Archive for the 'Cocktails' Category

“The sun’s had enough and the simmering sky, Has the heave and the hue of a woman on fire”. These songlines of the Elbow song “Forget Myself “ were more than apt to describe my feeling looking at the Roman sun sinking behind the Colosseum. It was aperitivo hour and I was sipping a badly made mojito. It must have shown, because my neighbour asked: “Mojito sbagliato, lady?”, which means something along the lines of “wrong mojito” in Italian. I had to laugh, and said “God is in the details”, which made him smile. When Mies Van Der Rohe, a German architect, famously said “God is in the details”, he was right. You have to focus to make a good cocktail mix and the mojito is no exception.

I asked him what he was drinking. A “Negroni”. He paused for a moment and pointed at his drink. “Equal parts gin, sweet vermouth and Campari, on ice, with a little orange peel. The Negroni is so simple that even the worst bartender can’t mess it up “.

“You know the origin of the Negroni?” I nodded my head, no. “The Negroni was reportedly invented by Count Camillo Negroni (around 1920), when he asked the bartender at Caffè Casoni in Florence to add gin instead of soda to his favorite cocktail, the Americano. The bartender also added an orange peel (rather than the typical lemon peel of the Americano) to signify that it was a different drink. There are different varariations on the classic Negroni. Like the Negroski, where the gin is replaced by vodka, or the Sparkling Negroni, with champagne and some drops of orange juice”.

“Did you ever try the Negroni sbagliato, the wrong or mistaken Negroni? I think you will like it”. He went to the bar and came back with a glass similar to his, only lighter in color. “Try this”. To my suprise it was a most refreshing cocktail. This was certainly an aperitivo for me. “The Negroni sbagliato was created in Bar Basso in Milan in the sixties by a bartender who mistakenly replaced the gin with dry sparkling wine. It not only changes the alcohol content, but the flavour also becomes lighter, bubblier. It is a perfect summer drink and the Italians, especially the Milanese, love it”.

“Are you from Milano?” “No, I am from Florence, but I have lived as long as I can remember in Rome”. He hesitated: “although I still feel like a Fiorentino”. He gave me a sly wink with his eye. “You can call me a Roman sbagliato “.

Ingredients:

ice
1 / 3 of sparkling brut wine
1 / 3 of Martini Rosso
1 / 3 of Campari
half a slice of orange or orange peel

Preparation:

Fill an old-fashioned glass with 4-5 ice cubes. Add the vermouth and Campari, then top it off with the sparkling wine. Mix well with a special stick and decorate with half a slice of orange or orange peel.

In summer Rome can feel like an oven (though no reason not to visit of course), so a recipe for a nice fresh cocktail seems to be the right thing to do.
For those who are not familiar with Crodino: Crodino is a bitter is made from herbal extracts and fruits and is produced in nothern Piedmont since 1964. Crodino can serve as a refreshment, its primary use however is as an aperitif before a meal, or can be served on the rocks with a slice of orange.

Let’s create our own momento crodino:

* a cold bottle of Prosecco
* 2 or 3 bottles of Crodino
* ice
* mint

Well, you will probably understand what to do when you see the ingredients above. But, let’s be thorough:

• Pour half a bottle of Crodino into a glass, add a bit of ice and fill it up with Prosecco.
• Top it off with a bit of mint etc.
• Crodino can be found in some supermarkets or in liquor stores.
• It is a non-alcoholic bittersweet drink, which is often used at aperitivo here in Italy.

Salute!