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Celebrate Good Times’ Fresh Family Recipes
As this issue of Madeworthy is our 50th, we’re in the mood to celebrate, and celebrations need libations.
In this installment of Fresh Family Recipes, we’re featuring three delightful cocktails/mocktails. From Marcus Paslay and the team at Mercado Juarez comes a delicious (and gorgeous) hibiscus margarita, while Pam Moncrief of POP UP BAR has created two cocktails especially for Madeworthy. (These cocktails need names, and we will hold a naming contest when we share these recipes digitally, so stay tuned!)
Mercado Juarez’s Hibiscus Margarita
Illustration by Trish Wise
When hibiscus flowers, also known as jamaica, are infused into water, they make a beautifully red decoction with a tart flavor.
Ingredients
1 ½ ounces Socorro Tequila Blanco
½ ounce hibiscus simple syrup (see below)
½ ounce Jalisco Orange Liqueur
½ ounce lime juice
Directions
Add all ingredients to a shaker tin, fill with ice, and shake vigorously. Strain over fresh ice into a rocks glass. Garnish with a fresh lime wedge.
Hibiscus Simple Syrup
Ingredients
1 cup water
1 cup sugar
2 ounces (weight) dried hibiscus flowers
Directions
Heat equal parts water and sugar over medium-high heat until the sugar melts. Steep dried hibiscus flowers in the warm syrup for 2 hours. Strain and keep refrigerated for up to two weeks.
Madeworthy’s Holiday Celebration Cocktail #1
Illustration by Trish Wise
Ingredients
1 ½ ounces Suerte Tequila Blanco (substitute with 2 ounces sparkling mineral water for a mocktail)
¾ ounce grapefruit juice
½ ounce cinnamon pumpkin seed orgeat (see below)
¼ ounce lime juice
¼ ounce POP UP BAR’s Go with Your Gutt Bloody Mary Mix (see below) or 1 teaspoon of the same for a mocktail
Directions
Fill a shaker with ice and add all ingredients. Shake five times VERY HARD. Strain into a rocks glass rimmed generously with POP UP BAR’s Seasoned Greetings Rim Mix (see below). Garnish with charred grapefruit peel.
Madeworthy’s Holiday Celebration Cocktail #2
Illustration by Trish Wise
Ingredients
1 ounce Suerte Tequila Blanco
½ ounce lime juice
4 ½ ounces POP UP BAR Go with Your Gutt Bloody Mary Mix (see below)
Directions
Fill a Collins glass rimmed with POP UP BAR’s Seasoned Greetings Rim Mix (see below) with ice. Really pack it in! Add all the ingredients and stir to combine. Serve with a Best Maid dill pickle, olives, or any other pickled vegetables. [Editor’s note: When taste-testing these recipes, I garnished mine with a Best Maid dill pickle spear, a spear of pickled asparagus, and a couple of dilly beans. Yum!) For a mocktail, delete the tequila and add a generous squeeze of lime.
POP UP BAR Go With Your Gutt Bloody Mary Mix
Ingredients
64 ounces V8 Vegetable Juice
8 tablespoons Bragg Apple Cider Vinegar with Mother
2 tablespoons Lee & Perrins Worcestershire Sauce
2 tablespoons Best Maid Pickle juice
1 tablespoon kosher salt
1 teaspoon black pepper
1 teaspoon garlic [Editor’s note: I used fresh minced garlic, but you can substitute 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder]
½ teaspoon paprika
¼ teaspoon turmeric
¼ teaspoon dried dill
Directions
Blend well and blend often! Refrigerate in a sealed container.
POP UP BAR Seasoned Greetings Rim Mix
Illustration by Trish Wise
Ingredients
¼ cup kosher salt
2 teaspoons ground thyme
2 teaspoons ground sage
Full zest of two navel oranges
Directions
Combine all ingredients in a bowl. With your fingers, massage the mixture, making sure to thoroughly coat the salt with the orange oils. Dehydrate at 175° for two hours, or spread the mixture on a baking sheet and bake in the oven at 200° for one hour, leaving the oven door cracked. After cooling, blend the mixture lightly in a food processor. Store in an air-tight container with a small desiccant pack.
Cinnamon Pumpkin Seed Orgeat (2:1 syrup)
Illustration by Trish Wise
Ingredients
2 cups roasted salted pumpkin seed, finely ground in a food processor
1 Ceylon cinnamon stick, crushed
4 cups water
1 to 1 ½ cups demerara sugar (depending on yield of first three ingredients)
1 to 1 ½ cups granulated white sugar (depending on yield of first three ingredients)
Directions
In a saucepan over medium-high heat, bring the ground pumpkin seeds, cinnamon stick, and water to a boil, then reduce the heat and simmer on low-medium heat for 20 mins. Strain with cheesecloth into another saucepan.
Measuring by weight (can measure by volume if both sugars are granulated), combine the strained liquid with twice the amount of sugar (50% demerara, 50% granulated white) in a saucepan. Heat gently over low heat until sugar is fully dissolved (syrup will be completely transparent). Let the syrup cool and enjoy!
