When Kendrick and I got home from our Saturday adventures, it was that moment right before the sun sets when all you (or at least I) want to do is collapse into a hammock with an US Weekly. So that’s what I did, and I was all relaxed and cozy…and then I turned the page and spotted a recipe for something called a Strawberry-Basil Rickey.
You know what makes those just-before-sunset-in-a-hammock moments even better?
A cocktail.
This particular recipe required things like fresh herbs and mortar and pestles and Cointreau, though, so as delicious as it looked, it wasn’t going to happen. Not right then, anyway.
But then I remembered:
1) Kendrick recently discovered a mortar and pestle sitting in our cabinet that appears to have arrived out of thin air, because I can’t for the life of me remember ever buying one;
2) I have a herb garden (this fact continues to be so crazy to me that I keep forgetting);
3) My friends Anna and Lilit brought me a bottle of Campari when they visited a couple of weeks ago. Now, I’m aware that Campari is not Cointreau, but I’m not entirely sure why: as far as I’m concerned, both of these things start with the letter “C” and taste citrus-ish and are otherwise completely opaque to me, and are thus exactly the same.
Anyway, this is what I made, and I’m going to call it a Strawberry-Basil Fizz. It ended up having very little to do with that US Weekly recipe, but was quite delicious nevertheless and I think you should have one yourself, quick.
1. Muddle a handful of strawberries and a few basil leaves. If you have a mortar and pestle, lucky you; if you don’t, the back of a spoon and a glass work just as well.
2. Put the muddled strawberries and basil into a glass and fill it with ice.
3. Add 1.5 oz Campari and a squeeze of fresh lime juice, then fill with club soda and stir lightly.
4. Serve with an extra basil leaf for garnish.
