as i am currently off alcohol for lent (which means that even martini nights remain booze-free!), and admittedly am quite enjoying it, i have discovered the pleasure of mixing nice cocktails without gin or vodka or whatever else makes you spin right round, baby, right round like a record … 😉
this one is quite a berry overload, not too sweet and very more-ish:
FROZEN BERRY BLAST
ingredients (for one):
- a handful of mixed frozen berries (go with what you like, i used a mix of blueberries, red currants, blackberries, raspberries and very few strawberries)
- juice of half a lime or lemon
- 2-3 fresh mint leaves
- 2 cl elderberry juice (unsweetened)
- 10 cl fever-tree elderflower tonic water
in a smoothie-maker or high-powered blender, mix the frozen berries, the lime or lemon juice, the mint leaves, the elderberry juice and half of the tonic water (the berries should be thoroughly covered by liquid) and blend – you will end up with a half-frozen runny sorbet. if it is too thick, add some more liquid and blend again. fill into a cocktail glass and gently pour the the rest of the tonic water on top.
it is very fruity in taste but not sweet and the elderflower tonic adds a nice gentle bitterness to it. it is a great after-dinner treat and can easily replace a dessert, especially as the pips remaining add some texture to the drink!
as always, ingredients are not set in stone, if you can’t get elderflower tonic water use some other flowery tonic water. the elderberry juice is admittedly hard to get, and you can swap it for some other unsweetened berry juice or unsweetened pomegranate juice. don’t use red grape juice as it will be too sweet. the berry blast needs to have quite a fruity zing to it (you can even call it tart, but not harsh!) to really turn your tastebuds ecstatic…
palateofwisdom 