Food

NEW TOASTS: TO YOUR REST!

Unknown

We found some cool new cocktails to accompany your summer rest. A mix of contrasts, old-fashioned and new flavors, icy hot, sultry and sweet, high and low -- they’re a nice bunch to kick back with and take it nice and easy.

Photo: Carey Nershi

Blogger, Carey Nershi, of ReclaimingProvincial, first created a retro-neo fusion, using two of our favorite vegetables, fennel and rhubarb, to make a vinegar cooler, called a shrub. Sounds a bit puckery, but Fennel-Apple-Rhubarb Shrub is bracingly refreshing. Once made, Nershi mixes it with vodka and an unlikely palate of Aperol, Cynar, Lillet, and coffee pecan bitters, to make her exquisite version of a Summer Breeze.

Fennel-Apple-Rhubarb Shrub

Makes: Approximately 2 cups of syrup

2/3 cup of rhubarb, chopped

2/3 cup of fennel, finely chopped

2/3 cup of apple, chopped (I used Fuji)

2 cups of granulated sugar

1 1/4 cups of white wine vinegar

3/4 cup of apple cider vinegar

Combine rhubarb, fennel, apple, and sugar in a bowl, stirring to evenly coat the fruit. Allow mixture to sit for around 1 hour, then macerate until everything is nice and broken up. Cover and let sit for 24 hours. (At room temperature is fine, but feel free to stick it in the fridge too.)

After 24 hours, macerate the mixture again, trying to crush the fruit as much as possible. At this point, you can add the vinegars immediately, or let it sit for another 24 hours. (I’d recommend giving it the additional 24 hours, as I think this extra fermentation time does nice things for the final flavor.)

When ready, add the vinegars and stir well. Store at room temperature (or in the fridge, if you prefer) for 7–9 days, giving it a good stir each day. When finished, pour the mixture through a cheesecloth-lined sieve, then transfer to a clean jar or container. Store syrup in the fridge.

Photo: Carey Nershi. Summer Breeze.

Summer Breeze

Makes: 1 drink

3/4 oz. vodka

3/4 oz. Lillet Blanc

3/4 oz. Aperol

3/4 oz. fennel-apple-rhubarb shrub

1/2 oz. Cynar

Dash of coffee-pecan bitters

Lemon twist

Add lemon twist to a chilled cocktail glass, rubbing it around the rim first. Shake all the other ingredients in a shaker with ice, then strain into the glass.

Photo: Gaz Regan. Golden Prestige

NY-based bartender Gaz Regan presents his take on a Golden Prestige, adapted from a recipe by Nicolas Michel, the bar at the Beau-Rivage Palace, Lausanne, Switzerland. It’s exotic, with ingredients like gomme syrup and saffron, and it goes down like sunny summer silk.

Golden Prestige

50ml (1.7 oz) of Bacardi Superior rum

15ml (.5 ml) fresh passion fruit juice

15ml (.5 ml) of Monin gomme syrup

10ml (.33 ml) of fresh lime juice

1 barspoon orange blossom water*

2 pinches of fresh saffron

1 orange twist, as an aromatic garnish

1 twisted orange zest, as garnish

Shake over ice and fine-strain into a chilled coupette. Perfume the top of the cocktail with the orange twist, and discard. Add the twisted orange zest to the rim of the glass.

Photo: Courtesy of sheknows. Pequin & Pineapple, by Diana De Cicco

Icy, hot cocktails are not the easiest ways to chill out, but they’re making the rounds this summer. Chili-infusions get you in a heat-wave. First they perk you up, then you need a little rest. It’s an arc. Pequin & Pineapple, by blogger, Diana De Cicco, keeps it mellow yellow, sweet, and tart.

Pequin and Pineapple

Makes 1 cocktail

Ingredients:

1 chili pequin, sliced 1/4-inch thick
2-inch piece of orange peel
4 ounces tequila blanco
1 ounce pineapple juice
1 ounce orange juice

Directions:

Combine chili and orange peel in a cocktail shaker. Muddle until oil from peel comes out.
Pour tequila, pineapple juice, and orange juice into a shaker and shake well.
Strain cocktail into a martini glass and garnish with a slice of chili.

Photo: Sydney Kramer. Brooklyn Lemonade

Sydney Kramer, of Crepes of Wrath, puts a new spin on an old-fashioned shandy, mixing summer ale with lemon juice, maple syrup, bourbon and bitters. He tells us to strain the ice before serving, but we like to leave it in.

Brooklyn Lemonade

Makes 2 drinks

4 ounces bourbon

2 ounces maple syrup

Juice of 2 lemons, plus more for garnish

2 dashes Angostura bitters

1 12 oz. summer ale

In a shaker, combine the bourbon, maple syrup, lemon juice, and bitters. Fill with ice and shake for 10 seconds. Strain into two tall, chilled glasses and top with the beer. Serve with a wheel of lemon and a straw.

Enjoy a week of beautiful rest this week on BeautifulNow, with fresh posts every day, including new ideas about rest in Arts/Design, Place/Time, Food/Drink, Mind/Body, Soul/Impact, and Nature/Science.