringing the point at the bottom left up to rest along the left edge. Turn the lower left corner over to touch the right edge. Continue turning the triangle over in this manner until you reach the end of the phyllo. Repeat with the remaining filling and phyllo dough.

5. Place filled phyllo dough triangles on a large baking sheet and brush with the remaining butter. Bake in the preheated oven until golden brown, 45 minutes to 1 hour.

Enjoy as an appetizer or add a nice big greek salad and make it a meal!

Καλή όρεξη! (Kalí óreksi!)

"Dear" John's Meatloaf

As an avid reader of Nicholas Sparks novels (and watcher of their movie adaptations), I just had to include one of his novels in my blog. 

Dear John is a story about a soldier from South Carolina (a state that will always have a special place in my heart) who falls in love with a girl (Savannah) while on a two week leave. Theirs is a tale of how the heart can open so quickly. When John must return over seas (he can't tell her where...top secret stuff, I guess!) for his last tour they decide to correspond by letter and it appears that they will be able to make it for the long haul. But things can't be that easy. Just before his tour ends, 9/11 rocks the United States and John feels he must re-enlist to serve his country. As you can imagine, this has a rather damaging effect on their relationship and Savannah eventually stops corresponding with John and soon meets someone else. Its really quite sad. Another aspect of the story is John's fractured family life. He only has his father left and that is a rather strained relationship. 

But John's father, a reclusive man, who may or may not have a form of autism or obsessive compulsive disorder, does have a lot to do with food. He cooks all of his meals, but the unique part is that he schedules each of his meals each week....not new meals each week, but the same meal on the same day of the week...a bit of a 50's throwback! On Saturdays he always prepares meatloaf (on Sundays he prepares lasagna but we've already covered that a few weeks ago). So guess where this is going!!

Well, I started looking into meatloaf...the food not the singer, although I do love Paradise by the Dashboard Light....moving on.... Meatloaf is a humble and simple meal, but is also delicious and nostalgic (although I must admit, that for me, I do not remember my mother making meatloaf - she says she did....I wonder who is right!). 

Meatloaf is a dish of ground meat that is formed into a loaf and then baked or smoked and is usually made with ground beef, although sometimes people use lamb, pork, veal, venison, poultry or a combination of any of those. In the Great Depression, cooking meatloaf was a way for families to stretch the food budget by using inexpensive cuts of meat, grains, leftovers and some spices. 

Meatloaf has European origins and is a traditional German and Belgian dish. It is a cousin to the Dutch meatball. American meatloaf has its origin in scrapple, a mixture of ground pork ad cornmeal which was served by German-Americans since Colonial times. But meatloaf did not make its way into American cookbooks until the late 19th century. Meatloaf is very popular throughout many countries and a multitude of variations exist, often involving hard-boiled eggs. It is so popular in the States though, that in 2007 it was voted American's 7th favourite dish (Thanksgiving dinner is #1...figured someone would ask!). 

And now for the recipe. Hope you enjoy!

Ingredients: 

1 lb ground beef
1 to 2 tbsp horseradish
2 tbsp ketchup or chili sauce
2 tsp Worcestershire sauce
1 tsp salt
1/4 tsp black pepper
6 slices bacon, diced
2 cups chopped onions
1/2 cup thinly sliced sautéed mushrooms
1 1/4 cup cracker crumbs, divided
1 large egg
1/2 cup stock or broth

Preparation:

Preheat oven to 350F. Lightly grease a 9 x 5-inch loaf pan. 

Combine in a large bowl ground beef, horseradish, ketchup or chili sauce, Worcestershire sauce, salt, black pepper, bacon, onions, sautéed mushrooms 1 cup cracker crumbs and the egg. Mix with your hands until well blended. Shape into a loaf and roll in remaining cracker crumbs. Place in loaf pan and pour in stock or broth. 

Bake, basting occasionally, until meat loaf is firm to the touch or a thermometer inserted in the centre reads  160F, about an hour. Serve with gravy or ketchup. 

If you have left overs, like we usually do, a meatloaf sandwich on thick homemade or rustic bread is a always a good way to use it up. 

Enjoy your meal!

P.S. No photos this week. Meatloaf is delicious but not the most photogenic of meals!