Cook With Us and Alex Bridges of Vidrio

WEB EXCLUSIVE This Friday (5/29) at 4 p.m., Alex Bridges of Vidrio will take over our Instagram (@raleighmagazine) to show us, and our readers and followers, how to make the restaurant’s Oaxaca Flora cocktail and Cauliflower Cacio E Pepe.

Tune in and post a question or comment for a chance to win a $50 Vidrio gift card! (Winner will be selected at random.)

Scroll for the ingredients lists and recipes to get yourself prepared for the live cooking demo.

Oaxaca Flora

1½ oz. Hibiscus Infused Sombra Mezcal (see below)
¾ oz. Aperol
½ oz. St. Germaine 
½ oz. lemon juice
½ oz. simple syrup
Lemon peel and edible flower for garnish
Ice

Equipment: Shaker, strainer, glass

Hibiscus infused mezcal: Pour a 750 ml. bottle of Sombra Mezcal into any plastic container that can be sealed. Add 2 cups of dried hibiscus petals. Slightly agitate and then seal so the container is air tight. Let sit for 24 hours. After 24 hours, remove the seal and strain the mezcal through a chinois to remove all hibiscus petals. Store in an air tight bottle.

To build: Add all ingredients besides garnish into a shaker. Add ice to your shaker, roughly ¾ of the way full. Close your shaker and shake hard to properly emulsify. This should take roughly 45 seconds of vigorous shaking. Open your shaker and using a fine mesh and Hawthorn strainer, strain the contents into a coupe glass. Garnish by piercing a lemon peel and edible flower through a bamboo knot pick and rest on the edge of the glass.

Cauliflower Cacio E Pepe

Cauliflower:
1 cup bread crumbs (buy or make your own)
2 cauliflower heads, trimmed and halved
3 Tbsp. extra virgin olive oil
1 Tbsp. kosher salt
½ Tbsp. black pepper

Cacio E Pepe:
¹⁄₈  cup shallots
2 tsp. garlic
¼ tsp. extra virgin olive oil
¹⁄₃ cup white wine
1 ¹⁄₈  cups heavy cream
¹⁄₈  cups Parmesan
½ tsp. salt
¼ tsp. black pepper
¼ tsp. parsley
¼ tsp. chives

Equipment: Sheet pan, sauté pan, knife, spoon, spatula.

Cauliflower: On a sheet pan, oil and season your broken-down cauliflower. Cook at 350 degrees for 25-30 minutes or until almost tender.

Cacio E Pepe: Start with a cold sauté pan and add in shallots, garlic, oil and salt. Place your burner on medium high heat and start to sweat the shallot and garlic. Once you see this process starting you will add in your white wine, reduce the wine to extract flavor while cooking out moisture and alcohol. Once reduced add heavy cream and black pepper. Once you start to see large bubbles forming in your sauce you can begin to incorporate parmesan. Mix in slowly so as not to overly decrease the temperature of your sauce and to allow for proper melting within the sauce. 

Once you have completed your sauce, you will incorporate your roasted cauliflower into the pan. We want to make sure we are thoroughly mixing to completely coat the cauliflower with sauce. Once the cauliflower is sufficiently covered we will transfer to our bowl. Top the dish with Parmesan, toasted bread crumbs, parsley and chives and serve.