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Select Oyster Bar
50 Gloucester Street
Boston, MA
www.selectboston.com
Cucumber-Thai Basil Gin and Tonic
One might think that a gin and tonic is impossible to mess up. And on a level that's true. But a well-made one has a good amount of lime, at least two ounces of gin (no less, maybe a little more) and is topped with tonic (ideally without HFCS or quinine). Like any good cocktail, you don't want any one ingredient overpowering the others, so the proportions are key. This is what's consumed most on the Cape, often as we prepare dinner and watch the sunset over the lake. Now, I don't like to mess with a good thing, but I had this idea of adding a few more ingredients. We had some leftover Thai basil in the fridge and a few cucumbers and I thought that if there were any two ingredients that could possibly make a G+T even more enjoyable to drink, it'd be these. It works beautifully together and, as I suspected, these are very easy to sip on.
Cucumber Thai Basil Gin and Tonic
Yield
1 drink
Glassware
Highball glass
Tools
Jigger
Muddler
Ingredients
2 oz gin
1 thickly cut slice of cucumber, peeled and chopped into a few pieces
Juice of 1/2 a lime
2 Thai basil leaves, ripped into pieces
Tonic
Thai basil, for garnish
Directions
Pour the lime juice and gin into the highball glass. Add the cucumber and Thai basil and muddle for 30 seconds, until the they've broken up and the cucumber has released juices.
Fill 3/4 of the way with ice cubes. Fill the remainder of the glass with tonic. Garnish with a bunch of Thai basil.
Lemon-Cured Sardine Crostini
One thing I had not planned on doing this week was gutting and filleting a bunch of sardines. Nope... wasn't on my agenda. But yesterday I found myself hovering over the kitchen sink, removing all those fun bits and very carefully running a paring knife through each one. I struggled at first. They're fragile little dudes and because my filleting skills aren't the best, they definitely didn't look pretty. By the end, though, I started to get the hang of it. And, really, that's the hardest part of this recipe (maybe if you ask nicely you can get someone at the fish counter to clean and fillet them for you). The rest of it comes together quickly. Just some seasoning and lemon and then they head for the refrigerator to chill and get their cure on.
We head off to the Berkshires later this week where we'll be spending time with my parents, sister and her family. It'll be nice to get away for a little bit. I plan to leave my camera at home... as much as I love what I do, a break is needed. Of course, I'll still have my phone with me to capture all the cute things my nieces do and I'm sure there'll be a few posts on Instagram of places Eric and I stop off to eat.
Lemon-Cured Sardine Crostini with Ricotta and Fennel
Ingredients
8 sardines, cleaned and filleted
1 fennel bulb, thinly sliced (white and light green sections only)
1/2 lemon, thinly sliced
Juice of 1 lemon
Salt
Pepper
1 baguette, sliced on a bias and toasted
Whole-milk ricotta
Capers, drained
Fresh parsley, finely chopped
Directions
Place the sardine fillets in a single layer in a glass baking dish. Season with 1 tablespoon salt and 1/2 tsp black pepper. Sprinkle with some of the fennel and a few lemon slices. Repeat with remaining sardines, fennel and lemon. Pour the lemon juice over the sardines and cover the baking dish with aluminum foil, making sure to press down so it touches the fish. Weigh down with glass jars and refrigerate for 24 hours.
To assemble the crostini, spread 1 tablespoon of ricotta on each slice of bread. Top with 1 sardine fillet, fennel, capers and chopped parsley.
