lemon-sage mocktail
Greetings! Happy Spring! It is Easter weekend and although things feel different this year, with Coronavirus and all, I still find myself craving the rituals of Spring. I love riding around and looking at the blooming azaleas and dogwood trees. This is throwback to the ‘70’s when I’d go with my grandparents on a ‘Sunday drive’.
Easter is my dad’s favorite Holiday, not only because he’s a devout Christian, but also because of the beauty that is inherent to the Season, both metaphorically and quite literally.
This mocktail is a tribute to Spring, to my dad and to anyone who values good health! It’s easy to make, refreshing and pretty. If you’d like to transition this into a true cocktail, I’d suggest adding gin, but if you’re not a gin drinker, vodka would be OK too. The recipe is for a single serving, but you can multiply the portions to make a pitcher.
Ingredients:
1/4 cup blueberries, rinsed
Beautiful layers. You can see the rich blueberry puree layer at the bottom, topped with the lighter ‘foam’ incurred by the sparkling water Aaahhh!
4 sage leaves
Juice of 1/2 lemon
1/2 Tbs honey
Sparkling water
Ice cubes
Rosemary spring optional
In a blender on high speed, blend the first 4 ingredients. Pour over ice cubes and top with sparkling water. Garnish with a sprig of rosemary.
Notes:
If some of your party are partakers of alcohol and some are not, consider making 2 pitchers, one with spirits and one without.
If you don’t have sage leaves, I think basil would be a fine. Basil tends to be more ubiquitous and familiar to folks than sage.
For a refreshing, but less herbal flavor, simply omit the sage leaves and double the honey and lemon juice amounts.
In closing:
One my my spring activities this year, a new ritual if you will, is planting a garden. I started with container garden lettuces and a pot planted with sage and rosemary, so you’ll notice that many of my Spring recipes contain these 2 herbs. But I just bought oregano, mint, parsley, thyme, cilantro and chives, so look for these in upcoming recipes!