Many of the suppers are a free-for-all; sometimes there's a theme. Today's theme is Portuguese food. When I found out the theme I took a quick look though my cookbook collection - no Portuguese cookbooks. Uh oh. Hard to believe, considering I have a cookbook on Mayan cooking.
I do have a few cookbooks that cover multiple cuisines, so I browsed through those. I found a few possible recipes, but none of them really appealed. And for some, I knew the ingredients would be hard to find.
Then I had a brainstorm. What about a drink?
I found a few recipes online that purported to being Portuguese drinks, but for one reason or another, I was skeptical. But there was one recipe that I found over and over again with multiple variations - a drink called the Portuguese Daisy.
And I learned something. Port wine is a Portuguese drink. Even the bottle I had came from Portugal. I never really thought about it.
The Portuguese Daisy is a dark red drink - I mean, the major component here is port wine. The flavor is much like a sangria, with the flavor of citrus mingled with the wine. This was a good find.
Many of the recipes called for superfine sugar, but that's not something everyone has on hand. Simple syrup makes more sense. Sure, you're adding a teeny bit of water, but you're also adding water from the melting ice, so it's not going to make that much of a difference.
Portuguese Daisy
2 ounces port wine
1 ounce brandy
1 ounce lemon juice
1 teaspoon simple syrup
1 teaspoon grenadine
Combine all the ingredients in a shaker with ice. Shake-a-shake-a-shakie it up. Strain into a glass and serve.
If I was making this for guests, I'd be tempted to garnish it with an orange slice. I have no idea if that's ever done with the classic drink, but I think it would work well. Or maybe a twist of lemon rind, since you're already using lemon.