Bicks Caroline - Shakespeare, Not Stirred: Cocktails for Your Everyday Dramas

PERIGEE

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375 Hudson Street, New York, New York 10014

SHAKESPEARE, NOT STIRRED

Copyright 2015 by Caroline Bicks and Michelle Ephraim

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ISBN: 978-0-698-18396-4

This book has been registered with the Library of Congress.

First edition: September 2015

The recipes contained in this book have been created for the ingredients and techniques indicated. The Publisher is not responsible for your specific health or allergy needs that may require supervision. Nor is the Publisher responsible for any adverse reactions you may have to the recipes contained in the book, whether you follow them as written or modify them to suit your personal dietary needs or tastes.

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Cover design by Rita Carroll

Cover illustrations by Grace ONeill

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Shylocks daughter, Jessica, has been cooking up this finger-flip to her dad since she first laid eyes on that dreamy Christian boy, Lorenzo. If all goes well, shell get the un-kosher kitchen and cutlery of her dreams. This dish mixes shellfish and bacon, and throws in some dairy for good measure.

12 hors doeuvres

6 slices bacon

/4 cup maple syrup

/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes

12 jumbo shrimp, peeled, deveined, and tails off

3 tablespoons crumbled goat cheese

Preheat the oven to 375F. Par-cook the bacon in a pan on the stovetop until translucent. Remove from pan, drain, and halve crosswise. Mix the syrup and red pepper flakes together in a small bowl. Brush both sides of each shrimp with the syrup mixture, sprinkle with goat cheese, then wrap in bacon. Secure with a toothpick and place on a foil-lined baking sheet. Bake for 15 minutes, or until the bacon is crisp and the shrimp are cooked through.

When English audiences first heard Jessica gush about ditching her father for Lorenzo to become a Christian and his loving wife, they may have thought: Great news! The more Christians the merrier! Then again, they might have questioned the genuineness of her conversion. Jews had long been characterized as untrustworthy and devious. Even murderous. (Medieval stories depicted Jewish men poisoning wells and killing Christian children.) In 1290, Edward I banished all Jews from England, and they werent legally readmitted until the 1650s. The only official exception to this rule was for converted Jews who were fleeing the Spanish and Portuguese Inquisitions in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. This was the case for Rodrigo Lopez, a Portuguese converso who fled to England in 1559 and rose to become Elizabeth Is personal physician. Even though he had friends and supporters in the highest places, he eventually was accused of trying to poison the queen. This sensational scandal ended with Lopezs public execution in 1594. Twenty years later, the historian William Camden captured Englands enduring distrust of converts when he dramatized Lopezs alleged final moments: the doctor affirmed that he loved the Queen as well as he loved Jesus Christ: which coming from a man of the Jewish profession moved no small laughter in the standers-by.

We really wish Hamlet could have gone to therapy instead of projecting all his issues onto his mother. You just know he blames Gertrude for all of his intimacy problems. Like if it werent for her rank and gross sexual appetiteaka that unweeded garden growing in her and Claudiuss nasty sty of a bedhed definitely be married to Ophelia. Yeah. Right. And theyd be living in the Copenhagen suburbs with their four perfect children, driving over the border to IKEA on the weekends for the $1.99 Swedish meatball breakfast. We cant rewrite Shakespeare, or stop our own kids from blaming us for all their miserable problems, but we can turn Hamlets crude comment about his mothers unweeded hoo-hoo into a healthy finger food. Even if your mothers having incestuous rebound sex with your fathers murderer (oops, you werent supposed to find out about that part until the end of act 1), get over it and eat your greens.

12 spring rolls

3 tablespoons sesame oil

2 cloves garlic, peeled and crushed

1 tablespoon minced fresh ginger

/2 pound boneless, skinless chicken breast

1 firm mango, peeled and diced

3 carrots, finely grated

/2 cup chopped cilantro

1 cup chopped basil

1 cup chopped mint

2 tablespoons seasoned rice vinegar

12 rice paper wrappers

1 cup alfalfa sprouts

6 leaves endive, julienned

DIPPING SAUCE

3 tablespoons tahini

1/2 tablespoons rice vinegar

2 tablespoons soy sauce

1 tablespoon brown sugar

1 teaspoon minced fresh ginger

1 tablespoon coarsely chopped roasted peanuts, for garnish

1 scallion (green part only), chopped, for garnish

In a skillet, heat the sesame oil and saut the garlic and ginger over medium heat. Add the chicken and cook on high heat until browned and thoroughly cooked. Set aside to cool. Combine the mango, carrots, cilantro, basil, mint, and rice vinegar in a mixing bowl. Shred the cooled chicken and stir with its cooking liquid into this mixture. Prepare the rice paper wrappers, one at a time, by submerging them in a shallow pan of warm water. Lightly pushing down with your fingers, soak the wrapper until translucent and elastic. Lay the wrapper carefully on a flat surface, smooth side down. Place a heaping tablespoon of the chicken mixture at the end of the wrap closest to you. Sprinkle a pinch of alfalfa sprouts and a tablespoon of endive leaves over the filling. Roll halfway up. Fold the sides into the center so they are touching. Roll up to complete.

For the dipping sauce, combine all ingredients except for the garnishes in a small bowl and stir well. Top with peanuts and scallion. Arrange the rolls on plate around the dipping sauce. Call your therapist.