Cocktails and other drinks

Recipe: Clementine prosecco drink with rosemary

Published on December 25, 2018December 25, 2018 by Hanna3 Comments

Merry Christmas, dear readers! I hope you’re all having a wonderful time celebrating with dear ones.

We celebrated yesterday (as is customary in Sweden) and I will tell you all about it later, but thought I would post a quick cocktail recipe – perfect to make any leftovers feel a bit more festive!

I made this for the book club Christmas dinner, and we all loved it! It feels wintery and festive without being to sweet. I also made star-shaped canape’s with puff pastry, blue cheese, walnuts and honey and they always go down a treat.

Clementine prosecco drink with rosemary, makes 6

Adapted from Ica’s recipe.

2 sprigs rosemary

3 tbsp caster sugar

400 ml freshly squeezed clementine juice

400 ml tonic water

1 bottle prosecco

rosemary sprigs to garnish (optional)

In a pestle and mortar, mix together the rosemary and sugar. Mix the rosemary sugar with the juice. Divide between glasses. Fill up with prosecco and add some tonic to finish. Serve straight away.

Homemade elderflower cordial

Published on October 6, 2014 by Hanna1 Comment

A recipe for elderflower cordial in October when the autumn has properly hit London doesn’t seem very seasonal (and it isn’t), but I made a batch in June that I keep in the freezer and use for various desserts when I want to bring summer back, if only for a moment. And since I am about to post one of these recipes tomorrow, I thought it would be nice of me to provide this recipe as well.

Of course you can use store-bought cordial, Belvoir, has an excellent one. But considering how easy this is to make I urge you to try it next year when the elderflower is in bloom.

This recipe is from one of my mother’s many cookbooks, unfortunately I don’t remember which one but it is a tried and tested recipe that requires very little work. The cordial is uncooked which means it doesn’t keep for very long in the fridge, so pour it into small plastic bottles or zip-lock bags and keep it in the freezer instead. When defrosted it keeps for 3-4 days in the fridge.

Elderflower cordial, makes about 1,5 litres

35-40 elderflower clusters

3 lemons, sliced

1,5 litres water

1,5-2 kg caster sugar

50 g citric acid

Clean the flower clusters and place in a large bowl/bucket (that fits in the fridge or other cool place). Add the lemon slices. Bring the water to the boil and dissolve the sugar and citric acid in it. Add the syrup to flowers and lemons and stir. Leave to cool and cover with cling. Keep in a cool place (like the fridge) for 3-4 days. Stir a few times a day. Pour through a fine sieve and into bottles and freeze. Fresh/defrosted cordial keep for 3-4 days in the fridge.

Note: Picture borrowed from gourmetodling.com

A little pre-dinner cocktail: Lemon passion

Published on January 18, 2012January 19, 2012 by HannaLeave a comment

This pre-dinner cocktail was invented from what I had at home and what I thought would go well with each other. The result was a fruity and refreshing cocktail that may be better suited for the spring summer, than gloomy January, but I still really enjoyed it.

Lemon passion, serves 1

3 cl white Bacardi

2 cl passion fruit syrup

ice (preferrably crushed, but I thought of that too late)

sparkling lemonade

1/2 passion fruit

a few sprigs of mint

Place is in a glass, add the Bacardi and passion fruit syrup. Top up with lemonade. Add the contents of 1/2 passion fruit and place some mint on top. Stir and serve. Cheers!

A weekend in Gothenburg and strawberry daiquiris

Published on August 30, 2011 by Hanna1 Comment

Early on Saturday morning I got ready to go to Gothenburg. It wasn’t even light outside when I got into the cab. After a nap on the plane I arrived before midday in Sweden and had a great weekend with my old friends Linus and Emma.

We started the weekend with a lunhc on the town, just ran into the first decent place to escape the terrential rain that followed me from Britain to Gothenburg. We also tried the best coffee in town at Da Matteo, well technically Emma did. Linus and I had hot chocolate which was lovely. I also met up for lunch with fellow food blogger Åsa at this place on Monday and really enjoyed my large sandwich on sourdough with turkey and porcini creme.

In the evening we had dinner at Familjen, followed by homemade strawberry daiquiris back in Linus’ flat. We then headed out to a bar and saw several thousand people running the Midnight Run through the town in the dark and the rain.

On Sunday we had a large brunch and then I met another food blogger, Charlotta and later enjoyed tacos back at Linus’ flat before Emma went back to Malmö. Thank you so much everyone for a GREAT weekend. You’re the best!

Strawberry daiquiris, 6 drinks

ca 400 g frozen strawberries

250 ml water

250 ml sugar

white rum

Start with the syrup, ahead of time. Mix water and sugar in a sauce pan and bring to the boil so the sugar melts. Leave to cool completely. Pour strawberries and the syrup into the blender and mix until smooth. Add rum after taste. Serve in glasses on a stem and perhaps decorate with one or two mint leaves. Enjoy!