Pucker-Up, Valentine!

With Valentine's Day just around the corner, it's time to pucker-up!  I made this cocktail for my friend and talented chef, Ryan Scott (yes, from Bravo's "Top Chef", among a zillion other ventures!) while visiting him on his show at KGO radio in San Francisco last week.  If you listen to the podcast (Click here!), you'll hear that it was quite a hit!

Now is the perfect time to do a little cocktail experimentation with all your favorites from your local market's citrus section. Blood oranges, tangerines, grapefruits, key limes, meyer lemons - the list goes on!   This is my fun twist on the classic margarita and I hope that you'll enjoy it with your favorite friends.  Happy Valentine's Day!

PUCKER-UP MARGARITA

1 1/2 ounces Meyer Lemon Infused Blanco Tequila
1 1/2 ounces freshly squeezed Meyer lemon juice
1 ounce limoncello
Splash of agave ready syrup

Combine all ingredients in a cocktail shaker with lots of ice.  Shake vigorously for 10 seconds.  Strain into a glass with fresh ice

Makes 1 cocktail

MEYER LEMON INFUSED BLANCO TEQUILA

1 bottle blanco tequila
Peel from 12 Meyer lemons, ALL white pith removed

Combine the two and let sit for 2 days.
Makes a lot!

cinco de mayo cocktail recipe

For some of you, the Prado might conjure up images of Goya, El Greco and Bermejo, paintings that are part of the art collection housed at the largest art gallery in the world,- The Prado in Madrid. I remember one of my first trips to Spain, flying all night with not a wink of sleep and arriving dead tired. I insisted on going to the Prado that first morning and I walked nearly all day and still didn't see the entire collection. I was so tired by the end that I thought I was going to keel over.

Prado has another meaning. In Spanish, a prado is a grassy "meadow" or "field."

For me, the Prado is also a cocktail, and one of my favorites in my Tequila book. It seems to be my go-to cocktail of late. It's kind of a jazzy margarita, all jazzed up with maraschino and egg white. When you shake it up, you get this lightly tart, soft green, aromatic cocktail. Once you wade through the heavenly frothy foam cap, you're down for an airy, light treat.

Happy Cinco de Mayo

THE PRADO

2 ounces blanco tequila
1 once freshly squeezed lime juice
1/4 ounce agave nectar
1 ounce maraschino liqueur
1 egg white
Lime peel as a garnish

Combine all of the ingredients except the garnish is a cocktail shaker with plenty of ice and shake vigorously for 5 seconds. Using a whisk or a spring from the cocktail shaker, whisk the drink to create a lot of foam. Strain into a chilled cocktail glass and garnish with lime peel.

Serves one happy tequila lover

my new favorite tequila cocktail, the prado

I'm talking about one of the absolute best tequila cocktails, the Prado. I'm not talking Prada, the designer, or the art museum in Madrid. No, no, no! Tequila is playing a big, big, big role in my house these days with the launch of my new TEQUILA book and for the last 3 Saturdays I've shaken up this tequila cocktail. Inspired by Kacy Fitch of ZigZag Cafe in Seattle, this is what I call sophistication in a glass. Throw a couple ounces of blanco tequila into a shaker with lime juice, Maraschino liqueur and egg white. Maraschino liqueur is made from crushing Marasca cherries pits which give the liqueur a mellow almond-flavor. Kacy doesn't do it, but I like to add a teaspoon of agave nectar. Next, shake it up so vigorously that you're winded and don't need to work out! Open the shaker and the trick is with a small whisk, I go like crazy to add some additional foam! Strain it into chilled martini glasses. It's sexy, it's frothy, its luscious. Check out the recipe.

the perfect margarita

You missed the launch party last night for my new TEQUILA book at Tres Agaves. Two hundred very fun tequila-lovers and 800 tequila drinks later! This photo is of my fiance, Joe, Valerie Shilgalis of Partida Tequila, me smiling, Jon Bonne, wine editor for the San Francisco Chronicle, and Laura Werlin, cheese aficianado and tequila pal. Several very high profile bartenders who contributed tequila cocktail recipes to the book showed up, H Ehrmann, Joel Baker, Ronaldo Colli and Ashley Miller plus several Agave Girls,-- Mariangela Sassi, Carolyn Alburger, Renee Behnke, Shannon Smith, Amy Sherman, blogger extraodinaire, and Marcy Carmack, dresser to the stars. Thought you might like the recipe for the perfect margarita we drank. It was inspired by the folks at Partida Tequila and Julio Bermejo, acclaimed Ambassador of Tequila. For years people have been making a margarita with crappy tequila, sickening sweet triple sec and lime juice. A few years ago, Julio introduced a margarita using agave nectar and the perfect margarita was truly born! And if you like this cocktail recipe, my new book contains 37 other equally as delicious cocktails!

THE PERRFECT MARGARITA

1 1/2 ounces 100% agave tequila of your choice
3/4 ounce agave nectar
3/4 ounces water
1 ounce lime juice

Place all of the ingredients in a shaker with plenty of ice. Shake vigorously for 5 seconds. Pour into an old fashioned glass filled with fresh ice.

Serves 1 very happy margarita lover