Bloody Mary Week: Classic B.M. w/Fire Roasted Tomato Olives + Bresaola

    Today's Bloody Mary garnish has no cheese in it.  I know.  That's pretty weird.  But bear with me, here.  For Charcuterie makes a strong appearance.  Particularly Bresaola Piccola from Creminelli Fine Meats.  
    I'm not much into eating beef, however this air-dried eye of round is amongst my favorite pieces of charcuterie.  The salt and pepper profile of the beef blends well with the spicy-tomato of the Classic Bloody Mary.  Meanwhile the olives provide their astringent vegetal flavors paired with a fire-roasted tomato filling.  All together this topping lends a smokey, vaguely peat-y, roasted note to the cocktail as a whole.  

Fire Roasted Tomato Stuffed Olives w/Bresaola

Green Olives, pitted

Fire Roasted Tomatoes,  in oil

Bresaola, sliced paper thin

• Drain and pat dry olives
• Drain tomatoes(Set aside the oil. It makes an awesome drizzle for arugula salad or chicken breast.) cut width wise into thin strips.
• Stuffing these olives is fairly easy.  I found that folding up the tomato piece and just poking it into the olive worked fine.  
• String your stuffed olive and Bresaola slices onto a skewer in an ascetically pleasing way.
• I also suggest taking a little nibble of garnish before sipping the cocktail.  Though, I'm sure that goes with out saying.

Enjoy!

    (Responsibly)     

For the Classic Bloody Mary recipe see The Board and Wire post here!

(Oh and one more thing.  That little bit of something dangling off the skewer is called a flower pepper.  It's a real scorcher!)

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Bloody Mary Week: A Classic B.M. with Gorgonzola + Almond Stuffed Olives

    At long last the Great Bloody Mary Week has arrived!  Inspired by warmer weather and a love of mid-morning I couldn't resist featuring this brunch-time classic.  Not only is the Bloody Mary a favorite cocktail of mine it's an awesome vechicle for exotic garnish.  More so than your average plain martini.  Which, for myself, ends up being a glass of olives moistened with spirits.  Seriously.  
    As I'm sure you can predict I was motivated to discover what fancy extra bits I could adorn my Bloody Mary with when I planned out this week long feature.  So brace yourself, it's about to get crazy up in here.
    I'll start with the garnish (duh).  This was a bit more on the "Classic with a twist" side of things.  The picant finish and wet-crumble of the Gorgonzola adds interest to the drink.  While the almonds help sooth some of the heat.  This is really a texturally exciting and delicious bit of decoration.

Gorgonzola + Almond Stuffed Olives

Pitted olives of choice, drained and patted dry 

(I chose plain green)

Gorgonzola, room temperature 

(I chose an aged version for more bite)

Almonds, sliced and blanched

• Crush one part almond into two parts Gorgonzola.  

• Mash together with a fork until well combined.

• To stuff the olives I've heard of bartenders using wide, plastic mouthed syringes (like those used to give animals liquid medicine. Weird, I know) to pipe in the filling.

• However I just gracelessly used my well cleaned hands to poke the cheese and almond mixture in.  

• Slide your freshly stuffed olives onto a skewer with other garnish of your choice.

• Place on top of your Bloody Mary and...well...you know what to do next.  

Enjoy!

(responsibly.)  

The Bloody Mary recipe was adapted from Martha Stewart's.  To make the Board and Wire version combine the following.

TBAW Bloody Mary

8oz. Tomato Juice 

1/2 t Tabasco

1/2 t Prepared Horseradish

1/2 t Worcestershire Sauce

1 T Lime Juice 

(or juice from 1 crushed lime)

1 shot of Vodka

• Put all ingredients together in a 16oz tumbler.

• Stir well to combine.  

• You may want to leave the spoon in since the horseradish tends to sink to the bottom of the glass after a time.
• I also recommend salting the rim of your glass with course salt.  I am occasionally the junkie for savory things.

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Capricho de Cabra with Colorado Honey + Lavender Blooms

    A fresh half-puck of Capricho de Cabra lightly sprinkled with french lavender blossoms and local honey.  This is what springtime breakfasts are made of.  There's just something about the clean, lemony tang of goat cheese that lends its self so well to sultry lavender and vaguely astringent clover honey.

    Thanks to my dear friend Lyn, back East, I have harbored an obsession for lavender flavored anything.  This dense, cakey Capricho being no exception.

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