The Richmond Gimlet: A Better Version of My Classic '90s Cocktail

The late '90s were my college years, 1995 to 1999 to be exact. I wasn't much of a beer drinker in college. I hadn't yet discovered my love of IPA. Even during my semester abroad in London I remember drinking more cider than beer. At the time, I was more into mixed drinks, liked screwdrivers (vodka and orange juice, something I don't drink anymore).

During my senior year I started getting into cocktails, and the gimlet was the first one I learned to make. I discovered the recipe for it in Wallpaper, an art and lifestyle magazine I was into at the time. It was very simple: gin, Rose's sweetened lime juice and powdered sugar. I didn't have a cocktail shaker at the time, but I kept the gin and lime juice cold and powdered sugar dissolves in liquid pretty easily. I felt very sophisticated drinking those in my conical martini-style glasses.

Today, that recipe doesn't really appeal to me. I'm not a big fan of Rose's sweetened lime juice, although it is traditional for this drink instead of fresh lime juice (see this classic recipe from Imbibe). And I wouldn't use powdered sugar in a cocktail--I'd use simple syrup.

Researching the gimlet, I wondered what Jeffrey Morgenthaler would make of this drink. Although he didn't include it in The Bar Book, turns out his take on the gimlet is something he's rather known for. He calls it the Richmond Gimlet, a simple yet inspired pairing of gin, lime, sugar and mint. It's so simple, it's a wonder no one came up with this before. The mint is a welcome addition and I was so glad to see he prefers fresh lime juice to the bottled kind. While I might have some nostalgia for the version I made 16 years ago, I much prefer this improved recipe.


Cocktail: Richmond Gimlet
Adapted from a recipe by Jeffrey Morgenthaler

2 oz. gin
1 oz. lime juice
1 oz. simple syrup (1 part sugar dissolved in 1 part water)
8 mint leaves

Combine gin, lime juice, simple syrup in a cocktail shaker. Add ice and shake until very cold. Strain into a chilled cocktail glass.

Bagel Pizzas: A '90s Snack Favorite

When I began thinking about what to feature for my week of 1990s foods, I did some research on what others recall as popular foods of the decade. Again and again I saw mentions of bagel pizzas (or pizza bagels, people seem to say it both ways).

Bagel pizza follow a similar trend from the 1980s: the french-bread pizza. Rather than building a pizza with a foundation of raw dough, you're starting with a pre-made bread product and topping it with whatever you like. It's the kind of time-saver recipe common then (and now), but with enough DIY that it feels more homemade than something popped in the microwave.

The recipe below is adapted mostly from The Frugal Girl, but I incorporated a few ideas from other sources. One recipe had the great tip of starting the pizza by placing a slice of pepperoni over the bagel's hole to prevent ingredients from falling through. Since I was using very large pepperoni slices, I cut them into quarters for this purpose. I changed the ingredients up, substituting provolone for the mozzarella and adding thin slices of green bell pepper.

Bagel Pizzas
Adapted from a recipe by The Frugal Girl

Makes 8 pizzas

4 plain bagels, cut in half
1 cup pizza sauce (store-bought or make your own, see recipe below)
12 oz. sliced or shredded provolone cheese
10 large slices of pepperoni (or 32 small slices)
1 green bell pepper, core and seeds removed, sliced into rings 1/8-inch thick
Dried oregano
Grated parmigiano-reggiano cheese

1. Preheat oven to 350 F. Place bagels evenly spaced on a baking sheet (line the baking sheet with aluminum foil for easy clean-up) cut-side up.

2. If using large pepperoni, cut two of them into quarters and place a quarter over the hole in the center of each bagel. If using small pepperoni, place one over the hole in the center of each bagel.

3. Spoon 1 1/2 to 2 tbsp. pizza sauce evenly over each bagel.

4. If using sliced provolone, place a provolone slice over each sauced bagel. If using shredded provolone, spread an even layer of cheese over each bagel.

5. Top the cheese with 1 large or 3 small slices of pepperoni and a slice of green bell pepper. Sprinkle any remaining cheese over the top (if using sliced provolone, chop the cheese into bits first). Sprinkle with dried oregano.

6. Place the baking sheet in the oven and bake until the cheese has melted, about 8 to 10 minutes. Turn on the broiler, and broil until the cheese has browned a bit, about 2 to 3 minutes more. Serve immediately with grated parmesan at the table.

Easy Pizza Sauce

1 tbsp. olive oil
1 garlic clove, minced
Pinch of red chili pepper flakes
1/2 tsp. dried oregano
16 oz. can of crushed tomatoes
Salt, to taste

Heat olive oil in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Add garlic, chili pepper flakes and oregano and sauté until the garlic is fragrant, about 1 minute. Add the tomatoes, season with salt and cook until the mixture bubbles, then reduce heat and simmer for 15 minutes.

Two 1990s Food Trends: Fettuccine with Chicken, Sundried Tomatoes and Pesto Cream Sauce

When foods become popular, it's rarely because they're new. Think about the things that are food trends right now--kale, quinoa, bacon, Greek-style yogurt, gelato--these are not "new" foods. They've been enjoyed by people around the world for a very long time. But they are food trends, which come about for various reasons, which were fascinatingly explored by David Sax in his book The Tastemakers.

I remember Mediterranean foods, and particularly Italian foods, as being a real trend in the '90s. People discovered there were more ways to serve pasta than just spaghetti with meat sauce or & mac & cheese and more interesting ways to make pizza. In general, there was an epiphany that great Italian food can be made with ingredients other than tomatoes and lots of cheese. One such ingredient was pesto, the green sauce that is a mixture of olive oil, nuts, garlic, parmesan and herbs--generally basil but sometimes other things.

Simple basil pesto.

Pesto's roots trace back to ancient Rome, but began to resemble its familiar modern form in the 1600s around Genoa, Italy. Americans began to take notice of pesto in the 1940s with its popularity beginning to really take off in the 1980s until it was "ubiquitous," in the words of Epicurious, in the 1990s. Today it may seem commonplace, but 20 years ago, putting pesto instead of tomato sauce in your pasta or on your pizza seemed like a fresh, exciting thing to try. It heralded a comparatively "lighter" style of Italian cooking, is it was often paired with chicken and other vegetables.

Enthusiasm for pesto may have waned, but it certainly hasn't gone away. And yes, people are even making it with kale these days.

Another food trend from the '90s and one that pairs nicely with pesto was sundried tomatoes. Again, they are something that had been around for awhile, but achieved that special sweet-spot of popularity that made them a hot food trend during that decade. We all got a little carried away with them back then, using them as a pizza topping, a salad ingredient (like I did last week), a mayonnaise filler and a sandwich enhancer. I liked them best in pasta, and still include them from time-to-time. I actually would welcome their comeback, since I love tomatoes, and their concentrated flavor is a great way to add deep tomato flavor during any season.

This simple pasta recipe is classic '90s: throw together pesto, chicken, sundried tomatoes, a little cream and fettuccine and you have a dish certain to take you back 20 to 25 years that's still delicious today.

Fettuccine with Chicken, Sundried Tomatoes and Pesto Cream Sauce

Salt
1 lb. dried fettuccine
1/3 cup walnut halves
1 garlic clove, smashed
2 cups loosely packed fresh basil leaves
1/3 cup plus 2 tbsp. extra-virgin olive oil
1/3 cup grated parmigiano-reggiano cheese
3/4 lb. boneless-skinless chicken breast cutlets
Salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
4 garlic cloves, coarsely chopped
Pinch of red chili pepper flakes
1/2 cup chopped sundried tomatoes
1/3 cup heavy cream
Freshly ground black pepper, taste

1. Bring a large pot of salted water to boil. Add the pasta and cook according to package directions for al dente. Drain and set aside.

2. Combine the walnuts, 1 smashed garlic clove and basil leaves in a food processor. Pulse a few times to combine and chop up. With the processor running, slowly stream in the 1/3 cup olive oil and blend until the pesto has a consistent texture, scraping down the sides with a spatula if needed. Transfer the blended mixture to a small bowl and stir in the grated parmesan.

3. Heat 2 tbsp. olive oil in a large sauté pan over medium heat. Pat the chicken breast cutlets dry and add them to the pan. Season with salt and pepper and cook for about 10 minutes, turning over after about 5 minutes, until lightly browned and cooked through. Transfer chicken breasts to a cutting board and cut into 1-inch pieces.

4. Add the garlic and red chili pepper flakes to the sauté pan and cook for about 1 minute, then stir in the pesto, cooked chicken, sundried tomatoes and heavy cream. Turn off the heat and add the cooked pasta, stirring to coat in the sauce. Serve the pasta in shallow bowls.

Black Tiger Espresso Ice Cream and Milkshake

Being a teenager in Portland during the '90s meant that I was exposed to coffee shops at pretty young age. We had Starbucks everywhere, but several other local chains too, plus many, many independents.

My favorite chain coffee-shop was Coffee People, an Oregon-based chain started by Jim and Patty Roberts. By the early '90s there were a lot of Coffee People locations, including two pretty close to my house in Beaverton--one of which was a drive-thru, not a common thing back then. My favorite store of their was the location on NW 23rd Avenue, a tree-lined walkable street lined with cafes and shops that I loved to visit, especially as a high-schooler.

And my favorite treat to get at Coffee People was the Black Tiger milkshake. To this day, I don't understand why more coffee shops don't also offer milkshakes, since a coffee milkshake is an amazing thing. The shake was made with Coffee People's own Black Tiger ice cream, which I think you could also buy back then. It was unique for having coffee grounds mixed into the ice cream, giving it a grainy but not unwelcome texture. The drink was topped with whipped cream and a chocolate-covered espresso bean. As if this wasn't enough of a caffeine jolt, I believe you could get an extra shot of espresso added to it too.

Coffee People went into decline in the late '90s. The original owners sold the business, which exchanged hands before disappearing almost completely (a lone kiosk at PDX airport became all the remained)--a pretty fast decline from its peak of 40 plus stores in its heyday, according to this Willamette Week article. The blog Caffeinated PDX has a great history of the company and interview with Jim Roberts.

Lately, however, Coffee People is making a beautiful comeback. I spotted the Coffee People kiosk at the PDX airport last summer, and picked up some Black Tiger coffee (now made by Green Mountain Coffee). I hadn't noticed the kiosk for a few years. I thought it had closed, although perhaps it had just relocated to a part of the airport I never see. Regardless, it got me thinking about Coffee People and whether it could be making a comeback.

Turns out it is...sort of. Almost 13 years ago, Jim & Patty opened their own independent coffee shop, Jim & Patty's, with a lot of the same marketing touches that made Coffee People special (including the iconic catchphrase: "great coffee. no backtalk"). In 2013, Jim & Patty's expanded to suburban Beaverton, and they recently opened a third location not far from where the Coffee People I frequented on 23rd Avenue was located.

And, of course, The Black Tiger milkshake is on the menu. With the Black Tiger espresso beans I picked up in the airport last summer, I wanted to try a recreation of that classic '90s Portland treat. I made a basic espresso ice cream using the Black Tiger grounds--leaving the grounds in, of course. The ice cream is delicious on its own, but I knew I had to make it into a milkshake too. Just like it used to be served in Coffee People, I topped it with whipped cream and a chocolate-covered espresso bean, a garnish that was surprisingly hard to find in D.C. (Were they never popular in D.C.? They used to be quite common in Portland). With the weather finally starting to warm up, a good coffee shake is a great way to relax (with a bit of a jolt) on a warm day.

Black Tiger Espresso Ice Cream
Adapted from multiple ice cream recipes, notably by America's Test Kitchen and Ina Garten

1 3/4 cup heavy cream
1 1/4 cup whole milk
1/2 cup plus 2 tbsp. sugar
1/3 cup light corn syrup
1/4 tsp. salt
6 egg yolks
2 1/2 tbsp. finely ground espresso beans
1 tsp. vanilla extract

1. Combine ceram, milk, sugar, corn syrup and salt in a large (4 qt.) saucepan. Heat over medium-high heat until the mixture forms bubbles around the edges and makes a little steam (175 F on an instant-read thermometer). Remove from heat.

2. In a medium bowl, whisk the egg yolks together. With whisk in one hand, slowly pour about a cup of the warm cream mixture into the egg yolks, whisking the egg-cream mixture constantly as the cream is added. Add the egg-cream mixture back into the mixture in the saucepan, whisking to combine. Return to the saucepan to the stove over medium-low heat and cook, stirring constantly, until the mixture thickens and reaches 180 F on an instant-read thermometer (if the mixtures reaches this temperature before it thickens, remove the pan from the stove for a couple minutes, turn the heat down a bit, and then return it to the stove). The mixture should be thick enough to coat a spoon.

3. Remove the saucepan from the heat and stir in the espresso and vanilla. Allow it to cool a bit, then pour it through a fine-mesh sieve into a large (gallon-size) Ziplock bag. Seal the bag and place it in an ice water bath (this will cool it quickly if you want to churn it soon; if not, you can cool it in the refrigerator). Allow the mixture to chill.

4. When chilled, process the mixture in an ice cream maker until its texture resembles soft-serve ice cream. Transfer ice cream to a container and freeze until hard.

Black Tiger Milkshake
Inspired by the Coffee People classic

3 scoops (about 1 and 1/2 cups) Black Tiger ice cream (recipe above)
1/4 cup milk
Generous dollop of sweet whipped cream (recipe below)
1 chocolate-covered expresso bean

Add ice cream and milk to a blender. Blend until smooth. Add additional milk if it's too thick. Poor into a chilled pint glass. Top with whipped cream and a chocolate-covered espresso bean.

Sweet Whipped Cream

1 cup heavy cream
1 tbsp. powdered (confectioners) sugar
1 tsp. vanilla extract

Whisk together the cream, powdered sugar and vanilla extract until the sugar is well-combined and not lumpy. Whip the cream by hand (takes a long time) or with a stand mixer until stiff and fluffy. Alternatively, add the cream mixture to an ISI cream siphon and charge with 1

Bourbon Chicken: An Ode to '90s Mall Food Courts

The mall food court wasn't invented in the '90s--the first successful one opened in a New Jersey mall in the mid '70s--but, at least in Portland, the 90s was when they proliferated. Washington Square, the mall closest to my home, got its first food court during a mid-'90s renovation, but the first mall food court I remember visiting was in Pioneer Place, Portland's downtown shopping mall that opened in 1990.

Food courts were the ideal place for a teenager to get a snack. If you were too low on cash to actually buy something, there were plenty of free samples, many of which were little tastes on a toothpick. Pioneer Place's food court was ideal for snacking: it's round shape meant you could do laps picking up samples as you went (of course, I never got more than one sample, I swear).

I've mentioned The New Basics Cookbook by Julee Rosso & Sheila Lukins before, but in a week where I'm featuring foods from the '90s it bears mentioning again, as it was published in 1989 and was an important source of inspiration when I was first learning to cook in the '90s. Browsing through it this week, I stumbled upon their recipe for Bourbon Turkey, which struck me as a more refined and certainly better tasting version than what you or I may remember for the mall food court.

I adapted their recipe for boneless-skinless chicken thighs, which cook in less time than bone-in turkey parts, allowing me to reduce the roasting time. As marinated roast chicken goes, this one is pretty simple. The most complicated part is probably draining off the marinade--which converts to braising liquid--so that the glaze can go on the chicken. I did it using a turkey baster, dumping the braising liquid into a glass measuring cup.

I served the chicken with simple rosemary roasted red potatoes (recipe below) and broiled asparagus. It was delicious. Definitely better than what I remember getting from the food court so many years ago.


Bourbon Chicken
Adapted from Bourbon Turkey recipe, The New Basics Cookbook by Julee Rosso & Sheila Lukins

2 lb. boneless-skinless chicken thighs

Marinade:
1/3 cup dry red wine (I used petite sirah)
1/4 cup bourbon
1/2 cup dry sherry
2 tbsp. low-sodium tamari (or soy sauce)
1 tbsp. vegetable oil
3 whole star anise
1 tbsp. minced fresh ginger
Freshly ground black pepper, to taste

Glaze:
1/3 cup bourbon
1/4 cup honey
1/2 cup ketchup
2 tbsp. brown sugar

1. Place the chicken thighs in a large bowl. Stir together the marinade ingredients and pour over the chicken thighs. Toss to coat the chicken in the marinade. Cover and place in the refrigerator to marinate for 1 hour.

2. Preheat oven to 325 F with the oven rack about 9 inches below the oven broiler (you'll be using it later--place the rack in the middle of the oven if your broiler is separate).

3. Stir together the glaze ingredients.

4. Transfer the chicken thighs to a 9 X 13 baking dish, arranged in a single layer. Pour about half of the marinade around the chicken. Roast for about 40-50 minutes until the chicken is almost cooked through--a thermometer should read about 150 F. Remove roasting pan from the oven and drain off any remaining marinade.

5. Turn on the oven broiler. Brush the chicken with about half of the glaze. Place back in the oven under the broiler and broil for 5 minutes until the glaze has dried out (be careful not to burn it). Turn the chicken over and brush the other side with the remaining glaze. Broil for another 5 minutes. Check the chicken's internal temperature (it should be at least 165 F now). Remove from the oven and serve with any extra glaze from the pan spooned over it.

Rosemary Roasted Red Potatoes

5-6 medium size red potatoes, scrubbed and cut into 1/2 to 1 inch chunks
2 tbsp. extra virgin olive oil
2 garlic cloves, minced
2 tbsp. chopped fresh rosemary
1/2 tsp. kosher salt
Freshly ground black pepper, to taste

1. Preheat oven to 400 F.

2. Combine the cut up potatoes, olive oil, garlic, rosemary and salt in a large bowl, tossing with a wooden spoon to evenly coat the potatoes. Spread potatoes in an even layer on a baking sheet and roast until lightly browned around the edges, about 30-40 minutes. Sprinkle with pepper and serve.

Eating Back to the 1990s: A '90s Salad

Twenty-five years ago, it was the beginning of the 1990s, the decade of Titanic, 14 Mariah Carey #1 hits and Seinfeld. I was a 12-year-old 7th grader when the decade began and a 22-year-old college grad when it ended, making the '90s an important formative decade for me food-wise.

And I remember the '90s as an important time of change when it came to what we ate. When I think of food from the '80s, I remember a fairly limited palate, not much international influence and a lot of convenience foods. Of course, these trends persisted in the '90s, but I also remember that decade as a time when people began to "wake up" to a lot of the food concepts we hold dear today.

As my own food interests diversified, so did the available food options. Mediterranean influences really grew that decade, as olive oil became a household staple--one source states that consumption of the now ubiquitous fat grew 100 percent between 1991 and 2003. Fresh, local ingredients started to be emphasized more, even as inspiration increasingly came from far-off corners of the world. In Portland, Oregon these influences were perhaps best typified by Zefiro, Chris Israel's unforgettable cafe that merged Mediterranean tastes with Northwest ingredients (he now cooks at the delightfully German-French Grüner).

For the next 2 weeks, I'm traveling back through some of the tastes I remember from the '90s. In the days ahead, I'll be cooking with pesto, bagels and sundried tomatoes--lots of sundried tomatoes. I'll also share a cocktail that takes me back to my college days and a milkshake from a once mighty Portland coffeehouse chain that has recently been resurrected.

Today, though I'm going to start with a simple salad.

When I think back to salad from the '80s, it went something like this: iceberg lettuce with carrots, tomatoes, croutons and creamy dressing--likely ranch or blue cheese. In the '90s, salad began its metamorphosis into what's more familiar today. It was during the decade I discovered that there were other types of lettuces, like romaine or leaf, a forerunner to all sorts of greens we put in salad today. I also discovered the vinaigrette, particularly if made with the seemingly exotic dark, sweet vinegar known as balsamic, which enjoyed a meteoric rise in popularity during that time.

Sundried tomatoes are frequently packed in oil. I blot them with a paper towel to soak some of that up.

And of course, sundried tomatoes were everywhere in the '90s. I bought a jar for several recipes this week, including this salad. I'd forgotten how good they are. You can buy them packed in oil either whole or cut into julienne strips. They are packed with good tomato flavor--the kind of umami-rich tomato flavor you get from tomato paste but with more texture, even a bit of tang.

Come back tomorrow and we'll look at a cuisine that went hand in hand with '90s consumerism: mall food court food.

'90s Salad

1/3 cup pecan halves
3 cups mesclun salad mix
1/3 cup goat cheese crumbles
1/4 chopped sundried tomatoes
2 tsp. balsamic vinegar
2 tbsp. extra-virgin olive oil
Salt and pepper, to taste

1. Heat a small frying pan over medium-low heat. Toast the pecans, tossing occasionally, until fragrant, about 8 minutes. Transfer to a cutting board and coarsely chop.

2. Combine the mesclun, goat cheese, sundried tomatoes and chopped pecans in a large bowl. Whisk together the vinegar, olive oil, salt and pepper and pour over the salad. Toss to combine and serve.