Archive for the ‘drink recipes’ Category

KILLER HOLIDAY EGGNOG

Posted: November 29, 2013 in Cocktails, drink recipes, Drinks, Food, mixology, Uncategorized
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Let’s face it: there’s no such thing as healthy eggnog. This recipe kicks ass but is also a heart attack in a glass.

My buddy, Rick Sammarco, a former bartender at Mill’s Tavern in Providence, RI, credits his father, Al, for this eggnog. The original recipe calls for a lot more of everything. I’ve cut it down to a “more reasonable” size. It’s been so long since I bought ice cream, that I didn’t even know that the standard half-gallon size was replaced by a 1.5 quart size!

A word about salmonella: most cases are caused by raw chicken, not raw eggs. Eggs you get in the supermarket are washed so the chance of salmonella, found on the exterior, is minimal. (The inside of the egg is sterile.) Plus, you’re dumping a lot of booze into this drink and that will kill bacteria. In fact, some recipes say to make your eggnog weeks in advance to “sterilize” the drink.

eggnog

 

 

Ingredients:

 

1.5 quarts vanilla ice cream (I use Breyer’s)

1 pint half and half

15 whole eggs (raw)

½ teaspoon vanilla extract

1/4 teaspoon cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon nutmeg

 

At least 3/8 cup of each:

spiced rum (I use Capt. Morgan)

whiskey (I use Crown Royal)

brandy (I use E&J)

 

Let the ice cream soften 1 day in the fridge. Mix ice cream, eggs, vanilla, half and half in a blender.

Add spices and liquor. Blend until it’s frothy.

Taste, and add more cinnamon and nutmeg if you like.

After fully blended, let sit in fridge 12-24 hours for flavors to blend. Even longer is better.

 

 

MAKING YOUR OWN COCKTAIL ONIONS

Posted: October 21, 2013 in Cocktails, drink recipes, Drinks, Food, MARTINI, mixology, Recipes
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I love me my onions! Raw, sauteed, caramelized, yellow, Spanish, Bermuda, Vidalia, Texas Sweets, scallion, pearl, Crimini, Walla Walla…they can do no wrong. In fact, my wife and daughter gave me the Lithuanian nickname: “Ponas Svogunas.” ( “Mr. Onion.”) I answer to it proudly.

I also love me my vodka martinis! So if I’m going to buy a top shelf vodka like Stoli Elit or Chopin, I’m not going to ruin it with vermouth, whether it’s mixed in with the vodka or whether I find it inside a jar of store-bought cocktail onions.

I looked at several do-it-yourself cocktail onion recipes, but I wasn’t inspired to try any of them until I found a package of already peeled pearl onions at Whole Foods one day.

Once that time-saving ingredient was in my possession, I took the best ingredients of all the recipes I found, deleted the vermouth, and proceeded.

cocktail onions

Ingredients:

8 oz pearl onions, peeled

1/4 cup white vinegar

1/4 cup cider vinegar

1/4 cup water

1 tablespoon sea salt

2 tablespoons organic cane sugar

1/4 teaspoon brown mustard seed

12 juniper berries

6 black peppercorns

3 allspice berries

3-inch fresh rosemary branch

small piece (1/4″) dried chile pepper

 

Add all the ingredients except the onions to a medium-sized saucepan. Bring to a boil, making sure the sugar and salt dissolve completely.

Add the onions to the saucepan and bring to a boil again. Reduce the heat, and simmer for 2 minutes.

Remove the pan from the heat and allow the onions to cool to room temp in the liquid. Transfer the onions and liquid to a glass jar with a tight-fitting lid and store in the fridge. It will keep in the fridge for a month.

 

A “SECRET” LIMONCELLO RECIPE

Posted: October 13, 2013 in Capri, Cocktails, drink recipes, Drinks, Food, mixology, Recipes, travel, Uncategorized
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Many years ago, my wife and I visited the Amalfi coast, and we spent several nights on the beautiful island of Capri. On our last night, we dined at the legendary Grand Hotel Quisisana, and our incredible meal ended with a glass of the most delicious limoncello I had ever had.

I asked the waiter if it was possible to get the recipe of the limoncello, and he made a big deal about the fact that the recipe was a “secret.” Though disappointed, I understood, and I left Capri thinking that I would never taste that limoncello again.

Two weeks later, now back at home, I was reading the latest issue of Conde Nast Traveler, and there in black and white, was the Quisisana limoncello recipe! WTF?

My twist on the recipe: instead of lemons, use grapefruit. I’ve tried other citrus, too, like oranges, but grapefruit-cello is fantastic!

Sampling vintage limoncello and grapefruit-cello, aged 2 years or more

Sampling vintage limoncello and grapefruit-cello, aged 2 years or more

Four ingredients, easy to make. The toughest part is waiting for it to mellow a bit.

Ingredients:

4 lbs lemons, zest only

2 750-ml bottles 100 proof vodka (I prefer Absolut)

5 1/2 cups sugar

6 cups filtered water

Peel the zest off all the lemons, making sure you don’t get any of the white pith that could make the limoncello bitter. Place all the zest in the bottom of a glass jar with a lid that can hold all the vodka.

Pour the vodka on top of the lemon zest pieces, seal the container, and keep at room temperature for a week, swirling the jar around gently once a day.

On the sixth day, combine the sugar and water in a pot over medium-high heat, and stir until all the sugar completely dissolves. Remove from the heat, cover, and let it thoroughly cool to room temperature (overnight is best.)

On day seven, strain the lemon zest, pouring the infused vodka into a clean glass jar. Discard the lemon zest.

Pour the sugar/water mixture into the vodka and mix well.

At this point, you can pour the finished product into individual bottles, but let it mellow for about a month before drinking.

I keep my limoncello refrigerated.

TEQUILA PIMM’S CUP

Posted: September 9, 2013 in Cocktails, Cucumbers, drink recipes, Drinks, Food, mixology, Recipes
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I love tequila. I love Pimm’s. And I love Dark & Stormies. I’m a lush. This cocktail has an interesting nod to all three.

tequila cup

 

Ingredients:

3 oz Patron silver tequila
1.5 oz Pimm’s No. 1
1 dash fresh lime juice
Chilled Ginger beer (I use AJ Stephan’s, a local product made with cane sugar, not high-fructose corn syrup)
Ice cubes
Fresh mint
Cucumber slices (optional)

Combine tequila, Pimm’s and lime juice in a highball glass filled with ice.
Place slices of cucumber in the glass, if desired.
Top with Ginger beer and stir gently.
Garnish with mint sprig.

VELVET ELVIS: 2 INGREDIENTS. 1 DELICIOUS COCKTAIL.

Posted: July 26, 2013 in Cocktails, drink recipes, Drinks, mixology
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If you’ve been to the Capital Grille, you might be familiar with the Stoli Doli, a drink made by soaking fresh cut pieces of pineapple in Stoli vodka. A large glass container sits on the bar, and they simply pour out the wonderfully infused pineapple vodka into a cocktail shaker with some ice, shake vigorously, then strain into a martini glass.

When I decided to make this at home for myself, I only had a bottle of Stoli Vanil (vanilla) vodka in my liquor cabinet. But I thought: how could vanilla hurt this recipe? Turns out it made an even better cocktail than I ever could have imagined. The touch of vanilla accents the sweetness of the pineapple.

Velvet Elvis

Comprised of just 2 ingredients and named after my old dog, Elvis, this is a huge hit at parties. Here’s how I make it…

 

Ingredients:

2 fresh, ripe pineapples, peeled, cored and sliced

1 bottle (1.75l) Stoli Vanil vodka

1 glass jar with lid (1 gallon size)

Cut the top off, then peel, core and slice the pineapples and place the slices in the glass jar. Feed the top, peel and core to your compost pile. Pour the vodka over the slices. Tightly seal the lid, shake well, then place the jar somewhere where it won’t be disturbed for 3 weeks at room temperature.

At the end of 3 weeks, strain the vodka, squeezing as much vodka out of the pineapple slices as you can. Discard the spent pineapple slices.

Store the Velvet Elvis in glass containers in the refrigerator. Enjoy over ice!

BEAT THE HEAT WITH THIS REFRESHING SUMMER CUCUMBER COCKTAIL

Posted: July 17, 2013 in Cocktails, Cucumbers, drink recipes, Drinks, Food, garden, mixology, Uncategorized
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This a fantastic drink that requires a little prep. If you have a juicer, use that instead of pureeing in a food processor. Just peel the cukes and juice.

cuke drink pic

 

Ingredients:

2 English cucumbers or 4 regular cucumbers

Small ice cubes

1 cup loosely packed fresh mint leaves

2 teaspoons granulated organic cane sugar

3 tablespoons fresh lime juice

1/2 cup top shelf vodka, like Chopin

1 oz (2 Tablespoons) Cointreau

 

Peel and seed cucumbers. Coarsely chop them and then purée in a food processor until smooth. Strain through a fine sieve, pressing solids to extract as much liquid as possible.

To a large glass pitcher, add mint leaves, sugar and lime juice. Muddle ingredients so that mint leaves release their oils. Add 3/4 cup (at least) cucumber juice, the vodka and Cointreau. Muddle again briefly.

Fill tall drinking glasses with ice cubes. Strain cocktail into glasses. Garnish with cucumber spear or mint.

THE CULT FOLLOWING OF SCHWEPPES BITTER LEMON

Posted: June 28, 2013 in Cocktails, drink recipes, Drinks, Recipes
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Schweppes Bitter Lemon is a carbonated beverage that was invented in 1957 and was available in the United States for a while, but poor sales forced Schweppes to withdraw the product from US store shelves.

Fanatics, however, have kept the demand up for Schweppes Bitter Lemon, and so you can now find the import at websites like amazon.com and britishdelights.com. Some say that a proper Pimm’s cup is not made with ginger ale, but with this stuff. I was curious, so I bought a few bottles and started out with a simple vodka + Schweppes Bitter Lemon: refreshing, and a wonderful twist on the basic vodka-and-tonic.

So I’m hooked.

One of my favorite new drinks of the summer is this recipe that I found on line and tweaked the proportions of the ingredients to make my own. For the light rum, I like to use the new Caliche Puerto Rican rum from the Serralles family of rums, makers of Don Q and Captain Morgan. And second to Angostura bitters, Peychaud’s bitters, invented by famous New Orleans apothecary Antoine Peychaud around 1830, should be a staple of any home bar, especially since it is a key ingredient in making the perfect Sazerac cocktail. It works equally well here.

banana1

BITTER BANANA COOLER

Ingredients:

3 oz light rum

3 oz of ripe banana

1 1/2 oz pineapple juice

2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

4 dashes Peychaud’s bitters

Schweppes Bitter Lemon

 

In a blender (no ice) combine all ingredients except Schweppes, and blend until smooth: just a few seconds will do. Pour into a cocktail shaker with ice, shake and strain into a 16 oz glass filled with ice. Top off with Schweppes Bitter lemon.

banana2

 

 

THE BEST MOJITOS ARE BY THE PITCHER

Posted: May 28, 2013 in Cocktails, drink recipes, Drinks, mixology, Recipes, Uncategorized
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I love me my Mojitos, and they’re even better when I have fresh organic blueberries and raspberries to add to the mix. Frozen fruit works well, too. Make it by the pitcher and you’ll never make it any other way again!

The ingredients

The ingredients

Ingredients:

Make ahead of time…
1 1/2 cups fresh squeezed lime juice
1 1/3 cups turbinado sugar (Sugar in the Raw)

Mix both ingredients together and let stand at room temp. Shake until dissolved. The mixture can be covered and refrigerated for several weeks and ready to use any time. Shake well before using.

mojito pitcher

For the Mojitos…

1 cup sugar/lime mixture
1 cup mint leaves, packed
1/2 pint blueberries (fresh or frozen)
1/2 pint raspberries (fresh or frozen)
3 or 4 cups white rum, preferably Don Q Cristal rum
3 or 4 cups club soda

Combine mint leaves and 1/2 cup of sugar/lime mixture in bottom of a pitcher. Muddle mint up very well to release mint oils. Add blueberries and continue to muddle.

Add remaining sugar/lime mixture, rum and raspberries. Mix well. Just before serving, add club soda and ice. Stir. Pour into glasses.

Or…for drinks one at a time, fill a tall glass with ice. Fill one-third to halfway with club soda. Top with Mojito mix. Garnish with mint leaf.

 

Cheers!

Cheers!

THE MINT JULEP: PERHAPS THE GREATEST BOURBON DRINK EVER

Posted: May 4, 2013 in Cocktails, drink recipes, Drinks, Recipes, Uncategorized
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The Mint Julep is such a perfect, classic and historic bourbon drink, I really don’t know why I wait until Derby day to have one. Of course, as any aficionado of spirits will tell you, there are as many right ways as wrong ways of making one, depending on who you talk to. This is true for any classic cocktail, from a Sazerac to a Manhattan.

The first step in my Mint Julep is making the simple syrup. I use the standard ration of 1 cup of clean, filtered water to 1 cup of sugar, but I use an organic product like Woodstock Farms Organic Pure Cane Sugar. Place the sugar and water in a saucepan and heat until just boiling. I’ve found that it needs to reach this stage for the unbleached sugar to really dissolve. As soon as it starts to boil, remove the saucepan from the heat, and throw in a handful of freshly picked mint leaves. Stir to make sure the mint gets in there, and then leave the saucepan to cool to room temperature. Once it’s at room temp, strain the simple syrup into a bottle with a tight sealing lid, and place in the refrigerator to cool. It will keep for about a week.

The next step is the tough part: the battles of the bourbons! The recent explosion of choices on the bourbon market has make it all but impossible for the average imbiber to know which bourbon is best for their tastes. My suggestion for this is to go to a trusted bartender and explain that you’re new to the bourbon world, and could you have the tiniest of tastes and sniffs of what he’s got at his bar. Chances are, you’ll get a sampling of some of the better known standards: Maker’s Mark, Woodford Reserve, perhaps Buffalo Trace or Bulleit, and the standard Jim Beam. This is a very good start. If you have deeper pockets, go to the manager of a trusted higher end liquor store and explain that you’ve had all the rest, now what does he think is the best? This is how I came across a fabulous 17-year-old bottle of Eagle Rare, my choice for my Mint Julep. And of course, hinting to wife and friends that “I’m trying new bourbons” around your birthday or the holidays inevitably gets you a few bottles as well, like the very tasty 15-year-old high-alcohol Pappy Van Winkle, excellent for special sipping occasions (when you don’t have to operate heavy machinery for a while!)

Other ingredients for my perfect Mint Julep include crushed ice from clean, filtered water. Don’t even think of using tap water for any cocktail much less this one. Why ruin an expensive bottle of bourbon by going cheap on the ice? I make my own ice cubes, then put them in a canvas ice bag and bash them to the perfect crushed size.

And a Mint Julep needs a metal–not glass– Julep cup. Made of pewter or aluminum, it frosts on the outside as you stir your drink, keeping your beverage ice cold on even the hottest of days. You simply need to have one to make the perfect Mint Julep.

So many choices...

So many choices…

 

So here’s my recipe…

 

ALZ MINT JULEP

 

Ingredients:

3 oz bourbon

1 oz mint-infused simple syrup

crushed ice

Julep cup

Fresh mint for garnish

Crush the ice and pack it into the Julep cup, even letting it dome slightly over the top. Don’t worry…the alcohol will melt it.

I like to add 1 jigger of bourbon (1.5 oz), then the shot of simple syrup (1 oz), then another jigger of bourbon on top. Break off a few mint leaves from the stem and push into the ice. Using a long spoon, stir the drink well. A beautiful layer of frost will form on the outside of the cup. Garnish with a sprig of mint.

 

CINCO DE MAYO DESERVES A GREAT MARGARITA RECIPE!

Posted: May 3, 2013 in Cocktails, drink recipes, Drinks, margarita
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I like a margarita that has a few, simple ingredients…and no sour mix. This is the one that hits the spot for me.

algarita 2

 

 

ALGARITA:

3 oz Patron silver tequila

1 oz Cointreau orange liqueur

4 oz pineapple juice

1/2 a fresh lime, squeezed

Place ice in a tall glass and add Patron, Cointreau, pineapple juice and a good squeeze of lime juice from 1/2 a lime. Pour into a margarita glass (salt rim optional) and garnish with a lime wedge.

One tequila, two tequila, three tequila, FLOOR!

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