When blood oranges are in season I find ways to include them in all sorts of recipes. From salads to chicken dishes to desserts, their musky sweet taste is always welcome in my kitchen. However, it wasn’t until I was making a blood orange variation of Nigella Lawson’s Clementine Cake that I discovered how perfectly they lend themselves to a basic simple syrup. I had also just finished giving the rosemary bushes outside of my work a “haircut” so I had copious amounts of rosemary lurking in my fridge, and wouldn’t rosemary be the perfect compliment to the flavours of blood orange simple syrup? I have to admit, the entire time I was thinking about this recipe I had a gin cocktail in mind and rosemary just seemed like a natural accent to gin’s juniper berry bite. My very simple cocktail is as follows: 1 part gin + 1 Tbsp. simple syrup shaken over ice and then then topped with sparkling or tonic water, garnish with a sprig of rosemary. If you were feeling extravagant you could add champagne instead of the sparkling or tonic water, making an extra bright French 75.
blood orange and rosemary simple syrup:
3 blood oranges, whole
About 4 cups of water
1 cup of sugar
1 sprig of fresh rosemary
- Place the blood oranges in a large pot and pour over the water. Bring to a gentle simmer and continue to cook, uncovered, for 2 hours over very low heat.
- Remove the oranges from the water and either discard or puree whole and freeze for future use in a variation on Nigella Lawson’s Clementine Cake.
- Add one cup of sugar and the the sprig of rosemary to the blood orange water and boil for a few minutes to let the sugar dissolve completely. Remove from the heat and allow the rosemary to steep for several hours before removing. This simple syrup will keep for up to one week in the refrigerator, use in cocktails or pour over good vanilla ice cream.
Telegram was the first Bjork album I ever owned, I’m fairly positive my 14 year old self had no idea it was an album of Bjork remixes. iTunes created a “Bjork Remixed” playlist today and I realized that with the exception of two songs it was basically Telegram. I feel like this is cheating, but it did give me the chance to hear this version of I Miss You again.
Bjork – I Miss You
