by Amy Zavatto
SIMPLE SYRUP
The basic recipe tells you a lot about the name:
it’s simple! The method is as follows:
One part sugar to one part water.
Combine the sugar and water in a small saucepan over a medium heat and gently stir until the sugar dissolves. Leave to cool, then store in an airtight container for up to 2 weeks.
MINT SIMPLE SYRUP
200g (7oz) granulated white sugar
240ml (8fl oz) water
5g (⅛oz) fresh mint leaves, washed
Drop the mint into a small saucepan and gently muddle to release the oils. Add the sugar and water and cook over a medium heat. Gently stir until the sugar dissolves and the aroma of the mint is prominent. Leave to cool, then store in an airtight container for up to 2 weeks.
VARIATIONS
Basil Simple Syrup – make as above but use basil instead of mint.
Rosemary Simple Syrup – make as above but use 3–4 fresh rosemary sprigs instead of mint.
Cinnamon Simple Syrup – combine 3 cinnamon sticks in the saucepan with the sugar and water and continue as before.
Honey Syrup – combine 240ml (8fl oz) honey with the water in a saucepan and continue as before.
Honey-Basil Syrup – combine 240ml (8 fl oz) honey and 5g (⅛oz) fresh basil leaves with the water and continue as before.
Ginger Simple Syrup – cook the sugar and water as before and add a 125g (4oz) piece of ginger, peeled and very thinly sliced. Bring to a simmer, remove from the heat and leave to steep for 30 minutes. Pour through a fine-mesh sieve into an airtight container.
CONCORD GRAPE SYRUP
The sweetness inherent in grapes means no sugar need apply. Simply take 150g (5oz) rinsed Concord grapes (although any red or black grapes will do) and put them in a small saucepan. Cook over a medium heat, stirring, until the grape skins begin to break and the juice and flesh spill out into the pan. Cook down for about 5 minutes. Cool and press through a fine mesh sieve, discarding the extra pulp, skins and stems. Store in an airtight container for up to 2 weeks.
GRENADINE
Sure, you can buy it, but it won’t taste half as good (and will likely have high-fructose corn syrup in the mix – yuck).
240ml (8fl oz) unsweetened pomegranate juice
200g (7oz) granulated white sugar
1 tsp rose water
Combine the pomegranate juice, water and rose water in a small saucepan over a medium heat and gently stir until the sugar dissolves. Leave to cool, then store in an airtight container for up to 2 weeks.
PURÉES
There is no Bellini without peach purée. But, as a matter of fact, purées in general are a great cocktail ingredient, and specifically make a delicious dance partner for fruit-centric Prosecco. To keep the fruit from oxidizing, add a little lemon juice into the mix to help hold the colour of the pretty fruit and keep it fresher longer.
WHITE PEACH PURÉE
450g (1lb) ripe white peaches, washed and cut into quarters, stones discarded
30ml (1fl oz) freshly squeezed lemon juice
45ml (1½fl oz) Simple Syrup
Purée all the ingredients in a blender or food processor until very smooth. Freeze or store in the refrigerator in an airtight container for up to a week.
VARIATIONS
Really anything goes in terms of fruits, so try using your favourite and experiment. Here are a few used in the book:
Strawberry Purée – make as above but use 400g (14oz) washed, hulled and halved strawberries, 22ml (¾fl oz) freshly squeezed lemon juice and 30ml (1fl oz) Simple Syrup.
Spiced Pear Purée – make as above but use 450g (1lb) ripe Conference pears, washed and quartered, 30ml (1fl oz) freshly squeezed lemon juice and 45ml (1½fl oz) Cinnamon Simple Syrup. To make this extra spicy, add a little star anise into the pan when you’re making your Cinnamon Simple Syrup.
Watermelon Purée – make as above but use 300g (10½oz) cubed watermelon, 15ml (½fl oz) freshly squeezed lemon or lime juice and 30ml (1fl oz) Simple Syrup.
ICE-CAPADES!
Ice is important in cocktails. Some bartenders might even tell you it’s the most important ingredient. If your ice is old and smelly (yes, I’m talking to you, person who hasn’t cleaned out their freezer in a really, really, really long time), your drink will reflect that nastiness. At the very least, make sure your ice is the product of a good environment.
Ice adds cold, obviously. But ice also adds the very important component of dilution. When it comes to punches, you do not want to add a pile of ice cubes – they will melt faster than you can pop your Prosecco, and ruin a perfectly good mass-scale drink. Instead, make an ice ring or ice block.
It’s simple to do: fill a clean bundt pan or large plastic storage container with water. Put it in your freezer a good 24 hours prior to your party.
To release the ice, run under cold (not hot!) water for a minute and then gently shake out into your punch bowl. That’s it. It will dissolve much more slowly – and look pretty cool, too.
Up the ante by taking the garnish suggestions in the punch recipes starting on page and drop them into the water of your ice ring before freezing. Voila – floating garnishes suspended in animation!
THE RECIPES
Venetian Spritz
Prosecco Saba
Bellini (Traditional)
Tropical Bellini
Rossini
Autumn Bellini
Southern Life
Fragola Fizz
Climb Every Mountain
Sbagliato
Sbagliato 2
Sparkling Crusta
Italian 75
Cheers to Sal
Sicilian Spritz
Cherry-Oh
Green Eyes
Ship to Shore
Shiny Nail
Felice’s Ferragosto
Come on in
Positano Pop
Bubbly Jack Rose
Garden Walk
Seeds of Change
Dance Party
Tiziano
Grand Avenue Frolic
Mimosa SUD
Rise of the Mojito
Puccini
Of Course
The Seelbach
Rosabel
Pink Sgroppino
Sparkling Bonaparte
Break the Silence
Grown-up Lemonade
Nature, Nurture
Fizzy Watermelon Margarita
Leghorn Spritz
Sunshine Superman
Border Pass
Islay Sour
Sunday in the Park
Today’s Winner
Luxe Life
Air Mail
Countess Crawley
How Blue am I
Tequila Sunrise & Shine
70s Tequila Sunrise
Felix’s Other Fizz
Kiwi Cooler
PUNCHES
Key Punch
Christmas Brunch Punch
Fizzy Lemonade Punch
Sparkling Sidecar Punch
Greyhound Punch
Bardstown Punch
VENETIAN SPRITZ
The first time I had this refreshing, super-easy aperitif was not, as the name might imply, in Venice. It was in Red Hook, Brooklyn, one of the earlier settlements in New York City’s history as an American Revolution point of defence and, eventually, a bustling port. The bar where the Venetian Spritz first passed my lips is called Fort Defiance, named for the stalwart spot that defended the area during the Battle of Long Island. But there was no battle when I sipped this lovely pre-dinner quencher. Aperol is a bitter Italian liqueur, lower in alcohol and a little sweeter than its similarly red-hued cousin, Campari. For that reason, it makes a lovely complement to Prosecco’s typical orchard fruitiness. A brut-style balances the Aperol nicely. The olive? I was dubious, too, the first time I had this cocktail. But there was something about the sweet and sour that appealed to my cocktail-subversive side. If you are not so keen, feel free to simply sip this
as-is, or with an orange slice.
INGREDIENTS
45ml (1½fl oz) Aperol
90ml (3fl oz) brut-style Prosecco
a splash of soda water
1 Cerignola olive, red or green – your choice (optional)
INSTRUCTIONS
Fill a double rocks glass with ice. Pour in the Aperol followed by the Prosecco. Give it a little stir. Top up with a splash of soda water and garnish with a Cerignola olive.
PROSECCO SABA
The island of Sardinia sits off the west coast of Italy, its west and southern borders facing the Mediterranean Sea, the Tyrrhenian Sea to the east, and the Strait of Bonifacio separating its northern shores from Corsica. As it goes on islands, Sardinia maintains many unique particularities, like its language, Sardo – a mix of Latin, Arabic, Spanish and Catalan – which tells you a lot about what a coveted spot Sardinia was before Italy claimed it for its own. Saba is one of the island’s many unique little treasures. This sweet-tart, silky condiment is the product of cooked-down grape must (that is, the leftover juice, skins, stones and stems after crushing). An extra dry-style Prosecco plays up the saba and makes a great aperitif.
INGREDIENTS
8ml (¼fl oz) Saba
90ml (3fl oz) extra dry-style Prosecco
INSTRUCTIONS
Drizzle the Saba into a tulip glass, then slowly top with the Prosecco. Give it a little stir and serve.
BELLINI (TRADITIONAL)
One of the great things about Prosecco as a cocktail ingredient is that your choice of two-ingredient, ridiculously easy to whip up concoctions are nearly endless – as are the variations on what is perhaps the most famous of two-ingredient Prosecco cocktails: the Bellini. Famously invented by the owner of Harry’s Bar in Venice, Giuseppe Cipriani, the drink originally calls for white peaches, but if all you have are beautiful, ripe yellow peaches, that’s just fine, too.
INGREDIENTS
30ml (1fl oz) White Peach Purée
90ml (3fl oz) brut-style Prosecco
INSTRUCTIONS
Pour the White Peach Purée into a flute. Top with the Prosecco, give it a little stir and serve.
TROPICAL BELLINI
It’s Saturday night. The air is balmy, but a beautiful breeze drifts through your window. If you call up some fado on your iPod and close your eyes, you can almost conjure up that vacation you took last year to the beaches of Brazil. Better yet, make one of these. Passion fruit are native to South America. Use the instructions on page to make your own purée, or else feel perfectly free to seek out a high-quality bottled version at your local gourmet food shop (as straining out the edible seeds through a sieve from the fresh version might put a dampener on your nice daydream).
INGREDIENTS
30ml (1fl oz) passion fruit purée
90ml (3fl oz) brut-style Prosecco
INSTRUCTIONS
Pour the passion fruit purée into a flute. Top with the Prosecco, give it a little stir and serve.
ROSSINI
While you can find strawberries in supermarkets all year round, there’s really nothing so wonderful as that aromatic moment in early summer when tiny, fresh local strawberries are at their fleeting, seasonal peak. Always rinse them before setting to work removing the green tops and cutting them up for puréeing. This drink was named for the Italian composer Gioacchino Rossini, whether because of his penchant for fine food and drink, or for the bubbly character of his music, who can say.
INGREDIENTS
30ml (1fl oz) Strawberry Purée
90ml (3fl oz) extra dry-style Prosecco
INSTRUCTIONS
Pour the Strawberry Purée into a flute. Top with the Prosecco, give it a little stir and serve.
AUTUMN BELLINI
There’s always a ton of talk about what wine to serve for the eat-until-you-pop Thanksgiving holiday in the United States. But I like to make sure I start my family and friends off with something festive when they walk in the door; something that makes them smile, slow down and get in the holiday mood. This easy-peasy, spicy sparkling cocktail makes a great kick-off to any epic celebration.
INGREDIENTS
30ml (1fl oz) Spiced Pear Purée
90ml (3fl oz) extra dry-style Prosecco
1 slender slice of pear, to garnish
INSTRUCTIONS
Pour the Spiced Pear Purée into a flute. Top with the Prosecco. Give it a little stir and garnish with the pear slice.
SOUTHERN LIFE
Sweet Marsala (and, well, the dry version, too), from the area surrounding the eponymous city in Sicily, got kind of a bad rep for a while. You know, it became the kind of thing grannies drank from tiny glasses when they were feeling a little special. Well, with age comes wisdom – Marsala is delicious – and a multitude of bartenders have discovered its layered, complex charms in cocktails the world over. This southern Italian speciality, with its aromas and flavours of walnuts and dried fruit, adds a sophisticated note to the basic ingredients of a Bellini – peach purée and Prosecco (see page).
INGREDIENTS
30ml (1fl oz) White Peach Purée
22ml (¾fl oz) sweet Marsala wine
90ml (3fl oz) extra brut-style Prosecco
INSTRUCTIONS
Pour the White Peach Purée into a tulip glass. Add the Marsala and top with the Prosecco. Give it a little stir to keep the purée from settling on the bottom of the glass and serve.
FRAGOLA FIZZ
The key to this drink is giving your strawberries a good mashing – because you’ll be sipping it with a straw, you don’t want any getting stuck on the way up, so make sure you get all those solid pieces beneath your muddler! The fruitiness natural to Prosecco takes all those delicious strawberry aromatics and flavours to another level.
INGREDIENTS
4 medium (or 3 large) strawberries, quartered
15ml (½fl oz) Mint Simple Syrup
15ml (½fl oz) freshly squeezed lemon juice
30ml (1fl oz) vodka
90–120ml (3–4fl oz) brut-style Prosecco
INSTRUCTIONS
Drop the strawberries into a Collins glass, pour in the Mint Simple Syrup and muddle until very pulpy. Add the lemon juice and vodka. Fill with ice, top with the Prosecco and give it a little stir to evenly distribute the mashed-up berries. Finish with a straw.
CLIMB EVERY MOUNTAIN
Pisco is a South American brandy made in both Peru and Chile that’s distilled from crushed, fermented grapes (up to eight kinds in the mix!). Its calling card is the delightful Pisco Sour – a frothy frolic of a cocktail composed of Pisco, lime juice, simple syrup, egg white and a swirl of Angostura bitters. But brandy and Prosecco? Oh, they like each other a lot, perhaps because they both have grapes at their core. Mix with a little orange-y, bitter-sweet Amaro Montenegro liqueur, and it makes for a fine low-alcohol, sophisticated sipper.
INGREDIENTS
30ml (1fl oz) Pisco
22ml (¾fl oz) Amaro Montenegro liqueur
60ml (2fl oz) brut-style Prosecco
a wide piece of orange peel, to garnish
INSTRUCTIONS
Pour the Pisco and Amaro Montenegro into an ice-filled double rocks glass. Stir well. Top with the Prosecco and garnish with the orange peel.
SBAGLIATO
Mistakes have a bad rep as being the result of a good thing gone wrong. But in the case of the Sbagliato (or ‘mistaken’ in Italian), a wrong bottle made for a right cocktail. So the story goes: a bartender attempting to produce a hasty Negroni picked up a bottle of Prosecco instead of gin. And so, a lovely, lip-smacking aperitif was born. Although a Negroni calls for equal parts of its ingredients, I like to add a little more Prosecco to mine.
INGREDIENTS
30ml (1fl oz) Campari
30ml (1fl oz) sweet vermouth
60ml (2fl oz) brut-style Prosecco
a wide piece of orange peel, to garnish
INSTRUCTIONS
Pour the Campari, sweet vermouth and Prosecco into an ice-filled double rocks
glass. Give it a little stir and garnish with the orange peel.
SBAGLIATO 2
When the snow melts and the weather starts to turn a little nice, my husband often makes requests for cocktails that have a little fizz to them. He’s a Negroni devotee, and one night when I was mixing one for myself, I offered him the same. ‘It sounds nice’, he said, ‘but… I kinda want something with a little effervescence to it; a little pop’.
If a Sbagliato was indeed the result of a Negroni gone awry, why not put it back on the proper path and just add a little sparkle? It’s become a hit around our house when a stirred drink needs just a little oomph on a Friday night.
INGREDIENTS
22ml (¾fl oz) Campari
22ml (¾fl oz) sweet vermouth
22ml (¾fl oz) gin
30ml (1fl oz) brut-style Prosecco
a wide piece of orange peel, to garnish
INSTRUCTIONS
Pour the Campari, sweet vermouth, gin and Prosecco into an ice-filled double rocks glass. Give it a little stir and garnish with the orange peel.
SPARKLING CRUSTA
New Orleans, Louisiana, is the birthplace of some of the world’s best cocktails – the Sazerac, the Vieux Carre, the Ramos Gin Fizz, the Brandy Crusta. The latter offers up a whole lot of flavour and the sweet treat of a sugared rim, making it a great brunch, party or post-dinner sipper. I like to play up the fruitiness of the Cognac with fig bitters instead of Angostura, as is traditional. Also, because there’s a lot of liqueur components to this drink, I opt for a drier brut-style Prosecco to balance out the elements.
INGREDIENTS
