Blueberry Bounce and Blueberry Bounce Mojito

Two recipes in one today! You may recall our Raspberry Bounce experiment from www.cottagesmallholder.com. Well, we couldn't get enough of making our own liqueurs, so Joef (he's the drink master) adapted the recipe for blueberries. I liked this even better than the raspberry. The only differences in this recipe besides the fruit are that we mashed up the blueberries, used sugar in the raw instead of white sugar, and we didn't have to let it sit as long. All good things, I think. Plus, how beautiful is that color?! Plus, blueberry bounce mojitos!

BLUEBERRY BOUNCE
300g fresh blueberries
350g sugar in the raw
1.5 liters (or more) of medium quality vodka (don’t be tempted to go for the cheapest)
Sterilized 2-liter bottle

Wash blueberries. Mash blueberries. Place berries in the large bottle, squeezing the berries through the neck of the bottle.

Using a funnel, add the sugar and top up with vodka to 2-3cm from the top.

Shake it up a little, then leave it in a dark place, shaking every now and then, for about two weeks (shorter timeframe than its raspberry cousin).

What will you do with your blueberry bounce, you might ask. The answer is, make a million of these "mojitos", because they are delicious:

BLUEBERRY BOUNCE MOJITO
2.5 shots blueberry bounce
8-10 fresh mint leaves
juice from 1/2 small lemon
Tonic water
Dash bitters
Ice

Squeeze half a lemon into a tumbler glass. Add mint leaves. Muddle/bruise. Add blueberry bounce. Add ice. Top with tonic to fill glass, or to taste. Add a couple dashes bitters. Stir. Drink and enjoy!

Raspberry Bounce

From www.cottagesmallholder.com: "Fiona’s Patent Raspberry Vodka Recipe"

I didn't think we'd have the patience for this one, but we made it. Three-plus months of waiting from the day we made this to actually be able to try it. Worth it! 

Joef got the idea from family members who made cherry bounce, and, as he is wont to do, decided to improvise. Not only does this make a sweet, yummy liqueur, it also is just fun to watch the process and have something in the cupboard you can check in on every month or so. The change in the color of the vodka is, as one might imagine, particularly dramatic.

Here's the recipe we used (can you tell it's British?):

300g of unfrozen raspberries
350g of white granulated sugar
1.5 liters (or more) of medium quality vodka (don’t be tempted to go for the cheapest)
Sterilized 2-liter bottle

Wash raspberries and discard any bruised/bad fruit. Place raspberries in the large, sterilized bottle, squeezing the berries through the neck of the bottle.

Using a funnel, add the sugar and top up with vodka to 2-3cm from the top.

The fun part: shake every day until the sugar is dissolved and then store in a cool, dark place until you can resist it no longer - at least three months. Then, enjoy the fruits - HAR! - of your labor!

Habanero Pina Coladas

Remember Joef's spicy birthday dinner over a month ago? Remember my mention of habanero pina coladas? Yeah, that's how behind I am on my posts. Well, there's nothing wrong with pina coladas in the middle of December, is there?

I know what you're thinking. Joef's penchant for spice has gone too far. There's no way this could be good. But let me tell you, this kid knows how to make a mixed drink, and he gets full credit for this one. And the citrus-y heat of the habanero is a great complement to pineapple and coconut.

It's a little deceptive at first - you expect sweet, and get heat. And believe me, it's hot. But it's also unique, creative, and really good.

The first step is to infuse rum with habaneros, which takes about two days. So plan ahead!

HABANERO RUM
750mL-1L Cachaca (type of Brazilian rum)
4 habaneros, tops cut off

Drop the habaneros into the bottle of rum. Let sit for 2 days. Remove the habaneros.

PINA COLADA
For one drink: in a cocktail shaker, mix two parts rum with 3 parts pineapple juice. Add about 2 tbsp cream of coconut, or to taste. Shake with ice and pour into a small glass. Enjoy!

Infusions: Arancello and Limecello

One of the nicest memories from our honeymoon in Italy a couple of years back is of sitting on our private roof deck in Vernazza, sipping locally-made limoncello. Fruit liqueurs and aperitifs are apparently de rigeur (my, what a lot of French words for a post about another country) in Italy - we found them everywhere, and all kinds - strawberry, lime, orange - and they were just perfect for sitting back in the late afternoon and taking everything in. They are inherently summery - sweet, best served chilled, and just...fun.

Joef is somewhat of a mixmaster...no, mixologist, that's it. He understands the ways drinks come together and is great at concoctions. He can taste a delicious mixed drink at a restaurant, then go make it from scratch at home. So, recently he decided to take a crack at making our own fruit liqueurs. He did an arancello and - something we'd never see before - limecello. They took patience - the peeling/grating of the fruit, letting it sit for weeks and checking it daily, adding sugar and letting it sit again - and the patience paid off. So delicious and fun. Now we have fruit liqueur of our very own, and can be tranported back to Vernazza - well, almost - any time we want. Here's how he did it:

ARANCELLO:
Peels from 10 oranges (with as little of the white stuff as possible)
1 liter vodka
Combine, and let sit in a cool, dry, dark place for two weeks. After two weeks, remove the orange peels, and add simple syrup:
2 cups water

15 spoonfuls of white sugar

(Combine water and sugar in a small pot over medium heat, and stir until dissolved. Reduce the mixture to about 1 1/2-3/4 cup.) Allow to cool before adding to vodka. Allow to sit for another week, then refrigerate and enjoy!

LIMECELLO:
Same instructions, but grate the peels of 10 limes.

See? We're back!

Infusions: Fire Vodka

Joef's dreams came true this past week when our friend Jonathan brought back a bag of Naga Jolokia peppers from India. Apparently, he got past security, who told him it was a biological weapon, by telling them the peppers were for "research". And in a way, they were.

We spent the weekend experimenting with these peppers and another bag of what we think are bird peppers, and Joef was in heaven. We made (spoiler alert!) three types of oil, and this vodka, which eventually we'll use for Bloody Marys.

This pepper was really interesting, because so far it's interacted really differently with the vodka than, say, the habaneros and jalapenos we usually use to make homemade pepper vodka. It's taken more time for the color of the peppers to start to bleed out into the vodka, and it's been flavoring the vodka much more gradually. We take a little sip every other day or so, and it is starting to kick up considerably.

As for the recipe: one handle vodka, four naga jolokia peppers with the tops cut off. Pop 'em in and wait for the fun to start.

Cucumber Lemonade

(adapted from The Berghoff)

My dearest friend Ali is getting married to a wonderful guy, Patrick, this October. Last winter I had the pleasure of going to a few tastings with them in Chicago as they chose their caterer. They decided on the The Berghoff, a Chicago tradition, which featured, among other things, a wicked cucumber lemonade. I've been wanting to make it since December, and finally got around to it. Lucky for me, The Berghoff features this recipe on its website.

Now, their recipe makes a full gallon of lemonade. Even halving the recipe, I didn't have a pitcher large enough to fit all of it. So I basically left most of the water out (which is why the picture is so very green), and then added water and ice to each glass when I served it.

This is the most refreshing drink. I'm not really that big a fan of lemonade, but this wins me over. The perfect summer beverage. And, if you wanted to really spice things up, I bet it'd be great mixed with some Hendricks gin.

For half a gallon:

3 large cucumbers (technically, halving their recipe would call for two cucumbers, but I wanted more), sliced into a few pieces

10 lemons

6 cups of water

1.5 cups raw sugar

Pinch of salt

Puree the cucumbers in a blender or food processor (you may need to do this in chunks). Strain the liquid through a thin sieve into a large pitcher. Add the juice of the lemons and the sugar; stir to dissolve. Add the water, a pinch of salt, and stir again.

Serve over a glass of ice. You can garnish with a slice of lemon, cucumber, or mint. Sip in the rocking chair on your front porch.

Mulled Wine

Joef made pretty much the best mulled wine we've ever had tonight. Yeah, it's the middle of May - not quite mulled wine season, but it's been raining for about five days straight, and we needed some relief from the damp.

This is sweet, spicy, strong, soothing - everything you want in mulled wine. There are a good number of ingredients, but it doesn't take long to make, and it's worth it. The vanilla really made it. It was just perfectly balanced.

1 small orange, sliced thinly into discs
8 cloves, whole
1 vanilla bean, sliced in half lengthwise
5 cardamom seeds, whole
3 peppercorns, whole
2 3-inch cinnamon sticks
750 mL dry/spicy red wine (we used Crianza, but others would work)
1/4 cup cognac (substitute: brandy)
1/4 cup sugar in the raw
1 cheesecloth
String

Place all the spices - cloves, vanilla bean, cardamom, peppercorns, cinnamon - on top of the cheesecloth, and tie the corners of the cloth together with the string to form a closed pouch - like a teabag! Place all ingredients into a small pot and heat on medium-low for about 10-15 minutes until hot. Do not boil.

Strain liquid through a mesh sieve into a bowl. Ladle into glasses and enjoy!

Frozen Mint Juleps

(adapted from Emeril Lagasse)

Attention all: I LOVE this drink! Joef made a great mint julep last year for the Kentucky Derby, and this one - for me, at least - and this year he topped it. It's probably a little sweeter and mintier, and the frozen/blended factor was a nice change of pace. If you wanted to go more traditional, you could probably use the same recipe and just not blend the ingredients with ice at the end, instead just adding ice cubes. In any case - fantastic!

For one pitcher:
3/4 cup sugar in the raw
1/2 cup water
1 cup fresh mint, coarsely chopped, plus additional sprigs for garnish
1 cup bourbon (we used Noah's Mill - soooo good, and as Joef would like me to note, 57%)
3 cups ice

In a small pot, heat water and sugar over medium-low, stirring until sugar has fully dissolved. Remove from heat. Add mint and set aside to cool.

When mixture has cooled, strain out the mint leaves with a fine mesh strainer. This is your syrup.

In a blender, combine ice, syrup, and bourbon. Blend until smooth. Serve with mint garnish and it's off to the races!

Bloody Marys with Homemade Pepper Vodka

Continuing - in a way - the theme of burning alcohol, a wonderful thing that Joef discovered a few years ago is how to make our own pepper-infused vodka. While he's cajoled or tricked a few people over the years into taking it as a shot, it's best in a Bloody Mary. Therefore, here are two recipes in one post: first, the pepper vodka, and second, the resultant Bloody Mary.

For the vodka:
1.75 liter vodka (Smirnoff is fine: a plastic bottle is actually better than glass)
2 jalapenos
2 serrano peppers
2 habaneros

Cut the tops off the peppers. Place them in vodka bottle. If needed, slice them lengthwise so they fit into the mouth of the bottle. Squeeze the bottle a few times so that the vodka seeps into the soft parts of the peppers. Let sit at least two days; five is best - the longer it sits, the spicier it will get.

And then, the payoff. For one Bloody Mary:
3 oz homemade pepper vodka
4 oz tomato juice
3-4 splashes soy sauce
2 splashes Worcestershire sauce
2 dashes celery salt
1 pinch black pepper
5 dashes dill
Juice of one lemon wedge

Shake in a cocktail shaker with ice, then pour contents (including ice) into glass. Repeat!

Watermelon Smoothies

This was an old college favorite, and it's still great today. This is one of Joef's recipes, and it's great for summer - and Fourth of July weekends!

He used light ice cream this afternoon as an experiment, and we couldn't taste the difference. Not that this is in any way light. But...well, we try.

Here's all you do: combine roughly 1 part seedless watermelon and 1 part vanilla ice cream in a blender (more ice cream if you want it thicker, less if you don't). Blend and serve!

Kentucky Derby Mint Juleps

Who says a food blog can't do drinks, too? Joef is a master drink-mixer. This is his own recipe, and a must for derby-watching. (I won, by the way: both first and second place!)

Let the guest blogging begin!
"Serves 4:

8 oz. Bourbon (140 proof) – George T. Stagg – Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey
8 oz. Water*
4 oz. Sugar Cane Simple Syrup
30 mint leaves, plus mint to garnish
Paper Towels
Ice

1. Soak the mint leaves in 3 oz. of bourbon in a small bowl for 15 minutes.
2. Remove the mint leaves from the bourbon and roll them into a paper towel.
3. Soak the portion of the paper towel containing the mint in the bourbon and wring the towel into the bowl; resoak and repeat several times. The bourbon should smell thoroughly minty after repeating this process multiple times.
5. When complete, discard the mint and paper towel.
6. Add an additional 5 oz. of bourbon to the minty bourbon along with 8oz. water and 4 oz. sugar cane simple syrup.
7. Stir the mixture with a spoon.
8. Freeze for 30 minutes.
9. Pour contents into four highball glasses filled with ice.
10. Garnish with mint sprigs.
11. Cheer for your horse of choice!

*I used an especially strong bourbon. Hence, I chose to cut the mixture with water. If you are using a lower proof bourbon, I would recommend using less water and more bourbon, aiming for a water/bourbon mixture that is approximately 40% alcohol."

Because this drink is primarily the bourbon, it's probably worth biting the bullet and getting a good one. Here's what we used, along with the sugar cane syrup: