Pineapple Paradisio
In the throes of the pandemic, the struggle for normalcy was real. Without the usual agenda of yoga class, evening meetings, social gatherings and occasional dinners out, being at home 24-7 required creating new rituals for maintaining sanity. After the first few initial weeks filled with doomscrolling and researching everything from mask to ventilation to the outcomes of the 1918 flu pandemic, It was time to find some new hobbies and distractions (hello, sourdough!). Of many various culinary ventures, I enrolled in a virtual cocktails class and after each day of tele-work, we got into the habit of creating a fun cocktail for happy hour. We have nothing on Ina Garten here: rather, we would test out a cocktail each evening and divided one drink among two small coupe glasses. A small celebration for surviving another day.
The Pineapple Paradisio is a great cocktail if you are in need of transporting yourself to the beach, but are stuck in quarantine at home. The drink is from Tommy Bahamas restaurant, and has the perfect balance of Island flavors. I am a huge proponent of sours, cocktails that combine citrus with egg white. (I also like to think of the health benefits: a boost of protein from the egg white, citrus for vitamin C and immune health…am I right?). I found this recipe online, but worked to figure out the ratios of citrus and egg white to create a drink manageable for the home bartender. Could you omit the orange zest if you don’t have oranges, or skip the lime juice if you are short on limes? Absolutely – especially at a time when we are all minimizing trips to the store, tweak to your pandemic needs. Adjust the amount of lemon juice and simple syrup to your taste.
Pineapple Paradisio:
- 1 1/2 oz. Bacardi Pineapple
- 1/2 oz St-Germain
- 1/2 oz Creme de Banana
- 1 oz pineapple juice
- 1/2 oz simple syrup or agave syrup*
- 1/2 oz fresh lemon juice
- 1/2 oz egg white**
- splash of lime juice
- 1 strip orange zest
- 2 cubes fresh pineapple, if available (frozen could be substituted).
To make the cocktail, combine all ingredients in a cocktail shaker. For the frothiest results, shake with ice for 20-30 seconds to chill, strain out the ice, then dry shake for 20-30 seconds. We find it a little less messy to dry shake first for 20-30 seconds (just shake all the above ingredients in your shaker without ice), then add ice and shake another 20-30 seconds to chill. Strain into a coupe or martini glass and garnish with a slice of pineapple or a flower. Aloha!
*simple syrup is 1:1 hot water and granulated sugar, stir over heat to dissolve, then cool. For agave syrup, use 1:1 hot water to agave, stir to dissolve, then cool.
**I love egg white sours – but I realize that the concept of raw egg might not appeal to all. Options: (1) use 1/2 ounce of chickpea aquafaba, the liquid found in a can of chickpeas; (2) omit the egg white and orange zest, and blend all ingredients with about 3 ice cubes, the resulting drink will be a little thicker but the pineapple cubes will froth the drink up nicely.
