Friday Night Cocktail: TBC

We're busy enjoying our cocktails tonight, this post will be updated tomorrow. Stay tuned!

Love Myrtle xxx

Friday Night Cocktail: Oliveto

A cocktail with olive oil? And why not! This recipe is from the Marvel Bar in Minneapolis, and apparently it's become rather popular there. It's a great recipe - the olive oil adds to the unctuous silky texture of the drink and provides a lovely background grassy taste, which is balanced by the vanilla and citrus flavours of the Licor 43 and lemon juice.

YOU WILL NEED

(enough for Merv too)

• 4 shots Bombay Sapphire Gin
• 1/2 shot Licor 43
• 2 shots freshly squeezed lemon juice
• 1/2 shot good quality extra virgin olive oil
• 1/2 shot sugar syrup
• 1 egg white

AND TO MAKE

Add all of your ingredients to a cocktail shaker and shake hard until all the ingredients emulsify and your mix has a thick foamy head. Add plenty of ice and shake vigorously again for about 30 seconds.

TO SERVE

Pour into two chilled coupe glasses, and serve. Would be lovely with a side of fat green cerignola olives.

Love Myrtle xxx

Cheese Straws

Cheese straws go really well with a cocktail, and they are so moreish, it's a good job they are really easy to make. Use all-butter puff pastry if you can find it, as it's, well, more buttery.

YOU WILL NEED

(enough for Merv too)

• 1 Pack Ready-rolled All Butter Puff Pastry
• 1/2 cup Freshly Grated Gruyere Cheese
• 1/4 Cup Freshly Grated Parmesan
• 1 Tablespoon Fresh Thyme Leaves
• 1 Lightly Beaten Egg
• Salt and Freshly Ground Pepper

AND TO MAKE

Preheat your oven to 190 degrees Celsius / 375 degrees Fahrenheit.

Mix your two grated cheeses together with the thyme. Open your pack of pastry and place it on your worktop. Brush the pastry surface generously with the beaten egg, and then sprinkle the egg-washed surface with your cheese and thyme mix. Season well with salt and pepper.

Using a rolling pin, roll over the cheese-topped pastry lightly and evenly a couple of times. This will press the cheese and seasoning into the pastry so that it doesn't all fall off. Then divide into twelve even strips with a sharp knife, using a palette knife if necessary to loosen them from the worktop ready to twist.

Twist each strip and place on a non-stick baking tray, lined with a silicon sheet or baking parchment, and bake in your preheated oven for 10-15 minutes , until the cheese is golden brown.

TO SERVE

Allow to cool, then serve either piled up on a rectangular serving tray, or in a jug. They're perfect with my Sapphire And Steel gin and thyme cocktail, or try them with a dirty martini or fizzy bubbly cocktail.

Best eaten on the day that they're made, and although they will keep for a day or two in an airtight container, they won't last that long!

Love Myrtle xxx

Friday Night Cocktail: Sapphire And Steel

Sapphire and Steel was originally a late 1970s British Sci-Fi TV series that had a very confusing storyline based on Joanna Lumley (Sapphire) and David McCallum (Steel) mending irregularities in time. Imagine a lower budget seventies version of the spookier episodes of Doctor Who with Patsy from Ab Fab and you're pretty much there.

Thankfully the cocktail version of Sapphire and Steel is far less complicated, and contains just four ingredients - Bombay Sapphire (obviously), St. Germain, lemon juice and thyme sugar. To continue the thyme theme, I'm serving mine with cheese and thyme straws.

YOU WILL NEED

(enough for Merv too)

• 4 shots Bombay Sapphire gin
• 2 shots St. Germain Elderflower Liqueur
• 1 shot lemon juice
• 2 sugar cubes
• 4 springs thyme

AND TO MAKE

Reserve two of the thyme sprigs for garnish. Remove the leaves from the remaining two sprigs of thyme and discard the stalks, add the thyme leaves and the two sugar cubes to a pestle and mortar and grind until the leaves combine with the sugar leaving a very fine, pale green thyme sugar.

Add the thyme sugar to your cocktail shaker along with the remaining ingredients and plenty of ice and shake for 20 seconds.

TO SERVE

Strain your cocktail into two chilled coupe glasses and garnish each with the reserved thyme sprigs. Serve with a home-made cheese and thyme straw on the side, if you're feeling fancy.

Love Myrtle xxx

Bay Leaf

Herb sugars are a relatively simple way to add complex fresh flavours to your home cocktails, just by bashing up your favourite herb with some sugar in a pestle and mortar. The Bay Leaf uses fresh bay leaves, readily available at most supermarkets now, and if you happen to have your own bay tree, even better! The resulting cocktail has a very delicate herbal flavour, a spicy cross between eucalyptus, citrus and lavender, and looks fantastic.

YOU WILL NEED

(enough for Merv too)

• 4 shots Vodka
• 2 shots freshly squeezed lime juice
• 1 egg white
• 6 bay leaves
• 4 heaped teaspoons caster sugar

AND TO MAKE

Reserve two bay leaves for garnish, then add the remaining bay leaves and the sugar to your pestle and mortar. Grind the bay into the sugar until no leaf pieces are visible, and the sugar has turned a vibrant light green. At this point you may be left with the central spine of the bay leaves, fish these out and discard.

Add the bay sugar and the remaining ingredients to your cocktail shaker and dry shake to emusify the egg white. Add ice and shake again until foamy.

TO SERVE

Pour into two coupe glasses and garnish each with a bay leaf.

This cocktail has a lovely herbal flavour, it's one you'll keep going back to for another sip to taste it again! My glass is empty, how did that happen?

Love Myrtle xxx

Friday Night Cocktail: Minty

Jamie Oliver has a very simple recipe that involves making a mint sugar by pounding mint and sugar together in a pestle and mortar, which captures the lovely vibrancy of the mint both in colour and flavour. Jamie uses his on something called Pukka Pineapple, I'm using it to create a super minty variation of a mojito eliminating the need for the usual mint shrubbery in your glass.

YOU WILL NEED

(enough for Merv too)

• 4 shots Angostura 1919 Rum
• 2 shots freshly squeezed lime juice
• 1 egg white
• 4 sprigs mint, stems removed and discarded
• 4 heaped teaspoons golden caster sugar

AND TO MAKE

Reserve two mint tips for garnish, then add the remaining mint leaves and sugar to your pestle and mortar. Bash-up your mint Jamie-style, until the leaves are ground up and you're left with a vibrant green fragrant sugar.

Add the mint sugar and the remaining ingredients to your cocktail shaker and dry shake to emulsify the egg white. Add plenty of ice and shake again until foamy,

TO SERVE

Pour into two coupe glasses and garnish each with a mint tip.

Merv says it tastes like minty sherbet. Jamie would say it tastes pukka, I'm sure...

Love Myrtle xxx

Pickle Back

While staying in New York at the Ace Hotel, I asked the mustachioed hipster bartender to recommend a savory cocktail to compliment the shucked oysters and littleneck clams. 

He recommended the Breslin Bar's house cocktail, the Pickle Back. While he was forthcoming with the basic recipe, he was as secretive as Colonel Sanders about the secret spices.

After much research, trial and error, the recipe below is my take on the Breslin's version, although you may wish to play with some of the spices to suit your own palette.

YOU WILL NEED

(enough for a good party)

• 2 x 568 ml bottles of spirit vinegar
• 568 ml cold water
• 250g granulated sugar
• 5 tablespoons fine salt
• 1 tablespoon mustard seed
• 1 tablespoon black peppercorns
• 3 Indonesian long peppercorns
• Large bunch of dill
• 2 large cucumbers

TO MAKE THE PICKLE JUICE

Empty the 2 bottles of spirit vinegar into a saucepan, fill one empty vinegar bottle with cold water and add that as well. Add the salt, sugar, mustard seed, black pepper and long pepper and slowly bring up to a gentle boil.

While the ingredients are still warm, slice the cucumber into thin strips and layer with the dill in a sterilised Kilner jar (I just put mine through the dishwasher on a high temperature).

Once the pickling vinegar has reached a boil allow to cool a little and pour over the layered cucumber and dill until just shy of the rim. Seal the jar and allow to cool to room temperature before refrigerating.

The pickled cucumbers can be kept for up to 2 weeks, and either eaten or discarded before re-bottling the pickle juice. Add some fresh dill to enhance the flavor and store until needed.


TO SERVE

Serve each shot in separate glasses

• 1 shot of Bulleit Bourbon
• 1 shot Pickle juice

The original recipe was with Jameson's Irish Whiskey, but the barman suggested Bulleit Bourbon as a smoother alternative.


Without teaching you how to drink, take a sip of the bourbon followed by a sip of the pickle juice.

Chin chin! Merv

Friday Night Cocktail: Sazerac

Last tuesday was Shrove Tuesday, that's Pancake Day for us in the UK, but more commonly Mardi Gras in the States, so what better to drink this week than the official cocktail of New Orleans, the Sazerac. I have made these on more than a few occasions in the past using Merv's best 12 year old Balvenie single malt whisky, and jolly good they are too. However, in the interests of tradition tonight's are made with proper Rye.

The recipe below is straight out of the PDT Cocktail Book, the giddy lemon peel hearts are entirely my own addition for Valentine's week made by the cunning use of a pastry cutter and a sharp knife, and will probably make serious cocktail nerds recoil in horror.

YOU WILL NEED

(enough for Merv too)

• 4 shots Rittenhouse Rye whisky
• 6 dashes Peychaud's bitters
• 4 shots Angostura bitters
• 2 Demerara sugar cubes
• 2 strips freshly pared lemon zest
• Absinthe, enough to rinse two glasses

AND TO MAKE

Chill two rocks glasses in the freezer for 10 minutes, in the meantime muddle your two sugar cubes and both types of bitters in a mixing glass or jug. Add the Rye whisky, and stir until the sugar has completely dissolved, then add plenty of ice and stir again for about 20 seconds.

TO SERVE

Pour a small amount of absinthe into each chilled glass and swirl it around until the inside of each glass is fully coated with a fine film of absinthe. Discard any excess left over, preferably into a glass for later! Strain your mixed drink into both absinthe rinsed glasses, and twist your lemon zest over the surface of each drink to add citrus oils. Wipe around the rim of each glass with the zest, then discard. Dropping the zest into the drink is supposed to upset the balance of the drink, my lemon zest hearts are tiny so shouldn't cause too much damage...

Happy Mardi Gras! Hope anyone reading didn't give up alcohol for Lent...

Love Myrtle xxx

Breakfast Martini

Gin, tea and marmalade. Need I say more?

YOU WILL NEED

(enough for Merv too)

• 4 shots Bombay Sapphire Gin
• 2 tea bags
• 2 shots freshly squeezed lemon juice
• 1 shot sugar syrup
• 1 egg white
• 2 generous teaspoons marmalade

AND TO MAKE

Infuse your gin with the two teabags for 10 minutes. Remove the tea bags once infused, and add the tea-infused gin to your cocktail shaker along with the rest of the ingredients and plenty of ice. Shake hard, until very cold and foamy.

TO SERVE

Pour into two glasses and garnish with finely grated orange zest, or a few drops of orange bitters. Serve with hot buttered toast if you're having one for breakfast!

Love Myrtle xxx

Friday Night Cocktail: Aviation

It's my birthday today, and Merv has promised to make all my cocktails! My first of the evening has to be an Aviation, it's my favorite cocktail - lightly floral and highly potent! You will need some less common ingredients - Maraschino and Violet liqueur - but once you have them you'll be making this again and again.

YOU WILL NEED

(enough for Merv too)

• 4 shots Bombay Sapphire Gin
• 1 shot Maraschino liqueur
• 0.5 shot of Violet liqueur
• 1.5 shots of freshly squeezed lemon juice
• 1 shot sugar syrup

AND TO MAKE

Add all the above ingredients to a cocktail shaker and shake with plenty of ice.

TO SERVE

Strain into two martini glasses and garnish each with a cocktail stick of home-made maraschino cherries, or a coin of lemon peel. Sip whilst pondering what to have as your next drink... Same again?

Love Myrtle xxx

Friday Night Cocktail: Ramos Gin Fizz

Named after Henry C. Ramos, this classic cocktail started life in New Orleans way back in 1888, and grew in popularity in the years following before Prohibition, so much so that during Mardi Gras teams of shaker boys were employed to keep up with demand! The secret to its luxurious silky texture is a very long hard shake for up to 12 minutes, which is fine if you happen to have a team of shaker boys to hand, but if you don't, you'll just have to shake until you think your arms might drop off. It does help to dry shake it first - do this without the cream to avoid ending up with a big curdled mess - and then shake again with the cream and plenty of ice, this also gives you time for a rest in between. The extra shaking is really worth the effort, the resulting cocktail is light, floral and silky smooth. 

YOU WILL NEED

(enough for Merv too)

• 4 shots Bombay Sapphire gin
• 1 shot lemon juice
• 1 shot lime juice
• 1.5 shots sugar syrup
• 2 teaspoons orange flower water
• 2 egg whites
• 2 shots double cream
• Soda water, to finish

AND TO MAKE

Add all of the above ingredients, apart from the soda water and cream, to your cocktail shaker and dry shake as long as you possibly can (I managed 5 minutes), so all the ingredients emulsify and thicken - you should end up with a thick white foam with very tiny bubbles, very similar to the head on a pint of Guinness. Stop for a breather and add ice and the cream, then shake hard again for as long as you can, another 2 minutes should be more than enough.

TO SERVE

Strain into two tall glasses (I chilled mine in the freezer), topping each one up with a little soda water. Serve with a straw, no further garnish required!

The picture above is my third attempt of the evening and finally the correct texture - my first ones weren't thick enough, the second ones curdled but third time lucky! Follow the steps above and yours should turn out just right first time.

Love Myrtle xxx

Feather In Capsicum

I found these vintage glasses today in an antiques shop in Hassocks today, and after a quick once over in the dishwasher they were desperate for a lovely cocktail to go in them! This one I found on the Hendrick's Facebook page. I have a feeling it was inspired by Beyonce's rumoured Mastercleanse diet, although I can't confirm that Beyonce added gin...

YOU WILL NEED

(enough for Merv too)

• 4 shots gin
• 1 shot maple syrup
• 1.5 shots lemon juice
• Half teaspoon of cayenne pepper

AND TO MAKE

Add all the ingredients to a cocktail shaker along with plenty of ice. Shake until icy cold.

TO SERVE

Pour into two chilled coupe glasses. Bootylicious!

Love Myrtle xxx

Clover Club

I have egg white in the fridge left over from the PX flips I made on friday night, and as I hate to waste perfectly good cocktail ingredients I'll be using it in a Clover Club. I also have fresh raspberries so they're going in too, they are not essential but should add a fresh note to the drink.

YOU WILL NEED

(enough for Merv too)

• 4 shots Bombay Sapphire gin
• 1 shot Chambord liqueur
• 2 shots lemon juice
• 1.5 shots sugar syrup
• 1 egg white
• 12 raspberries (2 for garnish)

AND TO MAKE

Reserve 2 of your raspberries for garnish if using them, then muddle the remaining raspberries in your cocktail shaker. Add all the other ingredients, but before adding your ice, dry shake the ingredients for 20 seconds. This will emulsify your egg white properly before you dilute it with the ice. I would recommend using a tea-towel around your shaker, the egg white has a tendency to expand and break through the seal of your shaker. (I forgot this and dribbled sticky pink drink on the floor). Once your drink is thick and foamy, add the ice and shake again until icy cold.

TO SERVE

Strain into your two chilled glasses. Sit one of your reserved raspberries on top of the foam in each glass, it looks pretty and adds the fragrant zing of fresh raspberry to your first sip of the drink. If you are not using raspberries, I would strongly recommend adding a couple of drops of Chambord onto the foam to add fragrance. Egg white adds a lovely velvety texture to your drink but the foam can have a tendency to have a very slight whiff of wet dog fur if you don't garnish it...

Do try to forget about Damp Fido (but I dare you to sniff the egg white before garnishing), it would be a shame to miss out on a delicious cocktail, and the Clover Club is a long-standing favourite of mine that I always enjoy drinking! Try it yourself, you won't be disappointed.

Love Myrtle xxx

Friday Night Cocktail: Derwood's Rum and Raisin Iced Cream

Our good friend Derwood does like a creamy drink.  And he loves PX sherry.  We have no idea if he likes rum and raisin ice cream or not.  But we hope that he does, because that's what this drink tastes like, if a little boozier.  We hope you like it too!  I went all out and additionally soaked some raisins in PX for a few days before making the cocktail, the drink is no less raisiny without them but they are a delicious garnish.

YOU WILL NEED

(Enough for Merv too)

• 2 shots dark rum
• 4 shots Pedro Ximenez sherry
• 4 shots double cream
• At least 8 large black raisins soaked in a shot glass of PX for 3-5 days

AND TO MAKE

Add all your ingredients, except the raisins, to your cocktail shaker, along with plenty of ice.  Shake until icy cold.

TO SERVE

Spear your PX raisins onto a cocktail stick for garnish, 4 is plenty per glass.  Strain your chilled cocktail over the garnish.  Cheers Derwood!

Love Myrtle xxx

Friday Night Cocktail: PX Flip

We love a glass or two of sherry chez Myrtle and Merv, and our favourite in the winter has to be Pedro Ximenez - it's rich, thick, raisiny and sweet, like an oil pressed from extra virgin Christmas puddings.  Whilst it's great to drink on its own, it's surprisingly good as a cocktail ingredient.  This recipe was created by Timo Janse for fancy speakeasy Door 74 in Amsterdam, but you can just drink it at home.  It's not too sweet, spicy and velvety thick.  And it's delicious!  I want another one...

YOU WILL NEED

(enough for Merv too)

• 4 shots Pedro Ximenez sherry
• 1.5 shots lemon juice
• 1 shot sugar syrup
• 2 egg yolks (save the whites for a sour or fizz)
• 2 pinches ground cinnamon
• 8 cloves
• Nutmeg

AND TO MAKE

Muddle the cloves in your cocktail shaker.  Add the rest of the ingredients, except the nutmeg, and plenty of ice.  Shake long and hard!  I ended up wrapping a tea towel around the shaker as it got so cold.

TO SERVE

Strain into a chilled glass and grate a little nutmeg over the top.

Love Myrtle xxx

Friday Night Cocktail: Snowball (original)

And here's the recipe for an original Snowball.  The last one went down a bit too easily!  This one has to be made with Rose's Lime Cordial, it has a stronger flavor than lime juice and adds extra tanginess.  You can omit the gin if you like for a truly classic Snowball, but I rather like it in.

YOU WILL NEED
(for each drink)

• 1 shot Bombay Sapphire gin
• 3 shots Warnink's Advocaat
• 1 shot Rose's Lime Cordial
• Lemonade
• 3 homemade Maraschino Cherries to garnish

AND TO MAKE

Build all ingredients in a highball glass, adding the lemonade last, and slowly, as it will froth up.

TO SERVE

Top each drink with 3 Maraschino Cherries on a cocktail stick, and serve with a straw.  Stir gently with your straw before drinking to combine the ingredients.

Love Myrtle xxx

Friday Night Cocktail: Snowball

It's been snowing all day here, and whilst we could venture outside for a snowball fight, we'd much rather stay toasty and just drink them!  It's a bit of a tradition here at Myrtle and Merv's to drink Snowballs on Christmas morning, here's my mother's version of a traditional Snowball which is a bit more substantial and more suitable for a friday night, not least because it includes gin...

YOU WILL NEED
(enough for Merv too)

• 2 shots Bombay Sapphire gin
• 6 shots Advocaat
• 2 shots freshly squeezed lime
• 6 homemade Maraschino cherries
• 2 teaspoons Maraschino liqueur from the cherries
• Lemonade

AND TO MAKE

Prepare your glasses by adding three cherries on a cocktail stick, and a teaspoon of Maraschino liqueur from the cherries to each glass.  In your cocktail shaker, shake the gin, advocaat and lime along with plenty of ice.

TO SERVE

Pour the shaken drink through a strainer into your prepared glasses.  Top up with lemonade.

Enjoy!  But beware, the gin makes it deceptively strong, so don't, like Merv, knock it back in less than 5 minutes...

Love Myrtle xxx

Marmalade Martini

Really it's a Breakfast Martini, but Marmalade Martini just sounds better.   Like a grown-up cocktail for Paddington Bear.

YOU WILL NEED
(enough for Merv too)

• 4 shots Bombay Sapphire Gin
• 2 shots Cointreau
• 2 shots lemon juice
• 3 teaspoons marmalade

AND TO MAKE

Add all the ingredients to a cocktail shaker with plenty of ice and shake.

TO SERVE

Serve in a chilled martini glass.  Garnish if you like with an orange or lemon twist.  Present with or without one of Paddington's very hard stares...

Love Myrtle xxx

Friday Night Cocktail: Rosemary Amaretto Sour

Friday Night is usually Cocktail Night at Myrtle and Merv's, and tonight is no exception!  Inspired by Merv's favourite rosemary, lemon and almond cake, tonight's drink is a Rosemary Amaretto Sour.

Amaretto Sours are easy to make and as long as you have the Amaretto, the other ingredients are ones you should have in your pantry.  I’ve added the rosemary which gives a lovely herbal note.  If you have it, great, if not, leave it out!

YOU WILL NEED
(enough for Merv too)

• 4 shots Amaretto (Disaronno or equivalent)
• 2.5 shots lemon juice
• 1 egg white
• 4 dashes Angostura Bitters
• 4 sprigs rosemary

AND TO MAKE

• Pare off two nice pieces of lemon zest off your lemon before juicing, and reserve with two of the sprigs of rosemary for your garnish
• Muddle the remaining two of the rosemary sprigs in your shaker
• Add the amaretto, lemon juice, bitters, egg white and PLENTY of ice.  Using plenty of ice means the ice won’t warm up too quickly and melt, this is especially important when using egg white so you don’t water down that lovely unctuousness texture made by the egg white
• Shake HARD!   You should be shaking for at least 30 seconds to emulsify the egg white.

TO SERVE

Strain into your tumblers filled with ice, garnish each with a rosemary sprig and lemon zest.  Pour from a height if you like extra foaminess!

Drink and enjoy!

Love Myrtle xxx