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sunshine jen: The Cutini
This weekend LA was hot, furnace hot, put-me-in-a-beach-chair-and-let-me-bake hot. It was the kind of hot that made me grateful for air conditioning. It was so hot that I didn’t want to go to the beach because I knew that the entire LA population would be at the beach, and the combine body temperature of all those wonderful people would make it hotter even with the coastal breeze.
Meanwhile, back at the Sunshine Jen cocktail lab, I decided to use the hot summer daze to try out a new Cutini recipe.
The cutini recipe was simple. It was just a martini made out of cucumber infused gin. I hadn’t infused anything in awhile, so I was curious about what would happen if the gin met the cucumber.
To infuse the gin, I sliced up a cucumber, dumped it in a jar, poured gin on it, and let the whole concoction sit in the refrigerator for forty eight hours.
During those forty eight hours, whenever I opened the refrigerator, I was greeted by bright green cucumber slices sitting in a Tanqueray glistened state. Ah yes, it was a pretty sight. I even took a picture.
When it was time to make the Cutini, I strained out the cucumbers and made my usual martini. I make martinis dry.
To the gin, I added a spritz of dry vermouth then stirred and strained into a cocktail glass. I ended with a dash of orange bitters and my customary two olives. I added a gin pickled cucumber just to remind myself that it was a Cutini.
I enjoyed the cutini. It had a refreshing cucumber taste that wasn’t overpowering. Have you ever had a really nice fresh cucumber? Picture that taste in a martini. It was really nice on the back porch during summer cocktail hour. Yum.
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