Feast | mermaidcamp

Amaro, a Bitter Wonderland

August 11, 2014 — 4 Comments

full flavor of dessert

I have been reading a lot about amaros in the blogging universe. These herbal digestive concoctions, mostly from Italy, have become a new darling star of the cocktail bar scene. Some bloggers are making their own mixtures by infusing brandy with combinations from their own gardens. This is super appealing to me. Typically served after dinner to aid in the digestive process, straight up or over a couple of ice cubes, the syrupy taste is a delight with a rich dessert. I saw a selection of amaros on the menu at Feast and decided to try one with a malted chocolate cake with rich dense creamy caramel filling. We rarely eat dessert, so sharing one slice was plenty of sweet richness for both of us. Bob tasted the amaro, but I sipped it throughout the dessert course between bites of the dense, full chocolate flavors in the cake. The cake was garnished with candied grapefruit peel, which added another dimension of bitter and sweet to the finish.

I have not been a fan of bitter herbs or any kind of digestive tonic. Since making my own bitters and shrubs this summer I have come to appreciate the ways bitterness enhances both health and flavor. The liberal use of bitters in cooking is fun, and adds extra dimension that is hard to describe, but fills out the profile of any food. More importantly, the flavor bitter stimulates the liver to produce bile, which one needs to digest fat. I am not sure how many grams of fat were in my cake, but it felt like pure butter on the tongue. I am guessing the count in butterfat was very high, but we only had a few bites which we enjoyed. The sipping of the amaro did open up kind of a new way to feel and sense the whole process of dessert. I have had after dinner drinks with brandy, eau de vie, or coffee, but have never sipped an amaro before. I recommend it to anyone who wants to expand their sense of taste. It happens to be good for digestion at the same time. Cheers, to a slightly bitter ending to your meal!

Amaro with 2 cubes of ice

Chow Down in Tucson

April 21, 2013 — 1 Comment

: Delphinium delight

: parking lot garden

: Cuyahoga cocktail

: artichokes and pancakes

: quail and snail

: clean plate club

: second cocktail at lunch

: Bob checks out the pork

: gnocchi salad

: pork

: vegan bake sale

: poodle brothers

: vegan goodies

Recently reminded of the superb quality of the cuisine at Feast, we took the middle of the day on Saturday to enjoy it. I started with the violet flavor and mysterious look of the Cuyahoga cocktail, which improved as the ice melted. It was a new twist on lunch beverages that grew on me. In fact, I ordered another one to go with my salad. Bob wanted to try snails, so he ordered quail and snail, which he said was mostly mushroom in flavor, and he liked it. My first courses were delightful wild rice savory pancakes with sautéed vegetables, and a fried artichoke heart dish we both loved. I enjoyed the gnocchi salad, but was too full to finish. The use of pan fired gnocchi as croutons made this a filling dish I will have again today for lunch. Bob loved the banana and pork combo he ordered.

We passed on dessert in order to attend an event to support the Humane society of Tucson. A vegan bake sale, complete with adoptable dogs, was the perfect place to buy our take home tofu cheesecake and peanut butter brownies for the late afternoon snacking. We napped, we slowly chipped away at our dessert until nighttime. There was only one vegan peanut butter brownie left to split for breakfast.