The Corkless Mind

Tag: Drinks

  • Watermelon, Rose Water and Gin Slushy

    Watermelon, Rose Water and Gin Slushy

    Summer has reached its peak in Cape Town and with the consequences of one of the worst droughts we’ve seen in decades means there aren’t many ways available to cool down in this exhausting heat. Cue the watermelon! One of a few things I do love about summer, is the bounty of delicious tropical fruit available for sweet pickings.

    Watermelon, Rose water and Gin Slushie 086

    Watermelon, Rose water and Gin Slushie 129This recipe is inspired by one I spotted in the latest Summer issue of Donna Hay’s Magazine. Instead of the doing the Frosé version, I am not much of Rosé drinker, but instead added some of Malfy’s delicious Gin. Malfy Gin, of Italian origin off the Malfy coast to be exact, has refreshing zesty citrus notes with hints of juniper. I chose this particular gin, to see how the lemony notes in the gin would pair with the watermelon and rose-water. To describe the finished product, I’d like to think of it as an alcoholic watermelon, rose-water flavoured frozen lemonade. I know, a mouthful in description, but it’s damn delicious and best of all so easy to make at home! I omitted sugar too, because the watermelon adds the much needed sweetness that this slush requires to be, well a slushy. Watermelon, Rose water and Gin Slushie 004

    Watermelon, Rose water and Gin Slushie 005

     

    Watermelon, Rose water and Gin Slushie 110

    Watermelon, Rose water and Gin Slushie 142

    Watermelon, Rose water and Gin Slushy

     

    Ingredients: 

    • 1/2 small-sized Watermelon
    • A few drops of Rose water (tread lightly, this stuff is potent)
    • 4 – 6 tall tot glasses of Malfy Gin, depending preference.
    • 500 ml of watermelon tonic or any tonic water will do.

     

    Method: 

    Chop up the watermelon, ensuring all of the seeds are taken out. You may spot a few pieces of black seeds in my photos (oops). So expect to find a few in your slushy mix here and there, if you miss a few seeds, that’s perfectly okay. Place the chopped watermelon, rose-water, gin and tonic into a blender, and blitz until smooth. Pour the slushy mix into a loaf pan or tray that can easily fit into your freezer. Freeze for 6 hours. Enjoy chilled!

     

    **Disclaimer: This is not a sponsored post. All ingredients were purchased and supplied by myself. All views in this post are as a reflection of my honest opinion.

     

    Happy weekend! x

  • Grapefruit Caipirinha 

    Grapefruit Caipirinha 

    Lately, things have been picking up for me and starting to get incredibly busy as you can tell by the lack of posts 😦 I am the worst when it comes to management of time and because of that important things/people in my life tend to suffer because of that. A little recap, I’ve just returned from my very first international trip abroad to Kenya for training and meeting our team for Cookpad Africa, and what an amazing experience that was! I hope to share my food experience here soon! 

     Two days ago, I was notified that Off Beet Blog was selected as one of the Feedspot Top 50 Food Photography Blogs in the world! Coming in at a humble 43rd spot, I am incredibly grateful to each and everyone of you  for the unwaivering support  and for taking the time to peruse my posts sometimes feel inspired by my photos. This is such an honour for me! Congratulations to all of the winners! 

    This post I created a weeks back, the Caipirinha idea came from my mom, as she had been to Brazil and of course came back with a bottle or two of Cachaca. I decided to add my own twist to the traditional recipe. By making two respective simple syrups infused with chili and the other with grapefruit. 

  • Booch mocktail.

    Booch mocktail.

     
    Last year at the Convivium table event that had I attended, I was introduced to an intriguing beverage I had never heard of. Theonista Kombucha was something I’ve never tasted before, a combination of so many flavours sweet, sour, and fizzy. 

    Kombucha is a beverage made by fermenting tea and sugar with a specific culture called a SCOBY (Symbiotic Culture Of Bacteria and Yeast). It has a unique sweet, tart tangy taste with a light fizz. There are so many health benefits of kombucha including enhanced digestion, immunity and increased energy. Best of all each batch made, tastes different in a way. 

    As a recent ‘booch’ fan, I just can’t get enough, and plan on making my very own batch at home with the Scoby kits that Theonista sells online. Until then I will enjoy my store bought booch with a twist of course.

    I’m a little obsessed with ginger at the moment and thought I would make a simple syrup infused with slices of ginger and star anise. The booch with all the added flavours really tastes like summer! It’s so fresh and crisp. You can of course omit the syrup or use a natural sweetener as a substitute and just serve it with all the other flavour enhancers. 
    Booch mocktail. 
    Ingredients: 

    -500ml bottle of Kombucha 

    -one knob of ginger thinly sliced(reserve a little of the slices for the jug)

    -50g castor sugar 

    -50ml water 

    -1 star anise 

    -cucumber slices to add to jug

    -6 strawberries to add to jug 

    -a few mint leaves to garnish 

    -a few slices of lemon to add to the jug

    -A few ice blocks to cool down drink 

    Method: 
    In a small saucepan on a medium heat, place the sugar, water, most of the sliced ginger and the star anise. Once the mixture starts to boil, reduce the heat. Using a spoon, dip the spoon into the syrup, if the mixture coats the spoon, it’s ready to take off the heat. (Mine was on for about 5-10 minutes) 
    Using a carafe/jug drop the ice in with the mint, the ginger that was set aside, strawberries lemon slices and the ginger and star anise syrup. Muddle with a back of a wooden spoon and pour in the Kombucha, stir to mix and serve cold. 

    Some of the information supplied by Theonista’s  website. 

    **This post is not sponsored and thus views are my own**

  • Festive fare.

    Festive fare.

    Welcome to December! How quick did this year go by!? Every week to celebrate the festive season and to of course give you ideas for your next dinner party, I will be doing at least one festive themed recipe per week. This week I wanted to create a light snack for summer, something for anyone and everyone to enjoy and a refreshing drink that all can enjoy too. 

    I found a recipe from the renowned Chef Liam Tomlin from the revered Chefs Warehouse in Cape Town that he recreated for Woolworths Taste Magazine. The recipe is incredibly simple to recreate at home with very little effort involved, doesn’t that sound good? And of course I added a little(a lot) of sparkle because tis’ the season! 

    I’ve been a weekly regular at a certain awesome bacon themed restaurant in my area, and they serve the most delicious, refreshing locally made artisanal iced tea. Mesmerized by its unique flavour and texture, I have been racking my brain to recreate it at home. This is a recipe that I have developed.

    Ingredients: 

    4x Rooibos tea bags

    500ml boiling water 

    200g strawberries 

    100g blackberries/any other berry of your choice

    A drop or two of rose water

    250g castor sugar 

    Juice of one lemon
    Method: 

    Over a medium to low heat, bring the berries, sugar, lemon juice and rose water to a simmer until the berries are macerated and the juices of the berries have covered the berries and sugar dissolved, take off the heat and leave to cool. 
    Brew the rooibos tea in the boiling water and let the tea draw for 10 minutes, leave to cool and place in the fridge. Once both the tea and the berries have been cooled, pour the compote mixture into a tea pot or carafe with the rooibos tea, serve with a slice of lemon and a few sprigs of mint. 
    This is the ideal drink for long scorching summer days or switch it up and add alcohol to make a crisp cooler. 
    Happy festive season! 

    Dominique x

  • Gin and tonic ice lollies.

    Gin and tonic ice lollies.


    Inspired by my recent visit to the Royal Hotel in Riebeeck Kasteel, the Gin and Tonic we had there was out of this world! Possibly the best I have tasted so far. I am no G&T aficionado and neither am I that much of a frequent drinker, but this may just be the game changer. The Gin that the bartender used for our G&T’s were that of Wilderer Fynbos infused gin, (and as mentioned in my previous post)together with seasonal gooseberries, strawberries and a slice of lime, all the flavours were perfectly balanced and came together in a rather unusual cognac glass, but it worked. 

    I’ve been itching to make alcoholic ice lollies since I purchased a ice lolly Kit at my local CNA store. The kit comes with a four part mold, 50 lolly sticks and a little booklet with instructions and a few recipes, some related some not so related to ice lollies or frozen desserts for that matter… Alas, I trawled the Internet for inspiration and went to one of my bookmarked sites as a last resort(but should have been the first) Delicious UK,where I saw a Gin and Tonic ice lollie recipe. It’s extremely simple, but do make it a day before so as to set overnight in the molds. If you, like me can be a bit heavy handed with the pouring of drinks, that’s okay, because I mainly used the recipe only as a guideline. Add ingredients according to taste.
    With the satisfyingly refreshing G&T at the Royal hotel in mind, I added a few gooseberries, strawberries and lime juice to the mixture to set. I unfortunately didn’t have an artisanal fynbos infused gin on hand, so I used a Kumquat infused gin, that I had purchased a few months back from one of my favourite places to go and visit, a farm nestled at the foothills of the Simonsberg mountain range, Babylonstoren. 

    I really love the pop of colour the berries lend to the contrast of the lush green of the mint leaves against the white backdrop. The ice lollies are just as refreshing as the actual tipple. I can tell, I will be making a whole lot of ice lollies, ice cream and sorbet this summer. 

    Dominique x

  • Slushy Piña Colada Cocktail

    Slushy Piña Colada Cocktail


    Piña colada, the scent of sunscreen, and sticky ice cream hands are just a few of the things that make us all think of summer and all the perks it brings along with it. I do love craft beer and wine as my go to choice of tipples, but the occasional refreshing cocktail is good for the soul and in the spirit of welcoming long hot summer days and nights. 
    My ice cream machine has been sitting in my freezer waiting for the opportunity to make something spur of the moment, hence I will have it ready when I do decide to make a batch of ice cream or sorbet. Never did I think I could make anything else with it, let alone a cocktail mix. So with much zeal to attempt this recipe I found on my second home Food52, I cracked open a bottle of rum and excitedly got out the ice cream machine. 
    The recipe is pretty simple, although patience(something that does not come naturally to me) is needed when churning the mixture. Garnish with mint and a pineapple ring on top of the glass. You can of course omit the rum and enjoy as a non-alcoholic drink. 
    The photos were taken in quite a hurry due to some pressing deadlines. Below is a clue as to the deadline, I can’t wait to share the finer details soon! 🙂 
    Here’s to many more moments we could lift a glass in a celebration! x