Tuesday, June 2, 2009

Hello Horseradish, My Old Vodka - Part II


I know I was supposed to have this up on Friday, but I’m not a total alcoholic and I’m not really one for drinking vodka on a random night in the name of “research.” Okay, that’s not entirely true, I did make myself a Bloody Mary a few nights ago just to try it; but I wanted some friends to try my creation before I told the masses about it.
On Friday, I met a friend of mine and we got to talking about her travels (she’s a jet-setter) and about spicy foods. Talk of spicy food tuned to talk of spicy drinks and I told her about my jalapeno-horseradish vodka experiment. Which of course, turned to talk of brunch because what goes better with brunch than a Bloody Mary? Anyone who answered a Mimosa is not a true fan of brunch or drinking. In my estimation, any Champagne “worth” mixing with orange juice and giving away in unlimited quantities is probably not worth drinking anyway. After that, it seemed like only a logical conclusion that Bloody Mary’s should be part of our future. Sunday, I turned up at my aforementioned beautiful Australian friend’s, toting my light green bottle of vodka, for Blood Mary’s with a sprinkling of brunch. We invited our other friend who had named my scallop dish and were joined by…I’m not really sure what to round out our quartet.
I filled a glass with some ice and poured my vodka about a third of the way up; I added some V8, a squeeze of fresh lime and a dash of Worcestershire Sauce. The Bloody Mary was perfectly spicy…at least for three of us, and we were in agreement that the addition of more Tabasco would’ve made it entirely too spicy. The spice from the jalapeno and the bite from the horseradish melded perfectly with the tomato juice and the lime juice and Worcestershire rounded everything out.
Then it was on to brunch itself. I grilled a couple chicken breasts and sautéed some shrimp with some of the vodka marinated jalapenos left over from infusing. Then I grated some lime zest over the shrimp and jalapeno mixture and transferred it to a bowl. My sauces made an appearance as well. I had made three different dipping sauces for baked chicken wings: Mango-Lime, Chocolate Mole & Habanero. The Mango-Lime sauce worked wonders on the shrimp, while the Chocolate Mole and Habanero sauces were amazing on the chicken.
We feasted and drank Bloody Mary’s until it was agreed upon that one can only drink so much vodka before the sun goes down; so we switched to wine.
In all, I was impressed with the way my jalapeno-horseradish vodka turned out. On it’s own, it packs a serious punch and has a gift that keeps on giving in the form of a burn that irradiates down your esophagus. But when combined with tomato juice and lime juice, it takes on a whole new dimension. I’m trying to figure out what else I can do with the vodka, a spicy Martini comes to mind, but I’m not sure what else. Until then, my light green experiment will sit in my refrigerator waiting for another reason to find its way down my throat.

Next time, cooking for a vegetarian who bought me…for a good cause.