Scrumptious Reads

It’s the culmination of red-carpet season and, even though by the time the Academy Awards presentation reaches our shores the event will have already been over for several hours and we will already know who the winners and losers are, many people will take any excuse to have a party – and there are those who like to take this opportunity to add a little glamour to what would otherwise be just another night in front of the idiot box.

Here are our suggestions for a few scrumptious cocktails that will set your soirée apart from all the rest (even if they don’t earn you a golden statuette for best host).

Duo’s Double Truffle Martini

90ml Double Cross Vodka
15ml dry vermouth
15ml truffle juice
Truffle-stuffed olive, for garnish

Combine ingredients in a shaker with ice. Shake vigorously, then pour into a martini glass. Garnish with a truffle-stuffed olive.

The Jackson 20 Audrey 2

60ml tequila
60ml Chamomile Citrus Berry tea (brew a mix of all three teas and let cool in fridge before use)
30ml freshly squeezed lime juice
30ml Wild Hibiscus Flowers in syrup

Dip the rim of a highball glass in a salt/sugar/ginger mixture (two parts sugar to one part salt to a ½ part of ginger) and fill with ice. Combine tequila, tea, and lime juice in a shaker, shake well and strain into the glass. Garnish with hibiscus flower.

Tulio’s Agro Dolce

45ml Absolut Citron vodka
15ml white balsamic-orange syrup
Juice from ½ a lemon
Sugar
Cipollini onion

To make white balsamic-orange syrup you’ll need the peel and pith of one orange, ½ cup white balsamic vinegar, ½ cup sugar, and 1 cup water. Dissolve ingredients into the water, boil and simmer, reducing mixture to about ¼ cup (should be thick like syrup).

Dip the rim of a martini glass into lemon juice, then dip into sugar. Combine vodka and white balsamic-orange syrup in a shaker filled with ice, shake and strain into the martini glass. Garnish with the cippollini onion.

The Sepia Something Dutch

45ml Bols Genever
30ml Pineau Des Charentes rosé
22.5ml rhubarb shrubb
15ml lemon juice
15ml simple syrup
Dash of orange bitters
Lemon peel, for garnish

To make rhubarb shrubb, combine 500g diced rhubarb, 2 cups strawberries, 1 tablespoon dried Angelica root, and the juice and zest of 1 lemon in a saucepan and bring to boil. Let simmer for 10 minutes or until rhubarb is broken down. Pass through cheesecloth, then add 1 cup Champagne vinegar, and 1 cup white sugar. Let cool and bottle.

For the cocktail, combine all ingredients in a shaker filled with ice, shake well and strain into chilled cocktail glass (such as a Champagne coupe). To finish, express oils from lemon peel and discard.

Lafitte Mohawk

22.5ml tobacco syrup
75ml Rye Whiskey
15ml Bonal Gentiane-Quina
Dash of Decanter bitters
Lemon twist, for garnish

To make the tobacco syrup, bring 2 cups of water to a boil in a saucepan, add 2 cups granulated sugar, then lower heat. Next, add 1 dried whole tobacco leaf tobacco and stir constantly until sugar dissolves completely. Test if sugar is completely dissolved by using a metal spoon to scoop up a small bit of syrup. Tilt it over the pan and watch carefully. There should be no crystals in the liquid. Let syrup cool to room temperature. Pour into a clean glass jar and refrigerate.

For the cocktail, combine all ingredients in a shaker, stir with ice and strain into a martini glass. Garnish with lemon twist.

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The next cocktail requires a long waiting period, so you probably will not be able to whip it up this evening. But if you begin preparations now, you can plan for the next party. The Autumnal Equinox is coming up on 20 March, which also happens to be Nowruz, the Persian New Year – or you can celebrate Harmony Day on 21 March, Earth Hour on 31 March, April Fool’s Day on the 1^st, Easter on 8 April… you get the picture.

Tulio’s Prosciutto and Melon

45ml chilled honeydew-infused grappa (let grappa infuse with honeydew melon for up to one month)
2-3 honeydew or cantaloupe balls
2-3 pieces thinly sliced prosciutto
Toothpick or spear

Chill honeydew-infused grappa by shaking over ice, then strain into a martini glass. Wrap each melon ball with a slice of prosciutto, spear with toothpick and add to martini.

The 84^th Academy Awards (better known as the Oscars) will be broadcast in Queensland tonight (Monday 27 Feb) at 7.30 pm on Go!

* Cocktail recipes adapted from Wine Enthusiast Magazine.