Shrimp version of holiday standard a fun option for Labor Day weekend

The hotel and its gorgeous marble, polished-wood and red-accented brasserie are well-known for our favorite summer cocktail: the gin and tonic.

These are not the sloppy Tanqueray and tonics of our youth. The Holborn’s Gin Bar features more than 400 boutique gins and 27

tonic waters. The restaurant also makes homemade syrups and secret potions to turn out more than 14,000 possible gin-and-tonic combinations. Fresh lavender, mint, rosemary, thyme and other botanicals — all destined for muddling into a bar glass — scent the room.

We needed time to settle on a gin-andtonic combination. In the end, a lavender and pink grapefruit option swept us away. Converted, we spent the rest of the trip collecting gins to transport home. Several versions of homemade syrups now line the shelf of my refrigerator. My husband planted lavender just for cocktails.

The Holborn shrimp burger was equally memorable, so much so that I worked on a re-creation. It turns out that raw shrimp, some of it chopped and some nearly pureed, yields a juicy, almost-bouncy burger reminiscent of Holborn’s signature sandwich. A hot, oily griddle, not a grill, creates a perfectly crusty exterior.

The shrimp-burger mix is seasoned with a bit of garlic and fresh herbs. Breadcrumbs and an egg white help hold the patties together during cooking. To shape the soft mixture into burgers, I put mounds onto an oily, heated griddle and then press the mounds into 1-inch thick burgers as they start to cook.

You should enlist a food processor to make speedy work of chopping and coarsely pureeing the raw shrimp. Absent a processor, a sharp knife and a cutting board work to finely chop half of the shrimp. Then, work in small batches in a blender to coarsely puree the other half.

The Holborn tops its burgers with a spicy jalapeno tartar. I make my version with griddle-roasted jalapeno, chopped fresh herbs and a good-quality, store-bought mayonnaise. The combo tastes great on burgers of any flavor.

Adding brioche buns, toasted and smeared with the seasoned mayonnaise, makes holiday-worthy burgers. For more controlled weekday enjoyment, I serve the burgers on a pile of crisp romaine leaves with a dollop of the mayonnaise.

Accompany the burgers with butter-basted zucchini sticks and an icy-cold gin and tonic. For dessert, seer small scoops of a nondairy frozen fresh-fruit and coconut dessert.

Your labors will be appreciated.

Cut the squash crosswise into 3-inch lengths. Cut the lengths into ½-inch-thick slices. Cut the slices into ½-inch sticks. Sprinkle generously with salt and set into a colander to drain.

Put butter into a small saucepan; melt over low heat. Remove from the heat. Skim off and discard the foam. Use a spoon to skim the golden yellow liquid off into another dish. Discard the milky solids at the bottom of the pan.

Heat a large nonstick

skillet over medium heat. Add the clarified butter and zucchini sticks. Saute, basting the zucchini often with the butter in the pan, until golden and fork-tender, about 10 minutes.

Season with pepper. Sprinkle with mint. Serve hot.

110 calories, 3 g protein, 3 g carbohydrates, 1 g fiber, 0 g sugar, 11 g fat (6 g saturated), 27 mg cholesterol, 392 mg sodium