Pickled Cherries = Manhattan Time

Though the lack of space in our fridge might tell a different story (it's hard to find what you're looking for sometimes amid all those jars), quick pickles or refrigerator pickles are just so easy! And there's no reason to stick to veggies. Lots of fruits make excellent pickles, and their true sweet-and-sour flavor profile is just the thing for cocktails. If you love a Manhattan like I do, try this version out immediately. It is a long weekend after all...

Pickled Cherries
This recipe allows for extra pickling brine to use in cocktails and still ensure proper coverage for the remaining cherries, so you could easily increase the amount of cherries to 1½-2 pounds if you're planning to have a party or just want more on hand.

1 pound ripe but firm Bing cherries
1½ cups red wine vinegar
½ cup water
1½ cups sugar
2 tablespoons kosher salt
2 large strips of orange peel, removed with a vegetable peeler
1 tablespoon whole black peppercorns
2 cinnamon sticks
1 tablespoon coriander seeds
1 bay leaf

After washing your cherries, prick each one a few times with a fork and place in a large bowl.

Mix the rest of the ingredients in a large non-reactive pot and bring to a boil over medium heat. Reduce to a simmer and cook for 10 minutes.

Remove from heat and let cool for 10 minutes.

Place cherries in a quart-sized jar, spoon in the orange peel, cinnamon sticks and spices, and then cover completely with the pickling liquid.

Store in the fridge for 1 month, but wait at least 24 hours before eating so there's time for the flavors to infuse.

Sweet & Sour Manhattans
This cocktail is best made one at a time.

2 ounces good quality bourbon
½ ounce sweet vermouth
2 dashes of Angostura bitters
½ ounce of pickled cherry brine
1 pickled cherry

Pour the liquid ingredients into a cocktail shaker filled with ice. Shake well and strain into a chilled cocktail glass. Garnish with a pickled cherry. Lean back and enjoy.

These cocktail cherries also make an excellent cocktail garnish.

Ginger Beer - Cook It! 2012: May Resolution + Gingery Beer Cocktail Recipe

My forays into fermenting have been minimal, with only Moroccan Preserved Lemons and an Indian-Spiced Kumquat Chutney under my belt. So May's Cook It challenge was, as usual, an exciting one: ferment something.

Fresh, bubbly ginger beer

Of course when given such a broad task, my mind shot in a million directions and I wanted to make about a dozen things at least. After narrowing my focus, I decided on ginger beer. Seasonal, rejuvenating, and it lends itself well to hot days and summer nights.

Well Preserved's recipe is the one I went with, which was straightforward and clear. Both phases of this technique were a cinch to follow, and my end result turned out deliciously, though I have to say I wanted more ginger. Maybe even double the ginger flavor. Note to self for next batch.

Making the ginger "bug", or ferment starter was fun...I liked the process of feeding it every day and putting my ear down close to listen for the frothing sounds of fermentation. Once it was in bottles I also liked inspecting for bubbles and any other evidence of something happening inside the glass. And man, when I opened the first bottle and it fizzed like crazy (no explosions, thank you), I must say it was extremely satisfying. I guess I am a bubble lover. (Which probably means I am a fermenting freak, even if I don't know it yet.)

Follow along with the blow-by-blow version in pictures below. The recipe at the end is like a pot of gold.

Slice the ginger into coins, skin and all

Then finely dice for the ginger "bug" or starter

Put ginger in a quart-size jar and add sugar and water

Cover jar with cheesecloth and a band to allow in air but not flies

Day 1

Day 2, after feeding

Day 3, cloudier

Day 4, fizzing away

Hello bubble friends!

This ginger measures up

Chopped and ready

Bringing ginger, sugar and water to a boil

After mixture has cooled, strain to remove solids

\

Add the juice of two lemons and the ginger bug to the strained syrup

After straining again and adding water, into bottles it goes

Then it becomes a waiting game...

I opened the first bottle after two weeks...

Look at the effervescence

So pleasing to the eye and palate

Two bottles made it to 3 weeks of fermentation. After chilling in the refrigerator, out they came for cocktail duty. I chose my day well too, it was some 80 degrees out...sipping weather at its finest. Now you can mix up a batch of my favorite beer cocktail recipe below, and put your feet up. Yup, it's summertime, and the living is easy.

The fixings

Gingery Beer Cocktail Recipe

Inspired by the Buli-Buli drink at one of my all-time favorite brunch spots, Primo Patio Cafe, this beer cocktail is refreshing and oh-so-simple to make. It's perfect for summer barbeques or parties since you can whip it up by the pitcherful. It will be so popular you will need to!

2 bottles (or cans) of beer — I prefer Red Stripe, but any lager or lighter style beer such as Pacifico will do
2 cups of ginger beer
Juice of 4 limes + 1 lime, quartered for garnish
4 Tb ginger syrup
4 Tb sugar
A lot of ice

Fill a large pitcher with ice, pour in the beer, ginger beer and lime juice. Stir in the ginger syrup and sugar, making sure it is fully dissolved and mixed in. I prefer it a little less sweet, so just taste along the way and adjust sweetener to your liking.

You could also substitute ginger ale for the ginger beer, but remember to reduce the sweetener if you do.

Pour into cups and enjoy!

Brandied Cocktail Cherries

This rainy day is perfect timing – I have been meaning to share details on the making of things I've brought to our recent swaps, and this is just the break I needed.

For the June swap I focused on the seasonal bounty of stone fruit, and first up was cherries. Like most of you I imagine, I keep folders – both online and hard copy, depending on where I find them – of recipes I want to try out, and this Cocktail Cherries recipe had caught my eye on the KCRW Good Food blog a few months back. I was just waiting for the cherries to appear...and then they were here, in huge ripe tempting piles of red fruit, everywhere!

I scored 4 lbs. of gorgeous, plump pesticide-free cherries at the Civic Center Farmers Market for $9 and trundled home happily. The thing I really liked about this recipe is that aside from the fruit I had everything required already in my pantry: sugar, fresh lemon juice, cinnamon stick, fresh vanilla bean, cardamon pods, star anise, brandy and water. I added a couple extra cardamom pods, and substituted simple syrup for the agave nectar since sometimes agave can taste a little off to me, but otherwise stuck to the above recipe.

Cocktail cherries on simmer

One thing I did notice is that some of the cherries got a bit scalded. Whether this was from me simmering them too long (I did cook them a bit longer than called for to make sure the flavors really absorbed), or letting the heat get a little high, or the fact I used a larger pot which left them closer to the heat in a thinner layer across the bottom, I'm not sure...but aside from a couple having wrinkly skin, there were no real negative effects so I didn't worry about it.

Hot cherries

The other nice thing about this recipe is that you let the cherries cool to room temperature before putting them in jars, so there's no handling of hot fruit and liquid which definitely makes it easier. The recipe yielded six 8-oz. jars (though this will vary depending on the size of your cherries), with some left over for me to use for samples at the swap, but I did need to mix up some extra liquid to cover all the cherries. To do this I took some remaining simple syrup, some additional brandy and a little water – mixed it up in the saucepan used to cook the fruit to get any remaining cherry goodness out, and spread it between the jars to top them up.

Topping off the jars

The cherries were left whole, with the stem and pit still on, so while they do look great in a cocktail glass, you need to either remember to remove the pits before serving, or advise yourself/your pals before consuming. They are also excellent atop vanilla ice cream, yogurt or any dessert you want to add a little kick to, and the liquid can be added to your Manhattan or other drinks to taste too.

In my opinion these turned out so well I actually wish I had kept a jar for myself, but luckily they were very easy to make, so I'll just have to get another batch in jars before all the cherries are gone. Come to think of it, that's another thing that'd be perfect for this rainy day!