Rhubarb and Rose

A pretty pink cocktail, just in time for Valentine's Day. Not that I believe in nonsense like pink drinks.

rhubarb and rose love (serves one)

55mL rhubarb vodka
20mL rose liqueur
20mL rose hip syrup
20mL fresh lemon juice
Couple drops rhubarb bitters
Couple drops Aphrodite bitters 

 
Combine all ingredients in a cocktail shaker or a large glass. Add plenty of ice. Stir until chilled. Strain into a cocktail glass. Garnish with a dried rose petal.

You can hear me talk about this cocktail on Cambridge 105's Flavour programme. Catch up here.

Christmas rescue cocktail

I love Christmas. At all times of the year I am very set on what is right and what I definitely don't approve of (I'm looking at you Rod Stewart). Christmas is a time of tradition for everyone so my obsession with having everything just so doesn't seem quite so strange. However all my self-imposed festive rules and regulations became overwhelming recently. On the floor, surrounded by cards, wrapping paper and many, many lists I thought to myself "I need help". Then I realised I just needed a cocktail. A rescue cocktail.

There is likely to be many occasions over Christmas when just such a potion will be required. Between making sure we have the right sort of tree (real, particular type of needle) and the correct Christmas cards (has to be charity ones), making sure there is no chocolate in the advent calendar (the excitement of counting down to Christmas should be enough) and stressing about where I am going to get a supply of Irish crisps in England, it is an exhausting time. Cocktail!

This is a selfish cocktail, for one or two people. Not for making in large amounts, not for parties. Just for me and you if you need it. If you would like some Christmas party cocktail ideas I have plenty on this blog and my older blog. There is last year's pomegranate cocktail (3 variations on a theme),a Christmas pudding vodka cocktail, a Christmas apple punch and a spicy rosehip, rhubarb combination.

But leave the party planning for the moment; put down your notebook and pen. Let the Christmas clementine, the fresh lime and passion fruit, not to mention the alcohol, refresh and revitalise you.

I've used Kamm & Sons here as it has lots of botanicals including ginseng roots, freshly peeled grapefruit and Manuka honey.  Basically it's a health drink. You could just use gin which is also a health drink in my book.

Christmas rescue cocktail (serves two)

clementine juice  100mL
lime juice  40mL

Kamm & Sons 30mL

vodka 30mL

simple syrup  30mL

3-4 drops rhubarb bitters

2 passion fruit 

ice

lime and clementine zest to garnish

Combine all of the ingredients in a cocktail shaker. Add plenty of ice. Shake until thoroughly chilled. Strain into a prepared cocktail glass. Use a fine strainer if you don't want the passion fruit seeds but I quite like them in there. Garnish with lime and clementine zest. 

You can hear me talking about this Christmas cocktail on the Flavour programme (Cambridge 105) at 12 noon today (Saturday 12th December).

Allotment diary part 7: allotment dreams

I've discovered the secret to really enjoying the allotment. Tea and cake. I'm a member of Cambridge Blue Belles WI and we have our own allotment. I had been down to see it once or twice last year but already overwhelmed with my own allotment I had never been down to do any actual work. Last week I popped in for a quick visit and weeded the herb bed. In return I got a bag of nettles to take home, delicious tea and cake and lots of ideas for what I want to do next with my own plot. 

The first of these I instigated on my own plot yesterday. I'm a sweet pea lover but tend to grow them in a haphazard way in my back garden. The lovely gardening Belles are similarly sweet pea obsessed and were building a cane support structure while I was there. Seeing how easy it was inspired me to just get on and do it. Result: slightly wonky sweet pea structure now built on my allotment.

Both the blackcurrant and gooseberry bushes are shaping up to have their best year yet. They really need to be netted to ensure we get to enjoy them and not the birds. I had a dream about netting them last night. I'm worried. I need to get back down there.

The potatoes are growing (with only a little bit of frost damage) and the strawberries are covered in flowers. The rhubarb is going crazy. It's all starting to come together. My next mission is to get a shed. 

Allotment diary part 5: catch up

I'm catching up with the allotment and I'm catching with writing about the allotment. This journal stuff is hard work. After a week gallivanting around Dublin I had to get back to work at our little patch of earth. The rhubarb had grown so big it had pushed off it's bucket and the leaves on the gooseberry bush had appeared out of nowhere.

I got some beetroot seeds planted along with a second sowing of chard. Weeding around the blackcurrant bush I found this beautiful memorial to last year's growth:

The ladybirds love my sage plant. I think it's a ladybird "love" hotel.

I planted some seeds indoors too: courgettes and tomatoes. Probably far too late. Allotment front and back pictures below. I'm living in hope of a miraculous transformation any day now.

Cocktail of the month: rhubarb lavender daiquiri

Easter holidays call for a celebratory cocktail. I'm celebrating because I'm in Ireland spending time with my lovely family and hanging out with old friends. 

A daiquiri is a fine cocktail if you ignore anything frozen or strawberry flavoured (I don't approve of strawberry flavour - it's one of my things). It's a classic that follows the fail-safe cocktail formula I've talked about on many occasions. 

I couldn't resist infusing the rum with the first pink stalks of rhubarb I found in the market. I used exactly the same process as I use for rhubarb vodka, you can find the recipe here. 
I first tried ginger syrup in place of the simple syrup in a standard daiquiri. That was very nice indeed, ginger and rhubarb do go very well together. Then by chance I remembered my lavender syrup. I was feeling dangerous so I decided to experiment. It was a revelation. The combination of rhubarb and lavender are spring time expressed through the medium of the cocktail.

rhubarb lavender daiquiri (serves one)

60 mL rhubarb rum
30 mL freshly squeezed lime juice (about 1 lime)
15 mL lavender infused simple syrup (rough recipe below)
1 drop lavender bitters
1 drop rhubarb bitters
lime wedge to garnish

Combine all of the ingredients in a large glass or cocktail shaker. Add plenty of ice. Stir or shake until chilled. Strain into a glass filled with fresh ice. Garnish with a lime wedge and a cocktail umbrella for extra spring in your step.

lavender infused simple syrup

Oh I how long to be pottering around my allotment, smelling my lavender hedge. Not too long to go now that spring is here.

This syrup was a great experiment. It all began with a bunch of lavender:

I picked off the individual flowers into a bowl:

And covered them with boiling water:

I let it infuse for twenty minutes, then strained out the lavender bits. I then measured how much liquid I had and added an equal amount of sugar. Once all the sugar was dissolved, I transferred it to a sterilized bottle.

See this post for more details on the method for making infused simple syrups. 
 
You can hear me talking about this cocktail on Flavour on Cambridge 105 on Saturday 4th April at 12pm.

Allotment diary part 3: shoots

Monty was right. The bucket-on-the-rhubarb technique works a treat, though I probably shouldn't be taking it off for the sake of a photograph. A couple more weeks and I think it will be ready for consumption.

We planted potatoes this weekend! The first time we have planted anything in the back bed of our allotment. This feels like real progress. We also have these lovely leeks doing well. The man with amazing allotment next to us gave these to us as seedlings late last year. He is really generous and doesn't laugh too much at our sporadic efforts. When these leeks are ready I'm going to make a big pot of leek and potato soup and pretend I'm at home with my mum who makes the best leek and potato soup in the world.

The first of the seeds I planted last week are already sprouting and I've kept to my strict seed sowing schedule (kale this week). I'm going to run out of space in my living room soon.

The sun came out this week for my front and back photos. Hopefully in a couple of weeks you'll be able to see a real difference.

Allotment diary part 2: progress

It may not look like it but we have already made progress on the allotment. We bought new/old shears at Homestuff with History (one of my favourite shops), we dug over the back bed again fine combing for roots and pesky weeds and I planted the first seeds. Planting seeds got me very excited mainly because I got to use these lovely coloured markers. 

As is my sad, significantly-over-30 way I was watching Gardener's World on Friday night. Monty told me I should put a bucket over my rhubarb to force it to produce beautiful pink shoots. So of course, I put a bucket over my rhubarb. I adore Monty. He is just so deliciously soothing after a week of work. Oh and I also planted sweet peas. Monty told me it was time. I was powerless to resist.

Eat Cambridge: rhubarb sour

The recent Eat Cambridge festival has left me rich in new food and drink ideas. I'm looking forward to next year's events already although I might have to go a bit easier next year (the three courses of beef at the Pint Shop may have been a step too far).

The main event in The Corn Exchange was great fun. So many fabulous local producers and suppliers. I managed to get my first Pint Shop scotch egg, it was definitely worth waiting for.

I was delighted to have been asked to give a talk on cocktails and I took the chance to sit in on all the talks in the afternoon session I was speaking in. Tim Hayward gave a passionate speech on food trends and I really enjoyed Bev Sedley's talk on sustainable food which gave me a lot to think about. The audience at the Chocolat, Chocolat talk almost revolted when no samples were forthcoming so I was quite relieved I had brought cocktail samples with me.

In fact I had been up early making a big batch of my rhubarb sour cocktail. The things I do for you, Cambridge. I only juice lemons before breakfast for very special people. I wanted to use the talk to describe my fail safe cocktail formula which often gets me out of a tight spot and allows me feel creative and inspired when I'm actually knackered and zombie-like. If you missed my talk (you better have a good excuse) then I suppose I can let you in on the secret:

4 parts alcohol: 2 parts sour: 1 part sweet

That's it. A good example of a classic cocktail that follows this formula is a whiskey sour. There is also a variation:

  2 parts sweet alcohol: 1 part sour

A great classic cocktail which follows this formula is the amaretto sour.

What I love about the formula is that it enables me to use my homemade spirits and simple syrups without having to think too much about creating a brand new cocktail each time. With minimum tasting and tweaking I can produce an extremely tasty cocktail. Some of my most popular combinations are sloe gin, rosehip syrup and lemon juice; blackberry vodka, lemon verbena syrup and lemon juice; blackcurrant vodka, star anise syrup and lemon juice. And then of course, my darling rhubarb: rhubarb vodka (or gin), lemon verbena (or lemon balm) syrup and lemon juice. This is the cocktail that the lucky folk of Eat Cambridge got to taste and they seemed to enjoy it.

I've given away my secret but I hope it inspires you to make a cocktail. It's really not difficult, don't let anyone tell you it is.

rhubarb sour (serves one)

rhubarb vodka or gin 60mL

freshly squeezed lemon juice 30mL

lemon verbena (or lemon balm) infused simple syrup 15mL

3-4 drops rhubarb bitters

Combine all of the ingredients in a large glass or cocktail shaker. Add plenty of ice. Stir until chilled. Strain into a prepared cocktail glass.

Spring, Rhubarb, Cocktails and Cambridge

Spring is finally here and this youngish woman's thoughts inevitably turn to rhubarb. Rhubarb vodka is where my vodka infusion adventures began and it's still one of my favourites.

It really couldn't be easier. Chop your rhubarb into small pieces, place in a Kilner jar, add enough sugar to coat the rhubarb and leave to sit overnight.

When you come down the next morning you should have the most beautiful pink liquid coming off the rhubarb.

Simply top up with vodka, gin or rum and leave to infuse for a week or two. Strain out the rhubarb and bottle.

If you listen in to Flavour on Cambridge 105 this weekend you'll hear me talking about my beloved rhubarb vodka and I also have a recipe for a simple cocktail using it. You can also find lots of ideas for cocktails to use your rhubarb vodka in the rhubarb section of my old blog here. I'm going to be giving a talk at this year's Eat Cambridge festival on the 17th May in the Corn Exchange - there are sure to be some rhubarb vodka samples there.