Bloody Lovage Cocktail
A love letter to the month of May, our Bloody Lovage cocktail combines seasonal produce from the Kitchen Garden.
Lovage (Levisticum Officinale) is a robust and fruitful perrenial, known for producing a flush of edible leaves in spring and tall stems of yellow blooms in late summer. The young leaves have a mild, yet sweet flavour reminiscent of celery and aniseed, perfect for refreshing salads or added to seasonal soups and stews. Versatile like the leaves, lovage’s young stems can be blanched or cooked to enhance and contribute to the taste of various dishes.
In this recipe, we make a lovage infused vodka first, before combining it with fresh and spiced tomato juice for a botanical take on this classic cocktail.
Ingredients
For A BOTTLE OF Lovage vodka
12g of lovage leaves
700ml of vodka
For the Cocktail
40ml lovage vodka
100ml tomato juice
20ml spice mix
Garnish: lovage sprig (additional olive if preferred)
notes: unami, spiced, vegetal
Method For the homemade lovage vodka
Combine the lovage leaves with 700ml of vodka, (we use Sapling). Seal the concoction, leaving it to macerate for at least three days.
Once infused, take a sieve and filter in a jug before rebottling.
Method For the Cocktail
Chill your highball glasses in the fridge. In a mixing glass or a tin shaker, combine the vodka, tomato juice and spice mix together. Our spice mix consists of dash of Worcestershire sauce, Tobasco, a splash of lemon juice and a pinch of salt. Stir for 15 seconds until suitably mixed.
Pour over ice in a chilled glass and garnish with a sprig of lovage.
