July 24, 2009

Pineapple Basil Vodka Martini

A couple years ago at this restaurant that was open for about a minute (this happens often in NY), I had one of the best cocktails I've ever had. It was a Soul Food/Indian fusion place - which also had amazing Indian-spiced fried chicken, but that's another story. Let's just say they had a flair for interesting flavor combination. You know how much I love interesting flavor combinations. But this cocktail: a Pineapple Basil Martini. Don't know what was in it besides pineapple and basil. Don't know how they made it. Got really drunk on them, so don't remember if I asked or not. A couple weeks later when I went back to ask them, the place had already shut down.

So now begins full-scale taste tests. Feel free to stop by anytime, there will probably be a pitcher of pineapple-basil juice in my fridge, just waiting for alcohol and friends. *Need* to know how to make these. Want.

Take one:

pineapple-basil_1.jpg

Ridiculously huge bunch of farmer's market basil. (This experiment hardly made a dent in the basil. Guess I'm making a big caprese this week. Amoungst other things... what else am I going to do with all that stuff?) And organic pineapple juice.

pineapple-basil_2.jpg

Chopped up a bunch of basil and whipped out the hand-blender.

pineapple-basil_3.jpg

The right color? Nope, still too yellow.

pineapple-basil_4.jpg

That's closer to the right shade of green. Can you even tell a difference in these pictures? It was really apparent at the time.

pineapple-basil_5.jpg

Strain it into a pitcher. Start the next batch. Work through the bottle.

Pour juice and vodka into glass:

pineapple-basil_6.jpg

Lovely and yummy. Sadly we only have wine glasses, not martini glasses.

Still missing something though. Maybe vodka isn't the correct liquor? Maybe it needs something else? Maybe less basil? Help! Taste-testers needed!


Posted by nipper at 05:37 PM | Comments (2)
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