Blackberry - Pineapple Sidecar (More Fun with Blackberries)

Standing on the shoulders of giants. 


This is a term that goes back to at least the 12th century.  I'll let you folks look it up, but the idea that each of us owes a tremendous debt to those who have learned before us is not a foreign concept to cooks and chefs.  Where would we be without those who discovered the "magic" roots that can be eaten and those we cannot?  What about the holy trinity, or the mother sauces?


Whoa! Getting kind of deep for a cocktail recipe?


Maybe, but every once in a while I say to Connie, “That was a great drink, definitely a keeper.” He says “Standing on the shoulders of giants.” This relates to the fact that most all of us have access to the recipes, publications, of others and, most of all, the internet. This gives us access to the Whole Wide World. Gee, I wonder where they came up with www.?


Enough philosophy. Tonight we had, yet again, oh horror of horrors, too many blackberries. I am going to blame this on my niece Samantha again, because we added them to our fruit salad at her bridesmaids' brunch. Regardless, my sweetie Connie stepped up and found the following on www.yumsugar.com which attributed it to Food and Wine (www.foodandwine.com) and since that organization is not a natural person, there was someone else behind that! Standing on the shoulders of giants!


So here we are, a

Blackberry-Pineapple Sidecar

(for two)


Ingredients:

14 Blackberries
Ice
4 oz Cognac (we used Courvoisier VS)
1 oz Cointreau or other triple sec (we used Grand Marnier)
3 oz pineapple juice
1 oz fresh squeezed lemon juice
1 oz simple syrup (we use 1:1)
1 or 2 pineapple leaves for garnish (we didn't have any and at the time this was written, Indianapolis was buried under 2 inches of ice and 6 inches of snow so the heck with all of that!) (Sorry, a little bit of cabin fever breaking out there)


Shake all of the ingredients (except the non-existent pineapple leaves) in a cocktail shaker.


Strain into a chilled martini glass. (Then add those darn pineapple leaves, for those of you who aren't frozen solid.) Toast the love of your life and enjoy.

adapted from Food and Wine