rhubarb martini
You may have passed by rhubarb in the store and said, “what is this and how do I use it”…well this may surprise you but rhubarb is a vegetable, yes I said vegetable, a crop found in the spring/early summer. It has long green leaves and a pinkish stalk. The leaves are actually poisonous and need to be removed. The stalk, similar to celery, ranges in a deep red to pick color with specks of green. Rhubarb is extremely bitter which is why it pairs so well with sugar and why you will commonly find it in desserts. I love juicing it here but if you don’t have a juicer you can simply chop up the pieces instead.
ingredients
For the rhubarb syrup
3-4 stalks of rhubarb, cleaned and juiced* you should get ½ cup
1/4 cup sugar
For the martini
Splash dry vermouth
2 1/2 oz vodka
Plenty of ice
1 oz rhubarb syrup (½ recipe)
Makes 1 Cocktail
Add juice and sugar to a small saucepan. Simmer until sugar is dissolved and mixture starts to thicken, about 15 min. Strain and chill
Add vermouth to a rocks glass, swish around and throw it out.
add vodka, and syrup and ice to a beaker. Stir until chilled and mixed. Strain over vermouth rocks glass with more ice. Garnish with a lemon wedge.
*If you don't have a juicer for the syrup you can cut up the rhubarb in 1” pieces and follow the same method. Puree in a blender before straining and chilling.
