Savoury Grape Relish & Pinapple Sidecar Cocktail

 
For this month's Secret Recipe Club I was assigned a lovely blog called Kate's Kitchen. Kate and her husband Connie (AKA her sous chef - cute) seem like they are on the road a lot travelling and visiting with family. Her blog not only has some great recipes but lots of lovely photo's of the places they have been and things they have eaten. The best part of this blog is that Kate gives a lot of recipes for yummy cocktails!

After a day of helping a friend paint and put furniture together I thought it was time for an appetiser and a drink. I found two perfect recipes on Kate's blog. First up was this Grape Relish that I served with toasted baguette. The ingredients in this recipe are suppose to be grilled on the BBQ however it is December and we don't have a BBQ so instead I just cooked everything in a pan.

The cocktail was a Pinapple Sidecar (I traditional sidecar is my favourite drink so I had to try this twist). Kate's recipe used fresh blackberries but instead I used frozen raspberries as the garnish rather than as part of the mix.

Both turned out really delicious. Please check out all the yumminess over on Kate's Kitchen. Cheers Kate!

Savoury Vegan Grape Relish
Adapted from Kate's Kitchen

1/2 cup walnuts, roughly chopped
1 medium red onion, cut into thin slices
4 t olive oil
1 sprig fresh rosemary
1 large bunch seedless red or black grapes
2 tsp white balsamic vinegar
Salt & pepper

In a dry pan toast the walnuts. Put into medium bowl and set aside. Add 2 tsp of oil to the pan and caramelise onions. Once cooked let cool and add to the walnuts.

Add the remaining oil and grapes to the pan. Cook until grapes are soft about 10 minutes. While grapes are cooking begin to squish them with the back of a wooden spoon or a potato masher. Let cool then add to mixture.

Finish by chopping the rosemary and adding it along with the balsamic vinegar. Taste and season with salt & pepper.

Serve with toasted baguette.


Pineapple Sidecar
Adapted from Kate's Kitchen

5 Ice cubes
4 oz Cognac (we used Courvoisier VS)
1 oz Cointreau or other triple sec (we used Grand Marnier)
3 oz pineapple juice
1 oz fresh squeezed lemon juice
1 oz simple syrup
Fresh or frozen raspberries


Shake all of the ingredients (except raspberries) in a cocktail shaker.

Sugar the rim of the serving glass (optional) and add 6 or 7 raspberries to he glass.

Strain cocktail into the glass and serve.