The LAST CALL Holiday Special
Brought to you by See The Elephant Amaro
Wake the kids, phone the neighbors! It’s time for the third-annual LAST CALL Holiday Special! Read on to learn the story behind why we celebrate this occasion every December 20th (hint: it has do with Martha Stewart), the annual remembrance of the tradition and holiday humor of the much-missed The Late Show with David Letterman Christmas Special, a refreshing Martha-approved holiday cocktail recipe, my Molly Ringwald story, and a very special amaro-kissed Struffoli recipe from LUCA chef and co-owner Taylor Mason.
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Our thanks to See the Elephant Amaro for sponsoring the LAST CALL Holiday Special for the second year in a row.
Produced in Agropoli near Salerno, See the Elephant Amaro di Rucola is made using local regional herbs and botanicals—including the signature rucola (“arugula”)—and is considered a “zero kilometer,” farm-to-bottle amaro with all the key ingredients sourced from the Cilento Coast region of southern Italy.
It’s an ideal, Italian-born “gateway” amaro for those just starting to explore the amari category—flavorful, sweet, bold, and complex, with just a touch of bitterness. One unique characteristic of Rucola-style amari which really stands out is the note of bubblegum (it always reminds of of the old-school powdered sugar and cornstarch-coated stick of pink gum that used to come packaged with baseball cards) and See the Elephant Amaro is a best-in-class example of this unique style. Try it neat, over ice, or in creative cocktail applications like a Black Manhattan, Espresso Martini, or a seasonal Flip.
Drink now and command a common joy!
Use Promo Code BTP to save $15.00 on any online order from the See the Elephant Shop. Offer available through midnight on Tuesday, December 31, 2024.
Holiday Recipe: “See the Elephant” Struffoli
I was first introduced to See the Elephant Amaro at LUCA, a modern Italian restaurant in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, where, since the summer of 2017, I’ve become as much of a regular as one can living 166 miles away. Over my time there I’ve become great friends with chef and co-owner Taylor Mason along with many members of the team. They’ve even hosted me for a number of three-day amaro “residencies” over the years where I’ve conducted sold-out, spirited talks and tastings.
Mason and his kitchen crew always find inventive ways to incorporate the bittersweet and herbal notes of amaro into some of their dishes, and with our mutual friends from See the Elephant Amaro sponsoring this year’s LAST CALL Holiday Special we all thought it would be fun to see how they might approach using this Italian-born amaro—with its redolent notes of eggnog—as in ingredient in making the classic Neapolitan holiday confection Struffoli.
These sweet and sticky honey balls, made from fried dough and adorned with a coating of colorful sprinkles, are typically the size of marbles, but Mason prefers a slightly larger, gumball-sized Struffoli over the “mini jawns” for more of a textural contrast as well as yielding more surface area for the honey-amaro glaze. There’s a bit of prep as well as hot oil involved, but while labor-intensive, the result promises to be a showstopper on your holiday dessert table. These are best paired with a glass of See the Elephant Amaro or, to encourage lingering at the table, a See The Elephant Amaro Espresso Martini.
Buon Natale!
Download the recipe for “See the Elephant” Struffoli
Welcome to the LAST CALL Holiday Special!
You know it, you love it, you can’t live without it—it’s the LAST CALL Holiday Special! There’s a reason why this always falls on December 20th. Today is the day where, for the past 13 years, I share my “Happy Holidays from BTP and Martha” card to commemorate when I appeared on “The Cocktail Party Show” episode of The Martha Stewart Show on Tuesday, December 20, 2011.
From TV Guide
Episode 59: “The Cocktail Party Show”
Tue, Dec 20, 2011 (60 mins)
Setting up a bar for a holiday party with event planner Bronson Van Wyck; cocktail recipes with "Bitters" author Brad Thomas Parsons; a mixed-nut blend with rosemary and brown butter.