My Perfect Bloody Mary

I'm the person at brunch who waits for someone else to order a bloody mary first. Not because I want to see who the drinkers are, but because I want to try before I buy. Bad ones are pretty darn bad. It seems like they always have too much of something. Too much horseradish. Too much ground pepper or celery salt. Too much vodka - yes - there is such a thing. And of course some people think that the spicier it is, the better it is. Don't get me wrong, I love some heat, but too much and you can't taste the flavors.

I took on the Bloody Mary Project just in time for a potluck brunch at my friend Jennie's house. Determined to transform this often offensive libation into morning drinking perfection, I started my search by reading a slew of recipes. I found that the core ingredients were in almost all of them. The differences came by adding one or two unusual items, like chipotle peppers or cilantro.

I wanted to come up with a good basic bloody, so I started experimenting with different proportions of the base flavors. The recipe that follows is the end result of my tests - and received unanimous praise from the brunch crew, who all swore they were being objective and not just saying so to be polite.

Perfectly Good Basic Bloody Mary

Be sure to use a quality tomato juice and put it in the fridge so it's nice and cold when you mix this up.

Serves about 8

6 cups tomato juice
1 1/2 cups vodka
1/2 cup fresh lemon juice
1 1/2 tablespoons drained bottled horseradish, minced fine
1 1/2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
1/2 teaspoon celery salt
1 teaspoon Tabasco sauce
1/2 teaspoon finely ground fresh pepper
1 tablespoon olive juice (olive juice, too!)

Garnish: green olives, celery stalks, lemon wedges, cornichon, etc...

Stir everything up together, taste and adjust seasonings. Add more tabasco - it's your bloody mary now - make it perfect for you! Serve over ice.

Carrot Cake

If a cake could kick your ass with deliciousness, this one would be wearing a world championship belt. It is outrageously moist and perfectly sweet. My friend Sara tweaked a favorite recipe of hers and in a stroke of genius added crushed pineapple. Wowsers. Ever since she made it for me for my birthday I've been begging for it again. Then I realized that if I just asked for the recipe I could have it anytime I want!

Instead of closely guarding this yummy secret, I've decided to share it here for all the internets to have and make and love. My little gift to you. Enjoy!

Carrot Cake

print recipe

Cake:

1-2 tablespoons unsalted butter (for greasing pans)

2-3 tablespoons flour or breadcrumbs (for pans)

1 cup yellow raisins

4 cups (about 1 lb.) shredded carrots (skins left on okay- just scrub well and cut tips and bottoms)

2 cups minus 2 tbsp sifted all purpose flour (sift, then spoon into cup and level off)

2 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon salt

2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

1 tablespoon cocoa powder

4 large eggs

2 teaspoons vanilla

1 cup granulated sugar

1 cup packed dark brown sugar

1 1/4 cup vegetable, corn or canola oil

1/2 cup crushed pineapple- drained (the small 8 oz cans with all the liquid out)

Frosting:

16 oz (or two packages) cream cheese, room temperature

1 stick (1/2 cup) unsalted butter at room temperature

1 teaspoon vanilla

2 1/2 to 3 cups sifted powdered sugar, to taste and thickness

chopped pecans (optional - for decoration)

Preheat oven to 350. Use 2 or 3 cake rounds (you can split the 2 cake rounds for a very dramatic cake, or leave as is. Here, I used 2 8"x8" Pyrex.) Melt a few tablespoons of butter and spread with a brush or paper towel on all sides of pans. Line the bottom with parchment or waxed paper, and butter the tops of the paper. Dust the pans with bread crumbs or flour.

Steam the raisins for 10 minutes, then chop coarsely.

Grate the carrots with a metal grater or in a food processor until you get 4 cups, firmly packed. Set aside.

In a separate bowl sift or whisk together the flour, baking powder and soda, salt, cinnamon and cocoa. Set aside.

In a large bowl of an electric mixer, beat the eggs until blended. Beat in the sugars gradually- first the granulated and then the brown. Beat in the vanilla and then the oil. On low speed add the flour mixture until JUST incorporated. Stir in the raisins, carrots and pineapple with a spatula or wooden spoon.

Pour or spoon into the pans. Smooth if necessary. Bake for 35 to 40 minutes, or until the tops spring back and the cake begins to pull away from the sides of the pans.

Let stand on racks for a couple minutes. Invert onto the racks to cool- leaving paper on until it is time to frost. When cool, brush off excess crumbs and put layers in the freezer for about 1 hour so that they don't fall apart when they are handled later.

To make the frosting, beat the cream cheese and butter until fluffy on med to med high speed. On low speed add the vanilla and sugar, and then turn the mixer up to high for a few minutes.

To frost the cake, lay pieces of waxed paper on the edges of a serving plate. Lay the first layer on the plate and spread the frosting on the top evenly. Repeat until all layers are in place. Next, take knife-fulls of frosting and turn the plate to smooth onto the sides. Frost the top of the cake next, letting some frosting go over the sides. Smooth out the sides last. Taking handfuls of chopped pecans, press into the sides of the cake. (I skipped the pecans for the cake above - obviously!)

Refrigerate cake until ready to serve.

Fork This on Mind Kitchen!

Check it out! My radio debut on Matt Timms' Mind Kitchen! Awesome good fun with Keavy Landreth of Kumquat Cupcakery and Amber Marlow Blatt of The Amber Show! Listen through to the very end for a special surprise...if you dare!