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Cherry Aperitif

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October 3, 2018

I apologize for the “radio silence” for the past few weeks.  I was traveling in Europe and did not have a reliable internet connection.  I was planning on keeping up my regular posting schedule, and I had everything with me that I needed (having cooked and photographed all the dishes in advance) but it just wasn’t realistic to upload pictures at a snail’s pace.

Today’s recipe is a bit of a departure from what I usually post.  It’s an adaptation of a recipe from David Lebovitz, the only food blogger that I regularly follow.

How I found out about David, and this particular recipe, is curious.

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In mid-2016 my business partner, Melinda Orlando, and I sold the health care consulting business that I founded in 1994 and that we built together.  We brought our two long-term employees, Joe Kohberger, who celebrated his 20th anniversary with The Mihalik Group this year, and Zorina Granjean, who celebrated her 15th anniversary this year, to Santa Fe for a weekend along with their spouses.

It was a time devoted to enjoying each other’s company, exploring good food and drink in Santa Fe, and a way for Melinda and I to say “thank-you” to Joe and Zorina for all they did to make The Mihalik Group successful.

During one of our conversations, Zorina mentioned a recipe for a cherry aperitif that she got from a food blog that she followed.  The really interesting part is that the aperitif didn’t actually contain cherries but cherry leaves!

Based on Zorina’s recommendation, Rich DePippo and I whipped up a few batches in 2017 using leaves from his cherry trees.  Truth be told, as much as I like infusing alcohol with different botanicals (see my recipe for Limoncello, Melinda’s Drunken Prunes, and Liquore al Lauro for examples), I would never have tried this recipe based on cherry leaves rather than cherries and cherry pits.

That would have been a mistake!

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It’s a great pre-dinner drink served over (lots of) ice, with or without a twist of citrus peel.  It’s not very alcoholic but it’s very flavorful.  Plus, it’s a cinch to make (assuming you can get a fistful of cherry leaves).

It’s very good made with just cherry leaves but adding one of the other botanicals changes its character.  The cherry flavor is still there but the aperitif becomes more complex.

Don’t use expensive wine or vodka.  Pedestrian alcohol works quite well.  In fact, I usually use red wine from a Trader Joe’s box.

Print Recipe
 Cherry Aperitif
If you’re not into the metric measurements, just toggle to the American ones. Select an inexpensive fruity red wine such as Merlot or Shiraz. Boxed wine is perfectly fine. I prefer to add only one additional botanical per batch so that I get the distinct flavor of cherries along with the added ingredient. If you come up with any good combinations, or other botanicals to add, please post a comment.
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Rating: 0
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Course Beverages
Cuisine French
Prep Time 20 minutes
Passive Time 7 days
Servings
liters
Ingredients
Basic Ingredients
Optional Botanicals (use only one per batch)
Course Beverages
Cuisine French
Prep Time 20 minutes
Passive Time 7 days
Servings
liters
Ingredients
Basic Ingredients
Optional Botanicals (use only one per batch)
Votes: 0
Rating: 0
You:
Rate this recipe!
Instructions
  1. Combine all ingredients in a large jar with a tight-fitting lid.
  2. Swirl the jar to completely dissolve the sugar.
  3. Keep the jar at room temperature but out of direct sunlight.
  4. Swirl the jar daily for seven days.
  5. Strain and discard the solids.
  6. Pour the aperitif into bottles with tight-fitting lids.
  7. Refrigerate the aperitif several weeks before using.
  8. Serve over ice with a citrus peel, if you would like.
Recipe Notes

Copyright © 2018 by Villa Sentieri, LLC. All rights reserved.

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Recipes

Liquore al Lauro (Italian Bay Laurel Liqueur)

3 Comments

October 6, 2017

Making liqueurs at home is a time-honored Italian tradition. Limoncello is probably the most well-known but there are many others.

Many years ago at a now-shuttered artisanal Italian restaurant in the Andersonville neighborhood of Chicago I tasted house-made Liquore al Lauro, also referred to as Liquore Alloro.

I was hooked.

Every time I went to the restaurant, my meal ended with Liquore al Lauro.

Then the restaurant closed.

The Liquore al Lauro ended.

And I vowed to make it one day.

That day happened in late 2009 when our bay laurel plant was trimmed back for the winter. There was a pile of bay leaves on the kitchen counter. After I put a stash of them in the freezer for easy access during the winter (far, far better than dried!) I still had a pile that I couldn’t bear to discard.

Out came a book I bought on a previous trip to Italy with my in-laws. I think it’s the same trip where we brought back a copper polenta pot (which you can see in my Polenta post), a grape press, and a super-fancy (and super-heavy) brass faucet that is a gargoyle head with a sea-creature coming out of its mouth out of which the water comes, among other things.

The faucet was ultimately to be incorporated into a garden fountain. That hasn’t yet happened but I’m not giving up.

The book “How to Make Liqueurs at Home” (see the photo below) had a recipe for Liquore al Lauro.

It was an ill-fated first attempt, however. I was using California bay leaves instead of Mediterranean bay leaves. When cooking, recipes often specify using half the quantity of California bay as Mediterranean bay as they are more aromatic. I was prepared to dilute the liquore to determine the correct quantity of California bay leaves so that wasn’t the major issue.

The real issue is that after I put up three large batches of bay leaves to macerate in alcohol, one plain, one with cinnamon, and one with coffee beans, my company landed a consulting contract in the United Arab Emirates.

Late fall into winter 2009 became a whirlwind of activity culminating with my moving to Dubai in January 2010 for much of the year.

A view from my apartment looking out at the Arabian Gulf and the man-made Palm Jumeriah island with the Atlantis hotel in the distance
Another view from the apartment looking at part of Dubai Marina, a 7 kilometer long man-made waterway
An evening view from the apartment

Dubai Marina is a paradise for walkersThe bay leaves macerated for months upon months. When I finally got around to trying to finish the Liquore al Lauro the mixture had turned bitter from over-extraction.

I had to discard gallons of bay-infused alcohol.

A few years went by before I decided it was worth trying again.
This time, I reduced the bay leaves by half right up front and shortened the maceration to four days to avoid any chance of bitterness. I made plain and cinnamon-infused but have not, to date, gone back to the coffee bean experiment.

Because I want my recipes to be reproducible, I do my best to eliminate unnecessary variation. To that end, I weigh and measure ingredients precisely. For this recipe, I use a small metric scale that measures in hundredths of a gram (for the bay leaves and cinnamon), a large metric scale that measures in increments of one gram (for the sugar), and a graduated cylinder (for the water and alcohol). I can assure you that this does not happen in the average Italian household, nor does it need to happen in yours. The recipe app will convert the metric measures to US measures at the click of a button and I’ve provided an approximate count of bay leaves and inches of cinnamon stick that will work well.

The small scale that I use for precise weights

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Print Recipe
 Liquore al Lauro (Bay Leaf Liqueur)
Don’t be put off by the use of Everclear (or equivalent) the high proof is needed to extract the volatile oils in a reliable manner. The final liqueur ends up being about 63 proof, equivalent to most commercially produced liqueurs.
Votes: 1
Rating: 5
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Course Beverages
Cuisine Italian
Prep Time 15 minutes
Passive Time 5 days
Servings
liters
Ingredients
Course Beverages
Cuisine Italian
Prep Time 15 minutes
Passive Time 5 days
Servings
liters
Ingredients
Votes: 1
Rating: 5
You:
Rate this recipe!
Instructions
  1. Wash the leaves in cool water and dry gently.
  2. In a jar with a tight-fitting lid that holds at least 2 quarts, combine the bay leaves, cinnamon (if using) and alcohol.
  3. Cover the jar and swirl.
  4. Put the jar in a cool spot out of direct sunlight for four days.
  5. Swirl the contents once or twice daily.
  6. On the third day, combine the sugar and water in a one-gallon jar (or other non-reactive container) with a tight-fitting lid.
  8. Swirl the sugar and water mixture every few hours throughout the day, until the sugar has dissolved. It can take up to 24 hours for the sugar to fully dissolve.
  9. On the fourth day, strain the bay-leaf-infused alcohol into the jar with the sugar water. The liquid may become cloudy but will become clear in about 24 hours with the occasional swirl.
  12. After 24 hours, ladle the liqueur into smaller bottles, such as empty liquor bottles.
  13. Seal tightly and store in a cool, dark place for one month before drinking.
  14. Serve chilled or over ice or at room temperature based on your preference.
Recipe Notes

Copyright © 2017 by VillaSentieri.com. All rights reserved.

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