Highlands Visit 2013

Our friends from North Carolina joined us again recently for a weekend in Birmingham, mainly to eat at Frank Stitt’s restaurants.  We were not disappointed with Highlands or Bottega. We started with the Highlands Martini and it was delicious and perfect with slivers of ice and a shaker that produces really two martinis.  We had wonderful oysters on the half-shell, veal tenderloin with sweetbreads, and a beautiful tempura style soft-shell crab for our appetizer.  Bottega was our Saturday lunch place, and by 11:30 AM it was already full so we got a table outside. We started with a Negroni, which is fast becoming one of my favorite drinks. Bottega serves the best pizza so that was our choice. My white pizza with sausage and fennel was delicious and I immediately came home to recreate it.

One day I am going to try the Hot and Hot Fish Club in Birmingham, which I hear is excellent, but I just cannot get away from the Highlands Bar and Grill when I am in town. If you have not made your visit to these restaurants, you should put them on your list of things to do. Highland’s is not open on Sunday or Monday, but Bottega is open these days. Another restaurant Fon Fon is not open for Saturday lunch. Just check on the days for each of these before you go.

From Frank Stitt’s Southern Table

The Highlands Martini

Serves 1

3 ½ ounces Bombay gin (not Sapphire---the alcohol percentage is too high), chilled (A true martini is made with gin and not vodka. This is according to Frank.)

3 juicy drops of dry white vermouth, such as Cinzano or Martini & Rossi, chilled

A strip of lemon zest

2 green olives, preferably Picholine

Fill a cocktail shaker half full with ice cubes. Add the gin and vermouth and, with a wooden pestle or spoon, muddle vigorously for about 10 seconds, giving it at least 10 strokes. Strain into a chilled martini glass.

Twist a lemon strip over the glass before dropping it in. Toss in the olives. There should be the slightest suggestion of a glacier of ice forming on the surface. Inhale deeply and take a big sip.

These recipes are taken from the other Frank Stitt cookbook, Bottega Favorita.

In the 1920s, Gasparé Campari invented a cocktail of sweet vermouth, soda, and Campari---his own trademarked alcoholic blend of sixty-plus bitter herbs and aromatics. It was so popular with American patrons that it became known as an Americano. Legend has it that a few years later an Italian count named Camillo Negroni asked a Florentine bartender to substitute a slash of gin for the soda in his Americano, and, with that, the Negroni was born.

Classic Negroni

Makes 1 cocktail

1 ounce Campari

1 ounce gin (Bottega has a new twist----they used Bourbon for ours that day.)

1 ounce sweet vermouth

Twist of orange peel

Fill an old-fashioned glass with ice. Add all ingredients except the orange peel. Give a stir. Garnish with the orange twist.

Bottega, as I have said before really produces good pizzas. To replicate this at home you need a really hot oven, I get mine to 500ᴼ. I have a pizza stone which I preheat for 30 minutes before putting in the pizza. This works well and I get a thin crust pizza with a puffy golden edge. I use this recipe from Bottega and it works well.

Basic Pizza Dough

Makes three 7-ounce portions of dough, for three 10-inch pizzas

1 ¼ cups warm water (105ᴼ to 115ᴼF)

1 tablespoon honey

1 tablespoon active dry yeast

2 cups all-purpose flour

½ cup whole wheat flour

2 teaspoons kosher salt

¼ cup olive oil

Cornmeal for dusting (optional)

Pour the warm water into a small bowl, stir in the honey, and sprinkle the yeast over the top. Set aside to proof until foamy, about 10 minutes.

Combine the flours and salt in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment (or use a large bowl and a sturdy hand mixer). Add the yeast mixture and olive oil and mix on low speed until the dough forms a mass on the paddle and pulls away from the sides of the bowl, 4-5 minutes.

Remove the dough and divide it into 3 equal portions. Put on a flour-dusted baking sheet with plastic wrap, and set aside in a warm place to rise for 30 minutes, or until almost doubled. (You can make the dough ahead and refrigerate it overnight if necessary; allow it to come to room temperature before continuing.)

The dough is ready to be rolled out and baked. You can hold the rolled dough at room temperature for a short while on a sheet of parchment paper that has been dusted with a little cornmeal.

Toppings are unending, but I used some Fontina cheese, some fennel seeds and some sausage scented with fennel to use on my pizza at home and cooked it for 15 minutes and it was wonderful. Here are some other possibilities:  wild mushrooms, butternut squash and wilted greens with tomato sauce, and Fontina; grilled chicken, pesto, mozzarella and aged provolone; smoked salmon with red onions, capers, and mascarpone; red potatoes, rosemary and Parmesan cheese; spinach, red onions and goat cheese.

Just use your imagination for toppings!