Necessity is usually the diving board for the jump into a creative solution.
By DIANNE BOATE & ROBERT MEYER
Published: July, 2006
Necessity is usually the diving board for the jump into a creative solution. While we realize running out of vermouth or triple sec is not the most pressing problem in the world, at the end of a long day with your mouth all set for a certain something, it is vexing to realize you forgot to stock up.
Or, there was this one time that Dianne returned early from a trip to Germany, thinking all the way home how good a chilled bottle of champagne would taste. The long journey home felt particularly arduous that day as it took an hour to find transportation from the airport.
When, at last Dianne arrived … murder on our minds: Recent houseguests thought the champagne in refrigerator was for them.
Necessity at 2AM. Not to worry, we know that some detours in drinkmaking can inaugurate a whole new class of libations; and we had all the ingredients for a creative invention - the perfect margarita.
No mixers?
Our friend, Ron Hildebrand, offered up a very good martini once with a superb new taste. Turns out, it was green olive juice from the jar. So, remembering that, when we were suddenly without vermouth in the house, we headed for the olive jar. What a lovely surprise to find the juice was vermouth.
Three-fruit juice combinations or your favorite straight juices, such as orange, grapefruit, cranberry or fresh lemons, limes, oranges and bananas are some great simple things to have on hand to make unlimited concoctions. These ingredients are especially nice with varieties of rum, vodka, tequila or champagne. Just combine two juices, two fruits and add liquor. Use a fruit peel twist or fresh mint to add dimension and a polished look.
No ice?
For pure fun, skip the ice cubes in your juice and liquor mixes; instead, add ice cream, put all ingredients in the blender and serve for a surprise dessert.
No alcohol?
Here is a non-alcoholic recipe that is absolutely wonderful and worth the effort. It appeared some years ago in the Chronicle, sent in by several readers who swore by it. Originally, it appeared in Gourmet Magazine.
Iced Lemon Ginger Tea
4-inch piece of ginger
6 cups water
½ cup honey
½ cup sugar
zest of 2 lemons
1 cup fresh lemon juice
lemon slices for garnish
Peel ginger and cut crosswise into thin slices. Combine ginger, water, honey sugar and lemon zest in a medium saucepan; boil until sugar dissolves. Remove pan from heat and steep tea, covered, for 45 minutes. Uncover tea and cool completely. Remove ginger and lemon zest with a slotted spoon and discard. Pour tea into a pitcher and add lemon juice. Chill tea, covered, until cold, up to two days. Serve tea over ice in tall glasses and garnish with lemon slices if desired.
Note from our first effort, when we made this for a picnic at Stern Grove Concert: Sensational! Robert used it with rum. A Miss S. announced this recipe contained two things she absolutely didn’t like, and she had at least three servings. We all thought making ice cubes with it was a good idea.
No recipe?
As the time of writing this column, a good friend of ours is drink sleuthing in Spain. We told her about a wonderful pitcher of sangria made with champagne that was never to be forgotten, and she promised to ask around. While we wait: Dice some fresh apple, add sugar and lemon juice, mash it up a bit, and let it sit for a couple hours in a pitcher. When ready to serve add ice cubes and white sparkling wine.
Dianne Boate is a San Francisco-based writer, photographer and botanical illustration artist. Robert Meyer is a consultant to the wine and spirits industry. Their sparkling wine sangria adventure happened on a jetlagged night in Barcelona a few years ago. They stopped at an open air tapas bar in Old Town, ordered the sangria. It arrived in a big pitcher. A very short time later, they smiled across the candlelit table at each other, hardly needing words, just a raised hand to signal the waiter for another one.
