Tag Archives: vodka

saltandserenity

May 4, 2018

I just got back from a long weekend trip to London, with my husband, and I am filled with so much inspiration. My god-daughter, who lived in London for a few years, sent me a list of some of her favourite restaurants. Our agenda included as many meals as we could fit in, as well as lots of walking to burn off all those calories. We ate at The Palomar, Yotam Ottolenghi’s Nopi, Dishoom, Bocca di Lupo, and Opso.

On Sunday, my husband went to a soccer match and I attended a workshop titled, “The Art of Food Stories”, put on by two of my favourite food photographers, Rachel Korinek and Bea Lubas. I will write another post about that experience next week, so stay tuned. 

One of the most unique and delicious things I tasted was Sumac-Ade at The Palomar. Serving the food of modern day Jerusalem, the menu is strongly influenced by  Southern Spain, North Africa and the Levant. (new term for me!!)

Sumac is a spice typically used in Middle East cooking. If you’ve ever had za’atar, then you know sumac. Mixing it into a cocktail is not a very common use of this spice but when you consider the flavour profile of this spice, it makes sense. It has a bright citrus flavour, and is used wherever you want a hit of fresh acidity.

The waiter described it as sparkling lemonade flavoured with sumac. I had to try it. One sip and I was hooked. The tart acidity of the sumac really enhanced the lemonade. I sent the waiter off on a reconnaissance mission to find out how it was made. He came back after consulting with the resident mixologist and explained that she infuses sumac in vodka for 3 days. Then she strains it and adds a small spoonful of it to a large glass filled with ice and fresh lemonade. The drink gets topped off with a big splash of soda water.
Although their version was essentially non-alcoholic (just a spoonful of sumac vodka), I decided to create an alcoholic version. While you could use store bought lemonade, it really is better with fresh. You’ll need lots of lemons!It takes a bit of advance planning, but once you make the sumac infusion and lemonade, it’s quick to put together.
Fill a large glass with ice. Add lemonade, plain vodka, and a spoonful of the sumac infused vodka. Top with soda water, stir and watch that gorgeous pink colour appear.

Click here to print recipe for Sumac-Ade Cocktail.

Frozen Lemon Mint Vodka Mojito

8 Replies

Ok, so Sept 1 is probably not the ideal time to be posting about frozen lemon mint mojitos. I mean, come on you slackers, it’s back to school, back to work, time to clean out your closets , dust those summer cob webs off your brain and get serious about life again.  On the other hand, maybe just one more mojito and then we can get serious about life again. After all, we still have Labout Day weekend coming up, so summer is not quite officially over yet.

The inspiration for this drink came from a popular non-alcoholic Israeli beverage. Ice, lemonade and mint are blended into a slushy brain freeze inducing concoction known as Limonata. In 2009 I had the good fortune of visiting Israel 4 times. My daughter was spending the year there and, what can I say, one of us had terrible separation anxiety issues! Each time I visited I would drink a Limonata and think to myself, “Oh, this would be so good with some vodka!” Then I would get home and forget all about it. Perhaps too much vodka?

Last weekend my sister, brother-in-law and kids were visiting at the cottage. My brother-in-law (I’ll just call him Mr B.) is a blender virtuoso. I do believe he might have been a professional mixologist in his past life. it was cocktail hour and we were looking around the kitchen for something to create. The day before we made Bellinis and I could just tell that Mr. B. was a bit disappointed with that choice. Too pedestrian and ordinary. He was itching to create.

My sister had prepared a batch of simple syrup earlier in the day and it was chilling in the fridge. I looked in the freezer and unearthed a bottle of Lemon vodka that my son and his friends had not yet discovered. Suddenly I remembered the Limonata and we got busy creating. I squeezed some lemons, chopped some mint and we were on our way.

When I handed Mr. B. a measuring cup and asked him if he would mind keeping track of quantities, he got that wounded look on his face, like when his sainted Toronto Maple Leafs lose to the Ottawa Senators. Measuring is not in the lexicon of a culinary creative genius. When I explained to him that I wanted to feature him and the drink in my blog and that I needed to provide an exact recipe to my readers he perked up a bit and forgave me for my slight. He was excited to be featured in Salt and Serenity!

Our first batch was a bit too tart. The second batch, not quite enough mint. We hit perfection on the third batch. I’m warning you, these go down mighty quickly!

Click here to print the recipe for Frozen Lemon Vodka Mint Mojito.

Cocktails at the Cottage

1 Reply

I think I have a special fondness for these recipes because the last time I  had them was at my friend Sandy’s cottage.  Sandy and her husband are the ultimate hosts.  After almost 3 weeks of rainy July weather, upon our arrival, they arranged for the sun to come out and there it stayed for the entire 3 days of our visit. Each day, at precisely 5:15 p.m., drinks and hors d’oeuvres were served on the dock.  There we were, lounging by the lake in our comfy Muskoka chairs and Sandy appeared with a bowl of this tapenade and flatbread crackers.  I think my love of this tapenade may also have something to do with the fact that she served it with these ice cold pomegranate martinis. 

Any left over tapenade keeps well in the fridge for weeks.  It is also wonderful in sandwiches and tossed with hot pasta.

Sandy’s Green Olive Tapenade

2 cups green olives with pimentos, drained of brine
1/3 cup Italian parsley leaves
1 large clove garlic
¼ cup extra-virgin olive oil
2 tablespoons lemon juice
¼ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

 1.  Place green olives and parsley in the bowl of a food processor fitted with the metal blade.  Turn machine on and drop garlic clove through the top while blade is spinning.  Pulse mixture about 10 times until olives are coarsely chopped.

 2.  Add olive oil, lemon juice and black pepper and pulse 2-3 more times.  You want a chunky mixture.  Do not process until smooth.

 3.  Transfer mixture to small serving bowl and serve with crackers or slices of toasted baguette.

Frozen Pomegranate Martinis

This recipe is adapted from a July 2000 recipe in Gourmet Magazine.  In the original recipe they used frozen chunks of watermelon instead of the pomegranate ice cubes.

You can actually feel virtuous drinking this cocktail.  The antioxidants in pomegranate juice have been shown to be beneficial to heart health by breaking down fatty deposits on the artery walls.  This drink requires some advance planning as you need to make POM ice cubes from the juice.  Once frozen, they will keep in a zip-loc bag in your freezer for several months.  It’s always good to have a bag of POM cubes on hand.  You never know who will show up.  Serves 4

2 small bottles POM wonderful pomegranate juice (each bottle is 473 ml)
zest from 1 lime
¼ cup granulated sugar
¼ cup lime juice
½ cup Vodka  (regular, raspberry, lemon, mandarine) use whatever you have

1.  Pour 2 bottles of pomegranate juice into ice cube trays and freeze for several hours, until solid.  If not using right away, frozen juice cubes can be kept in a zip-loc bag.

2.  Zest Lime and add to sugar.  Juice limes.

3.  In a blender, combine half the juice ice cubes, lime zest, sugar, and vodka.   Blend until almost smooth and add remaining juice cubes, a few at a time, blending until totally smooth.

3.  Pour into martini or wine glasses and serve with a straw.  Beware of a brain freeze if you slurp too fast.