Two Triumphs

Two triumphs last night, and that's not even counting the chocolate sorbet, which was pretty fantastic itself. In fact, these have been a good couple of days for delicious items to imbibe and devour.

A desire to make use of the fresh herbs in the garden led to two beverages discoveries, a lemon-thyme cocktail of my own invention and a blueberry-thai basil-gin drink that I had the inspiration to search the web for, and the good luck to find. And then I made my best ever sangria as well -- so good that I even bothered to write down the ingredients for later replication.

These weren't even the real triumphs.

Vegetable Torta and Salted Caramel Ice Cream, those were the culinary triumphs.

I had Friday afternoon off (the last of summer hours for 2010), and all I felt like doing was cooking. Much as I love to write, sometimes I need to get my hands on something other than a keyboard. I wanted something complicated and delicious, that I could spend some serious time on and then be proud of.

These recipes fit the bill perfectly. The Vegetable Torta clocked in at about 2.5 hours, all active (plus baking time) and then I made the Chocolate Sorbet as well. I didn't have the energy for the Salted Caramel Ice Cream, so I promised myself that I'd make the caramel first thing on Saturday to give it plenty of time to cool, churn, and freeze before the guests arrived for our evening BBQ.

The torta was so damn good. It is now my official go-to recipe for a nice vegetarian main course. On further reflection, I bet I can cut the time down to 1.5 active hours, and call that time well spent. I wish I'd taken a photo of how lovely it looked, but I didn't. Maybe next time.

The caramel ice cream didn't freeze all that solid, more like soft serve than regular ice cream. But the taste -- I served scoops of it and the chocolate sorbet in plastic cups. We were all sitting in a loose circle in the dark yard, gently lit by the pinkish glow of the streetlight. The cheerful babble of wine- and food-fueled conversation faded as the cups spread around the group. Total silence fell. We just ate. Then the murmurs arose: good, so good. Dave described Kathryn as having tears in her eyes as she licked her spoon.

It really was that good. I want to tinker with the recipe some to get the texture a little more solid, but otherwise, this was one of the most perfect foods I have ever tasted, let alone created.

Lemon-Thyme Cocktail

2 oz vodka
1 oz lemon-thyme syrup (see below)
juice from half a lemon
seltzer to taste

Combine ingredients in a glass over ice, stir lightly to combine. Adjust seltzer quantity to taste.

Thyme Lemonade
Same as above, only leave out the vodka. Lovely non-alcoholic beverage.

Lemon-Thyme Syrup

2 T fresh thyme leaves
zest from one lemon
1/2 c sugar
1/2 c water

Bring all ingredients to a boil in a small saucepan, stirring to dissolve the sugar. Let cool, then chill overnight in the refrigerator. Strain and pour into a glass bottle. I bet this will keep in the fridge for at least a week, but I haven't had the chance to test that theory. It tastes too good.