.Pitcherful of Party

Let the sound of the blender's blades serenade your summer nights

07.16.08

Shall we give tribute to a summer’s day? What could be more lovely and temperate than the blender blades stirring the darling fruits of today, for summer’s lease hath all too short a date! So what are you waiting for? Nothing sighs “summer quenching” better than an icy blender drink. And the beauty is, you can toss just about any combination of fruits, a healthy slosh of rum (or tequila or vodka or . . . ?) and a handful of ice, and hit the button for a pitcherful of party.

music in the park san jose
music in the park san jose

I’ve included some recipes collected from sources both savory and seedy (all personally sampled—that is, inspected—by a willing and professional panel of blenderologists) to get you started. In other words, you’ve just been issued your own poetic license to go blender crazy.

Some tips:

• In general, four ice cubes per serving makes a slush and eight makes a frozen drink. Follow your own bliss.

• Use only fresh ice (not those old cubes with little crumbs and bits of parsley stuck to them).

• Smaller cubes are easier to blend, crushed ice being easiest, and gentler on the old Osterizer.

• You can use frozen fruit or fresh ripe seasonal fruit. If using the latter, make sure to toss it in the freezer for at least 30 minutes before starting.

• It’s a good idea to keep alcohol in the freezer. Your mantra should be: Keep it cool.

• Blend for no more than 45 to 60 seconds. Overblending will make your creations watery.

• Serve immediately. If you have any of your concoction left over, keep it cool, and reblend before serving.

• Fruit flavors can be accentuated by adding appropriate juices and/or flavored liqueurs.

• These babies are usually served in parfait glasses, but any tall glass will do.

• Now’s the time to break out those little paper umbrellas and fancy stirrers. These drinks demand to be pimped out to the max.

• Sip slowly or suffer the worse kind of brain freeze.

• Remember, just ’cause they look like smoothies, doesn’t mean they are. Go easy, pardner.

Icy Bliss

Here are both classic and more exotic recipes to prepare individual portions; multiply by the number in your party (or by the most vocal of your party) accordingly.

Strawberry Daiquiri

 2 ounces light rum

1 ounce lime juice

1/2 ounce triple sec

1/2 tsp. superfine sugar

1 cup ice

5 strawberries

Garnish with a strawberry. Variations: Instead of strawberries, or in combination to taste, add chunks of mango, banana, blueberries, peach and/or pineapple.

Blue Bayou

1 cup of ice

1 1/2 ounce vodka

1/2 ounce blue Curaçao

1/2 cup fresh or canned pineapple

2 ounces grapefruit juice

Garnish with a chunk of pineapple.

Spiked Frozen Lemonade

3/4 cup lemonade

1/4 cup fresh lemon juice

1 cup lemon sorbet

1/2 cup vodka

1 cup ice

Garnish with mint sprigs.

Frozen Fruit Margarita

1 ounce tequila

1/2 ounce triple sec

1/2 ounce sour mix

1/2 cup ice

fresh fruit and fruit liqueur of your choice; lime juice to taste

Garnish with a lime slice.

Rock Lobster

1 ounce coconut rum

1/2 ounce banana liqueur

dash of grenadine

1/2 ripe banana

dash of pineapple juice

dash of orange juice

1 cup ice 

dark rum to top

—A.Y.

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Food-related comings and goings, openings and closings, and other essays for those who love the kitchen and what it produces.

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