Cognac + Lemon: The Sidecar & Chilli Lemon Couscous
We got real fancy with last Friday’s Cocktail Happy Hour that I would highly encourage you to add this drink + bites to your hours of happiness this week.
Playing off a French theme with Cognac, our Tiki-loving bartender (awesome neighbor friend, who happens to be obsessed with tiki-inspired things) decided the Sidecar cocktail was our drink of choice. And what’s better than drinking cocktails next door during a pandemic? Dressing up to drink like you have some place special to go during a pandemic! And that’s exactly what we did.
This week’s theme and pairing: Cognac + Lemon
The Sidecar cocktail paired with Chili Lemon Couscous with pistachios and grapes.
Bonus recipe: Impossible Meatballs
First, before we do anything, we have to make our cocktails!
Now that our drinks are in hand, we can think about food.
We enjoyed quite a few fun dishes with our Sidecars: Chili Lemon Couscous, Chicken Meatballs, Vegan Meatballs (these were incredible!), baked Brie encased in phyllo dough and berry jam. Absolutely all bites were decadent and delicious.
The Sidecar
Ingredients
- 1 oz lemon juice freshly squeezed
- 1 oz triple sec or other orange liqueur (like Cointreau)
- 2 oz cognac
Instructions
- Add the cognac, triple sec, and lemon juice to a shaker with ice and shake until well-chilled.
- Strain into a glass.
- Garnish with an orange or lemon rind.
Chili Lemon Couscous
Ingredients
- 2½ cups water
- 1 lemon zested
- 2 tbsp Thai sweet chili sauce
- ½ tsp salt
- ½ tsp chili flakes
- 2 cups couscous
- ½ cup toasted nuts (pine nuts, pistachios, almonds, etc) roughly chopped
- 1 cup red grapes sliced in half
- ½ cup mint or cilantro (or a mix of both) roughly chopped
- black pepper to taste
Instructions
- In a medium saucepan, add water, lemon rind, Thai sweet chili sauce, salt, chili flakes and bring water to a boil.
- Once water is boiling, remove from heat and stir in couscous.
- Cover and let sit for 10 minutes.
- After 10 minutes, remove cover from couscous and fluff with a fork.
- Add couscous to large bowl. Top with chopped pistachios (or nut of choice), grapes, and herb of choice.
- Right before serving, toss and taste - adjust to your liking. Sometimes I add in more salt, pepper, red pepper flakes, more chili sauce, or juice from ½ the lemon.
- Serve warm or cold and enjoy!
And since the vegan meatballs that were brought to the cocktail hour were SO good, I figured I’d have to share the recipe.
Impossible Vegan Meatballs
Ingredients
For the Impossible meatballs
- 1 lb Impossible "beef"
- ½ cup vegan shredded Parmesan
- ¼ cup bread crumbs
- 2 tbsp fresh parsley chopped
- 2 cloves garlic finely minced
- 1 tsp salt
- black pepper to taste
For the Onion Thyme Cheese Sauce
- 4 tbsp vegan butter
- 2 large yellow onions thinly sliced
- 2 cloves garlic finely minced
- 2 cups vegetable broth
- 2 tsp fresh thyme roughly chopped
- ½ tsp salt or to taste
- black pepper to taste
- 1 cup vegan Parmesan
Instructions
"Meatballs"
- Preheat oven to 425°F. Line a large baking sheet with foil and rub with olive oil.
- In a large bowl, combine all meatball ingredients.
- Form into 16 balls, then place on prepared baking sheet and bake until cooked through, about 25 minutes.
Onion Thyme Cheese Sauce
- While the meatballs cooks, melt the vegan butter in a large skillet over medium heat.
- Add onions and cook until very soft golden, about 25 minutes, stirring often.
- Add garlic and cook another minute until fragrant. Add broth and thyme, and season with salt and pepper.
- Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and let simmer until slightly thickened, about 10 minutes.
- Add meatballs to skillet, cover with remaining cheese.
- Cover and let cook until meatballs are warmed through and cheese is melted, about 5 minutes.
Cheers!
