Valentines at Home

Valentines Dinner cooked at home

Valentines is here and the Bars & Restaurants will be rammed pack as usual so this year stay at home and make dinner at home for your loved one.

Here's some drink suggestions for a special cosy night at home. When you make drinks at home its important to keep it simple because you don’t want to splash out on loads of ingredients and not use them up. So I’ve selected some great drinks to do that can be done with ingredients that can be used on a regular day, but saying that, most people might drink some cocktails on a regular basis. Lucky you! You wont have any wastage

I'm sure a nice bottle or two of wine will be a good choice for your dinner, but for an aperitif to get the mood going is a great way to start the evening and with dessert too a cocktail can finish off the evening very nice.

I’m guessing most people will be ok to buy a bottle of vodka, pop in the freezer and it will last for
ever. If you have any Sparkling wine left over that will be a shock!

Sparkling Wine Aperitif:

Bellini
2 oz White Peach Puree Champagne Flute no ice
¼ oz Peach Liqueur (Optional) Build ingredients, stir liqueur and puree then add
Top with Prosecco Prosecco slowly
Garnish with Peach Slice

Created By: Giuseppe Cipriani, Harry’s Bar, Venice, 1948
Comment: You can use Champagne or other Sparkling wines if you can t find Prosecco

White peach puree is not something you will find so use a regular can of peaches and blend with syrup from the can to make the puree (lasts 2 days), don’t splash out on the Peach Liqueur unless you plan to make these regularly. The Puree can be used for the dessert cocktail (see below)


Martini Aperitif
Selections:

French Martini
2 oz Vodka Martini Glass no ice
¼ oz Crème de Framboise Shake & Double Strain all ingredients
¼ oz Fresh Pineapple Juice Garnish none

Lychee Martini
2 oz Vodka Martini Glass no ice
½ oz Kwai Feh Lychee Liqueur Shake & Double Strain all ingredients
2 oz Lychee Mix Garnish with Lychee in side the glass

These two beauties are very romantic drinks and for the fruit liqueurs you can substitute it for a dash of Sugar Syrup if you don’t wish to splash out on those. These liqueurs though are nice on the rocks with some soda water, so won’t be wasted by sitting in the cupboard for another year. The Lychee mix is a regular can of lychee blended with the can juice (lasts 2 days). For the fresh Pineapple juice, you can use any is ok, but I will just put half a pineapple ring (no syrup) in the
shaker and smash it with the back of a spoon and then shake the drink. That’s the cheapest way

Terms used:
Shake:
you will need a shaker of some sort to shake these Martini cocktails as they are served in a Martini glass with no ice. I have once put a bar coaster over a pint glass or any big glass and shook it up, take that slow and be careful.

Double Strain:
This means you have to use another strainer (tea strainer is good) to make sure
not even the smallest of ice pieces gets in the drink. This is optional to do
this, but no ice in a martini is better

Garnish:
use something to decorate your drink with, sometimes on the side of the glass or inside. Be creative, but keep to the theme of the drink. Some garnish can be used to add flavour and some used only for decoration


Dessert Cocktails

These drinks must be sweet for an after dinner cocktail, the first & third one here you can use the Crème de Framboise from the aperitif and the second one you can use the Peach Liqueur and Peach Puree if you’ve decided to go with the Bellini

Saint Moritz
2 oz Crème de Framboise Rocks Glass with crushed Ice
2 oz Half & Half Build & Stir all ingredients in order
Garnish with Raspberry/Blueberry

Peach a la Crème
1 oz Vodka Fat Cocktail Glass no ice (any large glass, 15oz)
1 oz Peach Liqueur Blend all ingredients
3 oz Peach Puree Garnish with Peach Slice (fresh one is nice)
2 Scoop Vanilla Ice Cream
Ice (Crushed is best)

Raspberry a la Crème
1 oz Vodka Fat Cocktail Glass no ice (any large glass, 15oz)
1 oz Crème de Framboise Blend all ingredients
8-10 Raspberries Garnish with a Raspberry or two
2 Scoop Vanilla Ice Cream
Ice (Crushed is best)

How much ice do I use in a blended drink? Just fill the glass you are going to use with ice ¾ full and then use that as a gauge as the amount to use. Crushed ice is best because it won’t take long to blend and the drink will be a lot smoother, but I’m sure everyone at home will have only regular cubes ice, its ok.

Half & Half: This is a mix of cream and milk, you can buy
a small cream carton (200ml) in most shops, just stir together the same amount
of cream and milk and that’s Half & Half.

Hope you have a great Valentines and
don’t forget to check out the other cocktails listed on the blog.

Chars
‘Keep Mixing’