Summer Sipping: Salamander Cherry Lime Collins

Todd Gray.

Cherries are in season and Todd Gray, culinary director for Salamander Resorts and Spas, has been inspired by Virginia's bumper crop. At Market Salamander in Middleburg they are using fresh cherries in a compote with slow roasted pork loin or kiln-dried cherries in a wild rice salad with Italian hazelnuts.

Given the heat of summer, though, this cool sipper sounds just right.

Salamander Cherry Lime Collins

1 ½ jigger Vodka (we like Grey Goose)                                                
½ jigger Cherry Liqueur (Kirschwasser is good)                                         
2 Tbs Cherry Nectar (juice from 1 cup pitted cherries)
1 Tbs Fresh Lime Juice
Part Club Soda
Slice Lime for garnish
1 Cherry for garnish

Preparation
1.    Fill a cocktail shaker with ice and add all ingredients except club soda.
2.    Shake well until the outside of the shaker is frosty and beaded with sweat.
3.    Strain into a highball glass filled with ice.
4.    Top off with club soda and garnish with cherry & lime.

Horse Stamp Inn Blueberry Cornmeal Pancakes

Horse Stamp Inn, Waverly, GA.

Even before they find the location, prospective bed and breakfast proprietors need a fat file of delicious, fail-safe breakfast recipes. Kris and Tom Hutcheson do.

Kris and Tom

 This Denver couple have relocated to southeast Georgia and turned a former private estate into the spacious and gracious Horse Stamp Inn. Kris has combined family favorites with recipes gleaned from professional chefs advising B&B owners to ensure her guests enjoy an exceptional breakfast.

Two of the girls.

Applewood bacon, fresh eggs from the "girls" in the hen house, fresh fruit including blueberries from their former pecan orchard's backyard, a variety of quiches and these delicious pancakes, for example.








 

 Horse Stamp Inn Blueberry Cornmeal Pancakes

1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup cornmeal
1/4 cup sugar
1 1/4 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. coarse salt
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1 1/2 cup buttermilk
1/4 cup whole milk
3 TBS unsalted butter, melted and cooled
1 large egg, lightly beaten
1 cup fresh blueberries

Whisk dry ingredients, whisk wet ingredients then whisk together dry and wet. Pour the pancake batter and then add blueberries while they're cooking.

Tip: As parents of four children who always brought their friends home, Kris and Tom developed a lot of shortcuts. Kris combines butter with syrup, heating and serving both together. Worked for me.

Next time I stop in I'll ask to sample their White Cheddar Cheese Grits.

Flower and Pine, Park City's Signature Cocktail

Each year, the Restaurant Association of Park City, Utah, holds a competition to find its signature cocktail for the year. This summer, restaurants and bars around town are serving Flower and Pine, a concoction developed by September Bickmore and Bonnie Ulmer at their Deer Valley Grocery-Cafe.

In case you can't make it out to Park City this summer, here's the recipe.

Deer Valley Grocery-Cafe Flower and Pine Cocktail

1 ½ oz. Beefeater gin

½ oz. St. Germaine liqueur

½ oz. Zirbenz Stone Pine liqueur

2 dashes Peychaud’s bitters

1 lemon wedge

Serve in martini glass.