Tag

classic cocktail

Classic Dry Martini

written by Ali

Sometimes, it doesn’t take more than a classic dry martini to celebrate the end of a week. This particular martini also welcomes a much needed break. The house is all decked out for Christmas. I’m almost done with my Christmas shopping. And I have two weeks off . Two glorious weeks of sitting around the house, listening to Diana Krall, and wandering the beach. Definitely in need of a classic dry martini to celebrate all that!

Sometime over the course of this past year, I read a delightful book called Dinner with Edward for the Cook the Books . I made mini strawberry chocolate galettes for the Cook the Books Club, but also started using the martini making technique described in the book. It’s easy as can be - mix the gin and vermouth together in a small glass. Freeze until thoroughly chilled. Chill the martini glass. Perfect classic dry martini.

I’ll admit to a little bit of creative license here. I did add a strip of lemon peel and twisted it to get just a bit of lemon oil into my martini. For those of you who are long-term Fix Me a Little Lunchers, you’ll note that one of my all time favorite podcasts is Martinis and Murder. I love that Bartender Matt is always adding a twist of lemon to the martinis he makes for the hosts. Given how terribly far behind I am on listening to that podcast, it looks like I’ve got something else to add to my holiday to-do list.

Yum

Classic Dry Martini

Ingredients

2 ounces gin
1 ounce dry vermouth
1 slice lemon peel

Instructions

Combine the gin and dry vermouth in a glass. Freeze until chilled. Freeze the martini glass at the same time. Pour the gin and dry vermouth into the chilled martini glass. Twist a lemon peel over the top and use to garnish. Enjoy!

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December 15, 2017 0 comment

Beverages

Thai Basil Gimlet

written by Ali

The last recipe this week for #Recipe Makeover is a Thai Basil Gimlet.We all know that I love to have a little cocktail on the weekend. I’m well aware that I’ve posted some really tasty, really beautiful, but really calorie intensive cocktails here on Fix Me a Little Lunch. This week, however, I’m offering up a cocktail that is cool and refreshing, but doesn’t break the calorie bank. The gimlet is very much a classic cocktail - my favorite literary reference for this cocktail is from Raymond Chandler’s The Long Goodbye: “a real gimlet is half gin and half Rose’s lime juice and nothing else.”

The Thai Basil Gimlet is the perfect drink for a warm summer’s night. I combined a bit of Thai basil infused gin with lime juice and a Thai basil simple syrup. If this causes a bit too much pucker for your taste buds, feel free to adjust for sweetness. Personally, I like a sour drink to be sour.

The only bit of pre-planning this drink takes is a day or two to infuse the gin with the Thai basil. I recommend that the Thai basil infuse no longer than this or the gin will be thoroughly overpowered. Thai basil can come out swinging with flavor. The gin will turn a lovely pale gold color with the infusion, making this a positively sunny looking drink.

Yum

Thai Basil Gimlet

Ingredients

To infuse your gin

8 ounces gin
4 Thai Basil leaves, washed and gently crushed

4 ounces Thai Basil infused gin

Juice from two limes
¼ cup water
1 tablespoon sugar

Instructions

To infuse the gin, combine gin and Thai Basil leaves. Refrigerate for a day or two.
To make the cocktail, make a simple syrup with the water and sugar. Set aside to cool. Combine the gin, lime juice, and simple syrup in a cocktail shaker with ice. Shake and distribute between two cocktail glasses. Serve with a few Thai basil leaves and a couple of slices of lime. Enjoy!

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April 28, 2017 0 comment

Beverages

Sweet Vermouth Martini

written by Ali

The last few weeks have been all about cleaning out the cupboards, which led me to make this sweet vermouth martini. You might ask – how does cleaning out a cupboard lead to a drink? Or maybe you don’t ask, because you already know. In addition to the sheer stress of moving, I’ve doing my best to use up what I have so I don’t have to move it. In this case, I had a nearly empty bottle of gin and a mostly empty bottle of sweet vermouth. Thus, a sweet vermouth martini.

I did a bit of research and this drink is actually a classic – not just a cocktail born out of desperation to clear out a couple of bottles and reduce my overall moving load. The addition of just a hint of bitters rounds out the flavors on this one. I experimented with both orange bitters and grapefruit bitters. And then I experimented with my own homemade blood orange bitters. Before I say which is the tastiest in this sweet vermouth martini, I have to digress and say that yes, I will be carefully bubble wrapping both the blood orange bitters and the blood-orange cello and the limoncello that I made back during the snowpocalypse in December. I consider these precious cargo. I’ll also be doing the same with the remaining blood orange marmalade and the several jars of pickles from two years ago that I need to eat before cucumber season starts up again. I would ditch most of our furniture before I would give up my pickles. My favorite bitters in this, by the way, are the grapefruit bitters. I’m not sure how I ever lived without grapefruit bitters - they are awesome!

My husband, who has been listening to me running around like the Muppets’ Beaker for the last three weeks, probably deserves one or two of these sweet vermouth martinis. I’ll share, but only once we are moved and I have a new bottle of gin in the cupboard. We are definitely going into the time period of moving where, if it runs out, forget it – we are not replacing it (with a few exceptions, like dog food or cat food – the important stuff).

Cheers to you my lovely readers. I hope you are all enjoying a peaceful day of not moving.

Yum

Sweet Vermouth Martini

Ingredients

2 ounces gin
1 ounce sweet vermouth
2 or 3 drops grapefruit or orange bitters

Instructions

Chill your martini glass for 15 -20 minutes in the freezer. Swirl the bitters in the chilled glass. Combine the gin and sweet vermouth with ice in a shaker; shake and then strain into the prepared martini glass and enjoy!

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April 21, 2017 0 comment

Beverages

Limoncello Lemon Drop

written by Ali

A Limoncello Lemon Drop is sure to cheer on even the gloomiest winter days. After nearly a week with snow and ice on the ground (unheard of in the Portland metro area), we are finally back to normal weather – rain and more rain. I can handle rain and more rain, though I still have a serious craving for asparagus and strawberries (and first of the season radishes). January is such an odd time for seasonal foods. There’s plenty of citrus in the market, and there are definitely all the root veggies still, but there’s not a single fruit or veggie that just screams January to me.

January is, however, a good time to start clearing out the pantry. I’m down to three jars of limoncello and three of blood orange-cello. I’ve got some blood orange bitters infusing, which used up a few spices and some of the blood oranges from the now infamous 40 pound box. I’m thinking I might try some new recipes for the limoncello. It’s great in cocktails, of course, like the limoncello lemon drop, but I’ve been thinking a bit about what else I can do with it. Any thoughts? I’d love to hear them in the comments below.

Meanwhile, I did finish out using all the lemon cubes from the lemons from way back in December when I made the limoncello in the first place. Lemon cubes (really, any citrus juice that’s been frozen) are so great for cocktails. Toss one in and if it melts, no problem – it just adds to the flavor of the cocktail instead of watering it down.

I like my limoncello lemon drop a bit on the sour side. I’ve always been a big fan of sour cocktails. You can definitely adjust the amount of limoncello you use in these to make them sweeter.

Yum

Limoncello Lemon Drop

Ingredients

2 ounces gin
1 ounce limoncello
Juice from one lemon

Instructions

Combine all ingredients in a cocktail shaker with a few cubes of ice. Shake, strain and enjoy!
Serves one

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January 20, 2017 1 comment

Beverages

Blood Orange Whiskey Sour

written by Ali

I made it all the way through the 40 pound box of blood oranges my friend from Arizona sent on Monday and made a blood orange whiskey sour to celebrate. Given that the Portland metro area has been essentially shut down because of a major snow storm, working my way through a box of citrus made me so happy. I’m getting the spring twitches - the days are getting a little longer and when the sun does come out (which it does, even in the PNW), I suddenly want to go plant a garden. Now. Immediately. Right this minute. Yeah - it’s that bad. As an alternative, I’ll likely be stopping off at a really lovely plant nursery that’s close to where I work just to go in and smell some dirt. Seriously - it gets that bad for me in January.

So back to the citrus - the lovely orbs of blood oranges made my heart sing. I wasn’t about to let a single one go to waste, so the last thirty or so got juiced and frozen in ice cube trays. I figure I can thaw out what I need to make a few more recipes later this month. I also love using the cubes in drinks - much better than regular ice! I also used a bit of that juice to make my Blood Orange Whiskey Sour. I happened to have a few Meyer lemons left in the fridge, so used two of them to make the sour part of the blood orange whiskey sour more pronounced.

I’ve had a few people ask me what makes a blood orange different than a regular orange. Mostly, it’s the color in the interior of the orange. Some of the oranges are a blood red inside, and some have a tinge of orange on the peel. Taste wise, they are more intensely orange. If I could figure out how to grow dwarf citrus trees, these would definitely be on my list.

Yum

Blood Orange Whiskey Sour

Ingredients

Juice of one blood orange
Juice from one or two Meyer lemons (depending on your taste preference for sourness in your whiskey sour)
2 ounces whiskey

Instructions

Combine all the ingredients in a glass. Stir. Add a few ice cubes and garnish with a slice of blood orange. Enjoy!

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January 13, 2017 1 comment

Beverages Holiday Recipes

Blood Orange Cosmopolitan

written by Ali

This Blood Orange Cosmopolitan is a festive way to wrap up holiday shopping or enjoy after a stressful afternoon of holiday shopping. I’m so delighted it’s citrus season again. I found these lovely blood oranges at Whole Foods and couldn’t resist buying several to eat and to see how blood orange juice would taste in a cosmopolitan variation. I also happened to have one of those cute tiny bottles of cranberry vodka that I picked up recently with the thought that I’d eventually do something with it.

A cosmopolitan is one of those classic easy drinks that takes just a few ingredients with spectacular results. The blood orange brightens the drink and complements the orange liqueur. I used vanilla sugar to coat the rim and then couldn’t resist photographing the finished product with as many glittery things as I could find. I then sipped on the end product while watching the latest episode of this season’s Top Chef - the best way to spend a Friday evening right before Christmas.

Yum

Blood Orange Cosmopolitan

Ingredients

2 Oz vodka
1/2 Oz triple sec or cointreau
1 Oz cranberry juice
Juice from half a blood orange
Slice of a blood orange and a few cranberries to garnish

Instructions

Combine the vodka, triple sec, cranberry juice, and blood orange juice with a few ice cubes in a cocktail shaker. Shake and then strain into a martini glass. Garnish with a slice of blood orange and a few cranberries. Enjoy!

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This post is linked to the Saucy Saturday #76 Linky Party. For more wonderful holiday recipes, check out the hosts’ sites:

Take Two Tapas, La Petit Chef, Mid-Life Croissant and The Flavor Bender

December 23, 2016 10 comments

Beverages

Grapefruit Negroni

written by Ali

I get inspired quite a bit from eating and drinking while I’m traveling. Case in point – I had a really good Negroni when I was stopped over at the Minneapolis airport last month. It was a super booze-forward drink: I could definitely taste the gin and had to take it very, very slow so as not to be tipsy on my flight. That said, I love the super bitter tones of any drink that has a bitter liqueur in it and Campari is definitely bitter.

I’ve been thinking about that Negroni quite a bit and wondering if I could make a variation with what I have in the liquor cabinet – namely a bottle of Aperol that I used this summer to make Aperol Spritzes but that has been lingering on the shelf ever since. I did a bit of research and found out that it’s not that unusual to substitute Aperol for the Campari in a Negroni so thought I’d give it a try. While I was at it, I also had a grapefruit on hand and since grapefruits are bitter, I thought, why not?

My experiment in mixology paid off – this is a fruity, slightly sweet, slightly bitter drink. It’s simple and straightforward and would probably have had even better grapefruit tones if Clay hadn’t tried to help by juicing the grapefruit and then dropping the cocktail shaker on the floor (yep – it already had the gin, vermouth and Aperol in it. I don’t recommend this step – it leaves the floor a really sticky mess). Fortunately, the grapefruit was only juiced half-way and there was enough to start over and make this cocktail. This is a great watch a classic movie and snuggle under the blankets kind of drink. Happy Friday Happy Hour!

Grapefruit Negroni
Serves 1

1 ounce gin
1 ounce sweet vermouth
1 ounce Aperol
Juice from ½ a grapefruit

Combine all ingredients in a cocktail shaker over ice and shake. Serve in a martini glass. Enjoy!

November 4, 2016 0 comment

...and a little cocktail, too

classic cocktail

Classic Dry Martini

Thai Basil Gimlet

Sweet Vermouth Martini

Limoncello Lemon Drop

Blood Orange Whiskey Sour

Blood Orange Cosmopolitan

Grapefruit Negroni

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