Homemade Ginger Beer and Moscow Muletini Recipe

I really love ginger beer. I do not however love the price of ginger beer in many stores. It averages out at $7.99 for a four pack and many times the store bought ginger beer can be hit or miss on that ginger kick and citrus goodness I like. So I decided to make my own.

I tried several different recipes until I finally I came up with my own that has just the right amount of kick for me.

What you will need:

1/4 lb ginger root peeled
1 lemon and 1 lime juiced and strained (should be about 1/4 cup juice, you can add up to 1/2 cup of juice if you like no more then that)
1 cup sugar
2 quarts of room temperature water
1/4 tsp dry active yeast

Tools:

Fine wire strainer and/or cheese cloth
small food processor or grater to grate the ginger
A wooden spoon
a funnel
measuring utensils
a 2 liter soda bottle and 4 small dark plastic bottles with caps. PLASTIC ONLY. Glass can shatter if the mixture over carbonates.

The first thing you want to do is prepare your ginger. Make sure when you buy it is fresh. You can test it with your finger nail and make sure that the root beneath the peel is nice and damp, fragrant and the root is firm, not rubbery. When you peel it the texture should be consistent throughout, you do not want to use if any part of it feels woody and dry.

Once the root is peeled you can grate it with a hand grater or place it in smaller pieces into a a food processor and chop into fine pieces. You should get about 1 cup of grated ginger. At this point you can choose what method you want to use to extract the juice from the ginger. You can place the grated ginger into the strainer or into the cheese cloth and squeeze out all the juice. You should get at least 1/4 cup or more. My preferred method is to take the grated ginger place it in a sauce pan with about 3/4 to a 1 cup of water, cover and let simmer on low heat until the ginger is tender about an hour. Remove from heat and let cool then strain the liquid. It is about a cup of ginger you will only need 1/2 cup of this potent mixture.

Once the ginger juice is extracted and cooled to room temperature you can start your mixture. In the 2 litre bottle I funnel in the sugar, citrus juice, ginger juice, the yeast and about 1 cup of the water. Put the cap on the bottle and shake until the sugar begins to dissolve and the yeast is well mixed. Then I add the rest of the water, you can fill the bottle to the bottom of the neck so you have room to shake it some more to mix. I can cap then shake again.

At this point you can leave the ginger beer in the larger plastic bottle if you would like. If you do so know that it will not stay carbonated very long after it is opened. I prefer to divide mine into smaller bottles. I purchased 24 bottles and caps from Great Fermentations with two locations in the Indianapolis area and an on line store. The price was great and the staff very helpful.

I funnel in liquid up to the bottom of the neck of each bottle making sure that each bottle is even. Then I tightly cap them and place the bottles in a warm dark place which just happens to be the cupboard beside my fridge. It will take anywhere from 24 - 48 hours for your ginger beer to be ready. You will want to check the bottles every 12 hours or so and do the squeeze test. If you push on the bottle and it feels very tight the ginger beer is carbonated enough. There will also be foamy little bubbles at the neck of the bottle. With the warmer summer weather the process usually only takes 24 hours. As soon as your bottles feel tight with no give you will want to put them in the fridge to stop the fermentation process. The ginger beer lasts for up to 1 week in the fridge.

And now the cocktail recipe!

Moscow Muletini:

8 oz ginger beer
1 1/2 oz vodka
1/2 oz lime
Ice
1 lime wedge for garnish

In a martini shaker add ice, 2 oz of ginger beer, lime juice and vodka. Shake, strain into martini glass, top with remaining ginger beer and garnish with lime wedge. You can substitute bourbon for the vodka, I highly recommend that.

Ginger beer is also great over vanilla ice cream as a float and my youngest enjoys it chilled right out of the bottle on a sunny day.


Enjoy!

Asparagus Tomato Pasta Salad

I posted a picture of this in a few places over the weekend and had multiple requests for the recipe.
What you will need:


1 bunch of asparagus with the bottom of the stalk cut off
2 Roma tomatoes chopped
1 cup feta cheese or blue cheese
1/2 cup bacon bits (optional)
1 box colored rotini 1/4 cup olive oil
1/2 cup balsalmic vinegar
1 tbsp garlic powder
salt and pepper to taste

So I started by cooking my pasta in salted water with 2 tbsp olive oil. For pasta salad I like it a little firm so that as it sits it will absorb the fluid from added veggies and the salad will not be to runny. After its strained I let it cool.

I then steam the asparagus in the microwave. After I cut the bottom of the stalks off I rinse them in water and place them on a damp paper towel then sprinkle with sea salt, fold in the damp paper towel over it then loosely wrap in a dry paper towel. I place it in the microwave and cook for about 2 minutes and check. You want it tender but not too tender, you do not want to use over cooked aspargus. Once cooked I run cold water over them to set in that nice bight green color then cut into large pieces and place in my bowl with the chopped tomatoes.

I then add my seasonings, oil and vinegar and mix. You may need to add more vinegar or oil, it is up to you. Then I mix in the bacon and feta. I usually let it sit for an hour at least so all the flavors can blend.

The great thing about this salad is you can play with it. I made it last year for myself several times with no pasta, added fresh spinach and added left over grilled chicken or steak for a perfect early summer lunch. I have also just used the veggie mixture and topped with a poach egg, it is amazing.

Another twist: you can use white asparagus and substitute the tomatoes for white nectarine or white flesh peaches. The fruit and balsalmic is like magic.

Enjoy!