It’s Mixology Monday, hosted by Natalie of The Liquid Muse. The theme this month is Pairings, meaning the pairing of cocktails with food.
I find it easy to match foods with wine and with beer, but harder to do so with cocktails. My big favorite pairing is a nice Martini with sushi or sashimi, particularly if one skips the traditional olive or lemon garnish for the drink and drops in a little pickled ginger instead.
But today I’m fighting a head cold. I did some air traveling the last week or so, and breathing the same air as hundreds of other weary humans almost always causes me to pick up a bug or two. I’m shocked to realize it, but gin plus raw fish sounds all wrong to me in this state. I need something soothing and sweet and altogether comforting.
Fortunately, this suggests a particular cocktail: the Hot Toddy. Toddies are my saviors when I’m under the weather, as the warmth soothes my throat and loosens nasty phlegm, the lemon revives my senses, and the whiskey numbs the pain. They are also perfect for cold, damp weather, like a rainy fall or winter afternoon.
Hot Toddy
2oz. bourbon or whiskey
squeeze of lemon juice
teaspoon of sugar
dash or two of orange bitters
boiling waterPut the sugar, lemon, bitters, and bourbon in a 12 ounce mug or Irish coffee mug. Add boiling water to fill. Stir to combine, breathe in the healing vapors, and enjoy.
With my toddy, I’d love a fresh-from-the-oven oatmeal cookie. I often use the recipe below, which makes a flourless and super-chewy cookie that tastes slightly of cinnamon. The flavors go nicely with a warm, lemony toddy too.
Chewy Oatmeal Cookies
4T butter, softened
3/4 c firmly packed light brown sugar
1/4 c granulated sugar
2 eggs
1 ts vanilla extract
2 1/2 c old-fashioned rolled oats (not instant)
1 ts baking powder
1 ts cinnamon
1/4 ts saltBeat butter, borwn sugar, and granulated sugar in a medium bowl with an electric mixer on low, until combined. Beat in eggs and vanilla until thick and light.
In another medium bowl, mix oats, baking powder, and salt. Stir into butter mixture, blending thoroughly. IMPORTANT: Refrigerate batter for 1 hour.
Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
Drop batter by measuring tablespoonfuls onto baking sheets.
Bake for 8 minutes or until edges are browned. cool on baking sheets for about 5 mintues. Remove to wire rack to cool completely.
Makes 36 to 40 cookies.
Recipe adapted from Comfort Food by Holly Garrison (Dell Trade Paperback: New York, 1988).
Find more delicious food and cocktail pairings at Natalie’s Mixology Monday post.
Who lost the pghbloggers domain???
Thanks for pointing that out, Laurie. We’ll fix it.
That would be my fault, Laurie. My first expired domain in about 4 years… and it’s the Pittsburgh Bloggers one (of course).
Fortunately, ICANN has made it nearly impossible for one to lose a domain accidentally. You really have to decide you don’t want it anymore, so it was never lost.
Everything is right with the world again.
Thanks for giving us the heads up, too!
Glad it had a reasonably happy ending.
I have my domains through GoDaddy, where they send out many, many reminders in a three month run-up to your domain expiring.
My mouth is watering after reading your pairing. Long Island Iced Teas are my favorite drink. Unfortunately for me they seem to combine well with any food.
I love hot toddies. The first time I had one, I was wretched with some horrible fluey thing. Somebody suggested a toddy, and by the time I was halfway through that glass, I felt like a million goddamn bucks.
I tried to order one a few weeks ago in San Jose, when I had That Thing That’s Going Around
Travis: Would you believe I’ve never had a Long Island Iced Tea? I suppose I’ll need to try one.
India: Who doesn’t have hot water? That’s just silly. Barbarians indeed!
I like my Long Island Ice Teas mixed with a little sours added in. Decent ingredients and just the right proportions are necessary or it can taste like kerosene or just bad instant tea. It is risky to order in a bar, but nothing ventured, nothing gained.
Sadly, I don’t do alcohol unless I’ve got a lot of support around (I tend to keel over after a glass of wine), so the toddy isn’t for me, though I suspect my husband would happily allow himself to get ill just for the chance to dose himself. I bake oatmeal cookies all the time, though, and have a recipe similar to yours that is half rolled oats and half oat flour (just whirl it in the blender 1/3 cup at a time). Very Scottish, and the ultimate comfort food.
Cynthia – I do love a good oatmeal cookie! By the way, I clicked on the Absinthe ad that’s currently appearing in your sidebar, and found a couple bottles listed at $199 and $300 for .7L of the stuff. I’m tempted to buy some of it (plus a suitable absinthe spoon to go with the sugar cubes I already have) to see how it is.
Ian
Ian: I’d be very interested to hear about the absinthe. I’m not at all tempted to make a purchase — I can wait until the legal versions make their slow and tedious way into Pennsylvania liquor stores.
The absinthe alternative Absente sold promotional boxes last year or so that had absinthe-inspired artwork on the outside, by Vincent Van Gogh and others, and included a free absinthe spoon. So now I have a couple in various styles, and if you honestly are thinking of buying some of the real stuff I’ll happily send you one of these.