This time of year, fresh herbs work their magic in all sorts of savory and sweet dishes. But they can cast their spell in liquid potions too.
David Burns, executive chef at Le Meridien Chicago on Michigan Avenue, has extended his home garden to the hotel’s fifth-floor terrace so he can choose from many fresh herbs to flavor the hotel’s summer drink lineup. The herbs surrender their myriad flavors–minty, fruity, citrusy, floral–to a lineup of herb-infused cocktails.
“People are really responding to them,” Burns said of the menu, which includes raspberry-lavender margaritas, a non-alcoholic lemon balm iced tea and several martinis that star a single herb: rosemary, basil or sage, to name just three.
“Herbs give drinks a different character,” Burns said. “They hit the senses differently.”
Fresh herbs, whose leaves release the essential oils that give them their distinctive taste and scent, also are the focus for Ken Hnilo, chef-owner of Gilbert’s in Lake Geneva. Hnilo infuses herbs into several beverages at the restaurant, which also has an outdoor herb garden.
“We try and experiment and play as much as we can,” Hnilo said. The playtime has yielded several creative approaches, such as lemon verbena martinis, which also contain lemon thyme for a before-and-after effect.
“Lemon verbena is really lemony, but then it fades,” Hnilo said. “Lemon thyme is not as sharp a flavor but it has a little more staying power.”
Bubbly sensations
Also popular, Hnilo said, are his herb-infused Champagnes: They start with a simple syrup that gets a subtle punch from a single herb, such as chamomile, or edible flower such as calendula or rose. The syrup is then added to taste to a glass of bubbly.
“It’s elegant, it tastes delicious, it’s unique,” Hnilo said.
As for which sparkling wine to use, Hnilo said, “The syrup is sweet, so you don’t want to use anything too sweet. We use an extra or brut Champagne. We’ve used Veuve-Clicquot a lot; it seems to be a nice mid-range Champagne. Anything more expensive, you’re kind of losing the point. At my house, we’ve done it with cheaper Champagnes.”
Simple syrups are aptly named (you just boil sugar and water, then steep with an herb), and can also add sparkle to iced teas, fruit juices or sparkling waters, all of which marry well with herbal notes.
Hnilo also serves herbal-fruit “waters” made by pureeing and straining a vegetable or fruit, then pairing it with an herb. Two popular flavors at the restaurant are cucumber-mint and basil-watermelon.
“There’s such an intense flavor, people are blown away,” Hnilo said. “You have a clear liquid that’s got this wonderful flavor. Occasionally we’ll do a flight of the waters.”
Becoming an herbista
All of this herbal bounty lends itself to experimentation at home, because herbs are in greater abundance at supermarkets and, in the case of more exotic varieties, at farmers markets or back-yard gardens.
“Grocery stores all have fresh herbs,” Burns said. “If you grow them at home, they’ll be fresher and more pungent.”
Ditto for the herbs at farmers markets. (If using herbs from the garden, though, be certain they have not been exposed to herbicides or fertilizer.)
Both chefs use a trial-and-error approach for herbal inspiration, and recommend that home cooks do the same.
“Mint goes very well with drinks,” Burns suggested. “Basil is very popular. Sage is a very strong herb; you just need a little. Same with lavender.”
And it’s key to remember that an herb’s oils are simultaneously powerful and delicate. On the one hand, a little goes a long way–“a couple of leaves is plenty,” Burns said. Herbs usually are best when added at the last minute, and pinched with gentle pressure before submerging.
The exception is when you’re cooking them into a simple syrup (as in the recipe accompanying this article) or when brewing tea.
Barbara Collins, author of “Landscaping with Herbs” and an instructor in the horticulture department at the College of DuPage, makes flavored iced teas by infusing herbs into black, green and red teas.
“Chop up the leaves of the herb, and put them in an infuser and pour the boiling water over the herbs,” she said. “That way, the temperature’s going down as you’re adding it to the foliage.” (She uses about 1 tablespoon chopped herb per 1 cup of liquid.) She lets the tea steep 5 or 10 minutes, then strains it.
Herbal-flavored simple syrups also can be added directly to iced tea, just as Hnilo adds them to sparkling wine.
There are two even easier–if more subtle–approaches to giving a drink some herbal inspiration:
Bruise an herb’s leaf before adding it to a cocktail, glass of Champagne or iced tea. (“Bruising” simply means rubbing a leaf between your fingers, then dropping it into the drink.)
Or freeze fresh leaves in ice cube trays, suggested Collins: “You get some decoration and flavor. Then they’re always at the ready because you have them in the freezer.”
Herb-flavored simple syrups
Preparation time: 15 minutes
Cooking time: 5 minutes
Standing time: 30 minutes
Yield: 1 1/2 cups
Simple syrups are aptly named: All you do is dissolve sugar into water on the stovetop for an incredible burst of flavor. In “The Herbfarm Cookbook,” chef-author Jerry Traunfeld offers a glossary of herbs to add for herbal variations on the theme. Use these to sweeten iced teas and sparkling waters as well as cocktails and sparkling wine. Simple syrups will keep up to three months in an airtight container in the refrigerator.
1 cup sugar
3/4 cup water
Choice of herb, see note
1. Combine the sugar and water in a small saucepan; heat to a boil over medium-high heat. Add the herbs, pushing them under the surface with a spoon; remove the saucepan from the heat. Cover; let herbs steep 30 minutes.
2. Pour syrup through a sieve, pressing firmly on herbs with the back of a spoon to extract all of the syrup. Discard herbs.
Note: Here are the quantities recommended by Traunfeld: lavender (2-3 teaspoons fresh buds, 1-1 1/2 teaspoons dried buds); lemon balm (six 3-inch sprigs); lemon verbena (six 4-inch sprigs); mint (six to eight 4-inch sprigs); rosemary (two 4-inch sprigs); sage (two 4-inch sprigs).
Nutrition information
per tablespoon:
32 calories, 0% of calories from fat, 0 g fat, 0 g saturated fat, 0 mg cholesterol, 8 g carbohydrates, 0 g protein, 0.1 mg sodium, 0 g fiber
Lemon balm iced tea
Preparation time: 10 minutes
Yield: 2 servings
This recipe, adapted from chef David Burns of Le Meridien Chicago, uses the citrus-mint hit of lemon balm. But any mint–spearmint, peppermint or a flavored mint such as chocolate–could be substituted.
2 cups each: ice, unsweetened iced tea
2 tablespoons lemon balm simple syrup, see recipe
6 sprigs fresh lemon balm
Juice of 1 lemon
Combine ice, iced tea, simple syrup, 4 sprigs of the lemon balm and lemon juice in a container; cover and shake well. Pour into ice-filled glasses. Garnish each glass with sprig of lemon balm and wedge of lemon, if desired.
Nutrition information per serving:
40 calories, 0% of calories from fat, 0 g fat, 0 g saturated fat, 0 mg cholesterol, 11 g carbohydrates, 0.1 g protein, 7.5 mg sodium, 0.1 g fiber
Lavender-cranberry sparklers
Preparation time: 10 minutes
Yield: Six 8-ounce servings
This bright-tasting punch works great with or without the booze. It is adapted from “The Lavender Cookbook,” by Sharon Shipley. The syrup uses dried lavender, which is sold in larger supermarkets as well as specialty markets and spice shops such as Home Economist, Dubby’s Buy the Ounce, The Spice House and Penzeys.
4 cups cranberry juice or cranberry juice cocktail
Juice of 1 lime
1/4 cup each: sugar, lavender simple syrup, see recipe
2 cups lime-flavored sparkling water
1/2 cup vodka or gin or to taste
Combine juices, sugar and syrup in a pitcher or punch bowl; stir to dissolve sugar. Add mineral water and vodka.
Nutrition information per serving:
194 calories, 1% of calories from fat, 0.2 g fat, 0 g saturated fat, 0 mg cholesterol, 39 g carbohydrates, 0 g protein, 20 mg sodium, 0.2 g fiber
