Summer is officially here. This is such a lovely time of year for fresh summery, refreshing cocktails and green goodies that are teeming with nutrients and flavour. Let鈥檚 start with the booze!听
White spirits are your best friends this time of year. They are the perfect supporters of fresh ingredients and tend to be lighter on the hangovers. Bubbles in the form of soda, tonic, even kombucha add a refreshing element. And la pi猫ce de r茅sistance: recently plucked garden delights. Your garden, supermarket and farmers鈥� market are full of great cocktail ingredients this time of year. Herbs like rosemary, basil, pineapple sage and mint, and fruits and veggies like cherry tomatoes, cucumbers, watermelon and strawberries are all ingredients that are yearning to be teamed up with a white spirit and a little carbonation. Here are two of my favourite recipes for fresh garden cocktails:
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Gin Basil Smash
Tall glass
2-3 cherry tomatoes halves
3-4 leaves of basil
1-2 tsp. raw cane sugar
Muddle together
Add half a squeeze of lemon
Add 2oz gin (ideally local-I like Gillespie鈥檚 Sin Gin of course), ice, soda, stir, garnish with a sprig of basil.
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Strawberry Mojito
Tall glass
5 strawberries, halved
1-2 tsp. raw cane sugar
Muddle together
Add half a squeeze of lime
Add 2 oz. white gin (Flor de Cana or Havana Club are good choices)
2 pinches or 4 grinds of good black pepper
Ice, soda, stir, garnish with a strawberry
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If you don鈥簍 own a wooden muddler, a wooden spoon will do the trick. Trust me, do not use a stone muddler. One tends to get a teensy bit carried away with the muddling process and the glass doesn鈥簍 usually respond well. If you are going to be jumping into garden cocktail land, don鈥簍 be a fool, use a tool and invest in the wooden muddler. Your glassware will be truly grateful.
Pro tip: cup the glass at the top as you are muddling if you are wearing white or preparing drinks in front of others. Fruit can be pretty juicy.
Experiment! Fresh berries, mint, kombucha, vodka? Watermelon, pineapple sage, tequila? So many fun options. Let your inner bar chef sing.
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Now to the healthy, non-booze stuff: One of my favourite ingredients abounding in the markets and gardens alike is arugula. Arugula (a.k.a. rocket) is lovely cooked or raw. Jam-packed with vitamins and minerals, you can scatter it on pizza, mix in salads or make a pesto. It鈥檚 full of flavour and adds a really nice light spice and freshness to your favourite dishes.
鈥淲hat鈥檚 that?,鈥� you ask as you approach a peculiar item on the farmers鈥� market table. 鈥淕arlic scapes,鈥� they reply. For a moment you hear 鈥済arter snakes鈥� and then have to remind yourself that this is not a scene in Temple of Doom.听
By this point you get a breeze of that beautiful fresh alum smell and you know you are in for a treat. Scapes are really seasonal as they are the unopened flower of the garlic bulb. So, so good. Make a big batch of pesto or hummus and freeze it in jars to enjoy in the winter months. If you can鈥簍 wait, grill them on the barbecue, saut茅 them with butter, toss into an unsuspecting omelette and 鈥揵am 鈥� eggs 脿 la gourmande! Enjoy the beautiful bounty of our fair province. Have fun with all of the bountiful bright colours growing out of the ground and on the bushes. We are so very lucky to live in such a wonderful place.
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Editor鈥檚 note: If you want to watch Kelly Ann Woods make one of these garden cocktails, check out her appearance on the.
