RICHMOND, Va. - Chef Coco has become a fan favorite in the Virginia This Morning kitchen, known for passing along delicious and easy to assemble recipes. She made a return visit to our studio and passed along her recipe for a delicious goat cheese crostini with balsamic strawberries and her signature lemon drop martini.
Rotini Recipe:
Ingredients:
- 2 cups strawberries, thinly sliced
- 1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
- 1 teaspoon packed brown sugar
- 2 tablespoons basil, cut into a chiffonade (plus more for garnish)
- Pinch of salt
- Pinch of black pepper
- ½ baguette, cut into ½ inch slices
- 4 ounces goat cheese
Instructions:
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
- Combine strawberries, vinegar, sugar, basil, salt, and black pepper together in a small bowl. Let set for 30 minutes to an hour.
- In the meantime, place crostini slices on a large rimmed baking sheet. Bake until slightly crisp about 8 minutes. Let cool.
- Spread goat cheese on toast and then layer balsamic strawberries over. Sprinkle with more basil.
Martini Recipe:
- juice of one 5-6 oz lemon, plus more for glass rim*
- 2.5 oz top shelf vodka such as Tito's
- 1 tbsp ultrafine baker's sugar, more for rim
- finely crushed ice
- sliced lemon round for garnish
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To sugar the rim of the martini glass, squeeze your extra lemon into a flat bottomed bowl and dip the rim of the glass into the bowl to coat the outside edges of the glass. Holding the glass upside down, sprinkle ultrafine sugar onto the outside edge of the glass rim.
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Using a citrus press, squeeze the juice out of a 5-6 oz lemon into a cocktail shaker. Add vodka and 1 tablespoon of ultrafine sugar into cocktail shaker and fill halfway with large ice cubes. Close and shake vigorously for at least 40 shakes to dissolve sugar (wrap a towel around the shaker as it will get very cold to hold on to). Strain into a martini glass and scoop in finely crushed ice to float on the top. Add a thinly sliced lemon round to float on the top.
