Let It Flow: The Forage Duo Puts Summer Berries to Work

Shauna Alterio and Stephen Loidolt of the tie line Forage (see!) are makers extraordinaire. And lucky for us, their passion for creating crosses over into the cocktail realm. Here, their summer drink of choice that will help you get some more fruit into your diet, too. 

“Stephen first made this drink a few summers ago inspired by all my favorite ingredients—we call it the Berry Fizz. Since then, it’s become one of our most popular treats to make for friends. The individual bottles make it perfect for picnics or lazy afternoons in the park.” —shauna

Ingredients:
1 ½ pints fresh raspberries and blackberries (about 4 cups)
1 to 2 tablespoons sugar
6 large springs of fresh mint 
Juice of 1 lemon
½ cup vodka
1 bottle prosecco

Directions:
Reserve some berries as garnish. Mash the remaining berries, sugar, and mint in a large bowl. Stir in the vodka, lemon juice, and prosecco. Pour the mixture through a sieve into a pitcher, pressing through; discard solids. Pour into 12-ounce bottles, top with reserved berries, and cork. Keep chilled on ice.

For more designer-approved drink recipes, click here.

Emerging Thing of the Week: Micheladas

Claire & I? We are *obsessed* with micheladas. As in, if they’re on a menu, they’re going to be in our bellies. If you aren’t acquainted with the drink, it’s a beer cocktail with lots of salty/umami flavors (soy sauce! worcestershire! etc.!), boatloads of tang (lime!), and plenty of kick—a less alcoholic, happy-hour-ready relative of the bloody mary, if you will. And though, like I said, we’ll order them anywhere, our favorite comes from the (really well-done) food blog Spoon Fork Bacon. I encourage inviting some pals over, firing up the grill, quadrupling the recipe (skipping the fussy honey-salt rim and the jalapeño garnish), and making sure you have plenty of citrus on hand for when everyone is hankering for refills. —erica

For more newfound favorites, head this way.

Rachel Albright, BBQ Heiress

The jewelry designer shares her family’s tangy, finger-licking recipe.

The slaw-topped, bun-cradled finished product.

Raised in a very Southern household in a small town outside of Richmond, Virginia, Rachel Albright was the black sheep: “I was the only person in my hometown who cared about fashion and style,” she says. But for her, launching an adorably loud line Academy Jewelry didn’t mean getting the hell out of Dodge: She’s stuck around, making it possible to go on weekly square-dancing outings with her grandmother Nene and to master the matriarch’s secret barbecue recipe (that, er, shared below is secret no more). “It’s a vinegar-style BBQ, and my grandmother loves vinegar—I think I picked that up from her,” Rachel explains. “We’re convinced it’s the secret to health and to square dancing well into your nineties!” —olivia seely

Ingredients:

Pork:
10-pound pork shoulder or pork butt
1 white onion, diced
6 grabs salt (bigger than a pinch)
3 grabs black pepper
4 grabs paprika
6 glugs of white vinegar*
6 glugs apple cider vinegar*
*A glug is a generous pour. There should be enough white and apple cider vinegar to cover ¾ of the meat. Add another couple glugs if you need more after you flip the meat.

Coleslaw:
1 head green cabbage, sliced thinly
6 carrots, peeled and thinly sliced
2 green apples, thinly sliced
3 big spoonfuls mayonnaise, preferably Duke’s
2 glugs apple cider vinegar
Salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

Take the pork shoulder (or pork butt, whichever is less expensive—we’re not fancy!). Put it in a slow cooker with the diced onion, salt and pepper, paprika, or whatever other spices are lying around. Add white vinegar and apple cider vinegar to cover about ¾ of the meat. Put the heat on low and let it cook all day long—seriously: like 8 or 10 hours. Flip halfway through (if possible) and add more vinegar to taste. When the meat starts falling off the bone, take it out of the pot, pull the remaining meat from the bone, and shred it with your fingers. This should be easy to do because the meat should be tender. 

Next comes the coleslaw, which is just as important as the meat around here. Mix the cabbage, carrot, and apple in a bowl with the mayo, apple cider vinegar, salt and pepper, and other spices if you want a little kick. 

That’s it! The pork is best with coleslaw on potato roll served with, of course, sweet tea.

See what else Rachel can make: These necklace amp up, well, anything.

On the Table: Leah Fabish of LAYERxlayer Cooks Up Tacos For Everybody

This week, we’re sharing go-to summer recipes from some of our designers with the most kitchen savvy, and today is all about Leah Fabish of LAYERxlayer—girl even has her own food blog And You Do the Dishes with lots of gluten- and dairy-free goodness (and, duh, pretty pics). Her, a taste of what gets her salivating.

Topped with cashew creama, if you will.

“Tacos are kind of perfect year-round, but they are absolutely essential summer fare.With minimal cooking involved in this spicy tempeh taco recipe, the emphasis is on a combination of tastes, and if there is one thing that I have mastered in cooking, it’s marinades. The marinade I mixed together for Pairing it with the cool and tangy lime-marinated onions and smooth cashew cream results in a taco that would woo even the most carnivorous appetite.” —leah

More food! Right here!

On the Table: Ayeisha Mesinger of Morgan Parish Dresses Up Greens

Man, our designers know their way around the kitchen. If you don’t me, dive into this stellar recipe that Ayeisha Mesinger, the designer behind these clutches—as bright as summer berries—shared with us.

Crazy-beautiful berries in Ayeisha’s garden.

“I love a meal involving yummy greenery of any kind, but sometimes I lack for inspiration—it’s hard to figure out a refreshing alternative to the usual arugula with lemon and olive oil standard. The ladies behind Apples & Onions are dear friends of mine, and while I no longer have the luxury of popping around the corner for an afternoon cocktail and hors d’oeuvres, I still look to them when in need of culinary inspiration. This awesome recipe for raw kale salad with strawberries and almonds is time-efficient and as tasty as it is good-looking. We have our garden going right now and have the YUMMIEST strawberries growing.  And, like most people these days, I love, love, love some kale.” —ayeisha

For more early summer tastiness, head this way.

On the Table: Sarah Fox of Cursive Design Gets Busy With Summer Tomatoes

Turns out, the designers we feature on this site are as creative in the kitchen as they are in the studio—for proof, download the PDF cookbook we put together last summer. And since we’re headed into those delicious, juicy produce-heavy months, we asked a few of our top chefs to share something they cook up when the weather gets hot. Here, the mastermind behind Cursive Design on what to do with a shit-ton of tomatoes. 

Behold: Sarah’s tomato porn.

“This recipe via Molly Wizenberg on her blog Orangette has changed my life (not even joking). Three words: slow roasted tomatoes. I love these tomatoes because they’re so delicious, easy, and versatile. Eat them alone, on top of a burger instead of ketchup, in pasta, in a quiche, chopped up with onion and cilantro for a quick salsa—the sky’s the limit with these guys. They take 4 to 6 hours in the oven, so do it on a cooler day or early in the morning since it will heat up your space a bit. Recently, I’ve been buying entire flats of tomatoes at a time and canning them. Hello, my name is tomato rich!” —sarah

LAYERxlayer Goes Bananas

The twosome whips up a go-to recipe, packed full of good-for-you deliciousness.

The design philosophy behind the Patrick Turiello and Leah Fabish’s accessory label LAYERxlayer infiltrates every single part of their lives—including the food they eat. As Patrick, one half of the culinarily skilled couple notes, “We really do put a great deal of thought into our daily consumption, and we experience an immense amount of joy when sharing a meal with family and friends.” Speaking of sharing: Leah bakes a mean banana bread, and she wants you to get in on it, too. The basic recipe comes from her grandmother, but she’s made some changes to ditch the gluten and make it vegan (for more on that, check out her blog). It’s time to preheat that oven. —liza darwin

Ingredients:
1 ½ cups sorghum
1 cup brown rice flour
1 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
3 teaspoons cinnamon
3 teaspoons ground flax seeds mixed with ½ cup water
1 cup brown sugar
1 cup sunflower oil
2 cups very ripe bananas, mashed
3 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 cup crushed pecans

Directions:
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Combine the dry ingredients (flour, salt, baking powder, baking soda, and cinnamon) in a small bowl, mix thoroughly, and set aside. Cream the flax mixture and sugar in large bowl. Add the oil, then banana, vanilla extract, and pecans to the wet ingredients. Slowly add dry ingredients into wet ingredients until thoroughly combined. Pour the mixture into two 8 ½-inch greased bread pans. Bake for 1 hour.

One word: Nom.

To see what else these two have cooked up, sign up for our newsletter—their edition is coming tomorrow!

Caitlin Mociun’s Star Dumpling Soup

Her fascination with shapes seeps into everything she makes.

When Caitlin’s not busy designing stunning (and unexpected) bracelets and teeny-tiny earrings, she’s probably in her kitchen, whipping up something tremendous for her friends. And she’s game for sharing one of her favorite concoctions with us: “This soup was born from a disappointing recipe I tried out—it had potential, but I was disappointed by the bulky cornmeal dumplings and thick chunks of sausage. To lighten it up, I came up with these delicate, star-shaped sausage dumplings,” she explains. “They just explode in the broth—tiny, delicious little nuggets. Taste is obviously paramount in cooking, but the way food looks and is presented is a huge part of the experience as well.” These dumplings so clearly echo her fondness for what she calls “primary shapes.” Don’t you think a gold version would look rad affixed to a ring? —mireille hyde

See what else Caitlin’s cooked up: Her mismatched earrings—exclusive to Of a Kind—are total eye candy.

Ingredients:

Dumplings:

1 pack wonton wrappers

½ pound sausage meat

¼ teaspoon cayenne pepper

½ teaspoon crushed red pepper
½ teaspoon garlic powder

1 teaspoon salt

½ teaspoon fresh cracked pepper

1 egg

Soup:

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 yellow onion, chopped
1 red onion, chopped
5 cloves of garlic, chopped
4 bay leaves

1 tablespoon fresh thyme 

1 teaspoon hot sauce

1/8 teaspoon allspice

29 ounces canned diced tomatoes 

6 cups chicken stock

6 cups greens (mustard, collard, or a mix)

Salt and pepper to taste

Instructions:

Make your dumplings first—they take a while. Mix the spices with the sausage meat in a bowl. Beat the egg in another bowl. Cut each wanton wrapper into 4 pieces. You can make as many or as few of these as you want. (I maybe made 75 or 100 of them.) Just make sure to save about half the sausage mixture to put in the soup base, and go to town.

To make a dumpling, pick up your tiny square of wanton wrapper. Brush all four edges lightly with egg. Place a very small dot (about 1/8 teaspoon) of meat in the middle of the wrapper. Fold the wrapper so all the points meet in the center and the center of each side of the squares come together forming a tiny four-pointed star. Make sure to press all the edges together well. They get puffy and expand while cooking in the soup, but if you seal them well, they will stay intact while cooking and look more attractive when served. Set them on a plate to be added to the soup later.

To make the soup, heat the olive oil in a large soup pot over medium heat. Add the onions and garlic to the pot. Add the bay leaves and a couple pinches of salt. Sauté for 5 minutes until the onions start to soften. Add the leftover sausage meat and the chopped fresh thyme. Cook for another 5 minutes and add the tomatoes, hot sauce, allspice, and chicken stock. Bring to a simmer. 
While that gets going, wash the greens well. Remove their center stocks, slice them into ribbons, and add them to the simmering soup. After 5 minutes, the greens will have wilted a bit, and you can add your dumplings. Turn the heat down to low and let simmer for another 20 minutes. 
Finish with salt and pepper to taste.

Ayeisha Mesinger Brings the Fiesta to Denver

It’s her party, and she’ll have a marg if she wants to.

Let’s get it started.

After returning to CO from her vacation in Mexico, all Ayeisha Mesigner of the amazingly sleek accessories biz Morgan Parish wanted to do was go back. Since that wasn’t exactly viable, she hosted a “We Miss Mexico” themed dinner party at her pad in Denver. “I love color and liked the idea of having a simple, fun, and bright party,” she explains. Here is how she got everything ready in just three hours—which means you have no excuse not to fake a border crossing this weekend. —monica derevjanik


Invites
Time: 1 hour
“While I was in Mexico, the Zihuatanejo International Guitar Festival was going on, so I designed an evite with that in mind—with a little Dia de los Muertos twist.”


Coasters
Time: 30 minutes
“I bought a set of colorful doilies in Mexico, and now I can only find one of them. So I recreated my own with some plain white cotton doilies that I bought at a craft store and soaked in brightly colored dyes.”


Pompom Napkins
Time: 15 minutes
“You can buy this trim at any fabric store—it doesn’t have to be perfect, just fun! I had some scrap fabric lying around at home, so I just stitched the pompoms around the edges.”


Cutting Board
Time: “Literally, two seconds”
“I bought an inexpensive cutting board and sprayed one end of it with chalkboard paint so I could write my own message on it. I love that I can reuse this board with a new message for parties in the future. You can even use this technique with smaller pieces of wood to make personalized place settings.” [Ed: Craving the salsa in this picture? Check out the recipe—c/o La Esquina and DailyCandy—here.]


Tissue-Paper Poufs
Time: 30 minutes
“These are so simple to make, you can use them pretty much anywhere, and they instantly brighten up any party. Just accordion fold a pile of eight sheets of tissue paper and tie it at the center with some twine. You can cut the edges to give them a different shape, or leave them straight and peel back each layer until you create a pouf shape. I love hanging them above my dinner table.”


Trivet
Time: 5 minutes
“I actually used a wall hanging that my dad had brought back from Panama for this project. Sometimes I’d be looking for a plate to protect my table from hot meals, and I figured this would be a great use for it since it wasn’t on the wall. I just spray-painted it to give it some color.”


“Mex-covitch” Fried Fish
Time: 15 minutes preparation, 5 minutes cooking
“Escovitch is a Jamaican style of seasoning and frying fish. I merged that technique with the flavors I tasted while in Mexico. I don’t always cook with recipes—I like to use past experience in the kitchen, time spent watching my mom, and recipes from food magazines to guide me. Helpful tool: a deep fryer!”

Ingredients:
2 one-pound pieces of whole red snapper (scaled and prepared)
8 large cloves of garlic, minced
2 habanero peppers, thinly sliced
½ medium white onion, thinly sliced
2 tablespoon butter, quartered
1 cup cilantro, chopped
1 lemon
1 teaspoon ground all spice
1 teaspoon ground thyme
1 teaspoon ground chili pepper
1 teaspoon granulated sugar
Black pepper and salt to taste

Directions:
Mix the all spice, thyme, chili pepper, granulated sugar, black pepper, and salt to create a dry rub. Make 2­ or 3 deep slits on both sides of the snapper and evenly distribute the dry rub into the slits, over the skin, and on the inside of the fish. Push onions, peppers, and garlic into the slits. Place the slices of butter inside the fish and squeeze lemon juice over the fish. Cover the fish with foil and let it marinate in the fridge for at least an hour (and get working on your party decorations!). Set the deep fryer to 375 degrees. Place one fish at a time in the fryer and let it sit for about 5 minutes. Remove from the fryer and sprinkle with fresh chopped cilantro. Serve family-style on a platter—the fish will be super tender and can be easily picked off the bone. Serves 3-4.

If you can’t tell, Ayeisha isn’t afraid of color. Case in point: her shocking pink and blue Of a Kind pouches with their rad horsehair tassels.