Bottlegreen Drinks & Eats

GREAT delivery day at HPA HQ.

One Friday afternoon, a few weeks ago, a delivery person balancing a MASSIVE parcel rang the doorbell at Hot Pink HQ (aka Dana’s place). This is a familiar sound at HQ, since Dana is married to Homebrew Brett, a man who can never seem to order enough beer brewing devices from the interweb. Dana signed for the parcel and was about to walk away from it when she noticed that this giant box was actually addressed to Hot Pink Apron and it was shipped from the brilliant cordial creators at Bottlegreen Drinks. Excitedly tearing through the cardboard & bubble wrap (to be played with later) she revealed a variety of seasonal bottlegreen cordials and cases of Elderflower and Pomegranate & Elderflower Sparkling Pressés.

What is a food blogger to do?! There seems to be no better time than a Friday afternoon to “get to work”. What followed was a bounty of Lime & Coconut Cordial mojitos, Strawberry & Elderflower Cordial champagne flutes and Elderflower Cordial vodka martinis. In the sobering sun of the following day, Dana knew this cordial tasting/reviewing mission was far too big for just one home cook, so she called upon her thirsty Apronites to play.

Reagan: I tried a few tablespoons of the Pomegranate & Elderflower Cordial in a glass with soda water and ice. It’s delicious, a refreshing, fruity pop with a pretty rose colour! As serious as my sweet tooth is, I don’t like my drinks too cloying so it is really nice to be able to control the sweetness. I would have killed for this stuff when I was pregnant last summer – it makes for a nice, non-alcoholic drink that feels “special” and cocktail-y when everyone else is drinking mojitos on the deck. Oh, and that bottle has disappeared pretty quickly; it turns out my other half has been adding the cordial to his water glass for a tasty after-work refresher.

Caitlin: I used the pomegranate one in lemonade too (as we have already established I am a lemonade addict) with a splash of soda water. I also added it to a champagne cocktail– a single shot went a long way! It was a perfect complement to the dry Prosecco I was using.

Jodi: We really enjoyed the Pomegranate & Elderflower Cordial with gin. Sooo tasty and refreshing on those hot summer nights. I will definitely have to try it with some Prosecco. Could it replace the mimosa as my fave morning boozer? Hmm, we’ll see.

: Eenie meenie miney *glug*.

Amanda: We used some of the Ginger & Lemongrass Cordial with 1 single measure of gin, the juice of a lime and topped it up with bitter tonic water. It was very fiery, and very drinkable. It eclipsed the flavour of the gin a bit – would probably go for a double measure next time. Well, that’s my excuse anyway!

I also used it as an ingredient in a sauce for fish – it sat very happily alongside vermouth, gin, ginger, chilli and honey, poured all over a side of coley. Full recipe to follow once I’ve finished perfecting that spicy sauce!

Dana: That initial Friday afternoon was just the first of many sweet summer afternoons with those bottlegreen treats. The Elderflower Sparkling Pressé is so delicious, I want nothing other than ice added to it. The cordials, on the other hand, are concentrated flavour creators just begging for companionship — rum works, gin works, vodka really works AND I’M NOT EVEN A SWEET DRINK FAN. But, how will the Lime & Coconut Cordial work with these local chicken breasts and my garden’s jalapenos?? Bum, bum, bummm.. {foodie cliffhanger}

And now for a message from our “sponsor”:

Bottlegreen pressé ingredients are pressed, similar to a winemaking process, and blended with pure spring water sourced from the Cotswolds in England.
Bottlegreen sparkling pressés have no added artificial colours, flavours or sweeteners.
The company was started by the husband and wife team Kit and Shireen Morris in 1989. At first planting vines to produce elderflower wine, the process of waiting for the vines to mature proved to long for them, so they began bottling cordial instead.
21 years ago their cordial could only be found at select farmers’ markets in England, now you can find many of their products across Europe and in Whole Foods, Target Stores and other fine food retailers across Canada and the U.S..

We now return you to your regularly schedule dinner recipe…

The Bottlegreen Drinks website has an impressive catalogue of recipes highlighting the use of their products, everything from cocktails to desserts. I was inspired by a Crunchy Coconut Prawns with Sweet Lime and Coconut Dipping Sauce recipe, posted in the entree category, for this chicken adaptation.

Crunchy Coconut Chicken Fingers
with Lime and Coconut Jalapeno Dipping Sauce

Slightly adapted from Bottlegreen Drinks recipes
Serves 4
Prep time: 25 minutes Cooking time: about 10 minutes

Ingredients:

2 skinless raw chicken breasts, fat trimmed
2 Tbsp all-purpose flour
1 farm-fresh egg
8 Tbsp desiccated coconut
6 Tbsp fresh breadcrumbs
8 Tbsp bottlegreen Lime & Coconut Cordial
1 large jalapeno, finely chopped (keep seeds for bonus heat – don’t forget to wash your hands after handling!)
2 Tbsp rice wine vinegar
4 Tbsp coconut oil for frying

On a clean surface, cut your chicken breasts diagonally into even strips. Prepare 3 bowls, one with the flour in, one with the beaten egg and one with the coconut and breadcrumbs mixed together. Dip your chicken strips first in the flour, then the beaten egg and finally toss in the coconut mix until evenly coated.
To make the dipping sauce, place the cordial, jalapeno and rice wine vinegar in a small saucepan, bring to the boil, simmer until reduced a little and syrupy.
Heat the oil in a pan, cook 3 chicken strips at a time (more as long you’re not crowding the pan) until golden for approx. 4 mins each side, turning half way if shallow frying, drain on kitchen paper.
Serve these fresh coconut chicken fingers with the lime and coconut dipping sauce while still warm for best taste and texture.

Prep your chicken.

Make your sauce.

Dip & enjoy.

Bottlegreen Drinks, thank you for the generous delivery to Hot Pink HQ. Those refreshing, sweet flavours were a welcome change from a season of beer swag. Keep creating innovating cordials and sparkling waters and we’ll be sure to stay thirsty… you know where to reach us for tastings. 🙂