50 Women Game-Changers in Food - #48 - Cat Cora's Grapefruit Margarita

Grapefruit Margarita by Cat Cora

On the journey with fellow food bloggers through Gourmet Live's 50 Women Game-Changers in Food, we're heading on fast toward the finish line with number 48, Cat Cora (b 1968.)  Each week, we feature one special woman who has made an impact on what goes on the table when we sit down to eat.  Some we've know well; others have been new to some of us.  If you're interested in the celebrity food world, you've heard of this week's Cat Cora (Iron Chef, Around the World in 80 Plates), who hailed from Jackson, Mississippi where she was raised in a Greek restaurant family.  Soon after college she found her way to New York and the CIA for culinary school.   Training further in first-class kitchens in France and New York, she finally found her way to California where she now lives with her partner and four sons.  

Order Cat Cora's Classics with a Twist

In addition to cookbooks, restaurants, a line of food, wine, and cookware, as well as the tv shows (click here for her You Tube Channel), Cat is also involved in a variety of causes... 

Outside of the kitchen, Cat is known for her philanthropy. She is President and Founder of Chefs for Humanity, an organization that originated in response to the 2004 Tsunami disaster. Modeled after Doctors Without Borders, the not-for-profit gathers the culinary community together to raise funds and provide resources for important emergency, educational and hunger-related causes. Recognizing Cat’s altruistic determination in the food world, UNICEF named her a nutritional spokesperson to help raise awareness for humanitarian crises around the world.

In June 2010, Cat joined First Lady Michelle Obama as part of her Chefs Move To Schools campaign in an effort to provide nutritional guidance and education from professional chefs to schools nationwide. Cat is presently working on adopting an elementary school near her home in Santa Barbara, CA.  (courtesy catcora.com)

Want more info about Cat and her recipes?  Check out her website here . 
Follow Cat on twitter here.

But first, mix up this heat-beating  grapefruit cocktail as a trial run for your Memorial Day cook-out.  I am not much of a spirits drinker (as a foodie I'm into wine--it goes with food!), but I do drink the occasional  finger of island Scotch come January in St. Paul, a shot of Asbach-Uralt if I'm stuffed up with a cold, or the ubiquitous summer margarita on the patio.  You could say I'm a  medicinal drinker!   I  do like the idea of something different with a nod toward healthy (has grapefruit, right?) and so had my husband and friend Jim whip these up for us to try last weekend.  That's right, I didn't even make these babies; I'm fessing up.  I don't grill outdoors and I don't make cocktails; I don't want to learn.  I do make great sangria and will make you some if you come to dinner in the summertime.  So there.  Try these:

cat cora's straight up grapefruit margaritas  makes 4 cocktails

Ingredients

• 1 to 1 1/2 cups fresh squeezed grapefruit juice (from about 2 large grapefruit)
• 3/4 cup tequila
• 1/2 cup Triple Sec
• 1/2 cup fresh-squeezed lime juice
• 2 Tbs superfine sugar (plus extra for rim)
• 4 cups crushed ice

Directions

Run a lime wedge over the rim of each glass and dip in superfine sugar. Shake all ingredients together in martini shaker, strain out the ice, carefully divide the margarita mixture among four glasses and serve. 

Taster's Notes:  I thought these a tad sweet for my taste and would increase the lime juice next time.  Otherwise--a beautiful, refreshing start to our Mother's Day cookout.  We also made a non-alcoholic version with grenadine and grapefruit juice.

~

I blog, on this project, with a tasty group of writers.  Read up:

Val - More Than Burnt Toast, Taryn - Have Kitchen Will Feed, Susan - The Spice Garden
Heather - girlichef, Miranda - Mangoes and Chutney, Amrita -Beetle's Kitchen Escapades ,

Mary - One Perfect Bite, Sue - The View from Great Island, Barbara - Movable Feasts

Linda A - There and Back Again, Nancy - Picadillo, Mireya - My Healthy Eating Habits
Veronica - My Catholic Kitchen, Annie - Most Lovely Things, Jeanette - Healthy Living
Claudia - Journey of an Italian Cook, Alyce - More Time at the Table
Kathy - Bakeaway with Me, Martha - Simple Nourished Living, Jill - Saucy Cooks
Sara - Everything in the Kitchen Sink

   

If you liked this, you might like my Greek Chicken Salad to go along with the margarita!

Mother's Day Dessert

two-dog kitchen and around the 'hood

Making the shortcakes--I did the ice cream, too.  May blog the whole thing!

Baked a glazed Korobuta ham--Bourbon-Orange Glazed-- Wednesday for my choir's last rehearsal.  Berkshire pork is worth the price and this is my new go-to recipe (Fine Cooking) for big groups or holiday ham.

You see where they are--getting the tablecloth full of dog hair!

Allium in my west garden--everything is way ahead of schedule.

 Egg Salad on my Dinner Place Blog (Cooking for One) this week :
                "An Egg with a Few Greens for Supper"

Sing a new song,

Alyce