Tomato Basil Martini

Our Tomato Basil Martini is a remarkably light, fresh tomato cocktail for summer.  No cans of tomato juice here - muddling fresh and seasonal cherry tomatoes with a few torn basil leaves and a spritz of lemon results in a surprisingly pink dose of summer goodness.

It was only right to pair these garden flavors with an herbal liquor such as gin, which is exactly what we did.  We’ve been getting into craft distilleries lately, so for this cocktail we sampled a new to us gin from the California Bay Area.

Tomato Basil Martini

Check out our column, Locally Mixed, over at Whole Foods Market Cooking for the complete recipe!
Ingredient List:

• cherry tomatoes
• fresh basil leaves
• lemon
• sea salt
• ice
• gin

Classic Martini

I was raised in a martini household: Tanqueray on the rocks with a twist was the drink of choice for both of my parents. I have a very vivid memory of being around 15 years old, and desperately needing to quench my thirst, I reached for a glass of water -- I grabbed my mom's martini by mistake. I swigged that martini down in a huge gulp, and then I jumped to my feet horrified, spitting, and gasping. Welcome to the wonderful world of gin! It took me a little while to get over that early introduction, but somewhere along the way, gin has become my spirit of choice.

For a drink which has only two ingredients -- gin and vermouth -- it almost seems as though no two versions of the martini are alike. The amount of vermouth varies greatly with some recipes calling for merely a few drops of vermouth rolled about the glass and then poured out. We played with the proportions and found that this is the ratio we like best. Ours is a "wet" martini with a bit more vermouth than typical. We like the smoothness that the vermouth imparts.

Classic Martini

• 1 1/2 oz gin
• 1/2 oz dry vermouth

Pour gin and vermouth into a shaker with plenty of ice. Shake well, and then strain into a cocktail glass.  Garnish with an olive or two, or with a twist of lemon. 

Minty Dog Cocktail

I've said before that I'm a huge fan of greyhounds, both the kind with four paws and the kind with gin. A while ago we got excited about using vanilla salt on the classic salty dog. Here's a new spin on things for lovers of mint: the Minty Dog!

Last week we whipped up some tasty mint sugar which we sprinkled over our colorful winter citrus salad. If you are wondering what else you can use that mint sugar for, just head over to your liquor cabinet.

Minty Dog

• 1.5 oz grapefruit juice
• 1.5 oz gin (you can use vodka instead, I won't judge)
• mint sugar (recipe here)

1. Moisten the rim of your glass with some grapefruit juice. (The juice helps the sugar to adhere better than water does.)

2. Put mint sugar in a shallow dish and turn the glass over into the dish to coat the rim with sugar.

3. Pour grapefruit juice and gin over ice. (If you prefer it chilled and not over ice, you can shake juice and gin in a shaker and then strain into glass instead.)

Fresh Mint Syrup in a Mint Gin Rickey

I recently discovered that my weed-like mint plant was stealthily taking over my herb container garden.  It was getting so powerful that I had to dig it up and put it in quarantine (aka, its own pot).  After all its displays of vigorous good health, I figured it had plenty of leaves to donate to an experiment on creating fresh mint syrup.

The experiment was a success!  1 cup fresh mint leaves, 1 cup sugar, 1 cup water.  Simmered and strained, it creates a glowing yellow syrup.

Fresh Mint Syrup

• 1 cup fresh mint leaves
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 cup water

Combine all ingredients in a pot, gently simmer for 15-20 minutes. Let cool, then strain the liquid to get rid of the mint leaves.  You’re left with mint syrup that will last for up to 4 weeks in the fridge.

We tried our newly minted syrup (har har) with lime juice and gin, for a fresh spin on the classic Gin Rickey.

Mint Gin Rickey

• 1 1/2 oz gin
• 1 1/2 oz lime juice
• 1 ounce mint syrup
• 3 oz carbonated water
• ice

Combine the first three ingredients over ice, then top off with carbonated water.