Five Fabulous Summer Cocktails

For once I'm not going to give you a lengthy lead-in, describing sipping margaritas over a long evening watching the waves wash in as the sun set at a little palapa on the Malecón in Puerto Vallarta—true story!—or waxing eloquent about cachaça, the fermented sugar cane brandy of Brazil. Nope, I'm getting right to the recipes, because that's what's important when you've got a hankering for a cold drink on a hot summer day. Cheers!

Dave's Ultra Margarita
Adapted from the Coyote Cafe

2 Tbsp. extrafine sugar
6 Tbsp. lime juice
3 oz. blue agave tequila
2 tsp. Cointreau or triple sec
Kosher salt
1 lime

Put large-size martini glasses in freezer to chill. Fill cocktail shaker 2/3 full of ice. Put all ingredients into shaker. Shake till "the sound starts to change just a little bit" (10-15 seconds at most). Take glasses out of freezer. Put salt in a wide, shallow container. Cut a small wedge of lime, make small cut in center of the wedge from cut edge to pith. Put over edge of glass and run the wedge around it. Holding the glass at an angle, submerge the edge in the pile of salt and twirl. Put one large ice cube in glass. Pour 1/2 of margarita mixture in each glass.

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Caipirinha

1 heaping Tbsp. superfine (baker's) sugar
1/2 lime
2 oz. cachaca

Trim ends off lime so white rind is gone. Cut lengthwise and remove pith from center. Slice almost all the way through perpendicular to axis of lime, leaving rind side intact. Slice diagonally a couple of times, again, not slicing through. Cut in half, perpendicular to axis and put in glass flesh side up.

Put sugar over lime. Muddle gently, squeezing out all the juice you can. Put into shaker. Fill with ice. Add the cachaca. Shake. Pour with ice into tumbler.

* * *

Gimlet

2 oz. gin
1 oz. fresh-squeezed lime juice
3/4 oz. simple syrup*

To make simple syrup, in a small mixing bowl stir 1 c. sugar (or superfine baker's sugar) into 1 c. water until dissolved.

Fill cocktail shaker with ice, add ingredients, shake very well and strain into martini glass. Garnish with lime wedge.

* Think about simple syrup differently, and your cocktail can suddenly take on a whole different character. Infuse the syrup with rhubarb or elderflower or basil or…?

* * *

Americano Cocktail

1 1/2 oz. Campari
1 1/2 oz. sweet vermouth
Club soda
Lemon twist

Fill cocktail glass half full of ice. Add Campari and sweet vermouth. Top with club soda and stir to combine. Add lemon twist.

* * *

Mojito
Adapted from Williams Sonoma's The Bar Guide

6 fresh mint leaves
1-1/2 Tbsp. simple syrup
1 Tbsp. fresh-squeezed lime juice
Crushed ice
2 oz. light rum
2 oz. club soda
Lime wedge for garnish

Put mint leaves into a highball glass. Add simple syrup and lime juice. Muddle gently (try to leave the leaves whole rather than tearing them up too much...that way you won't have to strain them through your teeth when you drink it). Fill glass with crushed ice and add rum and soda. Garnish with lime wedge.

A Trip to the Farm with Auntie: Picking Elderflowers

Saturday morning there was a a two-word e-mail from Anthony Boutard at Ayers Creek Farm. Under the subject line "Elders" it read "In bloom." That was enough for me to cancel my plans for the day, gather up my nine-year-old nephew—who was staying with us while his parents had a well-deserved getaway at the coast—and hit the highway.

Elderflower blossoms.

Arriving at the farm, Carol handed over the key to the Gator along with a bucket—my nephew asked if there were seat belts and I hollered, "Nope! Hang on!"—and we bounced along the track Anthony had mowed to a back field. I knew from previous trips that the elderberries were scattered among an eclectic collection of trees on a west-facing slope overlooking the farm's wetland. And sure enough, pretty soon I could see the white clusters of blossoms glowing against the bushes' dark foliage.

Mixed and ready to infuse for three days.

Pulling up to the nearest shrub, the flowery perfume of the blossoms enveloped us, and I set to clipping off the most mature clusters. Trundling through the tall grasses, flitting from shrub to shrub gathering blossoms like bees collecting pollen, the bucket quickly filled and we headed back to the house.

Strain into containers and freeze. Easy!

Back in the city that afternoon, I spent a good two hours pulling the blossoms from the stems, a tedious but necessary job since the dark stems of the flower clusters are toxic, though the tiny green stems attached to each flower aren't a problem. Last year I'd infused vodka with the flowers to make a liqueur similar to St. Germain, the artisanal French product. Since, after a year of aging it had just begun to be drinkable, I decided to make syrup this year, which only takes about three days to be ready to use. (Here's the basic recipe.)

I'd made the simple syrup earlier so it could cool while I picked the flowers from the stems, then I stirred the blossoms into it and covered it with a clean dish towel. Three days later, I strained it through a fine mesh sieve and it was good to go. Dave immediately started trying it out on cocktails, which you'll find below. With almost two gallons of syrup stashed in pint containers in the freezer, I've got plenty to experiment with, so I'll keep you posted as more uses come to light.

Elderflower Gin Spritz

2 oz. elderflower syrup
1 oz. gin
Soda water
Sprig of mint
Strip of lemon zest

Fill Collins cocktail glass two-thirds full of ice. Add elderflower syrup and gin, then top off with soda water. Stir briefly to combine and add mint and lemon zest. For a non-alcoholic but very refreshing drink, simply omit the gin.

* * *

Elderflower Gimlet

2 oz. gin
1 oz. fresh-squeezed lime juice
3/4 oz. elderflower syrup

Fill cocktail shaker with ice, add ingredients, shake very well and strain into martini glass. Garnish with lime wedge.

Rhubarb Gimlet: Two, Two, Two Treats in One

Okay, okay, calm down. Rhubarb season is almost over so this will (probably) be the last post on the subject for this year—unless Dave makes that rhubarb sorbet he's been talking about. We'll see.

Chopped and heating for syrup.

I've been making batches of rhubarb syrup and squirreling it away in the freezer so there will be beverage fixin's to last through the summer, fingers crossed, if I can restrain myself from having a sip of soda on these warm afternoons. (What happened with our usual rainy Rose Festival weather? This is disturbing.)

Delicious and refreshing, darn it!

Another hitch in my clever plan is that the other day I was inspired to combine some of that carefully stashed syrup with one of my favorite cocktails, the gimlet. Yes, you've got it: uh-oh. Even more uh-oh was that it was not only delicious but crazy refreshing.

Sure hope I can score some more rhubarb at the farmers' market, or I'm in, as they say, big-big trub-trub.

Rhubarb Syrup

Several rhubarb stalks, chopped into 1/2" pieces (redder rhubarb makes a more intensely colored syrup)
Water
Sugar

Place chopped rhubarb in saucepan and add just enough water to barely cover the pieces. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to simmer. Cook over low heat until rhubarb is tender, 20 min. Strain through fine mesh sieve or several layers of cheesecloth, pressing gently to release the liquid. If you want a completely clear syrup it might take more than one filtering. Discard the solids. Measure or weigh the remaining liquid and add an equal amount of sugar. Heat the syrup in a saucepan, stirring until the sugar is dissolved. Chill. Will keep for at least a week in the fridge. Alternately, pour syrup into glass or plastic containers and freeze for later use.

Gimlet

2 oz. gin
1 oz. fresh-squeezed lime juice
3/4 oz. rhubarb syrup

Fill cocktail shaker with ice, add ingredients, shake very well and strain into martini glass. Garnish with lime wedge.

Lots more recipes and suggestions for rhubarb.

Warm Days Call For Cool Gin Cocktails

A gin and tonic, that ever-so-English cocktail, is pretty much the perfect drink on warm days like we're having this week. The botanical bite of the gin, the slightly salty, metallic tang of the tonic with a squeeze of lime over ice is a nice refresher to sip in the back yard and pretend that the rains won't come back until October, that it's July in Portland instead of May.

Another favorite gin cocktail of mine is the gimlet, which, like a proper martini, cannot be taken seriously if it's made with vodka. Legend has it that the gimlet, like the G&T, was created as a way to get English sailors to consume citrus (the lime juice) to ward off scurvy. But really, stories like that, or the debate about how the gimlet got its name—the awl-like tool or Gen. Gimlette?—are just something to occupy the time as you sip and watch the droplets of condensation drip down the side of your glass.

These musings came about because my brother was in San Francisco recently and brought me a gift of gin from a new place in Sebastopol called Spiritworks Distillery. A young couple, American Ashby Marshall and her husband, Englishman Timo Marshall, are buying organic local wheat which they mill, mash, ferment and distill on premises. The result is a floral, botanical gin on the spectrum between Hendrick's and Aviation, which I personally think would make a lovely gimlet.

I may just have one in the back yard this evening and dream of those summer evenings in July.

Gimlet

2 oz. gin
1 oz. fresh-squeezed lime juice
3/4 oz. simple syrup

To make simple syrup, in a small mixing bowl stir 1 c. sugar (or superfine baker's sugar) into 1 c. water until dissolved.

Fill cocktail shaker with ice, add ingredients, shake very well and strain into martini glass. Garnish with lime wedge.

Slipping Into Summer Sippers

It certainly wasn't something I planned. And it's been one of the real delights of the summer, a result of the haphazard life of a freelance writer, at least the way it's practiced around my house.

The "art" of making syrups from herbs, vegetables and fruit requires little to no craft or skill beyond being able to boil water and measure things, and even that isn't particularly rigorous. A little more, a little less and you'll still be all right.

Lemon-basil gimlet.

My first experience was making an elderflower syrup, the hardest part being finding the elderflowers and picking them just as they were blooming, not too early and not too late. (Thanks to friends Linda, Hank and the always-generous Boutards, it turned out marvelously.) The second time it was a rhubarb syrup, a dead simple technique shared by the Davids (Padberg and Shenaut) at the Raven & Rose.

Like those two previous efforts, my latest involved help from a friend (my brother, Bruce) who discovered the recipe and served it to me a few years ago. And, as with the other syrups, it makes a fabulously refreshing soda spritzer or a deliciously thirst-quenching summer cocktail.

All it takes is basil from your garden or the farmers' market, the fresher the better, a strip or two of lemon peel and some sugar and in little more than an hour you're ready to sit back and sip.

Lemon Basil Syrup

1 c. basil leaves, packed firmly
1 c. water
1/2 c. sugar
3 (2-inch by 1-inch) strips lemon peel

Place all ingredients in a small saucepan and bring to a boil, stirring to dissolve the sugar. Remove from heat and cover. Let stand for 1 hour. Chill in refrigerator or, if you're in a hurry, set pan in shallow bowl of ice water to chill more quickly.

* * *

Lemon Basil Spritzer

1 1/2 oz. lemon basil syrup
Ice
Soda water
Sprigs of mint and basil for garnish (optional)

Fill pint glass with ice. Add syrup. Fill with soda water and stir until combined. Add herb sprigs.

* * *

Lemon Basil Gimlet
Makes one cocktail

1 oz. gin (we like Hendrick's)
1 1/2 oz. lemon juice
1 1/2 oz. lemon basil syrup
Small sprig of basil for garnish (optional)

Fill cocktail shaker 2/3 full of ice. Add gin, lemon juice and syrup. Shake, then strain into a cocktail glass.

This cocktail also works well with vodka, but then it won't have the added herbal qualities of the gin, which we prefer. To make a pitcher of gimlets for a party, please see the recipe on my brother's blog and substitute gin for the vodka. Or not!

You Might Not Be Gimlet-Eyed...

...after one of these, but speaking of a Hendrick's gimlet, here's a recipe that my brother swears he got from the lovely Suzanne herself:

Hendrick's Gimlet

2 oz. Hendrick's Gin
1 oz. fresh squeezed lime juice
3/4 oz. simple syrup

To make simple syrup, in a small pan stir 1 c. sugar into 1 c. water and heat to boiling, stirring occasionally. Cool.

Fill cocktail shaker with ice, add ingredients, shake very well and strain into martini glass. Garnish with lime wedge.

Note: You can use any gin, but Hendrick's just seems to have that perfectly balanced floral-herbal character that works magic here.

Photo from Eat. Drink. Think.

Happy Hour: A Plate of This, A Plate of That...

I have to admit that happy hours do just that. They make me happy. I'm happy when someone suggests meeting for a happy hour drink. I'm happy all that day just thinking about it. That evening I'm happy to be sitting and ordering my happy hour drink and little plates of happy hour food. And I'm happiest of all when I get the happy hour check and it's way less than it would be during regular hours.

So when my cousin Julie called and suggested meeting for happy hour, you can imagine how...well...happy I was to accept. We settled on 50 Plates because of its proximity to her workplace and because I hadn't been back since a media dinner last July.

The bar is a tiny place. Just a couple of small tables and maybe eight stools at the bar, so it's either designed to be crowded or they let folks flow over into the dining room. The ceiling is low and the lighting is intimate. Not that it's dark, but it does have a certain sophisticated sleekness with the low lighting, hard surfaces and black-and-white color scheme.

My favorite bartender, Suzanne, holds down the fort on Monday and Tuesday nights, so I knew we were in for a good time. I hadn't had one of her trademark Monique's Gimlets (made with Hendrick's gin) for ages but, alas, they were out of Hendrick's that night. Then, because resourcefulness is the hallmark of a brilliant bartender and Suzanne blows the lid off the Stanford-Binet of mixology, she subbed in a new local gin I hadn't tried called 12 Bridges.

Its flavor derives from the 12 botanicals used in its recipe and it has a distinctive cucumber character as well, perfect for the gimlet. So with that settled, we ordered some nibbles from their bar menu starting with their signature dirty rice beignets (above, right) and, at Suzanne's suggestion, a wedge of iceberg with warmed cherry tomatoes and pancetta drizzled with invisible vinaigrette (left).

A couple of other plates, including one of their house-made pretzels, bronzed and salty, that Suzanne brought on the house, concluded our very happy evening. What more can you ask of an hour of happiness?

Details: Happy Hour at 50 Plates. Mon.-Fri., 3-6 pm. 333 NW 13th Ave. Phone 503-228-5050.