Life is a FIESTA with ¡LUCINDA!

Tequila Recipes, Herb Recipes, Herb Gardens, Garden Design, & Entertaining

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Featured Presenter at Burlington Wine & Food Festival June 17th-20th in Vermont

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Wine and Food Festival

 

I am thrilled to visit Vermont…to escape Texas floods,  mosquitos, heat and humidity!  I’ll sign copies of my book at each event, ¡VIVA TEQUILA! Cocktails, Cooking, and Other Agave Adventures and  present several tequila/mezcal events, including a festive slide show, a tequila dinner, an Añejo and dessert tasting, and a cooking class.

Then,  I look forward to relax at the Saturday Wine & Food festival–to sample the renowned cuisine of the region and meet some wonderful new friends!  Here’s some information about my events…hope to see some of y’all there! Visit the Event Site for times and locations.

 

Judging the “Great Shakes”
Cocktail Competition

Wednesday | June 17th | 4:30 – 6:30 | Waterworks | SOLD OUT

 

Tequila Añejo & Dessert Tasting

Wednesday | June 17th | 7:30 – 9:30 | Waterworks

 

¡Viva Tequila Fiesta!

(Festive Slide Show Presentation, Tequila Tasting and Mexican Buffet)

Thursday | June 18th | 6:00 – 8:30 |
Hotel Vermont

 

Fiesta Cooking Class with Chef Contos and Lucinda Hutson

You’ll learn all about tequila and mezcal, Mexico’s beloved agave spirits, and gather inspiration  to create your own Mexican fiesta with many fun and festive recipes. Mexican attire suggested!

Friday | June 19th | 6:00 – 8:00 | Chef Contos Kitchen & Store | Voted one of the best cooking schools in the world by FOOD & WINE

 

 

 ¡Let’s Fiesta in Vermont!

 

 

Spring Spritzers

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I love to create festive cocktails!   In this post you’ll read about spring spritzers… and  find a recipe for a lively concoction that I made for Desi Arnaz one summer while I was fishing in the Sea of Cortez in Mexico.

 

gin and tonic cucumber salad burnet spritzer

Gin and Tonic with cucumber slices, rose petals, and salad burnet, a cucumber scented herb.

 

Garnish and Flavor Cocktails from the Garden

‘Tis the season of the spritzers…the time to make refreshing coolers and to flavor and garnish them with fragrant sprigs of herbs and colorful flowers.  My spring garden is lush with aromatic herbs like lemon balm and lemon  verbena, spearmint, pineapple sage, and salad burnet, an herb with pretty serrated  cucumber-scented leaves.  Rosemary, sage,  oregano, chiles, basil and bay add extra flavor to savory cocktails like Bloody Mary’s and Micheladas.

Cheerful purple pansies and johnny-jump-ups make any spritzer special, as do rose petals,  spikes of lavender or sunny nasturtiums.  My Mexican limes, kumquats, satsuma and Meyer lemons are now dressed in fragrant blooms and I can’t wait for  summer when their tangy fruits will flavor margaritas  and other summer spritzers.

 

A Gin and Tonic You’ll Remember

After reading a British murder mystery, my book club has decided to meet this week in my garden for tea sandwiches and Gin & Tonics ...but my version of a G&T is pretty darn special.  It’s  flavored with  icy cucumber slices, rose petals and delicate sprigs of salad burnet.  Hope you’ll like it too!

Here’s my article with recipes for this gin and tonic and other seasonal spritzers (including the one I made for Desi)  found in  Edible Austin, where I have a  regular column,  La Casa de Buen Sabor.  

(Stay tuned for my next month’s article in Edible Austin about May Wine, another of my signature cocktails flavored with fresh herbs, strawberries, and flowers.)

Enjoy a festive spritzer in the spring garden!

 

 

 

 

 

Herb Garden Fiesta Punch

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party punch, lemon herbs, purple pansies, mimosa, tequila punch

Everyone loves this refreshing fiesta punch and party pleaser! It’s versatile and easy to make and lends  itself to many presentations.  Serve from a glass pitcher or punch bowl with sprigs of fresh mint and lemon-scented herbs and purple pansies or other edible flowers.  Spike it with tequila, rum or vodka, if you wish.  For a fabulous brunch drink for garden parties, showers, or weddings, serve this pretty punch in champagne flutes spritzed with Italian Prosecco, Spanish Cava, or champagne and garnish with a fresh  sprig  of mint or lemon balm and a purple pansy.  Move over Mimosas!

 

INGREDIENTS:

2  large bunches lemon balm and lemon verbena (add lots of sprigs of crushed lemon thyme, lemon basil, or lemon grass, too)

2  large bunches spearmint or a combination of mild flavored mints

2 large cans (46 ounces each) unsweetened pineapple juice

Juice of 3 lemons

Juice of 3 limes

3 cups fresh pineapple, bite-sized chunks  (optional)

3 lemons, cut into round slices

2–3 limes, cut into round slices

Your favorite bubbly ( spicy ginger brew like Maine Root or Reed’s Extra Ginger Brew),  Squirt (or your favorite grapefruit soda),  or other  artisan sodas or Prosecco or Cava)

Additional sprigs lemon balm and/or mint

Purple pansies or johnny-jump-ups

 

DIRECTIONS:

Tie up herb bouquets with kitchen twine. Gently bruise the fragrant herbs to release their flavor.  Place them in a large jar, and cover with the pineapple chunks and juice, citrus juices and lemon slices.  Chill overnight, stirring occasionally and pressing down on herbs with back of a wooden spoon.  Prior to serving, remove the herbs (they will have discolored) and replace with fresh herb sprigs.  Add lime slices and a generous splash of your favorite bubbly to the punch, and some pretty purple pansies or johnny-jump-ups (violas).  Pour into glasses and garnish with sprigs of fresh lemon balm or mint.

 

VARIATIONS:

Add lemon grass, fresh pineapple chunks, and spicy Jamaican ginger brew (from specialty grocery stores) to the original recipe.  Discard the tough outer leaves from 4 stalks of lemon grass and bruise the stalks with the back of a knife. Cut stalks into 2-inch segments and add them to the punch the day before serving. Long lemon grass stalks also make good “stirrers” for the punch.

Use limeade, lemonade, apple juice, or exotic tropical fruit juice (or any combination of juices) in place of the pineapple juice.  Add fresh lime juice to enhance flavors.

 

 

¡Viva Tequila! Blanco, Reposado, Añejo, or Extra-Añejo?

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blanco reposado añejo tequila

Blanco, Reposado, Añejo or Extra-Añejo? Choose one! Photo Robert Denton.

 

Tequila,  Mexico’s beloved  national spirit, is made from the magical maguey plant, a large Agave with formidable pencas (spiked leaves) that often takes nearly 12 years to grow before harvesting!   Jimadores (agave harvesters) then whack off the pencas to reveal a piña, a large (usually more than 100 pounds) starchy core  that resembles a huge  pineapple.  Piñas  must then be cooked  in large ovens, transforming their  inherent starch into the fermentable sugars needed for distillation.

You’ll read all about this process,  find festive recipes for cocktails and food, and share my  decades of adventures traveling through Mexico’s agave country in my book, ¡VIVA TEQUILA! 

Tequila is a most versatile spirit! You’ll find it comes in four unique styles,  Blanco, Reposado, Añejo, and Extra Añejo, each with its distinct  profile, perfect for sipping and savoring neat or mixing in cocktails.  I am not mentioning the fifth style,  Joven Abocado, best know as “gold” tequila, as this is generally a “Mixto”, or one made with 49% added sugars (such as cane, piloncillo  brown cone sugar, or glucose) and NOT  one made of 100% agave .  You’ll know if a tequila is made with only  juices from the blue agave, as the label of the bottle will state 100%  de Agave or  100% Puro de Agave.   100% Agave  is the only tequila I recommend!

 

agave tequila glass

Blanco tequila in a hand-painted agave glass. Photo John Pozdro.

BLANCO

I must say, I love a good Blanco tequila, the pure fresh-from-the-still tequila from which the other styles derive.  A fine Blanco will retain the  discernible sweetness of the roasted blue agave, with  vibrant, peppery, herbaceous, and  citrus tones.   If  the original Blanco is not good, how can other  styles made by a distillery be good?  Blanco tequila is sometimes called Silver or White tequila because of its pristine clarity, and is not influenced by oak or aging.  It’s  generally bottled upon distillation, though sometimes  stored  in stainless tanks for a month. Those who like white spirits may prefer Blanco tequila.  I find it much more flavorful than vodka, as enticingly aromatic as gin, and not as sweet as rum.

Flavor Profiles:

Agave fruitiness intact

Bright, crisp, mineral

Peppery, sometimes fiery

Citrus and zest

Herbaceous–mint and anise

Dry, medium finish

Drink suggestions:

Sip neat or accompanied with Sangrita, tequila’s quintessential chaser

Requisite for classic margaritas

Refreshing spritzers

Tropical  fruit or citrus punches and  drinks

Ice cold from the freezer on a hot summer’s night!

tequila shot glasses reposado

Shots of tequila Reposado with a Mexican charro. Photo John Pozdro.

 

REPOSADO

This is the most popular tequila imbibed in Mexico, with a harmonious balance  of the natural essence of agave and the subtle influence of oak. The “repose” of Blanco in oak (a minimum of 2 months to 1 year  in roble or encino oak) mellows its youthful and feisty character, adding hints of wood and spice and giving Reposado a color that varies from pale straw to amber.  I love to simply sip a fine Reposado!

Flavor profiles:

Hint of oak with discernible sweetness of roasted agave

Earthy

Caramel

Cinnamon and spice

Medium finish

Drink suggestions:

Sip neat or accompanied with Sangrita, tequila’s quintessential chaser

Margaritas

Refreshing spritzers
Orchard fruit  punches and drinks
anejo tequila shot glass snifter

Tequila Añejo in a Mexican snifter. Photo John Pozdro.

 

AÑEJO

A fine  Añejo is a harmonious marriage of oak and agave.  Nuances from barrel aging–depth of aroma, discernible soft tannin, and vanilla tones– mingle deliciously in a fine Añejo.   This style of tequila is aged  for at least 1 year but fewer than 3 years in government sealed oak barrels with a maximum capacity of 600-liters.  Such aging gives a rich amber to  dark mahogany  color, though some of my favorite Añejos are not over-oaked  and have a lighter color. Brown spirits lovers rejoice!  Añejos can rival cognac, single malt, bourbon and whiskey.

I sip it only  from a snifter, though others enjoy to mix it in classic cocktails like a Manhattan or an Old Fashioned, or as a floater for a top-shelf margarita. The newest trend is to filter Añejos back to clarity.  I am confused as to why  one would take away the color and character of aging that has taken years to accomplish.  This would make the tequila better suited for mixability, but I adhere to drinking Añejo from a snifter!

Flavor profiles:

Oak-driven tannins

Roasted agave and dried fruit

Vanilla, butterscotch, caramel, cocoa

Baking spices, buttery

Full-bodied, round, luxurious

Long finish

Drink Suggestions:

Snifter!

Classic cocktails

Coffee drinks

 

Extra-Añejo Tequila

Extra-Añejo for the rich and famous! Photo Robert Denton.

 

EXTRA-AÑEJO

This  newest category of  tequila produces character, color,  and complexity found in other Añejos and fine world spirits.   It must be aged for at least 3 years in oak barrels of maximum 600-liter capacity, producing tequila with very dark amber and mahogany hues.  Added flavor comes from using barrels that once housed  whiskey, cognac,  sherry, scotch or fine wine.   Price reflects  this lengthy aging and such Extra-Añejos often fetch prices of $300-$1000 a bottle!

Flavor profiles:

Characteristics similar to other Añejos

Very oak-driven

Agave not as apparent

Toasty, buttery

Dark leather, wood, earth, tobacco

Velvety long finish

Drink suggestions:

Snifter only, ¡por favor!

Note:  In the production of tequila, flavorings and colorings are permissible as well as the addition of distilled  water to bring tequilas to commerical proof.

 

So you see, you’ll find a style of tequila to fit any taste or any mood– from sipping neat to a refreshing spritzer, party punch, margarita or snifter.

Now tell me…which style of tequila is your favorite?

 

Dinero, tequila y amor,
¡No hay otra cosa mejor!

 

Money, tequila, and the one you adore
Who could ask for anything more?

Sassy Sangría

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Sassy_sangriaFrom the first sip, Sangría, simply says “Garden Party!!!” I serve it with a ladle from a pretty decorative glass jar that shows off the jewel-colored fruit within. This make-ahead party punch looks beautiful, tastes scrumptious, and delights guests.

Make it with red or white wine laced with Cointreau and brandy and flavored with juicy oranges and seasonal fruits, and top it with a sparkling splash of Spanish cava, champagne, or Squirt® (citrus soda) in glasses garnished with fresh fruit and fragrant herb sprigs.

INGREDIENTS:

4-6 oranges, sliced
1-gallon dry, fruity red or white wine
2 cups Cointreau or Grand Marnier
2 1/2 cups brandy
2 bunches long-stemmed lemon verbena and/or any combination of mint, lemon balm,
and pineapple sage
Fresh seasonal fruits, such as seedless grapes, apple slices, pear slices
Soft fruits such as strawberries, fresh berries, peaches, star fruit, and kiwis
(which should be added only prior to serving)
3 lemons, thinly sliced
3 limes, thinly sliced
Large handful of kumquats (optional)
6-ounce can frozen limeade (undiluted), to taste as needed

FINISHING TOUCHES:

Fresh herb sprigs
2 16-ounce packages frozen peaches and/or frozen blueberries
(add just prior to serving to keep Sangría chilled, or use as ice cubes)
Sparkling Spanish cava, champagne, or Squirt®

NOW YOU’RE READY TO MAKE SANGRIA:

Place oranges, wine, orange liqueur, brandy, and fresh herb sprigs in a large glass container; cover and refrigerate overnight or for several days. Add the firmer fruits 6-24 hours before serving, but do not add the lemons and limes until just prior to serving, as they can become bitter, and should be discarded if any Sangría remains to refrigerate for future use.

Pour Sangría into a glass pitcher or jar, adding freshly sliced seasonal soft fruit. If desired, sweeten with frozen (undiluted) limeade to taste. Replace the herb sprigs with fresh ones, as they will have discolored. Add frozen fruit just prior to serving. Ladle Sangría into long-stemmed glasses with a splash of effervescence and garnish with fresh fruit and herb sprigs.

CONSIDER YOUR OPTIONS:

I often make red Sangría in the winter and fall, adding a long stick of cinnamon and frozen blueberries or raspberries before serving. In the summertime, white Sangría showcases summer fruits beautifully, and frozen peaches keep it chilled.

Sirena’s Splash

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Sirena

I love simple and traditional cocktails. In keeping with this month’s theme, here is my recipe for Sirena’s Splash (Mermaid’s Splash) from  ¡VIVA TEQUILA!  Photo from book taken by John Pozdro. What would be your favorite tequila for this drink?

INGREDIENTS:

lime wedge
coarse salt (optional)
2 ounces 100% agave tequila Blanco
juice of 3 Mexican limes (reserve spent shells)
1 ounce Damiana and/or Cointreau (I like it ½ and ½)
long splash of Topo Chico or other sparkling soda water
Garnish: spent shells of 3 lime halves

DIRECTIONS:

Rim Collins glass with a wedge of lime, and twirl it in coarse salt, shaking off excess. Fill glass with cracked ice. Add tequila, lime juice, spent lime shells, and Damiana and/or Cointreau. Top it with sparkling mineral water, and present with a stir stick.