Monday, October 20, 2008

My rosemary nights: (LEMON/ROSEMARY MARTINI)

Since I had some free time this evening I was going through some old drafts of previous recipe experiments. I thought this sounded pretty good and decided to post it now. Bob and I had a trip to the Outer Banks this past July and we found this great martini bar that served a lemon and rosemary martini, amongst many other delicious ones. This is my version of that drink. Since I have an enormous amount of rosemary in the garden I felt I could experiment with the rosemary sugar water for forever. It took me a while, and A LOT of taste tasting, before I think the drink is close to the original. It would be shame not to try it since I did go out on a limb and pretty much got wasted getting the right blend. (I STILL can't smell vodka right now!)

Lemon/Rosemary martini:

Rosemary sugar syrup:
Ingredients:
3/4 cup fresh rosemary leaves, tightly packed
1/2 cup plus 2 Tbsp. Splenda
1 1/4 cups water


The Martini:
2 ozs. rosemary sugar syrup
4 ounces Grey Goose le citrus-infused vodka
2 ozs. lemon juice or lemon fruit nectar


Directions:

Rosemary sugar syrup: (This is listed first due to the chilling time)

1. In a food processor or blender combine rosemary and 2 tablespoons of the Splenda. Process for a 20-30 seconds to only bruise the rosemary (it’s OK if it isn’t chopped). Smell the wonderful aroma.

2. In a medium saucepan combine the remaining Splenda, water, and rosemary mixture. Heat just to boiling, stirring to dissolve the Splenda. Simmer on low for 5 minutes. Remove from heat, cover, and let stand for 30 minutes. Strain once then strain again through a coffe filter, discard solids, and thoroughly chill the syrup (about an hour). It is not a thick syrup. It IS flavorful though.

The Martini:

1. Pour the vodka, rosemary sugar syrup and lemon juice into a shaker 3/4 full of ice. Shake well.
2. Retrieve your martini glass and strain. Get a little crazy and garnish with a rosemary sprig if you choose.

*I looked for "lemon nectar" in the grocery store. Aside from all the other nectars available, this one wasn't. I looked up the definition of nectar which states (Webster's New World Dictionary of Culinary Arts), refers to nectar in the United States as "undiluted fruit juice or a mixture of fruit juices," So I took two lemons, cut down the sides, removed the peel and the white pith, cut and separated the sections out, removed the seeds, and blended in the blender. I then strained (one time) the juice and waahlaah. Nectar. I'm assuming. It's worth the trouble. Make extra because the drink tastes better with nectar instead of just pure lemon juice.

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