The bloody Mary is a classic cocktail staple that sadly doesn’t always meet one’s expectations at bars, restaurants and especially on flights. Fortunately, it’s something that’s easy to make at home.
The bloody Mary is rare among cocktails for its healthy mix of antioxidants, vitamins and nutrients, which have helped it become a popular hangover cure. (While it’s certainly effective, as a health blogger I could never advocate anyone relying too often on a “hair-of-the-dog” cure and have a bunch of healthier alternatives in my article on handling hangovers.
This is my own take on a traditional bloody Mary. I use fresh basil to complement the tomato flavour as well as all the good old-fashioned accoutrements. This cocktail is refreshing and delicious, perfect for summer brunches. If you like a bit more spice in your Bloody Mary you can add a spoon of horseradish into the mix. Whilst some consider it sacrilege, I’m also not averse to sometimes skipping the vodka and just ‘going virgin’. Best served chilled.
Serves 1
Ingredients:
- 3 cups tomato juice
- 3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
- 3 tablespoons fresh lime juice (if you can’t get fresh limes then you can easily substitute with lemon juice instead, simply add an extra tablespoon of lemon juice).
- 3 tablespoons chopped fresh basil
- 1 1⁄2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
- 3⁄4 teaspoon Tabasco sauce
- 3⁄4 teaspoon celery salt
- 1⁄2 teaspoon coarse black pepper
- 30ml (1 shot) vodka, per drink
- Fresh celery for garnish
Instructions:
- Cut your citrus fruits in half and squeeze juice, you can combine the lemons and the limes into one container.
- Rinse and roughly chop the fresh basil.
- Using a blender, combine the tomato juice, lemon juice, lime juice, basil, Worcestershire sauce and Tabasco sauce and process until smooth. Put the mix into a container that you will be able to leave in the fridge and add celery salt and black pepper to taste.
- Refrigerate until thoroughly chilled, at least 2 hours and up to overnight.
- When you are ready to serve, fill each glass with ice.
- Add 1 shot of vodka to each glass, then fill the glass with the bloody Mary mix. Stir well, and garnish each glass with a fresh sprig of celery.
- Serve and enjoy!
