Showing posts with label beverage. Show all posts
Showing posts with label beverage. Show all posts

Monday, April 18, 2011

Extremely Potent Pumpkin-tini

I would like to mention that I wrote the draft to this entry when I was most certainly NOT pregnant.

I repeat, I was NOT PREGNANT when I made this tasty, tasty drink.

Are we good? Okay...

. . . . .

What's a girl to do when left with half a can of pumpkin puree? Mix it with alcohol, natch!

After browsing online for some inspiration and working with what I had on hand, here's what I came up with.

Serves 1
Step one - in a shaker with ice, put:
2 oz gold rum (though white rum, vodka, or maybe even apple brandy could be nice)
1 oz white creme de cacao
1 heaping kitchen spoon of pumpkin puree (straight pumpkin. You could try the sweetened stuff, but then I'd probably leave out the creme de cacao and spices)
1 small splash of vanilla
a shaking of cinnamon, nutmeg, and ginger

Pour this into a martini glass.

Step two - in a shotglass, put:
1/2oz evaporated milk (theoretically, milk or cream could work, too)
1/4oz white creme de cacao

Pour this gently over the back of a spoon into the martini. It should settle under the pumpkin layer.

Step three - drizzle a touch of kahlua over the top. Most of it will settle into the very bottom.

Top with a dash of nutmeg (or whatever you please. Cinnamon, crumbled graham crackers, candied pumpkin seeds, etc.)

Voila. Put your car keys some place safe and enjoy.

Monday, July 12, 2010

Barley Water

I finally got around to attempting barley water, or lemon barley water to be more precise. After poking around for a recipe, I settled on Alton Brown's Barley Water recipe. I halved the recipe since I wasn't sure if I would like it and had a very nice little 1 litre pitcher I could use. The one modification made was to rinse the barley before boiling it. I'd remembered seeing that step on some other recipe sites.
Being the impatient foodie that I am, I did taste a spoonful of the drink after it was all stirred up but not yet chilled. It was unpleasantly sour but I figured: 1- temperatures can change taste perceptions, 2- Alton Brown is usually pretty good at this and, 3- I doubt I screwed up such a simple recipe. So I put it in the fridge and left it to chill overnight.
This morning, after breakfast, it was time to try it. Final verdict: Yummy! The acidity had mellowed quite a bit overnight, leaving it just freshly lemony. If I had to liken it to anything, I'd say it's like a cloudy, smooth lemonade. I'm guessing it's the barley that grounds the flavour. The lemon peels left in the pitcher overnight along with the lemon juice also gave it a better depth of flavour than lemon juice alone.

A couple last things to note: First of all, the recipes I saw all said to discard the barley after it's done cooking. I don't see why it should be wasted. After making this recipe I found it was nicely cooked and a good blank slate to use as a base for some yumminess or other. It's in my fridge. I'll probably mix it with veggies, a bit of meat and a light dressing within the next couple of days to make a lunch salad. Secondly, a good bit of liquid gets soaked up as the barley cooks, so if you try this, don't be surprised if you end up with a bit less than expected. Instead of filling my 1 litre pitcher, it was only 2/3 to 3/4 full.

I didn't take any pictures. One thing at a time and right now, it's learning links so I can reference my sources and give credit where it's due. Next I want to figure out how to make the links open into a new tab instead of sending you away.