This week, I’ve got a short, sweet and slightly spicy article.
We have been so busy with our grand opening that I have barely had time to think. However, I must admit I still allow time to succumb to my biggest stress reliever: cooking. Sure it would be easier to grab some fast food on my way home from the distillery, but nothing beats the sound of meat in a cast-iron skillet sizzling along with a tangy blues rift from B.B. King echoing out of the stereo in the living room.
Bliss? I think so.
I love to talk about cooking and I get the occasional comment about cooking with gin, often brought up as a joke. “I mean you cook with it right? A martini glass in one hand and spatula in the other.”
While a gin cocktail may not be far away, I actually do have a recipe that involves gin, and I think it’s quite good. So crack open a bottle and let London Dry meet Bologna, Italy.
I’m not really sure what to call this. It is a “vodka sauce” but the vodka happens to be distilled with juniper berries, citrus and other spices, and has a label that says gin. British meets Italian, Triumph meets Ducati, rainy moors meet sun drenched rolling hills.
However different these things may be, the citrus and spice notes that are left from the gin to balance the sweet and savory thickness of the sauce is a match made in heaven.
Pasta with gin sauce
2spicy Italian sausage links (ground is OK, but whole sausages work much better)
1medium sweet onion, chopped into quarter slices
1red bell pepper, chopped in quarter slices
6garlic cloves, finely chopped
2teaspoons red pepper flake (or more to desired spice level)
1tablespoon olive oil
3tablespoons butter
1can crushed tomatoes (San Marzano if available)
1cup heavy cream
1/2cup gin
1/2cup grated Parmesan cheese (Reggiano, it’s worth the extra cost)
1/2cup or 2 bunches of fresh basil, sliced
Heat a large cast iron skillet under high heat for 5 to 6 minutes. Add the sausages whole and loosely cover the skillet with aluminum foil. Cook for approximately 5 minutes per side, or until there is a nice caramelized crust and the internal temperature is 165 degrees. Remove sausages and set aside, covering with the foil to keep them warm. Reduce heat to medium and add the butter, onion and red bell pepper. Cook under medium heat for 5 to 7 minutes until they start to soften, stirring frequently. Now add the garlic and red pepper flake, cook for another 2 minutes. Bring heat back to high and add the gin.
It will sizzle and start to boil off, so keep stirring constantly until reduced by about half. Now add the crushed tomatoes and continue to simmer under medium heat for 5 to 10 minutes until sauce starts to thicken.
I never mentioned pasta, but now would be the time to pick your favorite and drop it in some boiling salted water.
Add the cream to the sauce and keep heat at medium, stirring in cream to make a nice pink color. Cook for another 5 minutes until sauce is desired consistency, and remove from heat. Stir in almost all the parmesan and almost all the basil. Now add the cooked pasta and stir together. Serve with a pinch of the remaining basil and parmesan over the top. Since you already have gin in the sauce, definitely go with a nice full bodied red wine to pair. Enjoy!
AJ and Jamie Temple recently opened Temple Distilling in Lynnwood. For more information on Temple Distilling, visit templedistilling.com. Email AJ at aj@templedistilling.com or follow them on Facebook.
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