La Cucaracha
La Cucaracha is a spectacle. It is best served at special occasions with familiar faces. As with most cocktail shots, it looks exciting. Contrary to the reputation of shots, it is smoother than expected.
Confession: Not my recipe. Our Spanish friend, Jose Antonio Laguens Martin showed us how to make these too many years ago to tell. And we’ve never looked back. Viva España!
Recipients: Party people in a controlled environment
Type: Shot
Read MoreCitrus Spacek
This is intensely lemony as well as sweet. strong and sour.
Confession: Adele gave the punny name to a drink I made one night. A few days later when I wrote out the recipe, it turned out to be a caipiroska, made with mandarin vodka, which doesn’t deserve a name like Citrus Spacek. The only option was to come up with a drink sassy enough to fit the name. Here it is.
Recipients: Lemon lovers, friends with a sweet and sour tooth
Type: Made In Glass
Read MoreHis Name Was Rico(tta)
I tasted this baked ricotta dish for the first time when my wonderful Italian friend, Jo Burgess, made it for me. Since then I was hooked. It’s a culmination of rustic, simple ingredients that are the perfect accompaniment to fresh summer cocktails or cosy winter wines.
Recipients: Group of friends getting together over drinks and a chat
Type: Food
Read MoreLazy Margarita
This isn’t a new recipe. It is a lazy method to get a margarita in your hand faster, using less implements. You can cull another step by using bottled juice instead of lemons but the aroma from bruised peel complements the citrus flavour of Cointreau or triple sec.
Recipients: Cool, fun, party people
Type: Made in glass
Read MoreStraya
This was my second popular cocktail invention. It arrived hot on the heals of the Measle, and tastes even better. It is pretty good on a hot summer day in January when your tray of mangoes needs to be eaten. Straya really is an all round typical Aussie – good looking with good taste.
Recipients: People who like smoothies, everyone else
Type: Frozen
Read MoreGinger Legs
This is strong but extremely tasty. Before you know it you’ve had three and your legs are feeling ginger. Hehe!
I know bitters are not a common pantry ingredient but we tend to have a bottle in our house most of the time. You only use a few drops at a time so a bottle lasts for ages. And they are useful to deepen flavour in many drinks. It is an unusual ingredient worth buying.
Confession: This is a stronger version of a mixed drink, called Ginger Square, we had many times in our World Cup trip to South Africa in 2010. They use a ginger liqueur, called Oude Meester, that we can’t get in Australia, so we needed a work around for home.
Recipients: Ginger lovers, friends with a sore throat
Type: Mix In Glass
Read MoreStrawberry Sour
Strawberry Sour is a strawberry flavoured cocktail, a bit like a frozen daiquiri or margarita. The main differences are that it is more tangy than sweet and doesn’t contain strawberry liqueur, which in my unsophisticated opinion, smells like strawberry lipgloss. I have strawberries and raspberry cordial in the house more often than strawberry liqueur.
Raspberry cordial makes the colour a weirdly bright red. If you can’t bear the artificial colouring replace the cordial with a sweetener of your choice. Caster sugar will do. It will be pale pink instead.
Confession: This recipe is inspired by the sourness of a Zulu Warrior, which has a few more ingredients, including strawberry liqueur, Midori and melon.
Recipients: Cocktail lovers who like to sip their drinks.
Type: Frozen
Read MorePRINT & SEND
