Binny's Blog

Binny’s Wine Educator, Alicia B., recently chatted with Meaghan Frank, Vice President of revered producer Dr. Konstantin Frank. She was kind enough to share the recipe for Spiralized Zucchini & Summer Squash Casserole, which pairs great with Dr. Konstantin Frank Dry Riesling.

This mixologist must confess to enjoying a good Gin Sling every now and then. In fact, in the wake of Roger’s herbal tour de force of a Pimm’s Cup riff, featured on “Barrel to Bottle: The Binny’s Podcast” Savory Cocktails, we were enjoying our own riff on that classic Gin Sling. In addition to the usual suspects, we added diced peach and a bit of savory cherry shrub, among other things. Wow! What a drink that turned out to be. A great and serendipitous riff.

We have been playing around with all kinds of tomato recipes, including the cheese and mayo laden southern classic, tomato pie. It’s great but today we decided to throw together a goat cheese and tomato tart with ingredients we had on hand and must say we are pretty pleased with what we pulled out of the oven. It’s almost like we know what we’re doing.

Light, refreshing and relatively low in alcohol is all the rage in certain circles these days, so this summer we have tried to bring you cocktail recipes that fit the bill. Today we have a lower alcohol riff on one of the all-time Tiki classics, the Mai Tai.

A modern riff on the classic Tuscan bread salad, panzanella, is designed specifically to delight all you home gardeners and mavens of farmers markets. A bright, light, fresh but umami laden salad course is built for outdoor dining or summer parties.

Caponata is a signature dish of Sicily. It’s a slightly sweet and sour mixture of vegetables akin to France’s Ratatouille or Spain’s Pisto Manchego. It can be eaten on bruschetta, as an appetizer or as a side for fish or chicken.

The Demo Kitchen digs corn. In fact, we obsess about it at this time of year. Our Corn Pudding recipe highlights fresh corn in a sweet southern side dish, perfectly suited to accompany anything you may be pulling off the grill.

The Demo Kitchen has eaten fried green tomatoes across the southern United States, and we love them. We teamed these improved FGTs with a creamy remoulade and a fresh corn relish that takes advantage of the summer’s bounty. By dressing the relish with balsamic vinegar and adding a little Parmigiano-Reggiano to the breading we created a kind of Charleston by way of Emilia-Romagna dish.

Here is a really simple dish to add to your midsummer grilling repertoire that takes no time and packs in loads of seasonal flavor. Firm, meaty swordfish is grilled over charcoal and smokey rosemary sprigs then dressed up with an explosively flavorful relish of garden-fresh tomatoes and olives.

Yes, we did it! We married two great Midwestern burger traditions, added a little French savoir faire and came up with this buttery, beefy and cheesy thruple served up on a pillowy bun.