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A vodka-based cocktail flavoured with Asian pears, ginger & cassia


 

My parents' garden had a massive crop of fruit this year. I guess it's all that amazing weather which promises us amazing wine & beer next year! Their Asian Pear tree produced two huge buckets of fruit, and we were given one of them. The flavour is very subtle straight from the tree - but boost it up with some sugar and it really comes into its own.

This cocktail does exactly that, and pushes the flavour further by adding ginger to spice it up. The ginger won't kill the pear, but do watch you don't add too much. You can also pass the puree if you don't like the consistency, but you'll lose some of the flavour. It's then blended with frozen vodka to make a really tasty drink.

 

Ingredients (makes 2)

For the puree

  • 4 Asian pears
  • 2cm piece of ginger
  • 200ml water
  • 30g or 2 tablespoons of caster sugar
  • Pinch of salt

For the mix

  • 52g to 78g (4-6 shots) frozen vodka depending on pear size and puree yield

To serve

  • 30g or 2 tablespoons of caster sugar
  • 15g or 1 tablespoon of ground cassia bark
  • Two reserved slices of the pears above

 

Cut one of the pears in half, then cut two thin slices and reserve for later. Peel the remaining pear you've already split, and all the others. Chop out the seeds, then dice the remaining flesh (even the slightly harder parts near the core). Peel the ginger and slice thinly. Place the pears in a heavy bottomed pot with the ginger, water, sugar and salt. Cook on a high heat for about 5 minutes, until nearly all of the water has boiled off. Remove from the pan and place into a blender; puree until completely smooth.

This should produce between 2 and 3 double shots of puree depending on the size of your pears, and how much moisture you've boiled out - measure it out in an alcohol measure, pour into a cocktail shaker and add some ice cubes. Pour in exactly the same amount of vodka (prefreably from the freezer), and shake well - if using frozen vodka, you've shaken enough when the shaker gets too cold to hold any longer.

Leave the cocktail shaker to one the side, take a piece of kitchen paper and dab it into the blender where you made the puree. Carefully wipe this around the top of a martini glass to moisten it, then repeat with another glass. Place the remaining caster sugar and cassia bark on a wide plate and mix. Upturn each martini glass onto the plate, and rotate to pick up the sugar. Keep going several times until you get a good coating.

Carefully your the mix from the shaker into the glasses, then cut a thin line in the reserved pear slices and attach to the rim of the glass.


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