I swear my creativity has to be on some type of seasonal timer. The moment fall begins is the moment my creativity re-awakens and surges to an all-time yearly high. F. Scott Fitzgerald once wrote, “Life starts all over again when it gets crisp in the fall.” I couldn’t agree more. So, beginning November 1st (which is when it actually starts to feel like fall in Los Angeles), I went to work on some great new recipes to get me excited for the chill-seeking season.
Coincidently, I learned that November is National Pomegranate Month while I was midway through my planning, which just worked out even better because I was using pomegranates as my inspiration ingredient! I was on such a pomegranate tear, that I made 2 recipes in one day: a cocktail and a marinade. And then I stumbled upon something amazing, which I’ll cover more in my next post for the marinade…
I’m calling it cooktailing. While using my jigger to measure ingredients for my drink, I continued to use it to measure ingredients for my marinade. It worked like a dream. I couldn’t stop. I then went on to make my pomegranate vinaigrette with my cocktail shaker. How had I not thought of this before?! Talk about a time saver. Imagine using most of the same ingredients for your cocktail and then also using them for your meal; you’d cut down on waste and you’d tie the two things you are making…together.
But back to my cocktail, The FALL-back. This pomegranate-inspired drink is packed with antioxidants from the pomegranate juice and vitamin c from the fresh citrus fruits I juiced. I added Stoli Pomegrank and Veev, along with some ginger and some balsamic vinegar to round the cocktail out and add some depth of flavor. Your’e probably thinking, “What? Balsamic vinegar?!” I know it sounds a little crazy, but trust me, it just works. I also recommend using fresh squeezed orange juice for this recipe - it really makes the drink shine. I was able to grab these mandarin oranges from my yard which added the perfect amount of natural sweetness. I hope you enjoy my FALL-back cocktail. Cheers.
Peel a few pieces of orange peels to use for your garnish before you juice your oranges. Place all of your ingredients in a shaker tin. Cover shaker tin securely and shake until the exterior of the tin becomes frosty cold. Strain liquid over a cocktail strainer into glass with fresh ice. Place an orange peel garnish on your drink and fill with pomegranate seeds for the garnish. Enjoy!