Herbal concoctions

Got a surplus of fresh herbs sprouting in your garden? Tempted by the fragrant bunches of them at the farmers’ market?

Sure, they’ll perk up pasta sauces, soup up soups and kick up casseroles. But set some basil, mint and rosemary aside, and consider serving some of the herbs shaken – not stirred.

Fresh herbs give an unexpected zing to cocktails, lending bright flavors to a variety of drinks. Think beyond mint in a mojito or in a julep. You can pair sage with gin, rosemary and basil with vodka, lavender with lemonade, and on and on.

“The flavors you can get from fresh herbs, you can’t get that with anything else,” says Garth Hicks, floor manager of Spokane’s Wild Sage, who has been shaking up herbal cocktails for years.

The downtown restaurant serves the popular Wild Sage martini, which melds fresh sage leaves with gin, a little orange liqueur, lemon juice and some sugar syrup. Also on the menu is a cocktail crafted from house-infused lavender vodka. And there are several nonalcoholic herbal beverages at the restaurant, including a Spicy Sage Lemonade and Mango Mint Splash.

Wild Sage, like a growing number of area dining spots, seeks out fresh, locally grown ingredients for its dishes whenever possible. The inventive cocktails are simply an extension of that philosophy, co-owner David Wells says. The restaurant gets most of its herbs from a grower in the Spokane Valley. All of the juices are squeezed to order for each drink.

“People are looking for something a little more fresh, a little more unusual,” Wells says.

Bluefish restaurant in downtown Spokane recently introduced a new drink menu, which includes the Cuban Cousin (a mojito with lemon rum) and the Basil Bliss (basically a mojito that swaps the traditional mint for basil).

Customers have taken to the herbal concoctions, says Simon Moorby, the day bartender.

“Oh, definitely,” Moorby says. “Especially in the summertime. I think that fresh taste definitely goes a long way.”

And Mizuna in Spokane, also known for its fresh and local ingredients, serves a rosemary martini, garnished with olives on a rosemary-twig spear. Bartenders also are working on a basil lemon drop, says owner Mike Jones.

Spokane Twigs restaurants have a regular lineup of two dozen martinis, along with seasonal specials. Bartenders whip up a variety of flavored mojitos, along with other herb-infused drinks such as the Basil Trance, which blends mandarin vodka, Hpnotiq liqueur, muddled fresh basil and a little cranberry juice. They’ve also had a cilantro mojito special.

“You’d think it would be a tougher sell, but the mojitos just go crazy in the summertime,” says Mike Shea, general manager of Twigs on the South Hill, who helps create most of the cocktails. “People are just getting more creative with their drinks that they’re doing. … It’s no different than the chef when he’s creating his food.”

Home mixologists can craft similar herb-infused cocktails, as long as they have a basic understanding of the flavor profiles of their ingredients.

Rosemary and sage pair well with vodka, Hicks says. Mint blends with rum, and oregano and basil mix nicely with gin, he says.

You also want to experiment to get the proportions correct. Some herbs can overpower a drink, even in very small quantities. Hicks learned that while trying to infuse vodka with lavender.

“It was like taking a bite out of lavender,” he says of his first attempt.

Herbs also add sophistication to nonalcoholic drinks, such as variations on lemonade, limeade and iced teas, Hicks says.

There’s some debate on getting the most flavor out of herbs for a cocktail. Some prefer to muddle them, crushing them in the glass with ice and maybe some sweetener. Hicks is a fan of tearing the leaves to release flavor.

“Muddling tends to make pieces that end up in your teeth,” he says.

Whether you choose to muddle or tear, here are some herbal concoctions (including some nonalcoholic ideas) to get your creative juices flowing:

Wild Sage Martini

From Wild Sage restaurant, Spokane

2 ounces Tanqueray No. Ten gin

½ ounce Cointreau

1 ounce fresh lemon juice

1 ounce simple syrup (see note below)

Splash of soda

4 to 5 fresh sage leaves, plus an extra for garnish

1/8 of an orange

Fill cocktail shaker with ice. Add ripped sage leaves and all other ingredients. Shake well. (You should get some ice crystals on top when drink is poured.)

Note: Make simple syrup by heating equal parts sugar and water until the sugar dissolves. Extra syrup can be stored, covered, in the refrigerator.

Yield: 1 serving.

Approximate nutrition per serving: 262 calories, less than 1 gram fat (no saturated fat, 1 percent fat calories), less than 1 gram protein, 27 grams carbohydrate, no cholesterol, no dietary fiber, 15 milligrams sodium.

Basil Bliss

From Mizuna restaurant, Spokane

4 ounces Bacardi rum

5 basil leaves

½ ounce each fresh lime and fresh lemon juices

Splash of sparkling water

Fill a muddling glass with ice. Pour in rum and muddle the basil. Pour in juices and sparkling water. Shake well and serve.

Yield: 1 serving.

Approximate nutrition per serving: 270 calories, no fat, no protein, less than 1 gram dietary fiber, 3 grams carbohydrate, no cholesterol, 7 milligrams sodium.

Pear Martini with Lemon and Rosemary

From Bon Appetit, January 2004

Rosemary syrup:

1 cup sugar

1 cup water

4 (4-inch) rosemary sprigs

Martini:

1 (750-ml) bottle premium vodka

5 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

3 tablespoons Poire Williams (clear pear brandy)

12 ice cubes

12 small rosemary sprigs

For rosemary syrup: Bring sugar and water to boil in small saucepan, stirring to dissolve sugar. Add rosemary sprigs. Reduce heat and simmer 2 minutes. Cool completely. Discard rosemary.

For the martini: Mix rosemary syrup, vodka, lemon juice and brandy in large pitcher. Cover pitcher with plastic wrap and place in freezer until mixture is cold, about 3 hours. Remove pitcher from freezer, add ice cubes. Stir briskly to melt ice partially. Strain mixture into chilled martini glasses. Garnish each with rosemary sprig.

Yield: 12 drinks.

Approximate nutrition per serving: 209 calories, no fat, no fiber, no protein, 17 grams carbohydrate, no cholesterol, no dietary fiber, no sodium.

Bourbon-Mint Iced Tea

From Every Day with Rachael Ray, August-September 2006

1 lemon, cut into 8 wedges

½ cup sugar

1/3 cup mint leaves

½ cup fresh orange juice

½ cup fresh lemon juice

1 cup bourbon

Ice cubes

1 quart plus 1 cup unsweetened iced tea (40 ounces)

In a two-quart pitcher, muddle or mash the lemon wedges, sugar and mint leaves with a large wooden spoon until a thick syrup forms. Add the orange juice and bourbon and stir to combine. Fill the pitcher with ice cubes, add the iced tea and stir to combine.

Yield: 2 quarts

Approximate nutrition per 8-ounce serving: 161 calories, no fat, less than 1 gram dietary fiber, less than 1 gram protein, 19 grams carbohydrate, no cholesterol, less than 1 gram dietary fiber, 5 milligrams sodium.

Blackberry-Thyme Margarita

From Bon Appetit, July 2007

16 large fresh blackberries, divided

4 small fresh thyme sprigs, divided

6 tablespoons silver tequila

¼ cup simple syrup (see note below)

3 tablespoons fresh lime juice

1 tablespoon Cointreau or other orange liqueur

2 cups ice cubes, divided

¼ cup chilled sparkling wine

Place 14 blackberries and 2 thyme sprigs in medium bowl. Press firmly on solids with muddler or back of wooden spoon until mashed. Mix in tequila, simple syrup, lime juice and Cointreau, then 1 cup ice. Stir to blend well.

Strain into large measuring cup. Mix in sparkling wine. Divide ice between two tall glasses. Pour mixture over. Garnish each with 1 blackberry and 1 thyme sprig.

Note: To make simple syrup, heat equal parts sugar and water until sugar dissolves. Excess can be stored in the refrigerator.

Yield: 2 servings.

Approximate nutrition per serving: 258 calories, less than 1 gram fat, less than 1 gram protein, 30 grams carbohydrate, no cholesterol, 3 grams dietary fiber, 3 milligrams sodium.

And here are some nonalcoholic options:

Mint Limeade

From epicurious.com, January 2007

¼ cup mint leaves

2 ounces honey syrup (see note below)

1 ½ ounces lime juice

Chilled club soda or seltzer

In 12-ounce glass, muddle mint and syrup. Add ice and lime juice, fill with club soda. Stir well and serve.

Note: To make honey syrup, simmer equal parts honey and water for about 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. Cover and refrigerate excess.

Yield: 1 serving.

Approximate nutrition per serving: 116 calories, less than 1 gram fat, 2 grams protein, 30 milligrams carbohydrate, no cholesterol, less than 1 gram dietary fiber, 65 milligrams sodium.

Lavender Lemonade

From www.allrecipes.com

1 tray ice cubes

¼ cup dried lavender

2 cups boiling water

¾ cup white sugar

8 lemons

5 cups cold water, or as needed

Place ice cubes in a 2-quart pitcher. Place lavender into a bowl and pour boiling water over it. Allow to steep for about 10 minutes, then strain out the lavender and discard. Mix the sugar into the hot lavender water, then pour into the pitcher with the ice.

Squeeze the juice from the lemons into the pitcher. Top off the pitcher with cold water and stir. Taste and adjust lemon juice and sugar, if desired.

Yield: 6 servings.

Approximate nutrition per serving: 127 calories, no fat, no protein, 35 grams carbohydrate, no cholesterol, no dietary fiber, 10 milligrams sodium.