The Project: Fruit-infused sakes

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Each Friday, we handpick a recipe from the L.A. Times Test Kitchen that’s perfect for weekend cooking -- when you’ve got a little more time on your hands. As I combed through the recipe archives this week, I wondered: Is there a way to combine the frivolity of the season -- it’s spring! -- with the freshest produce (strawberries, strawberries, strawberries) with my favorite pastime: drinking.

That’s when I stumbled upon fruit-infused sakes. Take your pick of flavors: We have strawberry-infused sake, citrus-infused sake and pineapple-infused sake. These recipes are all pretty simple -- but they involve a time commitment. The infusing process for the strawberry and citrus sakes can take up to four days, while the pineapple sake is a relatively speedy 30 minutes, plus time in the chill chest.

So, here’s what I advise: Be an overachiever!

Mix up a batch of the pineapple-infused sake for tonight, and get those other sakes going for next week. If you try it, please let me know what you think. And if you have any recipe suggestions for The Project, let me know and we’ll search the test kitchen archives. And check back here for each weekly installment.

-- Rene Lynch (Follow me on Twitter @renelynch)