Elderflower Mojitos

I love these vintage-y Stella Artois glasses, especially to showoff this awesome elderflower-gin mojito based cocktail to celebrate the arrival of second summer. Seriously, take a look at this weather:

Elderflower Mojito

Ingredients: listed in order of use

Yield: one cocktail, 25 cl, or about a 8 oz glass

bunch of sprigs of fresh mint

1 shot, or approx. 1/8 cup cold gin (I'm going to assume vodka or rum would work as well)

1 shot, or approx. 1/8 cup elderflower drink concentrate/syrup. You can buy the elderflower stuff at IKEA.

1/3 cup ice cubes, crushed if possible

wedge of lemon

sparkling water to fill to top of glass

Directions:

1. Fill the mint leaves at the bottom of the glass and muddle them together with a back of a spoon, or with a pestle. Top with the gin and elderflower. Mix together. Top with ice cubes, a lemon wedge, and enough sparkling water to top off the glass. Garnish with a fresh mint sprig.

Roasted Cauliflower with Red Kidney Beans and Capers

If you buy cauliflower thinking you'll do something with it, and then find it after a week, this is a nice way to use it up.  This is an excellent dish to serve with other tapas.

Ingredients:
1 medium head cauliflower, chopped into rough pieces
1/2 zucchini, sliced into quarters
1 14 oz can red-kidney beans, rinsed and drained
6-8 cloves garlic, minced fine
2 T capers, rinsed
juice of 1 lemon
2 T olive oil
2 T mint or parsley, chopped
Salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 375 F. 
2. In a large mixing bowl, mix together cauliflower through olive oil. Add about 1/2 tsp of salt and mix together. 
3. Place the cauliflower mixture in a large roasting pan, and bake for 25 minutes. Cauliflower is done when golden-brown.
4. Top with mint or parsley and season with pepper. Adjust taste for salt (I find that lemon and capers  do a fine job seasoning and choose to omit most of the salt).

Potato Pancakes with Mint Raitu

It's heading into fall in central NC, and the garden is still a growing. Cukes, carrots, and lots of mint and basil got used in this. A food processor makes shredding the potatoes easy, but if you don't have one, just shred them with a wide handle box grater. These cook up nicely on a cast-iron skillet. Serve fresh with some raitu.


Potato Pancakes

Ingredients:
yield: 8 cakes
3-4 medium potatoes (I had yukon on hand)
1 onion, quartered
2 T red opal basil (if you have, makes for nice color), chopped
2 T green basil, chopped
1 t salt
1/2 t lemon pepper
1/2 to 3/4 cup bread crumbs
2 eggs, mixed
1/4 cup oil, divided

(basically any herbs you want to add will probably taste good)

Directions:

1. Shred potatoes and onion together and place in a mixing bowl.
2. 
3. Add in basil through eggs and stir together well. Be liberal with the breadcrumbs.
4. 
5. Heat half of the vegetable oil in a cast iron skillet over medium heat. Put a oven-safe plate in the oven, and turn to 200.
   
6. When skillet is hot, form patties with your hand and place in skillet. You should be able to cook 4 on a 12" skillet. Cook until golden, usually 8 minutes per side.
7. 
8. Meanwhile begin assembling raitu.
9. Cook until golden on both sides. Add in additional oil if needed for preparing the rest of the cakes. To keep warm, place on oven-safe dish, and cover until ready to serve.
10. 

Mint Raitu

Ingredients:
1 cup whole-milk yogurt (you can use the low-fat variety if that is your thing)
1/4 cup shredded cucumber
2 T shredded carrot (1/2 carrot)
1/2 t cumin
pinch cayenne
1/2 t salt
1/8 t lemon pepper
2 T mint, chiffoned

Directions

1. Mix together, taste, and adjust seasoning if needed.
2. Thin with water if necessary.