First off, I’ve got a confession to make.
I did this twice.
That’s right. I messed up the first time I tried to make this cocktail, so I had to do it again. Whoops. You’re definitely not seeing the magic morphing wine bottles or self-healing fruit; I did the photos twice too!
At the heart of it, the Bellini is a pretty simple cocktail. It has its origins at Harry’s Bar in Venice. Sometime in the 1940s, its founder Giuseppe Cipriani, created it in a flash of inspiration. The freshly created cocktail’s rosy hues reminded Cipriani of a painting by his favourite Venetian artist, Giovanni Bellini, who now lends his name to this classsic cocktail. The elegant simplicity of it holds a particular attraction to me; less elaborate preparation work and more enjoyment!
There are usually only 2 ingredients in the traditional Venetian Bellini: white peaches and Italian prosecco. I intended to serve this on Chinese New Year’s Day, so in an effort to be a little more festive, I used 3 instead (spoilers in the title). You can see the mandarin orange cheekily peeking out from behind the peaches above.
There’s not much to tell about the preparation either. The recipe is pretty simple:
Mandarin Orange Peach Bellini
4 White peaches
4 Mandarin Oranges
1 Bottle of Prosecco
Remove the pits from the peaches, and purée using a fruit blender. Don’t worry about the skins- it’s actually nice to have a bit of them around. Juice the oranges and mix it into the purée. When ready to serve, mix 50% prosecco and 50% of the orange/peach mixture in a champagne glass and stir vigorously.
So how did I mess up? You can see the results below.
The main problem was that I blended the oranges and the peaches at the same time. The white pith got into the whole mixture and made it fairly bitter – not the sweet and refreshing taste that I was hoping for. I didn’t puree the peaches and oranges finely enough and you can still see a lot of the sediments inside the glass. A definite no-no.
It wasn’t just a matter of technique. The flavours were not refined and I felt that it wasn’t just about the blending- it was about the ingredients that I was blending.
The final result was some sort of weird cross between F&N orange soda, baby food and peach bits. It wasn’t wholly unpleasant, but I felt that I could do a lot better.
Starting from the ground up, I tried a new set of ingredients. I chose organic peaches this time, which were both sweeter and strangely lighter in taste compared to the ones I got at the supermarket the last time. They were less ripe and definitely tasted fresher and crisper (I made sure to take a very stringent test-bite this time).
I didn’t use the blender for the oranges this time, opting to hand squeeze the mandarins to make sure the white pith and seeds are completely separated from the juice. With the skins being so thin, extracting the juice was difficult, but a little perseverance went a long way. I made sure to mix the peach purée and orange juice together thoroughly.
I also used a different prosecco this time- Bottega Gold instead of Valdo, though that was mostly a matter of availability rather than a conscious choice to change it. I do think that the Bottega was a shade better than the Valdo in terms of refinement, but the difference is negligible in the Bellini. I continued to use 50% puree and 50% prosecco.
I garnished with a cape gooseberry this time, just to add a bit of colour and texture.
The result?
A much cleaner and tastier Bellini. This time, the cocktail was refreshing, smooth and had the right mix of sweet, sour and crispness. The mellow sweetness of the peach combined well with the mandarin oranges’ own tart sweetness and the dry prosecco to give a balanced flavour. The family was very pleased indeed with their delicious dinner cocktail.
Or perhaps that was just relief that the Bellini was actually drinkable the second time around.
What did I take away from the whole experience? A simple drink isn’t always simple to prepare. When there’s only 2 (or 3) ingredients, every little mistake or error is magnified. Attention to detail makes a great difference.
Yet, after a bit of experimentation and perseverance, I’m pretty satisfied with the final product. Try making one for brunch or a celebratory dinner and wow your friends and family!
