BASIL AND CUCUMBER GIMLET
Our favourite soft herb is Basil – as a nation we buy pots and pots of it from supermarkets all year round. This tender leafy herb is however quite simply the true fragrance of summer, like all other 'soft herbs' it won't survive even the slightest touch of frost.
It belongs with tomatoes, with fresh goats’ curds, mozzarella & burrata.
At the end of July we paired basil with blackcurrants in a delicious cordial recipe. This month we are playing with the fresh flavours of basil and cucumber, both growing in abundance in our poly tunnels. Basil makes for wonderful combinations, savoury or sweet and the different varieties have a subtlety of flavour that are worth the effort of exploring. Sweet basil, Genovese, Lemon, Thai or Holy basil, Greek and Oriental are all subtly different, but for this lovely summer drink we have used the big blousy classic Italian leaves familiar to us all.
The Baa's ‘Basil & Cucumber Gimlet’ is a modern take on a classic cocktail. The gimlet, gin and lime juice based, was immortalised in the 1953 Raymond Chandler novel The Long Goodbye and the 1930s edition of The Savoy Cocktail Book. Since then our tastes have become less sweet and this refreshing version plays with the flavours of cucumber and basil to capture the light, fresh feel of August in The Kitchen Garden.
Ingredients:
50ml vodka
10ml fresh lime juice
2-3 slices cucumber
2 leaves basil
20ml good quality lemonade
Instructions:
Muddle cucumber and basil in a cocktail shaker.
Add all other ingredients, fill with ice and shake until chilled.
Pour into a tall glass filled with cubed ice.
Garnish with a basil leaf, cucumber slice and if you have cucumbers in your garden a small cucumber flower.
