Grapefruit Margarita
“When I read about the evils of drinking, I gave up reading” – Henny Youngman
It’s Thursday! And Thursday means cocktails. Is this healthy? Probably not, but it does have a shed load of Vitamin C in there with the tequila so I think it just scrapes over the line. And grapefruit contains enzymes that help the liver break down toxins as well so that must mean that, um, er, something right? Oh who cares, it’s my blog and I can decide what goes on and I say YES to Tequila Thursday.
This cocktail is basically our twist on the brilliant Smitten Kitchen’s blood orange margarita, which we made all the time after first seeing it there and I have stuck on a picture of it in all its blood red glory as well, so you can take your pick. We recently went to the new(ish) Indian restaurant Gymkhana in London for dinner (which was brilliant, but then you knew that from all those glowing reviews) and they put a big bit of pink grapefruit peel in my husband’s pre-prandial gin and tonic. It was an inspired addition, requiring that we now keep a stash of grapefruits at home. And thus the grapefruit variation to our (my) Thursday night tequila was born.
To make one, you will need:
- 125ml freshly squeezed grapefruit juice (preferably pink)
- 1 tbsp freshly squeezed lime juice
- 2 tbsp triple sec or cointreau
- 3 tablespoons white tequila
- grapefruit slices for garnish (optional, obviously)
I think, strictly speaking, you are meant to mix this altogether and pour over ice in glasses. I shake mine with ice and strain into a martini glass, which is undoubtedly frowned upon by those tedious people who take drinks too seriously, but it just looks so very pretty indeed. We make it in the same proportions with blood orange juice as well, but as with all these things you may want to tweak a bit to taste.
A final word of caution – As with martinis, as James Thurber famously said, “One is alright. Two are too many, and three are not enough“.
Cocktail hour song of the day: Sympathique – Pink Martini (Sympathique)
