Recently, my husband and I went to one of our favorite restaurants in San Francisco, The Progress, and had a seat at the bar. Despite being one of the hardest places to get a table at at the moment, we find it easy to grab a bar seat at their beautiful bar. Their cocktail program is out of this world and you select your food via a scan tron, choose your own adventure style menu! We ordered a few dishes, vs. the prix fixe version at the tables, and a couple drinks and call it a successful date night!
One of the drinks we got there was a martini that changed martinis for me. Savory, herbal and oily- yes oily! Usually this is not a good descriptor, especially in drinks, but this time it equals perfection. They smoked up some olive juice and added olive oil in the martini- crazy good! It enhanced the olive flavor with out the extra brine and the olive oil added a lovely texture that just isn’t there in a regular stirred martini (the ONLY way you should be making a martini!).
I knew I had to create a version for myself at home and thus the Smoked Rosemary Olive Oil Dirty Martini was born! I was a little perplexed at how the heck to smoke olive juice (I have since figured out a possible way) so I decided to smoke a rosemary stalk and infuse that into olive oil to create an herbal olive oil peppered with smokey flavor. It is divine! It has since become Matt’s favorite drink at home.
I also write about my love for this Martini here on Jojotastic ‘s site!
Smoked Rosemary Olive Oil Martini
Description
My little twist on the classic cocktail is the smoked rosemary olive oil. It may sound peculiar to dash in some oil to a cocktail, but trust me it works here!
Ingredients
- 2 1/2 oz dry gin
- 1/2 oz dry vermouth
- 1 bar spoon olive juice, I used some from a jar of Castelvetrano olives
- few drops smoked rosemary olive oil (recipe below)
- rosemary sprig and olive, garnish
Instructions
Make the smoked rosemary oil a day or so in advance. Add ice to the drinking glass you will be using to chill it. In a mixer glass, add the gin, vermouth, and olive juice to a mixing glass. Add ice to fill the glass 3/4 of the way. Using a bar spoon, mix for 30 seconds. Dump the ice from the drinking glass. With a hawthorn strainer, strain the martini into the chilled glass. Finish with a few drops of the infused oil. Garnish with rosemary sprig and olive.
Notes
Smoked Rosemary Oil
- 1/2 cup good quality extra virgin olive oil
- 2 stalks rosemary
Place a glass jar on it’s side. Place the rosemary stalks into the jar. Using a lighter, light the rosemary stalks. continuing doing this a few times up and down the stalks. Quickly turn the jar right side up and add the olive oil. Let the rosemary infuse for a couple days. Discard the rosemary and your olive oil is ready to use.
1 Comment
What a sophisticated mix, and I love the glass. I’m looking for glasses like this – can you tell me where you found it, and what this kind of glass is called?