Happy Thursday! Posting something a little different today and sharing with you a favorite cocktail recipe of mine. This recipe comes courtesy of my dad and is for his famous “Hill-Top Lemon Drop Martini”. You need to try it because it is delicious! Go ahead and make yourself a pitcher – you won’t regret it!
Hill-Top Lemon Drop Martini Recipe
Ingredients:
3 oz fresh Meyer lemon juice (2-3 lemons)
1 1/2 oz simple syrup (1 cup sugar in 1 cup water)
1 oz Triple Sec (Cointreau is best)
3 oz Vodka (Tito’s Handmade is our pick)
4 dashes Orange Bitters (Fee Brothers is what we use)
Directions:
Take four long zest pieces (we use a potato peeler) from one lemon prior to juicing. Remove the pith with a small, sharp knife.
Place two zests in a shaker with simple syrup and muddle firmly. This extracts a wonderful aroma from the zests.
Leave zests in shaker and add lemon juice, Cointreau, Vodka, and bitters.
Fill shaker with ice and shake longer than seems normal (if we had to guess, approx. 100 times). The shaker should be too cold to touch comfortably (this gets water into the drink).
Strain into a martini-style glass (we use a fine strainer to remove the lemon peel and ice fragments).
Rub the remaining zest around the top of the glass, squeeze it over the glass, and drop it in. The flavor is best without ice, but add if desired.
Notes:
This recipe is for Meyer lemons, which you are most likely to find in stores from December through May. They are sweeter than regular (Eureka or Lisbon) lemons and their zest is much more aromatic. They are from China (originally brought in by Frank Meyer) and are thought to be a cross between a standard lemon and a Mandarin orange. The orange heritage is the reason for the Cointreau (an orange liquor) and the orange bitters. The flavors are very complimentary.
And voila, you have a delicious home-made cocktail! If you try it out, please let me know what you think! I hope you love it as much as we do! Cheers! xo
