Palauan Sunset...Coconut Shell Bikini and Plane Ticket Optional

My new drink that I created for my Asian Fusion class.  What can I say, but YUM!  sorry, channeling a little Rachel Ray there.  Please forgive me.  Along with my key celebrity chef phrases (Blammo! In yo'face!) I like creating refreshing summer libations.  I always think I want something "frou frou" and girlie, until I order one at a bar and it ends up being too sweet, too strong or leaves the corners of my mouth raw from salt or sour.  Does that happen to anyone else or is it just me?  I'd love to be hard core and sophisticated like the bond chicks and drink martinis or scotch on the rocks, but I'm a wimp.

So since we can only serve wine in our cooking classes at Culina and I was bored to tears with my peach white wine sangria, I decided to make something new.  I searched to the ends of the internet and came up empty.  Then I stopped into Culina on a sloooooooow Monday and lo and behold, we had gotten in an order of Stonewall Kitchen goodies including some drink mixers.  I grabbed a bottle of Kir Royale Mixer (not exactly Asian, but the French have occupied some parts of Asia, so I reached a little), and went home to get creative.  You can thank me later for the time I put into creating this.  Such grueling work! The things I do.....

Since a Kir Royale is made with champagne, I saw promise in this and Kir Royales aren't too sweet unless you overdo the Kir and use a sweet sparkler.  I had a bottle of sparkling wine open from my failed experimentation of the previous evening ("Tastes like a watered-down wine cooler", said my teetotaling husband when he tasted it for me) and fresh mint from the garden.  A promising start, indeed!  I stirred in some of the mango nectar I opened the night before to give it the tropical fruit flavor, added in some prepared ginger and some plain coconut water and voila!  A squirt of lime rounded it out and made me very happy.  The coconut water has the added bonus of being really hydrating, so it's like hangover prevention right there in your adult beverage:  how convenient!

Here is the recipe that figured up.  I am patting myself on the back for actually measuring! Of course, you can adjust to your taste and also change up the nectar for guava or pineapple or whatever.

Enjoy and be warned: it's hard to drink just one, especially on these hot nights!

Palauan Sunset

•  3 TBL Stonewall Kitchen Kir Royale Mixer
•  3 TBL mango nectar
•  1/2 tsp. prepared ginger (Gourmet Garden brand is best in the refrig. part of produce aisle)
•  1/4 tsp. lime juice 
•  1 TBL coconut water
•  Several torn mint leaves (muddle these for more flavor release)
•  1/4 sparkling wine or champagne
•  crushed ice

Mix everything except champagne in a glass and stir or shake.  Pour in champagne and give a subtle stir.  Garnish with mint leaves and a slice of lime.  

You can find coconut water in the organic section of the grocery store.  The two brands I like are Vita Coco and O.N.E.  I used plain in the recipe, but there are some yummy flavored varieties.  My favorite to drink by itself is the Vita Coco with Pineapple.