The Impatient Chef Mocktail Recipe: The Pink Paradise

As some of you may know, The Impatient Chef looooves cocktails, especially ones containing gin and olives.  Love of, and the consumption of, cocktails is in the finest American tradition of getting one's wit lubricated when the need strikes.  The trouble occurs when the need strikes too often, and doctors start wagging fingers, and talking about blood sugar levels.  Mortality being the harsh mistress that it is, and diabetes being the mother of prevention, the martini had to take the back seat to other drinks.  I still have the occasional martini, daiquiri, margarita, etc on weekends (one per day maximum), but for the work week, no alcohol may be consumed.  

Enter: The Mocktail. 

A mocktail is essentially a non-alcoholic cocktail.  The trick is to obtain complexity and deliciousness while following a different treasure map, one where there is no gin or rum at the spot marked 'X'.  This can be tricky.  I started out with variations on the gin and tonic, substituting bitters and simple syrup for the gin.  To my surprise, it worked nicely.  That recipe will be forthcoming in the near future.  Until then, The Impatient Chef is pleased to present:

The Pink Paradise.  

Why pink, you ask?  Surely a man's drink isn't pink.  

The Impatient Chef doesn't care.  It's pink.  Get over it.  

Here goes;

• 1 oz fresh lemon juice
• 1/2 oz simple syrup
• 1/2 oz grenadine
• 4 dashes orange bitters
• 3 dashes Boker's bitters (you can substitute Angostura, but it won't be as good)
• 4 oz seltzer.

I use a fairly large cocktail glass, and it fits.  

Add everything but the seltzer into a cocktail shaker with ice.  Shake vigorously.  Open the shaker, pour in the seltzer.  Swirl for a few seconds, and strain into a chilled cocktail glass.  You can add more seltzer if desired.  

Enjoy.  

--The Impatient Chef.