Emily's Hot Dish

This recipe is adapted from an idea I stole from Greg Frost. I met Greg in the first class I took at UW during August of 2002. It was a drama class with a nutty tyrant of a professor who refused to go barefoot even though she made us do so and yelled at me to “just learn to take a goddamn note!” when I asked her a question about a note I didn’t understand. At one point the class was playing some sort of movement game and Greg stood up quickly and whacked my face with the back of his head. I ended up with a HUGE fat lip. Seven years (God, has it really been SEVEN YEARS?) later, I think he’s finally made it up to me with this recipe. It’s very easy to make and is wonderfully crisp and refreshing. Sure, it’s a little more complicated than mixing a can with water – but it’s not something you can find in the stores and it makes a lovely non-alcoholic drink to serve to guests at a barbecue or to take with you on a picnic. And it would definitely take the sting out of a fat lip. 

Dump the lemonade concentrate into your pitcher. Fill the can with water twice and pour into the blender carafe.

Cut the cucumber into pieces, reserving several very thin slices, and place in the blender. Blend until pureed, about 30 seconds. 

Place the strainer on top of the pitcher and slowly pour the liquid from the blender through it. Using a spatula or wooden spoon, press on the solids in the strainer to eke out all the liquid you can.

Mix two more cans of water into the pitcher and stir to combine. Serve very cold garnished with reserved cucumber slices. 

Note: This also mixes very well with Midori if you want to punch it up a bit. Yum... 

The heat has finally broken here in Seattle. We’ve returned to our regularly scheduled programming – overcast mornings, sunny afternoons in the 70s, drizzles in the evening and cooler temperatures overnight. It’s much more civilized and we’ve all recommenced wearing pants. If you’re living somewhere that it’s hot – or even if you’re not – you’ll love this sweet and creamy blended drink.

The recipe is adapted from one given on Alton Brown's show Good Eats. I’ve adjusted the measurements to make a full-blender batch, which serves 4 if you’re feeling generous or 2 if you’re thirsty. 

Juice enough oranges to get 17 fluid ounces of juice. The number of oranges you need for this will vary depending on the type of orange, its size, and how ripe it is. When I made this recipe to take the pictures it took 10 small ones, but earlier this week I used 8 medium-sized oranges. 

Reserve 4 fluid ounces (1/2 cup) fresh juice, then pour the rest into an ice cube tray and freeze until solid, at least 2 hours.

When the juice is solid, empty the cubes into a blender. Add the milk, vanilla, powdered sugar, and reserved non-frozen orange juice and blend. Serve garnished with an orange wedge. 

It’s hot here in Seattle. Damn hot. Today temperatures peaked at over 90 degrees which may be fine if you live in a place like California or Arizona where every house has air conditioning, but here in Seattle only the grocery stores and movie theatres are climate-controlled. When it gets hot like this the only thing to do is lower the blinds (to reflect the sun), open the windows, turn on a fan and lie around in your underwear drinking cold beverages. To that end, we’ve been drinking wine cocktails. They’re a little bit boozy, cool and refreshing, but there’s not enough alcohol to cause problems with dehydration and hangovers. 

You will need:

Lillet
Cointreau (or Triple Sec)
Lemon juice
Sparkling water (chilled)
Raspberries (to garnish)

I use a measure that is .75 fluid ounces. If you have a jigger, the small side probably holds that much. Mix 1 part Lillet, 1 part Cointreau, 1 part lemon juice, and 4 to 5 parts sparkling water. Serve in a champagne flute garnished with 2 raspberries. Best if very cold.