A Hot Cocktail!

  Posted on April 27, 2012  by Leslie Blythe  2 comments

A few weeks ago I was on the East coast with my daughter, Zoe, visiting some of the colleges she is considering for next year.  One night, we stayed with our good friends, Leslie and Mark in Hartford, Connecticut.  Leslie is a wonderful chef and has written three cookbooks – Simply Shrimp, Salmon, and (Fish) Steaks, Simply Shellfish: Quick and Easy Recipes for Shrimp, Crab, Scallops, Clams, Mussels, Oysters, Lobster, Squid, and Sides, and One Dough, Fifty Cookies: Baking Favorite And Festive Cookies In A Snap. She was a recipe developer for six of Gourmet‘s cookbooks. She was a food editor at Gourmet for eight years, and has contributed to numerous food magazines, including Gourmet, Cooking Light, Yankee, Eating Well, and Health.

While we were there, she made me an amazing drink with some habanero syrup.  Originally, I thought it was simple syrup.  When I got home, I made it and it wasn’t quite right.    So I asked what she did and she said she soaked habaneros in Pomegranate liqueur.  We happened to have a little left in a bottle, so my husband, Eric, stuffed the seeded peppers into the bottle.  The problem is, they don’t have to marinate for long!  The liqueur dissolves the caspian or whatever that chemical is called that produces heat, so it doesn’t take more than one pepper at the most.

Leslie made a drink with grapefruit juice, vodka, a splash of club soda and about 1/2 tsp of the habanero soaked pomegranate liqueur (to taste).  It was delicious.  She also uses it in Margaritas.

It looks innocent, but don’t be deceived!