The Ad Lib - Cilantro Laced Cocktail Recipe

 

Photo by Mikey Harris

The Ad Lib – Cilantro Laced Cocktail

Happy New Year! Goodbye 2020 and hello 2021.

The other day my housemate and I were discussing cilantro. Either people love it or hate it and we are both in the cilantro loving camp. My housemate told me she had never been successful at growing cilantro until finally this past year (My housemate is the main gardener around here and I am the assistant). This is because she previously had been planting it during very warm weather and cilantro does not like it when it is hot. She says the time to plant cilantro is in the early spring and then again in late fall. During this month she will be starting the seeds on heat mats and grow lights. After the seedlings sprout and they get big enough, she will transfer them to the green house and eventually out into the garden. If you are lacking space for a garden, cilantro can also be grown in a pot, and or you can find it in most produce sections of grocery stores.

I thought it would be fun to feature a cocktail that includes cilantro in it because it feels relevant with what is happening in the garden growing cycle. The recipe gives you something to look forward too when you have more cilantro than you know what to do with which can happen very easily in the garden and when you buy it at the grocery store. After I take home a clump of cilantro from the store, I always have way more than what I need, and I never know what to do with it all. So today I am sharing a recipe for a cocktail called The Ad Lib… The cilantro-laced first sip startles; it requires fortitude. At second go, you encounter lemon and lime. And with another sip, you are launched into summer (I do not know about you, but I am missing summer right about now). Even though I do not drink alcohol anymore I know a lot of people who love to have a cocktail every now and then. I thought this would be a fun recipe to share with everyone right now with it being a new year and all. I got the recipe from the Classic Style Magazine that I used to get several years ago. The Ad Lib Cocktail was created by Lucy Brennan who used to be the owner of Mint restaurant and the 820 Lounge in Portland Oregon. I have been to Mint before a few times, and I greatly enjoyed it but unfortunately both Mint and 820 Lounge closed several years ago. Even though these establishments are gone we still have something that we can enjoy from them. 

Ingredients:

Ice Cubes for muddling and shaking

5 to 7 fresh cilantro leaves

2 ½ ounces of Vodka (Lucy suggests Crater Lake Vodka)

1 oz fresh lemon-lime juice

1 oz simple syrup

Lollipop rim for garnish

Directions:

          Prepare a 10 oz glass by lightly coating the rim with an orange or lemon wedge, then spinning it in a bowl of baker’s sugar. Next gently tap the glass to remove the excess sugar. Fill a pint glass with ice and add the cilantro. Muddle the cilantro until the ice is slushy and the cilantro is evenly distributed throughout the ice. Fill the glass with ice. Add the vodka, lemon-lime juice, and simple syrup. Cap the glass with a stainless-steel cocktail shaker and shake vigorously for 10 seconds. Strain cocktail into the glass. Serve immediately. *Lucy used a martini glass however the glasses in my photo are tumblers. So, use what ever you have or prefer.

Enjoy!

 

Happy New Year!

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