martini » The Red Shaker

Limey Bast@#d

Mar 282010

The weather has warmed up here in Southern California and it seems though spring has arrived. Plants are bloomin’, the bees are buzzing and the key limes have hit the stores!

In honor of this fabulous bit of tart produce, we bring you Key Lime Shaker Night!

The first concoction is a Key Lime Martini (v.1)

Oh, yes, this one was a beautiful start to the evening. Tart, sweet with a graham cracker rimmed glass – talk about tripping a light fandango on the tongue! It was creamy, tangy, limey and not too sweet. I can see this bad boy being a definite summer drink staple.

Both Shaker’s concur:

Now Key Lime Pie Martini (v.2)
This is the recipe 3rd down in the article

Ok , this one reads more “pina colada” than key lime pie. To quote shaker 2 “mrepfifownof” which translated to “I like your key lime mousse better”. You can’t argue with logic like that. And yes, I made key lime mousse for us tonight. May I say yum? Recipe at www.epicurious.com. Juicing key limes is a bit of a chore, but well worth the effort.

Shaker 2 and I agree that we would not try this one again. It’s not terrible, but not worth it compared to the first. We’d give this one . Meh.

So we moved on to our own Key Lime Martini-Shaker Style!

Instead of Rose’s lime juice, we used fresh squeezed key limes juice and simple syrup. Nice true key lime flavor, fluffier body, but we still both like the first one the best.

Well, its a workday tomorrow, we will wrap this up for now. If you want to try a key lime martini, try our first recipe.

Love Potion #9

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Feb 222010

The Shakers have come up with a new signature martini:

The Love Potion #9 (working title)

Inspired by the Velvet Kiss and couple of our favorite ingredients (Lillet Blanc, St. Germain) we’ve created a tasty tini to melt your heart……literally.

3 oz Vodka
2 oz Lillet Blanc
1/2 oz St. Germain elderflower liquor
1 oz lemon juice
splash of simple syrup (optional)

Shake above over ice, strain into a martini glass and gently drop in a frozen heart. Yes, that’s a frozen heart of berry puree you see floating in the glass.

This martini is meant to be sipped slowly. The flavor changes over time. You start out with a nice citrus-y top note, but as the drink matures you start to get a more pronounced Lillet flavor and near the end, the berry puree heart melts to color and flavor the last half of your drink. This is a martini to savor, enjoying the layers as they develop.

Shaker 1 gives this a 4 1/2 olives

Chai-tini, Two Ways

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Feb 152010

Shaker 1 here- I just so happened to have a little bit of the Chai tea infused vodka left over from Zombie Night. We were so close to creating a terrific teani, so I wanted to see if we could bring it up an olive or so.

Method 1:

Toss a cinnamon stick or two into about 1/2 cup heavy cream. Simmer for a few minutes to infuse the cream. Chill and whip. Shake up ice, 2-3 large dollops of the infused whipped cream, about an ounce of simple syrup and 3 ozs of chai infused vodka (you can also sweeten the cream instead of adding simple syrup). Strain and pour into martini glass. Garnish with ground cinnamon if desired.

Method 2:

(I like to call this the “instant” method)
In a shaker, add ice, 3 ozs. chai infused vodka and an ounce and a half of Coffeemate Cinnamon Vanilla cream non dairy creamer. Shake, strain, pour, enjoy.

I’ve got to say, as weird as it sounds the Coffeemate method was really fantastic! Tasty and creamy with a subtle cinnamon hint that was not at all overpowering. I like the body that the whipped heavy cream gives the teani, but if you’re in a hurry for some Chai Teani goodness or just feel plain lazy-Method 2 is your friend.

Nothing Says "I Love You" Like A Good Zombie…….

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Feb 142010

Hello and Happy Valentines Day to all our Shaker pals. Shakers 1 and 2, being single gals, decided the very best way to celebrate this holiday would be with good friends, good tinis and of course, ZOMBIES!!!!

So we gathered a small crowd of discriminating palates, assembled a menu of zombie and valentine appropriate tinis and screened “Zombieland”.

Thanks to everyone for bringing such tasty snacks. We hovered ’round the table and hoovered up the treats. Yum.

First up- The Zombie Martini:

After searching the web for zombie themed drinks, we decided to pass on all the “colorful/creative” (read gross) “bleeding brain” type tinis and just go with a classic. We basically took the recipe for a traditional zombie cocktail and shook it up martini style. A mild martini, heavy on the fruit juices. One guest said it would make a good breakfast alternative to a screwdriver. You could easily speed up this zombie by altering the booze to juice ratio, but this was a nice way to begin the evening. Guests rated this from 3 1/2 to 3 3/4 olives.

Next up was another in our Teani Series- The Chai Teani:

We infused rain vodka with chai tea (Stash Chai Spice Black Tea from Trader Joe’s). We then shook that with heavy cream, simple syrup and a dash of cinnamon. This was delicious, though all agreed that we’d gone just a tiny bit heavy on the cinnamon (*Shaker 1 holds up her hand to take responsibility for this, I just can’t control myself with cinnamon*). This was a very good teani, with complex spice layers coming through. I still think we need to play with the recipe a bit more and perhaps even foam up the cream first to give it more body. Though Shakers 1 and 2 agreed it wasn’t up to the level of the Earl Grey Teani, our consensus rating was 4 olives.

Last up for the evening was a martini created especially for Valentines Day. We let our guests name it and the result:

The Velvet Kiss:

This is a seductive martini. Rich red color, perfumed aromas of elderflower, deep berry base; with a splash of prosecco at the end. It lived up to it’s name. Delicious, layered flavors, not too sweet, a sexy drink any day of the year.

We gave this 4 3/4 olives.

This was the hit of the evening. In fact, as our Valentines gift to you, here is the recipe:

-Take about a cup of frozen mixed berries, add a splash of triple sec and let thaw.(why a whole cup? Because you’ll want more than one of these)
-In a shaker, muddle about 1/4 cup of the berry mix (I use an immersion blender to really get the juices flowing)
-add ice to the shaker
-add the following: 2 shots premium vodka
1 shot Chambord
1/2 shot St. Germain elderflower liquor
-shake well, strain into martini glass and pour in a splash of prosecco or champagne.

Serve this to your sweetie and we will not be responsible for the results (though you will thank us later).

A special thank you to all of our wonderful guests for making this a super fun Shaker night.

Oh, and the movie? Shaker 1 gives Zombieland a double tap!

Happy Valen-braaaaaaaainnsssssssssssssssss………………..

Night of the Living Bacon

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Feb 062010

Hello Shaker fans. We welcome you to a monumental shaker night. Tonight we celebrate all that is bacon. Every dish, ever mouthful is bacon infused (well- ok, just one of the martinis has bacon).

So pretty much since we’ve begun this martini quest we’ve gotten links from friends about the mythical bacon martini. We laughed, we scoffed, we contemplated, but we never bit the bacon bullet. Until recently, when a halfway joking discussion among friends turned into plans to celebrate all things bacon. Carrie volunteered to infuse some bacon vodka and we all pulled out our favorite bacon recipes to create:

BACONPALOOZA!!

I put the paramedics on speed dial and plugged in my portable defibrillator. We gathered from near and far (Ventura is far, right?), each bringing our favorite bacon infused treats. You could smell the bacon emanating from at least 4 different geographic areas for two days. You see that haze over the Southland this weekend? That was not smog. That was bacon fumes.

As each new guest arrived the tables groaned under their delicious burdens. Bacon appetizers, bacon main dishes, bacon dessert. Yes my friends, even the famed bacon martini.

We all came hungry. None of us left that way.
Below, the bacon buffet:

Baked potato soup w/ bacon
Baconmole w/ chips (guac has never looked so good)
Bacon gougeres (grown up cheesie poofs- “super tasty” “off the hook” “fluffy with a hint of bacon”
Bacon balsamic deviled eggs (now this the devil you want to sell your soul to)
Bacon wrapped dates (you won’t be late for this date)
Bacon Ranch dip w/ veggies (cause we had to at least pretend to care about our health)
Bacon Pastry bites (nom nom)

And on the dessert tray:
Bacon Bark
Bacon Fudge
Bacon Cinnamon rolls (that is so my breakfast tomorrow morning)
2 kinds of candied bacon, which we used as makeshift “spoons” to scoop out the
Bittersweet chocolate mousse

“the room went silent when the chocolate mouse with praline bacon scoops was distributed. This was followed by a round of grunting, then nom nom nom from the crowd”

Our first martini of the night was of course the Bacon Martini.

Basically, just bacon infused vodka shaken and strained. This was met with a certain apprehension by many. We made mini tasters and we all got brave. The results:

“tastes good as long as you don’t look at it” “blindfold bacon martini-serve in the dark” “an experience”

The fat globules were a bit off-putting at first, but it was surprisingly not gross! We couldn’t drink a whole martini of this, but were very glad to have tried it. We can’t really olive rate this. It was more of an experience than a beverage.

Next up was the Jalapeno Cucumber Cilantro Martini

Shaker 2 sat this one out (severe cilantro aversion) but the rest of us rather enjoyed it. Slightly spicy, definite cucumber and citrus flavors. Interesting, in the good way. “tart with a very nice kick” I’d make this again, but perhaps without the cilantro so Shaker 2 could enjoy as well.

Brian braved the bacon beer- sadly, not bacon-y enough!~

Our final ‘tini of the evening was the Meyer Lemon Drop Martini.

In the interest of full disclosure, Shaker One has had this one many,many times before (did I mention many?). I love this tini. You can make it with regular lemons, but if you have meyers, it kicks it up into a whole other olive zone. Alex manned the juicer and we all enjoyed a round of these. “absolute favorite, tart, tart, tart” “simply delicious”

But we couldn’t end Baconpalooza there. No, we had to have just one more bacon treat. One that would make Elvis wipe a tear of joy from his eye (if he weren’t dead and all):

The Elvis Bacon Shake.

“just too scary good” “religious” Carrie and Shaker One ratcheted it up a notch with Stoli Vanilla-
“I heard the angels sing when I drank the Elvis Shake with Stoli Vanilla”
If you would have told me before tonight that I would have loved a milkshake with bacon, peanut butter, bananas, marshmallow fluff and vanilla ice cream- and bacon- I would have said, “that’s just crazy talk”. But it was so good. We all loved this. Well worth breaking out the blender for. And we garnished it with more of the candied bacon, naturally.

What can you say about a night devoted to all things bacon? Carrie put it best:
“I felt my heart working a little harder and my blood became a little thicker as I made my way through each item on the table of bacon”

Was it decadent? Oh yes. Did we overindulge? My God, did we! Will we do it again? Without a second’s hesitation we will…..but next time we will introduce our very good friend bacon to our other pal, the BBQ grill.

Shakers One and Two would like to thank all of our wonderful guests tonight. Everyone brought such delicious bacon treats and the company could not have been better. Please send any recipe requests along with a doctor’s note or waiver from your insurance provider to us here, at the Bacon Shaker.

Good night and happy shaking!

Variation in T(ea) Minor

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Jan 112010

Good evening martini lovers. Shaker One had just enough of the Earl Grey Tea infused vodka left over from the last post to make one more teani. I had the idea to add pomme juice to it….sort of fruit it up a bit. I also decided to forgo the egg white for this one.

Upon pouring this out of the shaker, I noticed a really deep tea color. The pomme juice barely made it’s presence known. After a taste, I understood why. There is a distinct bitterness to the vodka now which was definitely not there when it was freshly infused. Although I filtered the tea leaves out through both a fine mesh filter and a coffee filter (and no sediment was left whatsoever) the tea seems to have continued to steep. It’s less than a week since we made that infusion and the vodka is just about too bitter to drink. I tried to add sweetness with some additional simple syrup, but it’s not an issue of lack of sweetness. The result isn’t terrible (and I do like bitter/strong flavors), but I would not repeat this.

So note to self: When infusing vodka with tea for Teanis, only make as much as you plan on using that day/night. This infusion, unlike many other infusions, does not improve with age. A very good thing to know actually, as Shaker 2 and I have designs on a few more teanis and I would have hated to waste a good bottle of vodka.

There will be more Teanis in our shaking future, but we shall know to freshly infuse the vodka in small batches.

Experimentation is good. Without small failures great successes would not be possible.
Shaker One out.

Mar-tea-nis!

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Jan 062010

Tonight we have high tea- Red Shaker Style. Two tea based martinis to try, something a little different. And what goes with high tea but finger sandwiches!

First up is a plum and green tea martini

(Due to a technical SNAFU, the picture for this one.. and the main shots of the next martini, were lost. grrrrrr) [Shaker 1 again- just imagine plates full of deletable tea time treats]

As Pavilions was out of plums, we substituted a pluot. This martini incorporates green tea and honey simple syrup, citrus vodka, pear vodka and muddled plums. The color is gorgeous. The taste? Shaker Two nailed it: you can’t taste any one of the flavors, but you can taste all of them. Sort of an odd result. Not unpleasant, but neither of us can say we enjoy the flavor.

Overall this gets high marks for looks, but 2 olives for taste.

Moving on to our next Teani:

The Earl Grey Marteani–

This uses vodka infused with earl grey tea, simple syrup and lemon juice, foamed up with an egg white. (Note: the original recipe calls for gin.. but we are vodka girls.. so use whichever you prefer) First impression is an intriguing tea aroma and an unusual color. Both Shaker Two and I tasted with some trepidation. The result? Hello gorgeous! This is a surprisingly delicious drink! You definitely taste the tea, but it’s not overwhelming or bitter. Rather somewhat sweet/somewhat sour from the lemon, an incredibly balanced beverage. We like this one a lot.

4 3/4 olives!!

This one might even hit a 5. The more we taste, the more we love. Seriously people – go out and make this drink.

This also gives us many ideas for more tea infused vodkas and teanis. Brilliant. Now if we could only remember where we found this recipe in the first place. Whoever you are, we love you!

Feeling a bit under the weather? Forget hot tea with lemon and honey, make yourself a teani.
We liked this so much that we made another round to go with our berries and cream, lemon bread and meyer lemon curd. After pouring out the first teani, we were very pleased to enjoy the second so much. Martini success!

Remember, don’t be afraid of martini failure. If you don’t enjoy it, pour it out. There are so many wonderful options. Try again until you find something you love.

Shakers One and Two will close out this mid week tea-ni fest with a Happy New Year to all our tini faithful.

Run, Run as fast as you can!

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Dec 132009

……you’re gonna want to taste this gingerbread man! The Christmas season has inspired us to make merry once again with a holiday themed tini. Forget visions of sugarplums, visions of martinis dance through our heads. And we welcomed a friend for his first Red Shaker tasting-hi Ref!

Another friend sent us a link to this recipe (thanks Diane!)

The Gingerbread Martini:

We first tried this as the recipe stated and the unanimous verdict was ok, but not “gingerbready” enough. So we did what the Shakers do and tweaked and twisted. Gingerbread perfection! Basically, we replaced the gingerbread Monin syrup (too sweet from past experiences) with an interesting liquor:Hiram Walker Gingerbread liquor, doubled the quantity and cut the kahlua (overkill and gets lost in the flavor profile). This naughty little man gets blended up with vanilla ice cream and whipped cream. Garnish with some freshly grated nutmeg and a gingersnap cookie, you have a very enjoyable dessert martini. Creamy, not too sweet, one is perfect for a holiday treat.

Shakers One and Two give this 4 1/2 olives

Ref threw in a solid 4 1/4 (he’s a gin drinker, so don’t hold it against him).

As we wrap up a quick Sunday night shake we send out a special holiday wish to our Shaker friends:

May all your spirits be bright and your martini glasses full.

Sometimes, the classics are the best.

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Dec 082009

This evening’s get together was unplanned. It ended up being a result of new technology not working as well as promised. In other words, the digital transmissions to Shaker 2’s place sucks and she was unable to watch “A Charlie Brown Christmas” so Shaker 1 offered to open up the Balcony Bar for a special screening.

Could we leave it at just watching this fabulous holiday classic? Of course not.

While Shaker 2 thought it would be perfectly fine to have tried and true classics like dirty and twisted…. Shaker 1, as usual, raised the bar a bit higher. She was again inspired and created:

The Mistletoe-tini!

A combination of Rain vodka, champagne sorbet, pomegranate juice and triple sec.

All I gotta say is “well done, Shaker 1!” {*blush*thank you}

Not too sweet, a slight fruity undertone balanced with the dryness from the champagne. Lovely! This puppy would even rock in the summer. 4 1/2 olives! And it’s a pretty festive color.

As the twinkle lights cast a festive glow on the Balcony Bar, the Shakers enjoyed “A Charlie Brown Christmas” and the ushering in of the holiday season.

Deck The Halls

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Dec 032009

…..with Christmas ‘Tinis! It’s never too early to start celebrating the holiday season (well ok, anytime before Thanksgiving is too early). Tonight we’ve decided to test out a couple of party friendly Christmas martini recipes.

First up is our own creation: Frosty’s Revenge

Made with Shaker 2’s Snowman Soup hot cocoa mix, vanilla vodka (Stoli), amaretto, golden rum and heavy cream infused with a cinnamon stick. This one is creamy, not too sweet, with a hit of warmth from the rum/amaretto…..delicious! We give this one 4 1/4 olives as is, next time would add some nice cocoa or shaved quality chocolate for a richer result. Frosty you can come over and play again. We promise not to steal your magic hat.

Next up: The Peppermintini

We got this one from the Edy’s Ice Cream website. Peppermint ice cream, vodka and white cream de cocoa blended up. Usually I don’t enjoy the chunky rimming garnishes, but the crushed candy cane rim on this really makes the magic happen. Pair that with a spiral of chocolate syrup drizzled inside the glass, you’ve got happiness in a glass. This tini slides past 4 3/4 olives to perilously close to a 5 for Shaker 2. A solid holiday/dessert tini treat. If you only give yourself one gift this holiday season, give yourself the gift of creamy pepperminty boozy happiness. It will bring out your inner drunken child. Finding new ways to love candy canes is a beautiful thing.

It’s a school night, so Shakers 1 and 2 will call it a night, before we float away on a boozy sweet cloud of Christmas cheer.

Don’t worry shaker fans, we’ll be back soon with more happy holiday themed martinis.

Good night and remember, there are only 22 drinking days left until Christmas.

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