Tomate

It has been the rainiest May that I can remember. Good for the flowers and trees, but bad for my need to kick back on the patio with a summer cocktail. The cocktail I'm yearning for these days is a beautiful French drink combining pastis, grenadine, and water - a Tomate.

Pastis (which we photographed, discussed, and fawned over here) is an anise-flavored liqueur popular in southern France. When we discovered that there was a pastis cocktail involving grenadine, we couldn't wait to use our delicious homemade grenadine in a new (to us) drink! The Tomate (French for "tomato") is a sweet drink, and the taste of anise is very strong. (Licorice-haters to the left.) The splash of grenadine gives the cocktail a fabulous blush of pink. Mmmm... is summer here yet?

Tomate

• 1 part pastis

• 4 parts cold water

• splash of grenadine

Pour pastis into a glass, followed by a splash of grenadine. Fill the glass with 4 parts cold water and a couple ice cubes, if desired. À la vôtre!

Tequila Sunrise

Remember that homemade grenadine we made a few weeks ago?  Our original use for it was in Jack Rose cocktails (which are delicious by the way), but we didn’t get any photos of those.  Some really awful photos were taken of the Tequila Sunrises we enjoyed during a vaguely Mexican themed baby dinner party last week.

And then I made myself a non-alcoholic Tequila Sunrise during baby naptime yesterday and finally got some pretty pictures.

I was actually expecting more of a sunrise effect, but I couldn’t quite get it to look as I’d imagined.  After a few tries & failures I gave up and was happy with this very gradual gradation of pink and peach.

Here are the recipes.
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Tequila Sunrise
- 2 oz tequila
- 4 oz orange juice
- 1 oz grenadine

Pour each ingredient, in the above order, over ice in a highball glass.   Do not stir, and note that the order of ingredients is important.  The first time we tried these we did them in martini glasses with no ice.  As we poured in the grenadine, it pooled perfectly on the bottom in a solid red stripe – no gradation at all.  So watch out!

For my afternoon version of a non-alcoholic Tequila Sunrise, just remove the tequila and increase the orange juice by 2 oz to make up for it.
Non-Alcoholic Tequila Sunrise
- 6 oz orange juice
- 1 oz grenadine

Homemade Grenadine

Recently, Sarah and I have gotten on a cocktail kick. It all started with my new and lovely martini glasses from CB2, and we soon recognized the fun in picking out a drink to complement the rest of a meal. My drink of choice was usually red wine (and let me tell you that I am thrilled that box wines have come into vogue. I'm looking at you, Bota Box!) but if I strayed from my beloved Shiraz, I was usually playing it safe with a dirty martini. Now it's time to experiment a bit.

Not long ago, I picked out a recipe for a tasty-sounding drink that called for grenadine, traditionally a pomegranate syrup. When I picked up a bottle at my liquor store, I was unpleasantly surprised to discover that the ingredients consisted almost entirely of high fructose corn syrup and artificial food coloring. There was no mention of pomegranate, any other fruit, or anything you'd really want to ingest. A quick internet search led me to a recipe for grenadine on thekitchn.com, and it just couldn't be easier:

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Homemade Grenadine

• 1 cup unsweetened pomegranate juice (I used Pom... just make sure it is 100% pomegranate juice)
• 1/2 cup sugar

Simmer and stir for about 15-20 minutes. Let cool to room temperature. That should make enough for about 8 drinks (and it halves or doubles easily, if needed). 

Tequila Sunrise
Tomate