Basil-Rose Martini

[badseed1980]

For my own memory's sake, and to share:

Makes 1 drink

2 medium-to-slightly-large sized fresh basil leaves
1/2 tsp superfine sugar
2 jiggers of Hendricks gin (no other)
1/2 jigger Noilly Pratt Dry Vermouth
1/2 jigger food-quality rosewater
Fresh basil leaf rolled up and pierced with a cocktail pick for garnish, OR
one perfect red rose petal for garnish
Ice, if you don't keep your gin in the freezer and your vermouth in the fridge


Muddle basil leaves (except the one for garnish, if using) with sugar in the bottom of a cocktail strainer. Add all other ingredients except for garnish, with ice if using. Shake. Strain into a martini glass and serve with garnish. The basil and rose should be noticeable but not overpowering. The colour should be a pretty pale green.

The Gods of Alcohol gave me a hard time on this one. First go-round, I used too much basil by far (2 GINORMOUS leaves). I also added too little rosewater, then overcompensated by adding too much. I also didn't put vermouth in that time, but it really needed it. I didn't want to waste WW points by drinking it, so I dumped it. Sadness! Wasted booze! :( The second go-round, I poured the liquids into the martini glass and went to muddle the basil and sugar in my "shaker", a plastic cup. I knocked over and broke the full martini glass. Which pierceheart's parents gave me for Christmas. After much screaming and swearing, I restarted. Dropped the basil on the floor. Washed it off instead of bursting into tears. Then made a martini which was JUST right. Yay!

PS: If you make this martini and anyone asks you where you heard of it, please do tell them it was from me. I've seen rose martinis and basil martinis, but never the two put together, so I would love credit for the idea! This cocktail might become a signature of mine. Er, that is, if other people enjoy it, of course. :)

PPS: ravenstorm27 and vervain13, if you guys try this, tell me what you think! Honestly, so I can tinker if needed.

Comments

[vervain13.livejournal.com]

*drooling all over mine own self*

Thank you for the delightful recipe, Hon. ravenstorm27 and I both read it and have agreed that we will try it come payday. We'll definitely let you know.

[badseed1980.livejournal.com]

Huzzah! Hope you like it as much as I did! :)

[j4yx0r.livejournal.com]

Ever think of using simple syrup instead of sugar? I've been trying to perfect Mojitos lately and one of the things that helped immensely was replacing the sugar with simple syrup.

~j

[j4yx0r.livejournal.com]

Oh... and I found that infusing the mint into the syrup when I made it really helped, too. You could probably do a basil infused syrup. Might take a couple tries to get the ratios right, though.

~j

[badseed1980.livejournal.com]

I COULD, but I like the muddling!

[j4yx0r.livejournal.com]

Muddler.

~j

[badseed1980.livejournal.com]

I specifically wanted to muddle the basil with sugar because it pulverized them nicely. The superfine sugar dissolves neatly.