The Sicilian Witch
This was not the post I intended to write today. After Sal’s entertaining post on the Bota bag (stay tuned for Part II!) I was set to get back to my Swedish smörgåsbord of spirits. But then I got caught in a spell - and it must have been cast by a very good witch!
Last Friday my dinner club group met for a Sicilian themed dinner. Our cocktail for the night was based on an old Italian liqueur, Strega. Strega means “witch” in Italian.
Strega, as the story goes, was first produced in the town of Benevento in the mid-1800s. As with many of these herbal-based liqueurs it was originally created by monks. This recipe, however, was stolen by a local businessman, Giuseppe Alberti, and then produced and marketed as a medical elixir. It didn’t go over all that well until his son decided to associate the elixir with local stories. The town was, according to an old legend, the place where witches from all over the world gathered and they supposedly had prepared a love potion to unite forever those couples who drank it. And so the elixir was renamed Strega and the association guaranteed it’s acceptance and success.
Today the liqueur is distilled from seventy herbs and spices, although the recipe remains a secret. Its distinctive yellow color comes from the addition of saffron, that exotic and very expensive ingredient made from the stigmas of saffron crocus. Then it is aged in oak until the smooth, distinctive flavor emerges. Maybe it’s the color or the combination of herbs and spices but you really have the feeling you are drinking an exotic, liquid sunshine.
For our dinner club cocktail M2, who had appetizer and cocktail duty, found a rather new cocktail based on this old liqueur. And, although the cocktail was created at BLT Prime in New York, the combination of Strega with citrus could have been straight from the island of Sicily.
Strega-Nator
- Ice
- 2 ounces Strega
- 1 ounce fresh orange juice
- 1 ounce fresh lime juice
- 2 ounces chilled club soda
- 1 orange wedge
Fill a cocktail shaker with ice. Add the Strega, orange juice and lime juice and shake well. Strain into an ice-filled rocks glass. Top with the club soda and garnish with the orange wedge.
You can read about the rest of the dinner here.
