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

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

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