The Pantry with Ryan Chetiyawardana is a monthly column in which the award-winning bartender and bar owner shares how to use unexpected ingredients in easy-to-make home cocktails.
At the start of the year, during the chill of the winter months, there’s a need to seek out moments of warmth and optimism. For me, January is time for the catchups that didn’t happen over the festive period. And despite the rain that dogs February, it’s the best time to get plans in place for the year ahead, which sees me travel to the Lyan bars in New York, DC and Amsterdam, as well as in Shoreditch and Southbank. But really, I’m eagerly awaiting the green shoots of spring to start poking through, bringing not only a glut of amazing British produce, but also the lightening and brightness – both literal and emotional – that comes as we transition out of winter.
As the weather warms, we experience the joy of asparagus, rhubarb, citrus and berries beginning to come in, as well as the ability to get fresh peas. You can of course get frozen peas year round, and they should be one of the key items in your freezer at all times (alongside a batched Martini, ice, ice-cream and glassware). Captured and frozen at their peak, they are excellent blitzed or folded into dishes and drinks straight from the freezer. But there’s a joy to fresh peas – the variance as the season changes is great – and there’s something wonderfully therapeutic about shelling peas. But while the shells are usually discarded in favour of the peas’ succulent insides, there’s plenty you can do with them, including adding them to cocktails: fresh pods are a great ingredient to imbue a bright green sweetness to your drinks.
One of the easiest ways to incorporate them into cocktails is to simply blitz the fresh shells into a sugar syrup or cordial. The latter uses the addition of some acid (either in powdered form, vinegars or citrus) but both use water and sugar to capture some of that floral sweetness. The sugar also means it will remain preserved in the fridge in a clean container for a few weeks for use in both alcoholic and non-alcoholic drinks.
The flavours of the peas naturally lend themselves to something bright and green so I’ve used gin alongside some fino sherry in a highball. It’ll instantly transport you to a sunny garden, and is the perfect highball to kick back over with friends. But you could add the syrup to vermouth and tonic to bolster the fresh green notes, or even mix it with an oilier blended Scotch (such as Dewar’s White Label, or Johnnie Walker Red Label) to lift the grassiness.
Pea Highball
Makes 1 highball
Ingredients
35ml London dry gin
20ml fino sherry (or dry vermouth)
Soda, lemonade or tonic water, to serve
Sprig of mint
Pea sugar syrup (makes more than you need for one drink)
300g water
600g sugar
60g pea shells (equivalent to about 2 handfuls) or 3tbsp fresh or frozen peas
Method
To make the syrup, bring the water to the boil, then remove from the heat and add sugar and pea shells. Stir to dissolve the sugar, then allow to cool. Transfer to a blender and blend on high power until incorporated. Strain through a sieve to remove any bulk and fibres, then decant into a clean bottle and refrigerate.
Once you’re ready to make the cocktail, add ice cubes to a chilled highball glass – you want to use the biggest cubes possible. Mainly, you just want to use way more ice than you might imagine. Pack the glass with ice so it pokes out the top.
Add the London dry gin, fino sherry and 20ml pea syrup to your iced highball. Stir well so everything is incorporated, then add more ice (again, it wants to poke above the rim of the glass). Top with chilled soda, lemonade or tonic water, leaving a two-finger gap at the top of the glass, then garnish with a (spanked) sprig of mint.
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