Loquacious Cocktail

I want to tell you about loquats again because the first time I told the story, it was four years ago and I was probably the only person who read it. It's the story of how I didn't grow up with loquat trees, but I fell for them immediately after moving to Austin and seeing them everywhere. So, of course we planted a loquat tree in our backyard. Some years are better than others regarding how much fruit the tree produces, and some years are better than others regarding how many loquats the birds let me have. They're usually very fast to steal the fruit as soon as it ripens, but this was a good year and the tree was laden with enough fruit for me and the birds. Our tree is tall now, so I was standing on a ladder, holding a bowl, picking the little, orange fruits, and popping a few directly into my mouth when I remembered reading about the Loquacious in the book The American Cocktail. This drink was invented by David Alan, the Tipsy Texan, also from Austin, and it involves muddling seeded loquats in a cocktail shaker.

Loquats have big seeds for their size, but the seeds slip right out when you cut the loquats in half. For some uses, you also need to peel loquats, but here they were just seeded and quartered. About six loquats were used per cocktail, and they were muddled in a cocktail shaker with some simple syrup. Vodka, preferably Tito's of course, limoncello or Paula's Texas Lemon, and I had some homemade limoncello on hand, lime juice, and ice were then added to the shaker. The cocktails were shaken and double-strained into chilled glasses.

The flavor of loquats is like mild apricot, and the limoncello and lime juice accompanied it nicely. And, the pretty orange of the fruit gave the cocktail great color. Our tree has been picked clean of fruit for this year, and who knows if the birds will share next spring, but it was fun to toast the tree with a cocktail of its making while I could.

Almond-Fennel Cocktail

Cold, refreshing beverages are an important part of my life right now and will be until the end of this hot, hot weather. So, I was thrilled to find some pages I cut from the April issue of Food and Wine that were full of cocktails and mocktails. This almond-fennel beverage was intended as a mocktail, but I couldn't resist adding some vodka. The flavors sounded intriguing, and since it's made with orgeat, I had to try it. Last year, I found myself in the middle of an orgeat search and learned that it's exactly the same as almond syrup. For the fennel flavor in this cocktail, a second syrup is made by steeping crushed fennel seeds in water and then dissolving sugar in it. The bubbles from club soda and the green, frilly fennel frond garnish gave it a cool, crisp look making it an inviting way to combat the heat.

You'll need to make the fennel syrup in advance since the seeds need to steep for about 20 minutes. A tablespoon of fennel seeds were crushed in a spice grinder and then added to a cup of water which was brought to a boil. It was removed from the heat, covered, and allowed to steep. Then, the seeds were strained as the water was poured through a sieve into a jar or measuring pitcher. One cup of sugar was added and stirred until it dissolved. The fennel syrup can be stored in the refrigerator for a month. To make the cocktail, combine orgeat, or almond syrup, fennel syrup, fresh lemon juice, and vodka if you'd like. Add ice, stir in club soda, and garnish with a fennel frond.

The mild anise of the fennel syrup blended nicely with the almond flavor. You should taste as you mix because I found I wanted a little more fennel syrup to be sure it didn't get lost behind the almond and lemon. It's true that I'm happy to see just about any beverage over ice these days, but the interesting flavors in this one made it particularly refreshing.

Bloody Marys

In deciding what to bring to a brunch party, my first thought was bloody marys. I actually have a thing for bloody marys served with deviled eggs. I love those two things together, but when I mention that to other people, I always get a mixed response. Some people are in complete agreement about what a great combination that is, and the rest aren’t so sure. To play it safe, I instead brought bagels with these bloody marys to a potluck brunch party. This just happens to be my favorite way to make bloody marys, and I’ve been making them this way for about ten years. The original recipe is from Living magazine and it was also shown in a tv segment. The only change I’ve made from the original is that I add one half teaspoon of celery seed to the pitcher with the other seasonings. I also like pressing celery salt onto the rims of the glasses for these cocktails, but I skipped that this time. A celery stick garnish is a must, and I think the more the merrier when it comes to garnishing a bloody mary, so I add a lime wedge and a jalapeno-stuffed olive too.

Since this brunch was a baby shower, I made a pitcher of virgin marys and brought a bottle of vodka to be added to individual servings as desired. For one pitcher, four cups of tomato juice is combined with the juice of two lemons, Worcestershire sauce, prepared horseradish, fresh garlic passed through a press, freshly ground black pepper, pepper sauce like Tabasco or Crystal, and I add celery seed. I prefer to mix everything in a large measuring pitcher, and I whisk the ingredients together to be sure the horseradish and garlic are well mixed into the tomato juice. Then, you can either add vodka to taste before pouring the mixture into a serving pitcher, or leave the vodka bottle next to the pitcher as I did.

I think the secret ingredient here is the lemon juice. It really brightens the tomato flavor which sometimes seems dull on its own. The garlic and horseradish give it fresh, savory punch, and the hot pepper sauce can take it to whatever level of spiciness you prefer. These bloody marys were perfectly fine with onion bagels, but I’m also looking forward to the next occasion when I’ll have them with deviled eggs again. What do you think of that combination?

Midnight Martini

This dark, murky espresso cocktail is for grown-up trick-or-treating. It was taken from Ina Garten’s Halloween for Grown-ups, but I changed a couple of details. In her version, she used orange-flavored vodka. First, I wasn’t sure I would want any orange flavor at all, so I started with plain vodka. Then, I added just a little orange liqueur, quite liked it, and experimented with how much was just right. I used a natural, premium, locally made liqueur called Paula’s Texas Orange. PTO is also excellent, if not necessary, in margaritas. In the end, the espresso and orange flavors mixed quite nicely. My version of the cocktail:

1 c brewed espresso, chilled
3/4 c vodka
1/2 c Paula’s Texas Orange (or another orange liqueur)
1/2 c Kahlua
1 cup ice
Sliced blood oranges

-place ice in a cocktail pitcher and pour espresso, vodka, orange liqueur, and Kahlua over it; stir to combine and continue stirring for several seconds to chill the mixture; pour into four martini glasses while straining out the ice, and garnish each with a slice of blood orange

Blood orange slices add a nice touch of color, and their name even sounds Halloween-oriented. Given the amount of alcohol per martini, they surprisingly lack harshness as the Kahlua performs well in smoothing out the edges. Can I say it’s hauntingly good? Too easy. Mysteriously enchanting? No. But, it’s Halloween, and this is a great cocktail, so give it a go.