Bartending in Portland Oregon got me through graduate school and I do believe I’ve used those bartending skills more in post-college life than the skill set of my urban planning degree (especially if you include the people skills you pick up while bartending).
fruit beverage syrups
Now would be an exciting time to work behind the bar, as bartening has evolved into mixology, and mixing a good cocktail now is far more creative. I used to pride myself on speed and memory, but those traits are now shadowed by what you can do with flavor and fresh ingredients. Fortunately, I did retain a flavor memory of the various liqueurs, and now use that memory of flavors to enhance the different fruits in the jams I make.
Some of the beverage syrups in this picture use liqueurs also, but most of them are non-alcoholic so you can mix them with carbonated water. Ever since I got the SodaStream
This winter I have been working with sun-dried and smoked tomatoes however, testing all the ways you can use them in food, and a serendipitous product resulted….tomato water. The smoked tomatoes usually require a 20-minute soak in warm water and are then drained. The flavor of these smoked and dried tomatoes is so intense that I thought the soaking water must retain a fairly high flavor. It did.
sun-dried tomato salt
Now, what to do with tomato water? I’m sure there are many uses, but of course the first that came to my mind is a martini.Especially because I had all of this tomato salt I had made, and thought that would be perfect around the rim. The tomato salt is 50/50 sun-dried tomatoes and Maldon sea salt. Lately I’ve been using it on everything, from eggs to chicken to cocktails!
Add a little lime juice and a dash of smoked paprika, garnish with smoked mozzarella and cherry tomatoes, and…
Voila!
smoked tomato martini
I don’t really drink very many cocktails, especially at home, but I have to say it was a lot of fun greeting my husband as he came in from work with a rimmed martini in hand. There’s a reason the show Mad Men is so popular. It felt very chic…not like the baseball cap and dirty hands I usually have from working on the farm. Here’s the recipe if you want to give it a try:
Smoky Tomato Martini
2 oz. Absolut Peppar Vodka
2 oz. tomato water (water left over from drained sun-dried or smoked tomatoes)
fresh squeezed lime juice (I used a couple of tsp., but flavor to taste)
pinch of smoked paprika
tomato salt for rim
Directions:
1) Combine vodka, tomato water, lime juice and paprika in tumbler with ice
2) Stirred, not shaken (see this post from Jerry James Stone for an interesting article on the difference between shaken and stirred martinis)
3) garnish with cherry tomato, fresh mozzarella balls, and fresh basil
4) Sip and enjoy!
Cheers,
Dorothy
Thank you Gloria, I’m so glad you like it! The tomato salt with fish sounds wonderful too. I may have to try that.
Cyndy, Jamie Oliver’s recipe was quite a bit different, using pickle juice and hot sauce. I’m sure his is excellent, but this is not that recipe.
Fabulous recipe, Dorothy! We loved it, and it was great that I happened to have a few of your sun-dried heirloom tomatoes on hand to do it right. The sun-dried tomato salt alone is wonderful, we want to try it on grilled marlin or swordfish.
Yum – can’t wait to try this! Given what I have on hand, I’ll try mine using Belvedere’s Bloody Mary vodka. And come summer, I’m going to try making fresh tomato water to use; I saw Jamie Oliver do this and it looked beautiful and sounded delicious. You’re so right – mixology can be lots of fun.