Showing posts with label Summer Drinks. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Summer Drinks. Show all posts
Wednesday, 20 August 2014
The recipe comes first here, of course. The Rocío (meaning 'dew') was the cocktail that welcomed us to the media launch at Rostizado. Me being me, of course, had to be a snoopy McSnoop, and I convinced the lovely bartender to hand over his recipe for this delicious aperol-tequila-camomile-vanilla-prosecco cocktail. A quick please-please-please-pretty-please to Dani, one of the owners of Rostizado, and I had permission to publish the recipe. As Dani reckons, all their restaurants are about sharing, anyway. So thanks to the team at Rostizado, for this lovely recipe and an excellent evening. Keep reading for some mouthwatering photographs.
Monday, 30 June 2014
School's out and I've been enjoying every moment of summer. Last week I made ice cream on live TV. Yes really, and if you don't believe me the proof, they say is in the pudding (ok, ok, that was a bad pun)... right here.
CTV Morning Live
The ice cream was pretty good, and you can find the recipe for the Saffron and Rosewater Kulfi here.
Now back to the mangoes. Yes, this is another mango post, but no apologies. There's probably just about one week or so, of mango season left, and I am taking full advantage of it. Every summer it feels like this blog gets a theme... two summers ago, it was ice cream, last year popsicles ruled and this year it seems to be cocktails.
My mango lime margaritas were a huge success, and so my friend Jamie, also known as Cook With Sumo, came up with this brilliant idea of making mango sangria, a riff on his recipe for peach sangria. Knowing me and fruity cocktails, I was all over this one [Jamie disowned it after I tinkered with this recipe, so I've been told to include this disclaimer :)]
Jamie's original version included peach schnapps or peach brandy, but I happened to have lychee liqueur in my cupboard (don't ask!) so I used it instead. Must admit it was pretty delicious in this sangria.
Friday, 20 June 2014
The day I discovered elderflower cordial is probably one of the best days of my life. I was at a summer picnic, hosted by one of my professors in his beautiful house in the English countryside. It was a hot, sunny summer day, one of those gorgeous days that, as every Brit knows, come only once in a blue moon. Prof's garden backed out on to lovely, green, cool woods, and it was like every single one of my memories of all those English storybooks I read as a kid come alive.
Everyone was outside in the garden. The table was loaded with cakes, summer strawberries, cream, small sandwiches and (I got wickedly excited when I saw this) ginger beer. There were also pitchers of elderflower cordial, and the first time I tried this fragrant, floral, tangy, quintessentially British drink, I was hooked.
And, to make things even better, one of my absolute favourite British chefs comes up with this. No stopping me now.
Monday, 2 June 2014
One of the saddest times in my life is always the end of mango season. Growing up in India, mangoes were synonymous with summer, and school holidays, and the end of season meant the inexorable approach of the monsoon rains and school starting up again. It was not all bad. We had probably eaten several times our body weight in mangoes by the end of summer. Any unripe mangoes were duly picked, sunned, pickled and preserved for the coming monsoons. The smell of spicy pickles was hard to get out of our skins, and even today, when I smell mustard oil, it takes me right back to those late summer days of sneaking half cured mango pickles out of large earthenware jars.
Luckily for me, I don't have to give up mangoes just yet. Despite the season for Alphonsos and Haden mangoes passing, Asian stores here are still well stocked with Ataulfos, which means I can enjoy the king of fruits for a little while longer. And enjoy them, I have. Every week, I am off with my giant grocery bag to the Indian stores (I have an 'in' with their produce guy, who tells me exactly when the mango shipments come in) I buy at least two to three dozen mangoes... which disappear in exactly a week, after which I am constantly reminded to make sure to go to the store for more. I think I may have created a monster mango family.
Wednesday, 12 June 2013
So I know the title is a bit, WTH? But please, let me explain it all, and I am pretty sure it will make sense at the end. It's all about life, love, countries old and new and foods unusual and 'exotic'.
The first time I met my husband, I was a newly arrived, fresh off the boat Indian student in the UK. I hadn't been exposed to very many international cuisines and when I had, they were all heavily dolloped with hot sauce :) So some of the first authentic food experiences I have had are indelibly etched in my memories.
Italian food, for example. My friend D was an amazing Italian cook. His recipes were traditional and very Italian, and he made the best food I've had in forever, or at least I thought that until I tasted his mom's food, after which D paled a bit. I remember my first carbonara, my first real Italian wedding feast, and my first Italian grappa (ahem, that may be a story for another time)
On the other hand, my then boyfriend (now husband) Kay was a rare breed... a pescitarian Canadian. I still remember looking at him in utmost bemusement when he said he didn't eat meat. Really? A non-meat eating 'Westerner'... that was a shock and surprise in itself. So, of course, the first meal Kay made me was a salad and stir fry and I looked at him and very politely and innocently asked him why there was grass on my plate? :) I am still not a green salad fan.
So yeah, the food of Canada didn't really have massive appeal to me at any point.
Probably the first time I tasted something that could be called authentically Canadian was that quintessential Canadian drink, the Caesar. It was at the Maple Leaf Bar tucked away in a side street behind London's Covent Garden Market, and populated, or so it seemed, by big, redheaded Canadians, a smattering of Aussies, a few South Africans and a disproportionately large number of Eastern Europeans. I can only assume it was the ice hockey that brought them all there (wink).
Every time we visited Canada, my first request on Air Canada was a Clamato juice, and I was always obliged. It was a running joke in the family, that the first drink I had aboard a Canadian aeroplane would be a heavily salted, extra spicy clam juice... in hindsight, probably not the best for flying, but for me, that defined the start of my Canadian adventure.
Coming back to the title of the post, though, Kay and I started off with a tradition, almost from the first year we were together, and that was our annual Canada Day party. The first year we threw the shindig, Kay was working, so I ended up schlepping down to Central London, back to the Canada Store near Covent Garden and came back with a giant backpack full of Moosehead beer. Between that and copious amounts of Caesars, I can only remember so much of the party, but I imagine it was a success. We have continued that quaint tradition, and so we throw a Canada Day party even here in Canada! Unfortunately after the first few years, the Canada Store didn't carry Clamato Juice anymore, apparently there were customs restrictions, so we relied on Canadian friends and family to bring in this contraband drink.
I can assure you I am not a complete alcoholic, promise :) Its just that the last few posts seem to have had some version of alcohol in them, but I put that down to the summer.
My first authentic Canadian food experience (I didn't just have drink experience, swear) was, funnily enough, again with my Italian friend D and his wife Cee. We were all good friends, and one evening, as we were kicking about London, D started ribbing Kay about Canadian food. At which, Kay invited them over for what he called a very traditional Canadian lunch.
Kay, who also happens to be a rather good cook himself (I haven't beaten it out of him, haha), decided on a few different items. Thankfully no
My recipe today is for the Bloody Caesar, probably Canada's favourite cocktail. I love it hot and spicy with a good glug of vodka. When in season, I love using asparagus to serve with it, though the classic accompaniment is celery sticks of course. I also like rimming my glass with sea salt, pepper and celery salt for an extra salty kick.
I will totally not claim any authenticity to this recipe, though, this is how I like my Caesars and I am pretty sure there are enough Caesar recipes as there are Canadian households :)
Bloody Caesar Recipe:
(Printable Recipe)Makes 4 Bloody Caesars
100 ml (roughly 4 oz) vodka
500 ml (roughly 16 oz) Clamato Juice (I used Mott's Extra Spicy)
1/2 teaspoon of hot sauce or to taste
A couple teaspoons Worcester Sauce, or to taste
1 teaspoon lime juice
To serve:
1/2 teaspoon flaked sea salt
1/2 teaspoon fresh ground black pepper
1 teaspoon celery salt
Wedges of lime
Celery sticks
Method:
Muddle together the vodka, clamato, hot sauce, worcester sauce and lime juice. Taste and add more hot sauce, if you like your Caesar spicy.
Mix the salt, pepper and celery salt on a plate. Moisten the rims of your glasses and rim with the salt mixture. Pour in the Caesars and serve with a wedge of lime and a celery stick.
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