Foodie Finds: Surfing the web

If you’re like me, you ask the internet lots of questions. My questions are often food related. Here are three recipes I tried after finding them on the internet, but not intentionally searching for them! I think all three are keepers worthy of my notebook.

Jamtinis

Let’s start off with a cocktail! My daughter explained Mason Jar Jam Cocktails or Jamtinis are all over TicTok (not one of my places). We gave it a try. The composition is simple – 2 oz  vodka (or liquor of your choice), 1 oz  juice, 1 spoonful jam, topped with soda or sparkling water.

Add liquor, jam and juice to Mason jar and shake well. Add ice and top with club soda or sparkling water. We had peach jam with vodka and Fresca, which were yummy! Think of the endless possibilities of combinations you could make! I think vodka, lemonade and strawberry jam with some fresh basil would be good.

Tomato Goat Cheese Dip

Next I was looking for a good dip to take to a friend’s house. I found this one and gave it a try – Tomato Goat Cheese Dip from The Cookie Rookie.

I love the mix of goat cheese, ricotta and feta with sweet cherry tomatoes and basil. You can serve it with anything you like, I used bagel chips and crackers. It was easy to put together. I imagine this will be even better in the summer months with garden fresh tomatoes and basil!

Scallion & Asparagus Salad

The final recipe comes from Lidia Bastianich, a well-known chef specializing in Italian American cuisine. She has a restaurant in Kansas City that is one of my favorites and I’ve eaten at her restaurant in New York City. I was looking for a typical spring recipe that called for ingredients widely available and at their peak in the spring season.

I found this recipe for Scallion & Asparagus Salad. Although Lidia gathers her green veggies from her garden in Italy, I found this worked just fine with my produce from the grocery store. (You can also find some fabulous asparagus at the Monday Farmers Market.) It’s a cold salad with barely blanched scallions and asparagus with hard boiled egg wedges drizzled with vinegar and oil. I thought the salad was perfect for dinner on it’s own, but adding some tuna might make it more protein rich and filling.

Below is a list of some of Lidia’s cookbooks so you can get a sense of her cooking style. I particularly like her book My American Dream. It tells the story of how she ended up in American and the trials and tribulations of a woman chef. Now if I only had a villa with a garden in Tuscany, I’d be set!