Summer Farmers' Market Cocktails

August 28, 2009

Below is a sampling of the inventive cocktail recipes served at CUESA’s Summer Farmers’ Market Cocktail Night. Thanks to everyone who participated and attended!

 

Blackberry Shrub

from Allison Evanow, Elixir

1 ½ ounces Square One Botanical
½ ounces Rhum Clement Creole
½ ounces blackberry shrub syrup*
¼ ounces fresh lemon juice
ginger beer
2 sprigs of rosemary
2 blackberries for garnish

In a mixing glass, add leaves of one-inch sprig of rosemary and all ingredients except ginger beer. Shake with ice and strain into a Collins glass filled with ice. Top with ginger beer. Garnish with a rosemary sprig with two blackberries speared onto stem. Optional: use frozen blackberries left from making shrub to mix between the ice in the glass.

 

*Shrub syrup: In a saucepan, boil 2 cups of water, 1 cup of sugar and 1
½ cups of blackberries until reduced to 2 cups. Strain out the berries.
(Reserve whole berries and freeze them for garnish.) Put berry syrup
back into pan. Add 1 cup of balsamic vinegar and simmer on medium
low for 20 minutes. Cool and store in a squeeze bottle.

Golden Maharani

from Greg Lindgren, Rye & Rosewood

1 ¾ ounces Beefeater 24 gin
2 ½ ounces Homemade yellow heirloom tomato juice*
3 ripe Sun Gold tomatoes
3 basil leaves
1 tsp Sukhi’s Madras Curry Paste
Rim: 50/50 blend of Garam Masala and course sea salt
Garnish:
1 Slice of Sukhi’s Spinach Paratha
1 teaspoon Sukhi’s Jalapeno Chutney

Muddle Sun Gold tomatoes, basil, and curry paste in a mixing glass. Add Beefeater 24 and yellow tomato juice. Add ice; rock the shaker enough to mix ingredients. (don’t overdo the shaking). Strain into glass rimmed with Garam Masala salt. Spear a pinwheel of Paratha** and Jalapeno chutney and place on edge of glass.

* Yellow heirloom tomato juice
10 pounds very ripe small yellow heirlooms (Flame, Sun Gold, etc).
2 tablespoons salt

Wash and stem tomatoes and cut in half. Core any hard whitish flesh
from near the stem base. Place all tomatoes in a large non-reactive
cooking pot and sprinkle with salt. Let tomatoes break down in the pot over a low flame (about 45 minutes). Stir occasionally. As liquid forms in the pot, ladle it into a container and save. Take the soft tomatoes off the fire and puree them in a food processor. Strain through a sieve. This should yield a thick tomato juice. Add the reserved tomato liquid and more salt to taste.

**Paratha garnish
Heat the flatbread in a large saute pan or griddle. When warm transfer paratha to a cutting board and spread a thin layer of jalapeno chutney on top. Slice the paratha into 1” wide strips, and slice those strips in half width-wise. Roll the strips into pinwheels and spear them with a toothpick.

Purple Rain

from Brooke Arthur, Range

5 plums
½ ounce Mathilde Peach Liqueur
½ ounce St Germain
Juice of 1 whole lime
1 ½ ounces Junipero gin
¼ ounce Campari

Muddle plums, add all other ingredients, shake 20 times, strain into glass, garnish with a lime wedge.

Eddystone’s Watch

Brian Macgregor, Jardinière

2 ounces Plymouth Gin
½ ounces Lemon verbena syrup*
¾ ounce lemon juice
⅓ of a peach
dashes of Angostura bitters

Dice up one third of a peach, muddle in a mixing glass. Add the other ingredients, shake and strain into a cocktail glass.

*Lemon verbena syrup
Take two parts water and one part sugar and bring to a boil. Remove from heat, add lemon verbena leaves (dried or fresh) and let sit 48 hours. Remove the leaves and store.

Monk Berry Fizz

Darren Crawford, Tony Nik’s Café

1 ounce Green Chartreuse
¾ ounce Bols Genever
¾ ounce fresh lime juice
½ ounce fresh lemon juice
½ ounce blackberry puree*
½ ounce lemon basil and hyssop syrup*
½ ounce fresh rosemary leaves
1 ounce soda water

Begin by thoroughly muddling the rosemary in the citrus juices in a mixing glass or tin. Add remaining ingredients except the soda, add ice, and shake well for 7 seconds. Fine strain into a Collins glass over fresh ice. Fill with soda to taste. Garnish with very thinly sliced lemon and lime wheels on the inside of the glass, and finish by skewering three blackberries with a half-stripped rosemary sprig and place in the drink.

* Blackberry puree:
Makes about ½ cup (enough for about 8 cocktails)
Push 1 pound berries (you may sub another seasonal berry if desired) through a fine-mesh strainer or chinois.  Be sure to scrape the outside of the strainer. The puree will keep for 3 to 4 days refrigerated in an airtight container.

* Lemon basil and hyssop syrup:
(enough for about 24 cocktails)
Combine 1 ½ cups of Turbinado sugar with 1 ½ cups of boiling water.  Stir well until completely dissolved.  Add one bunch of fresh lemon basil and one drop of essential oil of hyssop (extract, as well as dried hyssop, can also be used). Store in an airtight container and refrigerate for 36 hours.  Use a fine-mesh strainer to remove all solids. 

Topics: Cocktails, DIY, Programs