I don’t know what it’s like where you are but I’m experiencing the dog days of summer in spades. The temperature rose to 97 degrees today with no break in sight. What I need and maybe you, too, is a cold cocktail that epitomizes refreshment. How does a cucumber cocktail sound to you? I’m in.
This will be the signature cocktail for my friend Steve’s birthday party tomorrow. Since Steve is an avid golfer, I dubbed it with a special moniker and I’ll prepare cucumber “golf balls” to skewer for garnish. The perfect gin for this drink is Hendricks’s with its curious infusion of cucumber and rose petals.
Ingredients
4-inch section of a peeled cucumber, seeds removed and cut into small cubes
2 oz. gin (preferably Hendrick’s )
Juice from 1 freshly squeezed lime
1 T sugar syrup*
Club soda
Procedure
Muddle cucumber in a cocktail shaker. Add gin, lime juice and sugar syrup. Add ice cubes and shake vigorously. Pour into a rocks glass filled with ice cubes. Top with club soda. For a garnish, skewer a slice of cucumber and a curled strip of cucumber peel. The garnish for Steve’s Fairway Fizz was a skewer impaling three “golf balls” (scooped from the flesh of seedless cucumbers) and a sprig of fresh mint.
*Make sugar syrup by cooking I cup of sugar with 1 cup of water until sugar dissolves. Let cool and store in refrigerator.
Serves 1
Photographer Bill Brady http://bit.ly/9wFYxm
Recipe Provided by Phyllis Kirigin, aka sweetpaprika http://sweetpaprika.wordpress.com http://sweetpaprika.wordpress.com