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- 1. OUTPUT: 06/10/13 17:57 USER: BQUINTERO-I V44S_BR MASTER 10-12-10 PAGE:D1MODESTO MODESTO_BEE-PRERUN-1-06/12/13 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ BLACKYELLOWCYANMAGENTA Recipes & Requests CCOOLOOL WATERSATERSCOOL WATERS A Seeking culinary lavender BY TERI WATSON [email protected] Caroline Ghinassi of Newcastle was hoping someone knew of a place to purchase culinary lavender. Rene Martin of Yuba City has a friend who grows lavender. Her website is www. thefarmerswifeonline. com. ᔡ Coleslaw like the Colonel makes: Some time ago I saw in The Bee the recipe for Kentucky Fried Chicken’s coleslaw. I cut it out but failed to put it in my cookbook. I have since lost the recipe. This recipe made perfect coleslaw. I even lost weight eating it. I am 86 years old. I love your column. — Loudella Gossage, Turlock (Watson is a Sacramento home economist who has been a nutrition consultant and cooking instructor for nearly 20 years. She is a member of the American Association of Family and Consumer Science. Write: Teri Watson, Taste, The Sacramento Bee, P.O. Box 15779, Sacramento 95852. Fax: 916-556-5625. Email: [email protected]. Include your full name, phone number and city. ENCHILADA GRAVY Prep time: 5 minutes Cook time: 20 minutes Makes enough for 24 enchiladas Sandra Schirmer of Citrus Heights lost a favorite enchilada gravy recipe in a move. She was hoping someone could help. Carol Walker of Ceres and her sister always use this recipe when making enchiladas. Maybe this will be a match for Schirmer. ᔡ Ingredients: ½ cup shortening or oil ½ cup flour 1 (6-ounce) can tomato paste 8 cups water ¼ cup chili powder 2 teaspoons salt ½ teaspoon garlic powder ᔡ Instructions: If using shortening, melt it in a skillet and mix with flour to make a smooth paste or mix the oil and flour together to make a smooth paste. Add tomato paste and blend into the shortening or oil paste. Blend in 8 cups of water, 1 cup at a time, mixing well. Add chili powder, salt and garlic powder. Cook over medium heat until smooth, then simmer on low heat until ready to make enchiladas. ᔡ Per serving: 57 calories; 1 gram protein; 4 grams carbohydrates; 4 grams fat (1 saturated, 2 monounsaturated, 1 polyunsaturated); 0 milligrams cholesterol; 220 milligrams sodium; 0 grams fiber; 66 percent calories from fat. COOKING / NUTRITION Taste Ask Amy D2 Puzzles/Games D2 Comics D3 BY SHARON K. GHAG • [email protected] cold drink on a hot day is one of summer’s pleasures. Multiply your refreshment with some new drink ideas. A soda is just a beverage, but a homemade soda is cartoon character reaction good. One sip and your eyes will pop out of their sockets and your mouth will get “WOW” big. That’s how good it is. Ripe cherries in the back yard inspired this version, but a soda made with blackberry, peach or strawberry syrup will have you dreaming of putting summer’s fruits to good use. Fix and stash a batch or two in the freezer. The sugar content keeps the syrup from freezing hard, so it’s always ready to mix with seltzer. If cooking syrup seems like a tad too much work, then turn it into a chiller by combining ¾ cup seltzer with 3 tablespoons fruit purée. For peach purée, “The Lee Bros. Charleston Kitchen” (Clarkson Potter, $35) recommends combining 1 pound ripe peaches, peeled and pitted, with ¼ cup lime juice (three limes), 1 teaspoon sugar and ¾ teaspoon salt. Purée the ingredients in a blender. For each drink, pour 6 ounces (¾ cup) seltzer water over ice into a highball glass. Stir in 3 tablespoons peach purée and garnish with a peach slice. A squirt of lemon in water is just the starting point for refreshing the palate and quenching your thirst. Steeped and infused water, with or without tea, offers even more choices. The tamarind water is a wake-up call to go outside your comfort zone in reaching for a cold one. It’s tart and sweet and — most important — refreshing. Tamarind in pliable bricks can be found in Asian markets. Herbs add another element when slaking your thirst. Steep rosemary, lemon verbena, basil, lavender or chamomile and chill and drink, or freeze in trays and add to drinks as ice cubes. And don’t forget spices. Cinnamon sticks, a pinch of saffron and sweet fennel are more flavor options. Finally, there’s no better way to end an evening than with an ice cold egg cream. This soda, consisting of chocolate syrup, milk and seltzer, probably dates to the 19th century, according to “New York Sweets: A Sugarhound’s Guide to the Best Bakeries, Ice Cream Parlors, Candy Shops, and Other Emporia of Delicious Delights,” by Susan Pear Meisel (Rizzoli International, $29.95). “The modern versions contain neither egg nor cream, although earlier versions did include eggs in the ingredients,” according to the book. Whatever its origins, it sure hits the spot. Bee staff writer Sharon K. Ghag can be reached at (209) 578-2340 or [email protected]. SOUR CHERRY SYRUP Makes 2 cups ᔡ Ingredients: 2 quarts fresh sour cherries, pitted 2 cups sugar Juice of ½ lemon ᔡ Instructions: In a medium saucepan set over medium heat, combine the cherries, sugar and lemon juice and bring to a boil. Simmer for 30 minutes. Strain the syrup through a fine-mesh strainer and discard the fruit solids. Store the syrup in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to seven days. Pour over ice cream or stir into milk. • Cherry soda: Fill tall glass with ice. Add 3 tablespoons syrup and add a few dashes citric acid solution or acid phosphate. Top with seltzer and mix gently. • Cherry cream soda: Fill a tall glass with ice. Add in 3 tablespoons syrup, pour in seltzer until the glass is almost full. Stir. Top with 3 tablespoons milk and serve. • Cherry lassi: Add 3 tablespoons yogurt to a pint glass. Stir until smooth. Add 3 tablespoons cherry syrup and stir until syrup and yogurt are incorporated. Fill three-quarters full with water, stir and top with ice. • Bourbon and cherry chocolate: Add 1¾ ounces Maker’s Mark bourbon, 1 tablespoon cherry syrup and dash of chocolate bitters to a cocktail shaker half-filled with ice. Shake and strain over fresh ice cubes or into a rocks glass, or serve neat in a martini glass. • Cherry ice cream soda: Fill a tall glass with ice. Add 3 tablespoons syrup. Add enough seltzer until the glass is two-thirds full, stirring briskly. Add 1 scoop vanilla ice cream, then top with more seltzer, taking care that it doesn’t run over. The syrup recipe and most of the serving suggestions are from “Make Your Own Soda: Syrup Recipes for All-Natural Pops, Floats, Cocktails and More,” by Anton Nocito (Clarkson Potter, $14.99). Quench your thirst, refresh your palate Mailbox TRADITIONAL CHOCOLATE EGG CREAM Serves 1 ᔡ Ingredients: › cup (3 ounces) whole milk About ¾ cup (6 ounces) very cold seltzer 3 tablespoons (1½ ounces) chocolate syrup Straight pretzel rod for garnish ᔡ Instructions: Pour the milk into a 12-ounce glass and add the seltzer. Using a long spoon, stir vigorously for a few seconds. Gently pour the chocolate syrup into the glass, then stir again, taking care to stir mostly at the bottom of the glass to incorporate. Garnish with a straight pretzel rod. This recipe is from “New York Sweets: A Sugarhound’s Guide to the Best Bakeries, Ice Cream Parlors, Candy Shops, and Other Emporia of Delicious Delights,” by Susan Pear Meisel (Rizzoli International, $29.95). LEMON AND MINT INFUSION Serves 1, pictured above ᔡ Ingredients: 2 slices lemon and 2 sprigs fresh mint ᔡ Instructions: For a refreshing start to the day, place the lemon and mint into a heatproof glass and cover with boiling water. Allow to steep for two minutes before drinking. This recipe is from “Share: The Cookbook That Celebrates Our Common Humanity” (Kyle Books, $35). INFUSED AND FLAVORED WATERS From left at top are cool cucumber, pungent rosemary and tart tamarind. ᔡ Ingredients/instructions: • Cucumber water: 1 cucumber, peeled and seeded; juice of 1 lime; 5 cups water; sugar, to taste; 1 lime, sliced, for garnish In the jar of a blender, blend the cucumber and lime juice and then strain through a fine-mesh sieve for an hour. Add the juice to the water, along with a little sugar to taste. Serve garnished with a lime slice. • Rosemary lemon iced tea: 1 bunch rosemary, well washed; zest of 2 lemons; juice of 2 lemons; 1 cup sugar; 5 cups water Put the rosemary, lemon zest, lemon juice and sugar in a heatproof container in a small saucepan, bring to a boil and pour it over. Stir and let infuse for two hours. Strain and serve cold. • Tamarind tea: 5 cups water; 1 cup tamarind paste; 1 cup sugar In a small saucepan, bring the water to a simmer over medium heat. Add the tamarind and sugar and stir for about five minutes, then let soak for two hours. Strain through a fine-mesh sieve and serve cold. This recipe is from “Mediterranean Cooking,” by The Culinary Institute of America and by Lynne Gigliotti (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, $34.99). For past columns, go to www.modbee.com/ columnists/mail_box. Wednesday, June 12, 2013 | The Modesto Bee | modbee.com D1