Inspired Taste — two people in love with food, cooking and each other

“Sometimes when a special recipe calls for two ingredients, the two come together to create something unexpected.”

This phenomena can be said about many aspects of life as well. Life can be described as messy, wonderful and frustrating all in the same sentence, which in my eyes can be just plain confusing to think about. The way that Joanne and I deal with life’s daily troubles, smiles, stresses, laughs, frowns, shocks, lows and highs is by cooking together, or in this case…mixing! We decided that we should attempt a cocktail, especially since our refrigerator is full of leftovers that need to be eaten. Plus the sooner those leftovers go, the sooner we can start experimenting with something else to show you!

The recipe we decided to work on, Watermelon and Tea Martini, has been a cocktail that we have been meaning to work on forever. For some reason we were feeling pumped, energized, and ready for an at-home happy hour. We cranked up the music in the kitchen and got mixing! We both agreed that an herbal or green aromatic tea would give this martini a new exciting twist. Watermelon has such a delicate flavor, sometimes vodka by itself will overpower the flavor of the entire drink. Adding tea brought a surprisingly balanced, well rounded flavor.

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Watermelon and Tea Martini

2 ounces vodka
2 1/2 ounces fresh watermelon juice (one half of a 5-6″ diameter seedless watermelon yielded 16 ounces of juice)
1 ounce light herbal or green aromatic tea

Tea

Brew one of your favorite light aromatic teas . Any delicately flavored aromatic herbal or green tea should work nicely. We used an herbal orange-lemon grass tea. The slight bitterness of the tea when combined with the delicate sweetness of the fresh watermelon created a balanced well rounded flavor. Chill the tea mixture.

Watermelon Juice

Cut one watermelon in half, saving one half if you need more juice later or for another recipe. Cut the halved watermelon into medium sized chunks while removing the rind and place chunks into a food processor or blender. Process the watermelon thoroughly or until it looks like a watermelon slushy. Strain the watermelon mixture through a fine kitchen strainer or sieve into a bowl. If you don’t have a strainer you can use cheese cloth or paper towel, this will reduce your yield slightly due to the cloth absorbing some of the juice, but works well.

Serving

Start by chilling a classic martini style cocktail glass by filling it with ice or placing it in the freezer for a few minutes.

NOTE: Depending on how sweet the watermelon is, agave nectar or simple syrup may be added to sweeten up the drink.

In a cocktail shaker filled with ice, mix in vodka, fresh watermelon juice, and tea. Shake the cocktail mix for at least 10-15 seconds in shaker to ensure the mix is extra cold and well combined. Pour into a chilled glass and garnish with a rose petal if you really want to make a statement. Enjoy!