{"id":2828,"date":"2011-08-29T00:28:40","date_gmt":"2011-08-29T07:28:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/adribarrcrocetti.com\/main\/?p=2828"},"modified":"2012-07-22T16:38:38","modified_gmt":"2012-07-22T23:38:38","slug":"la-rosalia-a-happy-marriage-of-watermelon-aperol-and-basil","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/adribarrcrocetti.com\/main\/la-rosalia-a-happy-marriage-of-watermelon-aperol-and-basil\/","title":{"rendered":"La Rosalia – A Happy Marriage of Watermelon, Aperol and Basil"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Aperol<\/a><\/p>\n

Call it a cooler.\u00a0 Call it refreshing.\u00a0 And call our weather hot, hot, hot.\u00a0 For the last few days I have been looking for cool, but not too sweet drinks, and I came up with this one.\u00a0 In our house watermelon defines summertime, and since it’s still watermelon season, I thought I would use it in a beverage.<\/p>\n

\"Aperol<\/a>I named this long drink after Santa Rosalia, the woman who saved Palermo from the Black Plague in 1624.\u00a0 During Palermo’s\u00a0 July Festino di Santa Rosalia watermelon jello is a popular treat.\u00a0 (See my post on Gelatina di Melone<\/a>.)\u00a0 I figured I’d stick with reverence for la santuzza, as the Palermitani call her,\u00a0 and name this drink after her.\u00a0 The sweetness of the basil syrup is the perfect counterpoint for the bitter edge of the Aperol<\/a>, Italy’s number one selling spirit, and the watermelon and club soda lighten the base – transforming it into a surprisingly refreshing, but very adult, afternoon libation.\u00a0 Tip off your guests to what is in their glasses with a whimsical watermelon and basil garnish.<\/p>\n

\"Aperol<\/a><\/p>\n

La Rosalia<\/em><\/h4>\n
makes 1<\/h6>\n

1\/3 cup cubed watermelon (1\/2 inch cubes)
\n1 ounce Aperol
\n1 ounce basil simple syrup (recipe follows)
\nclub soda
\nice<\/p>\n

\"Aperol<\/a>Place cubed watermelon in the bottom of a mixing glass, and muddle thoroughly.\u00a0 Strain into a chilled 16 ounce glass.\u00a0 Add Aperol and basil simple syrup.\u00a0 Stir to combine.\u00a0 Fill glass 2\/3 full with ice.\u00a0 Or if you prefer bits of watermelon in your drink, make the drink, start to finish, in your serving glass.\u00a0 Top with club soda and garnish with a watermelon wedge and a sprig of basil.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Notes: If you have an ice crusher, this is the place to use it.\u00a0 The soft ice you get is perfect in this long drink.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Basil Simple Syrup<\/em><\/p>\n

\"Basil\"<\/a>Simple syrup is quick and easy to make and has many different uses in the kitchen or at the bar.\u00a0 It can be plain, just sugar and water, or it can be flavored with anything from anise to vanilla, or as here, basil.\u00a0 Plain, it is the ideal sweetener for cold drinks – no need to worry about your sugar not dissolving.\u00a0 Mix it with spirits to moisten layers of cake.\u00a0 To flavor simple syrup with herbs, add them at the beginning right along with the sugar and water.\u00a0 If you are adding spirits or extract, do so after you remove the finished syrup from the flame.\u00a0 Generously flavored with basil, this syrup is wonderful over fresh fruit or as a sweetening agent for lemonade or mixed drinks.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

2 very generous cups basil leaves
\n2 cups granulated sugar
\n1 cup water<\/p>\n

Place all ingredients in medium saucepan.\u00a0 Heat over medium heat until sugar has dissolved and mixture has come to a gentle simmer, stirring occasionally.\u00a0 Mixture will be completely clear when sugar is dissolved.\u00a0 Remove from heat.\u00a0 Cool, strain and store in refrigerator up to 5 days.<\/p>\n

\"Aperol<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Note: You can click on any picture for a larger image, and to see a slide show!<\/em><\/p>\n

I have no affiliation with any product, manufacturer, or site mentioned in this article.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Call it a cooler.\u00a0 Call it refreshing.\u00a0 And call our weather hot, hot, hot.\u00a0 For the last few days I have been looking for cool, but not too sweet drinks, and I came up with this one.\u00a0 In our house watermelon defines summertime, and since it’s still watermelon season, I thought I would use it […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[539,1393,59],"tags":[396,139,777,816,727,814,818,817,673,675,813,812,70,815],"class_list":["post-2828","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-beverages","category-history","category-recipes","tag-aperol","tag-basil","tag-basil-simple-syrup","tag-black-plague","tag-club-soda","tag-festino-di-santa-rosalia","tag-ice","tag-ice-crusher","tag-la-santuzza","tag-palermitani","tag-rosalia","tag-santa-rosalia","tag-simple-syrup","tag-watermelon"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pYzzK-JC","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/adribarrcrocetti.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2828","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/adribarrcrocetti.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/adribarrcrocetti.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adribarrcrocetti.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adribarrcrocetti.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2828"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/adribarrcrocetti.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2828\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4703,"href":"https:\/\/adribarrcrocetti.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2828\/revisions\/4703"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/adribarrcrocetti.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2828"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adribarrcrocetti.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2828"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adribarrcrocetti.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2828"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}