Shoestring Gourmet: Foods Made with Liqueurs

By Alan Gore

April’s Shoestring, dishes featuring rice, took place outdoors on a fine spring evening that luckily fell between storms. Because of the rice theme, our creations were mainly, though not entirely, Asian. Diana Toone and Ray Pisar started us off with Thai nam sod cuon, which is made with chicken, lime juice and fish sauce with onions plus, for the adventurous, optional pepper flakes. After George Miles cleared our palates with a little sake, Jim Morgan brought out his duck and andouille jambalaya. Ursula Gore’s spring salad with choice of dressings was followed by her Indonesian chicken and coconut, with rice and edible flowers. Jane Khatiblou dished up curry beef with rice, and Syd Golston followed with cabbage rice rolls. Joice Braden rolled out her entrée: Evans rice with broccoli, with slivered almonds, pine nuts and fried garlic. All this was accompanied by Joice’s Carolina rice bread and Chuck Braden’s iced tea. For dessert, Marilyn McDonald served babinka, a Filipino rice cake named after the double-barreled stove traditionally used to prepare it, with bananas Foster. Our host Joice kept us all well-supplied with beverages: coffee, chocolate raspberry buttered rum, and milk-like "rice dream".

Jim Morgan will host our May Shoestring on Saturday, May 8, at 6 p. m. Our theme this month will be dishes made with liqueurs. Though these alcoholic essences of fruits, nuts and vegetables are mainly used as ingredients in mixed drinks, there is a variety of recipes that include liqueurs. There’s a spiced peach B & B liqueur soup at a variety of recipes at http://www.mymenus.com/Fing13-008.html ; Godiva chocolate liqueur recipes at http://www.godiva.com/godiva/recipes/default.asp ; and a Chesapeake B & B Liqueur Cornish Hen from a Virginia country inn at http://www.virtualcities.com/ons/va/a/vaa67026.htm . There are numerous recipes available for making your own liqueurs, generally using vodka as a base. Something tells me we’re going to have a lot of fun putting this one together.

If you want to join the festivities, call Jim at 831-2170 by Thursday, May 6 to coordinate dishes and get directions.