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Posts from the ‘Alcoholic Beverages’ Category

Mar 10

47 Comments

Blood Orange Simple Syrup

Blood Orange Simple Syrup

Blood Orange Simple Syrup

When I was at the store buying fruit and vegetables I saw some beautiful blood oranges, I love them, juiced, in baked goods or straight up. After using all but 2 I wondered what I could do with the last of my oranges. Simple syrup is something I always keep in the refrigerator, I use it for baking, drinks or spoon on fruit salad. It’s a staple item for me. The blood oranges made a beautiful and delicious syrup, a gorgeous color, and that unmistakable blood orange flavor. It’s so simple to make, taking only a few minutes. I’m saving some of it for the Semolina Olive Oil Cake, I think it would make a delicious soaking syrup. Mix it in sparkling water to make soda, you control the sweetness, it’s great in mixed drinks, Sangria, there are so many possibilities.

2 blood oranges juiced it yielded  a little over 1/3 cup

zest of both oranges

3/4 cup sugar

2/3 cup water

2 tbs honey

Place everything in a medium size saucepan, bring to a boil on high heat, when there is a rolling boil, reduce to medium/high and cook on a low boil uncovered for 10-15 minutes. The syrup will reduce a little, for a thicker syrup you would have to boil longer, 20-25 minutes.  Remove from heat, let cool and pour into a lidded jar. Refrigerate.

Mar 9

17 Comments

Pairing Desserts and Wine- Part 3 How And Why!

This is the final installment of the dessert and wine pairing series, If I had tried to put all of this in one post it would be as long as a novel, so I decided to break this up into a series of 3 posts. The first was an explanation of desserts wines and the science involved in pairing taken from Julians blog, Vino in love. Post #2 is the actual desserts and the wine recommendations,  and the third will tell you why the wines were chosen for each dish.

Below is an explanation as to why these particular wines were chosen for each dessert. Cheers!

When desserts meet wine

Only recently, I wrote about pairing wine with desserts. I have teamed up with Suzanne from apuginthekitchen to present to you awesome dessert and wine pairings. If you want to know more about the desserts that Suzanne and I picked to pair with wine then read this post on apuginthekitchen.

In the final part of this mutual collaboration, I want to talk about why I decided to pair these wines with Suzanne’s desserts.

Stuffed pears en papillote

Suzanne’s Stuffed pears en papillote pair very well with a Passito di Pantelleria. For example we could pair this dessert with the Ben Rye from Donnafugata. Why? The answers is quite simple. The pears are steamed in brown sugar and stuffed with walnuts. Sweet desserts like this one call for a wine that has a good amount of sweetness itself. It should not be overly sweet though. Furthermore, the Ben Rye has a bouquet that includes candid oranges, which pair with pears en papillote very well.

Trabucchi d’Illasi’s Recioto di Soave is a great match for a fig and goat cheese tart. The flavor of the figs and the aromas of the Recioto di Soave (elderflower, chamomile, white chocolate, aromatic herbs, etc.) pair well together. This Recioto is also not that sweet. We also need a wine with an ABV between around 10% and 13.5%. A Passito di Pantelleria would be too intense and also too strong. That would cause the wine to dominate the dessert, which we want to avoid. The Recioto di Soave however, is a very elegant wine. It has an ABV of 12.5% which is perfect for this dish.

Ceretto Asti SpumanteThe buttermilk panna cotta called immediately for a Moscato d’Asti Spumante. Moscato d’Asti Spumante are sweet, fruity and usually have a very low ABV (often around 7%). These wines have a little bit of acidity as welll. And with pannacotta we want exactly that. The Moscato d’Asti Spumante from Cerotto has a good quality-price ratio and is the perfect match for Suzanne’s buttermilk panna cotta.

Pasticciotti filled with vanilla cream are a traditional dessert from Apulia, Italy. These delicious pastries also call for a sparkling wine and why not pair Apulian food with Apulian wine? Sometimes it is best to go with food and wine from the same region. Therefore, I decided to pair Suzanne’s Pasticciotti (you have to try them! They are so tasty!) with a Moscato di Trani Spumante. Pasticciotti are dry and pretty sweet. One of my favorite Moscato di Trani Spumante is produced by Azienda Agricola Franco di Filippo. Both of their Moscato di Trani Spumante will work excellent with Pasticciotti. These “Champagne-like” sparkling wines (“Champagne-like” because they are manufactured after the Classic-Method process) have a long-lasting perlage, an intense nose and a great palate. They tend to have less acidity then Moscato d’Asti Spumante. However, Moscato d’Asti Spumante are usually produced after with Martinotti-Method and not with the Classic-Method.

Recioto della Valpolicella - Trabucchi d'Illasi

Trabucchi d’Illasi does not only make a stunning Recioto di Soave but also an even better Recioto della Valpolicella. Recioto della Valpolicella is produced similar to Amarone. Grapes get sun-dried for around 40 days on straw-mats where they lose around 80% of their weight. This gives Trabucchi’s Recioto della Valpolicella a rich nose and an intense palate. The nose is incredible with a lots of different aromas. The finish is persistently long. I have baked Suzanne’s semolina olive oil myself and served it with Trabucchi’s Recioto della Valpolicella. A good match which I highly recommend.

Last but not least I paired the spicy chocolate panna cotta with aCognac. I am of the opinion that chocolate desserts like chocolate panna cotta or chocolate cake do not pair well with wine. A Portuguese Port wine would have worked as well but with these type of desserts your best bet are spirits like Brandy and Cognac – in fact Cognac is a type of Brandy from France. If matching chocolate desserts with alcohol then you have to go with strong spirits. Of course, we could also serve this delicious dessert with an espresso which would be the “Italian way”.

Photo Credits: Stuffed pears en papillote by Suzanne. All rights reserved
Ceretto Asti Spumante by Ceretto 
Recioto della Valpolicella – Trabucchi d’Illasi by Julian Rossello. All rights reserved.

This brings our dessert and wine pairing series to an end. I hope you have enjoyed it. Let me know what you think about these pairings. With what do you pair your favorite dessert usually with?

 

Mar 8

45 Comments

Pairing Wines With Dessert Part 2

When Julian from Vino In Love  and I first started talking about dessert wines and pairing wines with desserts I was so excited and thrilled that he agreed to collaborate with me on this. I sent him a list of desserts that I posted here on my blog and asked him to pair wines or spirits with the desserts. Here is the list and I can’t wait to try each of these. I am learning a lot from the wine experts that I am now following and I look forward to each of their posts. All of the desserts below are featured on my blog, to get the recipes just click on desserts on the category cloud. I didn’t include the recipes on this post because this is about the wine that you would eat with the dessert. You can pair the wine below the photo with a similar dessert without using the exact recipe. To locate these wines you can use this handy dandy tool http://www.wine-searcher.com/ or do like I do, contact your local wine merchant and see if they have them, if not, hopefully your favorite wine shoppe is as wonderful as mine and they can locate these wines for you. Below is the photo of the dessert and Julian’s excellent recommendations. Thank you so much Julian for helping me with this it was so much fun and a real learning experience for me and I hope for all those that follow my blog. Thank you!

Baked Pears

Baked Pears

Stuffed pears en papillote + Donna Fugata – Passito di Pantelleria (intense white sweet wine from Sicily) More info on Donna Fugata: http://www.donnafugata.it/pagine/Homepage.aspx

Mosto Cotto Fig And Goat Cheese Tart

Mosto Cotto Fig And Goat Cheese Tart

Fig and goat cheese tart + Trabucchi d’Illasi – Recioto della Valpolicella (red sweet wine from Veneto. Produced like Amarone but tastes even better.) More information: http://vinoinlove.com/2006-trabucchi-dillasi-amarone-della-valpolicella-doc/

Buttermilk Panna Cotta

Buttermilk Panna Cotta

Buttermilk panna cotta with mosto cotto Champagne grape syrup  + Ceretto – Moscato d’Asti (light, sweet sparkling wine from Piedmont. More information on Ceretto: http://www.ceretto.com/

Pasto Ciotti

Pasti Ciotti

Pasticciotti filled with vanilla cream + Moscato di Trani or with a Passito di Trani (Sweet (sparkling) wine from Apulia; the same region where Pasticciotti are from). Here is a link for information on the wine: http://www.wine-searcher.com/regions-moscato+di+trani

Semolina Olive Oil Cake

Semolina Olive Oil Cake

Semolina olive oil cake +  Trabucchi d’Illasi – Recioto di Soave (white sweet wine from the Veneto) Here is more information on this wine from Julians site: http://vinoinlove.com/2006-trabucchi-dillasi-recioto-di-soave-recioto-di-soave-docg/

Fire On Ice Light and Dark Chocolate Panna Cotta

Fire On Ice Light and Dark Chocolate Panna Cotta

Spicy chocolate panna cotta + Cognac (Brandy from France) NOTE from Suzanne: I am so glad that Julian paired this with cognac, I have been doing something right. I like to serve cognac with this type of dessert, I have Pierre Ferrand Cognac (It’s wonderful with this).

Jan 10

26 Comments

Brown Butter Spiced Ale

IMG_0342

The latest Food52 contest was all about beer, I love a challenge and wanted to create a drink using beer that could comfortably be consumed when it’s cold outside. I primarily think of beer as a summer drink. A hot buttered rum came to mind so I set about switching the ingredients so as to use beer instead of rum and water. I thought that an ale would be nice and added browned butter, brown sugar, some spices and a splash of brandy and the result is really quite delicious. It’s a great way to enjoy beer if you live in a cold climate. The bitterness of the ale is offset by the sugar and spice and the browned butter adds a richness reminiscent of a hot buttered rum. I was so pleased that the recipe was chosen to be tested as a community pick and was thrilled to see that it was chosen to be showcased and photographed by the editors at food52. Kukla, one of our outstanding community members tested the recipe and wrote a lovely review. Here is the recipe, I hope you enjoy if you decide to give it a try.

Serves 2

  • 12 ounces ale of your choice
  • 2 tablespoons unsalted butter, browned
  • 3 tablespoons dark brown sugar
  • 1/4 teaspoon ginger
  • 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
  • 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
  • splashes brandy (about 1 tablespoon) per glass
  • 1 Cinnamon stick for garnish
  1. Add butter to small saucepan and melt on medium heat. Cook until butter becomes a light brown and has a slightly nutty smell (approximately 3 minutes). Reduce heat to low and add brown sugar and spices — cook until brown sugar is dissolved and the mixture is paste-like. Scrape into small bowl or ramekin and cover with foil to keep warm.
  2. Add the ale to the same saucepan and heat on medium until hot. Spoon two tablespoonds of the spiced butter mixture in serving glass, pour hot ale into glass and add a splash of brandy (about 1 or 2 tablespoons) and stir. Garnish with cinnamon stick.
Photo by James Ransom for Food52

Photo by James Ransom for Food52

Dec 26

12 Comments

Knock Your Socks Off Homemade Baileys

IMG_0374First I have to say I love Lynne Knowlton and her blog “Design The Life You Want To Live”, she is fun, informative and has the most amazing design sense. I enjoy it and look forward to every single post. When I saw her recipe for homemade Baileys I knew I had to try it. I love sipping Baileys, it’s like dessert for me, sweet, creamy and just plain delicious. This literally takes a minute to make and the results are tremendous. It is strong, really kind of knock your socks off strong, it’s ok its the Holiday Season and sipping a little of this in the comfort of your home is a good thing, right??  Check out Lynne’s blog, I know you will love it as much as I do. She is funny, irreverent and a design genius. Love you Lynne!! Thanks for such an easy and really delicious recipe.

Homemade Baileys

13 oz vodka (Mine was straight from the freezer)

1 can sweetened condensed milk

1 pint table or light cream

2 tbs chocolate syrup, Lynne recommends Nestle’s I made my own since I didn’t have any.

Put all ingredients in the blender, give it a whiz and enjoy!!

I  brought a bottle to my daughters for Christmas, she and everyone loved it and I immediately got a request to make another batch for the in-laws. It’s so easy to make I can whip up a batch any time at all.

Sep 4

10 Comments

Marx Food Cocktails And Mocktails Recipe Contest-Bloody Mary And Plum Juniper Berry Fizz

Bloody Mary

This months challenge from Marx Foods is to make 2 drinks a Cocktail which would include alcohol and a Mocktail, well you know what that is, no booze. All of us that participate in this challenge were sent a box of goodies, spices and other items, one of which has to be used in each drink. I received, saffron, juniper berries, dill and fennel pollen, long pepper and dried fresh pineapple. We have to use at least one of these items in each drink. I do so love a challenge and this in particular was challenging for me as I am not an accomplished mixologist, honestly the extent of my expertise is opening a bottle of beer or wine. I do love a good cocktail or mocktail as long as someone else mixes it for me.

My first entry is a Bloody Mary, that I tweaked a bit, it’s not your traditional drink other than the fact that it contains tomato juice. For this drink I used two of the ingredients from Marx Foods, the long pepper and fennel pollen. I used the long pepper instead of black pepper and rimmed the glass with a combination of kosher salt and fennel pollen. It’s a bit spicy thanks to the long pepper and hot sauce, a bit tart from the lemon and I also added a pinch of sumac which is both peppery and citrusy. It’s best to make the tomato juice mix the day before serving so that everything melds together.  I was happy with how it turned out, maybe I’ll start mixing more cocktails from now on.

The mocktail was a lot of fun to make. I wanted to use something seasonal,  I had some beautiful methley plums, (they are so gorgeous with their dark almost black skin and bright red flesh), that were perfectly ripe and I thought that the juniper berries would go beautifully with them. I love the combination, the syrup with ripe plums, sugar and juniper berries is delicious, so good I am thinking it would make outstanding jam. This drink is very simple, plum juniper syrup, sparkling water and lime. The plums with the juniper berries give it a complex flavor and the lime gives it some zing, It’s pretty too!!

Bloody Mary
Makes one 8 oz drink
Cocktail
4 oz tomato juice or V-8 vegetable juice
1/4 tsp homemade celery salt
juice of 1/2  Lemon
splash worcestershire sauce
splash of hot sauce, tabasco, sriracha, cholula
pinch of sumac
pinch of ground long pepper
3 oz vodka
 To Rim glass and Serve
1 tsp kosher salt
1 tsp fennel pollen
small young celery stalk with leaves for garnish
slice lemon for garnish
Homemade celery salt
1 tbs celery seed
1 tbs kosher salt
To your spice grinder or mortar and pestle add the celery seed and the salt and grind. Store unused celery salt with your spices in an airtight container.
Pan roast a couple of long pepper, just for a few minutes, remove from heat and let cool. Grind in spice grinder or mortar and pestle (these can be used instead of black pepper and when you dry roast the flavor intensifies)
Crush kosher salt and fennel pollen using mortar and pestle.
Add tomato juice, lemon juice, celery salt, hot sauce, worcestershire sauce, ground long pepper and sumac stir together and refrigerate for at least an hour or preferably overnight.
 Rub around the rim of the glass with lemon and dip glass in salt fennel pollen mixture.
Add some ice cubes to prepared glass, pour in vodka, top off with the tomato juice mixture, garnish with celery and lemon if you like.

Plum Juniper Fizz

Mocktail
Plum Juniper Berry Fizz
Makes 2-4 drinks depending on how much syrup you use
2 1/2 cups ripe plums cleaned and quartered skin left on. (I used Methley plums that have a dark almost black skin and red flesh)
1/2 cup sugar
4 whole juniper berries
1/2 cup water
Juice of half a lime (approx 1 tbs)
Place plums, sugar water and juniper berries in medium saucepan. Bring to a boil, then lower the heat to medium/low and simmer for 10-15 minutes. Remove from heat, cover and let sit until it cools to room temperature.
Strain into a jar with lid and refrigerate until cold.
To Make Drink
 Rub lime wedge around the rim of the glass, dip in sugar (optional) Pour 1/4 cup (4 tbs) plum syrup into glass add lime juice, top off with sparkling water.Serve garnished with lime.

Jun 29

15 Comments

Minted Peaches And Raspberries In Rose’

I grew up in a large Italian family, my Grandfather made his own wine from grapes he grew himself and I remember his home vividly, rows and rows of grapes, fruit tree’s and berry bushes. One dessert I remember is so simple but very delicious, fresh tree ripened peaches, macerated in a little sugar with red wine poured over it. Although I was too young to imbibe, I was allowed a little taste and have made this many times as an adult. I took this simple and classic treat and switched it up a bit, muddling fresh mint with sugar and macerating peaches and raspberries, then instead of red wine I used rose’. It’s light, refreshing and delicious and the mint adds a lovely freshness that goes perfectly with the fruit and wine. This is not the type of recipe you have to follow exactly you be the judge of how much fruit and wine to use. Tailor to your taste. Note: I used frozen peaches and raspberries that I flash froze, if using frozen it may have to macerate a little longer so that the fruit thaws a bit. I entered this recipe in the food52 contest for your best recipe using mint.

Serves 2

2 ripe peaches peeled and sliced

1 cup raspberries

2-4 tbs sugar (start with 2 and increase depending on sweetness of fruit)

handful mint leaves torn

12 oz (approximately) rose or pink champagne

Add the sugar and mint to mortar and crush to release the oil from the mint leaves, it will infuse the sugar. Place the peaches and raspberries into a container and pour the sugar and mint over them, toss to combine. Place in refrigerator for 1 hour, tossing again after 30 minutes.

Spoon the fruit with the sweet minty juices into serving bowl or wine glass top with very cold rose, sip the wine and eat the fruit.

Jun 4

12 Comments

Coco-Lime Slushy

Coco-Lime Slushy

Next to the the Lemon,Lime, Campari Sorbet this is my second favorite summer drink. It’s cold and refreshing, creamy and delicious. I made this drink with more lime than pineapple and used unsweetened coconut milk and lime simple syrup so that I can control the sweetness. I also did not use crushed ice I find it waters it down so instead I froze the coconut lime mixture in an ice cube tray. The cubes are solid but easy to break up in the blender. The result is a slushy coconut lime and pineapple drink that is so refreshing. You can add as much rum as you like or make it virgin, it’s equally as delicious. One other cool thing about this drink is that because the drink base is frozen in ice cube trays you can make 1 or more and leave the rest in the freezer for use later on. Remove the cubes place in freezer bag and store in the freezer.

Lime Simple Syrup:

1 Lime peel removed (Use the peeled lime for the drink base)

1/2 cup sugar

1/2 cup water

  1. In saucepan add sugar and water, bring to a boil let boil for approximately 2 minutes until sugar is completely dissolved take off heat, add lime peel. Cover and let sit until cool. Remove the lime peel. Store in jar in refrigerator. You can easily double this to make more simple syrup.

The Slush:

1 13.5 oz can unsweetened coconut milk

1 Lime peeled and all of the pith removed and quartered (Use the lime you used for the simple syrup)

4-6 tablespoons lime simple syrup (Make it as sweet as you like)

2 -3 ounces Pineapple juice (unsweetened) Start with two and if you need a little more liquid to break up cubes in blender add another ounce.

1 ounce Rum (Add more if you like it stronger)

  1. To your food processor add the quartered lime and coconut milk. Process until lime is pulverized. Strain into measuring cup.Add 4-6 tbs of the lime simple syrup. (Adjust the sweetness to suite your taste. Pour into ice cube tray and freeze.
  2. When coconut lime is frozen remove from ice cube tray, place in blender (depending on the proficiency of your blender you may want to break up the cubes) add pineapple juice and rum and blend until the cubes are broken up and it’s a slushy consistency. Pour and serve. Garnish with lime and pineapple.

Ready to Freeze

May 29

32 Comments

Lemon,Lime Campari Sorbet Float

Lemon,Lime Campari Sorbet

It has been really hot in NYC, too hot to cook. My thoughts have turned to cold drinks and one of my favorite light on the alcohol summer drinks is Campari and soda. Campari is a liquor made from herbs and fruits and is widely used as an apertif in Europe. I was first introduced to Campari when I lived in Italy and every time I take a sip it takes me back there, sipping the cold, slightly bitter drink in a cafe in Naples, well actually I drank them while traveling  the entire coast of Italy. A Campari and soda is usually served with a slice of lime, so I took that lovely combination of flavors and made a sorbet. It’s makes a wonderful float or can be eaten on it’s own. The sorbet, because it contains alcohol takes a little longer to freeze than a regular fruit sorbet so be patient. The first time I made this the scoop of sorbet sunk to the bottom of the glass, to solve this problem I found that by whipping the sorbet at intervals while it’s freezing produces a scoop that floats beautifully in your glass. You can of course skip that step it’s totally optional.

Serves 4

1 1/4 cup Juice from freshly sqeezed lemons and limes you can decide the ratio as long as it equals 1 1/4 cups I used 4 limes 3 lemons

1 cup  water

1 1/2 cup super fine sugar

1/2 cup  Campari

Very cold seltzer, club soda or sparkling water

  1. Combine the juice of the lemons and limes, super fine sugar, water and campari mix until the sugar is disolved. Place in the refrigerator to chill, should be very cold. Pour into your ice cream maker and churn away.When the sorbet is thick and the consitency of a slurpee pour into a freezer container. Its best to freeze over night or until it is scoopable. (See step 3 for optional method) Chill your seltzer, club soda or sparkling water make sure its very cold.
  2. Get a tall glass put two scoops of the sorbet in each glass and fill with the ice cold sparkling water, club soda or seltzer. Garnish with a slice of lemon or lime and a sprig of mint. Enjoy!
  3. This step is optional: If you want your scoop of sorbet to float you have to whip it. Here is what you do: After taking out of the ice cream machine put in the freezer for 1 1/2 hours take it out and whip it with your electric mixer right in the container you are freezing it in. Beat for one minute it will get slushy thats ok. Put it back in the freezer for another 2 hours then take it out and whip it again for another minute return to the freezer and let it freeze. Because it has alcohol in it it takes longer to freeze to a scoopable consistency. If you don’t care if your sorbet sinks to the bottom of the glass omit this step.
  4. I purposely made the sorbet very intense so when added to soda water you an really taste the flavors. If you want to make the sorbet less intense simply decrease the lemon/lime and add water equal to what you took from the citrus.

Apr 5

6 Comments

Featured Recipes: Finger-Lickin Finger Lakes Chicken and Some Hard Lemonade

Finger Lakes Chicken photo by wssmom

This is probably one of the most delicious recipes for grilled chicken that I have ever tasted. I made this several times and you know the food is really really good when everyone at the table goes completely silent, not a word, only sometimes you can hear a low mutter almost inaudible, “this is so good”, well thats what happens when I serve this chicken. This is a recipe from one of my good friends on food52, Virginia also known as wssmom (her cooks name on food52), is a fantastically creative cook, take at look at her 72 recipes on food52, her recipe, A Bowl of Red was runnerup in the chili contest as was her New Years Day Fresh Ham in the Best Holiday Roast contest. She manages to make each recipe approachable and absolutely delicious.

I have also included one of her many amazing recipes for drinks. She is an inspired mixologist, this is one of many delicious drinks that she has created. Bobby Flay Inspired Hard Lemonade incorporates the best of summers flavors (lemons and strawberries and packs a punch with some silver rum. Try it you will love it! It’s really pretty too. If you are not in the mood for lemonade, try her Peartini and I will personally attest to the greatness of this drink, she brought it to the Food52 cookbook party. One more, I can’t help it I love her recipes, Kicked up Egg Cream how can you go wrong with a delicious chocolate egg cream with some chocolate liquor.

Serves 4

Fresh Herb Aioli:

1 large organic egg yolk, at room temperature

1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice

1 cup grapeseed oil

1 minced clove garlic

pinch sea salt

1 cup champagne vinegar (yes, one cup)

1 tablespoon minced fresh sage leaves

1 teaspoon minced fresh rosemary sprigs

1 teaspoon minced fresh thyme leaves

1 teaspoon minced fresh oregano

some more salt

In a suitable bowl, preferably one that won’t spin around, whisk together the egg yolk, lemon juice and garlic. Add the oil a few drops at a time (or have someone do that for you), whisking until it emulsifies. Continue to dribble in the oil, whisking away, until all is incorporated.

Put half the aioli in another bowl, saving the remainder for another use. Whisk in the vinegar, add the herbs and add a tad more salt than you think neccessary, about a teaspoon in my case.

Finger Lakes Chicken:

2 whole organic chicken breasts, split so you have four nice-sized pieces

Freshly ground pepper

Fresh herb aioli

Liberally sprinkle the chicken breasts with freshly ground pepper, put them in a ziplock bag with the aoili, smush so they are covered, and let marinate for at least three hours, or preferably overnight.

Grill, bone side down and covered, over medium heat for about 15-20 minutes, then turn and crank up the grill to high to finish, so that the skin gets nice and crispy.

Chill and bring along to your picnic, and serve along with some lovely dry riesling.

Bobby Flay Inspired Hard Lemonade (Inspired by Bobby’s recipe for minted lemonade)

Serves 6

1 1/2 cups sugar

Juice from 10-12 lemons, about 1 1/2 cups

1 pint strawberries

silver rum

3 cups seltzer, chilled

1/2 bunch mint sprigs

Prepare a simple syrup by mixing the sugar with 1 1/2 cups water in a small pan; bring to a boil, stirring to dissolve, and let cool.

Stem the strawberries and puree with about 1/3 to 1/2 cup of the lemon juice. Put through a sieve to remove seeds and errant bits.

In a large, attractive pitcher, combine 3/4 cup simple syrup with the strawberry-lemon puree and the remainder of the lemon juice. Sample and if desired, add more simple syrup to taste.

Add the mint to the pitcher along with the rum (one ounce per serving) and chill in the refrigerator for an hour. Add the cold seltzer and serve over ice. Kick back and enjoy the fourth race!

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