Recipe: Sparkling Midnight Thyme Rosé

updated May 1, 2019
Sparkling Midnight Thyme Rosé
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(Image credit: Leela Cyd)

This holiday, ring in the new year with something a little different than your standard glass of Champagne. This rosé cocktail perfumed with rose and thyme comes to us from cookbook author Asha Gomez. She starts with your favorite rosé and then swirls in a fragrant thyme simple syrup and a dash of rosewater for a warm and aromatic take on this year’s most beloved wine.

Rose and Thyme for Warmth and Intrigue

Although rose is considered a cooling flavor, the sentiment behind it is all about warmth. It’s a common flavor in Indian cooking, turning up in everything from refreshing lassis to sweet, milky desserts.

Here, it makes its way to our cocktail glasses. Each cocktail gets a drizzle of rosewater, one teaspoon to be exact, along with a splash of simple syrup infused with thyme. The sweetness of the simple syrup along with the herbaceous notes coming from the thyme help balance out any worry that this cocktail tastes too floral.

For the base, choose any rosé you already like. However, since you’ll be adding in some extra sweetness from the simple syrup, something on the drier side is recommended.

You can mix these cocktails up by the glass or make a pitcher to pour just before the clock strikes midnight. Serve this cocktail with the full spread of Asha’s South Indian New Year’s Eve menu or drink them while you watch the ball drop from your sofa. No matter how you celebrate the new year, a fast and fancy cocktail is always a nice touch.

A South Indian New Year’s Eve

We’re ringing in the new year with a burst of flavor and color and a menu from Asha Gomez’s celebrated cookbook, My Two Souths. Inspired by the parallel flavors of home in Kerala and her home in Atlanta, Asha creates recipes that tell the stories of how these two cultures and traditions of cooking overlap to create the food she shares in her Atlanta-based Indian pâtisserie, Spice To Table.

Sparkling Midnight Thyme Rosé

Serves 6

Nutritional Info

Ingredients

For the thyme-infused syrup:

  • 1 cup

    water

  • 1 cup

    granulated sugar

  • 10 sprigs

    fresh thyme

For the cocktails:

  • 6 teaspoons

    rose water

  • 6 tablespoons

    thyme-infused syrup, chilled

  • 1

    (750-milliliter) bottle chilled dry sparkling rosé wine (I like to use Spumante Brut Rosé)

  • 6

    edible rose petals

  • 6 tender sprigs

    fresh thyme

Instructions

Make the syrup:

  1. Bring the water to a boil in a small saucepan over high heat. Add the sugar and stir until the sugar has dissolved. Remove from the heat, add the thyme, and let it infuse in the syrup for 15 minutes. Strain the syrup through a fine-mesh strainer set over a small bowl and discard the thyme sprigs. Chill the syrup.

Make the cocktails:

  1. Pour 1 teaspoon of rose water and 1 tablespoon of thyme-infused syrup into each of 6 Champagne flutes. Top with the sparkling rosé and give it a quick swirl. Garnish with a rose petal and sprig of thyme.

Recipe Notes

  • Rosewater: Rosewater is water that has been steam distilled with fresh rose petals. Be sure the rosewater is all natural and not made with a synthetic rose oil. A quick online search will yield several step-by-step video tutorials for making rosewater in your home kitchen.

Reprinted with permission from My Two Souths: Blending the Flavors of India into a Southern Kitchen © 2016 by Asha Gomez with Martha Hall Foose, Running Press.

(Image credit: Asha Gomez)

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