Just because a girl isn't actually in Italy
doesn't mean she can't at least pretend!
On a hot summer evening
there is nothing quite so lovely as
a fresh Prosecco cocktail.
I found this one in the San Diego News Network blog.
The writer had just come back
from the new Italian hotspot Puglia.
(I say new hotspot, because it is undergoing the overwhelming
nouveau popularity that Tuscany, then Umbria
endured more recently)
This was what she drank in Puglia:
Strawberry Smash
(they probably don't call it that in Italy...)
Makes 1 cocktail
3 ripe organic strawberries, hulled and sliced
6 leaves of one fresh herb such as mint, basil, verbena, cilantro OR 1-inch section of fresh rosemary or thyme
1 ounce good white rum like 10 Cane or clean white gin like Bombay Sapphire
1 ounce all-natural sour mix (see note)
2 ounces prosecco
Add the strawberries and your selected herb to a rocks glass. Smash the strawberries and herbs gently with a muddler until the berries are a pulp and the herbs smell strong. Add the rum or gin if using and sour mix to the glass and give it a stir. Fill 3/4 full with ice. Top off with the prosecco. Garnish with a sprig of the herb you used.
Note: To create my all natural sour mix, mix 1 cup lemon and or lime juice with 1 cup sugar in a medium non-reactive saucepan. Heat over a low-medium flame, stirring to dissolve the sugar. When cool, pour syrup into a sterile glass bottle and refrigerate. Keeps for up to 2 weeks.
