Recipes: May 2005 Archives

Friends! It's May! Can you believe it?? I can't quite, but then on these beautiful mild evenings where the sun stays up so late I dare to think that it'll be summer soon. Summer! Spring may be when a young man's thoughts turn to love, but summer is when my thoughts turn to barbecues, watermelon, homemade ice cream, corn on the cob...and of course, cool, thirst-quenching drinks.

I like all kinds of refreshing summer drinks. I love a homemade iced tea, sweet and lemony on the porch in the sun. I can't get enough of the soft punch of mint julep just as the sun gets low. Ask me for my Indian ginger-cucumber-lemon cooler recipe sometime; it's fantastic. I love homemade lemonade, agua de jamaica (a Mexican sweet drink made with hibiscus flowers), root beer floats, and filling our kegerator with light, crisp lagers instead of winter ales.

This summer I'm planning to add two new drinks to my list: clara con limón and tinto de verano, two drinks Fiona and I discovered during our recent trip to Spain. They're very easy, refreshing and delicious, but first you have to get over the seeming blasphemy of mixing beer and wine with soda.

Both of these drinks are based around lemon soda; in Spain they often use Lemon Fanta, but better yet is when they use a sparkling lemonade made with real lemon juice (such as my favorite Spanish brand Kas). In the US, you can find many options at gourmet/nature grocery stores, but a good standby is San Pellegrino Limonata.

These drinks are simple to make: for a clara con limón (also known as cerveza con limón), fill a glass half-full of a cold, light lager-style beer (such as any decent pilsner). Then top off with lemon soda. To make a tinto de verano, pour a red Spanish wine over ice (nothing fancy; everyday tinto will do just fine) and add lemon soda to taste. For both drinks I recommend starting with equal parts soda and beer or wine and then adjusting to how you like it.

I'll be drinking plenty of these this summer; they're the perfect way to beat the heat and dream of further travels to sunny Spain. Next time you bike by, be sure to stop in and I'll make you one too!

(Photo courtesy Fiona)