Ceci n'est pas une martini.

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A French friend once told me a martini could only be called so if it consists of vodka or gin, and vermouth. Anything more than that, she said, is not a martini. As Margritte pointed out in the late 1920's, we would be lying if we called something that may not be, fact. This is a collection of my very own original creations.
Call them what you like.

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Shut Your Clam

Vodka

Olive juice

Clam juice

Ridiculous skewers of picked veggies

Tabasco

Lea & Perrins® Worcestershire

Mix ice cold vodka, olive juice, clam juice, 5 dashes of Tabasco, and 1 drop of Worcestershire in a chilled shaker. Add ice and shake. Pour into a chilled martini glass with the pickled culinary works of art. S&R Tipsy Cocktail Stirrers are my favorite. These beauts have a perfectly crunchy pickle, an olive, vibrant red pepper, and a cocktail onion.

This is about a 9 on the adventurous scale. Clam juice is not for the faint at culinary heart. My briny, pungent, oceanic fascination for the clam comes from childhood memories of clamming in Wellfleet, Massachusetts. Dad, Mom, brother, and childhood dog, Kelly, would harvest fist-sized Quahogs from the grainy sands. We would walk proudly back to the cottage with 6-8 clams each in our $1 roadside-stand t-shirts. I remember seeing my father taking over the kitchen as I experienced the most intriguing smells. He would lift me up to see what the clams looked like as they cooked. Truly a New Englander’s cocktail.