Recipe: Terreno
Christmas Cocktails, Original Holiday Recipes and More!
My friend, Chis Nelson texted me just ahead of our “Christmas Cocktails” party, writing “Looking forward to it.“ And I texted back, “Me too. We need a party.” Pretty typical stuff, right?
Except, that we really did need a party. This truly has been a crazy year and comes on the heels of a lot of pretty crazy years. It wasn’t so much that we wanted to celebrate, but we needed to be with our friends.
You, dear readers, know I love parties, and I love to plan parties. I try to come up with ideas that will delight our guests. And this year was no different, except that a large part of this party took solace in tradition. When Robert and I started this holiday party eight years ago, it was because we wanted to celebrate like our parents did: invite all our friends over, decorate the house, and serve a ton of cocktails and good food.
And we’ve done that for eight years, except this year we relied on some traditional favorites, too: my mom’s famous crab dip; a pissaladière; a baked brie with sour cherries; and of course a ham to add warmth. It did the trick. By the end of the night no fewer than five of our friends told me this party reminded them of “Christmas Eve” and I knew just what they meant. It was like the “drop-in” parties our parents hosted (or brought us to). In the end, the best part of the night was that I got a lot of hugs. I needed them. I hope I see you during the holidays so I can give you one, too.
—Mary Kate
Highlights of Christmas Cocktails
Frozen Martini Bar
Once again, Robert made delicious, inventive Martinis, stored them in the freezer and then I encased them in ice. (Look here to learn how to do that.) When it was time to party, we put them on ice in the backyard that we’ve tented over to create “The Candle Club.”
This year, Robert made Martinis with Beefeater 47% abv gin (which is no longer made); “Airport Martinis” made with Bluecoat Gin from Philadelphia; the Hawksmoor Martini he wrote about recently for The Wall Street Journal, made with Ford’s Gin; 50-50 Martinis, made with Woody Creek Gin; Plymouth Gin Martinis; and even Manhattans, because, why not?
For the Airport Martini, I put out plastic cups with lemon wedges served on a toothpick—because it wouldn’t be an Airport Martini without bad glassware and garnishes!
Vintage Negronis
Let’s face it, if there ever was a year to pour out the good stuff, this is it. So, Robert pulled out some of the vintage spirits that we had purchased to make Negronis with someday, including 1960s Gordon’s Gin and Martini & Rossi sweet vermouth, and 1970s Campari. We had been nervous about the vermouth, wondering if it would still be good after all those years resting in the bottle (we had another new bottle waiting in the wings). But this was great; a bit oxidized, yet, but in an appealing way, tasting of prunes and stewed fruit, a bit like Marsala.
Knowing the vermouth could go south at any moment, we finished it within 24 hours. It was no hardship.
Lowlights
Part of the fun of this year’s soiree was that we were very relaxed about it. We just wanted to have fun. So, when I decided to make “Wisconsin Nachos” with bags of pretzel snaps, hot beer cheese, French’s crispy onions and bacon bits. Think Frito pie for Midwesterners. I wasn’t too concerned that no one ate it—though, I would like to give a shout out to Amanda (of “Schustack” fame) Schuster who put the hot beer cheese on her ham sandwich! We will not be bringing back the Wisconsin nachos, but we will always make logs…
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New Favorite Log
For the past few years I’ve been making logs (based on Buffalo’s popular Pizza Log snack), but last year I made “Regional Food Logs” (to learn how to do that click here.) And this year, in an effort to add a homey touch, I made Thanksgiving Logs. We all know that a combination of stuffing, mashed potatoes, gravy, turkey and cranberry sauce make for the perfect bite, so why not make it better by enveloping it in crispy, hot dough?
Recipe: Thanksgiving Log
To make this log, I literally took equal parts stuffing and mashed potatoes, doused it with some gravy, added it all to a Ziplock bag and mixed it up.
I then spread my egg roll wrapper out in the baseball diamond position.
Wet the edges and squeeze out the mix onto the wrapper in between home plate and the pitcher section of the wrapper. Add a slice of turkey and top it with a half teaspoon of canned cranberry sauce.
Bring the home plate section up to just past the pitcher’s mound, bring the first base corner over, then the third base corner over and roll to the outfield.
Make sure to spread water around the edges of the wrapper before rolling, especially the top corner to seal the wrap.
Heat an inch of vegetable oil in a frying pan and fry each side until golden. Drain on a paper towel or brown bag.
Serve hot (but not so hot your guests burn their mouths!).
These were the big hit of the party this year. This and the crab dip.
Recipe: Stone Path
For the party I wanted to have a new non-alcoholic drink. Robert recently alerted me to an old drink called the Stone Fence. It ranges from equal parts whiskey and apple cider to 1:2 parts whiskey to apple cider. I thought it might be nice to substitute my favorite non-alcoholic amaro, Pathfinder, for the whiskey, and thus the Stone Path was born.
2 ounces Pathfinder Spirits, N/A amaro.
4 ounces Apple Cider
Build in a highball glass over ice, stir and enjoy with a clear enough head to fry Thanksgiving logs!
A Note on The Martini Cocktail Book
Three weeks ago, I appeared on the program CBS Sunday Morning in a segment about the Martini. In the segment, my 2019 book The Martini Cocktail was featured.
Good news, right? Well, yes and no. The response was such that my remaining stock of the book sold out in days. My publisher ran out of copies and so did Amazon.
However, there is hope on the horizon. A new printing of the book is on its way and should be in stores and on Amazon in the next few days. So, if you were planning on giving someone a copy for the holidays, or buying a copy yourself, don’t give up! Keep checking. Fresh stock should be there soon!
Speaking of The Martini Cocktail, an incident at our holiday party brought to mind a certain chapter in the book (and a recipe)…