Salad + Vodka = Capresetini

I have been seeing and reading a lot about infused vodkas.  Those beautiful drinks have made their way on impressive menu lists, and after thoroughly reading a drink menu recently, I couldn’t help but think that I could make my own version of an infused vodka cocktail.

To keep up with my standards, I wanted my cocktail to be inspired by one of my recipes.  And my Caprese salad came to mind.  What if I made a Basil Infused Vodka, and took that for a spin on my Caprese salad?!

How about a Capresetini?!

I started with a liter of vodka and 4 large stems of basil.  I combined the two in a pitcher with a lid and let it sit for 5 days.  Then I strained out the basil and poured the infused vodka in a new bottle.

Now that I had my basil vodka, I wanted that fresh tomato taste that is found in caprese salads.    So I took the extra step and placed grape tomatoes in a food processor and processed until tomatoes were completely pulverized.  Then I poured the tomatoes into a strainer, and strained the juice into a bowl, pressing on the solids to release as much juice as possible.

Sounds like a lot of work for a cocktail, but is really quite easy and so worth it.  I figured out the juice / vodka ratio that tasted just right.  Of course you can’t have a caprese salad without mozzarella cheese, so I used little perline mozzarella as a garnish with a small basil leaf and a grape tomato.

I took one sip and it was like the garden angels were singing to me.  Tomatoes with little saxophones where playing Jazz music while the basil performed a garden dance.

That kind of delicious.

This Capresetini is righteiously refreshing.  I do believe I’ll have another!

For the Capresetini recipe, click here.

For the Basil Infused Vodka recipe, click here.

For the Caprese salad recipe, click here.