Simple Summer Cocktails with Piment d'Espelette
In Basque Country, you'll find piment d'Espelette sprinkled on salads in place of cracked black pepper, rubbed onto cured ham, or stirred into sauces and stews. The eponymous peppers of the village of Espelette in France are harvested in late summer and early autumn and strung by hand on the facades of buildings throughout the hamlet to dry in the sun, and dried further in wood-burning ovens prior to being ground into powder.
Complex, with a subtle spiciness, we thought we'd try adding piment d'Espelette to some summer cocktails to make unique twists on tried and true beverages of summer. When you have a friendly gathering on the deck on a warm summer's day, it's always good to shake up something new to drink.
Bloody Mary with piment d'Espelette
Whether you have your own secret Bloody Mary recipe or enjoy one of the many mixes readily available, you and your guests will enjoy a bit of piment d'Espelette along the rim of the glass and stirred in to taste. For a ready-made accoutrement, add a banderilla of gherkin, guindilla, olive, piquillo, and cocktail onion.
Maragrita with piment d'Espelette
We followed Geoffrey Zakarian's classic margarita recipe with piment d'Espelette added to the sugar and salt along the rim. A refreshing, resounding success.
You might also try experimenting by adding piment d'Espelette to grapefruit juice and vodka cocktails, mango daiquiris, or your other favorite summer drink. The possibilities are endless.
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+About
One afternoon not that long ago, A.J. Weiss was sitting in a cafe, tapping his pen on an empty note pad, and staring out the window. The prior accumulated years of adventure, heartbreak, and common drudgery had all amounted to this, a particular moment, for reasons both unknown and fairly straightforward. The most straightforward being that he worked at Blue Planet Foods, Ltd., importer of high-quality food products and ingredients, and that he had set forth to complete the task of conjuring a suitable name for the company's new Spanish specialty food brand. After a certain amount of consideration and voluminous list-making, Donostia Foods came to be.
What was the inspiration for this (superb) brand name? Donostia-San Sebastián, a small coastal city in Basque Country in northern Spain, renowned for its restaurants, gastronomic societies, and culinary traditions. A place where locals and visitors alike wander the cobblestones of the old town in the warm evening light, drifting amongst the pintxo bars to sample unparalleled small-bites accompanied by the effervescent local wine, txakoli, and sharing in the laughter that becomes the fondest of memories; a place that exudes good food, good drinks, and a general sense of revelry. All of which is quite enjoyable.
With Donostia Foods we hope to introduce more people in the United States to the gastronomic pleasures of Donostia-San Sebastián and Spain as a whole, with a continually expanding product line of the best examples of the best products we can find and with the conviviality of the place itself.
Thank you for your interest in Donostia Foods, and if there's anything we can do for you, please contact us.
A.J. Weiss in the village of Espelette in Basque Country.
