You’ve set out and ironed your favourite Massive Attack shirt. You took my advice and applied a nice men’s aftershave to keep your skin looking and feeling great. You’ve even dusted off that old bottle of cologne for the occasion (repeat after me: cologne. Not perfume. Not eau de toilette. Cologne.) The mood has been set, and now all you need is the perfect drink. Reader, meet the Bellini.
Named after 15th century painter Giovanni Bellini, the Bellini is a cocktail made from Prosecco and peach purée. It traces its origins to Harry’s Bar in Venice, where writers Ernest Hemingway, Sinclair Lewis, and Orson Welles were known to drown their sorrows. It’s a drink for celebrating, and tonight you want to celebrate with your special someone (you did iron your shirt, after all).
To make your drink, you’ll need the following: 2/3 cup white peach puree, 1 teaspoon raspberry puree, 1 bottle chilled Prosecco, and 2 champagne flutes. If you find that white peaches are not available, feel free to use the yellow variety; just be sure to peel the fruit before you puree it. Both of your fruits can easily be pureed using a food processor and should be ready for use in no time.
Once your ingredients are all prepared, place about 1 ½ tablespoons of peach puree in the bottom of each flute, along with 2-3 drops of the raspberry. Then, top the flutes off with Prosecco. For a quick version of the recipe, you can use peach schnapps instead of the fruit puree, but I’d recommend the real thing. Just because you can’t take your special someone to Venice, doesn’t mean you can’t bring a piece of Venice to her.
