Mardi Gras Hurricane Cocktail

Working on the theory that it is better to be weeks too early than a day too late, I wanted to alert all of you who follow One Perfect Bite to changes that are in the wind. Come the 1st of March, Google will no longer support Google Friends Connect on any platform other than Blogger. This has major implications for those of you who have blogs on the WordPress, TypePad, Tumblr or Movable Type platforms. If you have been following One Perfect Bite through Google Friend Connect you will no longer receive automatic updates. That can be remedied by subscribing to my blog using RSS, Facebook, Twitter or email. You can do that by selecting from the buttons that you will find at the top of the column on the right side of the screen. You will also be able to add it to your Google homepage or reader of your choice. I have started to post each day's entry on Pinterest and I'd love to have you take a look at what we are doing there. Obviously, for those of you with blogs on the Blogger platform, nothing will change, at least for the time being. I want to thank all of you for your support and I think I've done everything I can to make this transition as seamless and trouble free as it can be for you. I hope that come the 1st of March, it will be business as usual. I'm just a click away.

Everyone knows that the signature drink of the Kentucky Derby is the Mint Julep. How about Mardi Gras? The beverage of choice in New Orleans this coming week will be the Hurricane Cocktail. I should be embarrassed to admit this, but I first sampled the Hurricane last year at a Fat Tuesday party, where it was the (only) beverage of choice. Were it not for that, I'd probably still be in the woods sipping cider through a straw. I'm not a cocktail person and, while I love wine, I don't seek out drinks that come with parasols. They are just too sweet to my taste and I usually take a pass. Actually, as sweet drinks go, this one is not too bad and lots of folks really love it. For the next few days, I'm going to be featuring foods associated with Mardi Gras and I thought this drink would be a fun place to start. I'm also including a recipe for grenadine. The Hurricane numbs you for what is to come. Here we go.

Hurricane Cocktail Photo Courtesy of PRZman

Ingredients:
4 ounces light rum
4 ounces dark rum
2 ounces grenadine, or passion fruit syrup
2 ounces fresh orange juice
2 ounces sour mix, or fresh lime juice
2 teaspoon superfine sugar
Orange wedges, for garnish

Directions:
Mix all the ingredients in a cocktail shaker, and shake to dissolve the sugar. I used a mason jar. Add ice cubes to come halfway up the sides of 4 tall glasses. Divide the mixture between the glasses. Garnish each with an orange wedge and serve with a long straw. Yield: 4 servings


Grenadine:

Ingredients:
1 quart pomegranate juice
2 cups sugar
2 dashes orange flower water

Directions:
Bring pomegranate juice and sugar to a boil in a saucepan. Reduce heat and cover, allowing it to simmer for 10-15 minutes and stirring occasionally. Allow mixture to cool, then pour into a small decanter or bottle with a tight-sealing lid. Add a dash or two of orange flower water (don't overdo it). Seal the bottle and give it a few good shakes.

Cook's Note: This grenadine should be good for up to 3 weeks and makes about 1-1/2 cups. You can also add a small amount of overproof vodka as a preservative to give it a little longer shelf life.









One Year Ago Today: Luscious Lemon Sauce














Two Years Ago Today: Truffled Mac n' Cheese

Pink Lemonade Granita - Pink Saturday

From the kitchen of One Perfect Bite...Years ago, some folks affectionately named their cars. It was throwback to the days when horses pulled the family wagon. I came from that kind of family and, to this day, cars in our family are given names. I call mine Bessie. I must admit that I've carried the naming of inanimate object even further. My computer also has a name. We call her Carmen. I've just brought Carmen back from a 48 hour stay in the emergency room at the Geek Squad hospital. She's a headstrong flirt and, despite repeated warnings, she invited trouble with a virus that seems to have come from Facebook. She has been very, very sick but the guys brought her back from the brink of self-destruction and she's lived to blog another day. Beware of requests that come from Facebook, especially those that pop-up and ask if you want to share or approve a new follower. The request may or not be legitimate. I'm now a couple of hundred dollars in the hole but a lot wiser than I was on Friday. Carmen has been grounded. This is probably the latest Pink Saturday post since the inception of the meme. I am sorry, but it could not be helped. Today's feature is a simple palate cleanser that I think you'll enjoy. Let's get right to it. Here's the recipe.

Pink Lemonade Granita...from the kitchen of One Perfect Bite, courtesy of Nicole Plue

Ingredients:
1-1/2 cups water
3/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons granulated sugar
3/4 cup fresh lemon juice (from 3 to 4 lemons)
2 teaspoons grenadine

Directions:
1) Combine water, sugar, lemon juice, and grenadine in a medium bowl. Stir with a large spoon or whisk until sugar has thoroughly dissolved, about 1 minute.
2) Pour mixture into a 9-inch-square shallow baking pan. This pan size works best ­because it provides a large surface area, a key point in speeding up freezing process. To further hasten freezing, use a metal pan (metal conducts cold well).
Put pan in freezer and stir every 30 minutes, being sure to scrape ice crystals off sides and into middle of pan, until mixture is too frozen to stir, about 3 hours, depending on how cold your freezer is (some granitas can freeze in as ­little as 1 hour). Use tines of a large dinner fork to stir, scrape and break up ice crystals.
3) Cover pan with plastic and freeze over­night. When ready to serve granita, place a fork at the top of the dish and pull it toward you in rows, moving from left to right ­and ­rotating the pan as well. Scape up the shaved ice and fill your chilled glasses or bowls. Yield: 4 cups shaved ice.

This post is being linked to:
Pink Saturday, sponsored by Beverly at How Sweet the Sound.