A craving for a gin and tonic drove me to experiment with this recipe. Someone in, as my brother likes to say with a smirk, my condition has to stay away from the sauce.
It completely worked as an non-alcoholic evening cocktail. Lovely, lovely, lovely. Corey even took a swig and was smitten. And we were able to use fresh basil from our garden. Ever more lover-ly.
You can make the syrup part of this ahead of time and it lasts a bit, as long as you make sure to include the baking soda (this retains the bright green color and prevents the concoction from becoming the color of . . . drab blah-ness).
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3/4 cup of sugar
Zest of 1 lime
1/2 cup of lime juice (freshly squeezed is best)
1/4 cup water
1 cup fresh basil leaves
Baking soda
Sparkling water or seltzer water
Blanch your basil first (bring a pot of water to boil, dunk the basil in for a minute - remove and put in ice water to stop the cooking).
Place the sugar, zest, lime juice and water in a pot and bring to a boil. Then, remove from the heat and set aside for 15 minutes - to let it thicken into a syrup. Place this syrup in a blender with the basil. Throw a dash of baking soda in there, too. Blend.
Pour through a fine sieve or cheesecloth to strain. I *highly* recommend this step - I initially skipped it out of impatience and laziness. In the end, too much pulpy-madness.
Pour a small serving of the syrup into a glass with lots of ice and pour the sparkling/seltzer water over it. Serve with a little lime wedge. For looks. For zip. For class.
It completely worked as an non-alcoholic evening cocktail. Lovely, lovely, lovely. Corey even took a swig and was smitten. And we were able to use fresh basil from our garden. Ever more lover-ly.
You can make the syrup part of this ahead of time and it lasts a bit, as long as you make sure to include the baking soda (this retains the bright green color and prevents the concoction from becoming the color of . . . drab blah-ness).
********
3/4 cup of sugar
Zest of 1 lime
1/2 cup of lime juice (freshly squeezed is best)
1/4 cup water
1 cup fresh basil leaves
Baking soda
Sparkling water or seltzer water
Blanch your basil first (bring a pot of water to boil, dunk the basil in for a minute - remove and put in ice water to stop the cooking).
Place the sugar, zest, lime juice and water in a pot and bring to a boil. Then, remove from the heat and set aside for 15 minutes - to let it thicken into a syrup. Place this syrup in a blender with the basil. Throw a dash of baking soda in there, too. Blend.
Pour through a fine sieve or cheesecloth to strain. I *highly* recommend this step - I initially skipped it out of impatience and laziness. In the end, too much pulpy-madness.
Pour a small serving of the syrup into a glass with lots of ice and pour the sparkling/seltzer water over it. Serve with a little lime wedge. For looks. For zip. For class.
3 comments:
This looks and sounds lovely.
I am thinking you should offer little vacation packages in Sugar Hollow.
I would love to sit on your porch and drink one of those!
Steph - You will always have a space reserved on our porch!
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