Rosy Rhubarb Syrup + A New Cosmo + Herb Syrup

Yes, indeed. I do love this new cookbook.  Heartland by Judith Fertig.  Sunday evening while we were prepping the living room for it's new paint job and smoking lamb ribs on the grill, I made two batches of syrup.  We've got a bumper crop of lemon balm and I've been trying to figure out what to do with it other than to make a lemon pesto for seafood.  Then, I saw the recipe for herb syrup. 

Let me digress for a moment.  We've been experimenting with lots of different vodkas for quite a while.  Thanks to Jason at Ancient Fire Wines for a lot of ideas and encouragement.  We've loved making different drinks with ginger vodka, vanilla vodka and pepper vodka.  Connie usually has a jug of simple syrup in the refrigerator.  So, when I saw these recipes I immediately knew we'd figure out a way to use them! 

Then, Memorial Day the debate was which syrup and drink to try first.  The Herb Syrup and the Garden Gimlet or the Rosy Rhubarb Syrup and the Cosmo...  Neither of us wanted to be the one to decide but it turned out we were both just slightly leaning toward the Cosmo.

What did we think?  Veddy interesting!  Lots of floral notes.  Quite refreshing.  The kind of drink that you can have a few then realize you'd just better stay in your chair.  Fortunately, since I was finishing up pulled pork (I'd finished trimming the living room walls- YAY!) and Connie was finishing up rolling the last wall, we had one and quit.  But, it certainly won't be our last one!  And, we will find other uses for the rhubarb syrup.  That was great stuff!!

Herb Syrup

Ingredients:

1 c sugar
3/4 c water
1/2 c packed fresh, aromatic herb leaves, coarsely chopped (ok, I cheated and didn't chop)

Directions:

Put all of the ingredients in a small saucepan. 

Simmer until the sugar has dissolved and the leaves have wilted.  Remove from the heat and allow to steep for about half an hour.  Strain and discard the leaves. 

Store the syrup in the refrigerator for up to two weeks.


Rosy Rhubarb Syrup

Ingredients:

4 c chopped fresh or thawed frozen rhubarb
1 c water
2 c sugar
juice of 2 lemons

Directions:

Mix all the ingredients in a small saucepan. 

Cook until the rhubarb is pulpy.  Strain. 

Reserve the rhubarb for another use.  Store the syrup in the fridge for up to a month.

Isn't that stunningly gorgeous???


Now, I'll confess that the recipe says to discard the leftover rhubarb.  Why I'm not sure.  My brain immediately zeroed in on the fool that my friend the MomChef made with blackberries.  I grabbed the heavy cream out of the fridge, whipped up some of it and proceeded to have a tasting to decide what liqueur to use in it.  Canton Ginger Liqueur won.  So, I drizzled a bit of that into the whipped cream and folded in the leftover rhubarb and we had a treat for dessert!

Ok, on the the Cosmo. 

Farm Girl Cosmo

serves 4

Ingredients:

3/4 c vodka
1 c Rosy Rhubarb Syrup
1/4 c freshly squeezed lime juice
1 t orange extract
thin slices of lime for garnish

Directions:

Combine the ingredients in a cocktail shaker with ice.  Shake until very cold.  Strain into cocktail glasses.  Kiss the one you love and enjoy!

adapted from Heartland

Three O Cherry Vodka

Ah, Christmas. The best part of it is getting the family together, relaxing and enjoying great food. The worst part is the mindless commercialization and over-consumption. Connie and I really don’t do much in the way of Christmas presents for each other. We usually decide on something we need or would like to have as an indulgence, buy it and then wait. No Black Friday ventures into the mall for us!


For those who want to buy something for us as a present, that does make it difficult. We lack nothing we need. So my brother John (the younger), came up with a unique solution. He bought us a bottle of Three-O cherry vodka from Three Olives. He included a thumb drive with 42 pages of recipes, not just for the cherry variety, but all of their flavored vodka. Thoughtful man, and a gift we really can and intend to use.

I will say we thought it a bit strange that John was down on the floor with a flashlight checking out our liquor cabinet on Christmas Eve when the family gathered at our home.  Ostensibly he was admiring the variety.  Now, we know he was checking to make sure he wasn't giving us a duplicate!


We've made our first cocktail with the Three-O cherry vodka. It comes to us from Three Olives and it is called Three-O™ Cherry Cosmo.  When all was said and done, Connie and I had selected the same three drinks we wanted to try.  All needed martini glasses.  When he called me in to the kitchen to get my opinion and I selected the same ones, he laughed and opened the freezer door.  He'd already put martini glasses into the freezer to chill.  He knows me so well!!


The recipe called for 3 oz. of vodka per serving. That's two shots is a little strong, especially when you have to cook and straighten the house. Connie backed off the vodka by 1 oz. per serving to two. Still, it was a little on the strong side. We decided that it could use a little bit more of the cranberry juice and / or a bit of simple syrup. I’ll update the post when we revisit this recipe, which we will. It was a tasty drink. Here is the recipe (for two):


Three O Cherry Cosmo

Ingredients:

4 oz. Three-O Cherry Vodka

1 oz. Triple Sec (we use DeKuyper)

2 oz. cranberry juice (we use Ocean Spray)

Splash fresh lime juice


Directions:
Shake with ice and strain into a chilled martini glass.


Garnish with a cherry.



Toast the one you love, and enjoy!

adapted from Three O recipes