Showing posts with label drinks. Show all posts
Showing posts with label drinks. Show all posts

Wednesday, August 24, 2011

Nectarines put to delicious work
in addictive summer potion

Nectarines are at their glorious best right now, and I’ve got a recipe that puts them to delicious work.
   Nectarine-Basil Lemonade (click for the recipe) is an addictive potion that first appeared in the pages of Gourmet magazine in July 1993.
   Since I first discovered the recipe a few years ago, I’ve made it several times, and been amazed every single time at how terrific it is. It’s also a favorite of my husband’s.
   It’s not too sweet; rather, it’s a fine tribute to the refreshment properties of nectarines.
   The non-alcoholic drink is family-friendly and would do very well at a backyard barbecue. But it’s also super for weeknights, too, and perks up any suppertime.
   I always substitute an equal amount of Splenda for sugar in the recipe, and the result is pleasing.
   Nectarine-Basil Lemonade is astonishingly easy to make.
   In a small saucepan, water, one cup of fresh basil, one coarsely-chopped nectarine and the sugar or Splenda are brought to a boil, then simmered for five minutes (I turned the burner down all the way to low for simmering).
   The mixture is cooled, then strained through a fine sieve into a pitcher. Water, a thinly-sliced nectarine, and one cup of fresh lemon juice is added and the mixture stirred.
   At this point, I always refrigerate the drink for at least three hours.
   The lemonade is served over ice.

Friday, August 19, 2011

Sangria-making craving greatly satisfied
by White Zinfandel Sangria

A couple of weeks ago I was seized with the notion that I must make some sangria.
   I’d never made sangria, a wine punch originating in Spain and Portugal, and I wondered to myself exactly why this was.
   Sangria, after all, can be found at many a backyard party in summer, and rightly so – it’s refreshing, sweet, sultry, enchanting and lovely to look at. It also makes great use of seasonal fruits and berries.
   I went in search of sangria recipes on epicurious.com and foodnetwork.com, my two most-trusted sources of great recipes on the Internet, and settled on White Zinfandel Sangria (click for the recipe). The recipe was originally published in Bon Appetit magazine 10 years ago.
   I wasn’t disappointed with the result – it was sweet, sultry and enchanting, just as I expected it would be.
   The recipe calls for white zinfandel, a type of blush wine that can easily be found in liquor stores. Many major wine labels will have a white zinfandel.
   The recipe says the sangria should be refrigerated for at least 30 minutes for the flavors to blend. I refrigerated mine for several hours before serving, but did strain the fruit and cinnamon sticks out of the leftover sangria before refrigerating it to enjoy again the next day.
   White Zinfandel Sangria is very easy to make.
   A 750-ml bottle of chilled white zinfandel, peach schnapps (I used Dr. McGillicuddy’s, a brand which is apparently only available in Canada), Cointreau or other orange liqueur, sugar, two cinnamon sticks, one sliced lemon, one sliced orange, and one peach cut into wedges are combined in a tall pitcher.
   After refrigerating for at least 30 minutes, club soda is mixed in, and the sangria is served over ice.

Wednesday, August 17, 2011

Classic Sweet Tea throws boiling water
out the window for fantastic results

It’s the most unusual way I’d ever seen to prepare iced tea: Putting tea bags in room temperature water.
   Usually iced tea recipes call for boiling water, adding tea bags and cooling the liquid down.
   But Cali Rich, a writer for America’s Test Kitchen, found the best way to make Classic Sweet Tea (click for the recipe)* was to forget the boiling water and look to another way of making the drink – sun tea.
   Her mother would make sun tea by filling a pitcher with cool water, adding tea bags, then setting the pitcher outside on the deck to steep all day.
   Rich wanted to find out if she could get the same results as her mother’s delicious sun tea, but inside and at a fraction of the time.
   Rich succeeded.
   Her Classic Sweet Tea recipe is fantastic. It’s perfectly sweet and completely refreshing.
   It’s now my go-to quick iced tea recipe.
   *Besides the America’s Test Kitchen paid-access site, the only other place on the Internet that I could find Rich’s recipe, along with its variations, was in a discussion thread on a cooking magazine website. This is the recipe I linked to above, and it is exactly the same as the one I used. You just need to scroll down a bit to find it.
   The simple syrup that sweetens the tea is make by heating sugar (I used Splenda instead) and water together until the sugar dissolves. The syrup is cooled to room temperature and can be refrigerated.
   To make the tea itself, 10 tea bags (I used Tetley Orange Pekoe) are submerged in four cups of room temperature water for 45 minutes.
   The tea bags are removed, and six-nine tablespoons of simple syrup are stirred in according to desired sweetness (I used seven.)
   At this point, I refrigerated the tea for several hours then served it over ice.
   I also made the Orangeade Iced Tea variety of Classic Sweet Tea, which required adding one tablespoon grated orange zest (orange peel) to the sugar and water when making the simple syrup. The zest is strained out and the syrup cooled.
   The orange citrus syrup is added to the sweet tea, along with two cups of lemonade (I simply used storebought lemonade).
   It was delicious, and has made me want to try a couple of the other varieties of Classic Sweet Tea: Cherry-Lime Rickey (lime citrus syrup and cherry juice) and Nantucket (lime citrus syrup and cranberry juice).

Wednesday, August 3, 2011

My go-to lemonade recipe --
it's perfect for a party!

Lemonade – this drink and iced tea go head-to-head for the title of iconic summer refresher.
   I love my go-to summer lemonade recipe, Basil Lemonade (click for the recipe) from Gourmet magazine. It has a twist, as it’s made with basil, which adds to its ability to cut through the heat of a blistering day.
   The recipe is terrific for a summer party because it has two sensational versions – non-alcoholic lemonade, or gimlets made with the addition of vodka. You can please guests of either preference.
   The drink’s base is a basil lemon syrup. It’s made by combining fresh basil, water, sugar (I used Splenda) and strips of lemon zest (lemon peel) in a saucepan, bringing the mixture to a boil, then letting it cool at room temperature for an hour and then in the fridge for an hour. The syrup is strained through a fine-mesh sieve into a bowl.
   The basil lemon syrup recipe yields five cups of syrup. For a batch of six cups of basil lemonade, just two cups of basil lemon syrup is needed, while for six basil vodka gimlets just one cup of syrup is required.
   Five cups of basil lemon syrup, then, will comfortably make a batch each of gimlets and lemonade.
   Although the syrup keeps well in the fridge for five days and can be used more than once, if you think you need less than the five cups you can halve the basil lemon syrup recipe ingredients to make half a batch.
   The basil lemonade is made by combining basil lemon syrup, cold water, ice cubes and fresh lemon juice in a large pitcher. Though the recipe doesn’t say to do this, I always let the lemonade chill for at least three hours before serving. The lemonade is served in tall glasses half-filled with ice.
   The basil vodka gimlets are made by combining basil lemon syrup, vodka, fresh lemon juice and ice cubes in a pitcher, and then chilling until cold. The mixture is strained into 8- to 10-ounce glasses half-filled with ice. If you don’t feel like straining, don’t bother – I usually don’t.

Friday, July 29, 2011

A sophisticated homemade wine cooler

For those of you who equate “wine cooler” with “icky sugar water with booze,” I’ve got a recipe that turns that notion on its head.
   Mango-Cucumber Wine Cooler (click for the recipe) from Bon Appetit magazine is a sophisticated homemade version of the drink. It starts with wine, then cucumber, mango, and mint are added to nicely flavor it.
   The technique results in a refreshing, delicious drink that is like summer in a glass. The mango and cucumber flavors seem to bounce off each other in a complimentary way with every sip.
   The drink will please all adult palettes, and I’m betting it would even impress the wine connoisseur in your midst.
   The recipe says to chill the wine cooler at least three hours and up to six hours, without explaining why the time limit is in place.
   My theory is that after six hours, the flavors of mango and cucumber will become too overwhelming in the cooler.
   If you strain the cucumber, mango and mint out of the wine any time after three hours and certainly after six, you will prevent over-flavoring from happening and the cooler can continue to chilled. I saved the couple of glasses of cooler for the next day by doing this.
   The cooler was stunningly easy to make, and I made the process of the recipe even simpler by using canned, sliced mango rather than a fresh one.
   The recipe calls for the leaves of six springs of mint; I simply used about 14 medium-sized mint leaves.
   The moderately-priced sauvignon blanc I used in the drink worked very well.
   Sugar and hot water are stirred together in a large pitcher, and a 750-ml bottle of sauvignon blanc is poured in. Peeled cucumber rounds, a diced mango and mint leaves are stirred into the wine in the pitcher.
   The mixture is chilled between three and six hours (strain out the cucumber, mango and mint after six hours; the wine can continue to be chilled.)
   After chilling, ginger ale is stirred into the pitcher.
   The drink is served over ice in glasses (the recipe says to use wine glasses, but I used some regular summery glasses). Some of the solids may plop into the glasses, which is just fine, but a lot of them stay behind in the pitcher on their own. I skipped garnishing the drinks with mint springs.

Friday, July 22, 2011

Fizzy summer refresher has lime and vodka,
and 'how can you go wrong with that?'

“Why are your blueberries floating nicer than mine?” I asked my husband, jealous of how the berries in his glass of Ginger-Lime Fizz with Blueberries (click for the recipe) seemed perfectly suspended in different spots.
   The blueberries in my drink were clumped together near the middle of the glass.
   It was a silly complaint, really, just prompted by visual appeal of the scattered blueberries in my husband's glass.
   The drink itself is delicious and refreshing, and where the blueberries are in it have no bearing on the fine taste of the final product.
   My husband pointed out that the main appeal of this drink is that it has lime and vodka, and “how can you go wrong with that?”
   Indeed.
   Only one thing puzzled me about the recipe. It directs to make each serving in a tall, ice-filled glass.
   It doesn’t make sense, because one serving doesn’t even fill a 1/3 of the bottom of a tall glass with ice in it.
   There are two ways to combat that – either serve the drink in a small highball glass, or double the serving in a medium-tall glass.
   The amount of vodka in each drink may seem too strong as well, so make sure to sample the first one you make to see that it tastes right and adjust as needed.
   Note that the recipe makes 10 servings. I halved the ingredient amounts, and that resulted in four tall-ish ice-filled glasses of drinks.
   The recipe I linked to above is on a recipe-sharing site, but it’s exactly the same as the one I used from the July/August 2011 issue of Vegetarian Times magazine (save a couple of spelling mistakes).
   Fresh ginger is thinly sliced, and brought to a boil with sugar and water in a medium saucepan and then simmered for 10 minutes.
   The mixture is cooled, then poured through a strainer. The solid-free liquid that results is combined with fresh lime juice and blueberries.
   For each drink, blueberry syrup is poured into a glass, then vodka and club soda is added. Though the recipe doesn’t say to do this, I stirred each drink and put straws in them before serving.

Friday, July 15, 2011

Please both martini and mojito
drinkers with Watermelon Gin Punch

Looking for a summer cocktail that serves several easily and will wow the crowd?
   Watermelon Gin Punch (click for the recipe) from Fine Cooking magazine is it.
   Of course, you can cut back the ingredients to make far fewer than the eight servings the recipe yields. That’s what my husband and I did as there were just the two of us when we tried it for the first time.
   But this drink would do very well at a backyard party. It can be put in a punch bowl or pitcher and even assembled outside if needed. Plus, you can make the simple syrup and puree the watermelon in advance.
   It’s an absolutely delicious cocktail with a dual personality: The gin will please the hard cocktail drinkers who gravitate to martinis, and the watermelon and mint will please the lighter cocktail drinkers who like mojitos or margaritas.
   It was very easy to make.
   The simple syrup is made by boiling sugar and water together, then cooling the mixture. It can be refrigerated far in advance of making the drinks.
   Chunks of peeled seedless watermelon are pureed in a blender or food processor, and the resulting puree pressed through a strainer. The juice is chilled until cold.
   Fresh lemon juice, simple syrup and mint are put in a pitcher or punch bowl, and the mint is mashed with a muddler back of a wooden spoon. Ice, gin, and the watermelon juice are added and the liquid stirred.
   The punch is served in glasses over ice.

Friday, July 8, 2011

Pimm's No. 1 makes for a No. 1 refreshing cocktail

Trying a cocktail recipe with the liqueur Pimm’s No. 1 has been on my “must-make-someday” list for quite a while now, and I got around to trying it on a recent weekend.
   I’m glad I made the time, because Pimm's Cup with Ginger Ale (click for the recipe) from Martha Stewart Living magazine was an absolute delight.
   Refreshing is the ideal word for it. It’s perfect for sipping before an outdoor barbecue on the deck.
   Pimm’s No. 1 is a gin-based liqueur that originated in Britain, where it was first made in the early 19th century.
   Today the Brits drink Pimm’s cocktails at polo matches, regattas, horse races and Wimbledon.
   The Pimm’s cocktail I made is amazingly simple to make. Store-bought lemonade, ginger ale, Pimm’s No. 1 and gin are mixed in pitcher filled with ice cubes.
   You may want to mix up the pitcher ingredients a bit ahead of serving the drinks so the ice can melt slightly, which adds water and lessens the initial sting of the hard liquor.

Friday, June 24, 2011

Frozen Strawberry Margaritas
- serve without a straw

In my books, it’s firmly margarita time.
   I like my margaritas frozen and slushy, with the taste of good tequila present but not to a point that is overwhelming.
   Frozen Strawberry Margaritas (click for the recipe) from Cook’s Country magazine fits this order perfectly.
   My tip to make this drink its absolute best is to skip serving it with a straw.
   While margaritas, especially frozen ones, are often served with straws, in this case it takes away from the whole delicious experience of drinking the margarita.
   Putting your lips on the salted- and sugared-rim is a perfect way to start each lovely sip. Be sure, then, to put a salt and sugar mixture on the rims as the recipe directs!
   The recipe calls for silver tequila, which is generally considered the best grade of this spirit, but my husband and I have always been fans of Sauza brand Gold tequila.
   The margaritas are very easy to make. The recipe I linked to above is on a recipe-sharing site, but it’s the same one I used from Cook’s Country.
   Frozen strawberries, sugar, and salt are heated until the berries begin to release their juices (the recipe says this will take about five minutes, but it took barely two minutes for me.) The strawberries are mashed with a potato masher until the fruit breaks down, then the mixture is simmered until it is reduced and syrupy, about five minutes.
   Off heat, frozen limeade concentrate is stirred in, and the mixture is covered and refrigerated until well chilled, at least one hour (you can make this strawberry mixture up to one day in advance.)
   After chilling, the mixture is transferred to a blender. More frozen strawberries, some ice, tequila and Triple Sec are added and the whole thing is blended until it’s smooth (divide this up into batches if you have a less-than-awesome blender like I do.)
   Sugar and kosher salt are combined on a plate. The rims of serving glasses are dipped in water, then in the salt and sugar mixture.
  The strawberry margaritas are poured into the glasses and served.

Friday, May 13, 2011

Bitter is best for Lime-Ginger Coolers

It’s a warm afternoon, and you’re going to sit down, put your feet up and relax.
   What are you going to drink to celebrate this bit of time to yourself?
   A Lime-Ginger Cooler (click for the recipe from Martha Stewart Living magazine).
   These drinks are so very refreshing, with their bubbly mix of lime juice and club soda (the recipe calls for seltzer, but I prefer the taste of club soda.)
   This is the recipe that introduced my husband and I to the wonders of bitters, an alcoholic flavoring that’s added sparingly, like hot sauce, to drinks.
   Angostura is the most commonly available variety of bitters. It can be found in liquor stores, and, we were surprised to find, supermarkets too.
   Although it’s made from gentian, a bitter herb, Angostura bitters add a refreshing tang to these coolers.
   The recipe’s suggestion of using Rose’s brand sweetened concentrated lime juice is an excellent one – it definitely elevates the drink to a sublime (pun intended) experience.
   This bottled juice is labeled "Rose's Lime Cordial" and can be found in the supermarket right beside Rose’s grenadine, which is in turn found with mixes for alcoholic drinks and non-alcoholic beers and wines.
   The slices of peeled sliced ginger that are added to the drinks are not essential, however. We’ve left it out plenty of times when we didn’t have ginger around.
   To make a cooler, ice is put into an eight-ounce glass, then two dashes of bitters and two to three tablespoons of lime juice are added. This is topped with ½ cup of club soda and the drink stirred.
   Serve and celebrate spring.

Friday, March 4, 2011

Sea Viper sippers and goat cheese appetizers

Saturday night is often the time my husband and I try out new cocktail and appetizer recipes.
   One recent Saturday we made a dynamite sipper and appetizer – goat cheese crackers with red pepper jelly washed down with a Sea Viper, a lovely libation combination of Sailor Jerry Rum and black tea.
   My husband and I tried Sailor Jerry Rum for the first time a while back in another cocktail, Ginger Rum Shandy, and liked it so much we wanted to use it again in something else.
   After Googling “Sailor Jerry Rum,” we found the recipe for the Sea Viper (click for the recipe).
   My husband took the lead on this one, making the black tea, adding sugar until it met his satisfaction, letting it cool to room temperature and then putting it in the fridge to chill until ready to serve.
   The recipe says to use two parts of black tea for every one part Sailor Jerry Rum. That’s such anexceedingly huge ratio of rum to tea you would need to be a hard-drinking sailor to tolerate it.
   My husband used just an ounce of rum for about a cup of tea, and that was plenty. He served the cocktails on ice in highball glasses.
   The inspiration for the goat cheese on crackers topped with red pepper jelly came from Fine Cooking magazine.
   The magazine recipe (click for it here) says to use good quality hot pepper jelly, and that’s fine for those who can tolerate the heat.
   I used some mild red pepper jelly we bought recently, and this was perfect for my husband and I, as we both dislike overly-spicy foods.
   The goat cheese is used when it is room temperature, and that left it creamy enough to spread nicely on the crackers (we used water table crackers.)
   After the cheese is spread on the crackers, it is topped with red pepper jelly, popped in the mouth and enjoyed.

More great appetizer and cocktail recipes

Join Recipes That Worked on Facebook

Friday, January 28, 2011

TV watching inspires Ginger Rum Shandy-making

As my husband and I watched Chuck’s Day Off on Food Network Canada last Saturday morning, the host of the show made a cocktail I knew I had to try that night.
   Montreal chef Chuck Hughes made a Ginger Rum Shandy (click for the recipe). It looked so bronzy and lovely and sounded so tasty that I printed off the recipe for it right then and there.
   It was well-rewarded random inspiration: The shandies were go-od.
   There was a very slight vanilla taste, nothing disagreeable, that was lent to the drink by Sailor Jerry, a type of spiced rum.
   The rest of the ingredients seemed as if they were always meant to be together. The ginger syrup, apple juice, lime juice and beer were a winning combination.
   Serve these babies as a pre-dinner cocktail with appetizers, and they will score a big hit.
   The recipe called for Hoegaarden beer, but other brands of beer will work fine as a substitute.
   The shandies were easy to make.
   Slices of peeled ginger are combined with sugar and water and simmered over medium heat until the liquid becomes syrupy, about 15 minutes. The syrup is strained and left to cool.
   This is a great step to do ahead, as I did. I made the syrup in the afternoon and put it in the fridge until we were ready to make the drinks at night.
   To make one drink, ice, rum, ginger syrup, lime juice and apple juice are put together in a cocktail shaker. The mixture is shaken well, and is poured over ice in a glass. The cocktail is topped with beer. (We skipped the apple and ginger garnishes.)



Pin It

Friday, December 31, 2010

The 10 best recipes I reviewed in 2010

I bravely issued the challenge to myself: Decide on the 10 absolute best recipes you reviewed in 2010 and present them on Recipes That Worked.
   After agonizing over the dozens and dozens of recipes I have reviewed from major cooking magazines and cookbooks in 2010, I managed to do it.
   All the recipes I write about are very good, but these are the cream of the crop, the top of the heap. They're my favorites, my secret weapons, the ones that get raved about when I make them.
   Here they are:

Tunnel of Fudge Cake: A crowd-pleasing treat from America's Test Kitchen that will score on special occasions.

Sticky Chicken Wings: For a casual party or weeknight dinner, these yummy fix-it-and-forget-it-wings from Everyday Food can be prepared in one dish.

Orecchiette with Fennel, Sausage and Tomatoes: This is the best pasta dish I've ever had, at home or in restaurants. It comes from Fine Cooking magazine.

Fast Chicken Fajitas: Have a delicious dinner on the table in a jiffy in this winner from Everyday Food.

Cincinnati Chili: A savory mild chili made with cinnamon and allspice that's served over spaghetti, this family-pleaser is an America's Test Kitchen creation.

Chocolate Mint Cream Pie: The dessert recipe that got me an offer of marriage, from the cookbook 375 Sensational Splenda Recipes by Marlene Koch.

Rum Punch with Passion Fruit and Lime: An easy-to-make, no-fail pitcher drink from Bon Appetit magazine that will bring a summer backyard party to roaring life.

Ray's Cafe Salmon Burger with Basil Mayonnaise: The best burger I've ever tasted or made -- they're good for weeknights or even a casual dinner party.

15-Minute Chocolate-Walnut Fudge: Delicious fudge that takes just 15 minutes to make? Who knew? This time- and sanity-saver is from America's Test Kitchen.

Orange Butter Cookies with Grand Marnier Glaze: I made this for the first time this December, and it instantly became a favorite. Knock their socks off with this confection from Fine Cooking magazine.

Please join me in 2011 as I embark on a new year of letting you know about which recipes I tried that worked.

To get the latest buzz from this blog, join Recipes That Worked on Facebook.

Tuesday, November 30, 2010

Review: 375 Sensational Splenda Recipes

375 Sensational Splenda Recipes is a cookbook I ordered online when I was diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes more than two years ago.
   Now it’s a cookbook that I look to for delicious and reliable recipes.
   One of the very best recipes in my collection, Chocolate Mint Cream Pie, comes from this book. It never fails to impress, and I even got an offer of marriage over it. (I wrote about that earlier this year on Recipes That Worked.)
   I often substitute equal parts of Splenda for sugar in cold drinks, cocktails and sorbets without trouble, but I’ve always been hesitant to do so in baking – it’s much trickier, getting the substitution right.
   Rather, I let an expert who has tested recipes with Splenda over and over tell me how to use it. That’s Marlene Koch, the author of the cookbook, who is a registered dietitian, cooking instructor, and nutrition educator.
   Not only does Koch employ the use of Splenda, she also ingeniously incorporates other unusual ingredients to compensate for the taste and texture provided by the absent sugar.
   For example, for two of my favorite recipes from the book, Chocolate Chip Cookies and Chocolate Chocolate Chip Cookies (with cocoa powder and chocolate chips), prune purée is used in addition to Splenda to help sweeten up the cookies. I buy the prune purée in the baby food aisle at the supermarket.
   Although there are recipes for salads, dressings, marinades, condiments, dipping sauces and entrees, I turn to this book most often for baked goods, frozen desserts and drinks.
Here are some of the other terrific-looking recipes in the book:
- Cold drinks: Lemonade, strawberry lemonade, sparkling limeade, Hawaiian Fruit Punch, Citrus Splash.
- Warm drinks: Decadent Hot Chocolate, Chai Tea, Krista’s Spiced Tea, Apple Spiced Tea.
- Breakfast dishes: Oatmeal Cookie Pancakes, Apple Cinnamon Puffed Pancakes, Crispy Cornmeal Waffles.
- Muffins: Oat Bran, Banana Bran, Blueberry, Chocolate Cherry, Sour Cream Chocolate Chip, Strawberry-Filled Cinnamon, Apple Oatmeal Streusel.
- Quick breads and coffee cakes: Wholesome Banana Bread, Cranberry Orange Tea Bread, Butter Pecan Crumb Cake, Raspberry Almond Crumb Cake, S’More Crumb Cake.
- Frozen desserts: Berry Sorbet, Lemon-Lime Sorbet, Chocolate Sorbet, Double Cherry Ice Pops, Fresh Strawberry Lime Ice Pops
- Cookies: Peanut Butter, Oatmeal, Soft Sour Cream Sugar, Chocolate Brownies
- Pies: Pumpkin, Strawberry Rhubarb, Peach Custard, Key Lime, Peanut Butter, Banana Cream, Coconut Cream, Chocolate Chiffon
- Cakes: Unbelievable Chocolate Cake, Fresh Banana, Chocolate Carrot, Chocolate-Almond Torte, Orange Sunshine Cupcakes
- Cheesecake: Chocolate, Mocha Chip, Cherry Ricotta, Chocolate Peppermint, 10-Minute No-Bake Strawberry Cheese Pie
- Sweet Sauces: Raspberry, Blueberry, Cherry, Strawberry, Chocolate Fudge, Easy Chocolate Cream Frosting
- Cocktails: Mojito, Daiquiri, Margarita, Lemon Raspberry Slush

375 Sensational Splenda Recipes on amazon.ca


Join Recipes That Worked on Facebook