5:00 Fridays

My favorite foodie friend Jennifer of In Jennie's Kitchen is guest posting today. She's a real peach with a tarty sense of humor. Jennifer was my roomate at BlogHer, and we became fast friends. While Jennifer leads a far more exciting life than I, she took the time to share her take on 5:00 Fridays. And you'll see just why I lover her so much.


After spying some lemons on the kitchen counter my six-year old asked “Mommy, can you make me lemonade?” I’m normally a gracious hostess, but on this occasion I said “No, sweetie, I need those for my cocktails.” Heck, I had a fridge filled with orange juice, apple juice and milk she was welcome to have, but the lemons were off limits. It was Sunday night and I’d decided to make a Mad Men themed dinner for the premiere. Chicken a la king was on the menu (the recipe from my 1954 Betty Furness Westinghouse cookbook). Betty Draper would’ve had a vodka gimlet with her shrimp cocktail but I decided to mix up some sidecars, hence the lemons. Come to think of it, maybe I was channeling Betty in my parenting skills that night too.


Sidecar
Makes two 3-ounce drinks
Modern twists on this drink use whiskey instead of brandy. On Sunday nights though, I’m sticking with this classic recipe.

2 ounces brandy
2 ounces triple sec
2 ounces fresh-squeezed lemon juice
1 orange

Two cocktail or martini glasses
superfine sugar, to rim glasses

Add sugar to a small plate. Make two twists from orange rind, by cutting strips with a paring knife or vegetable peeler (try not to get any of the bitter white pith). Cut a wedge from remaining orange and wipe it around the rim of each glass. Dip rims in sugar and add oone piece of rind to each glass.

Fill a cocktail shaker with ice. Add brandy, triple sec and lemon juice. Stir vigorously until beads of sweat form on outside of shaker. Strain into prepared glass. Serve immediately.