Paloma

It has been far, far too long since we've posted a cocktail. Please, don't think that I've become a teetotaler all of a sudden. Goodness, no. But lately, I've reached for either red wine or bourbon on the rocks, and that does not leave much to write about. (I wish that I could write about red wine, but I also don't want to go down that road. It is hard enough now that my liquor tastes have been elevated well above what my income should allow.)

But here we are teetering on the edge of February, and grapefruit has been calling my name. I've done plenty of mixing with gin and with vodka, but today tequila comes into play. Say hello to Paloma.

I stumbled upon this lovely lady while flipping through the pages of Bon Appetit. They were using this cocktail to tout one of the trendiest liquors of the year, mezcal. Well, mezcal has not yet graced my liquor cabinet, but I have plenty of tequila which palomas are typically made with, so here we are. Fresh grapefruit, tangerine, and lime juice, tequila, sparkling water, and just a touch of sugar. This Mexican drink is traditionally made with grapefruit soda, but is there anything more lovely and refreshing than fresh grapefruit juice?

I added some tangerine because my grapefruit just wasn't yielding the amount of juice I wanted it to, and I love the natural sweetness that it imparts. While this drink is perfect for winter with all that happy citrus, I can see sipping this one all summer long.

Paloma

adapted from Bon Appetit

• kosher salt

• 1 grapefruit, juiced

• 1 tangerine, juiced

• 2 tbs fresh lime juice

• 1 tsp sugar

• 1/2 cup tequila, divided

• ice

• 1/2 cup sparkling water, divided

1. Put some kosher salt on a place. Dab your finger into some grapefruit juice and then run it around the edge of two highballs. Dip the rim of each glass into the salt.

2. Combine juices and sugar into a small pitcher and stir together. Then divide equally among the two highballs.

3. Stir 1/4 cup tequila into each glass, and then add ice. Top off each glass with 1/4 cup sparkling water.

Watermelon Jalapeno Margaritas

This watermelon-jalapeño margarita is like the traditional version turned extra summery and fresh. We added sweet, mild watermelon juice to the usual lime and tequila, then added a tiny splash of fresh jalapeño juice to the mix to keep things from getting too mellow. It easily multiplies to make a pitcherful, so friends can serve themselves in tall salt-rimmed glasses full of ice.

My favorite part of this margarita is the fresh jalapeno juice.  We threw a couple of jalapenos into my fancy juicer to see what would happen. The results were exciting -  a tiny vial of neon green juice with an intensely green spiciness. This jalapeño juice is a totally different animal from the flavorless spice of an infused vodka because it is so incredibly fresh tasting. It's not just spicy, but bright and green and herbal. The perfect thing to add -- drip by drip -- to give a traditional cocktail a new dimension.

Watermelon Jalapeno Margaritas

Recipe available on our column, Locally Mixed, over at Whole Foods!

Agave Margarita

Cinco de Mayo is this weekend, which, in my mind at least, kicks off margarita season. For the last several years, I had been making margaritas based on the same recipe. It was pretty heavy on the lime juice and the triple sec, making it both sweet and overly acidic. I don't know why I kept using that recipe except that I liked it, but I didn't love it. Well, I've just found a margarita recipe that I love: the agave margarita.

This recipe comes from the pages of the most recent Bon Appetit. Tequila takes center stage here, so try to use a decent one. The lime juice gives just the perfect amount of tartness, while the agave syrup replaces what is traditionally triple sec or Cointreau. 

  Because there isn't too much lime juice in there, you can hand squeeze what you need pretty quickly. I was a little worried that they wouldn't be lime-y enough or that there would be something lost without the flavor of the orange liqueur. But this margarita has great flavor, and it goes down very, very easily. (Don't say I didn't warn you!)

Agave Margarita

• kosher salt

• ice

• 1/4 cup tequila

• 2 tbs light agave syrup

• 2 tbs fresh lime juice

• lime wedge, for garnish

1. Place the kosher salt in a shallow dish. Moisten the rim of your glass with a bit of lime juice, and then  turn the glass over onto the dish of salt.
2. Place ice into the glass. Pour in tequila, agave, and lime juice. Stir, and garnish with lime wedge. (You could also place ice, tequila, agave, and lime juice into a shaker, shake, and strain into a margarita glass.)

 

Blood Orange Sunrise

Here’s our spin on the classic Tequila Sunrise.  Fresh orange juice, tequila, and then we’ve swapped the traditional grenadine for a drizzle of our homemade blood orange syrup. I love this blood orange syrup – it has such an interesting flavor when it’s concentrated in this syrup form. We’ve been sipping this cocktail ever since we made it, while pretending we’re about to jet off to Mexico for spring break. 

Oh wait, Dulcie actually IS on spring break. Sort of.  She’s visiting her family in Florida where it is 80 degrees.  Meanwhile I’m trudging through the snow to give her cat insulin shots twice a day.  I’m trying not to be jealous…

Now here’s a cool trick about making a beautiful Blood Orange Sunrise cocktail.  You need to add the ingredients in a specific order to create the striations of color.  It’s really easy:  first ice, then tequila, then orange juice, and then the cool part:  you slowly drizzle the syrup over the back of a spoon.  This helps it gently disperse, but not mix into the drink too much, and arrive on the bottom of the glass in a pretty layer of red. Give it one gentle stir, and you’re done.

Garnish with a citrus curl, which we’ll show you a tutorial on next time!

Blood Orange Sunrise

• ice
• 1 1/5 oz tequila
• 3 oz Orange Juice
• 1/2 oz blood orange syrup

Add ingredients to your cocktail glass in the order above, drizzling the blood orange syrup last (and over the back of a spoon, as shown).  Give everything one quick stir, and serve.

Clementine, Bourbon, & Clove

This wintery drink features fresh squeezed clementine juice, which is shaken vigorously with three whole cloves and a measure of bourbon. The whole cloves are what is special here - they give off the perfect tiny amount of their essence without overwhelming the drink.

Cloves and citrus are such a perfect winter combo, but cloves can be too overwhelming. We came up with the idea to shake a few cloves with the drink in an effort to rub off the best of their warmth and spice while keeping the source of this aromatic hint unobtrusive and a little mysterious.

And let me say a little something about the bourbon.  I’ve always been a little freaked out by bourbon, imagining it to be a sickly sweet version of whiskey.  I’m not sure where I got that idea, but it was crazy.  Here’s a more accurate & delicious description of nice bourbon from tastings.com:
“Flavor descriptors such as toffee, pralines, vanilla, and dried fruit to describe the initial rush of flavors in a good, well-aged Bourbon. The charred oak barrels give Bourbon a distinctive spicy oak firmness that is unique to American whiskeys.”

The bright little clementines were so simple to cut in half and juice – I used my citrus juicer to make it go even faster. We needed about 2 clementines per drink.


Here’s our recipe:

Clementine, Bourbon, & Clove Cocktail

• 1/4 c. fresh squeezed clementine juice (about 2 clementines)
• 1 oz. bourbon
• 3 whole cloves

Combine all ingredients, plus ice, in a shaker.  Shake vigorously, the strain into a sugar rimmed martini glass.  And don’t worry – these would be excellent over ice in a cocktail glass as well.

Golden Watermelon Margarita

Now that it is nearing the end of October, most of us are thinking about pumpkins, butternut squash, and the like. But local farms around us are also producing lots of that other cucurbita: the watermelon. I received a lovely yellow-fleshed watermelon from a friend, and we decided to run it through Sarah's fancy-pants juicer and came up with a cocktail which is a close relative to the margarita.

We created this drink for our Mexican-inspired October dinner party. It was the perfect accompaniment to the slow cooker carnitas tacos! Sweeter than a regular margarita, but not too sweet. Just a hint of lime. The yellow juice from our golden watermelon was really lovely, but it would be ever so sweet in pink, wouldn't it?

Golden Watermelon Margarita

• 2 ounces watermelon juice

• 1 ounce tequila

• 1 ounce triple sec

• 1/4 of a lime

• ice

Put watermelon juice, tequila, and triple sec into a shaker with ice. Now squeeze the lime in as well. Give it a good shake, pour, and enjoy. Makes 1 drink.