I think most of us who drink have a few regretful drinks in our history. Somewhere along the lines, as a younger drinker, I got the idea of mixing Crystal Light Peach Iced Tea with Malibu. It was horrifying. And secretly delicious. Shut up, it was a lot time ago.
Because I secretly love that old horrifying beverage, I’ve been looking for a way to recreate it in a less terrifying way. Last year I bought peach schnapps and steeped a bunch of black tea bags in the schnapps to create a base that could be watered down or added to other things. It was surprisingly tasty but the shcnapps was syrupy sweet.
I wanted to come at it from a slightly different angle this year and Chris convinced me to try steeping the tea in peach brandy instead. The result is a bit drier and less “juicy,” but also way less cloying.
We just finished a morning of errands and yard work so I kept things simple. About two ounces of the peach tea brandy with ice, soda water, and a sprig of mint. It’s actually quite tea and tannin forward so next time I may try it with a bit of lemon or simple syrup. Maybe Malibu. HA! TOTALLY KIDDING!! HAHAHAHAHA!!! (Sneaks off to the hidden corner of the bar where the embarassing things are kept.)
It’s not easy being greens. We are definitely in the green days of summer – this week’s CSA share was full of greens like chard and romaine and herbs like basil and parsley. I tend to think of parsley and cilantro as similar flavors, and things that are great as an accent but overpowering as anything more. That said, we decided that with the hot summer days well upon us, the refreshing and cooling flavors of parsley would be our herbal inspiration.
The overall inspiration was basically an alcoholic gremolata – a sauce that always sounds refreshing. Chris started with lemon juice and Tattersall Crema (similar to a curacao) for both sweetness and additional citrus flavor. His odd twist was a bar spoon of homemade amaretto to add a touch of nuttiness (thinking along the lines of a pesto). All of that was tossed into a cocktail shaker with two ounces of vodka, several sprigs of parsley, and ice then shaken and strained.
The resulting cocktail has a strong parsley aroma but a complex herbal and citrus flavor. The parsley actually lightens up the heavier citrus flavors, making it a light and refreshing cocktail with just a little depth from the amaretto. Definitely a summertime winner!
Being Green
1/2 oz lemon juice
3/4 oz Tattersall Orange Crema (or curacao)
1/4 oz amaretto
2 oz vodka
2-3 sprigs of parsley
Add all the ingredients to a cocktail shaker with ice, shake well, double strain and serve neat with a parsley leaf garnish.
My bartender is out of town this week. OH NO! I love cocktails, I love thinking about and drinking cocktails. But I leave the making of cocktails up to Chris most of the time. I’ve certainly never tried to come up with a mostly original idea myself. I was hoping there would be a softball this week – a cucumber or maybe some early raspberries. But nope – it was all greens.
As I stared at my vegetables and they stared back at me, I decided the sugar snap peas were going to work best for me because of their crisp sweetness. Suddenly it occured to me that peas are often paired with mint – I could go in a mojito direction! I spent a few minutes marveling at my own creativity before googling “snap pea mojito” and realizing I’m not that original. Oh well, still sounds good.
I started by muddling four or five pods worth of shelled peas into a shaker with just a pinch or two of sugar. I wanted the sugar there more for abrasion than sweetness. Once I had something of a paste, I added two ounces of Skalvenn Rum (a local rum that is a nice mixing spirit) and ice. I gave it all a quick shake and then strained (I should have double strained) into a highball glass and topped it all with a bit of soda water and a sprig of mint.
You might think the delicate flavor of the peas would be overpowered by the mint, and you would be almost right. But there’s a sweet “green” flavor, for lack of a better term, that shines through and adds a
beautiful spring-like crispness. This is definitely the sort of drink to enjoy on the patio during a summer heatwave. I may not have been as creative as I hoped, but I still managed to make something tasty!
Snap Pea Comeback
15-20 peas (4-5 pods worth)
3-4 mint leaves
1/2 tsp sugar
2 oz white rum
Soda water
Muddle the peas, mint leaves, and sugar to form a rough paste (you want the flavors blended but the leaves still mostly green) then add rum and ice. Shake and strain into a highball glass, top with soda water and garnish with a mint sprig.
