I met my friend Vee at a new-ish restaurant in Uptown, JoJo on Thursday and tried their Strawberry Basil Garden Cocktail. While we were there and I was slurping down the drink, Vee looked up the recipe. At that point I realized that I would have the majority of the ingredients growing in my garden this summer. This discovery made me fall in love with the drink even more.
The recipe we found called for a lemon, but since I have a lime tree in my backyard I decided to use lime instead. I am entirely too excited about my lime tree, I can’t even contain it. I had jury duty and on my way home I decided to stop by a local nursery and start investigating what I should grow in my garden. While I was there I asked about lemon trees and then decided I’d rather have a lime tree. Because the gentleman on trial’s name was Pedro, and this is a Mexican Lime Tree I decided to name the tree Pedro.
My first attempt at making this cocktail at home turned out so-so. I think a lot of it had to do with the Vodka I was using. I really thought that I hadn’t met a vodka I didn’t like, but I was not impressed with Dripping Springs Vodka. I hate to say that being from Texas and all…but this is the second cocktail I’ve had with it that was just disappointing. So for round two, I stuck with my Texas roots and picked up a bottle of Tito’s Vodka.
Second attempt at the cocktail and I think I nailed it! I’ve decided to call this the Strawberry Lime Garden Cocktail.
Strawberry Lime Garden Cocktail
2 strawberries
1 lime
2 mint leaves
2 basil leaves
1 1/2 ounces of Vodka
1 packet of Truvia
ice
tonic water
Because my lime tree isn’t producing limes yet and my strawberry plant isn’t out of the nursery container, I had to use the store-bought variety. But now I’ll be ready when my garden is. There are a few steps involved but I think that it is worth it because the drink is nice and refreshing. Though it does make me want to invest in a muddler. I think the drink would be prettier if I had one.
Technically you should probably use a muddler, and since I don’t own one…I got a little creative. First I cut up the strawberries and tore the mint and basil leaves into smaller pieces and put them all in the small cup that fits on my “bullet” (it’s really an off brand). Then I quartered my lime and squeezed one into the cup and added the packet of Truvia. I let the blender smash it up for me and then I poured the mixture over ice in my shaker. I added the rest of the lime juice and the vodka and gave a few good shakes and poured it over ice. Before adding the tonic, it looked more like a smoothie.
I will admit that I was starting to think I was a big nerd for being so excited that I can make cocktails with ingredients from my garden, but then I found an article at Modern Farmer that made me realize I was not alone. You can read the article How to Grow a Cocktail here.
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